and most precious Blood of the Son of God but when it fell upon the ground the Earth did shake and tremble to receive it Abel's blood did cry to Heaven from the ground and Cain was cursed and the Earth was cursed to him for that bloody fact Gen. 410. And he said what hast thoâ— done the voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto me from the ground Verse 11. And now art thou cursed from the Eartâ— which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood at thine hand Vers 12. When thou tillest the ground it shall noâ— henceforth yield unto thee her strength A Fugitive and a Vagabond shalt thou be in the Earth Was not the Blood of Christ of greater worth and value then Abel's or of all Men being the Blood of him that was God as well as Man pure and spotless was not therefore the shedding of it by Men a more heinous sin and barbarous fact and yet the shedders of it stupid and not afraid to take away his life what doth the Earth under their feet but shake and tremble at what they did not and what improvement did some then present make thereof and what conclusions did they draw from it Mat. 27. 51. Behold the vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent Verse 54. And when the Centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the Earthquake and those things that were done they feared greatly And what did they say what did they gather and infer from thence what Conclusion laid they down as sure and certain they said Truly this was the Son of God Though you did not see it as they did yet you read it recorded by them that did see it and do not you believe this matter of fact and the recorâ— of it to be true and will not you say Surely that Christ at whose Death the very Earth did quake and other great Miracles done was the Son of God and love him desire him trust him receive him and consent to have him for your Lord and Saviour accordingly was the shaking of the Earth and the rending or the Rocks a testimony against the Impenitent Unbelieving and Rocky-hearted Jews that neither before for all the Miracles done by him in his Life nor after they saw what was done at his Death did own him for the Son of God nor receive him for their Saviour and Lord but did still reject him and do you hear of the same things that they saw and yet be guilty of the same Unbelieâ— Impenitency and Rejecting of Christ as they were shall it not have the same effect upon you as it had upon the Centurion and those that were with him The Earth at his Death did quake do you fear and tremble lest you be found a Rejecter of him 2. The Earthquake at the Resurrection of Jesus Christ ought to be improved by us to establish us in the Articles of our Faith of Christ's Resurrection and our own and to rejoice at the thoughts of both And the more the Earth did tremble the more stedfast let our Faith be Matth. 28. 2. And behold there was a great Earthquake Verse 5. Ye seek Jesus Verse 6. He is not here for he is risen Verse 8. They departed quickly with fear and great joy and did run to bring his Disciples word The Earth did quake and they did believe the Earth did quake and they did joy that Christ was risen As the Earth did quake to drink up his Blood so it did quake to detain his Body beyond the appointed time and by its motion did congratulate the victory Christ had obtained over Death in its own Dominions Improve this also to believe the power of Christ to raise our Bodies also for if he give the word if he utter his voice Come forth ye dead Awake Arise he will make the Earth to quake and tremble to deliver up its dead Rev. 20. 11. And I saw a great white Throne and him that sate upon it from whose Presence the Earth and Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them Verse 12. And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works The Earth did quake when Christ did die and when he arose and so it shall when he shall come to raise the dead and judge the World 3. The Earthquake at the Prayers of the Apostles when the Gospel was opposed and the Preachers of it persecucured that God would grant unto his Servants that with all boldness they may speak his Word and for confirmation of their Faith and satisfaction that their Prayers were heard his Church and Kingdom should be propagated and preserved the place was shaken where they were Acts 4. 24. 31. He that can shake the Earth can establish his Church he that can make Mountains quake can and hath built his Church upon such a Rock that no Power shall prevail against it Vse V. Improve this mighty terrible Work of God in causing this late Earthquake by making more hast to turn from sin to God by a speedy and sincere Conversion Were you not afraid of Death when your Houses did shake and you feared would fall upon you Were you prepared to die Were you fitted for Judgment and Eternity What if you had been destroyed then where had your Souls been now Have any of you been more serious and earnest in enquiring after the way of Salvation Have you so much as with a concerned mind asked any Minister what you must do that you may be saved How have you not What will you be more stupid than the Earth under your feet Did it tremble and not you Or did you then and are become secure again Will you be more careless and hardened than the Jaylor He did not he being moved by the motion of the quaking ground make hast and run to the Apostles and on his knees begged Sirs what must I do to be saved If you know tell me I see the greatness and the power of your God if he will have mercy on sinners tell me and what I must do that he might have mercy on me and save me tell me if his Wrath be so great how may I escape it I do not yet know fain I would but I do not O Sirs tell me what must I do to be saved Hath this that you have felt and seen put you on to any greater diligence for your Souls Salvation than you had before Careless before and so still Impenitent before and so still No minding of Conversion before and none yet Indeed Shall this amazing Providence of God whereby you were in so much danger of Death and Hell pass away and leave you as carnal careless and negligent as you were before What! after
