quam Plinius a Terrae motu immunem fecit primo ipso Motore e vivis amoto cum suis omnibus Incolis immotisque adeo Judeae rupibus in tam insolenti Commutatione non moveretur Et vero cum Dominus dedit vocem suam mota est Terra ut canit divinus Vates quantò putamus ampliùs commotam esse cum Dominus dedit Animam suam Dydimus may be credited Or the Extent of that whereby †Cluverius mibi p. 214. twelve Cities of Asia fell at once Gassendus in the Life of Peireskius reports that at the Mountain Semo in Aethiopia there happened a burning at the same time with that of Vesuvius in Campania An. 1633. So that not only Vesuvius communicates with Aetna by subterraneous Vaults but also Aetna with the Mountains of Syria the Tunnels running under the Depths of the Mediterranean Sea and those with the Arabian and lastly the Arabian with Mount Semo in Aethiopia And we read of other Instances particularly by the Earthquake in France and Switzerland May 12. 1682. which reach'd as far as Collen in Germany and was perceiv'd in Lionnois Dauphiny and Beaujolois at Mets in Lorrain in Provence c. That the Cities of Orleans Troyes Sens Chalons Joinville Reims Soissons Laon Moscon Dole Strasburgh c. felt it especially Remiremont on the Moselle The whole World almost trembled at once by the Earthquake An. 1116. And by the Earthquake An. 1601. Asia Hungary Italy Germany and France are said to have trembled at one time that Earthquake extending from Asia to that Sea that washes the French Shores the whole Length of Europe in a quarter of an Hour besides some Asiatick Regions it shook Hungary Germany Italy and France This is affirmed by good Writers saith Mr. * Of the Effects of Languid Motion p. 49 50. Boyle and Mr. †Physico-Theological Discourses p. 215. Fromond Meteor l. 4. cap. ult Art 4. Dr. Tho. Burnet 's Theory of the Earth p. 119 120. Ray relating from Josephus Acosta an Earthquake in Peru that reach'd for 160 Leagues And Fournier gives an Account of one in Peru that reach'd 300 Leagues along the Sea-shore and 70 Leagues Inland and levell'd the Mountains all along as it went threw down Cities turn'd the Rivers out of their Channels and made an universal Havock and Confusion All this he saith was done within the space of seven or eight Minutes Some have observ'd that most People had their Heads affected with an unusual Giddiness before they apprehended or understood any thing of the Earthquake The Time of it also may be observed by you of this City viz. the second Week in September to Remember you of a former Judgment by Fire in the first Week of that Month. Now think a little what would have become of us if it had lasted but a few Minutes more How near were we to Ruine How soon can God do the like again if his Calls to Repentance be not obeyed And how impossible is it for all the Great Men of the World as to cause such a thing so to hinder or prevent it or to preserve themselves or us if God should thus visit us in his Anger another time CHAP. VIII Many Examples of Terrible Earthquakes in other Parts of the World formerly and of late IT hath been observ'd by Divers what Plato mentions in his Timaeus of a vast Island without the Straits of Gibraltar called Atlantis and bigger than Africa and Asia together which in one Day and Night by a violent Earthquake and mighty Flood and Inundation of Water was wholly overwhelmed and drown'd in the Sea Earthquakes have made way for the Irruption of the Sea in divers Places Our Island of * See Mr. Ray of the Primitive Chaos chap. 5. Great Britain is suppos'd to be broken off from the Continent in France by that means and Sicily from Italy Many Rivers have chang'd their Channels and many Countries have been turn'd into Desarts by Earthquakes By that means the River * Purchas out of Strabo l. 15. Indus in Asia that receives fifteen other Rivers into it did change its Channel and the neighbouring Country turn'd into a Wilderness Diodorus Siculus †Lib. 2. mentions more than twenty thousand Lacedemonians that perish'd in Sparta by an Earthquake that was of long Continuance In the 7th Year of the Reign of Herod by an Earthquake in ‖ Josephi Antiqu. Jud. l. 15. c. 7. Judea ten thousand Men and a vast Multitude of Cattel were destroyed 'T is about two thousand and sixty six Years ago that there hapned (*) Orosius l. 3. c. 3. Diod. Sic. l. 15. §. 