visible Footsteps of a Godhead are easily to be traced The Frame of this Spatious Round for this Figure of it is proved from its Shadow cast upon the Moon in an Eclipse which shews that the Earth and Sea make one round Body for the Shadow renders the true Form of the Body which causeth it the Frame I say of this Spatious Globe is excellent and astonishing if we contemplate the Hills Valleys Lakes Rivers Rocks Promontories Woods Islands Peninsula's Continents of which 't is composed the Mixture of which renders it not only useful but beautiful Nature proceeds not always in the same Track and Path but as Philo observes delights in the Variety and Diversity of its Artificial Works And the wonderful Skill and Art of the Author who framed them thus are to be admired But more especially the Diversity of the Situation and Position of the Earth is remarkable It was the Wise Contrivance of the Creator to place it in that Oblique Posture that it is now in it being most convenient for the Good of Mankind He that made of one Blood all Nations of Men to dwell on all the Face of the Earth hath determined the Bounds of their Habitation Acts 17.26 Hence there are Different Zones as they are call'd into which the Earth is divided There is first that which is call'd the Torrid Zone because the Influence of the Sun is very vehement and active in this Part of the World but this is no Hindrance to its being Inhabited as some of old vainly fancied This is all that Space of Earth which is between the two Tropicks But there is a great Latitude as to the Inhabitants of this Zone for some of them live directly under the Equator And these only of all the Dwellers on the Earth have a Right Sphere and always have an Equinox i. e. their Days are exactly 12 Hours in length and so are their Nights neither more nor less They have the peculiar Privilege to see both the Poles at the same time And all the Fixed Stars rise and set to them They have 2 Summers and 2 Winters in a Year the Sun going directly over their Heads twice a Year i. e. when he is in Aries and when he is in Libra so that their 2 Summers are then and their Winters are when the Sun is in Cancer and Capricorn Thus are situated some parts of the East Indies and some part of America and the Islands of Sumatra And though they are so liable to the Perpendicular Rays of the Sun yet by the special Providence of Heaven it happens that the Inhabitants of these Hot Countries have Cool Briezes that constantly fan and refresh them in the Afternoons and their Nights are both long and cool which makes amends for the excessive heat of the Day Other Inhabitants of this Zone are seated between the Equinoctial and the Tropicks and these likewise have a double Summer and Winter only their Days and Nights are more unequal than those under the Equinoctial Line Thus are situated the Philippine and Molucca Islands part of East India in Asia Ethiopia in Africk Mexico in the North of America and Peru Brasil Guinea in the South of it And it is well known that there is not a more temperate Region than Peru in the World the Nights cold tempering the Days heat and Rains being frequent and cool Winds blowing constantly Again there are others of this Zone that live right under the Tropicks These have but one Summer and one Winter in a Year and their Situation is very convenient and upon several accounts desirable Before I leave the Torrid Zone I will take notice of a very Remarkable Thing which Travellers of good Credit inform us of viz. That in most Places belonging to it there are vast Exhalations constantly from the Earth which are condens'd into moist Vapours and though they seldom fall in Rain-Showers yet they affect the Region of the Air which is under them and render it very moist in the Day-time and in the Night very cool and fresh And this abundant Mass of Vapours caus'd by the excessive heat of those Countries affords matter for Dews which are exceeding plentiful and copious so that they serve instead of Rain-Waters and are of great use for the Fertility of the Ground and Plants But Secondly There are 2 Temperate Zones which lie between the Tropicks and the Polar Circles the one between the Tropick of Cancer and the Artick Circle the other between the Tropick of Capricorn and the Antartick It is the peculiar Lot of the People that dwell in these parts of the World to have 2 Solstices and 2 Equinoxes in a Year but one Summer and one Winter and the Sun is never vertical over their Heads They have an Oblique Sphere as all have besides those that live under the Equator We in England are situate in this Parallel so is all Europe yea the greatest part of the habitable World is in the Northern Temperate Zone It was the pleasure of the Great Founder of the World that this part of