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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58144	The earth twice shaken wonderfully, or, An analogical discourse of earthquakes its natural causes, kinds, and manifold effects : occasioned by the last of these, which happened on the eighth day of September 1692, at two of the clock in the afternoon : divided into philosophical theorems, pick'd out of many famous, modern, and ancient treatises, translated into English : with reference to that unusual one that happened in Queen Elizabeth's reign, on the same day, 8th of September 1601 ... : with an account of many stupendious and wonderful events in Germany, Italy, and other kingdoms ... / by J.D.R., French minister.	J. D. R., French minister.	1693 (1693)	Wing R37; ESTC R4234	44,661	64

which E●tropius notes about the time the Arrian Heresie and Tyr●nny spre●d through the East that there were frequent Earthqu●kes and that those places shook grievously Neither is that which the same A●thor relates less remarkable that presently after the Death of the Apostles Paul Laodicea and Collossus were swallowed up by an Earthquake so that the punishement of those that contemned the Doctrine of Paul might be conspicuous And I seem not to have spoken rashly when I said that no punishment or calam●ty is more grievous than an Earthquake seeing 't is an evil that can neither before seen nor easily averted by any Remedies Pliny lib. 2. cap. 82. prescribes two Remedies against Earthquakes viz. to dig many holes in the Earth and make many passages there but this is both labourious and almost as dangerous to Cities and Towns as an Earthquake But perhaps some body will say we shall be safe in Rivers against Earthquakes I confess there is some safety in Rivers and Synecius whom I cited before Writ is that in a great Earthquake he thought the Sea more secure than the Land but that doth not want its dangers neither for the bottoms of Rivers are obnoxious to Earthquakes as we shall shew in our Problems and the Earth may easily gape under the Water or some heap of Earth plunged into the River from the Neighbouring shore may overwhelm us and sometimes Rivers us'd to be dried by Earthquakes so that they that seek safety in the Rivers against an Earthquake may find their Death and Grave But I cannot conjecture what should be the meaning of that which Agathias lib. 5. says is the true Platonic Opinions that he that perished by an Earthquake is to be esteemed more happy than he that saved from it For if an Earthquake be a most grievous punishment which the Scripture attests he cannot be happy who is involved in an Evil grievous in it self and terrible to all Mankind 75. Lastly The Scripture speaks of an Earthquake as of a Sign or the forerunner of the last decretorial Judgment at which a little before the end of the World that great Judge will appear with the Angels of his Power who himself say Luke 21.11 That there will be great Earthquakes in every place before his coming And Matth. 24.7 He makes use of almost the same Words The Prophesies of future Signs respects both the destruction of the Temple and City of Jerusalem and the end of the World Therefore that which is asserted of great Earthquakes may be accommodated to both those times For Josephus diligently observes how great Earthquakes preceded the last sacking of Jerusalem 76. Of this sorts of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good Men think that was of which we are now treating by which the Son of God in this last Age of the World would warn and excite Mens minds that they might seriously and timely prepare themselves for the great Sessions and hear that Sentence either of Eternal Life or Death never to be revoked I see no reason why we should doubt that some Signs nearer and greater forerunners of the coming of Christ to Judgment than others And therefore although this Earthquake be to be numbred among those Signs as the ingenious and learn'd Mr. Beverly elegantly insinuates yet 't is likely there will be some other Earthquake more terrible meerly miraculous and nearer the Day of Judgment Which he may be applied to other Signs as darkning of the Sun and Moon may be gathered from 24 of Matth. and 21 of Luke and from Acts 2.19 where Peter cites that of Joel I will give Miracles in Heaven above and Signs in the Earth below Blood and Fire and the Vapour of the Smoak The Sun shall be changed into Darkness and the Moon into Blood before that great and glorious Day of the Lord comes c Thou Lord Jesus come com● quickly or if it seems good to thee to delay grant that while the Earth shakes and Hell rages while Kingdoms Empires and Kings are shaken and dashed one against the other the Church thy little Flock may enjoy at least a moderate quiet and rest both here in England and throughout the whole World Amen CHAP. IV. Of the likeness or unlikeness of these two Earthquakes 77. IT remaineth now that we may examine in what these two Earthquakes do agree and in what they do differ as well in their Forms and Causes as in their Effects As to the Form 't is said in the 15th Theorem that the first was partly trembling and partly