CHAP. I.

THE Ground of my following Discourse will therefore be this, That the Instances of Divine Severity up­on [Page 36]Others, should affect the serious Obser­vers of them, with an awful Fear of God and his Judgments.

First; It is here implied, that we are not slightly to overlook the Exam­ples of God's Severity upon others, but seriously to observe and consider them.

Secondly; That such Instances are proper to affect us with an awful Fear of God: especially the Desolations that are made by terrible Earthquakes.

Thirdly; That this Awe of God, and Fear of his Judgments, upon such Examples of Divine Severity, is mat­ter of Duty unto all, that do observe and consider them.

Fourthly; How this may be applied, and improved by us, with reference to this City and Nation.

First; It is here implied, That we are not slightly to overlook the Examples of God's Severity upon Others. How often has God threatned, and punished [Page 37]the secure and careless Frame of such, as regard not the Works of the Lord, nor the Operation of his Hands? Isa. 5.11. Psal. 28.5. He shall, for this Reason, destroy them, and not build them up. We are bid to remember, consider, and improve the ancient Judgments of God upon the old World, and upon Sodom and Gomorrah: And 2 Pet. 2.4, 5. to remember the Example of Lot's Wife, and the several Calamities that befel the Jews in the Wilderness, and after their Settlement in Canaan: The In­stances of God's Justice upon them for their several Provocations, are record­ed as Types and Warnings unto us, on whom the Ends of the World are come, who live in these latter Days, under the Gospel-Dispensation, 1 Cor. 10.6, 11. that we should not lust as they lusted, and murmur as they, tempt Christ as they. It is said of them whose Carcases fell in the Wilderness for their many repeated Provocations, that they are our Examples. God's Severity against them is recorded for [Page 38]our Use, Heb. 3.18. Chap. 4.11. God made them [...], an express Ex­ample, and Representation of what should be done in others. Some shall smart, that others may fear. God hath further Ends in the Execution of Judg­ments than we imagine: He intends them not only for Acts, but Patterns: Every Judgment is a new Lesson; and God doth not intend to punish only, but to teach, and warn, and instruct: He warns when he wounds, and strikes some, that others may be spared by taking Warning. When a Scorner is punish'd, saith Solomon, the Simple is made wise, Prov. 2.11. And we are more apt to be impress'd by what we see executed, than by what is only pro­nounc'd in a Threatning.

The Judgments of God on neigh­bouring Countries and People are mentioned to this purpose for our Im­provement; Zeph. 3.6, 7, 8. I have cut off Nations, says God, (I have hanged them up as on a Gibbet, to instruct and warn you by their Ruine.) [Page 39] Their Towers are desolate, their Streets are waste; so that no Man passeth by; their Cities are destroyed, that there is no Inhabitant. Hereupon I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, surely thou wilt re­ceive Instruction.

This therefore does suppose the ob­serving, and laying such things to Heart.

We ought not easily to pass over, and forget the Works of God, especially when by the Terribleness and Severity of them, he has made them fit to be re­membred, Psal. 111.4. They are Te­stimonies to a Divine Providence, and as such should be recorded. It is taken notice of to this purpose by ^* a learned and great Man, as a Defect among Christians, that there is not yet ex­tant an Historia Nemesews, a Judicious, Impartial, and well-attested History of the Divine Vengeance, containing the most remarkable Monuments of God's Justice in the World.

When he afflicts and plagues any of our Neighbours or Brethren, or but Strangers, in an eminent manner, we are called to consider his Doings, that we may learn Righteousness, when the Judgments of God are abroad in the Earth, Isa. 26.9. It is but fit that the Punishment of some should make other Sinners tremble. As when A­nanias and Saphira were struck dead, it is said, Great Fear fell upon all that heard these things, Acts 5.11. It is mentioned as a Fault, that when the Hand of God is lifted up, Men will not see and consider it: And for this Stupidity God often expresseth his Displeasure, Psal. 10.5. Psal. 28.4, 5. Isa. 5.12, 13. Job 34.26. Micah 6.9. We are commanded to take notice of his powerful Justice in such Examples; Rev. 6.1. Psal. 66.3. Come and see the Works of God, he is terrible in his Doings towards the Children of Men. He is said to visit us, and come nigh to us in Judgment as well as in Mercy: And shall he visit us, and we not take [Page 41]notice of it, or observe him? We can­not otherwise make a due Improve­ment of them, in order to suitable Duty.

Especially should it be thus, when any of our Brethren, of the same Na­tion with us, meet with any more than ordinary Rebuke of Providence, as is the case of Jamaica: Not but that we ought to eye and own God, tho the Instances of his Severity be more re­mote, as in the late extraordinary Earthquakes in Sicily. Yea, the Exe­cution of God's righteous Judgments on the Wicked, will make the Righteous that see it, to fear and tremble, Psal. 52.6. The Righteous doth wisely consi­der the House of the VVicked, how God overthroweth the Wicked for their Wick­edness, Prov. 21.12. All the great Displays of God's Justice in the World, are fit to be registred and remembred by us, as Testimonies to us of his Be­ing, Holiness, and Righteous Govern­ment. Come hither, says God, and be­hold the Works of the Lord, what Deso­lation [Page 42]he has made in the Earth, Psal. 46.8.

Secondly; As we must observe, and consider these Instances of God's Seve­rity upon others, so they are very pro­per to affect us with an holy Awe and Fear of God. He owns himself the Author of all the Desolations wrought in the Earth. Earthly Princes will have Matters of Favour deriv'd from them­selves, but all Acts of Severity they put off to subordinate Agents. But God will not stand on such Points, he rather professeth to lay claim to all the memorable Acts of Vengeance upon sinful Nations and People. It is He that shakes terribly the Earth, and rends the Rocks, and makes the Moun­tains tremble; who overturns Cities and Countries, as in an Instant; who swallows up many hundreds and thou­sands of Persons, and Families at once: And shall not we who hear of it, stand in a we of him? We should say on such an Occasion, Who hath an Arm like [Page 43]God? We should consider, Who can stand before him, when he is angry? Who can contend with him? Who would not tremble in his Presence? He who can cast Soul and Body into Hell in a moment, can as soon cause his Earth to open, and swallow up the strongest, the largest, the most populous City upon Earth, and turn it into a Heap of Ashes, or a Pool of Water: Ought not this God to be feared?

When his right Hand does teach him terrible things, shall not the Question then be put, as Job 12.9. Who know­eth not that the Hand of the Lord has wrought this? When he shakes the Hea­vens, and melts the Mountains, and cleaves the Valleys, as Wax before the Fire, and as VVaters poured down a steep Place, Mich. 1.4. he seemeth to say, I will work, and who shall let? I will destroy, and who shall save? I will lay my Hand, says God, upon Egypt, and I will bring my People thence by my great Judgments. And it follows, The Egyptians shall know that [Page 44]I am the Lord, Exod. 7.4, 5. The Greatness and Terribleness of the Ca­lamity, in such cases, bespeaks God to be the Author of it. Man cannot but take notice of His Hand, and inquire, Wherefore has the Lord done this, and what means the Heat of this great An­ger? Deut. 29.24. With God is ter­rible Majesty; he is Almighty, we can­not find him out.— Men do therefore fear him, Job 37.22, 23, 24.

When he makes the Mountains tremble, and the Earth shake, our Hearts should tremble too. Fear ye not me, says the Lord? and will ye not trem­ble at my Presence? Jer. 5.22. Will ye not fear me, who can open the Ca­taracts of Heaven above, or break up the Fountains of the great Deep below, and pour forth whole Floods of Ven­geance when I please; who can rain Hell out of Heaven, or kindle those Exhalations and Steams that are in the Bowels and Caverns of the Earth, (as I cause Thunder by giving Fire to those in the Clouds) and make them force [Page 45]their way, to the Overthrow and De­struction of Villages, and Towns, and Cities, and Countries, whenever I will; who can thus suddenly turn a fruitful populous Land, into an ama­zing Spectacle of Desolation and Ru­ine?

If God but write bitter things upon the Wall against Belshazzar, his Loins are loosed, and his Knees knock one against another. The great Emperour Caligula runs under the Bed at the noise of God's Tabernacle, his thundring Voice. And certainly God's shaking the Earth, in so terrible a manner as of late, may much more make us trem­ble. To this purpose it is elegantly described by the Prophet, Isa. 24.17, 18, 19, 20. Fear, and the Pit, and the Snare are upon thee, O Inhabitant of the Earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the Fear, shall fall into the Pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the Pit, shall be taken in the Snare: for the Windows from on high are open, and the Founda­tions [Page 46]of the Earth do shake. The Earth is utterly broken down, the Earth is clean dissolv'd, the Earth is mov'd exceeding­ly; the Earth shall reel to and fro like a Drunkard, and shall be removed like a Cottage; and the Transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. Upon such Mani­festations of Divine Power and Justice, we may well cry out, Great and mar­vellous are thy Works, O Lord God Al­mighty! VVho would not fear thee, and glorify thy Name, when thy Judgments are thus manifest? Rev. 15.3, 4.

Such a Judgment as this of Earth­quakes, is especially proper to affect us with an awful Fear of God, of his Ma­jesty and Power, his Greatness and Do­minion, his Soveraignty and Justice. He caused the Mountain to quake at the Delivery of the Law, when he would prove to the Jews that he was their Lord and Soveraign. When the Cen­turion observed the Earthquake, at the Death of Christ, He, and others feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

To this purpose we may consider the Earthquake that did hinder the Attempt of rebuilding the ^* Jewish Temple, which the Emperour Julian set afoot to spight the Christians, and to contradict the Prophecy of our Sa­viour, and to oppose Moses unto Christ. He gave all Encouragement to the Jews, he provided them with all Ma­terials at his own charge. They with great Joy and Readiness set about it. But when they began to search the Ground, in order to the laying of the Foundation, the Earth round about trembles with a horrible Earthquake, and the Flames on a sudden break out, which not only consumed the Under­takers, but a multitude of Spectators too, and the Materials prepared for the Building. This made an univer­sal Astonishment, and struck Julian himself with some Fear; so that he gave over the Attempt, and many of the Jews were perswaded to receive [Page 48]the Faith of Christ. About the same time, the Pagan Temple at Delphos was destroyed by Earthquakes, Thun­der and Lightning. Such Manifesta­tions of his Power challenge our Fear. He looketh on the Earth, and it trem­bleth; he toucheth the Hills, and they smoak, Nahum 1.5. The Mountains quake before him, and the Hills melt; he removeth the Mountains, and over­turneth them in his Anger; he shaketh the Earth out of its place, and the Pil­lars thereof tremble, Job 9.5.

And the rather should we fear in such Cases, because they are often set forth as God's Judicial Act. These fiery Meteors are turned by God's Counsel, for Correction and Judgment, Job 37. The Earth shook and trembled, the Foundations of the Hills were moved and shaken, ^* BECAƲSE HE WAS WROTH. There went up a Smoak out of his Nostrils, and Fire out of his Mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it; Psal. 18.7, 8. I will shake the Heavens, and [Page 49]the Earth shall remove out of its place, in the VVrath of the Lord of Hosts, and in the Day of his fierce Anger; Isa. 13.13. This is brought in, after God had said, ver. 11. I will punish the VVorld for their Evil, and the VVicked for their Inquity. I will cause the Ar­rogancy of the Proud to cease, and will lay low the Haughtiness of the Terrible. Again, Tremble thou Earth at the Pre­sence of the Lord, at the Presence of the God of Jacob, Psal. 114.7. VVho can stand before his Indignation, or abide the Fierceness of his Anger? His Fury burns like Fire, and the Rocks are thrown down by him, Nahum 1.6. Thou shalt be visited by the Lord of Hosts, with Thun­der and with Earthquakes, Isa. 29.6. that is, penally, and judicially visited.

There are other Considerations, that should make this Judgment of Earth­quakes the more affecting: As, the lit­tle Warning they are commonly attend­ed with; and the surprizing Effects that follow, able to astonish the most valiant Men of War, and make the most [Page 50]couragious Spirits sink and fall: For so they are represented, as trembling on this Account, 1 Sam. 14.15.

When the Judgment comes unex­pectedly, as a Thief in the Night: When God visits a People by terrible things in Righteousness, and such as they looked not for: When, to use the Pro­phet's words, Isa. 5.14. Hell has enlar­ged it self, and opened her Mouth without measure; and their Glory, and their Mul­titude, and their Pomp, and he that rejoi­ceth descends into it. When there is no Time to flee, or Method to escape, or Possibility to resist; when no Sanctu­ary, or Refuge remains; no Shelter is to be found in the highest Towers, or the lowest Cellars; when the Earth opens on a sudden, and becomes the Grave of whole Families, Streets, and Cities; and effects this in less time than you are able to tell the story of it; either sending out a Flood of Wa­ters to drown, or vomiting out Flames of Fire to consume them; or closing again upon them, that they die by [Page 51]Suffocation, or Famine, if not by the Ruins of their own Dwelling. When Parents and Children, Husbands and Wives, Masters and Servants, Magi­strates, and Ministers, and People, without difference or distinction, in the midst of Health, and Peace, and Business, are buried in a Common Ruin, and pass All together into the Eternal World; and there is only the difference of a few Hours or Minutes between a famous City and none at all; They that have been in the Neighbourhood of such Tragedies, and beheld the dis­mal Effects of such a Judgment on O­thers, and yet have been preserved, cannot but consider it with trembling. Our own serious Thoughts may help to affect us in like manner. Thus the late Earthquake at Jamaica happened in a clear Day, without Warning or Suspicion; and in the space of three minutes, the Town of Port-Royal was shaken and shattered to pieces, and sunk into the Sea, and the greatest part of it under Water.

Now if it be dreadful to have our Country the Seat of VVar, as they, whose Case that is, will tell us, and we must presently grant; this is yet more dismal, that in the midst of Peace brings a worse Ruine than the Extre­mity of War. If a raging Pestilence be dreadful, that sweeps away thou­sands in a Day, and ten thousands in a Night, as some of you can remember; If a consuming Fire be an amazing Judg­ment, which you of this City have ex­perienced; an Earthquake is not less, but more so; when Houses and Inha­bitants, Towns and Cities, and Coun­tries are all destroyed at one Stroke, in a few Minutes. Dat signum Ruina; Death is the only Presage of such a Judgment; without giving Leisure to prepare for another World, or Oppor­tunity to look for any Shelter in this.

Who doth not start at the thought of such a Trembling of the Earth? The more a Man knows, the more is his Astonishment. He hangeth the Earth upon nothing, Job 26.7. For a [Page 53]Man to feel the Earth, which hangeth upon nothing, (but as some vast Ball in the midst of a thin yielding Air) totter under him, how can his Soul chuse but be possess'd with a secret Fright and Confusion? Methinks I tremble but to think of such a Trem­bling. — ‘I design not, saith Bi­shop Hall ^*, to astonish you with the Relation of the fearful Effects which Earthquakes have produc'd in all A­ges, as it were easy to do out of Hi­stories, and Philosophical Discourses, where you may see Rocks torn in pie­ces, Mountains not cast down only but removed; Hills raised not out of Vallies only, but out of Seas; Fires breaking out of Waters, Stones and Cinders belched up, Rivers changed, Seas dislodg'd, Earth opening, Towns swallowed up, and many other such hideous Events. Of which kind our own Memory can furnish us with ma­any at home, altho these colder Cli­mates [Page 54]are more rarely infested with such frightful Accidents.’

Thus the Pagan Philosophers prepa­red themselves, and others, for these Ac­cidents, as for Disorders that were In­evitable; and did not trouble them­selves [Page 58]with the Thought of Divine Ju­stice, which chastiseth Men by these dreadful Punishments. But the Com­mon People, whose Opinions were not so corrupted, reverenc'd the Anger of Heaven in these Calamities; and seek­ing for Safety in Superstition, endea­vour'd to appease the Evil Spirits by Sacrifice, and so provoked the Indig­nation of God the more. Christians who are instructed in a better School, own these Disasters as the Punishment of Sin.

