that it levelled some Mountains and reduced them to Plains that it destroyed some whole Plantations and threw them into the Sea but Port-Royal had much the greatest share in this terrible Judgment It is added by a farther Account in the Gazette of Thursday August 18. that on the Harbour-side the Houses all sunk down in a Minute's time from the Depth of three to five Fathom Water in the Streets next the Wharf the Earth opened it self wide and deep and instantly gushed out an Inundation of Water so that Multitudes were drowned Among other Accidents of the Earthquake the Swan Frigat lying at the Wharf for Careening was driven in among the Houses and there lost The Minister in his Letter saith farther That such was the desperate Wickedness of the People there that he was afraid to continue among them That on the same Day of the Earthquake as soon as Night came on some lewd Rogues whom they call Privateers fell to breaking open Ware-houses and Houses deserted to rob and rifle their Neighbours whilst the Earth trembled under them and some of the Houses fell upon them in the Act. And those audacious Whores who remained still upon the Place were as impudent and drunken as ever And that since the Earthquake when he was on shore to pray with the bruised and dying People and to christen Children he met with too many drunk and swearing The Day when this Calamity befel the Town and Island was very clear affording not any Suspicion of the least Evil but in the Space of three Minutes about half an Hour after eleven in the Morning Port-Royal the fairest Town of all the English Plantations the best Emporium and Mart of this part of the World exceeding in Riches and abounding in all good things was shaken and shatter'd to pieces and covered for the greatest part by the Sea the Wharf and two whole Streets beyond it intirely swallowed by the Sea He with the President of the Council running to save themselves made towards Morgan's Fort because a wide open Place he thought to be there securest from the falling Houses but as he was going he saw the Earth open and swallow up a Multitude of People and the Sea mounting in upon them over the Fortifications He tells us further that their large and famous Burying-place called the Pallisado's was destroyed by the Earthquake and that the Sea washed away the Carcases of those that were buried out of their Graves their Tombs being dash'd to pieces by the Motion and Concussion That the whole Harbour one of the fairest he ever saw was covered with the dead Bodies of People of all Conditions floating up and down without Burial That in the opening of the Earth the Houses and Inhabitants sinking down together some of these were driven up again by the Sea which arose in those Breaches and so did wonderfully escape Some were swallowed up to the Neck and then the Earth shut upon them and squeezed them to Death And in that manner several were left buried with their Heads above Ground only some Heads the Dogs have eaten others are covered with Dust and Earth by the People which yet remain in the Place to avoid the Stench So that by the opening of the Earth and the Fall of the Houses and the Inundation of the Waters it is thought fifteen hundred Persons are lost and many of good Note After he was escaped in a Ship he saith he could not sleep all Night for the Returns of the Earthquake almost every Hour which made all the Guns in the Ship to jar and rattle and he supposeth the whole Town of Port-Royal will shortly be swallowed up of the Sea the Houses falling and the Sea encroaching daily That there were sad Accounts of Mischiefs done by the Earthquake in other Parts of the Island As from St. Ann's they heard of above a thousand Acres of Woodland changed into Sea carrying with it whole Plantations His own Preservation was very remarkable and unexpected after he had prayed with the People and given them ferious Exhortations to Repentance in which Exercises he spent near an Hour and half he was desired by some Merchants to retire to some Ship in the Harbour whom he accompanied passing over the Tops of some Houses which lay levelled with the Surface of the Water got first into a Canoe and then into a Long-boat which put him on board a Ship Of the Earthquake in England ON the 8th of September following 1692. an Earthquake was felt at London and in several Parts of Essex Kent Sussex Hampshire c. as Sheerness Sandwich Deal Maidstone Portsmouth c. the People leaving their Houses in many Places lest they should fall on their Heads but it lasted not above * See Mr. Ray 's Physico-Theol Discourse of the Dr luge Disc 2. p. 209. two Minutes It was about two a Clock some reckon'd at London it was about four Minutes past two It was felt in most parts of the Dutch and Spanish Netherlands as also in Germany and France It affected Places most on the Sea-coasts and near great Rivers It went not beyond 52 Degrees and 40 Minutes of Northern Latitude How far it reach'd to the South and East is not yet certainly known for want of good Intelligence we have already trac'd it beyond Paris to the 48th Degree of North Latitude and beyond the Rhine on the East to Francfort so that we know at present of 260 Miles square shaken by it The Time of its happening here in England and beyond the Seas seems to vary some Minutes but that may easily be accounted for by the Difference of ‖ Thus Dr. T. Robinson in a Letter to Mr. Ray dated Septemb. 