48. one in Achaia which almost utterly destroyed it and which was attended with Inundations which in the very Heart of Corinth delug'd the Cities of Helice and Buris of which (†) Metamorphosis l. 15. Ovid makes mention Si quaeras Helicen Burin Achaeidas Vrbes Invenies sub aquis adhuc ostendere Nautae Inclinata solent cum Moenibus Oppida mersis He that for Helice or Buris seeks Achaean Cities fam'd among the Greeks Deep under Water sunk may find 'em now And Seamen they that oft the Ocean plough Now over lofty Towns we sail they cry That once survey'd the Secrets of the Sky Tyre and Sydon in Phaenicia suffered exceedingly by Earthquakes and an infinite Number of People buried under their Ruines And Strabo mentions a City situate above Sidon that was wholly swallowed up by an Earthquake Twelve Cities in one Night in Asia * Lib. 1. c. 84. Pliny mentions But S. †De Miraculis SS l. 2. c. 3. if that Book be his Augustine is cited for what is more strange that in a famous Earthquake an hundred Cities of Lybia were demolished In Trajan's time the City of Antioch was swallowed up An. 105. and a great part of Asia with it and some other Earthquakes there I have already ‖ Chap. 2. p. 76. mentioned The Terror of that in the time of the Emperor Trajan is described by several (*) Dion Cass Trajan §. 18. Historians An. 177. Smyrna in Asia was overthrown by an Earthquake as a few Years since it was again (†) Eusebius towards the rebuilding whereof the Emperour Antoninus forgave ten Years Tribute Ammianus (‖) Lib. 17 26. Marcellinus speaks of very dreadful Earthquakes that happen'd in Macedonia in the time of the Emperour Constantius And of one that he saith was Universal in the time of the Emperour Dioclesian And * Lib. 4. c. 16. Sozomen gives an Account that An. 358. the City of Nicomedia was overthrown by an Earthquake which made the Council appointed by Constantius to meet there to be put off to another Year The City of †Socrates l. 4. c. 11. Nice in Bithynia was ruined and almost all the Inhabitants destroyed twelve Years after this saith Socrates An. D. 557. There was a violent Earthquake at ‖ Le Sieur Agathias
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
Gallies in that Port. Most of the Inhabitants of this City lay now in the Fields without the Gates c. A Letter from Naples Feb. 3. mentions that by the Shock on the 11th of the last Month 37 Cities and Towns and large Villages were quite destroyed and one hundred and thirty thousand Persons By other Letters in the Gazette of Thursday March 16. we have this Account from Messina Feb. 3. That they hear every day of the lamentable Effects of the late Earthquakes and give the following List of Places and Persons destroyed viz. Calatagirone about a fourth part of the City ruined and 1500 Persons killed Luochuela quite destroyed with most of the Inhabitants the number not known Mineo a Royal City most of it fallen and 3000 killed Militello quite destroyed with many of the Inhabitants the number not known Palaonia very much shattered but few Persons killed Scordia the Palace fallen down and 20 killed Francofome much shattered Sentini quite ruined and 3000 killed Carlontini quite destroyed with many of the Inhabitants the number not known Augusta quite destroyed and 5000 killed Siragosa above half ruined and 6000 killed Noto quite ruined and 7000 killed Specasurno quite ruined and 3000 killed Scichilo quite ruined and 8000 killed Santa Croce 100 killed Modica quite destroyed and 1000 killed Ragusa greatest part of it ruined and 7000 killed Cefomaro 200 killed Biscuti 100 killed Chiuramonte wholly destroyed and 300 killed Monterusso 200 killed Giamantano 300 killed Bucchin 160 killed Patuzzolo quite ruined and 1000 killed Scodia 100 killed Pasceni quite ruined and 600 kill'd Furla quite ruined and 800 killed Sciorti quite ruined and 2000 killed Vizzini quite ruined and 3000 killed Licodia 400 killed Catanea wholly destroyed and 18000 killed Jaci much ruined and 1800 killed In all 73680 Persons killed In another Letter from Naples dated March 3. published in the Gazette of the 3d of April there is an Account from Palermo that the Vice-Roy of Sicily had sent Commissioners to take an exact Account of the Damage occasion'd by the late Earthquakes in that Island and they had found that the Ruine of the Towns and Villages as well as Loss of People was greater and more deplorable than was at first reported and that there had perish'd above one hundred thousand Persons A more particular Account of this terrible Earthquake in Sicily was printed at Rome and since printed here from the Italian Copy part whereof I shall here insert The Author professeth he cannot give himself nor others all the Satisfaction he could wish there being so many little Places and even some considerable Towns so utterly destroyed that there are no Inhabitants left to give us an account of the manner how these Places were swallowed up So that of these we can have no other Narrative but what People at a Distance and in a Hurry themselves for fear of sinking into the same Ruin have been able to give us The Earthquake diffus'd it self into all the three Districts or Divisions into which the Island of Sicily is usually divided Valli di Noto Mazaro and Mono. The greatest Shake of all was from Mount Aetna to Cape Passaro the Pachmus of the Ancients In all this vast Tract of Land nothing stood the shock but all fell under the Weight of a General Ruin It was on the 7th of January 1692 3 about 10 at Night that Mount Aetna began to utter those hideous Roarings which seldom but usher