Such sudden Instances of Divine Judg­ment are threatned in Scripture as some of the most terrible; and therefore the highest Severity is express'd by such unexpected and sudden Strokes: They are set forth sometimes by the Breach of a Wall, that catcheth a Man 'ere he be aware, and crusheth him in pieces, Isa. 30.12, 13. Sometimes resembled to a Whirlwind, that comes suddenly, and carries all before it. And there­fore God threatens, that obstinate and incurable Sinners shall be destroyed at once, or shall be suddenly destroyed, and that without Remedy, Prov. 29.1.

CHAP. II.

LET us further consider, that un­der such Appearances of God, it becomes us to be thus affected, as mat­ter of Duty. If we have any becoming Apprehensions of the Divine Power, and the Terrors of his Wrath; If we have any Concern at his Displeasure, and the Manifestations of it; If we have any thing of that Tenderness of Spirit, that Heart of Flesh, which is the great Blessing of the New Cove­nant, we ought to evidence it on such Occasions, by sutable Affections, in or­der to the Improvement of these Pro­vidences for our own Advantage. For instance,

1. To reverence the Divine Power, and Providence; to confirm our Minds in the Belief of it; That verily there is a God that judgeth in the Earth; That we may see, and know, and understand to­gether, that the Hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it: That God hath not for­saken the Earth, but makes himself known [Page 64]by the Judgments that he executes. And when they are thus manifest, it is said, All Nations shall worship before thee, O Lord, Rev. 15.4. & 19.2. So when God executes Judgment on the Wick­ed, by sudden Calamity, Psal. 58.7, 8, 9. it is added at the 11th Verse, that there­upon a Man shall say, Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous, verily there is a God that judgeth in the Earth. If he did not sometimes appear in such Acts of Justice, Men would be ready to say, Where is the God of Judgment? Mal. 2.17. or with them, Job 9.24. The Earth is given into the Hand of the Wicked; if not, where, or who is he? Where is he, who should punish them? Who is he, that calls them to an Ac­count? And the wise Man hath told us, that because Sentence against an evil Doer is not speedily executed, therefore the Heart of the Sons of Men is fully set in them to do Evil, Eccles. 8.11.

But when he looketh on the Earth, and makes it tremble; when he touch­eth the Hills, and they smoke, Psal. [Page 65]104.32. When he shows himself to be wise in Heart, and mighty in Strength, he removeth Mountains, and they know it not; he overturneth them in his Anger. Who would not then reverence his Power, and Providence? Read Numb. 16. for an Instance of it.

Even the Heathens have condemn'd those for mad Men, and distracted, who would fear nothing, no not an Earth­quake, as it is ^* observed by Aristotle concerning the Celtae, a barbarous Peo­ple: Which makes it the more strange that Seneca ^† should be so much at a loss, about the Divine Agency in such things, and ascribe them only to natu­ral Causes. Whereas Cicero ^‖ reckons Earthquakes, with Thunder, Tem­pests, &c. to be one of the four Ways by which the Notion of a God is pre­serv'd [Page 66]in the World, and the Minds of Men awed with the Apprehension of the Divine Being.

By such Acts of Judgment and Ven­geance God is said to show himself, Psal. 94.1, 2. to confute the Atheism of the World, and make Men acknowledg his Being and Providence. By such things Men are made to know, that God ruleth in Jacob, unto the Ends of the Earth, Psal. 58.13. Thus was Pha­raoh brought to acknowledg God, who at first despised him, saying, VVho is the Lord, that I should obey him?

2. Let us take heed of the like Sins, that others have been guilty of, with whom God has dealt in such Severity. Let us remember, He is a holy God, and jealous of his Honour, and will not suffer high Provocations always to go unpunished. Others have smarted, who were guilty of such and such Transgressions, as are found amongst us: Why should we expect to escape, if we continue under the like Guilt? By Judgments upon one Nation, God [Page 67]warns Another, that except they re­pent, they may expect to perish. Thus Tyrus shall be devoured with Fire, Ash­kelon (says God) shall see it and fear; Gaza and Ekron shall be very sorrowful, Zech. 9.3, 4, 5. When Jonah was thrown over-board, and the Storm quell'd, the Men feared the Lord exceed­ingly, and offered Sacrifices, in the sense of their own Sins. Much more, when God executes Remarkable Judgments on such as are notoriously wicked. All Men will fear, and declare these Works of God, if they wisely consider of his Doings, Psal. 64.9. If we will not be warned by the Examples of Others, we may expect to be made Examples our selves. Sodom, and Gomorrah, and the Cities of the Plain, are set forth as an Example unto us, Jud. 7. The Man that will do presumptuously, even that Man shall die, Deut. 17.12, 13. And all the People shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. God singled out the Galileans, whose Blood Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices, and those [Page 68]on whom the Tower of Siloam fell, to tell the Jews, except they did repent, they should also perish: And within a few Years, upon their neglect of these instructive Examples, Thousands and ten Thousands of them had their Blood, as it were, mingled with their Sacrifices; being slain by Multitudes in the Tem­ple, the Place of their Offerings; and no less Number perishing in the Fall and Ruine of their Walls, and Buil­dings battered down by the Romans. When the Israelites round about saw Corah and his Company devoured of the Earth, they ran away at the Cry of them, and said, Lest the Earth swal­low us also.

By what we have seen of God's Se­verity on Others, we should run away trembling from the Gulph of God's de­served Judgments, by running from those Sins, which may bring the like on us, which Others have felt. 'Twas the great Aggravation of Belshazzar's Pride, that he humbled not himself, tho he knew the Judgment God had [Page 69]executed on his Father for that very Sin. He that will run into a Bog, wherein Others have plunged them­selves in his view, is guilty of double Folly, of adventuring rashly, and of not taking warning. Herodotus tells us, that upon the Statue of Zenacherib, after the Angel of the Lord had slain an hundred and eighty five thousand of his Army, Isa. 37.36. it was engraven, ‘Discite Justitiam moniti, & non tem­nere Divos:’ Let him that looks on me, learn to fear God. He hath a thousand other Judg­ments in reserve, if the same we see inflicted on Others, do not over­take Us. Not only stormy Winds and Tempests are in his Treasury, that he can rain Snares, and Fire and Brim­stone, and an horrible Tempest on the Wicked; but he has Arrows of Judg­ment in his Quiver of various sorts, or is able to repeat the same, when he pleaseth. God will never want Ways [Page 70]and Methods to punish a wicked Peo­ple. All Creatures in the Earth, and Air, and Sea, are his Servants. He hath Hosts and Armies of them, above and under Ground, to be the Instru­ments of his Justice.

3. Let it excite our more earnest Prayers for Preservation, and Delive­rance from such Judgments, as others have suffered by. We see, if God be not for us, but against us, how sud­denly, how dreadfully he can punish, and destroy any People. How earnest­ly should we pray, Lord, spare thy Peo­ple, and deliver us from sudden Death. The louder, and the more repeated our Warnings are, and the juster our Fears of approaching Calamity, the more importunately should we pray, as that Captain, 2 Kings 1.13, 14. When two before him, with their Fifties, had been destroyed, fell upon his Knees before the Prophet, saying, O Man of God, let my Life, and the Lives of these fifty of thy Servants be precious in thy sight: Behold, there came Fire from Hea­ven, [Page 71]and burnt up the two Captains with the former Fifties; O let my Life be pre­cious in thy sight.

Let us pray for the Diversion of such Judgments, but endeavour to form our Spirits to a Preparedness for the whole good Pleasure of God; and bring them to a conditional Submission to the Di­vine Will, as to our own Share in any National Deliverance we pray for. We must own that we deserve, that the overflowing Scourge should not pass away from us, and that we know not whether it shall or no; but we ought to pray alway, Father, glorify thine own Name, and help us to glorify it; and let us be pleased that thou shouldst do so, in thine own Way; which we are not com­petent Judges of. We lie at thy Foot, and own that thou art Just, and Wise, and Holy, and infinitely so: Lord, save us, if it be consistent with thy Glory to save such a People: And help us to adore thee in the way of thy unsearchable Judg­ments, if by that Method thou wilt glori­fy thy self. We are not fit to judg of [Page 72]God's Works of Providence; nor can we comprehend how far his Glory, in the Accomplishment of his Great and Eternal Purposes, may be subserv'd, and promoted by such Temporal Ca­lamities, as we would deprecate.

4. Let us thankfully own our present Safety, our Preservation hitherto, that when others have been destroyed, we are yet spared. God manifested glo­rious Power in making the Earth to shake; but it was free Mercy that it did but shake and tremble in our Island. His sovereign Mercy has hitherto made a Difference between Us and other People: we are spared, when other Countries are destroyed. Let us stand, and behold the Severity of God on them; but adore his Goodness unto us, that we are not surprized in our Sins. He is Righteous in all his Ways, and Holy in all his Works. He is a God of Truth, and without Iniquity; Just and Right is he. So we must own him in his most terrible Judgments on Others. But to Us he is a God of Pa­tience [Page 73]and Long-suffering, and so we must acknowledg and adore him. How did the Israelites triumph in the God of their Salvation, when they escaped, and the Egyptians were drowned? Why might not those of Jamaica and Sicily, have been warned by our Exam­ple, as we are admonished by theirs? How is it, that God has not inlarged, or repeated the Commission of the Earthquake amongst us, that did but gently give us notice of what he might have done? Let us bless God, that he did not shake the Earth, so as to open and swallow us up quick; and that he has not repeated it, because of our pro­voking Security since: Let us be thank­ful, that when our Houses rolled, they did not tumble.

To some Countries, and some Peo­ple, he is known by the Judgments that he executes; but to us and ours by the Judgments that he diverts. To us he is known by his adorable Long-suf­fering, by his manifold Deliverances, notwithstanding our repeated, aggra­vated [Page 74]Crimes, so as to make us even the Wonder of the World: for so we are, in that, having such Enemies, and such National Guilt, we have yet so many National Blessings, to comme­morate from time to time; and the Liberty of doing so in publick Assem­blies. God makes himself known to our Neighbours round about, by the Ca­lamities of War, by the Barbarity of Souldiers, and the Fury of the Oppres­sor; and to others in remote Countries, by desolating Earthquakes: But to Us, by merciful Preservations, and many of the Blessings of Peace. To Amalek, and Edom, and Babylon, he is known by destructive Judgments; but in Ju­dah, and in Jerusalem, and in Sion his Dwelling-place, he makes himself known in another manner. Tho the Profession of the Truth, and the Know­ledg and Worship of the True God in any Place, is no sufficient Security a­gainst such a Judgment: for how ter­ribly was Antioch (where the Disciples were first called Christians) afflicted [Page 75]with Earthquakes; and some of the famous seven Cities, whence the Asian Churches are denominated, destroyed by Earthquakes?

As to Antioch, we read, that in the Emperor ^* Trajan's time, A. D. 115. or according to others, An. 111. who succeeded Nerva in the Ro­man Empire, after his Conquests in Armenia, and his obtaining the Title of Optimus, he returned to Antioch, and there made some stay, but was af­frighted with a most terrible Earth­quake, which afflicted other Cities, but especially this, in an unheard-of manner. By the Fall of Houses, and Rubbish, and other means, a vast number of People perish'd; so that the Town being full of Strangers, who came thither for Law-suits, upon Mes­sages, or other Business, the Court be­ing then there all the Winter; there [Page 76]was no Nation that receiv'd not Loss from so great a Calamity. Trajan him­self escaped out of a Window, being it's said, drawn out by one of a more than humane Proportion. And though the Earthquakes ceased, he continued in the open Air for many Days. The Hill Corasius was so shaken, that its higher Parts fell down, and it look'd as if it would tumble on the City. Other Mountains were levelled: Wa­ters broke out where none before ap­peared; and Fountains which former­ly poured out Water, were stopped up.

About the same time, in Trajan's time, Orosius ^‖ mentions 103 Cities of Asia overturn'd by Earthquakes. And afterwards, in Justinian's time, ^* Clu­verius mentions another Earthquake at Antioch, that destroyed above forty thousand. And by ^† another Earth­quake there, 61 Years after the for­mer, [Page 77]in the time of the Emperor Mau­ritius, sixty thousand perished.

The Preservation of our City and Nation, while others are destroyed by this Judgment formerly, and of late, should make us thankful. The like may be amplified as to particular Fa­milies and Persons: the bright Side of the Cloud is to thee, while the dark one is to others: As a God of Justice and Severity he appears to others, as a God of Grace and Compassion to thee.

How many Salvations has God wrought for us of late, for this Nation, and for this City; prolonging our Tranquillity and Peace, and keeping off publick Calamities from us! How often has he disappointed and defeated our Enemies Designs and Attempts a­gainst us! It is well if our Ingratitude do not at last provoke him to say, as to his ancient People; Judg. 10.11, 12, 13. Did I not deliver you from the E­gyptians? &c. Yet you have forsaken me, therefore will I deliver you no more.

5. Let it awaken us, to clear up our Interest in God, as our only Refuge and Shelter. If he be our God in Cove­nant, we need not fear, though the Earth be removed, and the Mountains be cast into the Sea; though the VVa­ters thereof roar and be troubled, though the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof, Psal. 46.1. Our Hearts may be established and fixed, trusting in the Lord, so as not to fear any evil Tidings, Psal. 112.7, 8. We may possess our Souls in Peace; for God will keep them in perfect Peace, whose Minds are stayed on the Lord, Isa. 26.3. They may say when it thunders, It is the Voice of my Father; and when the Earth trembles, It is the Tread of his Foot: or with David, The Lord is my Refuge, the Lord is my Habitation, what need I be afraid? Psal. 91.9. A Refuge is a Place of Retreat and Safety in a time of VVar: An Habitation is a Place of Abode in a time of Peace: At all Times and in all Conditions such are provided for: The Lord is my hiding-Place and [Page 79]my Shield, therefore will I hope in his VVord, Psal. 119.114. He will ei­ther keep me out of Danger, or defend me when I am exposed to it: either what I fear shall not overtake me, God will be my hiding-Place; or if it do come, it shall not hurt me, God will be my Shield.

He has promised to be with me in the Fire, and in the VVater: He has bid me not to be dismayed; for I am with thee, I am thy God, I will strengthen and help thee, and uphold thee with the right Hand of my Righteousness, Isa. 41.10. and 42.2. He will cover me with his Feathers, and under his VVings I shall be safe: I may abide un­der his Shadow, and dwell safely from the Fear of Evil. Now it is one great End of such extraordinary Appea­rances of God, to bring Men to adore and seek after God: Joel 2.30. I will shew VVonders in the Heavens, and in the Earth, &c. before the great and ter­rible Day of the Lord; and whosoever shall call on his Name, shall be saved.

Our Business therefore is to make Peace with God; to acquaint our selves with God, and be at Peace with him; and then Good shall come unto us, and the Almighty himself shall be our De­fence, so as we need not fear, Job 22.21. Let what will come to pass, such shall be safe who are under the Cove­nant-Love and Care of God. And it is his Presence alone is able to secure us. Good Men have always thought so, even when they had the greatest Assi­stance for outward Security: O Lord, we rest on thee alone, says Asa, 2 Chron. 14.8. When he had an Army that bare Targets and Spears out of Judah, to the number of three hundred thousand, and near as many out of Benjamin, that bare Shields and drew Bows, viz. two hundred and fourscore thousand; yet he overlooks all this, and rests on God alone. So did Jehosaphat, 2 Chron. 17.14, 15, 16. with an Army of eleven hun­dred & threescore thousand fighting Men, besides his Garisons; and yet Chap. 20.12. he says, VVe have no Might against [Page 81]those that come against us, but our Eyes are unto thee. Eleven hundred and threescore thousand fighting Men in the Field, and yet had no Might but what he expected from the Presence of God. All our Stability and Safety de­pends upon God as our Keeper. If it be asked, Is it in your Armies, and Officers, and Commanders? they must say, No, it is not in us. Is it in your Fleets, and Navies, and Admirals? It must be said, It is not in them. Is it in your Allies and Confederates? It must be said still, It is not in them. In your Castles, and Garisons, and Fortifications, in the Situation of your Country, or the Numbers of your Peo­ple? &c. It is not in them. In no hu­mane Power, Policy, Cunning, Cor­respondencies abroad, or Councils at home; nothing but in God, who is the Keeper of Israel: and therefore to be at Peace with him is our only Safety.