command of God doth change the Earths station into motion and the Suns motion into standing still Josh 10. 12. Than spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the Children of Israel and he said in the sight of Israel Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon in the valley of Ajelon Verse 13. And the Sun stood still and the Moon stayed until the People had avenged themselves upon their Enemies So the Sun stood still in the midst of Heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day Verse 14. And there was no day like that before it or after that the Lord harkened unto the voice of a man for the Lord fought for Israel Where is observable 1. That Joshua spake first to the Lord and then to the Sun for it was not Joshua's voice but God's power that put a check to the motion of the Sun 2. God hearkened to the voice of Joshua praying that the Sun might stop its motion 3. Then the Sun hearkened to the voice of Joshua so that by God's commanding voice in answer to Joshua's praying voice the Sun stood still If all the men on Earth with one concurrent voice should say to it Sun stand thou still it would still go forwards in its motion so that its cessation from motion demonstrated the mighty amazing work of God 2. The Retrograde motion of the Sun or its going backward is no less a wonderful work of God in the Heaven than its standing still The motion of the Sun is naturally progressive or going forward and if it should make more haste by many degrees in its diurnal Motion it must be by power Divine and not Humane yet in the apprehension of men it is a greater thing that it should go backward and would cause more their observation of its motion and admiration of God's power Isai 38. 7. This shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord that the Lord will do this that he hath spoken Verse 8. Behold I will bring again the shadow of the degrees which is gone down in the Sun-dial of Ahaz ten degrees backward So the Sun returned ten degrees by which degrees it was gone down Hezekiah prayed God promised gives him a sign for his assurance of the performance and the sign tho' miraculous was effected and â—â—ne mercy asked was bestowed God caused the Sun to go backwards to confirm the faith of his People in his Promise that his work for their deliverance should go forwards 3. That at and from high noon-day till three in the afternoon the Sun should give no light but darkness should be at the usual time of its inlightening the Earth was the hand and power of God Ordinary Eclipses are not miraculous yet there was one that was not according to the course of Nature When the Lord of Glory the Sun of Righeousness was crucified the Sun hid its face and the Heavens put themselves into mourning at his death Matth. 27. 45. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the Land until the ninth hour This was an extraordinary and miraculous work of God upon the Reasons usually alleadged 1. Because it was the full of the Moon which caused a great Philosopher to cry out Either the God of Nature suffers or the Frame of Nature dissolves 2. Because as some affirm it was universal over all the World Or 3. according to others because it was only over the Land of Judea all other parts of the World having the benefit and enjoying the light of the Sun at that time which some judge to be the more strange that as when Israel had light in Goshen the Egyptians were under the Plague of Darkness so at the crucifying of Christ Israel which dwelt in Judea should be under darkness when the World besides enjoyed light Thus it is manifest that God doth great things in Heaven above the Sun moves or standeth still goes backwards or forwards shines not to give light at noon day and for some hours together unto the Earth at all or else makes light in one part when it doth not in another and all this at the pleasure of the great God But our present Task is to observe one extraordinary work of God on and in the Earth Secondly There is the amazing mighty work of God on and within the Earth which in the Text that suits the occasion is God's shaking of and making it to tremble before him and under men that dwell upon it This moving of the Earth is far different from that constant motion that some Philosophers ascribe unto it for amongst the several Systems of the World which Astronomers have invented three are more famous one by Ptolomy the other by Copernicus and the third by Tycho Brache Copernicus following the Pythagoreans asserts the motion of the Earth and the Sun to be in the Center of the World without motion that the Earth hath two motions one Diurnal which is performed about its own Axis in the space of 24 hours and from this motion do arise our days and nights the other Annual whereby it is carried about the Sun from the West towards the East according to the succession of Signs of the Zodiack Where then is the miracle of the Sun 's standing still in Joshua's days if it stand still in all Ages where is the wonder of the Earths moving if it whirl about every 24 hours with so swift a motion why cannot all People discern this constant motion of the Earth that do perceive its shaking for a few minutes and are so much affrighted at it Are the Pillars of the Earth turned into Wheels Some have denied all motion some affirm too much but as when all motion was denied a Philosopher to prove it rose up and walked so when the constant daily and yearly motion of the Earth is asserted we may know by our Senses that it stands still but these great men of reason so they are will give you this presently for an Axiome Sensibus non est fidendum you must not believe nor trust your Senses which yet for the sake of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation I should not readily receive but knowing that my Senses cannot err about their proper object when it is presented at a due distance through a right disposed a Papist shall not perswade me that the Bread after Consecration is not Bread and that the Wine is not Wine nor a Copernican that the Earth doth naturally move when in the one by my Senses I discern it to be Bread and Wine and not real Flesh and Blood carnally and corporally taken and in the other that the Earth stands fast and still so much confidence I will put in my Senses a drunken man that by excess hath disturbed his head might conceit the Earth turns round and the room where he is doth move when the motion and turning is in his Brains and when he hath slept himself sober will perceive what he
