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fails us, when the foundations not only of Cities but even of the World itself opens and wavers, what help or what comfort where fear itself can never carry us off? An Enemy may be kept at a diftance with a Wall, a Cafile may put a hop to an Army, a Port may protect us from the fury of a Tempeft. Fire itfelf doth not follow him that runs away from it, a Vault may defend us against Thunder, and we may quit the place in a Peftilence, there is fome Remedy in all these evils. Or however no Man ever knew a whole Nation deftroyed by Lightning. A Plague may unpeople a Town, but it will not carry it away, there is no Evil of fuch an extent, fo inevitably, fo greedy fo publickly Calamitous as an Earthquake. For it does not only devour Houfes and fingle Towns but ruins whole Countrys and Nations either overturning or fwallowing them up without fo much as leaving any Footstep or Mark of what they were. Some People have a greater horror for thisDeath than any other. To be taken away alive out of the number of the living. As if all Mortals by what means foever were not to come to the fame end, death, and it is not to be regarded whether I am crushed to death by one Stone or by a whole Mountain. Whether I perifh by the fall of an Houfe or fall under the burthen of the whole Earth, whether I be fwallowed up alone or with a thousand more for Company. We should therefore arm curfelves against that blow, which n neither be avoided nor forefcen. It is

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not abandoning thofe places that ave find infested with Earthquakes which will fecure us, for there is no Place can be warrant against them. What if the Earth be not moved? It is moveable, for the whole body of it lies under the fame Law and expofed to danger, only fome at on time and fome at another. As it is in great Cities where all the Houses are fubject to ruin, tho' they do not all fall together. So in the body of the Earth, now this part fails and then that. Tyre was formerly fubject to Earthquakes. In Afia 12 Cities were swallowed up in one night. Achaia and Macedonia have had their turns and now Compagnia. The Fate goes round and ftrikes at laft where it hath a great while paffed by. It falls out oftner, 'tis true, in fome places than in others, but no place is totally free and exempt. And it is not only Men, but Cities, Coafts, nay the fores and the very, Sea itself that fuffers under the Dominion of Fate. And yet we are fo vain as to promife ourselves fome kind of affurance in goods of Fortune never confidering that the very ground we stand upon is unstable, and it is not the frailty of this or that Place, but the quality of every spot of it, for not one inch of it is fo compacted as not to admit many caufes of its Refolution. And though the Earth remain entire, the parts of it may yet be broken.

Thus the three Heathen Philofophers ftrove to fortifie themfelves against these calamities which they judged inevitable, not confidering them as punishments of their fins and enormities inflicted upon them by Divine Juftice. Hear now what Chriftians who are inftructed in a better School fay of them.

How aftonishing faith a worthy Perfon of our Nation) are the fearful Effects which Earthquakes have produced in all Ages? as we may find them in Hiftories and Philofophical Difcourfes, where you may read of Rocks torn in pieces, Mountains not caft down only, but remov'd, Hills raifed not out of Valieys only, but out of Seas; Fires breaking out of Waters; Stones and Cinders belcked up; Rivers Changed; Seas Diflodged; Earth opening, Towns Swallowed up, and many other fuck hideous Everts. Of which kind our own Memories can furni us with many at home, although thefe colder Climates are more rarely infefted with fuch frightful Accidents.

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And of all the Animadverfions that Divine Justice gives Men, there is none more horrid or lefs Evitable iban this of Earthquakes; For what affurance can we kope for bere below, if the Earth quake under our feet? where can we think to escape danger, if the moft folid thing of all the World do fake? If that which fuftains all other things above us, threaten us with finking under our feet?" What Sanctuary fall we find to defend us from an Evil. that doth imcompass us round? And whither can we withdraw, if the Galphs which open themfelves fout up. our paffages on all fides? With what horror are Men Struck when they bear the Earth groan? When her trembling fucceeds her complaints, when Houses are cofned from their Foundation, when the Roofs fall upon their their Heads, and their Pavement finks under their Feet? What hope is there to be had in fo general a diforder when fear cannot be fenced by flight? In other Cafes there is fome outlet whereby to escape, an Enemy is beaten from the Bulwark he had poffefs'd himself of; Earthworks are opposed to the Thundring Cannon; winds which raife Tempest, deliver us from them, and after having a long time toffed us to and fro, they caft us on the fore; Houfes ferve us for Sanctuaries against the injuries of the Air and Weather; If a Man will refign: bis goods to the Fire he may fave his Perfon, Thunder kurts. not those who hides themselves in Caverns; When the Peftilence infects whole Cities, ave may foun the Contagion by going into the Country; And if it difpeople Towns it doth not throw down Houses. But an Earthquake inclofes what it overthrows, and wages War not with fome few Houses only, but whole Provinces, and fometimes leaves nothing behind it to inform pofterity of its Outrages; More Infolent than Fire which Spares Rocks; More Greedy than the Sea which vomits up Shipwracks; More Cruel than the Conqueror who spares Walls; it fwallows and devours whatfoever it overturns. The Sea is Subject to its Empire, and Mariners confefs that thofe Storms are most dangerous which are occafioned by Earthquakes.

This misfortune is common to all Kingdoms; Since Man became Criminal, all parts of the Earth are become moveable,and stedfaftnefs must be no longer lookt for in the world, ce Innocency is banged thence by Injustice. This dif

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order is the punishment of our Sin; and Reafon as well as Faith doth Jufficiently affures, that the Univerfe would never have been agitated with thefe furious Accidents during the ftate of Original Righte onfnefs, Wherefore frould God's Anger have Armed the Elements against his Faithful and Obedient Subject's? Wherefore bould he have overthrown all his works todeftroy Innocent Men? Why fould it have overwhelmed the Inhabitants of the Earth with the ruins thereof, if they had not been finful? Why Bould it have buried thofe in the Bowels of the Earth who were not to dye? Let us then conclude that Earthquakes are the Effects of Sin.

F1 NI S.

BOOKS Printed for A.Bettefworth and C. Hitch at the Red-Lyon in Pater-nofter-Row; and J. Hodges at the Looking Glafs on LondonBridge.

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HE Hiftory of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector. Being an impartial Account of all the Battles, Sieges, &c. wherein he was engaged in England, Scotland, and Ireland. and of his Civil Adminiftration when he was in fupream Dignity, till his Death. Adorned with Pictures. By R. B. Price 1.9.

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2. THE Wars in England, Scotland, and Ireland, containing an impartial Account of all the Battles, Sieges, and other remarkable Tranfactions, Revolutions, and Accidents, from the Beginning of the Reign of King Charles I. 1625, to the Reftauration of King Charles II. And among other Particulars, the Debates and Proceedings in the four firft Parliaments of King Charles I. The Murder of the Duke of Buc kingham by Felton. The Tumults at Edenburgh in Scotland. The Infurrection of the Apprentices and Seamen, and their affaulting of Archbishop Laud's House at Lambeth. Remarks on the Life of the Earl of Strafford, and his laft Speech The Death of Arch bishop Laud, and others.. The Tryal of King Charles I: at large, with his laft Speech at his Suffering. And the moft confiderable Matters which happened till 1660.. With Pictures of feveral remarkable Accidents. Price is.

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