If he be our Rock and Refuge, we may depend on him, and find Securi­ty; all other Foundations and Build­ings [Page 82]are weak and tottering; but the Foundation of God stands sure: The Lord knoweth who are his, and he can and will take Care of them, though the Earth tremble under your Feet, or you sink into the Bowels of it. He can own and distinguish you even in such a Calamity, by a temporal Salvation, as An. 1584. when a certain Hill near Berne in Switzerland, was violently removed by an Earthquake, and co­vered a whole Village that had ninety Families in it, one half House only ex­cepted, wherein the Master of the Fa­mily was praying, with his Wife and Children: ^* Polanus relates it, who lived in those Parts. By an Earth­quake at Constantinople, wherein thir­teen thousand Men perish'd, An. 1509. many of the Turkish Mosques fell, but the Christian Temples stood firm. ^‖ And [Page 83]other Instances may be given of the like.

God is an unchangeable Refuge, and by Interest in him we are sure of a Building not made with Hands, Eternal in the Heavens. Though our earthly Dwellings should be swallowed up, our Souls are safe, our Portion is se­cure: for when this earthly Taberna­cle is dissolved into Dust, by that or any other Calamity, yet shall we not miss of eternal Blessedness in the Hea­venly Mansions: And there are no Storms or Tempests, no Commoti­ons or Tremblings there.

CHAP. III.

TO apply this: 1. Let us not then excuse or encourage our selves, by censuring others, as greater Sinners than we, on whom more terrible Judgments have been inflicted: For except we re­pent, we must also perish. This is the express Declaration of Christ, upon the Account given him of those on whom the Tower of Siloam fell, and of the Galileans, whose Blood Pilate had mingled with their Sacrifices, Luke 13.5. As to these Galileans their Crime is not certain: some think they brought this Judgment upon them­selves by their Sedition, as conspiring [Page 85]against the Roman Government; in­termixing some Acts of Religion as the Bond of their Conspiracy; which Pilate hearing of, surprized them in the Act, and put them to Death: O­thers think they were the Followers of Judas of Galilee, mentioned Acts 5. who seduced many from their Obedi­ence to the Roman Emperor; and that they were Jews coming up to the Passover to sacrifice, and there he fell upon upon. Others suppose them to be Samaritans, and that they were slain, worshipping in their Temple on Mount Gerizim; but called Galileans, from Judas the Head of the Faction: and the Hatred of the Jews against the Samaritans might occasion that severe and bitter Censure. Whatever the Occasion was of their Sufferings, our Lord condemns the Censure of them as greater Sinners on that Account; for tho sometimes Men guilty of pro­voking Sins, are followed with such remarkable Judgments, that it would be stupid Impiety not to observe the [Page 86]Hand of God therein, as in the Case of Herod, Acts 12, &c. yet God may chuse out some to be Examples and Warnings to others, who are not greater Sinners than they. 'Tis true, some Mens Sins are so visible, as to be open before hand, going before to Judgment, as the Apostle speaks, 1 Tim. 5.24. (They are [...], manifest to the Judgment of all Men, before they come to be laid open at the last Day: they go to Judgment before the Sin­ners themselves are brought thither.) When such notorious Crimes are follow­ed with extraordinary Punishments, the Connection & Relation between them must not be denied: But otherwise we should judg charitably of the Sufferers.

We must not make a rash and hasty Judgment of the Providences of God, or interpret the Voice of his Rod by uncertain Guesses of our own. We may easily be too curious in prying in­to the Secrets of Providence; for his Judgments are a great Deep; and of many of them we may say with Asaph, [Page 87]VVhen I thought to know this, it was too wonderful for me. He hath not thought fit to give us a full Account of all his Designs and Ends, why such who are not greater Sinners than others, are sometimes punished more. In such Enquiries we shall soon get out of our Depth, so as to swim in Dissatisfacti­on, or sink into Distrust, if we suffer our Curiosity to stretch it self too far.

Therefore after Solomon had told us, Eccles. 7.15. that there is a just Man who perishes in his Righteousness, and a wicked Man on the contrary who prolongeth his Life in his Wickedness; he adds in the next Verse, Be not righteous over-much, nor make thy self over-wise: that is, do not think thy self more righteous than the Person to whom such a Judgment befals; nor make thy self over-wise, i.e. do not pretend to be able infallibly to expound this Riddle, and to know the mean­ing of Divine Providence in such a Dispensation; for one Event may befal the Righteous and the VVicked, Eccl. 9.11. [Page 88]The great Apostle may have his Hand arrested with a Viper; and yet none but Barbarians would conclude, upon that Account, that he is follow­ed with Divine Vengeance, Acts 28.4.

We read of twenty seven thousand killed by the Fall of a Wall at Aphek, 1 Kings 20.30. As sometimes Ap­peals have been made to God in the high Places of the Field, and yet the Success of the War hath not always been on the juster Side. The Benja­mites were engaged in an ill Cause, and yet were victorious over the other Tribes, Judg. 20. The Ark of God hath been taken by the Philistines. Children are sometimes cut off for the Sins of Pa­rents, as 1 Kings 15.30. Ch. 16, & 17.

God acts as a Soveraign, in these things. The sucking Infants of Baby­lon must perish by the Sword, and their Brains be dash'd out: And the little Children of Sodom and Gomorrah were burnt with their Parents, by Fire from Heaven: Concerning which God saith, Ezek. 16.20. I took away [Page 89]Young and Old, as I saw good. He doth what he pleaseth; and who can say un­to him, What dost thou? He doth not think fit to give us now a full Account of all his Matters, or to say all that he can in justification of his present Pro­vidence; Job 33.13. Isa. 46.9. Dan. 4.34. But the Great Day of the Reve­lation of the Righteous Judgment of God, will unriddle all these things, and scat­ter all those Clouds, and remove all those Difficulties that now puzzle us.

Much less should we conclude con­cerning their Eternal State, who are cut off by some temporal Judgment. We have no Warrant, or Authority to sit as Coroners on the Souls of deceased Persons. It would be very uncharita­ble to conclude, that all the Israelites were shut out of Heaven, who died in the Wilderness, and by the righteous Judgment of God were not permitted to enter into Canaan: Or that the in­quisitive Bethshemites, or Ʋzza, and others that have been struck dead for unwarrantable Actions, did perish to [Page 90]Eternity. There is a Vail of Dark­ness upon many such Works of Provi­dence: but what we know not now, we shall know hereafter, John 13.7. Good Josiah may die in a Battel as well as wicked Ahab; and Nebuchadnezzar may have a prosperous Reign of forty Years, as well as David. Eternal Love and Hatred are not known by these things. We must not conclude a Man to be certainly wicked, because he is cut off by a sudden Death, or doth not go to his Grave in Peace.

Think not, says Christ, that they were greater Sinners than others, who were thus suddenly and exemplarily cut off; That is, you cannot for that Reason, and barely on that Account, so suppose, and judg of them. He doth not deny that they were greater Sinners, but on­ly asserts that their greater Sufferings will not prove that they were so: For it is agreeable enough to the Wisdom of Divine Government, (or of any Go­vernment) that, when many Persons are equally guilty, some may be selected [Page 91]to be Examples, and Warnings to o­thers, when others no less criminal are spared. Other Nations, as bad as So­dom and Gomorrah, have not been de­stroyed by Fire from Heaven. We must Adore Divine Justice in the Punish­ment of a wicked People, but his So­veraignty must be owned in the Choice of Subjects. We should be very par­tial to our selves, and uncharitable to our Neighbours and Brethren, if we conclude them to be greater Sinners than we, because they have suffered more. I repeat this, as knowing that we are very apt to condemn such Per­sons, who are thus Examples in suffer­ing; & to hug our selves, as more righte­ous than they, because we are spared.

But as to our selves, and our own Case, we ought to know that God will not always bear to have his merciful Warnings contemned, to have num­berless extraordinary Mercies abused, to have lesser Judgments upon us, and his more remarkable Severity upon others, disregarded. We ought still [Page 92]to remember and consider it, that, Ex­cept we repent, we are like to perish.

CHAP. IV.

2. LET us therefore apprehend the Case to be exceeding hazar­dous, as to our City and Nation; when we have had so many Warnings, and are not awakened to Repentance, and Reformation. Besides the natural Fear of approaching Evil, which is not to be condemned as a Fault, be­cause [Page 93]inevitable, there is a sinful Fear of Evils to come, and of the Tidings of them; proceeding either from Ig­norance of God, Forgetfulness of his Care, or Distrust of his Providence, or as unsutable to the Nature, Kind, and Degree, and Duration of the Evils we apprehend: Such a Fear, as hinders us in the performance of our present Duty, that infeebles our Spirits, and weakens our Hands as to the use of lawful Means; or puts us upon the use of prohibited unlawful ones: Such a Fear, as takes off the Sweetness of our present Mercies, by the Appre­hension and Fear of future Evil; where­by we reflect upon God's Government, and overlook his Promises of Support and Deliverance, and become unpre­pared to encounter the Evils, that we may be called to suffer.

However, there is a Fear of proba­ble, threatned, and approaching Ca­lamity, that is both Allowable, and Commendable; a Fear of Caution, and Circumspection, to excite us to prepare [Page 94]for the Worst; to put on our Armour, and make Provision for an evil Day. David wanted such a Fear, when he said within himself, that his Moun­tain was so strong, that it could not be moved, Psal. 30.6. It is such a Fear, as is opposite to sinful Presumption, and Hardness of Heart. And therefore Blessed is the Man that feareth always, in this sense, Prov. 28.14. But he that is fearless, and hardneth his Heart, shall fall into Mischief. We may and ought so far to fear, and apprehend the Possibility, and sometimes the Likeli­hood, of bearing our Share in the like Sufferings, as our Brethren feel, so as may prevent our Security, and settling on our Lees, and a foolish Confidence, that the Cup of Trembling, which our Brethren have drunk so deep of, shall never be put into our Hands.

It may farther be considered, that there is also a Penal Fear of future E­vils, which God inflicts as a Punish­ment on such with whom he is displea­sed: Deut. 28.64, 65. The Lord shall [Page 95]scatter thee among all People, from the one End of the Earth even to the other; and there thou shalt serve other Gods, which neither thou, nor thy Fathers have known, even Wood and Stone. And among these Nations shalt thou find no Ease, neither shall the Sole of thy Foot have Rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a Trembling Heart, and Failing of Eyes, and Sorrow of Mind. The wicked Nations which inhabited the Promised Land, were driven out by such Fears: for these seem to be the Hornets, that God sent amongst the Canaanites, and Amorites, to drive them out of the Land, Josh. 24.11, 12. Ex­od. 23.27, 28. There are many Ex­pressions to this purpose in the Book of Job, chap. 15.21, 22, 24. & 18.5. Jer. 6.25. & 20.2. & 49.29. Isa. 28.2. compared with 2 Kings 16. begin. Jer. 22.1. Ezek. 32.9, 10.

But this is quite another thing from what I am perswading to: for we have probable Grounds to fear, what God may do as to this Nation and Ci­ty: [Page 96]We have looked for Peace, that great comprehensive Blessing, and as yet no Good comes: We are engaged in a War, that none can tell how, or when it shall be determined. We look for a Time of Healing, but our Physicians hi­therto have been of little Value: Our Wounds are not healed, and we know not when they will: Though we have much to be thankful for, we have cause enough to be humbled, and to fear: Rejoice we may on some Accounts, but yet rejoice with Trembling.

Though God be long before he comes to take Vengeance; though he may reprieve us for a little while longer; though he have done so wonderfully hitherto, beyond what we could ex­pect; yet we cannot thence conclude, that he will always spare, that he will not strike. The Confidence of some in our Forces, and Confederates, and Fleets, and Armies; so many tried Souldiers, and such accomplish'd Offi­cers, and experienc'd Generals, and mighty Preparations by Sea and Land; [Page 97]and the Confidence of Others, upon bold Interpretations of Scripture Pro­phecies, with particular Application of them to our Island, are not of Weight enough, to hinder our Fears from be­ing just. God may suddenly cover the Heavens with Darkness, and confute all our vain Presumptions in a Month or two, when we expect it not.

What God has done against Others, he may as righteously do against Ʋs, if we despise his Judgments, and go on in the like Sins. Behold, ye Despisers, wonder, and perish, Acts 13.41. Be­hold what I have done in other Places, and can do against you: For I work a Work in your Days, a Work which you shall in no wise believe, though a Man declare it unto you. Men little thought that Jerusalem should have been de­stroyed, as it was, as little as we ex­pect England, or London, to be a Scene of Calamity. But we may live to see such Effects of it, as may make our Eyes, and Hearts fail, before God has compleated his Work, Lam. 2.18, 19.

If the Prophet cried, My Bowels, my Bowels, I am pained at the Heart, my Heart maketh a Noise within me; I can­not hold my Peace, because thou hast heard, O my Soul, the Sound of the Trumpet, the Alarum of War, Jer. 4.19. Much more may we say so of the Fear of an Earth­quake, which is unspeakably more ter­rible; when every Man sinks with his own House, as his Sepulchral Mo­nument; when the Roofs fall upon our Heads, and the Floors cleave un­der our Feet; and, whether by Day or Night, Tables, and Beds are sud­denly crushed into the Disorders of a Grave, and the Inhabitants perish at once with their Habitations.

I know the Most do not love to hear of such things, but Peace and Plenty, Victory and Success, Liberty and Pro­sperity; and they are ready to say, you discourage, and dishearten Men. But if a City or a Town be on Fire, or like to be so, must we not discourage Men by telling of it? It is true, God may save us by Prerogative; but if he pro­ceed [Page 99]by Common Law, according to the common Rules by which he has acted towards other Nations, we must re­pent, or may expect to be destroyed.

God now seems to call us to Weep­ing, and Mourning, and Sackcloth, and Ashes; but how little of such a Spirit is found amongst us? Behold Joy and Gladness, slaying Oxen, and killing Sheep, eating Flesh and drinking Wine, saying, Let us eat and drink, for to Morrow we shall die, Isa. 22.12, 13. But what follows in ver. 14. It was revealed in mine Ears by the Lord of Hosts, says the Prophet, Surely this Iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die, says the Lord of Hosts.

If the Matter be doubtful, whether God will preserve and save us or no, the very possible Supposition that he may not, should awaken a most serious Con­cern. Is there but an it may be that the Lord will be gracious and spare us? Is it uncertain? Is there but a per­adventure? Cannot we tell whether the Lord will turn from his fierce An­ger [Page 100]against us, or no? How should we be concerned to look about us! What if our Unthankfulness, and Pro­faneness, and Formality, and Divisi­ons, our Unwillingness to be healed, after all the Overtures and Opportunities that have been before us; What if our Infidelity, and Sadducism, gross Im­purities, and more provoking Gospel-Sins, should make God resolve to cast us off, and call this Island, that has been Immanuel's Land so long, Lo-ammi, Lo-ruamah, a People forsaken of the Lord? What if England, Scotland, and Ireland should be a Seat of War, and a Field of Blood, as well as other Parts of Europe, that never sinned a­gainst such Light, such Warnings, and such Obligations as we have? What if a sudden Earthquake should swallow up a great part of these Countries, as it hath of others? Why may not the very Dregs of the Cup be reserved for us, who have been incorrigible under all the Methods of Divine Providence to reform us? What Certainty have [Page 101]we that it shall not be so? Where is the Ground of our Confidence? What Assurance have we that God will spare much longer? What strong Reasons can we produce for the Entail of Liberty, Peace, and Plenty? There needs no Spirit of Prophecy to declare our Dan­ger, considering our Guilt; but a more serious, and more general Spirit of Hu­miliation, Prayer and Reformation, to be poured out, to prevent it.