the Earth should be the Principal Stage of Action It was his Will and Appointment that this should be the Seat of the greater and better part of Mankind There are also two Frigid Zones the one between the Artick Circle and the North Pole the other between the Antartick Circle and the South Pole The Inhabitants are of three sorts 1. Those who live under either of the Polar Circles Those that inhabit under the Artick Circle have one Summer and one Winter in a Year When the Sun is in Cancer their Day is 24 Hours long and they have no Night And when the Sun is in Capricorn their Night is 24 Hours long Under this Parallel are Lapland Finmark part of Russia Iseland c. And here it might be observ'd as a Testimony of a singular Providence that these Countries which are extreme Cold are furnish'd with the largest Wood and the most and best Furs 2. Those that dwell between the Polar Circles and the Poles have sometimes continual Day and no Night From the Sun's being in Cancer their Day is in some places a Month long in others two and the farther they live toward the North the longer are their Days till you come under the North Pole where it is half a Year long without Night In the other half of the Year beginning when the Sun is in Capricorn the Nights exceed proportionably and last a Month two Months c. In this part of the World is Nova Zembla Green-land c. 3. Those that live right under the Poles and these only of all the Dwellers on the Earth enjoy a Day that continues six Months compleat which is succeeded with a Night that lasts as long So that they may be said to have but one Day and one Night in a Year By reason of this latter the Countrey is so cold and dark that it is not inhabited in this part of the Year But as for
after made a Separation between them and in order to the parting of them there were Cavities and Channels made in the Earth to receive and convey the Water whence the Earth which subsided and was depress'd in one Place rose up in another and caus'd the Mountains This is thought to be a rational Account of the Formation of these Vast Bodies but whether it be exact or no no Man can certainly tell But this we are sure of that they existed at the first forming of all things and were constituent Parts of the Primitive Earth which this Writer's Theory utterly denies and saith it was all Champain plain and level So that whilest he avoids speaking like an Orator concerning the Earth which he is set against he saith he cannot afford to speak Truth i. e. to acknowledg what the Holy Scripture it self attests in plain and intelligent Terms concerning the Original of Mountains viz. that they were a part of the first Creation of the World And being so they are questionless of Vse for the Great Creator made nothing in vain Because we cannot possibly see how Great the whole Body of the Earth is therefore there are some Parts of it purposely lifted up above the rest to give us some Intimation and Knowledg of this Huge Globe whereon we stand That Body which is 7000 Miles in Diameter and above 20000 in Circumference is as it were abbreviated by this means into lesser ones some of three or four some of ten or twelve others of twenty or near thirty Miles in Height By beholding these Eminent and Exalted Parts we may guess at the Gigantick Proportions of the Whole Extended Mass it self and admire the Divine Providence which supports its Weight and Bulk Thus because the Earth it self was hid from us excepting what is to be seen within the Compass of our scant Horizon by reason of its Convex Figure and the Shortness of our Sight it was fitting that some Remembrances and Representations as 't were some Maps of the whole should be before our Eyes and these are the High Hills and Mountainous Eminencies which we see as Caucasus Olympus Atlas Athos Aetna Hecla Teneriff which are as 't were Epitomes of the Whole Earth Again these were design'd to be Boundaries and Limits of certain Regions and Countries Thus Taurus the biggest Mountain in the World divides all Asia into two Parts the one Northward the other Southward The Pyrenean Hills separate the Kingdoms of France and Spain the Alpes part Italy from France And several other Mountains are the Natural Barriers which God hath set between Countries and Nations though daring and ambitious Minds take no notice of it and impatiently long to have such a Miraculous Power as to be able to remove these Mountains to take away these Great Land-Marks and Distinguishing Limits Moreover these Parts of the Earth which as to outward View are generally fruitless and barren and therefore may seem useless and unprofitable contain great Riches in them Some of the Rabbins derive Har the Hebrew Word for a Mountain from Harah gravidam esse and they give this Reason because they