in some Tragedy of the Nature of what followed Those loud Bellowings continued till the 9th and about 12 a Clock began to cease Within an hour after the Inhabitants of Catanea which is the next Town to the Mountain began to perceive a shaking under 'em about three Minutes together This did little Hurt other than to afright the People and give them fears of some further Hurt During this Shake and for an hour before there was not the least Noise heard from Mount Aetna but within less than a minute after the Shake was over not only did the Noise redouble infinitely more terrible than before but the whole Top of the Mountain appeared all in Flames All this was but the Fore-runner of the horridest Shake of all which fell out on the 11th which affected the whole Island tho not equally And by the exactest Computation can be made the whole Period of it lasted not above six Minutes from Messina Northwards to Cape Coio the farthest Point of Sicily to the South Catanea is thought to be the first that fell under the Weight of this heavy Calamity This City is as ancient as most in Sicily seated in a pleasant and rich Soil inhabited by several of the Gentry thereabouts endowed with an an University and containing about 24000 Souls was sunk out of sight in a moment There happened to be some Fisher-boats at that time in the Bay that lies South of the Town and within a League 's distance who give an Account that they saw the City sink down with the Noise as it were of some thousand Pieces of great Ordnance discharged all at once After it was thus vanished out of their sight the Fishermen say That some minutes after to the Eastward near where the City stood there rose up a little Mountain which lifting it self several times a considerable Height above the ordinary Level of the Ground thereabouts sunk at last likewise out of their sight They declare also that during all this horrid Tragedy they expected every moment to be swallowed up in the Bay by reason of the strange violent Agitations of the Sea And scarce was this heaving up of the imaginary Mountain on the South-side of Catanea over but they felt the Sea calm It is thought there hath not escap'd of the Inhabitants of Catanea above two thousand in all some of those escaping after the first Shake on the 9th others on the Morning of the 11th who took the Warning But they were the better sort of People only that had the opportunity to make so happy an Escape the rest falling under the Universal Ruin In the Place where Catanea stood appears now at a distance a great Lake with some great heaps of Rubbish appearing here and there above Water The same Shake that utterly destroyed Catanea did lay in heaps more than half of Saragosa the Antient Syracusa once the greatest City of Sicily and if we will believe Strabo and others the largest once in the World and may contend with any in Europe for Antiquity The least Computation that can be made of the Loss of the Inhabitants of it is above seven thousand And some hundreds were digged out of the Ruins alive but lame and bruised so that few of them it's thought will recover Most of the Magistrates and People of best Fashion ran into the great Church for shelter where they met with Death by the fall of the Stone Roof and the Steeple both together The City of Noto which once contended for the Preheminence with Syracusa it self
were kindled by it Psal 18.7 8. I will shake the Heavens and the Earth shall remove out of its place in the VVrath of the Lord of Hosts and in the Day of his fierce Anger Isa 13.13 This is brought in after God had said ver 11. I will punish the VVorld for their Evil and the VVicked for their Inquity I will cause the Arrogancy of the Proud to cease and will lay low the Haughtiness of the Terrible Again Tremble thou Earth at the Presence of the Lord at the Presence of the God of Jacob Psal 114.7 VVho can stand before his Indignation or abide the Fierceness of his Anger His Fury burns like Fire and the Rocks are thrown down by him Nahum 1.6 Thou shalt be visited by the Lord of Hosts with Thunder and with Earthquakes Isa 29.6 that is penally and judicially visited There are other Considerations that should make this Judgment of Earthquakes the more affecting As the little Warning they are commonly attended with and the surprizing Effects that follow able to astonish the most valiant Men of War and make the most couragious Spirits sink and fall For so they are represented as trembling on this Account 1 Sam. 14.15 When the Judgment comes unexpectedly as a Thief in the Night When God visits a People by terrible things in Righteousness and such as they looked not for When to use the Prophet's words Isa 5.14 Hell has enlarged it self and opened her Mouth without measure and their Glory and their Multitude and their Pomp and he that rejoiceth descends into it When there is no Time to flee or Method to escape or Possibility to resist when no Sanctuary or Refuge remains no Shelter