God has waited long, and tried us by various Methods of Mercy and Judg­ment; he has manifested how loth he is to destroy us, and therefore gives us many Admonitions and Items, former­ly, and of late. He calls loud and of­ten, by manifold Warnings; he lifts up his Hand on high, as if he would strike, that we might turn to the Lord, and prevent it: he shakes the City, and threatens the Nation, but has not yet delivered us over to utter Ruine. He tells us by the Examples of others, what he can do with us, and what we may expect if we will go on. He [Page 102] doubles and trebles his Messages by the Voice of his Prophets, and by the Voice of his Providence. He calls us by what he hath done abroad, and by what he hath done at home, to repent and turn to the Lord, lest Iniquity prove our Ruine: But have we not reason to fear that all his Kindness and Patience has but hardned us the more, and ren­dred us the more incorrigible, and ripe for Ruine? We continue our Rebelli­ons against him, as if we were sure he would never be weary of Repenting.

Being often reproved, and warned, and delivered, and yet Impenitent, ought we not to fear, lest we be sud­denly destroyed, and that without Reme­dy? How many Countries and Cities have been so? How many former In­stances, and later ones, may be menti­oned? And if we are spared, it is mere Soveraignty, and Prerogative.

CHAP. V.

IT is the Language of Divine Pro­vidence to us, as to his ancient Peo­ple, Hos. 11.8, 9. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Ad­mah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine Heart is turned within me, my Re­pentings are kindled together. I will not execute the Fierceness of mine Anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not Man, the Holy One of Israel, in the midst of thee. He de­nounced [Page 104]dreadful Judgments for their Ingratitude, ver. 5, 6, 7. but when it comes to the Execution, he is loth to destroy; How shall I give thee up? To which it is answered, ‘ My Heart is turned within me, my Heart is turned against that Determination of Judg­ment I seemed to resolve on; or my Heart is returned to Pity and Com­passion, that I cannot execute my threatned Vengeance.’ How shall I deliver thee up, O Israel?To which it is answered, ‘ My Repentings are kin­dled together, that is, my Bowels yearn towards you still: As little as you deserve any Favour, or Compassi­on at my Hands, I am inclined to reprieve and spare you a while lon­ger, to give you space and time to re­pent.’ How shall I make thee as Ad­mah, one of the Cities of the Plain, that was utterly destroyed with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven, with So­dom and Gomorrah? Unto which it is answered, ‘ I will not execute the Fierce­ness of mine Anger, as I did against [Page 105]that wicked City.’ How shall I set thee as Zeboim? another of those wick­ed Cities, which the Lord overthrew in his Anger and his Wrath, Gen. 19.24. To which it is answered, ‘ I will not return to destroy Ephraim, I will not make a full end of him, for I am God and not Man; not of an hasty, passi­onate, revengeful Temper, as Men who are injured and affronted, and provoked by one another. I delight in Mercy, I have the Patience of a God as well as the Power; and there­fore you are not consumed, Mal. 3.6. I am the Holy One of Israel, a God in Covenant with your Fathers, and have promised to be so with their Po­sterity: I am the Holy One of Israel, in the midst of thee: You are called by my Name, and I am yet amongst you by the Tokens of my Presence; I am therefore loth to leave you, utterly to leave you to Destruction.’

You have the like Expression, Hos. 6.4. O Israel, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for [Page 106]your Goodness is as the Morning-Cloud, and the early Dew, that passeth away: that is, ‘I am loth to punish you with destructive Judgments, but what shall I do to prevent it? O Israel, O Judah, what would you have me to do? Would you have me neglect the Honour of my Government, and be an idle Spectator of all the Affronts that you have offered me? Must I repeal my Law, and throw aside my Scepter, and tamely suffer the Rights of my Throne to be incroached on, and trampled under Foot? Must I resolve to suffer you to go on in your Hypocrisy, and Idolatry, and shame­ful Backslidings, without testifying my Displeasure? I have done much to warn you, to awaken you, to re­form you, to prevent your Ruine. I am inclined to Pity, I am unwil­ling to destroy: But, O Israel, what shall I do unto thee? You will not be purged, you will not be healed, you will not be gathered, you will die. And yet Mercy interposes again, before [Page 107]the Stroak is given; How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim? Must I, after all, give Orders for thy Destruction? How shall I do it? Though thou de­servest to be forsaken by my Mercy, which thou hast abused, and seized by my Justice, which thou hast provoked, yet how shall I find in my Heart to permit it? Though I can hardly tell how to bear with thee any longer, or with Honour to my Name and Government, to delay the Execution of that destructive Vengeance, threat­ned on my part, and deserved on thine; yet, O Ephraim, my dear Son, how shall I give thee up? O Israel, the Po­sterity of my ancient Friend Jacob, how shall I deliver thee over to final Ruine?’

In answer to this, says God, My Heart is turned within me, my Repent­ings are kindled together: i. e. ‘I find such Struglings of Compassion in my Heart towards thee, that I know not how to execute what I have threat­ned: My Repentings are kindled, I be­gin [Page 108]to repent of the Evil that I had threatned to inflict: Or my Repent­ings are kindled together; that is, all the Thoughts and Arguments that might persuade me to repent of my threatned Wrath, and keep back Destruction, they are all mustered together, to pre­vent the Stroke.’

Thus does the blessed God conde­scend, to bespeak us after the manner of Men; and like a tender-hearted and compassionate Parent, who is loth to disinherit even a rebellious, and disobe­dient Son. His Kindness contends a­gainst his Anger; his Mercy pleads a­gainst his Justice; the one denounceth Wrath, the other begs a Reprieve; the one threatens Desolation, the other in­terposes to prevent it: My Heart is turned within me, and my Repentings are kindled; therefore I will not give thee up, I will not execute the Fierce­ness of mine Anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim, I will not make a full end of him; for I am God, and not Man, &c.

God has evidenced this to us, and others by undeniable Proofs; in that notwithstanding the Provocations of a People, he is ready to Repent of his threatned Judgments upon their Repen­tance, and Return to him; and like­wise in that, before he gives up such a People to Destruction, he gives them frequent Warnings by his Messengers, and by his lesser Judgments; yea though his Warnings are slighted, and his Calls rejected, yet he doth not present­ly destroy, but waits with much Long­suffering, giving them Time and Space to Repent; and sometimes appears to give unexpected Deliverance, even for his own Name sake; and doth also spare and preserve a Remnant, in the most general Destruction: And even at last doth not willingly abandon such a People to utter Ruine, but with Re­luctancy and Regret, so far as is con­sistent with the unchangeable Purity, and Blessedness of the Divine Ma­jesty.

Like a compassionate Judg, who doth not willingly pass the Sentence of Condemnation: If you will not re­pent, you must perish: If you will not be reformed, you must be undone: If you will not take Warning, you must be forsaken. But, O Ephraim, how shall I give thee up? O Israel, what shall I do unto thee? O that they knew the things that belong unto their Peace, be­fore they be hid from their Eyes! He signs the Warrant, as it were, for their Execution; and then he retracts the Order again: He gives Commission for their Destruction, and then recalls it, and proves them yet a little longer. If that will not do, but Justice renews her Plea for Vengeance, then Mercy in­terposes for a Delay.

It was on this Account God per­mitted Abraham to plead with him so familiarly for Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Cities of the Plain; God lets him say all that he could, be grants him every thing he would have: If there be but fifty righteous Persons, [Page 111]wilt thou not spare them? Gen. 18. Yes, saith God, I will: But, Lord, per­adventure there be forty, is not that Number sufficient? Yes, says God, that shall do, if there be but forty. But, Lord, it may be there are but twenty, wilt thou not spare them for their sakes? Yes, for the sake of twenty I will, says God. Once more let me beg, Lord, if there be but ten: Ay, if there be but ten righte­ous Persons, I will spare them. God was willing to hear the utmost Abra­ham could urge on their Behalf, as if he would have been glad to have met with an Argument, that might disswade him from so unpleasing a Work. God grants him so often, and so long, till the holy Patriarch was ashamed to ask any further, or plead any longer. So backward was God to destroy, and so unwilling to give up a People to utter Ruine; and that too, though such a wicked People as Sodom and Gomorrah.

In the 4th of Amos you find God im­peached the Impenitence of that Peo­ple under various Warnings, and lesser Judgments; and mentions the Aggra­vation of each Affliction, five several times, Yet have you not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Thereupon, to awaken them to Repentance, to pre­vent their Ruine, he pronounceth the Riddle of a Doom, Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; not mentio­ning what he would do, Thus will I do unto thee. Thus, as I have done un­to other Places, or worse than I have ever done to Any; Thus will I do unto thee. It is a Relative without an An­tecedent; It is a locked Cabinet, and Treasure of Judgment, without a Key to open us a View of Particulars. No Judgment is expressed, that All may be feared; and All to be feared, that None may be felt: Therefore prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

We have a great deal of Reason not to be Secure, notwithstanding God's Ʋnwillingness to destroy. National [Page 113]Judgments are deserved, and threatned, and may be justly feared; and nothing but Repentance, Reformation, Prayer, and Ʋnion, and such other Methods as are despised and neglected, can se­cure, or preserve us.

This is certain, that no Situation of our Country, (or any Country, whe­ther an Island, or Continent) can be our Safety, if God be against us. For what can preserve us from an Earth­quake, or a thousand other Methods of Judgment, which God can employ? All that Men expect Succour, and De­liverance, and Protection from, is in vain, if God be not engaged on our behalf. All those things that we can trust to, are but so many Ciphers, if God be not on our side.

The Assyrian trusts in his mighty Ar­my, numerous enough to drink up a River, Isa. 37.24. and yet the next News we hear of him, is, that God sends an Angel, and cuts off near two hundred thousand in one Night. No Courage or Valour, Numbers or [Page 114]Strength, can avail in a time of War: No Skill or Policy, (of the Truth of this every Age affords Instances:). No external Relation to God by Church-Privileges, whereof the Jews are a sad Example; No, nor any former Deli­verances God hath wrought for us, are a Ground of Security for the future, without a thankful, and a holy Im­provement of them. Not many Years after the Preservation of the City of Niniveh, that City and People were destroyed. So it is threatned, Josh. 24.20. If you forsake the Lord, he will turn against you, and do you Hurt, and consume you, even after he hath done you Good. The like is threatned, Deut. 28.63. If you forsake the Lord, he will rejoice over you to Destroy you, as he re­joiced over you to do you Good. Though a City be defended by Rocks and Mountains, as Edom was; yet the Strength and Situation of a Place, is no Preservative against Divine Judg­ments.

In two or three Moments many thou­sand, yea many hundred thousand Peo­ple may be swallowed up by a sudden Earthquake, tumbling alive into one common Grave, buried before they are dead, with miserable Cries, and Groans, and Shrieks, till their Breath be stop­ped. And whatever the Wickedness of other Places may have been, who have smarted by such Judgments, the Aggravations of our Sins in England, and London are such, as may make us fear the like, or worse.

If there were nothing but the Mis­improvement of our past Mercies, we had reason to fear it: For what Bles­sing is there more than ordinarily va­luable, but we have had? If Peace, if Plenty, if Victory, if the Gospel, we have had it. But what unanswerable Returns have we made, under all such Obligations? All the Ways by which Eminent Mercies are abused, and God provoked, we have practised. Some of these we have not valued at all; Others we have soon forgotten: As to [Page 116] some, we have given the Praise and Glory, not to God, but to our selves, or our Friends, or the Instruments of Conveyance; Some (I fear the most) of these Blessings we have misimployed to the Dishonour of God, and there­fore our very Mercies may make us tremble.

Yea further, that Drowsiness and Se­curity, and Spirit of Slumber, that hath seemed to seize the Generality of Pro­fessors amongst us at this Day, is a just Ground for our present Fears; i. e. The general Unconcernedness about the State and Posture of things amongst us, with relation to God's Presence or Departure. It cannot be well with such a People, they cannot but be in exceeding Hazard, who when their Neighbour's House is consumed to Ashes, or is yet on Fire, are fast asleep on their Beds. For this God threatens to search Jerusalem with Candles, to pu­nish the Men that are settled on their Lees, who said in their Hearts, the Lord will not do Good or Evil, Zech. 1.12.

CHAP. VI.

BUT to come more particularly to consider the late Earthquakes. There are many things that should af­fect us with an holy Awe and Fear of God, and his Judgments, upon those Instances of his Severity in Jamaica, in Sicily, and by the lesser one we felt September the 8th, 1692.

It is not to be overlook'd, that most of the ancient Historians do observe, that this kind of Calamity has been [Page 118]the Presage of further Judgment ^*. And even such as have no great Kind­ness for Religion, Machiavel himself not excepted, have acknowledged this to be true as to Matter of Fact. So­crates ^† in his Ecclesiastical History, [Page 119]speaking of the Earthquakes that hap­ned in Bithynia, and the neighbo [...]ring Countries, in the Days of Valentinian and Valons, takes notice of them as Signs of the Shakings and Convullions, the Tumults and Diserders, which should afterwards follow in the Chri­stian Churches. The whole known World, both Land and Sea, was then shaken, and its like the then unknown too; which might seem to be a Pre­lude to the future Confiagration, or Destruction of the whole. Thucidides mentions an Earthquake in Delos, which in the ^‖ Memory of the Grecians never shook before; that it was inter­preted for, and seemed to be a Sign of what was to come afterwards to pass, in a most bloody War.

We know that Earthquakes were foretold before the Destruction of Je­rusalem, and the final Destruction of the World, Matth. 24. That there shall be great Earthquakes in divers [Page 120]Places. How far this may be under­stood in a Metaphorical Sense, is worth considering: because though some of those Signs may be taken in a literal Sense, others cannot; as how the Stars should fall down from Heaven. And the declared Suddenness of Christ's Coming to judg the World, pleads for the Application of these illustrious Signs to the Destruction of Jerusalem. And so it was literally as to Matter of Fact, before the Destruction of Jeru­salem, as ^* Josephus relates. So before the End of the World, or the Day of Judgment, the last of the last Plagues, Rev. 16.18. we read of a great Earth­quake, such as was not since Men were on the Earth, so mighty an Earthquake, and so great.

I know many make light of these things, because they are capable of be­ing solved by natural Causes. But the Hand of God is not to be overlooked in such things, under whose Govern­ment [Page 121]and Influence all natural Agents act, and are over-ruled as to the Time and Degree of their Acting, especially such rare and unusual Instances as Earthquakes. All second Causes in their several Motions need the Continuation of the Divine Power and Influence, in order to their Operations, as well as their Subsistence. God uses all Crea­tures to be the Instruments of his Will, and to serve his Purposes. Natural A­gents, and moral, are all under his Di­rection. Fire and Hail, Snow and Va­pour, and stormy Wind fulfil his Word, Psal. 148.8. Blasting and Mildew, Drought and Barrenness, an Infectious Air, Pestilential Diseases, &c. how­ever brought about by natural Causes, are under Divine Government, and act by virtue of his Influence. He gives Order to the Destroying Angel in a Pe­stilence, 2 Sam. 24.16. He saith to the Sword, Go through the Land, Ezek. 14.17.

Now though I will not say, that always these things are Presages of fur­ther [Page 122]Calamity and Judgment to a par­ticular People; yet, because they have usually been followed by some such, and we have many other moral Prog­nostications of Divine Displeasure, it should call us to a humble Considera­tion of the Grounds of our Fear, as to National Calamities. And there are several Things (some whereof are ta­ken notice of by ^* Others) that may here very fitly be mentioned, as,

1. That we have a multitude of such Signs, as have been generally esteemed the Fore-runners of publick Calamity. It is not the late Earth­quake alone, but in conjunction with many other things, that is the Ground of our Fear. And the more Signs we have, and the more they are despised, the louder is their Voice, to those that will consider them. We had Signs in the Heavens in 1681. We have had Earthquakes of late, in divers Places: [Page 123]And God has lately taken Peace from the Earth, as to this part of the World, by engaging so great a part of Europe in bloody Wars: All which has the Appearance of some great Things to be ushered in. I durst not be confi­dent, as many are, what they shall be, or the particular Year, or Season of their Accomplishment: I chuse rather to acknowledg my Ignorance in Pro­phetick Scripture; tho divers Learned Persons say more on that Subject, than I am able to answer, or refute.