22. 1692. Meridians So that the inflamed Damp saith Mr. Ray which caused this Earthquake was lodged deep in the Earth the Caverns that contained it passing under the bottom of the Sea Of the Earthquakes in Sicily and Malta THE following Account of the Earthquakes in Sicily was published by Authority here viz. from Messina January 20 1692 3 they write that several Earthquakes had happened in that Island which were most violent in the Southern Parts of it and have laid in heaps many Cities and Villages Catanea was shaken on the 9th instant and on the 11th quite destroyed not one House left standing and near twenty thousand Persons perished in that City alone Augusta was almost destroyed at the same time and 400 Barrels of Powder that were in the Castle took Fire at the same time by Lightning or some other Accident and blew up about a thousand People who were got in there for their Security The Ancient Saragossa hath fared no better and the Cities of Modica Jaci and Noto and all the Villages from Mount Aetna to Cape Passaro have suffer'd extremely 'T is computed that above an hundred thousand Persons have been destroyed by these Earthquakes Palermo felt the Shock on the 11th and the Vice-King retired with all his Family on board the
had yet a worse Fate scarce any part of it is now standing tho situate on an high Rock almost inaccessible on all sides but by one narrow Passage The mighty Hardness of the Rock seem'd to have secur'd it from the Hazard of Earthquakes but it felt the Shake of the 9th and on the 11th of January it was in a moment laid in heaps the number of the Inhabitants is computed about seven thousand and very few are escaped Augusta a City well situated and adorned with large and safe Harbours a Place of good Trade for Corn. The Inhabitants reckoned near six thousand of whom we have account of none left many kill'd on the 9th more on the 10th and the rest buried by the overturning of the Town on the 11th Lentini the ancient Leontium famous for a beautiful Lake on which it stood a Place of about three thousand Families and a Place of tolerable Trade by Fishing and Salt Mines was reduc'd to Ashes on the 11th and it is not known if any of the Inhabitants be saved The Water of the Lake is now become brackish and of a salt and bituminous Taste and vast numbers of Fish are every day found dead on the Shore Calatgirone a pretty Town containing about 7000 People and well built most of hewn Stone on the 11th a fifth part of the Town was overturned and two Monasteries and 't is thought no fewer than two thousand Souls were destroyed Mineo felt both the Shake of the 9th and 11th on the former the Heavens were serene scarce a Cloud appearing above the Horizon but on the 11th there was a Storm of Thunder and Lightning for six Hours At both times several Houses a large Church were overturned and it 's thought near four thousand of the Inhabitants are perished Monreal or Morreal was shaken and shattered and Palermo the Seat of the Vice-Roy but not above 100 People kill'd Pasceni consisting of about 200 Families the richest of any little Town in Sicily hath not one single House left standing nor one single Person sav'd Patuzolo a bigger Town underwent the same Fate the number of Inhabitants about 1000 at least It is not known that any are saved So for Furla whose Inhabitants we reckon'd to be near a thousand Souls The like for Sciorti which by the Shake of the 11th is a vast Heap of Ruins only a Church belonging to a Benedictine Nunnery is intire we know of none of the Inhabitants sav'd and they are reckon'd to amount to two thousand Souls The same Fate befel Militello no inconsiderable Town probably containing about six thousand People whereof no one is left to give tidings how its Calamity came about Luochela fared somewhat better many about half of the People left the Town on the Shake of the 9th of January when a great part of the Houses fell The Castle was swallowed up in a moment in sight of the People and a considerable Lake is in the place where the Castle stood The rest of the Town and Inhabitants were utterterly destroyed on the 11th Of two thousand People one half perished There was little Damage done in Palonia another well-built Town but that besides feeling the Shake on the 9th and the Church shattered the Dome was thrown down on the 11th which broke the high Altar to pieces and crush'd to Death some 300 People with the Priest that was saying Mass The like almost for Buchino a considerable Village Scodia a Burgh about the bigness of the other was greatly shaken on the 11th and about 150 People kill'd by the fall of the Church in the time of Mass In a deep Lake within 2 miles of it 2 miles about by the Shake of the 11th there opened a large Casma near the midst of the Lake which swallowed up the Water which by that of the 9th was lessened and left the whole Channel dry Land which continues so Another Village called Chivramonte had its Houses shattered by the Shake of the 9th but overturned altogether on the 11th and the Inhabitants buried in the Ruins computed between 3 and 400. Monterusso was considerably shaken on the 9th and on the 11th 200 People who fled into the Castle were with it buried in the Ground and the Place where