Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A52698
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A brief account, and seasonable improvement of the late earthquake in Northampton-shire, Jan. 4, 1675/6 in a letter to a friend in London.
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N. N.
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1676
(1676)
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Wing N29; ESTC R17290
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7,747
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10
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Husbandmen Psal 147.17 The Psalmist asks this Question Who can stand before his Cold And certainly should the Almighty let loose upon us his Winter 's Cold or graduate the Summer's Heat should he take his Restraint from the Seas which he holds in the Hollow of his Hand or should he pluck off his double Bridle with which he curbs the raging Storms and foaming Tempests should he enlarge his commission to Thunder Lightning Earthquakes we must in one moment perish But the Lord reigneth and therefore let the Earth rejoice Psal 97.1 let the Multitude of the Isles be glad thereof And let us amongst the rest acknowledg and rejoice that the Lord reigneth for as all Naturalists teach us no places are so obnoxious to Earthquakes as Islands because the Earth being there most Cavernous and Porous admits the Humours Aristâ—t 2. Meteor of which are begotten Vapors which striving to deliver themselves from Prison and Repelled by the Waves of the Sea being rarified by violent motion and requiring more room force themselves a passage with most dreadful effects No People in the World are so obliged to thankfulness as Islanders being daily preserved from Deluges and Earthquakes to which we are so lyable 2. Let the sleepy World Awake and the secure Sinner rowze up his sluggish Soul to Repentance at these Lesser Concussions lest God destroy them by Greater Men are certainly in a deep and dead sleep when Earthquakes will not Alarm their Consciences If we dispise him that thus speaks to us from the Earth the next time we may hear of him from Heaven When our Heads begin to ake who can secure us that it shall not end in a Fever which may put a period to our Lives And when the Earth begins to Tremble who knows whether it be not an Accession towards that last and great Ague fit of the Creation wherein the Heavens and the Earth and all the Elements shall be blended in an Eternal Chaos for we are warned from the unerring records of Holy Writ that There shall be great Earthquakes Luk. 21.11 before the great and notable Day of the Lord come which prophesy though it received a lesser accomplishment in the destruction of Jerusalem yet most learned Men are agreed that these shall be the prodromous tokens of the Dâ—ssolution of the World Heathen Rome it self had such dreadful apprehensions of Earthquakes that upon these occasions they appointed solemn days of Sacrifice to their Gods Sueton. in vitâ Claudii Nay the Historian observes it of Claudius Caesar that he gave order ut quoties terra in urbe movisset ferias advooatâ concione Praetor indiceret That as often as there was an Earthquake in the City the Pretor should proclaim a Holy Day And A. Gellius observes that because Philosophers could not agree about the Natural causes that therefore whenever they decreed a solemn Day upon this Account they never named the particular Deity to whom it was dedicated as otherwise the custom was lest they should mistake the God that caused it And that if the day were polluted they expiated it by Sacrifice Si Deo si Doae c. to that Numen at all adventures whether it were God or Goddess Agreeable to the practice of the Athenians who in the time of a raging Pestilence that they might be sure to hit upâ—n the right Deity erected an Altar and offered sacrifice thereon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to that God who was fit for the purpose most probably the same which St. Paul found at Athens with this inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the unknown God Acts 17 And as the Roman Decemviri in these exigencies were enjoyned to consult the Sibylline Oracles so let us who have a more sure word of Prophesy and to whom there is but one the Living and the true God consult the H ly Scriptures for our duty which direct us to the Sacrifices of Prayer Repentance a Broken and Contrite Heart and above all to our Advocate with the Father to turn away his deserved Wrath. And let us all make the same use of this Act. 16.30 31. which the Jayler made of his Earthquake and cry out Sir's what must we do to be Saved and take the answer with thankfulness Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be Saved 3. Let us search out those particular Sins for which God may have a Controversy with us Neglect and Contempt or at best an inconsiderable and disproportionable improvement of the Gospel Pride fulness of Bread Security Worldliness indifferency of Spirit in Religion Christ charges Sardis that she had a Name to Live and yet was Dead And History informs us that God reckoned with Asia by Earthquakes about the 12 of Nero An. Chr. 68. Nothing less than a serious through-reformation of these abominatiâ—ns will divert the displeasure of God What the Natural Effects of Earthquakes have been Naturalists are very liberal in their informations How they have rent away some parts and limbs of a Country from the main body so was Sicily torn off from Italy so was Cyprus forced from the continent of Syria Euboea from the main Land of Boeotia and as some think by an Earthquake was Britain divided from France And how sometimes they have heaved up Islands in the midst of the Seas as it were to compensate the loss of those which they had swallowed up Thus were Delos Rhodus Aenaria with some others raised out of the Bosom of the Ocean into which by the like cause they may again subside And how they have caused Pestilential Contagions from that exhalation which being long pent up in the Bowels of the Earth contracts poisonous qualities which breaking forth impress their Veâ—em and Malignity upon our Bodies And how they cause barrenness of the Earth from the same poisonous exhalations which as they pass through the pores of the Earth do not only leave a venemous Tincture in the Earth it self but destroy the seminal Particles of the Seeds already lodged in the Ground Let the Natural Philosophers spend their verdict how they please all I shall say is this that they may signifie more to us then they can effect Psal 104.32 4. Let us therefore own the Hand of God in these shakings who looks upon the Earth and it shaketh who toucheth the Hills and they Smoak If a look of God can shake the Earth what can his touch do and if the Finger of God be so powerful what is his Arm Second Causes of these covulsive Motions must be allowed but not to jostle out the First to whom the other are subordinate concatinated to and depend upon Let the subtle Cardan and Scaliger quarrel and vex themselves and others whether Fire Water or Air be the true causes of these Commotions Let others tell us how these Subterraneous Thunders owe their Birth to sulphureous Pseudodox Epidem p. 69 and Nitrous Veins fired upon rarefaction and forceing their way through resisting Bodies Let the Heathens call their Idol Neptune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A. Gell. Noct. At. Lib. 2. the great Earth-shaker we are taught to eye adore and fear before the Lord who hangs the Earth upon nothing and can thither reduce it 5. Lastly let us labour to get an Interest in this great God and live by Faith upon him Psal 46.2 then shall we not need to fear though the Earth be removed Psa 125.1 For they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion which cannot be removed but standeth fast for ever Thus far Sir at your Importunity I have drawn out this Discourse for your private entertainment and satisfaction I have already exceeded the bounds of a Letter And if the Remainder of my Paper will give me leave I will take leave when I have subscribed my self Jan. 18. 1675 6. Sir your humble Servant N. N. FINIS LONDON Printed for Nathaniel Ponder at the Sign of the Peacock in Chancery-Lane and in the Poultry near Corn-Hill