2. That the longer the Time is of God's Patience and Forbearance, with the distinguishing Mercies, and re­peated Warnings that we have had, the more terrible Judgments are like to follow, if we are Unthankful and Impenitent after all. Deliverances, if not improved, are but Reprievals from further Judgment; we may not be so much preserved and saved, as reserved to greater Misery. That Passage seems to record our Doom, Psal. 106.43. Many times did he deliver them; but they [Page 124]provoked him by their Counsel, and were brought low for their Iniquity. As God will not always contend, so neither will he always forbear. There is no greater Sign of a final Overthrow, than a Mis­improvement of past Mercies, and Judgments: And if God be provoked by National Sins, we cannot think his Anger will be turned away, while the Cause of it remains; that is as much as to say, Except we repent, we must likewise perish. Though a less Repen­tance may prevent National Judg­ments, than will preserve from Eter­nal Ruine.

Is it nothing unto us, that God has dealt so severely with other People? when our Privileges and Obligations are equal to, or greater than theirs? There is hardly any one ill Symptom, that has ever been upon any People, that God has dealt in Severity with, but something of it is observable, and notorious amongst us. I grant, we must not set Bounds to the Patience of God, any more than to his Power: We [Page 125]know not how much longer he may bear with us, before he vindicate his own Rights, or in what Way, or to what Degree he will do so, at least in our Time. But we have no Ground of Confidence, and Security: For while we say, Peace, Peace, sudden Destruction, yea National Destruction may overtake us, as Travail upon a Woman with Child. And the rather, because all his Warnings hitherto seem to be slighted: Our National Preservation and Delive­rance, so often repeated, has not bet­tered us; but our Provocations are ra­ther the more aggravated, by all that God has done to Reform, Establish, and Save us.

3. If we are guilty of the like Sins with other People, who have been se­verely punish'd by extraordinary Judg­ments, why may not our continued Im­penitence expose us to an equal Punish­ment? And may not England say, Are there not with me, even with me, the same Sins against the Lord? The same Sins, for which Others have smarted, [Page 126]and that with this Aggravation, that we sin against more VVarnings? God is unchangeably Just, as well as Gra­tious. It is Soveraignty alone can pre­serve us; by that he may do so; But who can tell whether he will? God hates the same Sins in our Days, which he hated, and punished formerly: He is as much, or more, displeased with our Impurities, as with those of other People, that are destroyed. He loves the same Holiness now, which he ever loved; he is the same yesterday, to day, and for ever: And why should we think, God should go out of his way to spare us? As they may encou­rage themselves by trusting in God, who have Examples of God's Delive­rance, in the like Case of holy Trust in him; so they may fear, under the like Provocations, for which Others have been punished.

4. When a Land is full of Sin, and the whole Body of a Nation, a very Few excepted, have corrupted them­selves, and provoked God; consider, [Page 127] the Punishment of such Sins can be only in this World, while the Community lasts. This is not to be reserved to the Judg­ment of the Great Day, when every particular Person shall answer for his own Guilt. And is not our Nation full of Sin? Do not our Provocations reach to Heaven? Is there not a Ful­ness, as to Number and Multitude, as to Measure and Degree, that the Chil­dren fill up the Measure of their Fa­thers Iniquity; and as to Strength, and Growth, that it rises higher; and as to Cunning and Dexterity in the Arts of Wickedness, in Court, City, Country, Ʋniversity, among all Ranks and De­grees; and as to Boldness and Impu­dence, by open bare-fac'd Impiety? Many of those Crimes, which were formerly Matter of Reproach, and Shame, are now Alamode, and in Fa­shion, and the Character of a Gentle­man.

CHAP. VII.

WE ought to consider the Extra­ordinary Warnings that we have had, by the late Earthquake in Jamaica, June the 7th, 1692. and here at home, September the 8th, and what we have lately heard concerning Sicily. This is the more to be attended to, be­cause the Most are ready to ascribe all to Natural Causes. There is an Athe­istical, and Profane Spirit visible a­mongst us, to disregard any thing of the Hand of God in these Matters; as [Page 129]if he did not direct such a Judgment, to one Place rather than Another, and de­termine, and over-rule the Time, and Season, and Degree of it.

Consider, what was done in Jamai­ca, had a special Reference to this Na­tion; the Interest, and the Inhabitants of that Place, being purely English, and so a Part of our Nation, though at a distance: which calls upon us the more to lay it to Heart. Neither is it to be despised, that they in Jamaica had a Forewarning by a Trembling of the Earth, a little before that Desolati­on overtook them; and soon after that, we had the Warning of the Earthquake here: it followed so close upon the Ti­dings of that in Jamaica, as to be very proper to awaken us to a deeper Sense of it, and to make the Warning the more Remarkable. So that God may say of us, as he did to Moses, If they will not hearken to the Voice of the first Sign, they may yet hearken to the Voice of the second: and the dismal Account since that, of the Earthquake in Sicily, [Page 130]makes a Third; if that of Malta may not be reckon'd a Fourth.

We do not read of any Instance of Earthquakes before in that Island of Jamaica, since it was under the Eng­lish Power, nor before while under the Spaniard: But we have had several Instances of Earthquakes amongst Ʋs formerly in England, and these Parts of Europe, tho more seldom than in the East; therefore it is not unreasonable for us to Expect, and Fear the like.

'Tis true, those Countries which are very hot, or very cold, are least subject to Earthquakes; and therefore it hath been matter of Wonder in E­gypt, or in ^* Scythia, to have the Earth tremble. Great Britain and Ireland are reckoned among those Parts of Europe least liable to violent Earthquakes; and yet our Historians mention several, as,

Anno Dom. 1081. April 6. in the time of ^† King William the First, (or [Page 131]the Conqueror) was an Earthquake here with a great Noise, in the 15th Year of his Reign; and followed within a few Years with many Calamities.

In Henry the First's Time, ^* the Earth moved with so great a Violence, that many Buildings were shaken down; and Malmesbury saith, that the House wherein he sate, was lifted up with a double Remove, and at the third time settled again in the proper Place. And in divers Places it gave forth a hideous Noise, and cast forth Flames at certain Rifts many days to­gether, which neither by Water, nor by other Means, could be suppress'd. In Lombardy the same Year, was an Earthquake that continued for 40 days, and remov'd a Town from the Place where it stood, a great way off.

An. 1133. Matthew Paris mentions a great Darkness in England, and an Earthquake at the same time.

An. 1165. He mentions another [Page 132]Earthquake, in the 11th Year of Henry the Second, January the 26th, in Ely, Norfolk, and Suffolk; which threw down many Persons, who were stand­ing or walking; and made the Clocks to strike, and Bells to ring in the Stee­ples. And in the 24th Year of his Reign, in the Territory of Derlington, in the Bishoprick of ^* Durham, the Earth lifted up her self in manner of an high Tower, and so remained un­moveable from Morning till Evening, and then fell with so horrible a Noise, as frighted the Inhabitants thereabouts; and the Earth swallowing it up, made there a deep Pit, which is seen at this day: The Pits in that Place are com­monly called Hellkettles.

An. 1180. A great Earthquake threw down many Buildings, amongst which the Cathedral Church of Lin­coln was rent in pieces, April 25th.

An. 1247. There was an ^† Earth­quake [Page 133]in April at London, especially felt on the Banks of the River Thames; which shook, and threw down many Buildings; and was the more terrible, because these Western Parts are less accustom'd to Earthquakes. And the same Year there was little Ebbing or Flowing of the Sea observable as at o­ther times, for about three Months.

An. 1248. The same Historian men­tions another Earthquake, which did a great deal of Mischief, especially in the Diocess of Bath; the Bishop where­of gave him an Account of it. And this was the third which had happen'd within three Years, on this side the Alpes; one in some Parts of Savoy, and two in England; which was the more Terrible, because the like not known before in these Parts. He takes notice of another Earthquake in England af­terward, in the Year 1250.

In the thirteenth Year of Queen Eli­zabeth, a prodigious ^* Earthquake hap­pened [Page 134]in the East Parts of Herefordshire, near a little Town called Kinaston. On the 17th of February, at six a clock in the Evening, the Earth began to open, and an Hill with a Rock under it (ma­king at first a great bellowing Noise, which was heard a great way off) lif­ted it self up a great Height, and be­gan to travel; bearing along with it the Trees that grew upon it, the Sheep­folds, and Flocks of Sheep abiding there at the same time: In the Place, from whence it was first moved, it left a ga­ping Distance forty Foot broad, and fourscore Ells long; the whole Field was about twenty Acres. Passing a­long, it overthrew a Chappel standing in the way, removed an Yew Tree planted in a Church-yard, from the West unto the East: with the like Force it thrust before it High-ways, Sheepfolds, Hedges, and Trees; made tilled Ground Pasture, and again turn­ed Pasture into Tillage. Having walk'd in this sort from Saturday in the Even­ing till Monday Noon, it then stood still.

An. 1588. The like Prodigy hapned in ^* Dorsetshire, as in the Year 1571, in Herefordshire. A Field of three A­cres, with the Trees and Fences, in Blackmore, moved from its Place, and passed over another Field, travelling in the High-way that goeth to Herne, and there stayed.

In the 23d of Q. Elizabeth, An. 1580. in the beginning of April, about six in the Afternoon, happened an ^† Earth­quake not far from York, which in some places struck the very Stones out of the Buildings, and made the Bells in Chur­ches to jingle. The Night following the Earth trembled once or twice in Kent, and again the first of May. This Earthquake was felt at London, so as to give Occasion to an Order of Prayer; and a Godly Admonition concerning it, appointed ^‖ to be read for the turn­ing of God's Wrath from the Nation, [Page 136]threatned by the Earthquake, by Order of the Queen and her Privy-Council, to be used in all Churches, and Hous­holds throughout the Realm.

An. 1657. On the 8th day of July there was an ^* Earthquake at Bickley in Cheshire.

Germany, and France, and the Ne­therlands, have also felt Earthquakes. In April 1640, all the Low Countries, and a great part of Germany, were shaken by a sudden Earthquake. Which sort of Prodigy was very unusual, saith ^† Cluverius, in those Parts.

An. 1117. In the 17th Year of the Emperor ^‖ Henry the 5th, the World was shook by terrible Earthquakes; Cities, Castles, Villages, and a mul­titude of People were swallowed up in the Caverns of the Earth. Many at Liege, or Luyk, were destroyed by Thunder, while they were paying their Veneration to the Saints for Safe­ty: [Page 137]Mountains were cleft, Rivers dried up, &c.

So lately as the Year 1660, France had experience of ^* an Earthquake, which the Turkish Spy mentions, who was then at Paris. ‘We have felt the Menaces, saith he, of a terrible Earth­quake this Evening. When I liv'd in Asia, an Earthquake was almost as common as the yearly Revolution of Summer and Winter: and we took as little notice of it, as we did of Light­ning, Hail, or Rain. But now I have been so long disus'd to these Con­vulsions of the Globe—that I am become like the rest of the World, ti­morous, and astonished,—my Mind at first stagger'd as much as my Body. When I was walking cross my Chamber, and felt the Floor rock under me, with that singular kind of Motion, which no humane Art or Force can imitate, I soon concluded 'twas an Earthquake, but knew not [Page 138]how to bear that Thought with In­difference. Death is familiar to me in any other Figure, but that of be­ing so surprizingly buried alive; it appeared to me very horrible to sink on a sudden into an unknown Grave, I knew not whither. Perhaps I might fall into some dark Lake of Water; or it may be, I might be drench'd in a River of Fire, or be dash'd on a Rock: for who can tell the Disposi­tion of the Caverns below, or what sort of Apartments he shall find under the Surface of the Earth? We walk on the Battlements of a Marvellous Structure, a Globe full of Tremendous Secrets.—We had News here of an Earthquake, which had over­thrown part of the Pyrenean Moun­tains, some days before this happened at Paris; but few regarded it. Ca­lamities at a Distance frighten. No Body: Yet those which we feel, put us all in Fears.’— In another Letter he saith, ‘The Earthquake late­ly in these Parts, hath put all France [Page 139]into a great Consternation, astonish­ed every Body, and encreased the Thoughtfulness of the Wise. The first Effects of it were felt by the In­habitants of the Pyrenees, which are certain Mountains dividing France and Spain. There it did great Mis­chief, overwhelming s [...]me Medicinal Baths, many Houses, and destroying Hundreds of People. Only one Mosque or Church, which sunk into the Ca­verns below, was thrown up again, and stands very firm, but in another Place. This is look'd upon as a great Miracle, especially by the French, who have disputed with the Spaniard for this Church, as standing on the Frontier Line; but now is remov'd near half a League within the ac­knowledg'd Limits of France.’ The Matter of Fact is all I urge this Testi­mony for; his Remarks here (and in many other places) not being such, as a Serious Christian will approve.

If France, and Britain, and Germa­ny, have had few Earthquakes, in [Page 140]comparison of other Places of the East, yet Italy hath often smarted under such Calamities. Among many Instances, I'le recite some, besides those already mentioned.

An. Dom. 801. While Charles the Great was in Italy, there was an Earth­quake ^* with great Noises, on the last of April, which shook all France, and Germany, but especially Italy; it over­threw several Towers, and even Moun­tains; and the Church of St. Paul at Rome was destroyed by it. Whereup­on Pope Leo the Third appointed three Days before the Ascension, solemn Fasts, and Processions. These Prodi­gies were followed with furious Tem­pests, and contagious Diseases, which affected the Cattel throughout Italy, so that the most of their Beasts died.

An. 1180. An Earthquake ruined a great part of the City of Naples.

An. 1222. There were such ^‖ Earth­quakes [Page 141]in Italy and Lombardy, that the Cities and Towns were forsaken, and the People kept abroad in the Fields in Tents; many Houses and Churches were thrown down, and many were thereby crush'd to Death. The Earth trembled twice a day in Lombardy, for fourteen days together. Besides two Cities in Cyprus destroyed by Earth­quakes this Year. The City of ^* Bres­cia was then almost ruin'd.

An. 1276. In July, the same Month when Adrian the 4th was made Pope, and within a few days after, was ^† a dreadful Earthquake at Milan, and all the Country round about. Which Pope died the next August, and in Sep­tember Another succeeded by the Name of John the 21st.

An. 1348. This Year was so famous for forty eight Earthquakes, and for Contagious Diseases in Italy, and other [Page 142]parts of Europe, that ^* Albertus Argen­tinensis saith, from the time of the Flood, was not such a Season of Mor­tality, (Haud inde a Diluvio regnasse tantam vim morborum & mortium pu­tet.)

An. 1397. On St. Stephen's Day all Lombardy ^† was shaken by an unusual Earthquake, which destroyed very ma­ny Buildings, &c.

An. 1456. There arose upon the Sea of Ancona, together with a thick gloo­my Cloud that extended above two Miles, a Tempest of Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning, and Thunder; which piercing to the most deep Abysses of the Sea, forc'd up the Waves with a most dreadful Fury, and carried all be­fore it upon the Land: which caused so dreadful an Earthquake some time after, that the Kingdom of Naples was ruined, and all ^‖ Italy carried the dis­mal [Page 143]Marks of it. A Million of Houses and Castles were buried in their own Ruine, above thirty thousand People were crush'd to pieces, and a huge Mountain overturn'd into the Lake de la Garde.

An. 1473. There was such an Earth­quake at ^* Milan, and the Country round about, as the like was not known in the Memory of any then Living there.

An. 1590. The Election of Pope Ʋrban the Seventh (who in 10 Months made room for Gregory the 14th) was signalized by an ^† Earthquake, by which Austria, Moravia, and Bohemia trembled; accompanied with a prodi­gious Drought that Summer. Upon which ensued a Famine, and Pestilence, with such Havock in Italy, that in one Year there died at Rome, sixty thousand Persons.

An. 1629. The Divine Anger broke [Page 144]out upon Italy by such horrible ^* Earth­quakes, that in Apulia seventeen thou­sand Persons were destroyed.