are big with Metals and swell'd with the precious Treasures that are lodg'd in their Womb. These Places are the proper Receptacle of Minerals and all sorts of Fossiles that are useful to Mankind These Bulky Substances do not take up room to no purpose these Big-bellied Bodies are pregnant with things of the greatest Value and Worth within them are laid up the Wealth of the World But of this I shall say more when I come to speak of the Subterraneous World Again these Places are fittest for the nourishing and producing of Vegetables There is no where else as hath been observed by Botanists such Variety of Plants and Herbs Further these Elevations of the Earth are necessary for conveying Water to us for from hence by Channels under Ground are derived the Springs of this Element They serve as Alembicks to distil fresh Water for the Use of Man and Beasts and their Heights are serviceable to the more facile Descent of the Streams Nay these Streams could not flow unless the Heads of them were thus mounted above the ordinary Level of the Earth There was an absolute Necessity therefore of these Hills that there might be a Descent of these Waters If the Earth were every where level and plain there could be no running Streams or Rivers More especially in very Hot Countries these elevated Parts of the Earth are necessary to supply these Springs for on the Sides of them those abundant Vapours that are exhaled out of the Earth are condensed and turn'd into Water as is proved by a very Ingenious Gentleman And another famous Virtuoso who hath written since hath exceedingly confirm'd this Truth having with great Perspicuity shew'd that Mountains are the Heads and Sources of Springs and Rivers and that there would have been no Running Streams on the Face of the Earth if there had not been these Exaltations of the Ground for here the Waters are condensed and discharged Accordingly he observes that those Countries that are in the Torrid Zone or near or under the Line where the Heat is greatest and consequently where there is the greatest need of Water are furnish'd with Mountains answerable i. e. such as for Bigness and Number surpass those of colder Countries This he therefore concludes to be the Providential Contrivance of Heaven and to be an Argument of the Divine Conduct and Wisdom As for the Highest Mountains in the Southern Parts of the World an Ingenious Naturalist tells us that there is very great Use of them for repelling the Vapours exhaled by the Sun 's powerful Beams in those hot Regions and for hindring their Evagations Northward which he thinks is of great Advantage It might be added that the High Hills render the Earth more convenient and useful for Habitation for if it were all even and level the Houses would lie open to the Winds and to the Sun whereas by this Mixture there is a Shelter from both Furthermore this Inequality of the Earth is suted to the Difference of those Animals that live upon it to some of whom the higher and mountainous Places which are hot and dry are most agreeable yea it is observ'd that they cannot live any where else and to others those Regions that are depressed and are more cool moist and shady are most wholesom and delightful And lastly a Worthy Writer is designing to prove that even the Vulcano's or Burning Mountains as Aetna Hecla Vesuvius c. which seem to be very noxious are of Use to the Places where they are and to the Earth it self and to Mankind insomuch that they could not subsist without these or without the Agents whereby these firy Eruptions are effected Thus from what hath been said it is abundantly evident that the Mountains are a very considerable Part of the Creation and are signal Testimonies of God's Bounty as well as of his Power
of Wit and Art in the Prosecution of it and hath said more than any other Man ever did or perhaps could in Defence of this Hypothesis But any Impartial Judg that hath perused what the Learned Dr. More hath offer'd against it will pronounce it to be a vain Enterprize and indeed utterly Unphilosophical He hath demonstrated that there is not any necessary Causality in Matter whereby such Effects are produced that there is no such immutable Law implanted in it no such original and independent Power but that it is derived wholly from a higher Principle By sundry Arguments he irrefragably baffles the Notion of solving all Things by Mechanick Principles but by no Topick more effectually than that which I have propounded viz. the wise Contrivances in the Works of Nature Mere Motion is no Designer no Contriver therefore it can't be the Cause of those Things which we daily see We must then rationally as well as necessarily infer an All-wise Being from the Operations of the Creatures for we see that they are directed to some