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 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 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 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 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 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 * Amm. Marcell Hist l. 23. Chrysost Orat. 2. c. Jud. Socrates l. 3. c. 17. Sozomen l. 5. c. 21. 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 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 * See more of this in the following Chapters BECAVSE HE WAS WROTH There went up a Smoak out of his Nostrils and Fire out of his Mouth devoured Coals
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 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 * P. Jovius Lisbon was shaken 1500 Houses ruined all the Temples turn'd into Rubbish the Ships swallowed up in the Ocean the 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. * Saladinus adjecit animum ad Regni Jerosolymitani eversionem praevio ut solet fieri Terrae motu quo Antiochia Laodicea Alapia Caesarea Emissa Tripolis aliaeque Urbes ferè conciderunt Cluverius great Earthquakes preceded Anno 1300. when the Turkish Empire began to be considerable there †Platina 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 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 Vzziah 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. * Dr. Jackson 's Works Tom. 2. Part 2. lib. 7. p. 526. 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 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 * Sedisse immensos Montes visa in arduo quae plana suerint Tacit. Annal. lib. 2. 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 Cesar and Anthony tried their Fortunes in that great and famous Sea-fight 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 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 * Orosius l. 7. c. 9. Cyprus fell by an Earthquake in the time of Vespasian and Titus followed with a great Pestilence at Rome In Julian's †Sozomen l. 6. c. 2. Theodoret l. 4. c. 4. time there were several great Earthquakes followed with a terrible Famine at Alexandria and in Egypt ‖ See Hottingeri Dissert de Terrae motu Diss 4. Quaest 3. Unde Terrae motus immittantur fintne fortutti purè naturales an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 * Howel 's Gen. Hist Vol. 2. p. 83 84. 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 troubled To these Cedrenus adds that in the fourth or fifth Year of Constantius Antioch
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 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 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 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 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 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 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
PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS On the Late Earthquakes IN Jamaica England Sicily Malta c. Anno 1692. With a Particular Historical Account of those and divers other EARTHQUAKES By JOHN SHOWER London Printed for John Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Cornhill and Abraham Chandler at the Chirurgion's Arms in Aldersgate-street MDCXCIII THE PREFACE TO THE READER THE late Earthquakes abroad in America and Sicily with that we had here last September made so much Discourse amongst all sorts of People that I endeavoured the serious Improvement of 'em in a Sermon on that Occasion which at the Desire of many is now enlarged with many Historical Passages of other Earthquakes and moral Reflections relating to our own Countrey As to the Authors I have cited I have consulted the Originals as to the most of 'em and am well satisfied of the Truth of those few Others which I had not the Leisure or Opportunity to look into In some Chronological Differences between Historians I have mentioned that Year which I thought the most Probable but if the Matter of Fact be truly related though I should mistake the Year the Reader is not much concerned Philosophically to discuss the Nature of Earthquakes many Others whom I need not name have attempted Such a Narration concerning the late Extraordinary one in Sicily I am inform'd we may expect shortly from the Learned Malpighius We cannot wonder if the Concernedness of the Heathen World upon any such violent Motions of the Earth did degenerate into Superstition Owning a Multiplicity of Gods they knew not to which of 'em to ascribe such Events and therefore we read of the Ancient Romans that upon those Occasions they never address'd their Prayers and Vows to any one particular Deity as in other Cases they were wont to do lest saith * Quoniam quâ vi per quem Deorum Dearumve Terra tremuit incertum esset Aul. Gell. Noct. Art l. 2. c. 28. Varro they should mistake because they knew not by whose Influence the Earth was shaken To that Modesty or Ignorance of the Romans we may oppose the Vanity of the Greeks who boasted they could foretel Earthquakes as is pretended to have been done by †Diog. Laert. in Vit. Pherec See more Instances La Mothe le Vayer Lett. LXXV des Trembl de Terre Pherecydes the Master of Pythagoras But when Earthquakes happened they were all wont to quit their ‖ Anno 3861. Crebris Terrae motibus undique nunciatis tam multae sunt indictae Feriae Romae ad placandos Coelestes ut nec Senatus haberi nec administrari Respublica posset Consulibus Sacrificando Expiandoque occupatis Lefcoloper in Ciceron p. 229. Imperante Gordiano tertio fuit Terrae motus eousque gravis ut Civitates etiam Terrae hiatu cum Populis deperitent ob quae Sacrificia per totam Urbem totumque orbem Terrarum ingentia celebrata sunt Histor August Scriptores Jul. Capitol Gordianus tertius Tom. 2. 