THE awful and unusual Providence of GOD in the Week past, in which he has visited us with a remarkable Earthquake, has been the Occasion of my selecting the Words before us, for our Meditation at this Time. If we should neglect to take a proper Notice, or to make a suitable Improvement of an Event of this Kind, we should undoubtedly act against the Light of Nature, the first Principles, and most evident Dictates of Reason. Even these could teach Jonah's Mariners in a Tempest, every one to arise & call upon his God: tho' they were Heathen, unenlightned by Revela­tion, Strangers to the Covenant of Promise, and [Page 2] Aliens from the Common-Wealth of Israel. They who dwell in the uttermost Parts of the Earth are afraid of his Tokens. Certainly therefore our Guilt and Punishment would be enhanced and aggravated, if we should omit this natural Duty in a Case of equal Distress and Danger; if we should incur the Character of those who regard not the Works of the Lord, neither consider the Operation of his Hands. We call our selves Christians, we profess the true Religion, and enjoy the Means of Grace, the Oracles and Ordinances of God in their utmost Purity and Perfection: It may justly therefore be expected that we should do more than others who are not favour'd with the like Advantages, that we should be more serious and circum­spect in our Behaviour on such an Occasion; more frequent and fervent in our Addresses at the Throne of Grace, more careful and critical in our Enquiries into the Grounds of the divine Displeasure, and wherefore our God is thus con­tending with us.

The God of Patience is yet waiting to be gracious; He is loth to strike the fatal Blow, to overwhelm us in universal and unavoidable Destruction. He has Tho'ts of Pity towards us; his Heart is turned within him, his Re­pentings are kindled together: How shall I give thee up Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim? We may yet be reconciled to him in and thro' our Lord [Page 3] Jesus Christ, the great and only Mediator: But if thus having Space to repent, we yet repent not, we shall find that it is a fearful Thing to fall into the Hands of the living God. If we des­pise the Riches of Divine Goodness, Forbear­ance & Long-suffering; there will be nothing before us but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation, which shall devour the Adversaries. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. He will again visit us with an Earthquake, or with some other desolating Judgment; He has other Judgments in Store, other Arrows in his Quiver: And verily, it will then be more tolerable for Tyre & Sidon, for Sodom & Gomorrah than for us. After our hard and impenitent Heart, we shall treasure up Wrath against the Day of Wrath, and the Re­velation of the righteous Judgment of God. ‘At his Wrath the Earth shall tremble, and the Nations shall not be able to abide his Indig­nation.’

In handling the Words, I propose to consi­der two Propositions which are evidently im­plied in them, and which may make Way for the Enquiry, What Improvement we are to make of the awful Providence in the Week past.—At his Wrath the Earth shall tremble.—This teaches us that an Earthquake is a Work of Almighty Power, and a Token of Divine Anger.

I. An Earthquake is a Work of Almighty Power.

[Page 4] No Doubt natural Causes may be assigned for this Phaenomenon. An imprisoned Vapour too closely pent, or too strongly compressed in the Caverns beneath, will, thro' a natural Elasti­city, abhor Confinement, dilate and expand, swell and heave up the Surface of the Earth, producing a Tremor and Commotion, till it either finds Vent, or, from some other Cause, it is smothered, and its Violence abated. Could we look into the Vaults below, over which we now walk without Fear, and in so much seeming Security, to see the tremendous Apparatus there: in some Places, immense Tracts of Sulphureous and Combustible Materials that lie buried, and wait for Nothing but a single Spark to tear all before them in a sudden and irresistable Explo­sion; In others, how thin the Arch which in­terposes between us and a Furnace of Flame, which curls up against it, wasts it away, causes it to grow thinner and thinner, and less able to support us: Should we not shudder at such a Prospect, when the Imagination of it fills us with so much Horror and Amazement! And yet this is very probably the State & Condition of our Globe at present. It has a natural Ten­dency to a final Conflagration. It is kept in Store and reserved unto Fire against the Day of Judgment and Perdition of ungodly Men. And that same Disposition of Things which fits it for this Catastrophe, renders it also liable to Earthquakes.