An. 1638. Athanasius Kircher the Jesuit, in his Preface to his Mundus Subterrancus, gives a sad Narrative of a dismal ^† Earthquake in Calabria, wherein himself was, and out of which he hardly escap'd with his Life: No­thing to be seen in the whole Country he passed by, for two hundred Miles in length, but the Carcasses of Cities, and the horrible Ruines of Villages; the Inhabitants wandring about in the open Fields, being half dead with Fear, and Expectation of what might fol­low. But most remarkable was the Subversion of the noted Town of St. Eufemia, which was quite lost out of their sight, and absorp'd; and instead thereof nothing left but a stinking Lake, &c.

Italy and Sicily abound with sub­terraneous [Page 145]Fires, especially in the Sou­thern Parts; which have broke out so often, as to be called by the Ancient Inhabitants, The Burnt Countrey. In some Places are seen perpetual Burn­ings, as in Aetna, and Vesuvius; in others, Conflagrations by times: All Campania carries Footsteps of such Con­flagrations. Mount Aetna hath often rag'd mightily, and hath been wont to do so ^* almost as many Years before Christ as since. An. 1669. it broke out with Violence, and overthrew all the adjacent Places with very great De­solation, sorely threatning Catanea it self, which is since wholly destroyed by the late Earthquake. These Irrup­tions of Mount Aetna, and Vesuvius, are always accompanied with Earth­quakes, more or less; which sometimes do incredible Mischief in those Parts. For Instance, An. 1688. we have an Account from ^† Naples, June the 8th, [Page 146]of an Earthquake there, which was accompanied with the Rage, and Roar­ings of Mount Vesuvius. ‘On Satur­day last, the 5th instant, about the 22d Hour, happened here a dreadful Earthquake, (though it lasted not long) which frightning the Inhabi­tants out of their Houses with the Terrors of an inevitable Destruction, they betook themselves to the Piaz­za's, and the open publick Places of the City. The old College of the Jesuits was ruined by it, also the great Chappel of their new College, toge­ther with three other Chappels ad­joining; three of the Fathers were killed there, besides many others whose Numbers are not yet known. The Front of another great Church of the Jesuits opened in many Cracks, and the great Tower or Steeple seem­ed ready to fall. In the Theatins Convent of the Holy Apostles, a whole Dormitory fell down, besides other considerable Damage they re­ceived: And the magnificent Arch [Page 147]erected before the Church of St. Paul, belonging to the said Fathers, fell to­gether with those great and ancient Columns, that formerly made part of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, there remaining only four of them standing, and those in a tottering Condition. Out of those Ruines there have been already dug 19 Persons that were dead; and there was reason to fear that the Mischief might have been much grea­ter, it being so near to a publick Mar­ket, where there were great Throngs of People. The Walls of the great Church of St. Dominick opened in many places, and great part of the Refectory fell down, as also a part of the adjoining Palace, where many were killed. Several other Churches of the Augustins, &c. were ruined: and in short, there is scarce a Palace or House that has not received some considerable Damage. This occasio­ned very devout Processions of Persons of all Ranks. The next day was another great Shock, which threw [Page 148]down many of the Houses that were before the most weakned: And ye­sterday there was another perceived, but without much Damage; but this day we have felt nothing of it. How­ever, the Processions continue in great numbers, and the Persons of Quality are all retired from hence. In the Neighbourhood of Ʋdico, a City at sixteen Miles distance from hence, a Mountain opened; and a Courier from Benevento, a City belonging to the Pope, brings an account, that it was all ruined, and that of 6000 In­habitants there were but few left a­live. The Archbishop's Palace there was thrown down; and the Archbi­shop himself drawn out of the Ruines, being hurt in his Head and Arm: and there are Accounts of the like Dama­ges in several other Places.’

Which was confirm'd from Rome, June 12. 1688. ‘We have had no­thing considerable to entertain us here this Week, but the sad Relations of the Terrible Earthquakes at Naples, [Page 149]and several Places about it. It hap­ned at Naples on Saturday last about twenty one Hours and a half, (which at the same instant was perceiv'd even by a great many here:) On Sunday too it returned. Several Churches, Palaces, and Houses are ruined; a­mong the rest, the famous Church of the Jesuits, reckon'd the finest in Ita­ly, is all tumbled down, except the Walls and the High Altar. The par­ticular Number of those killed and buried in the Ruines, cannot yet be known. The last Letters say, ma­ny of the Inhabitants lie abroad under Tents, in Coaches, &c. and conti­nual Prayers, Processions, publick Pe­nances, &c. are performed; and eve­ry one runs about, crying, Misericor­dia. Three Ships were sunk in the Harbour, and the Water in the Wells rose many Handsuls. Benevento is almost totally ruined; and of 10000 Inhabitants they say there remain scarce 600 alive. Cardinal Ʋrsini, their Archbishop, was taken out of [Page 150]the Ruines alive, but hurt. Several other Places and Seats are quite rui­ned, and most of the Inhabitants swal­lowed up. This City, and the Coun­try hereabout, just felt the Shock, but received no Harm.’

And in a following Account a Month after, it is said, the Damage done amounts to above fifty Millions.

Now since by these, and other Ex­amples (in the next Chapter) we find Europe hath been visited by such Cala­mities formerly: If the like moral Cau­ses be found among us, the Divine Ju­stice can punish us by the like kind of Severity: and we ought to apprehend, and consider it.

The Wickedness and Impiety of the Inhabitants of Jamaica, we are told by Eye-witnesses, was grown to a very great Height, before this Judgment: And they must be great Strangers to England, and London, who will not own the same of us, both as to Prin­ciples, and Practice. Few will deny [Page 151]it, as to the latter: And as to the for­mer, it is dreadful to think how Athe­ism, and Infidelity prevails, and bare­fac'd Deism, with the Rejection of Christianity, and all Revealed Religion: how it has obtained, and spread in this Nation. As if we were weary of the Christian Profession, and would set up for Paganism, to the Subversion of the whole Frame of the Gospel of Christ; pulling the Crown from off his Head, and plucking him from his Throne. Or at best, amongst a nume­rous growing Party of Others, who own themselves Christians, the Divi­nity of our Lord is disown'd, and they allow him to be but a meer Man, not the Eternal Son of God. When such Provocations abound amongst us, it should affect us with Horrour, especi­ally when they prevail against the high­est Means, and Mercies, and spread as a Gangrene over the whole Kingdom.

There were some Circumstances of the Earthquake amongst us, Sept. 8th, that have been observed to be very pe­culiar. [Page 152]I do not reckon this for one, that at the same Hour the Earth trem­bled here at London, and at many di­stant Places, both in this Kingdom, and in the Low Countries, and the adjacent Parts of Germany, and France, not­withstanding the Sea between us and them: for Earthquakes have reach'd farther. Not to mention that Earth­quake at the Death of our Blessed Savi­our Christ, which shook not only one part of the Earth, as in other Cases, but the whole of it trembled, if ^* Dy­dimus may be credited. Or the Ex­tent of that, whereby ^† twelve Cities of Asia fell at once. Gassendus in the Life of Peireskius, reports, that at the [Page 153]Mountain Semo in Aethiopia, there hap­pened a burning at the same time with that of Vesuvius in Campania, An. 1633. So that not only Vesuvius communi­cates with Aetna by subterraneous Vaults, but also Aetna with the Moun­tains of Syria, the Tunnels running un­der the Depths of the Mediterranean Sea; and those with the Arabian; and lastly the Arabian with Mount Semo in Aethiopia. And we read of other In­stances, particularly by the Earthquake in France and Switzerland, May 12. 1682. which reach'd as far as Collen in Germany, and was perceiv'd in Lion­nois, Dauphiny, and Beaujolois, at Mets in Lorrain, in Provence, &c. That the Cities of Orleans, Troyes, Sens, Chalons, Joinville, Reims, Soissons, Laon, Moscon, Dole, Strasburgh, &c. felt it, especially Remiremont on the Moselle. The whole World almost trembled at once by the Earthquake, An. 1116. And by the Earthquake, An. 1601. Asia, Hungary, Italy, Germany, and France, are said to have trembled at one time; that Earth­quake [Page 154]extending from Asia to that Sea that washes the French Shores, the whole Length of Europe, in a quarter of an Hour; besides some Asiatick Re­gions, it shook Hungary, Germany, Ita­ly, and France: This is affirmed by good Writers, saith Mr. ^* Boyle, and Mr. ^† Ray; relating from Jose­phus Acosta, an Earthquake in Peru, that reach'd for 160 Leagues. And Fournier gives an Account of one in Peru, that reach'd 300 Leagues along the Sea-shore, and 70 Leagues Inland, and levell'd the Mountains all along as it went, threw down Cities, turn'd the Rivers out of their Channels, and made an universal Havock and Confu­sion. All this, he saith, was done within the space of seven or eight Mi­nutes.

Some have observ'd, that most Peo­ple had their Heads affected with an [Page 155]unusual Giddiness, before they appre­hended, or understood any thing of the Earthquake. The Time of it also may be observed by you of this City, viz. the second Week in September, to Re­member you of a former Judgment by Fire, in the first Week of that Month.

Now think a little, what would have become of us, if it had lasted but a few Minutes more? How near were we to Ruine? How soon can God do the like again, if his Calls to Repen­tance be not obeyed? And how impos­sible is it for all the Great Men of the World, as to cause such a thing, so to hinder or prevent it, or to preserve themselves or us, if God should thus visit us in his Anger another time?

CHAP. VIII.

IT hath been observ'd by Divers what Plato mentions in his Ti­maeus, of a vast Island without the Straits of Gibraltar, called Atlantis, and bigger than Africa and Asia toge­ther, which in one Day and Night by a violent Earthquake, and mighty Flood, and Inundation of Water, was wholly overwhelmed, and drown'd in the Sea. Earthquakes have made way for the Irruption of the Sea in divers Places. Our Island of ^* Great Britain is suppos'd to be broken off from the Continent in France by that means, and Sicily from Italy. Many Rivers have chang'd their Channels, and ma­ny [Page 157]Countries have been turn'd into De­sarts by Earthquakes. By that means the River ^* Indus in Asia, that receives fifteen other Rivers into it, did change its Channel, and the neighbouring Country turn'd into a Wilderness. Di­odorus Siculus ^† mentions more than twenty thousand Lacedemonians that perish'd in Sparta by an Earthquake, that was of long Continuance. In the 7th Year of the Reign of Herod, by an Earthquake in ^‖ Judea, ten thou­sand Men, and a vast Multitude of Cattel were destroyed.

'Tis about two thousand and sixty six Years ago, that there hapned ^(*) one in Achaia, which almost utterly de­stroyed it, and which was attended with Inundations, which in the very Heart of Corinth, delug'd the Cities of Helice and Buris; of which ^(†) Ovid makes mention: [Page 158]

Tyre and Sydon in Phaenicia suffered exceedingly by Earthquakes, and an infinite Number of People buried un­der their Ruines. And Strabo menti­ons a City, situate above Sidon, that was wholly swallowed up by an Earthquake. Twelve Cities in one [Page 159]Night in Asia, ^* Pliny mentions. But S. ^† Augustine is cited for what is more strange, that in a famous Earthquake an hundred Cities of Lybia were demo­lished.

In Trajan's time, the City of Anti­och was swallowed up, An. 105. and a great part of Asia with it: and some other Earthquakes there, I have alrea­dy ^‖ mentioned. The Terror of that in the time of the Emperor Trajan, is described by several ^(*) Historians.

An. 177. Smyrna in Asia was over­thrown by an Earthquake, (as a few Years since it was again) ^(†) towards the rebuilding whereof, the Emperour Antoninus forgave ten Years Tribute.

Ammianus ^(‖) Marcellinus speaks of very dreadful Earthquakes that hap­pen'd in Macedonia, in the time of the Emperour Constantius. And of one that he saith was Universal, in the [Page 160]time of the Emperour Dioclesian. And ^* Sozomen gives an Account, that An. 358. the City of Nicomedia was over­thrown by an Earthquake, which made the Council appointed by Constantius to meet there, to be put off to another Year. The City of ^† Nice in Bithynia was ruined, and almost all the Inhabi­tants destroyed, twelve Years after this, saith Socrates.

An. D. 557. There was a violent Earthquake at ^‖ Constantinople, that lasted for many days; and every Hour the City suffered extraordinary Shocks. Many Houses were thrown down, but the People betook themselves to Pray­er, and Fasting, and Repentance; and God had Compassion on them: But many other Cities in the East were ru­in'd by it. And even Alexandria in Egypt shaken; which was the more strange and astonishing to them, be­cause it seldom happens in those Parts. [Page 161] An. 986. there was another at Con­stantinople, which was so violent, that not only the Walls and Churches were shaken by it, but all ^* Greece.

In the 12th Century there were ma­ny in the ^† East. And in the Year 1300, which began the Turkish Em­pire, or the Ottoman Aera, ^‖ Platina relates such an Earthquake at Rome, as the like was never before. And An. 1348. such a one at ^(*) Constantino­ple, as endured for forty Days, and reach'd in the Extent of it to Hungary, and Italy; twenty six Cities overthrown by it, Mountains torn up by the Roots; several Men, Women, and Beasts, by that strange Exhalation turn'd into Statues of Salt.

In Persia, An. 1400. ^(†) Herbert gives an account of an Earthquake, which threw down 500 Houses in the City of Lair. And An. 1593. the [Page 162]whole City (which they boasted to consist of 5000 Houses) was shaken, and 3000 Houses overthrown, and as many of the Inhabitants killed.

In the Azores, or French Islands, in the West Indies, (St. Michael's Island) Linschot mentions an Earthquake, An. 1591. that ^* endured shaking from July 26, unto the 12th of August, to the extreme Terror of the Inhabitants: Especially when by force thereof, they perceived the Earth to remove from place to place; and Villa Franca, the best Town it had, to turn topsy-turvy: the Ships that then rode at Anchor in the Bay, trembled and quaked; inso­much that the People verily thought Doomsday was at hand, and that the Fabrick of the Universe was disjoint­ing.

In Tercera, the first and biggest of those Islands, called the Azores, there happened a great ^† Earthquake, May [Page 163]24. 1614. that overturn'd in the City of Agra, eleven Churches, nine Chap­pels, besides many private Houses. And in the City of Praya hardly an House was left standing. And in the Year 1628, June 16. there happened so horrible an one in the Island of St. Michael, that not far from it the Sea opened, and thrust forth an Island a­bove a League and half in length, at a place where was above 150 Fathom Water.

An. 1581. Joseph Acosta relates, that in Peru there happened an Earthquake, which removed the City of Anguan­gum two Leagues from the place where it stood, without demolishing it, in regard the Situation of the whole Country was chang'd.

An. 1657. The Spaniards (saith the ^* Turkish Spy) have lately felt a Terri­ble Blow in Peru; which if it be not a Mark of the Wrath of Heaven, is at least a sign that the Earth is weary of [Page 164]them, especially in those parts, where they have stained it with so much In­nocent Blood. The City Lima not many Moons ago, was swallowed up by an Earthquake: and Calao, another City not far from it, was consum'd by a Shower of Fire out of the Clouds. Eleven thousand Spaniards lost their Lives in this Calamity; and the Earth devoured an hundred Millions of Refi­ned Silver, which the Lucre of the Spaniards had forc'd out of its Bowels. All the Mountains of Potosi, from whence they dug their choicest Metal, were levell'd with the Plain, and no more hopes of Gold was left to their insatiable Avarice.

Concerning this City Lima in the Kingdom of Peru, we had a sad Ac­count of another Earthquake there, Octob. 20. 1687. (if it be not the same, and the Date mistaken) which over­threw the whole Town, not leaving one House standing; and buried ma­ny of the Inhabitants under its Ru­ines. At the same time Callao, Fanette, [Page 165]Pisco, Chancay, los Florillos, &c. most of them Sea-port-Towns, were de­stroyed by an Inundation of the Sea, which carried several Ships above three Leagues into the Country; and great numbers of People and Cattle were drown'd, there being found, when the Water fell, at one place near the Sea­side, above 5000 People dead; and every day more were found, so that no Account could be given of their Number. This was mentioned in the ^* London Gazette, and confirmed by many Merchants Letters: Tho the Damage by the Inundation was lessen'd by another Account afterwards.

CHAP. IX.