pulsative according to the diversity of the plainness or unplainness of the Fields But all do agree that this last was some kind of panting or brandishing Motion for the Earth was shaken lateraly according to its Latitude now that don't befall so in the Pulse or Vibration and that sort of Earthquake is more frequent Upon the lassing of the first all Authors do not agree But as to this last 't is Witnessed from all places that it did last two Minutes I will only mention these words of Mr. Edward d' Auvergne Chaplain to my Lord John Bathe Governour of the Cittadel of Plimouth in his Relation of the most ●●markable Transactions of the last Campaign in the Confederate Army where he was pag. 61. We felt an Earthquake says he which lasted about two Minutes and shook the Earth very violently It was felt at the same time all over Flanders in many parts of England and France and in other places of Europe we had it about two of the Cloek It caused a great Consternation in our new Garison of Dixmuyde some thinking at first that the French had undermined several parts of the Town and were in Ambuscades going to blow them up 78. We may observe among the other Conformities of these two Earthquakes these two chiefly the Conformity of the Month and the Conformity of the Day Nay we should make some consideration of the Time on the Day on both to wit that the first happened at two of the Clock in the Morning the last at two of the Clock in the Afternoon so 't is only the intercalation of 12 hours which Event is remarkable enough But now in regard of the Conformity of the Month We have observed in the 45 Theorem that amongst the Planets the Efficacy of Saturn did prevail that year The same is happened this last year as 't is clear by the Observations of Mr. John Partridge that Famous Mathematician upon the Month of September He says so the Month of September begins with Quartile of Saturn and Venus The Trine Jupiter and Mercury with a wet and windy Air. 2dly 'T is observed in the 46 and 47 Theorems that the Power of the three superious Planets Saturn Jupiter and Mars is the most eminent in producing Earthquakes Besides 't is constantly affirmed that the first Earthquake happened when the Sun was in Virgo So were all these things disposed at the time of this last Earthquake These are the very words

which are seldom shaken because they commonly have Caverns as i● observed in Germany and France as Georg. Agricol lib. 4. de effluentibus ●●terra observes But Constantinople and Basill in that part that borders on the S●a or a great River are examples of this the one of which of all the European and the other of all the German Cities is most infested with Earthquakes as we shewed before of Constantinople out of Agathias's History but Procopious plainly attests that Constantino●le shook for forty days together in the year 554. and in the year 740. it was shaken twelve months together beginning on the 7th of November as is noted among others by Funccius But in later Ages evea in our own and Fathers memory we have heard of frequent Earthquakes in that City which was felt by A. Gilpin Busbequiu● among others and writ by him in the Epistles of his Turkish Embassy And Stumpsius and others have writ how often and grievously Basill hath been shaken Benedictus Arretius in the aforesaid Problem reckons up ten times that Basill was sh●ken with great danger and loss in the space of 800 Years In the Years 801 824 829 1021. when the whole City was almost destroyed the Chu●ch with many Houses being thrown into the Rhine And again in the Year 1062 when a grievous Plague ensued upon the Earthquakes again in the Year 1356 on the 18th of October it shook ten times about Evening so that the Church Walls Towers and a great part of the City being destroyed by it there were a 100 Men killed Stumpsius says Liv. 12. cap. 28. That the Earthquake continued all that year and that Basill shook ten times in an hour In the following Year 1357. there happened another also in the Year 1444. as likewise in the Year 1456. it shook again but in the Year 1533. most terribly as we read in Munster not without great Commotion of Mind The la●e Ear●hquake was not a little perceived at Basill And Mentz hath sometimes been d●ngerously shaken by Earthquakes and that thrice between the Year 855 and 880. and the first time the Walls and the Church of Vrban fell down Constance also by the Lake of the Rhine trembled nineteen times the same day in the Year 1295. The People of Strasburg often ran to their Tents out of the City by reason of the danger they were under from an Earthquake especially in the Year 1357. But I think there is no City upon the Rhine or in Germany that is more frequently or dangerously shaken than Basill the reason whereof a Traveller seriously thought when he was viewing its Scituation than which a more pleasant one he never had seen nor was like to see and he thus considered with himself that the Cause of so great and so many Earthquake in that place was partly common with other Cities seated by Rivers and partly proper and peculiar to that place The common Cause is that the River passing by the City makes the