it stood is now a Pool of Water of a brinish Taste The beautiful Town of Vizzini containing about 3500 Souls though it lay on a rising Hill made up of nothing but hardest Stones of the nature of Marble was yet shaken on the 9th and swallowed up with the Inhabitants on the 11th who thought the Danger had then been over The large Village of Modica containing about 1400 People was so suddenly swallowed up on the 9th that no one Person escap'd Since this hundred Years this Village hath twice changed its Seat by Earthquakes the People till now saving themselves Several Rivers and Rivulets near this and other Places in Sicily are covered by Hills in the form of a Vault or natural Bridg thrown over them by the Earthquake This Earthquake caused the fall of some Houses at Bisenti and the bruising to death of about 100 Persons Francofonte suffered more by Lightning and Thunder for three days than by the shake of the Earthquake Carlontini a Town of good Trade and well inhabited containing about 4000 People a sixth part of 'em perished in the Earthquake on the 11th the rest escaped by the warning on the 9th Ragusa a beautiful Town its Situation Buildings Churches Monasteries and Territories about it combine to make it a sort of Terrestrial Paradise felt many Shakings on the 8th with Lightning and Thunder but on the 11th the biggest Street in the Town the Town-house two Churches and many Houses were overturned or swallowed up The least Calculation of People that perish'd is eight thousand of whom the Citizens of the best Quality make up a great part of that Number Specafurno a Town of considerable Bigness on the Side of a Hill all planted with Vineyards and well inhabited fell under the same Calamity partly by Lightning and Thunder on the 10th and the whole Town in a Moment's time on the 11th About a Mile from the Town was a pleasant fresh Water Lake on the South side which is now almost all dry Land the Fish dead on the Shore and the Water of a brinish Taste and now of a black Colour The People that perish'd there are computed to be at least three thousand five hundred about three hundred only saved themselves the Day before The Town Scichilo that hath within 50 Years been eight times in hazard of an Earthquake felt this on the 8th of January and within 24 Hours there succeeded above 20 Shakes the last still exceeding the first in Violence but on the 11th the whole Town in less than two Moments vanish'd out of Sight in the room of it is now a stinking Pool of Water And of six or seven thousand Inhabitants of this pleasant Town it is thought there is no one saved Besides a
was endangered by an Earthquake of three days continuance that in his eighth Year Rhodes was much distressed by the same Accident That when Dirrachium the City of Dalmatia perished and Rome was in such Danger twelve Cities of Campania were destroyed And that in the twelfth Year of Constantius the greater part of Berytus the City of Phaenicia also miscarried In which Year also happened an Eclipse of the Sun on the sixth Day of the Month Desius The ill Success of Constantius in the Persian War was by the more Orthodox Christians according to the Judgment of Parties concluded to have happened to him because of his adhering to and countenancing the Arian Heresy An. 344. In the fifth Year after the Death of Constantine Marcellus and Probinus being Consuls a Synod was held at Antioch that condemn'd Athanasius and only in Words profess'd to own the Nicene Faith but really to condemn it and substitute another in its room This Impiety God declared against by * Socrat. Hist Eccles l. 2. c. 7 10. Terrible Earthquakes say the Historians of that Time especially at Antioch for above a Year together An. 366. while Procopius's Rebellion was yet but little advanc'd July 21. in the Consulship of the two Emperors Valentinian and Valens there hapned such Horrible Earthquakes throughout the World as neither true Historians have related the like nor Fables themselves represented to us A little after the Day dawn'd there was a great Tempest of Thunder and Lightning which was followed by so dreadful a Trembling of the Earth that the Sea also was shaken therewith and deserted the Shore and its ancient Bounds for a great space and the Depth of its Channels were discovered multitudes of Fish were seen to stick in the Mud and the Unequalness of the Seas Bottom appear'd here Hills and there Valleys which never had before seen the Sun since at the Original of all things they were first overwhelm'd with the Floods Many Ships were left on the dry Ground and Swarms of People flew thither to catch Fish when suddenly the Sea as disdaining to be imprison'd return'd to its former Place with such Fury that not containing it self therein but transported beyond its Bounds by the Violence of its Rage and Motion it overturned Houses and other Buildings innumerable drowned many Thousands of Men and overwhelmed numbers of Ships Great Vessels were by the Violence of these Gusts blown upon the Tops of Houses as it happened at Alexandria and some near two Miles from the Shore as Ammianus Marcellinus who relates these things lib. 26. saw one himself * Howel's Gen. Hist Vol. 2. p. 231. ad An. C. 366. This Prodigy we cannot take to have signified any thing to Procopius's Rebellion so much as that Dreadful Inundation