is to be found in the highest Towers or the lowest Cellars when the Earth opens on a sudden and becomes the Grave of whole Families Streets and Cities and effects this in less time than you are able to tell the story of it either sending out a Flood of Waters to drown or vomiting out Flames of Fire to consume them or closing again upon them that they die by Suffocation or Famine if not by the Ruins of their own Dwelling When Parents and Children Husbands and Wives Masters and Servants Magistrates and Ministers and People without difference or distinction in the midst of Health and Peace and Business are buried in a Common Ruin and pass All together into the Eternal World and there is only the difference of a few Hours or Minutes between a famous City and none at all They that have been in the Neighbourhood of such Tragedies and beheld the dismal Effects of such a Judgment on Others and yet have been preserved cannot but consider it with trembling Our own serious Thoughts may help to affect us in like manner Thus the late Earthquake at Jamaica happened in a clear Day without Warning or Suspicion and in the space of three minutes the Town of Port-Royal was shaken and shattered to pieces and sunk into the Sea and the greatest part of it under Water Now if it be dreadful to have our Country the Seat of VVar as they whose Case that is will tell us and we must presently grant this is yet more dismal that in the midst of Peace brings a worse Ruine than the Extremity of War If a raging Pestilence be dreadful that sweeps away thousands in a Day and ten thousands in a Night as some of you can remember If a consuming Fire be an amazing Judgment which you of this City have experienced an Earthquake is not less but more so when Houses and Inhabitants Towns and Cities and Countries are all destroyed at one Stroke in a few Minutes Dat signum Ruina Death is the only Presage of such a Judgment without giving Leisure to prepare for another World or Opportunity to look for any Shelter in this Who doth not start at the thought of such a Trembling of the Earth The more a Man knows the more is his Astonishment He hangeth the Earth upon nothing Job 26.7 For a Man to feel the Earth which hangeth upon nothing but as some vast Ball in the midst of a thin yielding Air totter under him how can his Soul chuse but be possess'd with a secret Fright and Confusion Methinks I tremble but to think of such a Trembling I design not saith Bishop Hall * Sermon on Psalm 60.2 to astonish you with the Relation of the fearful Effects which Earthquakes have produc'd in all Ages as it were easy to do out of Histories and Philosophical Discourses where you may see Rocks torn in pieces Mountains not cast down only but removed Hills raised not out of Vallies only but out of Seas Fires breaking out of Waters Stones and Cinders belched up Rivers changed Seas dislodg'd Earth opening Towns swallowed up and many other such hideous Events Of which kind our own Memory can furnish us with maany at home altho these colder Climates are more rarely infested with such frightful Accidents In what Condition can a Man be safe saith Seneca * Epist 23. Nat. Quaest lib. 5. c. 1. speaking of Earthquakes when the World it self is shaken and the only thing that passes for fixed and unmovable in the Universe trembles and deceives us Whither shall we fly for Security if wheresoever we are the Danger be still under our Feet Upon the cracking of an House every Man takes himself to his Heels and leaves all to save himself But what Retreat is there where that which should support us fails us when the Foundation not only of Cities but even of the World it self opens and wavers What Help or what Comfort where Fear it self can never carry us off An Enemy may be kept at a distance with a Wall a Castle may put a stop to an Army a Port may protect us from the Fury of a Tempest Fire it self doth not follow him that runs away from it a Vault may defend us against Thunder and we may quit the Place in a Pestilence There is some Remedy in all these Evils Or however no Man ever knew a whole Nation destroyed by Lightning A Plague may unpeople a Town but it will not carry it away There is no Evil of such an Extent so Inevitable so Greedy and so publickly Calamitous as an Earthquake For it does not only devour Houses Families and single Towns but ruines whole Countries and Nations either overturning or swallowing them up without so much as leaving any Footstep or Mark of what they were Some People have a greater Horror for this Death than any other To be taken away Alive out of the number of the Living as if all Mortals by what Means soever were not to come to the same End Death And 't is not a Pin matter whether I am crush'd to pieces by one Stone or by a whole Mountain whether I perish by the fall of an House or under the Burden of the whole Earth whether I be swallowed up alone or with a thousand more for company We
