UPon sudden Accidents men commonly pass sudden Censures; and for want of delibe­rate and steady Aim, under or over-shoot the Mark, especially that kind of Mark, which the most skilful hand, guided by the sharpest Eye, can never certainly hit, scarce distinctly discern. Therefore of Gods Judgements, judiciously says St. Austin, and modestly, Judicia Dei nemo potest comprehendere, nemo certè reprehendere, No man can comprehend them, no man may reprehend them. The following Disaster is as strange a thing as shall lightly happen in several Ages; and some Circumstances give us reason to look upon it as a special and extraordinary Judgment for Sin, but secret [Page 2] things belong to God, to whom we refer it, the matter was thus.

In Ship-yard in Kent-street, there lived one Marga­ret Simpson, a Widdow, a person of a very ill conver­sation, as to turbulancy of spirit, Swearing, Drinking, &c. and as she seldome passed a day without some quar­rel or disturbance with some of her Neighbours; so on Monday the Fourth instant, she fell into a great passi­on with one of them, about a Farthing which the other demanded, and she affirmed she had paid; seconding the same with many horrid Oaths, Imprecations, and wishes of Judgments to fall upon her self if it were not true. Though it is the most common belief of the Neigh­bours, and the other party doth still firmly stand in it, that the same was false; and that notwithstanding such her desperate expressions, she had never paid it.

This storm of passion being somewhat over, he went home, and being up one pair of stairs, where a man, his Wife and a Child living in the same house at that time were; she sat down, and took up the said Child in her lap, being about a year and a half old; she had not sate long [...]ng her story, but a considerable Tempest of Thunder and Lightning happened, and after three or fower Claps, there was heard one more near, and con­sequently more loud than the rest, in the midst of which, on a sudden, a Thunder-bolt (for so we must according to the usual manner of expression call it) came in near the Window, and in a moment struck both the said Margaret and the said Child stark dead, so that neither the Woman ever spake word, nor was the Child heard to cry, or so much as groan afterwards.

It came in (as since by view of the place appears) through part of the Window frame, through which it had made a clever hole, but not above a quarter of an Inch over, or big enough to put in ones finger. On the outside before it entred, it had garz'd along on the wall of the House, being onely plaistered, and made an im­pression [Page 3] therein about a yard long, in a strange man­ner, much as if it had been cut away by a broad Sword, then making its entry as aforesaid, it likewise cut away a piece of the window ledge, about Three Inches broad, and then it should seem did the fatal Execution on the Woman and Child who sate near the window; but here it is wonderful to consider the manner how it killed them, for neither of them have any wound about any part of their bodies, nor one drop of blood drawn, but both Woman and Child appeared to have received a stroke or blow, just much about the same place in either of them, that is to say, on the left Eye-brow, where there is to be seen a black bruise, of about the breadth and circumference of a shilling, but the skin not at all broken, nor the least symptomes of hurt in any other part.

This disaster happened so suddenly, that the Father and Mother of the Child, though both in the same room at that instant, yet neither of them perceived any hurt done, till the Woman was faln down, and running to inquire the matter, and help her up, found both her and their dear Infant stone dead; which terrible sight so af­frighted the Mother, that she hath ever since remained exceeding ill, and 'tis hardly believ'd will escape with her Life; but the man, though at first much astonisht, is very well, and without any hurt: That which adds not a little to the strangeness of this Accident, is, that though this Thunder bolt, or what else you will call it, did leave such visible Impressions, and make such an hole where it came, and must be supposed to fall in a sloping line, tending downwards; yet there is no place in the bords or walls of the Room, where it can be perceived to have gone forth, nor are there any marks to discover what should become of it.

These strange and sudden Accidents snatching away sinners in a moment into a dreadful Eternity, should warn us all by a godly Conversation and getting an interest in [Page 4] the Lord, Jesus, to provide for our latter end, that by what means or how suddenly soever it should happen, we may be prepared for it: But especially it should alarm all wicked and profane persons instantly to amend their lives, and particularly to avoid all profane Swearing and Cursing; and above all, to keep themselves from that abominable, though, alas too frequent custom of using Im­precations, Curses, and ill Wishes on themselves, on tri­vial occasions, and much more when they know the things they assert are false, lest, like this poor Creature, they be by an immediate Judgment, punisht by Divine Venge­ance, and in the very Act (as it were) of their Impiety, swept out of the world.

The ingenious Du Bartas gives a notable Account of the Effects of Lightning; which seeming to give some light to this Narrative, I shall here insert.