LAstly, However God may deal with any particular Branch of the Protestant, Reformed Churches, as to National Judgments; yet we may hope he will gloriously Accom­plish his own Work, for the spreading, and inlarging of the Kingdom of Christ; and that all the Shakings of Heaven and Earth, shall but make way for the De­sire of all Nations to come. God has preserved his Church hitherto, not­withstanding all Opposition. The Preservation of the Venetian Govern­ment [Page 167]for eleven or twelve hundred Years, is nothing to the Continuance and Pro­gress of the Christian Church, in the midst of Paganism, Atheism, Anti­christianism, Deism, Arianism, Soci­nianism, and all the Scoffs, and Re­proaches, and Opposition of sensual profane Infidels. It hath born up its Head under all the Revolutions, and Changes of Countries and Nations; notwithstanding all the Wars, and Confusions, and Overturnings, that have been in the World. The King­dom of Christ is an Everlasting King­dom, and shall endure; he will always have a Church, and People, against whom the Gates of Hell shall not pre­vail. Tho famous Countries and Ci­ties have been destroyed, that made a great Figure in History, whereof no­thing is now left but their very Name; and hardly so much of their Dust and Ashes, as will suffice to write their Names in. But Jerusalem that is from above, the City of the Great King, which is built upon the Rock, doth and [Page 168]shall indure. No Length of Time can weaken this Foundation, no Storms can shake it, no Earthquakes overturn it, no Waves or Floods drown it. There ever hath been, and will be, a Church of Christ on Earth, professing so much Truth as is necessary to Salvation. He hath appointed his Ordinances, and a Ministry to continue to the End of the World, and promised his Presence with them: He hath appointed the Memo­rial of his Dying Love to be kept up, till his second Coming: And therefore will always have a People, amongst whom these shall be kept up. Tho particular Churches, in this Country, or another, may have their Rise, Growth, and Period, as there have been parti­cular Inundations in several Countries, notwithstanding the Oath of God to Noah, that there should not be another General Deluge: But the Truth of God endures throughout all Generations: Mount Sion abideth for ever, and can­not be moved; and all the Promises of the latter Days shall certainly be ac­complished: [Page 169]Though I will not be po­sitive, as to the Time of those things, so as to ground any Assurance concern­ing their near Accomplishment, or the particular Share of this Nation in them: Yet as to such prophetick Pe­riods, God will break through all Ob­structions to accomplish his own Coun­sel. And what the present Shakings, and Convulsions of the Nations round about, may issue in, who can tell? For never was any great Good to the Church, or any considerable Reforma­tion introduc'd, without great Com­motions. And Literal Earthquakes are often taken notice to have preceded.

About the Beginning of the Refor­mation from Popery, An. 1569, and 1570, there was one in Ferraria, which Country was lately given to the Pope, and in Portugal, whereby ^* Lisbon was shaken, 1500 Houses ruined, all the Temples turn'd into Rubbish, the Ships swallowed up in the Ocean, the [Page 170]River thrown out of its Channel. And the same Earthquake affected the Ne­therlands, and caused great Inundati­ons of the Sea. And the like former­ly is observable before the Division of the Roman Empire into ten Kingdoms, that there were frequent Earthquakes, and other Prodigies. Before Saladin attempted the Overthrow of Jerusalem, and to ravage the Holy Land, An. 1172. ^* great Earthquakes preceded. Anno 1300. when the Turkish Empire be­gan to be considerable, there ^† was such an Earthquake at Rome, as the like never was before. As when the Pagan Empire was to turn Christian, in the time of Constantine the Great; great Earthquakes also did precede: by one whereof thirteen Cities in Campania were overthrown.

Great Designs of Providence being [Page 171]serv'd, and the Changes of States and Countries usher'd in by Earthquakes, after the mention of that Terrible One in the Days of Ʋzziah King of Judah, Zech. 14.5. it is added, And the Lord my God shall come, and all the Saints with thee: Or thus, And yet O Lord my God come, and all the Saints with thee. Notwithstanding our Fears and Ter­rors, without this we should not see thy Salvation. Dr. ^* Jackson thinks that Earthquakes were Emblems, and Types of that Great Change by the Ministry of John the Baptist, our Lord's Forerunner, in the 15th Year of Tibe­rius, who declared the Kingdom of Hea­ven was at hand; when Publicans and Sinners were advanc'd, and the Chil­dren of Abraham, who gloried in their Birthright, were debased; when poor Fishermen became Heads of the Tribes of Israel, greater Men in the House of God, than Moses and Aaron had been; while the Successors of Moses, the [Page 172]Chief Priests and Doctors of the Law, were infatuated, and like Salt without Taste or Savour. And he reckens the Prophecy of Isaiah, chap. 40.14. Eve­ry Valley shall be exalted, and every Mountain and Hill shall be brought low, was fulfilled, and answered in its lite­ral Meaning (in part at least) by that Terrible Earthquake in the 6th or 7th Year of the Emperor Tiberius, which overthrew twelve famous Cities in Asia. For among other Symptoms of it, Ta­citus ^* relates this for one, that the Val­leys were exalted, and mighty Hills brought low. Before the Accomplishment of divers Prophecies, God gives some Glimpse or Hint, by some real Event, answerable to the plain literal Sense of the Prophet, but immediate Progno­sticks of Greater Mysteries approach­ing.

He saith farther, that the Earthquake which happened in Jewry, while Au­gustus [Page 173]Cesar, and Anthony tried their Fortunes in that great and famous Sea­fight at Actium, was in part an Accom­plishment of the Prophet Haggai his literal meaning, chap. 2.6, 7. Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the Heavens, and the Earth, and the Sea, and the dry Land: And I will shake all Nations, &c. This shaking of the Nations, and of the Earth at that time, was a sore Prognostick of that Mystery, which the Prophet in the following Verses foretells, viz. That the Glory of the latter Temple should be greater than the Glory of the former; and that He, who was the Desire of all Nations, and the Glory of both Tem­ples, the Prince of that Peace which God had promised to give in Jerusa­lem, should shortly come. For about twelve Years after, Herod erects the Temple anew, and made it even for External Pomp and Ornament, more Beautiful than Solomon's Temple had been; that the King of Glory, and Prince of Peace, for whose Entertain­ment [Page 174](though unwitting to Herod) it was erected, might come into it, and fill it with Glory. And within eigh­teen Years after Herod began this Work, our Lord was presented in it, and ac­knowledged by Simeon to be the Light of the Gentiles, (or one desired of all Nations) and the Glory of his People Israel.

Great Revolutions, and Changes sometimes for the better, but more of­ten for the worse, have been observ'd to follow Earthquakes, as to Natural, Civil, and Ecclesiastical Affairs: Let me mention some Instances.

Three Cities in ^* Cyprus fell by an Earthquake, in the time of Vespasian and Titus, followed with a great Pe­stilence at Rome. In Julian's ^† time there were several great Earthquakes, followed with a terrible Famine at A­lexandria, and in Egypt ^‖.

An. D. 342. Constantius made seve­ral beneficial Laws for the People, and renewed the Privileges granted to Ar­tificers. It is observ'd he was con­strain'd thereunto by a sense of Publick Calamities: for during the War with Persia, and about those Times, great Mischiefs had proceeded from many, and most Terrible ^* Earthquakes. St. Jerom in his Cronicon tells us, that the Year following the Death of Constans the Younger, many Cities of the East fell to the Ground by an horrible Mo­tion of the Earth. And some three Years after this, that Neocaesarea was overturn'd, and all its Inhabitants pe­rished, except such as were saved with the Bishop in the Church: as also that the Year following this, and preceding the building of the Haven in Seleucia, Dirrachium was by an Earthquake de­molished, Rome trembled for three Days, and as many Nights, and ma­ny Towns of Campania were sorely [Page 176]troubled. To these Cedrenus adds, that in the fourth or fifth Year of Constan­tius, Antioch was endangered by an Earthquake of three days continuance; that in his eighth Year Rhodes was much distressed by the same Accident: That when Dirrachium, the City of Dalmatia, perished, and Rome was in such Danger, twelve Cities of Campa­nia were destroyed: And that in the twelfth Year of Constantius, the great­er part of Berytus, the City of Phaeni­cia, also miscarried. In which Year also happened an Eclipse of the Sun, on the sixth Day of the Month Desius. The ill Success of Constantius in the Persian War, was by the more Ortho­dox Christians, according to the Judg­ment of Parties, concluded to have happened to him, because of his adhe­ring to, and countenancing the Arian Heresy.

An. 344. In the fifth Year after the Death of Constantine, ( Marcellus and Probinus being Consuls) a Synod was held at Antioch that condemn'd Atha­nasius, [Page 177]and only in Words profess'd to own the Nicene Faith, but really to condemn it, and substitute another in its room. This Impiety God declared against by ^* Terrible Earthquakes, say the Historians of that Time, especially at Antioch, for above a Year together.

An. 366. while Procopius's Rebellion was yet but little advanc'd, July 21. in the Consulship of the two Emperors, Valentinian and Valens, there hapned such Horrible Earthquakes throughout the World, as neither true Historians have related the like, nor Fables them­selves represented to us. A little after the Day dawn'd, there was a great Tempest of Thunder and Lightning, which was followed by so dreadful a Trembling of the Earth, that the Sea also was shaken therewith, and desert­ed the Shore, and its ancient Bounds for a great space; and the Depth of its Channels were discovered; multitudes of Fish were seen to stick in the Mud, [Page 178]and the Unequalness of the Seas Bot­tom appear'd, here Hills, and there Valleys, which never had before seen the Sun, since at the Original of all things they were first overwhelm'd with the Floods. Many Ships were left on the dry Ground, and Swarms of People flew thither to catch Fish; when suddenly the Sea, as disdaining to be imprison'd, return'd to its former Place with such Fury, that not con­taining it self therein, but transported beyond its Bounds, by the Violence of its Rage and Motion, it overturned Houses and other Buildings innumera­ble, drowned many Thousands of Men, and overwhelmed numbers of Ships; Great Vessels were by the Violence of these Gusts blown upon the Tops of Houses, as it happened at Alexandria, and some near two Miles from the Shore, as Ammianus Marcellinus (who relates these things, lib. 26.) saw one himself ^*. This Prodigy we cannot [Page 179]take to have signified any thing to Pro­copius's Rebellion, so much as that Dreadful Inundation made into the Roman Empire by the Northern Na­tions, which shortly after happened; and the Ruin of the Western Provin­ces, which followed thereupon.

In the Year 430, a great ^* Earth­quake preceded the Death of one of the best Emperors, viz. Theodosius, as the Fore-runner of Great Changes. Some ^† think this the same with that An. 446. which Marcellinus writes to have happened in the Confulship of Aelius and Sepronius: which raged in many places, and therein overturned many Cities; the Wall of Constanti­nople, tho but new built, it threw to [Page 180]the Ground, with fifty seven Turrets: Stones of great Bulk, lately plac'd in the Building of the Forum of Taurus, fell down. Many Towns were rui­ned; and a Pestilent Vapour arose, which caused a Plague; and this join­ed with a Famine, destroyed many Thousands. The Civil Motions and Ruptures in the Roman Empire, were agreeable hereunto.

This Earthquake in the Reign of Theodosius, Evagrius ^* saith was the Greatest, and most memorable of all others: Such as by its Greatness ren­dred inconsiderable all that went before it. It afflicted, he had almost said, the whole World. The Earth gaped, and swallowed many Villages, besides many other, nay innumerable Calami­ties both by Sea and Land. Some Fountains were dried up; in other Places Water in great quantity broke out, where formerly it had not been known: Great Trees were torn up by [Page 181]the Roots: Heaps of Earth were so shaken together, that they were rai­sed into Mountains. The Sea cast forth dead Fishes: In it many Islands were overwhelmed and sunk: Ships sailing in the Sea, by a sudden Retro­cession of the Water, were left on dry Ground. In conclusion, many Places of Bithynia, the Hellespont, and both the Phrygia's were grievously distress'd. This Disaster a long time and sorely afflicted the World. ^* Nicephorus writes, that it continued six Months, and that in a manner without Inter­ruption; that it reached Alexandria, but especially afflicted Antioch. Be­sides the Countries mentioned by Eva­grius, it invaded the greatest part of the East, and spared not many Regi­ons of the West. He adds, that the People of Constantinople not daring to stay in the City, for fear of the fall of Houses, continued together with the Emperour, and Proclus their Patriarch, [Page 182]in the Fields, instant in Prayer for the removal of so heavy a Judgment.— Theodosius, when delivered from the Danger of the Earthquake, presently betook himself to repair the Walls of Constantinople, &c.

When ^* Chrysostom was banish'd, in the beginning of the fifth Century, by the Emperour Arcadius, from the Church of Constantinople, the same Night was a great Earthquake that shook the Emperor's Palace, and threat­ned the Ruine of it; on which Mes­sengers were sent to recal him.

An. 458. Evagrius writes of a great ^† Earthquake that happened at Anti­och, which the Citizens had sad cause to remember. Before it began, some of the Inhabitants were seized with an extraordinary Madness, such as seemed to exceed all Ferity of wild Beasts, and to be the Prelude to that Calamity which followed on the fourth Day of [Page 183]the Month Gorpiaeus, which the Ro­mans call September, about the fourth Hour of the Night, and the fifty sixth Year of the Life of Leo. It overturn­ed almost all the Buildings of the new City, which was well peopled, and none of it forsaken or empty, being curiously built by the Magnificence of Emperours, who strove to exceed each other in the Adornment of it. The first and second Fabricks in the Palace were also cast down, the rest standing, together with a Bath; which having formerly been neglected, now when by the Earthquake the rest were choaked up, stood the Citizens in ve­ry good stead. Many other Damages of this Earthquake are there mentio­ned, (with some Differences as to Chro­nology) and the Disorder of publick Matters, as the Murder of Majoria­nus, joint Emperour in the West with Leo in the East, &c.

An. D. 557. There was a violent Earthquake, with great Noises and Tempests, at Constantinople and Rome, [Page 184]in ^* Justinian's time, followed the next Year with a great Plague at Constanti­nople. The Earthquake which shook that City three Years before, lasted forty Days, and destroyed many Pla­ces in the East.

In the Year 648, before the ^† Sara­cens overrun Africa, there were many great Earthquakes in the time of the Emperor Constans. The like ^‖ Earth­quakes followed with great Calamities in the East, were observ'd, An. 679.

In the Year 740, was another at Constantinople, which also destroyed many Cities of Asia, and lasted above a Twelve-month. This was thought to ^(*) forebode the Death of the Em­peror Leo, the Loss of Artabasdus, and the Conquest of Constantinople, which soon after followed.

In the Year 791, in the time of the Empress Irené, a great Favourer and [Page 185]Patroness of Image-Worship, was ^* a­nother violent Earthquake at Constan­tinople.

In the Year 1077, the Earthquake on the 6th of April, in the 15th Year of the Reign of King William the Con­queror, was followed by many Cala­mities, say Matthew Paris, Speed, &c.

In the Year 1088, the Earthquake in the time of William Rufus, or Wil­liam the Second, was followed with such unseasonable Weather, that there was no Seeds-time till December.

In the Year 1298, the Earthquake at Rome, in the time of ^† Boniface the Eighth, (who fainted away for fear, and afterwards publish'd a Jubilee) was followed with many Calamities.

An. Dom. 1509. On the 14th of September there happened a terrible Earthquake at ^‖ Constantinople, and the [Page 186]Country thereabouts, in the time of Bajazet the Second; by the violence whereof, a great part of the Walls of that Imperial City, with many stately Buildings, both publick and private, were overthrown, and thirteen thou­sand People overwhelmed and slain. The Terror thereof was so great, that the People generally forsook their Hou­ses, and lay abroad in the Fields: Yea, Bajazet himself, then very aged and sore troubled with the Gout, for fear thereof, went from Constantinople to Adrianople; but finding himself in no more safety there than before, he left the City, and lay abroad in the Fields in his Tent. This Earthquake endu­red by the space of eighteen Days; or, as the Turks Histories relate, for a Month, with little Intermission. Which was then accounted ominous, as por­tending the miserable Calamities which afterwards happened in the Ottoman Family.