Earth chinky and then pours in Water into those Caverns it hath made which deeply penetrating the Earth engenders Vapours which being obstructed by the cold of the Water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot evaporate but being kept within the Earth longer time and varicusly agitated are turned into blasts and winds adapted for Earthquakes but the peculiar and proper Cause of Earthquakes in that City is first because the Rhine is there narrower and more contracted and being thus imprisonned seeing it cannot overflow the Banks it is carried more impetuously the force of the Water being contracted within it self and as it were by undermining it makes the deepest places of the Channel and Banks hollow and more cavernous than in other places so that more Vapours are apt to be generated and tarry there where they sind a receptacle being also enclosed and shut in by the cold of the Water or River Another Cause is the many Dens and Caverns that are in a high Hill by the Rhine adapted for the reception of Vapours the Passage of which is easie and plain through the Pores of the Earth leading to the Rhine To which may be added that this Hill scituate on the Rhine whereon a great part of the City is built hath every where a solid Superficies which is stony so that many Vapours being engendred by the River flowing by and imprisonned within the porous and cavernous Earth cannot conveniently exhale through those ways which they naturally seek but being denied a passage and collected and coarcted by their stri●e and reciprocation and so gathering strength by their heat and ●a●ity they impetuously invade and shake that which hinders them from above Lastly 'T is probable there is much Subterraneous fire where Basill stands or not far from thence as there is at Baden which is distant but one days Journey from Basill where there are many and great B●ths as is usual in such places Exhaltations sallying out of the Earth even under the Waters of Limage that flows by it which grows hot at the bottom by the Subterraneous Exhalations as is often selft by those that go naked into that River Moreover reason it self discovers and the examples of flames often breaking out in an Earthquake testifie what great power Subterraneous fires have to move the Earth if they be shut up within the Earth So that Geor. Agricol truly says lib. 2. de ortu cau Subter pag. 27. That hot places and where there are many hot Vapours are obnoxious to Earthquakes because Subterraneous fire is apt to beget a quantity of smoaky Exhalations sooner than a little heat Yet Baden that hath so much Subterraneous fire is seldom shaken which is because the Exhalations there break out in great quantity through the looser and thinner Superficies of the Earth in regular Ways and convenient to their Nature And if the Superficies of the Earth were so dispos'd at Basill that the hot Water which are perhaps in the Earth could have a passage and s●lly into the open Air their Vapours would exhale in a suitable way and would be a certain remedy against frequent and dangerous Earthquakes Which since nature hath denied perhaps it might be effected by Art by every where digging and opening Caves towards the City which might exhale the preconceived Spiritus which is observed in some Towns which are seldom shaken having some Caves digged to make a passage for the Water which remedy Pliny prescribes lib. 2. cap. 82. But I hope God who hath vouchsafed to commit the heavenly Doctrine and Academy as a precious pledge and gage to it will hereafter preserve that remarkable City from those grievous Concusions whereby Cities use to be destroyed 4. What credit may one give to the Relation of Plato of the Island Atlantis drowned by an Earthquake Pliny lib. 2. cap. 9. where he says an Earthquake took away all the Ground where Atlantick Sea is if we credit Plato Which relation of Plato's that Pliny hints at is extant in Timeus where

which was at the suffering of Christ who says Terrae Motus c. Earthquake often happened but those which were before and after Christ were only in some part of the Earth but in the time of my Saviour Jesus Christ it was not some particular Earthquake but the whole Earth was shaken and torn from its Center But I know not what credit one may give to this Opinion of Dydimus The Scripture says the Earth is so founded that he shall never be moved viz. as to its Profundity and Center Psal 104.5 He hath founded the Earth upon its basis that it should not be removed for ever A paralel place to which is in Eccles 1.4 That Earthquake also happened at the Resurrection of Christ is to be referred to those that are purely miraculous Matth. 