of the first Sign they may yet hearken to the Voice of the second and the dismal Account since that of the Earthquake in Sicily makes a Third if that of Malta may not be reckon'd a Fourth We do not read of any Instance of Earthquakes before in that Island of Jamaica since it was under the English Power nor before while under the Spaniard But we have had several Instances of Earthquakes amongst Vs formerly in England and these Parts of Europe tho more seldom than in the East therefore it is not unreasonable for us to Expect and Fear the like 'T is true those Countries which are very hot or very cold are least subject to Earthquakes and therefore it hath been matter of Wonder in Egypt or in * Herodot 1.4 Scythia to have the Earth tremble Great Britain and Ireland are reckoned among those Parts of Europe least liable to violent Earthquakes and yet our Historians mention several as Anno Dom. 1081. April 6. in the time of †Matthew Paris Speed 's Chron. p. 446. King William the First or the Conqueror was an Earthquake here with a great Noise in the 15th Year of his Reign and followed within a few Years with many Calamities In Henry the First 's Time * Baker 's Chron. p. 43. the Earth moved with so great a Violence that many Buildings were shaken down and Malmesbury saith that the House wherein he sate was lifted up with a double Remove and at the third time settled again in the proper Place And in divers Places it gave forth a hideous Noise and cast forth Flames at certain Rifts many days together which neither by Water nor by other Means could be suppress'd In Lombardy the same Year was an Earthquake that continued for 40 days and remov'd a Town from the Place where it stood a great way off An. 1133. Matthew Paris mentions a great Darkness in England and an Earthquake at the same time An. 1165. He mentions another Earthquake in the 11th Year of Henry the Second January the 26th in Ely Norfolk and Suffolk which threw down many Persons who were standing or walking and made the Clocks to strike and Bells to ring in the Steeples And in the 24th Year of his Reign in the Territory of Derlington in the Bishoprick of * Baker 's Chron. p. 58. Durham the Earth lifted up her self in manner of an high Tower and so remained unmoveable from Morning till Evening and then fell with so horrible a Noise as frighted the Inhabitants thereabouts and the Earth swallowing it up made there a deep Pit which is seen at this day The Pits in that Place are commonly called Hellkettles An. 1180. A great Earthquake threw down many Buildings amongst which the Cathedral Church of Lincoln was rent in pieces April 25th An. 1247. There was an †Matthew Paris Earthquake in April at London especially felt on the Banks of the River Thames which shook and threw down many Buildings and was the more terrible because these Western Parts are less accustom'd to Earthquakes And the same Year there was little Ebbing or Flowing of the Sea observable as at other times for about three Months An. 1248. The same Historian mentions another Earthquake which did a great deal of Mischief especially in the Diocess of Bath the Bishop whereof gave him an Account of it And this was the third which had happen'd within three Years on this side the Alpes one in some Parts of Savoy and two in England which was the more Terrible because the like not known before in these Parts He takes notice of another Earthquake in England afterward in the Year 1250. In the thirteenth Year of Queen Elizabeth a prodigious * Cambden 's Eliz. p. 158 159. Baker 's Chron. p. 399. Earthquake happened in the East Parts of Herefordshire near a little Town called Kinaston On the 17th of February at six a clock in the Evening the Earth began to open and an Hill with a Rock under it making at first a great bellowing Noise which was heard a great way off lifted it self up a great Height and began to travel bearing along with it the Trees that grew upon it the Sheepfolds and Flocks of Sheep abiding there at the same time In the Place from whence it was first moved it left a gaping Distance forty Foot broad and fourscore Ells long the whole Field was about twenty Acres Passing along it overthrew a Chappel standing in the way removed an Yew Tree planted in a Church-yard from the West unto the East with the like Force it thrust before it High-ways Sheepfolds Hedges and Trees made tilled Ground Pasture and again turned Pasture into Tillage Having walk'd in this sort from Saturday in the Evening till Monday Noon it then stood still An. 1588. The like Prodigy hapned in * Cambden 's Eliz. p. 244. Baker 's Chron. p. 400. Dorsetshire as in the Year 1571 in Herefordshire A Field of three Acres with the Trees and Fences in Blackmore moved from its Place and passed over another Field travelling in the High-way that goeth to Herne and there stayed In the 23d of Q. Elizabeth An. 1580. in the beginning of April about six in the Afternoon happened an †Cambden Ibid. p. 286. Earthquake not far from York