[Page 5] But we must not imagine from hence, that an Earthquake, because it may be accounted for on Philosophical Principles, is a casual Event, or that some Chance has happened unto us. It is God at Work, tho' he works by the Inter­vention of second Causes. Tho' it is no Mi­racle, it is the Effect of Almighty Power: This is frequently declared in the sacred Pages: Nay this is taken for granted in the Context as an indisputable Point; and Jehovah proves himself to be the only true God, in Opposition to all the Idols of the Heathen, from this very Argu­ment, ‘The Lord is the true God; He is the living God, and an everlasting King; at his Wrath the Earth shall tremble, and the Nati­ons shall not be able to abide his Indignation.’

How often do we find this wonderful and terrible Work ascribed to God in the holy Scriptures? He looketh on the Earth and it trembleth; He toucheth the Hills and they smoke. At his Command a Vulcanoe is lit up to the universal Terror and Consternation of the guilty Inhabitants round it. Deep groans the affrighted Earth, at his Presence; and the awful Sound is reverberated from Cavern to Cavern thro' all its most intricate, gloomy and profound Recesses. The whole Continent shivers & quakes to its remotest Foundations; the Pillars of Heaven tremble and are astonish'd at his Reproof.^† ‘The Voice of the Lord sha­keth the Wilderness, the Lord shaketh the Wilderness of Kadesh. ^* The Voice of thy [Page 6] Thunder was in the Heaven: the Lightnings lightned the World, the Earth saw, trembled and shook. The Hills melted like Wax at the Presence of the Lord, at the Presence of the Lord of the whole Earth.’ How exalted and sublime these glowing Periods of Inspiration, in which the shaking of the Earth is expresly asserted to be a Work of Almighty Power!

When the glorious God has, upon particular Occasions, made a miraculous Descent upon our Earth, he has frequently been attended with an Earthquake, as one of the Tokens of his special Presence. So at the Promulgation of the Law, in all its Terrors, to the attending Tribes,^‡ ‘Mount Sinai was altogether on a Smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in Fire: and the Smoke thereof ascended as the Smoke of a Furnace, and the whole Mount quaked greatly.’ We have another Description of this memorable Event in the Song of Deborah and Barak; ^* ‘Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the Field of Edom, the Earth trembled, and the Heavens dropped, the Clouds also dropped Water. The Mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.’ So also the Psalmist, it is probable in Allusion to this, expresses himself with Eloquence more than mortal,^† ‘When Israel went out of Egypt, the House of Jacob from a People of strange Language, Judah was his Sanctuary, and Israel [Page 7] his Dominion. The Sea saw it and fled, Jor­dan was driven back. The Mountains skipped like Rams, the little Hills like Lambs. What ailed, thee O thou Sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye Mountains that ye skipped like Rams? and ye little Hills like Lambs? Tremble thou Earth at the Presence of the Lord, at the Presence of the God of Jacob.’ When God afterwards appeared to Elijah in the same Place, it was with the same terrible Circumstances. An Earthquake was his Attendant.^† ‘Behold the Lord passed by, and a great and strong Wind rent the Mountains, and break in Pieces the Rocks before the Lord, and after the Wind an Earthquake.’

This may suffice to illustrate the first Thing proposed, That an Earthquake, tho' it may be ac­counted for on natural Principles, is notwith­standing the Work of Almighty Power. The su­pream Being first appointed & regulated the Laws of Nature, with infinite Wisdom & uncontrolla­ble Sovereignty. He over-rules them all, suspends or alters them as he pleases. He does his Plea­sure among the Armies of Heaven above, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth beneath; None can stay his Hand, controul his Counsels, disappoint his Purposes, or say unto him, what doest thou? He formed our Globe of such a Con­stitution as to be liable to Earthquakes. And he produces them at such Times, in such Places, and in such Degrees of Violence & Severity, as are [...]

