[...] here send you a very dreadful and strang Relati­ [...] from Hitching, Potton, and Offly, but indeed it [...] [...]ot more strang then true; for so it happen'd, that [...] the Fourth of this Instant, about Three of the Clock [...]he Afternoon, at Offly, about Three Miles from ching, in the County of Hartford, there arose out [...] [...]he Southwest a very strang dark Cloud and seve­ [...] other great dark Clouds arose from the East, and [...]e from the West and some North, meeting with [...] fury as tho' they design'd to rush in Battel, break­ [...] out into most dreadful cracks of Thunder, and [...]es of great Lightening one against another, in an [...]usual and strang manner, being so very great in [...]ny places that the very Houses shook and totterd, [Page 3]even where I was tho' I was not near the bigg [...] [...] the Tempest by Five, or Six Miles.

About Offley it began to be so very dreadful, the People began to be very sorely affrighted, n [...] ly with the Lightening, and Thunder, but also the greatness of the Hail, which came down in s [...] [...] prodigious manner, that never the like was se [...] [...] read of in this Kingdom, there fell, some as b [...] [...] Hen Eggs, some as big as Penny Loves, and some [...] ger. Many People do affirm there were as big as [...] Crown of a Hat, most of them in strang shapes forms, much like pieces of thick Ice, which held [...] wring down for about half an Hour, in which [...] it cover'd the Eearth in several places Five, or Six [...] in Thickness, especially on the Hills and dry ch [...] pion Ground notwithstanding the Rain which [...] with it

It did much harm about Offley, one Man being an adjacent Field, was either kill'd by the Lightni [...] or knock'd on the Head by the Violence of the H [...] and Rain, by which his Body was driven away do [...] [...] Hills, and taken up near Hitching, after having flo [...] ­ed near three Miles: There was also taken up t [...] [...] Saddle-Horses, and an Horse with a Pannel on [...] Back, the Riders whereof, 'tis fear'd where kill'd [...] the Hail, tho their Persons, perhaps covered w [...] Earth, are not yet found; for the Ground being ve [...] dry, and the Storm suddain and violent, it was ov [...] flow'd in some places five or six Foot deep, to the Co [...] ­sternation of the People of those parts, it happeni [...] to be on the Market-Day, many were in the Mark [...] [Page] [...]assing and repassing on the Road: I believe several, getting the Rain-bow, the Seal of God's Covenant [...]h Noah, expected nothing less than a Universal [...]uge; the Hail was measur'd, and (when much wast­ [...] some were Eight and others Ten Inches round: credibly reported that the weight of several were [...]teen, sixteen, and some twenty Ounces.

One Man that was in the Field, tho in the very [...]ts of the Storm, told me himself, that notwith­ [...]ding he crept into a thick Hedge for shelter, yet a [...]stone struck through and hit him such a blow as [...]ded him for a long time, and he verily believed, [...]t the same Hailstone would have beat his Brains [...], had he not been shelter'd by the Hedge.

The Harm done at Hitching is very considerable, [...] I believe the whole is not as yet known; for it's [...]r'd there are more slain than are yet found out, [...]w [...]thstanding we have an account of seven persons suddenly destroyed. From Lightening and Tempest; [...]n Plague, Pesilence, and Famine, from Battle and [...]urder, and from Sudden Death, Good Lord deliver [...]

In Offley field or near it in the forenoon of the same [...], it is affirm'd, by several that saw it, that where [...]y had Plowed, and laid their Land upon Stich [...]s [...] in the Afternoon the violence of the Hail had [...]t all the Earth down again, and laid it as plain tho' it had not been Plow'd, but rowled with a wheven and plain to the great Astonishment of the [...]olders. Besides the dreadful fright and Amaze­ [...]nt the People were in, lest their Houses should be [Page 5]beat down on their Heads, (for their Tyles and W [...] dows were all shatter'd to pieces) there was also m [...] Harm done by the Water in several Cellars, S [...] and Ware-houses, some particular persons hav [...] two-Hundred pounds worth of Harm done in than half an Hours time.

This dreadful and Astonishing Tempest, with [...] fury, passed from Hitching, where it left Hail, aforesaid. Five Foot in Thickness, and so rais'd. Water in a short time that no person could pass, [...] went over the Fields and came near to Clifton and [...] ly in Bedfordshire, and so towards Bigglesworth, [...] so to Potton, another Market-Town, and from the down into Huntingtonshire, where, for the prese [...] we shall leave traceing it, and proceed to an ex [...] Relation of the Loss, damage, and Harm sustain'd and about the Township of Potton.