8o. Civil and Common Affairs and betake themselves to their Devotions and by Prayers and Sacrifices endeavour to appease the Anger of the Gods Concerning the late Earthquakes in Sicily it hath been observ'd that * Present State of Europe March 1693. p. 86. Messina received less Damage than some other Cities The People in that Country being very superstitious the Monks made advantage of their Simplicity and spread abroad a Report at the time of the Earthquake that the B. Virgin had revealed to a young Girl of nine Years old her particular Favourite that by means of her Intercession she had obtain'd that the City of Messina which is under her Protection should not be swallowed up This for a little while somewhat reviv'd their Spirits But the Intercession of S. Agatha could not procure the same Favour for the City of Catanea whereof she is Patroness For when the Earthquake began the People flew to the Cathedral where one of the Canons carried about the Relicks of the Saint But neither the Relicks nor the Prayers of the Saint could stop the Thunderbolt which fell upon that City but it was overturn'd as in a Moment and not one House left standing And besides wounded and maimed that were digg'd out of the Ruines eighteen Thousand are supposed to have perished there The Kingdom of Naples hath had a Share in that Earthquake as well as the Island of Malta Our great Difficulty in reflecting on such Providences will be to avoid the two Extreams of Atheism on the one hand and Superstition on the other not to make too little or too much of such Events not to overlook the Divine Agency and Warning thereby as if they had no meaning nor on the other hand to be bold and positive and particular in determining what they signify and what we may expect to follow I have given divers Instances of other publick Calamities which have been preceded by Earthquakes If National Repentance and Reformation do not prevent it we have reason to expect such from moral Prognostications had we no such Call as by the late Earthquakes to consider our Ways Few we may fear do practically Acknowledg God's Government and own his Agency in these things The most are Confident and Careless as if they carried nothing in them either of Presage or Admonition or at least nothing but good News VVe have been told in * Philosophical Discourse of Earthquakes by C. H. 4o. Print That if any thing can be collected from the late Earthquake here September the 8th it is this That as we had a long and calm Serenity of Weather after it so a lasting Peace and Tranquillity will be settled in the World by the Conduct and Victorious Arms of King VVILLIAM whom God long preserve How little Ground we have to expect this without Reformation I leave to the Consideration of all who seriously believe God's Government of the VVorld and know what he hath done to other Nations and People I may promise my self the Concurrence of all Good Men in our Improvement of the late Earthquakes which I endeavour to perswade to viz. Thankfully to own our publick National Mercies while other Countries are made Desolate That Trembling of the Earth in England 't is true was not a Prodigy in one sense because we were not destroyed by it But then it had not been a Warning but an Execution as to Vs not the Signal but the Judgment Vpon the Account of a Deliverance from a threatning Earthquake Anno Christi 365. we find the City of * Sozomen l. 6. c. 2. Amm. Marcell Le Sieur Alexandria observed an Annual Feast in Commemoration of it VVhen some are made Examples and Signs to us God expects we should own his Goodness that we are spared and take heed that we provoke not his Anger by the like and further Transgressions VVhen our Saviour exhorts us to remember Lot 's Wife we may suppose it was not the Miracle so much as the Moral he intended God's Judgments on Jerusalem
were kindled by it Psal 18.7 8. I will shake the Heavens and 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 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 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 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 * Sermon on Psalm 60.2 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 are more rarely infested with such frightful Accidents In what Condition can a Man be safe saith Seneca * Epist 23. Nat. Quaest lib. 5. c. 1. speaking of Earthquakes when the World it self is shaken and the only thing that passes for fixed and unmovable in the Universe trembles and deceives us Whither shall we fly for Security if wheresoever we are the Danger be still under our Feet Upon the cracking of an House every Man takes himself to his Heels and leaves all to save himself But what Retreat is there where that which should support us fails us when the Foundation not only of Cities but even of the World it self opens and wavers What Help or what Comfort where Fear it self can never carry us off An Enemy may be kept at a distance with a Wall a Castle may put a stop to an Army a Port may protect us from the Fury of a Tempest Fire it self doth not follow him that runs away from it a Vault may defend us against Thunder and we may quit the Place in a Pestilence There is some Remedy in all these Evils Or however no Man ever knew a whole Nation destroyed by Lightning A Plague may unpeople a Town but it will not carry it away There is no Evil of such an Extent so Inevitable so Greedy and so publickly Calamitous as an Earthquake For it does not only devour Houses Families and single Towns but ruines whole Countries and Nations either overturning or swallowing them up without so much as leaving any Footstep or Mark of what they were Some People have a greater Horror for this Death than any other To be taken away Alive out of the number of the Living as if all Mortals by what Means soever were not to come to the same End Death And 't is not a Pin matter whether I am crush'd to pieces by one Stone or by a whole Mountain whether I perish by the fall of an House or under the Burden of the whole Earth whether I be swallowed up alone or with a thousand more for company We