[Page 8] [...] [Page 9] ‘of the Cities, and that which grew upon the Ground.’ This was the Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, when they laid an impious Claim to the Employment, the Honors and the Privileges of the Priesthood, which God had confined to the Family of Aaron. The Anger of God was kindled against them for their presumptuous and sacrilegious Attempt. At his Wrath the Earth trembled, and the bold Conspirators were hurled headlong, plunged promiscuous and precipitant into the hideous Vaults below. Down they sunk, as they were in the very Act to sacrifice, and insolently with­stood Moses in the View & at the Head of the Rebel Congregation. Let us turn to the Ac­count, as it is transmitted to us in the Oracles of Inspiration:^* ‘And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these Works: For I have not done them of my own Mind. If these Men die the com­mon Death of all Men, or if they be visited after the Visitation of all Men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new Thing, and the Earth open her Mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the Pit; then ye shall understand that these Men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he had made an End of speaking all these Words, that the Ground clave asunder that was under them: And the Earth opened her [Page 10] Mouth, and swallowed them up, and their Houses, and all the Men that appertained un­to Korah, and all their Goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the Pit, and the Earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the Congrega­tion. And all Israel that were round about them, fled at the Cry of them; for they said, Left the Earth swallow us up also.’ So also when the Philistines invaded the Land of Israel in the Days of Saul, God appeared for the De­liverance of his People, and the Confusion of their Enemies. He resented their unreasona­ble and unrighteous Encroachments, struck a Panic into them, and destroyed them by Means of an Earthquake.^‡ ‘And there was trem­bling in the Host, in the Field, and among all the People: the Garrison, & the Spoilers, they also trembled, and the Earth quaked: so it was a great Trembling. And the Watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and be­hold the Multitude melted away; and they went on beating down one another.’ Once more, when the glorious God would in the most effectual Manner testify his Anger against the most enormous and execrable Crime that ever was committed in our World, he did it by an Earthquake. At the Crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, we read particularly,^† ‘that the Earth did quake, and the Rocks rent.’ Thus we see that an Earthquake is to be look­ed [Page 11] upon as a Token of divine Anger, since it appears, from the sacred Pages, that the Sins of a People have been frequently punished by this most terrible Judgment. Thus the Psalmist,^* ‘Then the Earth shook & trembled, the Foun­dations also of the Hills moved & were sha­ken, because he was Wroth.’

How often do we find this Judgment de­nounced by the Prophets, against a degenerate and sinful People!^‡ ‘Behold the Day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with Wrath & fierce Anger, to lay the Land desolate; and he shall destroy the Sinners thereof out of it. And I will punish the World for their Evil, and the Wicked for their Iniquity. And I will cause the Arogancy of the Proud to cease, and lay low the Haughtiness of the Terrible. Therefore I will shake the Heavens, and the Earth shall remove out of her Place, in the Wrath of the Lord of Hosts, and in the Day of his fierce Anger.’ ^† ‘Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of Hosts with Thunder, and with Earthquake, and with great Noise, with Storm & Tempest, and the Flame of devouring Fire.’ ^{{inverted †}} ‘This People is foolish, they have not known me, they are sottish Children, and they have none Understanding: they are wise to do Evil, but to do Good they have no Knowledge. I be­held the Earth; and lo, it was without Form and void, and the Heavens, and they had no Light. I beheld the Mountans, and lo, they [Page 12] trembled, and all the Hills moved lightly. I beheld, and lo there was no Man, and all the Birds of the Heaven were fled. I beheld, and lo, the fruitful Place was a Wilderness, and all the Cities thereof were broken down at the Presence of the Lord, and by his fierce Anger.’ ^* ‘In my Jealousy, and in the Fire of my Wrath have I spoken, Surely there shall be a great Shaking in the Land, so that the Fishes of the Sea, and the Fowls of the Heaven, and the Beasts of the Field, and all creeping Things that creep upon the Earth, and all the Men that are upon the Face of the Earth, shall shake at my Presence; and the Mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep Places shall fall, & every Wall shall fall to the Ground.’ ^‡ ‘Blow the Trumpet in Zion, and sound an Alarm in my holy Mountain, let all the In­habitants of the Land tremble, for the Day of the Lord cometh, it is nigh at Hand.—The Earth shall quake, the Heavens shall tremble, the Sun and the Moon shall be dark, and the Stars shall withdraw their shining.’

