THE Glorious GOD has Roared out of Zion. We have the last Night heard the terrible Roaring; with general and uncommon Terror, heard the awful Repetition of it. Who is here of you, among them who felt the Earth trembling under them, that said not upon it, When I heard, my Lips quivered at the Voice, and I trembled in my self, that I might find Rest in the Day of Trouble! Who is there that said not, Lord, my Flesh trem­bles for fear of Thee, and I am afraid of thy Judg­ments! The Lion hath roared; Who will not fear? We are worse than Beasts, if we tremble not.

Never did the City of BOSTON, in the Ninety seven Years that have rolled over it, see [Page 7]such a Night, as what we saw a few Hours ago. A MIDNIGHT CRY was heard; The Con­sternation whereof is not this Morning over with us; An Auguish like that on a Travailing Woman, siezed upon Men as well as Women. What Fear, from the Apprehension of going to the Pil, by a stroke like a suare upon us!

We have had the repeted, more than three times repeted Shocks, of a Formidable EARTH­QUAKE. And GOD knows, whether there are any more to come, or what Execution they may do, when they come.

When the never-to-be-forgotten Sicilian EARTHQUAKE in our Days, had given some Shocks which only terrified the People, after an Intermission of Two Days, there came on those, which horribly destroy'd them; A Bosom of De­struction that swept away near one hundred and fifty Thousand of them.

The Ancient Cry of the Prophets, is now most certainly the Cry of our Earthquakes; Hos. X. 12. It is Time to seek the Lord. The poor Popish Idolaters, in their Earthquakes, make their Proces­sions & their Addresses to, Lying Vanities, & silly gods that cannot save them; They cry, but there is none to save them! We will walk in the Name of JEHOVA-JESUS, who is our only GOD, as those unhappy Creatures walk in the Name of Theirs. Their Rock is not as our Rock; We have a SAVIOUR, in whom we find a sufficient Re­fuge, for us, and a very present Help in Trouble, [Page 8]when the Earth is moved under us, and the Moun­tains are shaking about us. We will invert the Order of the Eighteenth Psalm; The Psalmist said, In my Distress I called on the Lord, and cried unto my GOD, Then the Earth shook and trembled. We will say, Since the Earth shakes and trembles; Now in our Distress we will call on the Lord, and cry unto our GOD. It is with pleasure that I read in Eusebius, a Letter of Antoninus, who was a stran­ger to the True GOD, but yet complains, That the Pagan urged him to persecute the Christians; ‘Whereas (he says) I understand, that they are a good People, and whenever there happens an Earthquake, their Course is to go and pray unto their GOD, that His Wrath may be turned away from us; And in this they show more of Religion than the People that urge me to destroy them!’ We are this Day doing what the Primitive Christians did, and what all Genuine Christians will.

We have Two Occasions, to repair unto our gracious GOD; we have Two Petitions to carry unto Him. The one is, That we may have the Grace to know, and to do, the Duties, which the Earthquake does in its hideous Rumbles most sen­sible call us to. The other is; That there may be no such Returns of the Earthquake as to lay us in Desolations, and make our Plagues wonderful. But, the success of our Supplications, will very much turn upon our Attention to the Voice of our glorious GOD in the Earthquake which is [Page 9]now affrighting of us. Don't we remember those Divine Retaliations; As He cried, and they would not hear, so they cried and I would not hear, saith the Lord of Hosts. And again, Because I called, and ye refused, I will laugh at your Calamity, and I will mock when your Fear cometh; when your Fear cometh as Desolatioa, and your Destruction corn­eth as a Whirlwind; when Distress and Anguish cometh upon you? Yea, I may say unto you, The Dispositions of PIETY, will be so many Supplica­tions; and indeed, the best sort of Supplications, the most proper and the most potent Supplicati­ons; There are pure Hands lifted up in our Suppli­cations when we Do what our GOD has oblig'd us to.

Wherefore, as a Praeliminary, and as a Foun­dation to the Discourse, wherewith I propose to treat you, the TEXT which I now pitch upon is That;

CErtainly, you will not expect, that I should spend any time in proving, That there is a VOICE of the glorious GOD, in all that He does, in the World. All the Works of Creation, and all the Works of Providence, there is a Voice of the glorious GOD in them. He speaks in all [Page 10]that He does. And there is no place, where their Voice may not be beard. O Deaf we, if we hear it not! — That Voice, — O Love, O Ad­mire, O Adore, the glorious One, who does all these things. O Fear this GOD, and give Glory unto Him!

'Tis very sure; In the Works wherein the glorious GOD goes out of the Ordinary Road, or, His Extraordinary Dispensations; In these, His Voice becomes very Notable; and most inexcu­sable are they who Regard not the Works of the Lord, nor the Operation of His Hands: He shall de­stroy them, and not build them up.