28.2 as is also that spoken of in the 4th of Acts 31. and that Acts 16.26 and also that which happened a little before the Promulgation of the Divine Law Exod. 19.18 and that opening of the Earth that swallowed up Corah Dathan and Abiram Numb 16.21 And that which is mentioned Amos 1.1 and Zac. 14.5 Yea ye shall flie like as you fled from before the Earthquake in the days of Vzziah King of Judah which Josephus lib. 9. antiq cap. 2. describes 19. A mixt Earthquake is that which hath a Natural cause but extraordinarily as it were increased by God and in some sort enlarged beyond the Power of Nature God often makes use of Natural Causes in the production even of miraculous Events lest the Agents might not be hindered without necessity and that he might shew that the Power of Nature and second Causes are not at all repugnant to the Divine Power but subordinate to it And Lastly That he might shew that he hath the Power of Nature in his own hands and disposal and that he can either augment their force or diminish it 20. And this Earthquake is observed to be twofold 21. One is restrained to some certain Place and included within some tract of Ground so that it hath an unusual vehemency of Spirits under-ground and wonderfully increased from which arises destructive and great hurt Of which sort was that Earthquake which happened in the 20th or as other reckon the 22th year of Christ of which we spoke before whereby 14 Cities of Asia perished Such a one was that also that happened in the Reign of Herod the Great by which many Cities Towns and Villages being demolished in Judea 30000 Jews perished as Josephus says in his 1st Book of the Wars of the Jews chap. 14. So from the year of Christ 1170. to the year 1345. all Germany was four times most grievously shaken as one may see from Funccius Stumpsius Sigonius Cedrenus and others 22. Some Earthquakes are unusual and remarkable in respect of their Latitude and Celerity so that a great part of the World is shaken and that some time quickly as it were in an Hour or in a Moment Which sort of Earthquake History mentions to have happened in the time of Valentinian the Emperor in the year of our Lord 369. by which the whole Earth was moved in so much that many Islands in the East with a great multitude of Men perished by Inundation which is attested by Socrat. lib. 4. Hist Eccles cap. 32. Amianus Marcellinus in the end of his 26 Book Paul Orosius lib. 7. Hist cap. 32 Funccius in Chronol so in the year of our Lord 1117. almost all the World shook many Buildings being demolished every where by it as Stumpsius relates lib. 4. cap. 40. but in the year 1443. an Earthquake shook Poland Hungary and Bohemia King Ladistaus being not long after killed by the Turks with a great overthrow of the Christians 23. To this sort of Earthquakes is referred that wonderful and unusual one which happened in the year 1601. on the 8th of September between one and two of the Clock at Night 24. For ●●s not probable that so great a Tract of this terren Globe as that Earthquake passed through could be moved by the ordinary and accustomed force of Nature which not only our European Hemispl●●e Germany France Italy Hungary Bohemia Thraoe but Asia it self is r●ported to have felt We have not yet heard for certain l●●w ●●r th●t ●arthq●●ke reached into Asia and Africa but this is certain that the gre●t●st part of Europe trembled and that almost 〈◊〉 the same ●●om●nt Some Reports have lately been hatched that 〈◊〉 that two Towns called by the Turks Tartos and Copera were s● allowed up by the gaping of the Earth caused by that Earthquake to the ●r●at Consternation of the Turks who from that time belie●●● th●t si●●istro●s and unlucky Events were pretended t●● their Empire which if true may make it apparent that this Earthquake was not every where a Tremor but in some places a Pulsus and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wit where the Spirits abound or the Ground is porous or gra●●lly as it is about the Euxine Sea and at Constantinople which City if any in Europe is infested with frequent and pernicious Earthquakes In the year of our Lord 1356. it was so grievously shaken that a great part of the Walls where it looks into the Sea fell down with many Towers and Buildings so that 13000 Men perished in the City the Earthquakes lasting incessantly for 18 days Agathias lib. 5. pag. 541. relates a dreadful Earthquake that happened in this City A little while before these thing happened in the time of Justinian the Earth was so dreadfully shaken at Bizantium that almost all the City fell down after which another Earthquake ensued that was so great that I think there never was nor will be the like again 25. There are therefore two things in that Earthquake which make it extraordinary and very miraculous the breadth and that it penetrated those places which are not subject to Earthquakes and the Celerity of it And although the Mischiefs it caused in some Parts may assure us ol●●i●s vehemency yet 't is not so stupendious for its Mischiefs as for its Latitude Celerity and Presage For we read in History of far more dreadful havock and destruction made by some other Earthquakes and moreover we know from Physical Principles that those ●●●●b●i●gs ●hat extend farthest are not so highly distrustful For the force of Subterraneous Spirits the more 't is dissipated the more ●●●gui● it is CHAP. II. Of the Cause 26. VVHether a Natural Cause can be assigned for both effects we must now enquire 27. That there was a Natural Cause although not alone is evident from Observation 28. For the time it self is such at is convenient for a Natural Earthquake to wit Autumn and also near the Equinox for about that time Earthquakes are wont to happen Aristotle 2 Meteor cap. 8. says t●uly Earthquakes happen chiefly in Autumn because those times are most Windy Which Pliny also relates lib. 2. cap. 8. 29. It was also two of the Clock in the Morning which is