Upon the whole then, it evidently appears from what we have heard, that an Earthquake is not only an Effect of Almighty Power, but a Token of Divine Anger. It is a Judgment upon a Land, and it is to be looked upon as such. God threatens it as such against a sinful and degenerate People: And in this Manner he has in Fact frequently testified his Anger [Page 13] against Sin, and executed his Purposes against the Sinner. It certainly follows, that when­ever a People are thus visited, they should ac­knowlege the mighty Hand of God, and hum­ble themselves under it; they should know the Rod, and who hath appointed it. Some of the Lessons it is expected we should learn from a Providence of this Nature, and some of the Tempers it should produce in us, agreable to what we have heard at this Time, I Propose at present to mention.

I. Is it as we have heard, Is an Earthquake the Work of God? This should give us awful Ideas and suitable Apprehensions of the Divine Majesty, and the Necessity we stand in of his Favour.

Shall not his Dread fall upon us, and his Excellency make us afraid? Shall not our Flesh tremble for fear of him, shall we not be afraid of his Judgments? Fear ye not me, saith the Lord, will ye not tremble at my Pre­sence?^* ‘The Lord reigneth, let the People tremble: He sitteth between the Cherubims, let the Earth be moved.’ What little and con­temptible Creatures are we in his Sight? Be­hold the Nations are as a Drop of the Bucket, and are counted as the small Dust of the Bal­lance. Behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little Thing: He shakes the Mountains in his Anger; He heaves the solid Earth from it's Basis.

[Page 14] What are all the magnificent Structures of Art, or stupendous Labours of Men, before that God, who when he pleases, can tear them from their Foundation, or plunge them into the gaping Abyss? What is all the Pomp and Grandeur of the most magnificent Earthly Mo­narch, to that divine Description of the Prophet?^* ‘God came from Teman, and the holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His Glory covered the Heavens, and the Earth was full of his Praise. He stood, & measured the Earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the Nations, and the everlasting Mountains were scattered, the perpetual Hills did bow: his Ways are Ever­lasting. I saw the Tents of Cushan in Affliction: and the Curtains of the Land of Midian did tremble. The Mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the Water passed by: the Deep uttered his Voice, and lift up his Hands on high.’ So also at the Resurrecti­on of our Lord Jesus Christ from the Dead, when he triumphed over Death & the Grave, and led Captivity Captive,^† ‘Behold, there was a great Earthquake’

Shall we not, from what we have heard, en­deavour after that Fear of the Lord, which is the Beginning of Wisdom, and which will ren­der us cautious how we offend him? He is wise in Heart, and mighty in Strength, who hath hardned himself against Him, and hath prospered? Who removeth the Mountains, and [Page 15] they know not; who overturneth them in his Anger. Who shaketh the Earth out of her Place, and the Pillars thereof tremble. Of what infinite Consequence and Importance is it, that we have this God for our Friend, that we ac­quaint our selves with him, and be at Peace. This will support us, give us a Presence of Mind, a Courage, and a Dignity, amidst all the Convulsions of the Earth, the Ruins of dis­solving of Nature. How gloriously animating is that sublime Rapture of the Psalmist!^* ‘God is our Refuge and Strength; a very present Help in Trouble. Therefore will we not fear, tho' the Earth be removed, and tho' the Mountains be cast into the Midst of the Sea. Tho' the Waters thereof rore and are trou­bled, tho' the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There is a River, the Streams whereof make glad the City of our God, the holy Place of the Tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.—The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our Refuge.’—The Man who has Testimony of a good Cons­cience, and who is sensible that his Maker loves him; who sees God in Christ reconciling him to himself, accepting him as Righteous, and not imputing his Trespasses to him; O, with what sacred Serenity and Triumph, may he view these terrible Works of God, and survey the [Page 16] Desolations which he has made in the Earth! And these are the only Principles that will support and abide by us in an Earthquake, when the gay Infidel, the licentious Libertine, and the bold Blasphemer, forget their wonted Mirth and Frenzy, and tremble in the near Views of a miserable Eternity. Where can we fly for Refuge, but to God our Maker, in & thro' our Lord Jesus Christ, the great and only Media­tor? Who else will be able to protect us in the Day of the Lord's Anger, when the Earth shall tremble at his Wrath? This leads me to say,

II. Is it as we have heard; This should teach us the Vanity of all Confidence in the Creature, and the Uncertainty of all Earthly Enjoyments.