EARTHQUAKES are such Works. We read, Psal. XXIX. 8. The Voice of the Lord shakes the Wilderness. There is the Voice of the Lord, in it, when He shakes our Territories. — There may be some Earthquakes more Supernatural than others: We reckon that of Mount Sinai One; And so we reckon that at the Resurrection of our Blessed JE­SUS; and yet more conspicuously that of His Crucifixion. The split Rocks at this Day observed by Travellers who are Protestants, and somewhat Nice in their Credulity, are thought by some no Injudicious Men, to be the lasting Monu­ments and Memorials of it. But usually, our Earthquakes have Natural Causes assigned for them. What they are, 'tis now and here, nei­ther a Time nor Place for Philosophical Disqui­sitions. Whether Colluctations of Minerals pro­ducing Vapours that must have an Explosion, [Page 11]may cause those direful Convulsions in the Bow­els of the Earth, which are selt in our Earth­quakes? — Or, whether the huge quantities of Waters, running in the Bowels of the Earth, may not by Degrees wash away the Bottom of the upper Strate here and there, so as to cause their falling in? —Or, whether the Subterraneous Fires, getting head, may not by their Sulphureous and Bituminous Exhalations in the Bowels of the Earth, cause a Combustion that may carry all before it? — Or, whether — But it must be something more Theological, that you are now to be treated with. Let the Natural Causes of Earth­quakes be what the Wise Men of Euquiry please, They and their Causes are still under the Govern­ment of HIM that is the GOD of Nature. Shall we say, All this is but a Chance that happens to us, or the meer unguided Motion of Matter? Ah, profane Philistine! — 'Tis a Language for none but a Philistine. A Christian cannot speak so; No, He is one that will be sensible of GOD in these things. Verily, In them, Lo, GOD sends forth His Voice, and that a mighty Voice unto us.

You will yet less expect, that I should be at any pains, for proving, That this VOICE of the glorious GOD, is to be hearken'd to. When the great GOD who formed all things, will please to utter His Voice, What? Shall it not by all that have the Faculties of Reason in them rendring them capable of hearkening to it, be hearken'd to? O most unreasonable! GOD our Maker [Page 12]says, Unto you, O Men, I call, and my Voice is unto the Sons of Men. We are Bruits rather than Men, and Colts of the wild Ass, yea, Children of the wick­ed One, rather than the Sons of Men, if we do not hearken to the Voice of his Eternal Wisdom. He will not own us, for the People of His Pasture, and the Sheep of His Hand, if we do not even To Day bear His Voice. An hardy Pharaoh may say, Exod. V. 2. Who is the Lord, that I should Obey His Voice! Words to come from the Mouth of none but a Pharaob, and a Devil! But, Ah, Pharaoh, ah! Monster, The Almighty GOD, whom thou so insultest, and whose Voice thou so defiest, what will the affronted JEHOVAH do unto thee! What will He do unto thee!

Indeed there is this Argument for hearkening to the Voice of our GOD, that if we do it not, we provoke Him to Render His Rebukes in Flames of Fire unto us; We provoke Him, to inflict great Plagues and of long continuance upon us. If we do not hearken to His Voice, especially in His Casti­gatory Dealings with us, — He says, If ye will not hearken unto me, I will punish you yet seven times more for your Sins.

And therefore, Be now at length effectually Alarmed, O Inhabitants of BOSTON, yea, and of the whole Countrey whereof this is the Me­tropolis. What a Trial, Yea, what a Gradu­ally descending Trial, is our glorious GOD making of us, whether we will hearken to His Voice or no? A few Months ago, how fearfully did [Page 13]we see the Heavens blazing over us, with Corus­cations that fill'd People with a fearful Expecta­tion of the fiery Indignation which is anon to devour the Adversaries of GOD! And how frequently did loud Thunder-Claps rouse us out of our Le­thargies! How frequently did hot Thunderbolts fall where many Objects felt the Force of an Arm which, What can stand before? But, alas, Did we bear Attentively, and Obediently, the Noise of Hu Voice, or, Mind as we should have done, the Sound that went out of His Mouth? Af­ter this, The Stormy Wind which fulfils His Word, came rushing down upon us. We saw an Horri­ble Tempest. A Storm came, which tore up the Trees of our Fields by the roots; tore down parts of our Houses; Yea, Wounded and Kil­led some of our People. The great and strong Wind which rent the Mountains, had a Voice in it. Indeed, it was not a still small Voice; but was it therefore the less to be hearken'd to? And now, After the Wind an Earthquake!—Oh! Let it not be said, The Lord was not in the Earth­quake. Our GOD says, Now surely, they will fear me, and they will receive Instruction;—that I may not proceed unto a more dreadful Extremity, and cut off their Dwellings, and them with and in their Dwellings!

What I am now therefore to proceed unto, is the Consideration of that CASE.