End And as to what Des Cartes saith that the Ends of the creating of things are not known to us unless God be pleased to reveal them I refer the Reader to the Honourable Mr. Boyl who hath professedly writ against this Doctrine and hath with undeniable Demonstrations confounded it that is he hath most clearly and convincingly shew'd that the Ends and Designs of God in the Works of the Creation are manifestly known and in abundant Instances he shews that they are most obvious and apparent He denies not that in some of God's Works the Ends designed are somewhat obscure and seem to be beyond our reach but then it is as true that in most of them the Ends and Uses are manifest and the exquisite fitness of the Means is conspicuous And as he observes by this way of ordering and managing Things the most wise Author of them doth both gratify our Understandings and make us sensible at the same time of the Imperfection of them Indeed this must be said that Cartesius's Opinion viz. that the Consideration of Final Causes hath nothing to do in Philosophy is consistent enough with his own Principles for if all that we see in the Bodies of Animals and elsewhere in the World be merely Mechanical then there is no Contrivance no Art because he holds all to be the natural Result of Matter and consequently there is no End and which follows from that there is no Signature of Divine Wisdom in the framing of them But this Conceit of his of Mechanism hath been justly exploded by all the great Masters of Reason who have handled this Subject and the excellent Person before-named hath for ever silenc'd that Opinion if Convictive Arguments can silence it Therefore Des Cartes's denial of Final Causes falls to the Ground because it hath nothing to support it now since that Foundation is removed Mr. Boyl hath observed well not only like a Philosopher but a Christian that this French Wit by his throwing aside Final Causes hath thereby deprived his Disciples of the chief End of Natural Philosophy which is to set forth the Praises of God and to admire his Goodness and Wisdom in the Fabrick of the Universe But if we will truly Philosophize we must by no means shut out the Consideration of the Ends of the Creation but we must with great diligence and study enquire into them and acquaint our selves with them And then by seeing and observing the World we shall learn to know a God we shall be brought to acknowledg and adore an infinitely wise Author who appointed all things their Ends as well as gave them their Beginning And now having thus spoken in General I will descend to Particulars and consider the whole visible Structure and System of the World as to its several Parts Here we will contemplate 1. The Heavens 2. Those things which are observable between the Heavens and the Earth 3. The Earth 4. The Sea 5. The Inhabitants that belong to these several Regions Aerial Terrestrial Aquatile All these proclaim a God an Omnipotent Supream Being a Wise and Provident Governour CHAP. II. The Author proceeds to a Particular Proof of the Divine Existence and Providence from the Consideration of the Heavenly Bodies The unrivall'd Beauty of the Sun The Vniversal Vsefulness and Benefit of it It s vast Dimensions The trascendent Swiftness of its Motion It s Regular Course through the Heavens Where is largely discuss'd the Copernican Hypothesis concerning the Earth's Motion and is proved to be precarious because 1. It is grounded on this Vnphilosophical Notion that it is difficult and troublesome to the vast Heavenly Bodies to be continually journeying and posting and therefore the Copernicans would free them of this great Trouble by laying it upon the Earth which they fancy can bear it better 2. It confronts that Historical part of the Bible Jos. 10.13 Isa. 38.8 In such a plain Narration of Matter of Fact and that of a Miracle it is not to be supposed that Words are spoken any otherwise than according to the real Nature of the Thing and the Propriety of Speech 3. It proceeds upon an erroneous and mistaken Apprehension concerning the Nature of the Earth and the chief Inhabitant of it Man For both of them are far greater than the Heavens in real worth and value 4. We may as well imbrace the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which is an absolute Defiance to our Senses as this Opinion Objections and Evasions framed from Custom and the moving in a Ship answered 5. If the Trembling of the Earth may be felt as all grant then the violent Whirling of it about must needs be more sensible Objections against this answered Demonstrations which depend on the Eye-sight are fallible and have been questioned by the best Artists The Modishness of the Copernican Notion tempts most Men to follow it This is no Temptation to the Author who