Let us not put our Confidence in an Arm of Flesh. Let us cease from Man, whose Breath is in his Nostrils, for wherein is he to be ac­counted of.—Man that is a Worm, and the Son of Man that is a Worm.—What Defence can we expect here, when God ariseth to shake terribly the Earth? On what Creature can we depend with Success, when even the Ground, on which we tread, is not able to support us?

Where can we meet with a lasting Possession, when our very Lands, which one would think would bid the fairest for it of any Thing here below, when even these are liable to be sunk in an Earthquake, and their Place no more to be found? How great the Folly of those who place their supream Felicity in the Possessions [Page 17] and Acquirements of a vain Earth! Who heap up Silver as the Dust, and prepare Raiment as the Clay! Who say to Gold, Thou art my Hope, and to the fine Gold, Thou art my Con­fidence! Their inward Thought is, that their Houses shall continue for ever, and their Dwel­ling-Places to all Generations; they call their Lands after their own Names. O the Deceit­fulness of Riches! What is it that thus inchants and infatuates the Generality of Mankind, for the obtaining of which, they toil and labour, sacrifice all their Ease here, and frequently fore­go all their Hopes of Happiness hereafter? Uncertain Riches, which may make themselves Wings, and flee away as the Eagles towards Heaven, or which may be suddenly overthrown by an Earthquake, and buried deep in the Subteraneous Vaults; never more to see the Light, till they are illuminated by the Flames of the last Conflagration. Let not the rich Man then glory in his Riches, for he that trust­eth in his Riches shall fall. God shall destroy thee for ever: He shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy Dwelling-Place, and root thee out of the Land of the Living. The Righ­teous also shall see and laugh at him. Lo, this is the Man that made not God his Strength, but trusted in the Abundance of his Riches! They profit not in the Day of Wrath, when the Foundations of the Earth tremble.—They that trust in their Wealth, and boast themselves in the Multitude of their Riches; None of them [Page 18] can by any Means redeem his Brother, or give to God a Ransom for his Soul. So at the Destructi­on of Babylon, by an Earthquake, the Merchants of the Earth are represented as utterly unable to help her, and as lamenting over her in all the dismal Accents of Despair;^* ‘The Merchants, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off, for the fear of her Torment, weeping and wailing. And saying, Alas, alas, that great City, that was cloathed in fine Linen, and Purple, and Scarlet,; and decked with Gold, & pre­cious Stones, & Pearls: For in one Hour so great Riches is come to nought!’

Seeing then we have here not continuing City, shall we not be exhorted to seek ano­ther, which is an heavenly, to lay up Trea­sure in Heaven, and to seek after the true Ri­ches, even durable Riches and Righteousness, those Things which remain, for they cannot be shaken: That we may know what is the Hope of our Calling, and what the Riches of the Glory of our Inheritance among the Saints, even that Inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for us?

III. What we have heard teaches us the Evil of Sin, with the Necessity of sincere Re­pentance, and thoro' Reformation.

We are a sinful and degenerate People, and the Love of many waxes cold. Where is the Lord God of Elijah, the Spirit that animated [Page 19] our pious Predecessors? Where is that exem­plary, strict and uniform Devotion, that flam­ing Zeal for God and Religion, which once so remarkably adorned and distinguished this Peo­ple? This, which was our Glory, is in a great Measure departed from us. We need to be shaken out of our Sleep, to be roused out of our Lethargy, our supine Indolence, our Care­lesness and carnal Security. This no Doubt was the Design of the alarming Providence in the Week past. We have heard a Voice of Trembling, of Fear, and not of Peace. The Voice of God to us was as that of the Mari­ners to Jonah; ^† ‘What meanest thou, O Sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God; if so be, that God will think upon us, that we perish not.’ The Voice of God to us was as that to the Church of Ephesus; ^‡ ‘Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first Works, lest I come unto thee quickly, and remove thy Candlestick out of its Place.’