second Book of his Metaphys chap. 8. Pulsus seldom shake the Earth for beginnings are not so easily multiplied c. 13. Pulsus is a motion of the Earth according to its Longitude to wit when it is moved up or down Aristotle says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and divides it into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Systole and Diastole to wit either when the Vapour or Exhalation going up with violence heaps up great Piles like Mountains or removes or breaks Mountains themselves or lastly sucks them into the Earth in its vasts gaping as Pliny Speaks 14. But that Earthquake whereof we have spoken in the begining was different according to the diversity of places where i● was 15. In plain places 't was a Trembling because it shook the Earth l●●eraly to the right and the left Those who then felt the Quaking a●●irm it to have been a lateral one like 〈◊〉 ●ocking of a Cradle ●nd that th●se who lay in the same Bed that night it happened w●re violently justled one against the other the cloaths being carried from side to side but wheither or no there were the same sort of Q●a●ing in all the places where it was I am not very farward to affirm But on● may be bold to conclude from the Event that in most plac●s the Earth was not violently thr●st forward but did mostly tre●ble And although this trembling Tremor be counted less peril●ous than either Pulsus Arietation or Inclination yet it doth not want its dangers as those specially then experienced that lived in the highest H●●ses and in Castles from whence the Voices and Exclamations of the Guards were heard every where throughout the Country for when the Cradle is moved too much either to the right or left there is danger of the Child's falling out so when the Fondations or Buildings be moved laterally both the Walls are in danger especially in Towers where the substerraneous Spirit being included within the Arches doth as it were force the Tower more either to this or that side otherwise the hig●er the Walls are the more sensible is the shaking called Vibratio This is certainly apparent from History that the Town of Scarp not far distant from Florence in the Valley of Magellum between the Vesuvian and Apennine Mountains in the year 154 on the 3. of July did first Quake by such a sort of Vibration and afterwards was so sh●ken that most of the Houses were ruined great Cracks and Chinks being made in them and 500 of t●e Inhabitants were d●stroyed which Eart●quake is related by Geor. Agricol lib. de Natura rerum è terra effluentium pag 151. who Wr●t his Book the same year the Town was made ruinous 16. B●t in M●u●tainous places to this Trembling was added a Pulse Eart●quakes are more noxious in Mountains than in Valleys ●y reason the more frequent subterraneous Cavities which there lye hid into which the Spirits are more copiously gathered and prevail more strong●y but esp●cially where the super●icies is solidly compacted and smoothly leve●led Plinius lib. 2. cap. 8. says Nec mo●t●sa talicarent malo neither do the Mountains are without such an inconvenience evil I am sure the Alpes and Apennine Mountains h●ve off●en tr●mbled which ●●ve occasion to that of Virgil Insolitis ●●●●cr●nt M●tib●s A●pes And the H. Scripture says Naham 1. 〈◊〉 Mo●●tains are move● by God Switzerland also felt it at the very same time A noted Wi●ness of which speaks after this manner Whilst I was Travelling in Switzerland in September and October I found Men's minds terrifi●d more by that Earthquake than I perce●ved they were in the more close parts of Germany And that it was no● a simple Trembling of the Earth but a certain Pulsus and Concussion joyned with a Trembling those things that I saw eve●y where in those parts the Effects of this Earthquake sufficiently demonstrated to me of which I will mention but one There is a h●gh and scraggy Mountain two Hours Journey distant from Lucern not v●ry remote from that stupendious Mountain which Pomponius Mela call● Fractum Montem the Vulgar I know not by what sort of superstition Pilat's Mountains but the Inhabitants call it Burka if I do remember under this Mountain on the Eight of September about Two a Clock at Night there arose a dreadful Bellowing and Fragor to the great Co●sternation of the Inhabitants that live thereabouts there were elevated into the Air as it were thick Fumes which filled all the Neighbourhood at lenghth the greatest part of the ●op of the Mountain was broke off with a great noise and tumbled down into the Lake of Lucern which runs by it but from the other part of the Mountain which other People called Vnderwaldensers inhabit some part also being violently thrown down is reported to have buryed seven of the Inhabitants so in the 85th year of the last Age part of the Mountain was broken off three hours Journey distant from a certain Village called Hyborn under the Jurisdiction of