made into the Roman Empire by the Northern Nations which shortly after happened and the Ruin of the Western Provinces which followed thereupon In the Year 430 a great * Tricesimo deinde Anno Theodosii Terrae motus facti sunt ingentes per menses aliquot integros maximarum Praenuntii Mutationum quibus Respublica tum Ecclesiastica tum Mundana mox laboravit ac tantum non occidit Romanum tum Praesulatum accepit Lea qui primus in omnes totius Orbis Christiani Episcopos dominatum sibi aliquem ut Privilegio Petro dato coepit arrogare Cluverius p. 322. Earthquake preceded the Death of one of the best Emperors viz. Theodosius as the Fore-runner of Great Changes Some †Howel 's Hist p. 673. think this the same with that An. 446. which Marcellinus writes to have happened in the Confulship of Aelius and Sepronius which raged in many places and therein overturned many Cities the Wall of Constantinople tho but new built it threw to the Ground with fifty seven Turrets Stones of great Bulk lately plac'd in the Building of the Forum of Taurus fell down Many Towns were ruined and a Pestilent Vapour arose which caused a Plague and this joined with a Famine destroyed many Thousands The Civil Motions and Ruptures in the Roman Empire were agreeable hereunto This Earthquake in the Reign of Theodosius Evagrius * Lib. 1. cap. 17. saith was the Greatest and most memorable of all others Such as by its Greatness rendred inconsiderable all that went before it It afflicted he had almost said the whole World The Earth gaped and swallowed many Villages besides many other nay innumerable Calamities both by Sea and Land Some Fountains were dried up in other Places Water in great quantity broke out where formerly it had not been known Great Trees were torn up by the Roots Heaps of Earth were so shaken together that they were raised into Mountains The Sea cast forth dead Fishes In it many Islands were overwhelmed and sunk Ships sailing in the Sea by a sudden Retrocession of the Water were left on dry Ground In conclusion many Places of Bithynia the Hellespont and both the Phrygia's were grievously distress'd This Disaster a long time and sorely afflicted the World * Lib. 14. cap. 46. Nicephorus writes that it continued six Months and that in a manner without Interruption that it reached Alexandria but especially afflicted Antioch Besides the Countries mentioned by Evagrius it invaded the greatest part of the East and spared not many Regions of the West He adds that the People of Constantinople not daring to stay in the City for fear of the fall of Houses continued together with the Emperour and Proclus their Patriarch in the Fields instant in Prayer for the removal of so heavy a Judgment Theodosius when delivered from the Danger of the Earthquake presently betook himself to repair the Walls of Constantinople c. When * Theodoret l. 5. c. 34. Chrysostom was banish'd in the beginning of the fifth Century by the Emperour Arcadius from the Church of Constantinople the same Night was a great Earthquake that shook the Emperor's Palace and threatned the Ruine of it on which Messengers were sent to recal him An. 458. Evagrius writes of a great †Howel 's Hist p. 202. Earthquake that happened at Antioch which the Citizens had sad cause to remember Before it began some of the Inhabitants were seized with an extraordinary Madness such as seemed to exceed all Ferity of wild Beasts and to be the Prelude to that Calamity which followed on the fourth Day of the Month Gorpiaeus which the Romans call September about the fourth Hour of the Night and the fifty sixth Year of the Life of Leo. It overturned almost all the Buildings of the new City which was well peopled and none of it forsaken or empty being curiously built by the Magnificence of Emperours who strove to exceed each other in the Adornment of it The first and second Fabricks in the Palace were also cast down the rest standing together with a Bath which having formerly been neglected now when by the Earthquake the rest were choaked up stood the Citizens in very good stead Many other
known by the Judgments that he executes And when they are thus manifest it is said All Nations shall worship before thee O Lord Rev. 15.4 19.2 So when God executes Judgment on the Wicked by sudden Calamity Psal 58.7 8 9. it is added at the 11th Verse that thereupon a Man shall say Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous verily there is a God that judgeth in the Earth If he did not sometimes appear in such Acts of Justice Men would be ready to say Where is the God of Judgment Mal. 2.17 or with them Job 9.24 The Earth is given into the Hand of the Wicked if not where or who is he Where is he who should punish them Who is he that calls them to an Account And the wise Man hath told us that because Sentence against an evil Doer is not speedily executed therefore the Heart of the Sons of Men is fully set in them to do Evil Eccles 8.11 But when he looketh on the Earth and makes it tremble when he toucheth the Hills and they smoke Psal 104.32 When he shows himself to be wise in Heart and mighty in Strength he removeth Mountains and they know it not he overturneth them in his Anger Who would not then reverence his Power and Providence Read Numb 16. for an Instance of it Even the Heathens have condemn'd those for mad Men and distracted who would fear nothing no not an Earthquake as it is * Petri Victor Comment in Arist de Moribus lib. 3. p. 160. observed by Aristotle concerning the Celtae a barbarous People Which makes it the more strange that Seneca †Seneca Quaest nat lib. 6. cap. 3. should be so much at a loss about the Divine Agency in such things and ascribe them only to natural Causes Whereas Cicero ‖ Cicero de Nat. Deorum l. 2. §. 