It was a terrible Night, the most so, perhaps, that ever NEW-ENGLAND saw. When we remember it, we are afraid, & Trembling taketh hold of our Flesh. And it was Sin that provoked God to appear against us in so awful a Manner; and the Land to tremble and sor­row.—At his Wrath the Earth trembled.—Shall not the Land tremble for this; and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? God might justly have overwhelmed us in the [Page 20] Fierceness of his Anger, have crushed us in our Beds, or buried us in the Bowels of the Earth. We might have served as a fearful Example to some future People, of the pernici­ous Consequences, and fatal Effects of Sin. So it is threaten'd to a rebellious and impenitent People;^* ‘The Generation to come of the Children that shall arise after you, and the Stranger that shall come from a far Land, shall say, when they see the Plagues of that Land, and that the whole Land is Brimstone, and Salt, and Burning, that it is not sown nor bear­eth, nor any Grass groweth therein, like the Overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his Anger, and in his Wrath: even all Nations shall say, wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this Land? What meaneth the Heat of this great Anger? Then Men shall say, be­cause they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their Fathers.’ Then might have been made over us that Lamentation of the Prophet;^‡ ‘How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of Zion, with a Cloud, in his Anger, and cast down, from the Heaven to the Earth, the Beauty of Israel, and remembred not his Footstool in the Day of his Anger! The Lord hath swallowed up all the Habita­tions of Jacob, and hath not pitied; he hath thrown down in his Wrath the strong Holds of the Daughter of Judah, he hath brought [Page 21] them down to the Ground. The Lord was an Enemy, he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her Palaces; he hath destroyed his strong Holds, and hath encreased in the Daughter of Judah Mourning & Lamen­tation.’ This might justly have been our Con­demnation. Is it not then an evil Thing and a bitter, that we have forsaken the Lord our God? Knowing the Terrors of the Lord, let us be perswaded. Let the Sinners in Zion be afraid, let Fearfulness surprize the Hypocrites thereof.

But behold the Goodness as well as Severity of God! and may this Goodness of God lead us to Repentance. He is yet giving us Space to repent; he is yet waiting to be gracious to us. He has not dealt with us as our Iniquities deserve; the Day of Grace is not over with us, nor the Door of Mercy shut against us. In the midst of Wrath, he has remembred Mercy, nor suffered the destroying Angel to lay deso­late the Habitations of his People. O may our warmest Gratitude be excited upon this Occa­sion, and may we study what we shall render. Let our future Lives be devoted, with double Diligence, to the Service of our gracious Pre­server, and our best Benefactor. Let us, with­out any Delay, repent of our past Sins, with a sincere & thoro' Repentance; that Repentance which is unto Life, never to be repented of. May we fly to the Mercies of God, in and thro' our Lord Jesus Christ, the great and only Me­diator [Page 22] between God & Man. May we know and acknowlege the God of our Fathers; may we serve him with a perfect Heart, and with a willing Mind.

How happy would it be, if this awful Pro­vidence should be blessed by God, to the pro­ducing a universal Reformation of Manners, and a Revival of Religion among us! When the Spirit was poured out upon the Apo­stles & Professors of the primitive Church, it was attended with an Earthquake. So we read,^† ‘And when they had prayed, the Place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.’ May God grant such a plentiful Effusion of his Spirit, at this Time, in his convincing and converting Influences. May he pour out his Spirit upon his People, and his Blessing upon their Offspring. So an Earthquake was sancti­fied to the Conversion of the Jailor, who had Paul and Silas under his Custody;^* ‘And at Midnight Paul & Silas prayed, and sang Prai­ses unto God: and the Prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great Earthquake, so that the Foundations of the Prison were shaken: and immediately all the Doors were opened, and every ones Bands were loosed. And the Keeper of the Prison awaking out of his Sleep, and seeing the Prison Doors o­pen, he drew out his Sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the Prisoners [Page 23] had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud Voice, saying, Do thy self no Harm; for we are all here. Then he called for a Light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas; and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy House. And they spake unto him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his House. And he took them the same Hour of the Night, and washed their Stripes; and was baptized, he, and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his House, he sat Meat before them, and rejoyced, believing in God with all his House.’ Could we see the People of this Land, thus enquiring what they shall do to be saved, & flocking as Doves unto their Windows, then the Lord God of our Fathers would be with us, as he was with our Fathers, and never leave us nor forsake us. Happy is that People that is in such a Case, yea happy is that People whose God is the Lord! We might then pray with the strongest Assurances of Success;^* ‘O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thy self to us again. Thou hast made the Earth to tremble; thou hast broken it; heal the Breaches thereof, for it shaketh.’