for the Reasons premised holds that the Heavens continually roll about the Earth from that effectual Impulse which they at first received from the Almighty Hand I Begin with the Heavens that immense Space where the Sun and Stars are placed that vast Expansum which contains the Great and Glorious Luminaries of the World for I speak not any thing of Angels the Blessed Inhabitants of this upper part of the Creation as afterwards when I shall treat of Man I shall say nothing of his Soul because I have design'd to discourse only of the visible World These Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work Psal. 19.1 they tell aloud who was their Author even the same who is the Infinite and Bountiful Source of all Things He framed this Molten Looking-Glass Job 37.18 this Solid and Bright Mirrour of his own Majesty that we might behold Him and his Perfections in it And yet He stretched out the Heavens like a Curtain Psal. 104.2 as a Vail to shrowd as it were
we might abate the Pythagorical Musick of the Spheres the seven-fold Pipe of Pan and the strange Cryptography of Gaffarel in his Starry Book of Heaven Lastly In the great Vsefulness of the Stars we may see the Footsteps and Impressions of the Beneficent Creator As he giveth the Sun for a Light by Day so he appointeth the Ordinances not only of the Moon but of the Stars for a Light by Night Jer. 31.35 And these Ordinances shall not depart from before him ver 36. they are of perpetual use for affording Light in the Night-Seasons and they are on other accounts unspeakably beneficial to Mankind The Fruitfulness of the Earth the alternate Succession of the Seasons of the Year our Bodily Constitutions and in part the Dispositions of our Minds our Health our Life depend upon the Influence and Vertue of the Stars Sir W. Rawleigh hath suggested very excellent things on this Subject Our Divine Poet expresses his Sentiments in this Matter thus And if an Herb have Power what have the Stars Doubtless our Plagues and Plenty Peace and Wars Are there much surer than our Art is sure It is not to be doubted that the Ministry of these Heavenly Bodies is made use of in the Government of this Inferiour World They act continually upon it and nothing is done without their Influence God hath set the Dominion of the Heaven in the Earth Job 38.33 Which is an irrefragable Text to prove that the Celestial Bodies have a Virtue and Power on all Things Below Both those which are Animate and Inanimate do someways feel the Operation of them Which proves the First and Original Disposer of them to be a Rational and Intellectual Agent This is he that maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the Chambers of the South Job 9.9 This is he that made and therefore as himself saith Iob 38.31 32. is able to bind the sweet Influences of the Pleiades the Seven Stars whose Influence is felt in the Spring and to loose the Bands of Orion which is most predominant in the Winter and produces Storms c. and to bring forth Mazaroth in his Season the same perhaps with Mazzaloth Planetae 2 Kings 23.5 for Lamed and Resh are often changed for one another but the Rabbins call the Twelve Signs by the name of Mazzaroth and to guide Arcturus with his Sons i. e. the Constellation call'd Septem Triones the Wain the Bear together with the other Stars and Constellations of this Southern Hemisphere which are call'd his Sons And in Amos 5.8 He that maketh the Seven Stars and Orion is the Periphrasis of God And we are bid there to seek him who doth this we are to worship God because of the Works of the Heavens His making them and together with them constituting the Seasons of the Year invites us to acknowledg and seek him The Heathens went too far and wildly asserted these Heavenly Bodies to be Gods But then we rightly use them when we argue a God from them And this we may easily do because they set forth the Wisdom of God and the other Excellent Attributes belonging to him This is the work of Astronomy rightly improved It points at the Creator and conducts us to him as the Wise Men of old were led to our Saviour by a Star I speak not of that vain Pretence to the knowledg of all sorts of future Events by Inspection into the Stars which some Impostors talk much of and would make us believe is a Real Science This hath been exploded by all the Wise and Sober Heads in every Age. And it might be observ'd that those who have been most addicted to this Iudiciary way of consulting the Stars and have confided in it have felt the Folly of it most signally Their giving credit to it did procure their Ruine as we see in Iulius Caesar Pompey Nero Iulian the Apostate and several others that might be named of a meaner Figure Their fond trusting to this Science falsly so call'd prov'd fatal to them and