which in some places struck the very Stones out of the Buildings and made the Bells in Churches to jingle The Night following the Earth trembled once or twice in Kent and again the first of May. This Earthquake was felt at London so as to give Occasion to an Order of Prayer and a Godly Admonition concerning it appointed ‖ Recited by Mr. D. Earthquakes Explain'd and Improv'd 8o. p. 134. to be read for the turning of God's Wrath from the Nation threatned by the Earthquake by Order of the Queen and her Privy-Council to be used in all Churches and Housholds throughout the Realm An. 1657. On the 8th day of July there was an * Heath 's Chronicle p. 395. Earthquake at Bickley in Cheshire Germany and France and the Netherlands have also felt Earthquakes In April 1640 all the Low Countries and a great part of Germany were shaken by a sudden Earthquake Which sort of Prodigy was very unusual saith †Cluverius p. 743. Cluverius in those Parts An. 1117. In the 17th Year of the Emperor ‖ Cluver ad An. 1117. p. 434. Henry the 5th the World was shook by terrible Earthquakes Cities Castles Villages and a multitude of People were swallowed up in the Caverns of the Earth Many at Liege or Luyk were destroyed by Thunder while they were paying their Veneration to the Saints for Safety Mountains were cleft Rivers dried up c. So lately as the Year 1660 France had experience of * Letters writ by a Spy at Paris Vol. 6. p. 58 67. an Earthquake which the Turkish Spy mentions who was then at Paris We have felt the Menaces saith he of a terrible Earthquake this
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
Evening When I liv'd in Asia an Earthquake was almost as common as the yearly Revolution of Summer and Winter and we took as little notice of it as we did of Lightning Hail or Rain But now I have been so long disus'd to these Convulsions of the Globe that I am become like the rest of the World timorous and astonished my Mind at first stagger'd as much as my Body When I was walking cross my Chamber and felt the Floor rock under me with that singular kind of Motion which no humane Art or Force can imitate I soon concluded 't was an Earthquake but knew not how to bear that Thought with Indifference Death is familiar to me in any other Figure but that of being so surprizingly buried alive it appeared to me very horrible to sink on a sudden into an unknown Grave I knew not whither Perhaps I might fall into some dark Lake of Water or it may be I might be drench'd in a River of Fire or be dash'd on a Rock for who can tell the Disposition of the Caverns below or what sort of Apartments he shall find under the Surface of the Earth We walk on the Battlements of a Marvellous Structure a Globe full of Tremendous Secrets We had News here of an Earthquake which had overthrown part of the Pyrenean Mountains some days before this happened at Paris but few regarded it Calamities at a Distance frighten No Body Yet those which we feel put us all in Fears In another Letter he saith The Earthquake lately in these Parts hath put all France into a great Consternation astonished every Body and encreased the Thoughtfulness of the Wise The first Effects of it were felt by the Inhabitants of the Pyrenees which are certain Mountains dividing France and Spain There it did great Mischief overwhelming sâ—me Medicinal Baths many Houses and destroying Hundreds of People Only one Mosque or Church which sunk into the Caverns below was thrown up again and stands very firm but in another Place This is look'd upon as a great Miracle especially by the French who have disputed with the Spaniard for this Church as standing on the Frontier Line but now is remov'd near half a League within the acknowledg'd Limits of France The Matter of Fact is all I urge this Testimony for his Remarks here and in many other places not being such as a Serious Christian will approve If France and Britain and Germany have had few Earthquakes in comparison of other Places of the East yet Italy hath often smarted under such Calamities Among many Instances I 'le recite some besides those already mentioned An. Dom. 801. While Charles the Great was in Italy there was an Earthquake * Le Sieur Hist del Eglise c. Vol. 7. p. 2 3. 