should therefore arm our selves against that Blow that can neither be avoided or foreseen And it is not the forswearing those Places that we find infested with Earthquakes that will do our business for there is no Place that can be warranted against them What if the Earth be not yet moved It is still movable for the whole Body of it lies under the same Law and expos'd to Danger only some part at one time and some at another As it is in Great Cities where all the Houses are subject to Ruin tho they do not all fall together So in the Body of the Earth now this Part fails and then that Tyre was formerly subject to Earthquakes In Asia twelve Cities were swallowed up in a Night Achaid and Macedonia have had their turns and now Campagnia The Fate goes round and strikes at last where it hath a great while passed by It falls out oftner 't is true in some Places than in others But no Place is totally free and exempt And it is not only Men but Cities Coasts nay the Shores and the very Sea it self that suffer under the Dominion of Fate And yet we are so vain as to promise our selves some sort of Assurance in the Goods of Fortune never considering that the very Ground we stand upon is unstable And it is not the Frailty of this or that Place but the Quality of every Spot of it for not one Inch of it is so compacted as not to admit many Causes of its Resolution And tho the Bulk of the Earth remain entire the Parts of it may yet be broken Thus the Pagan Philosophers prepared themselves and others for these Accidents as for Disorders that were Inevitable and did not trouble themselves 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 And of all the Animadversions that Divine Justice gives Men there is none more Horrid or less Evitable than this of * Senault of the Corruption of Nature by Sin Treat 6th Disc 7th Earthquakes For what Assurance can we hope for here below if the Earth quake under our Feet Where can we think to escape Danger if the most solid thing of all the World do shake if that which sustains all other Things about us threaten us with sinking under our Feet What Sanctuary shall we find to defend us from an Evil that doth encompass us round And whither can we withdraw if the Gulphs which open themselves shut up our Passages on all sides With what Horror are Men struck when they hear the Earth groan when her Trembling succeeds her Complaints when Houses are loosned from their Foundations when the Roofs fall upon their Heads and the Pavement sinks under their Feet What Hope is there to be had in so General a Disorder when Fear cannot be fenc'd by Flight In other Cases there is some Outlet whereby to escape an Evil An Enemy is beaten from the Bulwark he had possess'd himself of Earthworks are opposed to the thundring Canon Winds which raise Tempests deliver us from 'em and after having a long time toss'd us to and fro they cast us on the Shore Houses serve us for Sanctuaries against the Injuries of the Air and Weather If a Man will resign his Goods to the Fire he may secure his Person Thunder hurts not those who hide themselves in Caverns When the Pestilence infects whole Cities we may shun the Contagion by going into the Country and if it dispeople Towns it doth not throw down the Houses But an Earthquake incloseth what it overthrows and wages War not with some few Houses only but whole Provinces and sometimes leaves nothing behind it to inform Posterity of its Outrages more insolent than Fire which spares Rocks more greedy than the Sea which vomits up Shipwracks more cruel than the Conqueror who spares Walls it swallows and devours whatsoever it overturns The Sea is subject to its Empire and Mariners confess that those Storms are most dangerous which are occasioned by Earthquakes This Misfortune is common to all Kingdoms since Man became Criminal all Parts of the Earth are become moveable and Stedfastness must no longer be look'd for in the World since Innocency is banish'd thence by Injustice This Disorder is the Punishment of our Sin and Reason as well as Faith doth sufficiently assure us that the Universe would never have been agitated with these furious Accidents during the State of Original Righteousness Wherefore should God's Anger have armed the Elements against his faithful and obedient Subjects Wherefore should he have overthrown all his Works to destroy Innocent Men Why should it have overwhelm'd the Inhabitants of the Earth with the Ruines thereof if they had not been sinful Why should it have buried those in the Bowels of the Earth who were not to die Let us then conclude that Earthquakes are the Effects 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. Such Instances of Divine Severity should teach us to reverence and adore the Divine Power and Providence should awaken us to Repentance excite most earnest Prayer occasion Thankfulness for our Preservation hitherto and call upon us to trust in God as our only Refuge and to secure his Favour 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
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 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 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 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 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 * Howel 's General Hist Vol. 2. p. 883. Dion Cass Trajan cap. 18. Dio Xiphilin Le Sieur Hist del ' Eglise An. de N. S. 115. 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 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 ‖ P. Orosii Hist l. 7. cap. 12. mentions 103 Cities of Asia overturn'd by Earthquakes And afterwards in Justinian's time * Cluverius ad An. Dom. 528. Cluverius mentions another Earthquake at Antioch that destroyed above forty thousand And by †Ib. ad An. Dom. 602. another Earthquake there 61 Years after the former 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 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 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 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 * Polani Syntagma p. 841. 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 ‖ An. 1663. in Insula Canada horrendi Terrae motus sentiuntur Haec Tempestas ingentem Terrarum tractum infestavit Barbaros Christianis interim incolumibus gravi damno affecit Cluverius p. 868. And 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. We ought not to Censure others because of such Calamities as greater Sinners than those who escape much less should we pass a Judgment on their Eternal State because they are cut off suddenly by a temporal Judgment 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 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 Hand of God therein as in the Case