render'd their Ends unfortunate But the Study of the Stars is not to be blamed the Astronomical Art is harmless and innocent yea 't is useful and advantageous For by help of this we climb the Heavens and scale the Ethereal Battlements but with a Success different from that of the Antient Giants because they fought the Gods as the Poets talk but we find out the True One by contemplating the Starry Bodies We come acquainted with the great Nomenclator of the Stars He that calls them all by their Names and enabled Adam as a very Learned Man thinks at the same time that he gave Names to the Creatures here Below to do the same to these Above by which Names they were wont to be call'd by the Patriarchs some of which remain in the Bible as Gnas Chesil Chimah Job 5.9 Amos 5.8 but most of them are lost We step from Orb to Orb and measure the vast Heavens and rifle the several Vortices and make new Discoveries in those Celestial Regions and thereby frame fresh Arguments of Divine Wisdom in contriving the World and we extort an acknowledgment of a Deity even from the Irreligious and such as are most averse to the Notion of a God For from our Enquiries that Assertion of the Learned Philo is made good Whatever is contained in the Heavens is made and fitted with the greatest Reason and Congruity There is nothing but what is founded on the most rational Grounds And we arrive to the Determination of that Wise Roman What can be more plain and evident when we behold the Heavens and all Things belonging to them than that there is a Numen of a most excellent Understanding by whom these Things are order'd and govern'd And a little after he comes to this Final Result That there is therefore a God is so plain that for my part I look upon the Man that denies it to be out of his Wits For the Frame and Contrivance of the Heavens which is the Subject I have been insisting upon and now am finishing are sufficient to perswade any Man of a sound Mind of the Existence of an Invisible but Wise Being who is the Author and Contriver of this excellent System of the Upper World So little reason had Alphonsus X. K. of Leon and Castile Author of the Astronomical Tables that bear his Name to utter those blasphemous Words as we find related by Lipsius and Spondanus and others that he could have mended the Fabrick of the World if he had assisted at the Creation especially he could have order'd things better in the Heavens This was that Alphonsus as Lipsius observes who was deposed from his Throne expell'd his Kingdom and died hated of all Men. Mariana saith he ran mad being reproved by an Hermite for uttering the forementioned Words but whether that be true or no as there may be some Ground to question it it is agreed that he was a most
the same Effect with relation to Earthquakes that were felt in other Places Those Commotions in the Natural World are thought to foretel greater in the Ecclesiastical and Civil 2. The Holy Scriptures have particularly taken notice of this as a Sign of the Divine Anger and as a Forerunner of great Evils and Calamities Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of Hosts with Earthquake c. Isai. 29.6 It was foretold by our Blessed Saviour Mat. 24.7 that there should be great Earthquakes in diverse Places before the final Overthrow of Ierusalem And you may observe that in the Sacred Writ great Alterations but especially those which are Mischievous and Destructive are express'd to us by Earthquakes by moving and shaking the Earth and such like Terms This is the Stile and Language of the Old Testament yea and of the New as is evident from several Passages in the Book of the Revelation And therefore my Assertion is not groundless when I say that this particular sort of Prodigies generally foresignifies some Remarkable Evils and Calamities 3. Let us observe and consider the Number and Frequency of this kind of Events of late Above thirty Cities and Towns in Italy and the adjoining Parts have felt this Dreadful Motion within a few Years And they that converse with the History of Modern Occurrences cannot but have informed themselves that there have been more Terrible Shakings of the Earth in the space of these last ten Years than there were in above two I may say 3 or 4 hundred Years before This certainly deserves our most serious Consideration and may assure us that some very Uncommon and Extraordinary thing is portended by these frequent and repeated Agitations of the Earth under our Feet 4. and lastly Let us look upon this late Trembling of that Vast Element under us as an Act of Divine Judgment and Mercy mixed together for we may consider it under this double Notion First let us view it as a Iudgment as a Terrible Threatning from Heaven as a Token of God's Anger and Displeasure because of