4o. with great Noises on the last of April which shook all France and Germany but especially Italy it overthrew several Towers and even Mountains and the Church of St. Paul at Rome was destroyed by it Whereupon Pope Leo the Third appointed three Days before the Ascension solemn Fasts and Processions These Prodigies were followed with furious Tempests and contagious Diseases which affected the Cattel throughout Italy so that the most of their Beasts died An. 1180. An Earthquake ruined a great part of the City of Naples An. 1222. There were such ‖ Cent. Magdeburg Vol. 3. Cent. 13. cap. 13. Earthquakes in Italy and Lombardy that the Cities and Towns were forsaken and the People kept abroad in the Fields in Tents many Houses and Churches were thrown down and many were thereby crush'd to Death The Earth trembled twice a day in Lombardy for fourteen days together Besides two Cities in Cyprus destroyed by Earthquakes this Year The City of * B. Corio Hist Milanese p. 164. Brescia was then almost ruin'd An. 1276. In July the same Month when Adrian the 4th was made Pope and within a few days after was †Corio Ib. p. 268. Il che si prese per indicio de' grandissimi fatti a dreadful Earthquake at Milan and all the Country round about Which Pope died the next August and in September Another succeeded by the Name of John the 21st An. 1348. This Year was so famous for forty eight Earthquakes and for Contagious Diseases in Italy and other parts of Europe that * Cluver ad An. 1348. p. 516. Albertus Argentinensis saith from the time of the Flood was not such a Season of Mortality Haud inde a Diluvio regnasse tantam vim morborum mortium putet An. 1397. On St. Stephen's Day all Lombardy †B. Corio Hist Milanese p. 542. was shaken by an unusual Earthquake which destroyed very many Buildings c. An. 1456. There arose upon the Sea of Ancona together with a thick gloomy Cloud that extended above two Miles a Tempest of Wind Water Fire Lightning and Thunder which piercing to the most deep Abysses of the Sea forc'd up the Waves with a most dreadful Fury and carried all before it upon the Land which caused so dreadful an Earthquake some time after that the Kingdom of Naples was ruined and all ‖ Monthly Mercury March 1693. p. 90. Italy carried the dismal Marks of it A Million of Houses and Castles were buried in their own Ruine above thirty thousand People were crush'd to pieces and a huge Mountain overturn'd into the Lake de la Garde An. 1473. There was such an Earthquake at * Corio Hist Milanese p. 820. Milan and the Country round about as the like was not known in the Memory of any then Living there An. 1590. The Election of Pope Vrban the Seventh who in 10 Months made room for Gregory the 14th was signalized by an †Cluverius ad An. 1590. p. 625. Earthquake by which Austria Moravia and Bohemia trembled accompanied with a prodigious Drought that Summer Upon which ensued a Famine and Pestilence with such Havock in Italy that in one Year there died at Rome sixty thousand Persons An. 1629. The Divine Anger broke out upon Italy by such horrible * Cluverius p. 680. Earthquakes that in Apulia seventeen thousand Persons were destroyed An. 1638. Athanasius Kircher the Jesuit in his Preface to his Mundus Subterrancus gives a sad Narrative of a dismal †Cited by Mr. Bay p. 185. Earthquake in Calabria wherein himself was and out of which he hardly escap'd with his Life Nothing to be seen in the whole Country he passed by for two hundred Miles in length but the Carcasses of Cities and the horrible Ruines of Villages the Inhabitants wandring about in the open Fields being half dead with Fear and Expectation of what might follow But most remarkable was the Subversion of the noted Town of St. Eufemia which was quite lost out of their sight and absorp'd and instead thereof nothing left but a stinking Lake c. Italy and Sicily abound with subterraneous Fires especially in the Southern Parts which have broke out so often as to be called
Constantinople that lasted for many days and every Hour the City suffered extraordinary Shocks Many Houses were thrown down but the People betook themselves to Prayer and Fasting and Repentance and God had Compassion on them But many other Cities in the East were ruin'd by it And even Alexandria in Egypt shaken which was the more strange and astonishing to them because it seldom happens in those Parts An. 986. there was another at Constantinople which was so violent that not only the Walls and Churches were shaken by it but all * Cedrenus Greece In the 12th Century there were many in the †Cent. Magdeb. cent 12. cap. 13. de Miraculis East And in the Year 1300 which began the Turkish Empire or the Ottoman Aera ‖ Life of Pope Boniface the 8th Platina relates such an Earthquake at Rome as the like was never before And An. 1348. such a one at (*) Aventinus Constantinople as endured for forty Days and reach'd in the Extent of it to Hungary and Italy twenty six Cities overthrown by it Mountains torn up by the Roots several Men Women and Beasts by that strange Exhalation turn'd into Statues of Salt In Persia An. 1400. (†) Herbert ' s Travels p. 120. Herbert gives an account of an Earthquake which threw down 500 Houses in the City of Lair And An. 1593. the whole City which they boasted to consist of 5000 Houses was shaken and 3000 Houses overthrown and as many of the Inhabitants killed In the Azores or French Islands in the West Indies St. Michael's Island Linschot mentions an Earthquake An. 1591. that * Herbert 's Travels p. 398. endured shaking from July 26 unto the 12th of August to the extreme Terror of the Inhabitants Especially when by force thereof they perceived the Earth to remove from place to place and Villa Franca the best Town it had to turn topsy-turvy the Ships that then rode at Anchor in the Bay trembled and quaked insomuch that the People verily thought Doomsday was at hand and that the Fabrick of the Universe was disjointing In Tercera the first and biggest of those Islands called the Azores there happened a great †Mandelflo 's Travels into the Indies added to Olearius p. 221. Earthquake May 24. 