And first, On the South-West side of the To [...] there was Rye growing, a great deal whereof ev [...] Green as it was entirely was consum'd and Burnt [...] but what scap'd the fiery Lighiening, fell by the f [...] of the Hail, and was beat down beyond Hopes of a [...] Recovery: But what is most astonishing is That [...] part of the Crop of a Field or Close should be destr [...]|'d, and the other not in the least harm'd: One Ma [...] Corn burnt up, another Man's beat flat to the Ea [...] and yet prehaps a Plat of Ground betwixt both [...] [...] ­ther on one Hand or the other in the least wrong notwithstanding the Corn in each was of eq [...] groth, But yet we cannot attribute this so wonder a Judgment to any thing of Sin more in one M [...] [Page 6]then another, if we remember what Christ told his [...]sciples in the 13 of Luke, when some told him of [...] Galileans Whose Blood Pilate had mingled with [...]ir Sacrafice; Suppose ye (said he) that those Galile­ [...], were sinners above all the Galilans, becase they suf­ [...]d such things? I tell you, nay; but except ye repent, ye [...]l all likewise perish. Or those Eighteen upon whom the [...]er of Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye they were [...]ners above all Men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell [...] nay, &c. I could heartily wish that those princi­ [...]ly concerned, would look upon it as a Warning Repent, and that others wovld esteem it as a Me­ [...]nto not to be ungrateful to Heaven, which in Mer­ [...]has preserv'd their Persons and Substances from the [...]y, Misery, and Calamity of so dreadful and sud­ [...] a Judgment. Ingrato homine terre pejus nil creat [...] very Heathens could say; but to be concise.

[...]n the Town of Potton, as aforesaid, so terrible and [...]sterous was the Tempest that besides several greatly [...]maged, two New Houses were intirely levell'd with [...] Ground; And indeed so strange and wonderful [...]s the Shower or rather Storm, that the People [...]ld neither discern any thing that was above Two [...]es off them, there was no intermission of Drops, but [...] Water power'd down like a River out of the Clouds [...]hout any seperation.

[...]t Eccleford near Sandy, the Hail broke most part [...]he Tyles and Windows of a great House, belong­ [...] to one Squire Harvies the reparation whereof [...] a modest compution will cost about a Hundred [...]nd.

Of any particular persons in or about this Tow [...] Killed I have no certain Account, yet there is seve [...] (more is the Pity) in the Borders of Huntingtonshir [...] Nor is the Loss amongst Cattel, of all sorts, less th [...] the Damage in Corn: The whole being indeed wi [...] out any addition in respect both of the Thunder Light [...] ing and Hail, even more dreadful and terrible th [...] can be well related, or easily conceived.

Upon the whole I crave leave to observe, that this terible Judgment is little inferior in dread those fearful ones executed, at several times on [...] sinful and rebellions Israelites, obstinate Pharoah [...] so there is all reason imaginable to believe that t [...] [...] dos, as those did formerly, forebode and fore-r [...] something very extraordinary: I could heartily wi [...] it would be every man's particular care and goo [...] prudence (let his profession be what it will) seriou [...] to examine whither this so very visible Finger of G [...] is pointed out unto us, as a Tryal of our Faith, P [...] tience, &c. or as a just reward for our hainous Sir and vile Iniquities; for my own part, I am veri [...] perswaded; that now, even now, the Ax is laid un [...] the Root of the Tree; therefore every Tree that bringe not forth good Fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the Fi [...]

Jehovah, like a tender hearted Father, deals wi [...] us, and happy were we would we but see it, he fi [...] allures and strives to win us by Mercies and Favou [...] and then upon refusal, gently corrects, not furious [...] in rage and passion, but with a sweet Mixture and a [...] lay of Mercy shews us the evil of our ways and foolis­ness of our doings. Wo be unto us if we take n [...] [Page 8]note of these things, if we do not, then as the Scrip­ [...] says it will certainly be more tollerable for So­ [...] [...]nd Gomorrah in the great day of the Lord than [...]s.

[...] sum up the whole, and to prevent, as much [...] be, the world from being abused with false Re­ [...]s I could not but think my self obliged to de­ [...] that this before recited dreadful Relation con­ [...] nothing but very matter of fact, as the same was [...]y abstracted from the Original Letter sent to Mr. [...]field next door to the Blew-Coat in Bishops-Gate- [...] near the Barrs: which said original Letter, for [...]urther and better Satisfaction of such as may be [...]tful of the truth hereof, is to be seen at Mr Ni­ [...] Beaumonts at the Sign of the Hand in Hand-Ally [...]out Bishops-Gate.