fro the Earth where no Buildings were was greatly moved such a thick dust was raised and so great a darkness upon all that that they could not see one another nor speak nor hear one the other and by reason of the violence of the Wind and greatness of the dust could scarcely breathe Trees pluckt up by the roots were cast down upon the ground many very many were covered with the overthrow of Houses and Walls many falling upon one another died if any hurt by wood or stone went away thus with their torn and wounded Bodies they were more miserable than the rest forasmuch as they could not live long nor yet quickly die of multitudes of Men scarce any escaped without some hurt One might be seen to flee with his Shoulder broke another with his Arms lost many laid dead with their Heads separated from their Bodies some with their bruised Breasts vomited Blood Still the Earth continued to shake both by Night and Day in this great Calamity they could find no remedy nor way of escape those that were hurt with the fall of Houses died in many places and tho' by the benefit of Vaults and roofed Places some were preserved yet the Earthquake continuing they perished by hunger and famine before any succour could be brought to them When the Earthquake ceased some went upon the Ruins where they heard a Womans voice and the crying of an Infant the Ruins had covered both the Mother and the Child it was wonderful how the Mother should have Milk to nourish her Child but Mother and Child were taken safe out But whilst the dead Bodies and fall'n Houses were more diligently searched another Infant was found sucking the Breast of its dead Mother But Life was a grief to all that had escaped Death when they beheld the lamentable fall of the City and so many People destroyed Fifthly The change of the Channel of the Sea In the time of Valens the Emperour there hapned another terrible Earthquake whereby an hundred Cities were destroyed in Crete then also the Sea leaving its place so overflowed certain grounds which before were plowed became navigable and in other places where Men failed the Sailers in their Navigation were found upon dry Land where before they Sea was Sixthly Another Effect of Earthquakes hath been the Convulsion of Mountains their sinking down their clashing and transportation or removal to a great distance from the places where before the stood Instances of these History do afford many but I will only mention one because more remarkable how God doth miraculously sometimes preserve praying People and may moâ—e Persons whose Houses after shaking by an Earthquake stand to pray therein In the Year 1584. one Mountain by aâ— Earthquake violently removed destroyed a Town consisting of ninety Families and threw down all excepting haâ— of one House where the Master of thâ— Family with his Wife and Children kneeling upon their Knees were prayinâ— and calling upon God Seventhly Infectious Diseases Plage and Pestilence are sometimes the Effectâ— of Earthquakes For the matter 〈◊〉 Earthquakes is pestilential because subterraneous or under ground wanting wind and motion to purifie it this therefore when it doth exhale and breath out or break forth doth infect the Air and Men by taking in that infected Air are insected by it Seneca shewing the Pestilence to be an Effect and Consequent of an Earthquake mentions how that after an Earthquake in Campania six hundred Sheep died of an Infectious Disease Wonder not at this saith he for after great Earthquakes the Pestilence doth use to follow the Air being corrupt thereby and Sheep holding down their heads so continually so near the ground and taking in the poisonous Air that is so near the Earth are infected with it This also would have been hurtful unto Men if a greater quantity of it had come up out of the Earth but the largeness of a more free and purer Air purgeth that before it rise so high as to be drawn in by Men. In Scripture Earthquakes and Pestilence are set down together as sore and heavy Judgments God grant that London England and all places that have been shaken by this late Earthquake might so fear and tremble before this Great Almighty God as to Repent and turn from sin to God at this his Call so lately powerfully and mercifully given that after the Earthquake the Plague and Pestilence might not follow Quest VII What are the Adjuncts of Earthquakes which may further inform us concerning this Mighty Work of God What I shall add concerning this may be laid down in these following Conclusions First Conclus An Earthquake is not Vniversal not of the whole Earth aâ— once but in part This is the Doctrinâ— of Learned Men both Philosophers adâ— Divines asserting in Universal Earthâ— quake yet never hath been but fall out in divers places but not in all universally at the same time Mat. 24. 7. Theâ— shall be Earthquakes in divers plâ—â—es The Scripture so speaketh of the stability of the Earth as that by Naturaâ— Causes there cannot be an Universaâ— shaking of it 1 Chron. 16. 30. Fear before him all the earth the world also shall be stable that it be not moved Isa 45. 18. Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens God himself that formed the earth and made it he hath established it he created it not in vain he formed it to be inhabited Psal 93. 1. The world is established that it cannot be moved Psal 96. 10. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved Psal 104. 5. Who laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed for ever Psal 119. 90. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations thou hast established the earth and it abideth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it shall stand 2. Conclus Yet such is the greatness of the Power of God that if he pleased he could remove the whole Earth out of its place He that made it all could make it all to tremble and quake yea he that by his Word brought it into Being can by his Power shake it into nothing What cannot be done by Natural Causes might be done by Supernatural Power This is the meaning of Job's saying Job 9. 6. Who shaketh the earth out of its place and the Pillars thereof tremble An Earthquake is the shaking of the Earth in its place and causeth it to tremble upon the Pillars thereof We have no instance that God ever yet removed the whole Earth out of its place but it is a Supposition if the Lord will he is able to do it 3. Concl. How far an Earthquake may extend it self cannot be determined Men if they can give an account of the extent of Earthquaks past yet cannot limit the space of such as yet may be Tho' Senecasaith an Earthquake never reached above two hundred Miles yet others give instances of such as have far exceeded besides several others it is