1614. that overturn'd in the City of Agra eleven Churches nine Chappels besides many private Houses And in the City of Praya hardly an House was left standing And in the Year 1628 June 16. there happened so horrible an one in the Island of St. Michael that not far from it the Sea opened and thrust forth an Island above a League and half in length at a place where was above 150 Fathom Water An. 1581. Joseph Acosta relates that in Peru there happened an Earthquake which removed the City of Anguangum two Leagues from the place where it stood without demolishing it in regard the Situation of the whole Country was chang'd An. 1657. The Spaniards saith the * Vol. 5. l. 3. Lett. 9. p. 204. Turkish Spy have lately felt a Terrible Blow in Peru which if it be not a Mark of the Wrath of Heaven is at least a sign that the Earth is weary of them especially in those parts where they have stained it with so much Innocent Blood The City Lima not many Moons ago was swallowed up by an Earthquake and Calao another City not far from it was consum'd by a Shower of Fire out of the Clouds Eleven thousand Spaniards lost their Lives in this Calamity and the Earth devoured an hundred Millions of Refined Silver which the Lucre of the Spaniards had forc'd out of its Bowels All the Mountains of Potosi from whence they dug their choicest Metal were levell'd with the Plain and no more hopes of Gold was left to their insatiable Avarice Concerning this City Lima in the Kingdom of Peru we had a sad Account of another Earthquake there Octob. 20. 1687. if it be not the same and the Date mistaken which overthrew the whole Town not leaving one House standing and buried many of the Inhabitants under its Ruines At the same time Callao Fanette Pisco Chancay los Florillos c. most of them Sea-port-Towns were destroyed by an Inundation of the Sea which carried several Ships above three Leagues into the Country and great numbers of People and Cattle were drown'd there being found when the Water fell at one place near the Sea-side above 5000 People dead and every day more were found so that no Account could be given of their Number This was mentioned in the * An. 1688. Num. 2349. London Gazette and confirmed by many Merchants Letters Tho the Damage by the Inundation was lessen'd by another Account afterwards CHAP. IX God will yet preserve his Church and enlarge the Kingdom of Christ tho Particular Churches and Countries may be destroyed The Accomplishment of Scripture-Prophecies and Promises usher'd in by great Commotions and by Earthquakes Some Instances thereof LAstly However God may deal with any particular Branch of the Protestant Reformed Churches as to National Judgments yet we may hope he will gloriously Accomplish his own Work for the spreading and inlarging of the Kingdom of Christ and that all the Shakings of Heaven and Earth shall but make way for the Desire of all Nations to come God has preserved his Church hitherto notwithstanding all Opposition The Preservation of the Venetian Government for eleven or twelve hundred Years is nothing to the Continuance and Progress of the Christian Church in the midst of Paganism Atheism Antichristianism Deism Arianism Socinianism and all the Scoffs and Reproaches and Opposition of sensual profane Infidels It hath born up its Head under all the Revolutions and Changes of Countries and Nations notwithstanding all the Wars and Confusions and Overturnings that have been in the World The Kingdom of Christ is an Everlasting Kingdom and shall endure he will always have a Church and People against whom the Gates of Hell shall not prevail Tho famous Countries and Cities have been destroyed that made a great Figure in History whereof nothing is now left but their very Name and hardly so much of their Dust and Ashes as will suffice to write their Names in But Jerusalem that is from above the City of the Great King which is built upon the Rock doth and shall indure No Length of Time can weaken this Foundation no Storms can shake it no Earthquakes overturn it no Waves or Floods drown it There ever hath been and will be a Church of Christ on Earth professing so much Truth as is necessary to Salvation He hath appointed his Ordinances and a Ministry to continue to the End of the World and promised his Presence with them He hath appointed the Memorial of his Dying Love to be kept up till his second Coming And therefore will always have a People amongst whom these shall be kept up Tho particular Churches in this Country or another may have their Rise Growth and Period as there