our multiplied Offences and Enormities for this is the General Character of this Prodigious Occurrence Let us see the Divine Hand stretched out against us and let us speedily reform our Lives lest our continuing in our Impenitence provoke the Almighty to cut us off speedily Secondly let us admire this late Visitation as it hath a Mixture of Singular Mercy with it We have heard what hath been the deplorable Condition of some Other Countries where Earthquakes have happen'd Great Numbers of People have been swallow'd up alive by the gaping Ground and have been buried in the Bowels of the Earth and the Circumstances of those that survived were unspeakably lamentable and miserable It is the peculiar Goodness of Heaven to us that we have not met with the same Severity that this late Concussion of the Earth was not of that Violent and Furious Nature and that it proved not fatal and destructive to us We are concern'd now to remember and practise that Advice of our Blessed Lord Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto you I say a worse thing for even to speak Philosophically which some would have us to do in this Affair if the Sulphureous Matter in that part of the Earth which is under us or whatever else it is that is the Cause of Earthquakes be not quite spent or dissipated or if its Exhalations have not had vent through the subterraneous Caverns and Channels in some other Place it may be at a great distance from us there is some reason to fear an After-Clap a more fierce and vehement Shock with a rending of the Earth to make way for those Sulphureous Vapours Thus even on Natural Grounds it may be suspected that this Gentle Trepidation which we have felt will be follow'd with a more Direful Commotion and that both we and our Habitations may be interred in one Common Sepulcher But to wave Philosophy I am sure according to Divinity we have cause to fear that a worse thing will befal us because we grow rather Worse than Better by all these things that happen to us If the Reader thinks fit we will join in our Devotion upon this Occasion and humbly revering the late Stroke of the Divine Hand supplicate that the Omen may be happily prevented and averted O thou Eternal Being Soveraign Lord of Heaven and Earth Vouchsafe we beseech Thee that we may be fully sensible of this Iudgment which Thou hast threatned us with Thou who shewest thy self a God of Power and Vengeance by making the Earth to tremble under its Inhabitants put them into the like Posture and cause them to fear and stand in awe of Thee to acknowledg that they deserve to be utterly destroyed for their repeated Transgressions and Offences and that it is from thine unspeakable Patience and Long-suffering from thine infinite Compassion and Forbearance that so Prophane and Wicked a People are not actually consumed O Blessed God make this an effectual means to convince Men of thy Almighty Power and Soveraignty of thy impartial Iustice and Severity and that thou hast Various Ways of punishing Offenders Thou canst make All the Elements serviceable to this dreadful End Thou didst destroy the Sinners of the Old World with an Inundation of Water thou didst consume Sodom and the Neighbouring Cities by Fire Thou hast often by an Infectious Air brought a devouring Pestilence on a People and thou hast also caused the Earth to open its Mouth and swallow up rebellious Sinners And this we might justly fear will be our Lot from thine avenging Hand Our Crying Sins and abominable Practices have long since deserved that this Sudden and Terrible Calamity should overtake us And now if Thou dost actually inflict it upon us we must acknowledg Thee to be Iust and Righteous for there is no Punishment too severe for us But spare us O Thou Merciful Preserver of Men and deal not with us according to our Demerits Enable us to call to Mind that Terrible but Loving Warning which Thou lately gavest us and let our Behaviour be sutable to it Let us with humble Thankfulness acknowledg thy singular Goodness and Mercy to us Thou hast not dealt so with all People for Thou hast shaken the Earth and destroyed the Inhabitants of it at the same time But Thou hast been favourable to Vs and hast only threatned us O let this thy Goodness and Forbearance towards us lead us unto Repentance and firm Resolves of vertuous Living Do Thou make us so deeply apprehensive of this extraordinary Instance of thy Long-suffering and Clemency that we may be effectually stirr'd up to render Thanks unto Thee our Preserver and Saviour and to testify our Thankfulness in a hearty abandoning of all our evil Ways and in turning unto Thee our Gracious God by Amendment of Life that Thou mayest never be provoked to renew the Tokens of thy former Displeasure and to deal more severely with us than