But I hasten to say,

[Page 24] IV. What we have heard should teach us the Necessity of being in a constant actual Rea­diness for a dying Hour.

A Sentence of Death is passed upon all. The Living know that they must die. We know that thou wilt bring us to Death; but we know not the Time, nor the Manner of our Death, nor in what Form the last Enemy shall approach us. We know not when the Master shall call for us, whether at Evening, or at Mid­night, at the Cock-crowing, or in the Morning. Whenever it shall be, may our Loins be girt, our Lamps trim'd and burning. May we so number our Days, as that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom. May we devote all our Talents to the Glory of our Lord, and employ them in his Service. May we be perpetually industrious in some Part of that Work which he has allotted us. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.

When we scruple the Lawfulness of any Action, in which we are engaged, let us ima­gine how we should feel if we were surpriz'd, in the midst of it, by an Earthquake; and not dare to do any Thing which we suspect would then give us Cause of uneasy Reflection.

By thus going on in an uninterrupted Course of Duty, leading a holy and conscientious Life, realising our own Dissolution, and habituating our selves to the Thoughts of it, we shall by Degrees, with the Assistance of Divine Grace, [Page 25] be greatly victorious over the Fears of Death, and in a constant actual Readiness for its Ap­proach: Nor need we be anxious as to the Time, the Manner, or the Circumstances of it. Should we be soon alarmed, & taken away by the fatal Stroke; the Difficulties and Temptations of Life will be the sooner over, and our Passage thro' this Vale of Tears of a shorter Continu­ance. Should our Attack from the last Enemy be sudden; our Transition will be so much the quicker and the easier, to the Regions of im­mortal Glory: Should it be painful; Heaven will be so much the more welcome, when we arrive there: Should it be attended with the most formidable Circumstances; blessed be God, we may be still secure: Tho' the Body should be crush'd in an Earthquake, or sink deep in the Subteraneous Vaults; the Soul shall be catch'd away, and tower aloft, upon the Pinions of Guardian Angels; safe and unhurt, amidst this Discord of Nature, this Convulsion of jar­ring Elements, the Wrecks of Matter, and the Crush of Worlds. The Soul and the Body are indeed at present seperated: but with a sure and certain Hope of being again re-united, in better and more glorious Circumstances; at that illustrious and tremendous Day, when the Earth shall give up the Dead that are in it.

This leads me to say,

V. and Lastly, Earthquakes should remind us of the second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, at the Day of Judgment.

[Page 26] They are designed to be Warnings to the World, that this Day of the Lord is at Hand: It is near, it is near, and it hasteth greatly, when the Heavens shall pass away, with a great Noise; 'and the Elements shall melt, with fervent Heat.' As a Prelude to this, we read,^‡ ‘There shall be Earthquakes in divers Places;’ ^* ‘There shall be Signs in the Sun, and in the Moon, and in the Stars; and upon the Earth, Distress of Nations, with Perplexity, the Sea and the Waves roring; Mens Hearts failing them for Fear, and for looking after those Things, which are coming on the Earth: for the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man, coming in a Cloud, with Power and great Glory.’ ^† ‘Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, 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, and the Desire of all Nations shall come.’ Antichrist shall first be destroyed by the Breath of the Lord, and by the Brightness of his Appearance. An Earthquake shall be employed on this Occasion. So it is described by John in his Revelations,^{{inverted †}} ‘And the seventh Angel poured out his Vial into the Air; and there came a great Voice out of the Temple of Heaven, from the Throne, saying, It is done. And there were Voices, and Thun­ders, and Lightnings; and there was a great Earthquake, such as was not since Men were [Page 27] upon the Earth, so mighty an Earthquake, and so great. And the great City was divided into three Parts, and the Cities of the Nations fell: and great Babylon came in Remembrance before God, to give unto her the Cup of the Wine of the Fierceness of his Wrath. And every Island fled away, and the Mountains were not found.’ ^* ‘And a mighty Angel took up a Stone like a great Milstone, and cast it into the Sea, saying, Thus with Violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the Voice of Harpers, and Musicians, and of Pi­pers, and Trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no Craftsman, of whatso­ever Craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the Sound of a Milstone shall be heard no more at all in thee: And the Light of a Candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the Voice of the Bridegroom, and of the Bride, shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy Merchants were the great Men of the Earth; for by thy Sorceries were all Nations deceived. And in her was found the Blood of Prophets, and of Saints, and of all that were slain upon the Earth.’