the Canton of Bern's situated above the Lake Lemanus from which issued a vehement Wind which carried with it Stones Clods and Trees so that having passed over the interjacent Hills at the length the mesurable Village it self was overwhelmed and oppressed which the Destruction of its Inbabitants The like Examples do every where occurr in History and Seneca lib. 6. Nat. quest reports out of Thucidides that A●las was cleft and broken by an Earthquake not far from Locris 17. Moreover one Earthquake is less frequent than another and more extraordinary one being purely miraculous the other compounded both of Miracle and Nature 18. An Earthquake meerly miraculous is when the Earth is shaken by the immediate power of God without the intervention of any Natural Cause Of which sort was that which happened at the suffering of Christ Matth. 27 51. Pliny mentions a certain great Earthquake lib. 2. Cap. 84. in the time of Tiberius Caesar Maximus say he terrae memoria mortalium motus accidit Tiberii Caesaris principatu duodecim Vrbibus Asiae una nocte prostratis i. e. The greatest Earthquake in the Memory of Men happened in the Reign of Tiberius Caesar Twelve Cities of Asia being laid level in one Night Cornelius Tacitus in the end of his second Book names them But Niaphorus lib. 1. Cap. 17. saies Fourteen were destroyed Saint Austin lib. 2. de mirabilibus Seripturae Writes that Eleven Cities in Thrace were destroyed by that Earthquake which happened at our Saviour's Crucifixion Eusebius reports from Phlegon an old Author that many Houses in the City of Nissa in Bithynia fell down by the same Earthquake But that Earthquake which Pleny mentions could not be that which happened at Christ's Crucifixion for they do'nt agree in the numbers of years for those Twelve Asiatick Cities fell in the third year of Tiberius's Reign but Christ suffered in the 18th years of the Reign of that Emperor or thereabouts Moreover the saying of Dydimus is quoted concerning that miraculous Earthquake

represent destructful punishments and calamities by an Earthquake 73. For nothing seems to be a greater punishment and calamity to Mankind than an Earthquake 74. For all o●her fatal punishments are wont to ensue upon an Earthquake and we may sooner foresee War Famine and Pestilence and so take heed of and avoid them by preparing proper Remedies than we can foresee avoid and fly from an Earthquake seeing the Spiritus in the Earth is not restrained by any Humane force neither can we fly away from the Earth Hence it is that Experience witnesseth that Brute Beasts and Men are terrified by nothing so much as by an Earthquakes so we see that even the most savage and cruel Hearts of Tyrants that have their minds hardened most against God and Men have been terrified by Earthquakes There is extant in Josephus a memorable passage concerning this lib. 1. de bell Jud. cap. 14. and lib. 15. Autiq. Jud. Where Herod a despiser of God and Men thus Speaks to his Army Let not the Fear of inanimate things 〈◊〉 all terrifie you nor imagine that Earthquake is an 〈◊〉 of future dis●●●●ctio● for the defects of the Elements themselves ●●e Natural and infor ●o other los● than that which they cause so that when they d●●happen they are inded●●y their own greatness These Proph●●ne Speeches did the Tyrant then utter whilst he himself was so astonished in his own Mind that he offered Sacrifice for the appeasing of God as Josephus mentions in the same place The Heath●●●s being always terrined by Earthquakes began then in earnest to think of appeasing God and rightly of instituting their Sacrifices Hence it is that Pliny saith lib. 2. cap. 8● For there is not only in an Earthquake some simple evil and danger but an equal or greater Omen of something to come The City of Rome never t●●mbled yet it shook in the year 537. about fifty seven times but it was the Omen of some future Event Therefore that impious saying of Seneca is repugnant to the Sense and Conscience of Mankind The God● do nothing of these thing neither is the Heaven or the Earth shaken by the anger of the Deities So Gellius lib. 2. cap. 28. What is the Cause of Earthquake is not yet manifest Therefore the ●●●cient Romans when they either perceived or were told that the Earth s●ook commanded by their Edits that Holydays should be kept but in the publishing of them did not name the God ●●●●s usual for whom the same were to be kept and Marcus Varro says ●●was so observed by the Decide of the Priests because 't was ●ncertain whether the ●●●rth trembled by the Power of the Gods or Goddesses There is ext●nt in Rosinus the History of some Superstitious expiation lib. 4. pag. ●6 where he says That grievous La●th●●●●es ensued upon the Death of Valentinian Crete was vehemently shaken with all Peloponnesus and the rest of Greece except Athens and the Country thereof which they say was saved by this means N●storius the High Priest s●w in a Dream the Athenians advis'd to prefer the Hero Achilles to the highest Honnour 's for this would be ●●st advantagious he therefore being taught by Divine Speculations after having performed a solemn Sacrifice placed the ●ma●e of the ●e●o under A●in●●●'s