13. mentions Cleanthes and other of the Stoicks to be of the same Opinion See Lescoloper in Cic. de Nat. Deorum p. 227. reckons Earthquakes with Thunder Tempests c. to be one of the four Ways by which the Notion of a God is preserv'd in the World and the Minds of Men awed with the Apprehension of the Divine Being By such Acts of Judgment and Vengeance God is said to show himself Psal 94.1 2. to confute the Atheism of the World and make Men acknowledg his Being and Providence By such things Men are made to know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the Ends of the Earth Psal 58.13 Thus was Pharaoh brought to acknowledg God who at first despised him saying VVho is the Lord that I should obey him 2. Let us take heed of the like Sins that others have been guilty of with whom God has dealt in such Severity Let us remember He is a holy God and jealous of his Honour and will not suffer high Provocations always to go unpunished Others have smarted who were guilty of such and such Transgressions as are found amongst us Why should we expect to escape if we continue under the like Guilt By Judgments upon one Nation God warns Another that except they repent they may expect to perish Thus Tyrus shall be devoured with Fire Ashkelon says God shall see it and fear Gaza and Ekron shall be very sorrowful Zech. 9.3 4 5. When Jonah was thrown over-board and the Storm quell'd the Men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered Sacrifices in the sense of their own Sins Much more when God executes Remarkable Judgments on such as are notoriously wicked All Men will fear and declare these Works of God if they wisely consider of his Doings Psal 64.9 If we will not be warned by the Examples of Others we may expect to be made Examples our selves Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities of the Plain are set forth as an Example unto us Jud. 7. The Man that will do presumptuously even that Man shall die Deut. 17.12 13. And all the People shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously God singled out the Galileans whose Blood Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices and those on whom the Tower of Siloam fell to tell the Jews except they did repent they should also perish And within a few Years upon their neglect of these instructive Examples Thousands and ten Thousands of them had their Blood as it were mingled with their Sacrifices being slain by Multitudes in the Temple the Place of their Offerings and no less Number perishing in the Fall and Ruine of their Walls and Buildings battered down by the Romans When the Israelites round about saw Corah and his Company devoured of the Earth they ran away at the Cry of them and said Lest the Earth swallow us also By what we have seen of God's Severity on Others we should run away trembling from the Gulph of God's deserved Judgments by running from those Sins which may bring the like on us which Others have felt 'T was the great Aggravation of Belshazzar's Pride that he humbled not himself tho he knew the Judgment God had executed on his Father for that very Sin He that will run into a Bog wherein Others have plunged themselves in his view is guilty of double Folly of adventuring rashly and of not taking warning Herodotus tells us that upon the Statue of Zenacherib after the Angel of the Lord had slain an hundred and eighty five thousand of his Army Isa 37.36 it was engraven Discite Justitiam moniti non temnere Divos Let him that looks on me learn to fear God He hath a thousand other Judgments in reserve if the same we see inflicted on Others do not overtake Us. Not only stormy Winds and Tempests are in his Treasury that he can rain Snares and Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest on the Wicked but he has Arrows of Judgment in his Quiver of various sorts or is able to repeat the same when he pleaseth God will never want Ways and Methods to punish a wicked People All Creatures in the Earth and Air and Sea are his Servants He hath Hosts and Armies of them above and under Ground to be the Instruments of his Justice 3. Let it excite our more earnest Prayers for Preservation and Deliverance from such Judgments as others have suffered by We see if God be not for us but against us how suddenly how dreadfully he can punish and destroy any People How earnestly should we pray Lord spare thy People and deliver us from sudden Death The louder and the more repeated our Warnings are and the juster our Fears of approaching Calamity the more importunately should we pray as that Captain 2 Kings 1.13 14. When two before him with their Fifties had been destroyed fell upon his Knees before the Prophet saying O Man of God let my Life and the Lives of these fifty of thy Servants be precious in thy sight Behold there came Fire from Heaven and burnt up the two Captains with the former Fifties O let my Life be precious in thy sight Let us pray for the