What universal Consternation and Horror, will then overspread the Face of this whole Earth! We had a little Emblem of this in that awful Night, which we now commemorate: So shall the Coming of the Son of Man be, and [Page 28] so shall the Wicked flee, even as they fled be­fore the Earthquake.^* ‘They shall go into the Caves of the Earth, into the Clefts of the Rocks, and the Tops of the ragged Rocks, for Fear of the Lord, and for the Glory of his Majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the Earth.’ Thus also the Vision of the Pro­phetick Evangelist;^‡ ‘And I beheld when he had opened the sixth Seal, and lo, there was a great Earthquake, and the Sun became black as Sackcloth of Hair, and the Moon became as Blood; And the Stars of Heaven fell unto the Earth, even as a Fig-Tree cast­eth her untimely Figs, when she is shaken of a mighty Wind: And the Heaven departed as a Scrowl, when it is rolled together; and every Mountain and Island were moved out of their Places: And the Kings of the Earth, and the great Men, and the rich Men, and the chief Captains, and the mighty Men, and every bond Man, and every free Man, hid themselves in the Dens, and in the Rocks of the Mountains; and said to the Mountains and Rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the Face of him that sitteth on the Throne, and from the Wrath of the Lamb: For the great Day of his Wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?’ But where can they fly for Shelter and Security in this awful & tremendous Hour? ‘^† Thine Hand, O Lord, shall find out all thine Enemies; thy right Hand shall find out them [Page 29] that hate thee: Thou shalt make them as a fiery Oven in the Time of thine Anger: The Lord shall swallow them up in his Wrath, and the Fire shall devour them.’ ^‡ ‘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 dissolved, the Earth is mo­ved 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.’ Then the Righteous shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the Air; there they shall sit secure, and abide under the Sha­dow of the Almighty. From thence they shall look down with holy Triumph, behold the wonderful Works of God, and view the Desolations which he is making in the Earth. ‘^† The Lord also shall rore out of Zion, and utter his Voice from Jerusalem, and the Hea­vens and the Earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the Hope of his People, and the Strength of the Children of Israel.’ ^* ‘The Mountains quake at him, the Hills melt, [Page 30] and the Earth is burnt at his Presence, yea, the World, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his Indignation? and who can abide in the Fierceness of his Anger? his Fury is poured out like Fire, and the Rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord is good, a strong Hold in the Day of Trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him’ If we are so happy as to be of this blessed Number, and have secured this God for our Friend, in and thro' our Lord Jesus Christ; we may then look and long for this blessed Hope, this glorious Appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.—We may rejoyce in all the To­kens of his near Approach; we may lift up our Heads with Joy, for our Redemption draw­eth nigh.—We may be ardently desirous that this Appearance of the Son of Man should be hastened.—Why is his Chariot so long in com­ing? Why tarry the Wheels of his Chariot? Then may we unite, with Rapture, in that ani­mating Prayer of the Prophet, with which I close;^‡ ‘Oh that thou wouldst rent the Hea­vens, that thou wouldst come down, that the Mountains might flow down at thy Pre­sence; as when the melting Fire burneth, the Fire causeth the Waters to boil; to make thy Name known to thine Adversaries, that the Nations may tremble at thy Presence. When thou didst terrible Things which we looked [Page 31] not for, thou camest down, the Mountains flowed down at thy Presence. For since the Beginning of the World, Men have not heard, nor perceived by the Ear, neither hath the Eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.’