so was Athen● and ●ll its Lard s●●e from the Earthquake There is a p●●●●lled place in Synesius Cyre Epis 61. of Devotion in the time of Earthquakes God often say● he caused an Earthquake in the day time and Men stood commonly upright whist they pray'd for the Ground w●s shaken wherefore thinking the S●a●●●● more severely shaker th●n the Land ●●an to the Heaven 〈…〉 Christian of the ●●●●●●ive Church●●s●d not to fly to any unkown God but to the true one that shake the Earth and implored his Grace and Mercy an Example of which pious Custom is related by Justinian the Emperour who when he heard that Antiochia was shaken by a grievous Earthquake in which a great number of Men had perished presently laid down his Diadem and Imperial Robes and put Sackcloth and published an Edict whereby he commanded his subjects to Fast and Pray for many days and to do all other things which testifie a serious repentance Sozomenus lib. 6. cap. 2. Stump lib. 7. cap. 28. There is extant also an Epistle of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to the People of Asia wherein he exhorts them not to lay the Fault of the Earthquake upon the Christians but rather religiously to invoke after their fashion the Author of the Earthquake It will not be absur'd continues he to comfort your sorrow by a just warning for I have found out that in such occasions you do ascribe these ordinary Events to some motive of envy that the God whom they trust much to may have and whilst that you know not the Reasons thereof you do neglect every time the Worship of the other Gods and so you endeavour to put away and cast down the Worship of the immortal God whom the Christians do adore And there is no doubt but that many pious Men every where through Germany and other Countrys devoutly and religiously followed that pious Custom of the Ancient Church and stirr'd up themselves to serious Repentance and ardent invoking of God's name which effect if it hath not happened in all yet the thoughts of the Evils which have in all Ages ensued upon the Earthquakes ought still to stir them up and awaken them to true repentance seeing those effects have been observed by the most severe Writers of Earthquakes For it is not rash to say that commotions of the mind follow an Earthquake as a Shadow the Body Neither does it want its natural Causes for 't is certain that the Air we draw in have several change of alterations by Earthquakes and the Temperament and so the m●nners of Men are much affected with the temperateness or intemperatness of the Air and they are disposed by it if we believe the most kilful Physitians and our own experience Histories are full of Examples of which I will instance but one or two Delus trembled about the time of the Peloponnesian War which was called immoveable by Pindar as Seneca relate out of Callisthenes lib. 5. Nat. quaest Whilst Brenno was attacking the Del-phian Temple there happened so great an Earthquake and so great a Tempest mingled with Hail and Rain that the Gaulois Army were almost overwhelmed Earthquakes happened often in the Carthaginian War so that 't was said at Rome an Earthquake happened 57 times in the same year in which the Romans and the Carthagians fighting at the Lake Trasimenian were neither of them sensible of a great Earthquake which was there Flin lib. 2. cap. 4 and in the 83. he says That two Mountains ran against one another rising and retiring with a great noise by which concourse all the Towns were dash'd to peices and Cattle between kill'd which was in the year before the Social War and says he I know not but it may

of our forementioned Mathematician All the mutual Aspects of the Planets in this Month are Sol and Virgo Luna and Libra Saturnus and Sagittarious Jupiter and Gemini Mars in Libra Venus in Virgo Mercurious in Libra Cancer in Libra At last he doth conclude thus his Observations upon that Month. The Quartile of the Sun and Saturn and the Sun and Jupiter will in some measure influence September also c. To which we may joyn the Temper of the Air in that very Month whose first part was warm and wet by turns but the most part warm and windy so if we confer these things with what is said in the 52 and 53 Theorems we shall see that the Dispositions of the Air were the same to wit rainy Wheather in the Dog-days There was also a very high South-west wind in that Month tho 't is true that the Air was calm enough that very day when the Earth was shaken Lastly As these two Earthqu●kes had their Conformities in their Causes so had they in their Effects though not in such a high degree 'T is observed that there are three Effects proceeding from Earthquakes 1. Universal Sickness 2. Overflowing of Rivers 3. Scarcity of Fruit or Barrenness As to the first we did hear from many parts of France and Italy that some Malignant Feaver did appear and 't was reported that some kind of Plague hath been discovered in the Province of Languedoc We must adore the Divine Providence who hath kept this Kingdom from all these Mischiefs wherein it was involved by so many Sicknesses when the first Earthquake happened in the last year of Queen Elizabeth's Reign Bu● as to the overflowing