After this Earthquake ensued a great Plague; where with the City was grie­vously [Page 187]visited, and for the most part unpeopl'd. But when the Earth­quake ceas'd, and the Mortality was asswaged, Bajazet caused the Imperial City to be repaired with all speed, and employed eighty thousand Men about it; who, in the space of four Months, in a most beautiful Manner, repaired the Ruins of that great City.

An. 1510. The late Wars of the French in Savoy, were thought to be foreshewn by many Prodigies, and e­ven those preceded by an Earthquake in Apulia, whereby more than sixteen thousand Persons were overwhelm'd; after which ensued the War, which devoured more than a Million of Men.

An. 1631. The like terrible Earth­quake in February, was in, and about the City of Naples, before the Commo­tions, and Troubles there: which did such Mischief as to Houses, Men, Wo­men and Cattel, as can't be express'd.

In the Year 1590. The Election of Pope Ʋrban the Seventh, was signalized by an Earthquake, which made Austria, [Page 188]Bohemia, and Moravia to tremble, and was followed by an extraordinary Drought. Gregory XIV. quickly suc­ceeded, and died in ten Months. There was such a Famine and Plague in ^* Italy that Year, that above 60000 died.

CHAP. X.

AFter all these Examples of terri­ble Earthquakes, which may make us tremble, it may be proper to add something to regulate our Fears of Divine Judgments, and to establish our Hearts under the doubtful Expectati­tions [Page 189]of what God will do against us. There is a natural Fear of approaching Evil, which we must not expect to be delivered from, nor is it possible we should. There is also a Fear of prudent Caution, that may help us to suppose, and provide against the worst that may happen: This we are obliged to, as opposite to Security: This will make us flee to God as our Refuge, and Hi­ding-place. Neither must we expect to be delivered from the Fear of all temporal Evils; considering what our present State in this World is, and what is sutable for such imperfect sinful Souls, who must have Matter of Mourning, while there are such Re­mainders of Sin: Especially being in the Condition of Strangers, in a Fo­reign Country, and in the midst of E­nemies; and who have this present World to be saved from, and the Love of the World to be mortified; and who must expect to be treated as the Followers of a Crucified Saviour; and so to be conformed to him, our Head, [Page 190]in Suffering, or in Resolution and Rea­diness for it. Therefore, though it be true, that if our Hearts are fixed on God, we need not be afraid of evil Ti­dings; and God has promised to deli­ver us from anxious, tormenting Fears: Yet so much Fear of Evil as is needful to drive us to God, by Prayer, Dependance and Trust, we must not expect to be delivered from; especial­ly as we are Members of a defiled, di­vided Church; or live in a City, or Country, where are many whose Sins call for Judgment; whom God does punish in this World. We may not think in such a Case, that we shall be quiet from all Fear of Evil, especially if we our selves have (as doubtless we all have) contributed our own share to the common Guilt.

But such as fear the Lord, may hope to be delivered from the Fear of Evil; so as it shall not overwhelm their Spi­rits, and destroy their Confidence and Hope in God, weaken their Hands in present Duty, and take away the Re­lish [Page 191]of their present Mercies, or would despirit and distract them. Such a Fear of Evil is threatned as a Punishment, Deut. 28.64. Job 15.21. Job 18.5. Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his Feet. Thou shalt be afraid to go forth into the Field, or to walk by the Way: for the Sword of the Enemy, and Fear is on every side. Jer. 6.25. chap. 20.2. chap. 49.29. They shall cry unto one another, and use this Expression, FEAR IS ON EVERY SIDE. That is; ‘We know not what to do, or what to expect; whither to go, or what Course to take; what Counsel to follow, or what Evil next to look for; or how far it will pro­ceed, or when or where it will issue.’ The like Instance see, Isai. 28.2.

God promises his People, that they shall be kept in Peace, shall sleep in Qui­et, shall dwell in Safety, Psal. 4. last. Prov. 3.24, 25, 26. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy Sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden Fear, nei­ther [Page 192]of the Desolation of the Wicked, when it cometh: For the Lord shall be thy Confidence, and shall keep thy Foot from being taken, Job 11.18, 19. Psal. 112.7, 8. God promiseth us Quiet, Peace and Safety, from the real Hurt of temporal Evil; and from the tem­poral Afflictions themselves, if that be best; and from such a Fear of ap­proaching Judgment and Calamity, as the Wicked are punished with.

If you would be interested in these Promises, and experience the fulfilling of 'em, study much the Covenant of Grace, and God's unchangeable Fideli­ty to it. This is the Ground of Sup­port in the worst times, Isa. 41.1. Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dis­mayed, for I am thy God. He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant, orde­red in all things and sure. This is all my Desire, and all my Salvation, 2 Sam. 23.5. ‘I now need nothing more, I fear no­thing, I am solicitous for nothing. Let God build up or pull down, save or destroy; prolong, or shorten my [Page 193]Life; do what he will with me and mine, he is my God in Covenant.’ This made the Psalmist triumph in Faith, Psal. 118.6. The Lord is on my side, I will not fear: God is our Refuge and Strength, we will not be afraid, though the Earth be moved, and the Pillars there­of be shaken, Psal. 46. beginning; Ha­bak. 3.17. ‘I am not afraid of what Man can do, I am not afraid of what God will do, or what I shall do, or the Nation do. By this Considera­tion, That He is my God, I can answer all my Fears: By this I know my great Interest is secure, my Treasure is safe, my principal Concern is out of danger. He is my God in an everlast­ing Covenant; He will not leave till he bring me to Glory: If my Body perish by an Earthquake, my Soul shall ascend to Heaven. The Noise of Wars, and Rumours of Wars, shall not break my Rest, for I have Peace with God through Christ.’ Study there­fore the Covenant of Grace, and the Promises of it; and believe the Un­changeableness [Page 194]of God, and his Power, Truth and Goodness, to make them good.

And in order to your advantage, by the Consideration of God as in Cove­nant, labour to strengthen and in­crease your Faith, that you may be a­ble to apply all the Promises of the Covenant for your Comfort. If we did heartily assent to the Truth of the Promises, and had a realizing View of what God is, and can be, and do, for all that fear and trust him; and did more entirely yield, and devote our selves to him, as our Lord and Sove­raign, our God and Portion, to be go­verned and disposed of according to the Tenor of his Covenant, (all which is implied in Faith) this would relieve us against a thousand Fears: This would make it evident to our selves, that let our Dangers be what they will, we are safe in the Hands of a faith­ful, and a good God: All Events are under his Management, and shall ac­complish his Counsel. Our Dangers [Page 195]shall reach no further, rise no higher, last no longer, than to serve his glorious Purposes.

Accordingly we read, Isa. 30.7. compared with the 15th Verse, that in Cases of Danger, our Strength is to sit still. Not in opposition to the use of Means for our Safety, for that is the Duty of every Man in his place: But in opposition to Reliance on any other Help than God; as an Expression of Faith in God, described at the 15th Verse: In Returning, and in Rest shall you be saved; in Quietness, and in Con­fidence shall be your Strength. Waiting on God in the way of our Duty, so far as we know it, in expectation of what God shall please to do for, or against us.

You ought also to recollect, and im­prove former Experiences, to silence distrustful Fears. The Lord is my Strength and my Shield, my Heart trusted in him, and I was helped, Psal. 28.7. Experience worketh Hope; and that which assisteth our Hope, must needs scatter our Fears.

Endeavour also to mortify the Love of this World, and of Life it self; and look to your Integrity and Upright­ness of Heart: This will make you as a Brazen-Wall, and an Iron-Pillar: Whereas an Hypocrite will be afraid of every Shadow. No wonder if the Sinners in Sion are afraid, and Fear sur­prizeth the Hypocrite, while the Righte­ous are as bold as a Lion. It is therefore good Advice of Zophar unto Job, chap. 11.14, 15. If Iniquity be in thy Hands, put it far from thee, and let not Wicked­ness dwell in thy Tabernacle. And then it follows, Thou shalt lift up thy Face without Spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and thou shalt not fear.

Resign and give up your selves, and all you have, into the Hands of God. Commit the keeping of your Souls, and the keeping of the Nation, and of the City, and of your Families, and Friends, and Relations, into the Hands of God, as of a faithul Creator and Preserver, 1 Pet. 4.19. Leave all to his Care, resolving to be satisfied, and pleased [Page 197]with his holy Will. We shall not be a­fraid of losing that by Violence, which we have voluntarily given up into the Hands of God.

But especially let us give up our selves, by renewing our Covenant, pe­nitently and seriously, at the Table of the Lord. See that there be no Con­troversy between God and you, while he hath a Controversy with the Nation in general. Renew Repentance for past Backslidings, that your Peace may be made with Heaven; that God may not be your Terror, in a Day of evil: For nothing will so much take away the Heart, abate the Courage, the Vigor, and Firmness of your Spirits, as the Jealousy and Misgivings of a guilty Conscience. If you cannot look up to God with Comfort, if you cannot lift up your Eyes to Heaven with Hope, to what Refuge will you flee in a Day of Evil?

This is the great Counsel I would give, and take, as the best Preparation, for whatsoever should come to pass. [Page 198]For what can daunt the Courage of that Man, or Woman, who can say, This God is my God for ever; This Sa­viour, who hath all Power in Heaven and in Earth, is my Saviour and my Lord, and the Lord of all this World? An up­right Christian, with Assurance, was never a Coward, and never can be. But if we live at Uncertainties about our Spiritual State, if our Backslidings be many, our Corruptions strong, and our Evidences blotted; we must needs be afraid of publick Changes, and threatned Calamities, because we are afraid to die. Shall I mind you how sad the Case of Saul was, when he cries out, 1 Sam. 18.15. I am sore distressed, for the Philistines make War against me, and God is departed from me, and an­swers me no more? How miserable is their Case, who, in a time of Trouble, cannot ease their Hearts by Prayer to God? who, in a time of Danger, can­not look to the End and Issue of Things with Comfort? who have no Anchor to drop in a Storm? The Difference [Page 199]is unspeakably great, at such a time, between the one sort and the other: For while the Wicked is driven away in his Wickedness, and hurried by Tem­poral Sufferings into Eternal Ones, the Righteous hath Hope in his Death, Prov. 14.2.

CHAP. XI.

LAstly; Whatever God may in So­veraignty do in sparing this Na­tion, and how well soever he will pro­vide for those who are upright before him; yet, as to particular Persons, who are not at peace with God, it is most certain, that Security is a Presage of Ruine; that sudden Destruction shall overtake them, as Travail on a Woman with Child. When the slothful and [Page 200]wicked Servant thinks, and says in his Heart, that his Lord doth delay his Coming; He will come and cut him in sunder, in a Day that he looked not for, and in an Hour that he was not aware of, Matth. 24.55. When the rich Fool in the Parable said, Soul, take thine ease; the next News we hear of him is, that the Pillow is plucked from under his Head, and he is cast into Hell. When, notwithstanding all the Warnings of God by his Word and Providence, Men will bless themselves in their Hearts, and say, I shall have Peace, though I walk in the Imagination of my Heart, Deut. 29.19, 20. The Lord will not spare such a Man, but the Anger of the Lord, and his Jealousy shall smoak a­gainst him, and all the Curses that are written in this Book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his Name from under Heaven. Therefore let Men take heed how they arrogantly boast themselves in their Wickedness, lest God single them out unto some signal Vengeance in this World, to [Page 201]make them Examples to those who shall afterwards live ungodly. If they re­gard not a Judgment to come, to put the evil Day far from them, and de­spise all the Fore-runners of Judgment in this World; yet they may suddenly be surprized in their Security, and they are every Moment liable to a sud­den Arrest of Judgment, against which they have no Relief.

They are under Condemnation, they are yet in their Sins; and therefore to such I must say, Except you repent, (speedily, and heartily repent) you must perish. For tho God be loth to strike, and inclined to Pity, and willing to spare; tho he be slow to Anger, and ready to forgive; Yet the Day of his Vengeance is at hand, when he shall put on Fury like a Garment; when his Eye shall not pity, nor his Hand spare; when he shall laugh at your Calamity, and mock when your Fear cometh. Now, O foolish delaying Sinner, that goest on in Sin! the Pati­ence and Mercy of God pleads for [Page 202]thee against his Justice, and he would lead thee to Repentance by his Long­suffering; his Bowels yearn over thee, and he would fain overcome thee by his Love, and conquer thee by his Grace: But the Day is hastning, when there shall never be a Word spoke for thee by the Mercy of God more; when, because he stretched out his Hand, and thou regardest not, thou wouldst not hear his Voice, or know the Day of thy Visitation, he shall condemn thee without Pity, and send thee to Hell, without any such Com­passionate Language as he used to his ancient People, How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? The Voice of Mercy shall then cease, and plead for thee no more: He that made thee, will shew thee no Mer­cy; He that formed thee, will shew thee no Favour. He would Now delight in thee, and rejoice over thee to do thee Good, and therefore beseecheth thee to have Pity on thy self: But Then he will delight in the Glory of his provo­ked Justice; because thou wouldst not [Page 203]be perswaded to Accept of his Mercy while it might be had. Think of it, and Tremble, all ye that go on in Sin, and hate to be Reformed!

Whatever become of the Nation, if National Judgments do not overtake you, you cannot be long out of the Grave, or out of Hell. You are in dan­ger of Damnation every Hour: And tho Sentence against an evil Work is not speedily executed, tho a Sinner do Evil an hundred times, and his Days be pro­longed; Yet surely I know it shall not be well with the Wicked, Eccl. 8.11, 12, 13. Christ hath told you again and again, that such as you can never be Saved. It is the Word of the Living God, that such and such Persons as you know your selves to be, shall never enter in­to Heaven. It is a Truth founded on such Principles, that the Contrary is impossible.

And yet to convince Men of this as to their own State and Condition, there's the Difficulty. For if you will not believe God and Christ, how shall [Page 204]I expect you should believe me? Alas! you will not consider your Case for one serious Hour: We can hardly pre­vail so far, as to bring you to compare your selves with the Word; and your own Character with the Description of such as shall perish. You will put it to the venture, and a bold Venture it is: For if no Minister in the World should tell you, That except you re­pent, you must perish; yea, if the De­vil should tell you the contrary a thou­sand times, it will not make the Word of God of none Effect, or your Dam­nation the less Certain.

You may make a shift for a little time to drown the Voice of Consci­ence, or stop its Mouth; to lay aside the Thoughts of Death, and Judg­ment, and an everlasting Hell; to speak Peace to your selves, against the express Word of God: But if you are not Renewed and Sanctified; if you do not truly Repent, so as to hate Sin, and leave it, and turn to the Lord; if you do not unfeignedly give up your [Page 205]selves to God in Christ, as your Saviour, and Soveraign, in the Method of the Gospel; your Judgment is near, your Destruction is at hand, you must Perish; and that more dreadfully, than most o­thers in the World: For your Light, your Knowledg, your Means, your Mercies, your Calls, your Warnings, your Examples, are more and greater than others. Divine Patience will not last always. The Lord is not slack (as Men count Slackness) concerning the Promise of his Coming, but is long-suf­fering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Repentance, 2 Pet. 3.9. But if they turn not, he will whet his Sword; he hath bent his Bow, and made it ready; he hath prepared also Instruments of Death, Psal. 7.12, 13. Tho there are in God Rich­es of Goodness, and Forbearance, yet if you despise the Riches of his Goodness, not knowing that the Goodness of God leads to Repentance, you do but treasure up to your selves Wrath against the Day of Wrath, and Revelation of the Righ­teous [Page 206]Judgment of God, Rom. 2.4, 5.

It is dreadful to perish as to a Tem­poral Ruine, by Wars, and Fires, and Earthquakes, and such Calamities: But how much sadder is it to think of descending into the Place of Remedi­less Torment, under the everlasting Curse of God, to be tormented with the Devil and his Angels! It is sad to hear of this, sad to foresee it, to con­sider it, to think of it; but it will be much sadder to suffer, and to feel it. And be not deceived, it is not the less Certain, because it is yet Future. You are now alive, and do not see the Grave digged for you, and yet you must die: And as certainly do I know from the Word of God, who cannot lie, That except you Repent, you must Perish, and that for ever.