several Things some whereof are taken notice of by * Mr. Fleming 's Discourse of Earthquakes 8o. some of whose Remarks I here repeat 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 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 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 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 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 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 Vniversity 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 Most slight such Warnings What was done in Jamaica had special Relation to us in this Island We in England have had divers Earthquakes formerly Their Wickedness was great so is ours Several Earthquakes have extended as far as ours Sept. 8th tho felt beyond the Seas near the same Time Other Instances of Eathquakes in Europe 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 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 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 Vs 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 'T is 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 * Herodot 1.4 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 †Matthew Paris Speed 's Chron. p. 446. King William the First or 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 * Baker 's Chron. p. 43. 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 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 * Baker 's Chron. p. 58. 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 †Matthew Paris Earthquake 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 * Cambden 's Eliz. p. 158 159. Baker 's Chron. p. 399. Earthquake happened 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 * Cambden 's Eliz. p. 244. Baker 's Chron. p. 400. 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 †Cambden Ibid. p. 286. 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 ‖ Recited by Mr. D. Earthquakes Explain'd and Improv'd 8o. p. 134. to be read for the turning of God's Wrath from the Nation 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 * Heath 's Chronicle p. 395. 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 p. 743. Cluverius in those Parts An. 1117. In the 17th Year of the Emperor ‖ Cluver ad An. 1117. p. 434. 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 Mountains were cleft Rivers dried up c. So lately as the Year 1660 France had experience of * Letters writ by a Spy at Paris Vol. 6. p. 58 67. an Earthquake which the Turkish Spy mentions who was then at Paris We have felt the Menaces saith he of a terrible Earthquake this
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 An. 986. there was another at Constantinople which was so violent that not only the Walls and Churches were shaken by it but all * Cedrenus Greece In the 12th Century there were many in the †Cent. Magdeb. cent 12. cap. 13. de Miraculis East And in the Year 1300 which began the Turkish Empire or the Ottoman Aera ‖ Life of Pope Boniface the 8th Platina relates such an Earthquake at Rome as the like was never before And An. 1348. such a one at (*) Aventinus 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 ' s Travels p. 120. Herbert gives an account of an Earthquake which threw down 500 Houses in the City of Lair And An. 1593. the 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 * Herbert 's Travels p. 398. 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 †Mandelflo 's Travels into the Indies added to Olearius p. 221. Earthquake May 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 * Vol. 5. l. 3. Lett. 9. p. 204. 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 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 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 Sea-side 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 * An. 1688. Num. 2349. London Gazette and confirmed by many Merchants Letters Tho the Damage by the Inundation was lessen'd by another Account afterwards CHAP. IX God will yet preserve his Church and enlarge the Kingdom of Christ tho Particular Churches and Countries may be destroyed The Accomplishment of Scripture-Prophecies and Promises usher'd in by great Commotions and by Earthquakes Some Instances thereof 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 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 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
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 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 * Socrat. Hist Eccles l. 2. c. 7 10. 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 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 * Howel's Gen. Hist Vol. 2. p. 231. ad An. C. 366. This Prodigy we cannot 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 * Tricesimo deinde Anno Theodosii Terrae motus facti sunt ingentes per menses aliquot integros maximarum Praenuntii Mutationum quibus Respublica tum Ecclesiastica tum Mundana mox laboravit ac tantum non occidit Romanum tum Praesulatum accepit Lea qui primus in omnes totius Orbis Christiani Episcopos dominatum sibi aliquem ut Privilegio Petro dato coepit arrogare Cluverius p. 322. Earthquake preceded the Death of one of the best Emperors viz. Theodosius as the Fore-runner of Great Changes Some †Howel 's Hist p. 673. 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 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 * Lib. 1. cap. 17. 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 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 * Lib. 14. cap. 46. 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 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 * Theodoret l. 5. c. 34. 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 †Howel 's Hist p. 202. 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 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