of Rivers we had lately too many proofs of this effect so that I need not to enlarge in the recital of many particular mischances that happened in many places almost overwhelmed where several Persons have been lost by the Flood We should now come to examine the third effect of Earthquakes in reference to the first that is the scarcity and barr●nness But we leave it to be felt and proved in France where we know it is great And though all sorts of Provisions are grown so dear since the Month of December last in this Kingdom and especially in London yet that cannot be call'd scarcity every one knows well enough the difference between dearness and scarcity The continuance of bad Weather may always cause the same effect without any former Earthquake We hope then that the same Divine Mercy which has preserved this Kingdom and gathered therein so many thou●and● of Foreign Souls and provided them with Bread seven years long by Miracle will continue to send the same Blessings of Plenty unto this Nation who hath pitied his distracted People The past Events being a kind of Security for the future Whereupon we trust that God will spare these Islands wherein the Candlestick of his Gospel hath been kept fast against all the Attempts of Popery And so we conclude that the seven past years of Plenty are observable enough to put us in mind of the extraordinary and miraculous Providence of God for our Relief in a strange Land So 't is to be feared also that his design hath been to warn us by this present dearness to be wary afterward and to turn our selves from any abusing profuseness of his Graces otherwise the Bread staff of shall certainly be broken it will be without strength 'T is the threatning he makes by Ezekiel against the Land which hath sinned and grievously trespassed against him Ezek. 14.13 Some Problems as a Corollary both General and Special which seem Naturally to rise from this Matter 1. VVHether that be true which Pliny asserts lib. 2. cap. 8. that France and Egypt are seldom shaken by reason of the cold of the one and the heat of the other 'T is certain that in there the cold and Northern Countries Earthquakes are more rare because the Earth being not so porous and loose doth not so easily open a passage for the Wind which is confirmed by Olans Magnus lib. 1. cap. 13. But yet Northern Countries are not free from Earthquakes which History and Experience abundantly testifie For in the year 1572. about the 6th of January a grievous Earthquake shook many both publick and private Buildings in the County of Borussia to their great damage And in the year 1200. a great Earthquake threw down many Houses every where through Poland as is related among others by Funccius lib. 7. Chro. And even Sweedland and Denmark have felt Earthquakes so that France which is more meridional and hotter cannot be free from Earthquakes And altho' Vapours and Winds are not easily generated in hot Countries and if they are they are easily dissolved yet are these infested with Earthquakes 'T is true some write of Egypt that there never was any Earthquake because 't is composed of the Mud that Nile when it overflows carries along with it and so fitted to the former that the Spiritus can find no Receptacles Yet Seneca Lib. 6. Natur. quaest says he dares affirm against the Authority of great Men that Egypt is sometimes shaken And there is a remarkable Disputation extant concerning this in Agathias Lib. 2. Hist Fol. 435. Where he says About that time in the great City Alexandria so●tuated by the River an Earthquake was felt which was short and sm●ll which all t●e Inbabita●ts especially the more Ancient esteemed as a great Miracle beca●se there never was any before yet all being astonish'd at the w●n●●r●ul and sudden C●ntingency for fear came all out which fear also ●●●d d●ne who was there for the sake of Laws and Litterature Moreover t●ose that talk according to the Nature of things say that Egypt can●ot be filled with Vapours seeing it is low even but that Opinion was then discovered to be weak At the same time the Island of Cos in the C●nfines of the Aegean Sea were shaken by an Earthquake but a little part thereof was preserved the rest being levelled to the Ground and variously and almost beyond Credit afflicted with Destru●tion and when I did navigate from Alexandria to Bizancy or Constantinople b●ing carried by chance to that Island such a lamentable Sight did fall under my Eyes that it cannot be expressed by Words c. so says Agathyas 2. Why Rivers decrease by Earthquakes Pliny lib. 2. cap. 8. Among other Effects of Earthquakes mentions the adverse Courses of Rivers others say backwards because they understand it as if Rivers ran back to their Fountains by reason of the lifting up of the Earth in the Channel which obliges the Rivers to a retrograde Motion 'T is commonly experienced that Rivers are lessened and considerably decreased by Earthquakes for the first days which is within a few Months after followed by an Inundation Rusa by Lucern no contemptible Riv●r of Switzerland was so lessened by an Earthquake in that place where it first delivers it self out of the Lake and where it used to be the