[Page 14] What may be the VOICE of the glorious GOD unto us, in the EARTHQUAKE, wherein we have bad the Earth just now trembling under us?

O People Trembling before the Lord; Hear now my SPEECH, and hearken to all my Words. For indeed, I may declare unto you, The open­ing of my Lips will be of Right Things; and you will not understand Wisdom, nor be of an understan­ding Heart, if you do not hearken to them.

I. The VOICE of the glorious GOD crying to the City in His Earthquake is This; O Glorify the Perfections of the glorious GOD, which are display'd in the Earthquake; And very particulary, the Power and Mercy which He displays when He causes the Earth, and the Inhabitants thereof, to tremble before Him.

Syrs, Don't you clearly see the Eternal Power and Godhead of Him, who can shake the Earth, yea, shake it all to pieces at His Pleasure? Oh! see it, and shake before it! As when He sets fast the Mountains, He shows that He is Girded with Power; So, when He shakes the Mountains He shows that He has a Girdle of matchless Power. This whole Globe, tho' the Ambit of it be more than Twenty four Thousand and Nine Hundred Miles, and in the solid Content must be more than Two Hundred and Sixty one Thousands of Millions, yet it is no more than the light Dust of [Page 15]the Balance, in the Hand of the glorious GOD; who made it, and can Tear it and Rend it as He pleases. In our Earthquake, the great GOD, says to us, yea, to the greatest of Men, with an infinitely greater Claim, than a Roman Gover­nour could speak so, to any Man, Knowest thou not that I have power over thee, to put thee to Death, or save thee alive? We cannot but own His Ab­solute and Sovereign Dominion over us, and our Lives, and if He go to extinguish our Lives by an Earthquake, we must own, We are in the House of the Potter, and Lord, Thou mayst break us and lodge us where thou pleasest. But at the same time, the Earthquake proclaims the Irresistible POWER, where with He can Crush a World, (as He made it) with a Word. If He touch the Earth, it shivers and crumbles before Him. The Finger of GOD, it can rip open the Earth, and cause Castles, and Cities, and the largest of Territories to sink into it in a Moment. Lords who knows the power of thine Anger!—O all you that go on still in your Trespasses and persist impenitently in Rebellion against the glorious GOD; What are you but Fighters against GOD? What mean you, O Fool-hardy Wretches? Dare you provoke Him who is Lord GOD Ominipotent? Are you stronger than He? O Tremble to continue under the Wrath of the Almighty. The Trembling Earth calls upon you; O Fear Him, that is able to destroy! Fear Him, on whose order for it, Earth, open thy Mouth! you you presently go down into the Pit; you are swal­lowed up in a Moment!

[Page 16] But then, O the Mercy of our GOD! In the midst of the Lamentations and Ejulations caused by the Earthquake, yet we are to make that Con­fession, and, Oh! make it with wonderment; Lord, It is of thy Mercy that we are not consumed! If we had our Desert, what would an Earthquake presently do unto us! Our Hearts are so Earth­ly, that we deserve to be buried in the Earth. We Bury our selves in it, while we neglect our Souls thro' the pursuits and hurries of it. A jealous GOD may justly say of us; Let the Earth swal­low them up; It has already swallow'd them up. They have changed their Center; The Earth is become their Center. Let them go down unto their Center! We have such a share in the Sins of them who dwell on the Earth, which have made the Earth ob­noxious unto Earthquakes, that we cannot com­plain of being unjustly dealt withal, if we have our share in their Woes. By the Earthquakes with which the Earth has been visited by the Lord of Hosts, multitudes have perished wonderfully. That we have not, this lays Obligations upon us, for continual Acclamations, Oh! The patience of a GOD slow to Anger and plenteous in Mercy! Oh! the Riches of His Goodness and Forbearance, and long-suffering! I pray, what are we better than any of them? Josephus writes of a dismal Earthquake, wherein Judaea was horribly shaken, and near Ten Thousand People were slain by the fall of Houses upon them. 'Tis likely that in that Earthquake, a Towre built over the Portico's at the [Page 17]Poll of Bethesda fell, and slew Eighteen that were there waiting for a Cure. Now, have you for­gotten what our SAVIOUR said about those Eighteen upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell? This, This is what He now says unto us. Think ye, that all they who have perished in Earthquakes were Sin­vers above all the Men that are yet walking on the Earth? I tell you, No; You are all of you so very sinful, that you deserve to perish, as much as many of those.

Oh! Let us be deeply affected, with the spar­ing Mercy of our GOD unto us. Behold the Com­passion and Severity of GOD! Severity to them who have perished in Earthquakes; But Compassion towards thee, who hast not so perished. — Lord, why am I spared, and yet standing on the Earth before thee! Why, why does thy Earth yet bear such a Sin­ner against thee upon it!

II. The VOICE of the glorious GOD crying to the City in His Earthquake, is, This; Let the Crimes that Cry to the Holy GOD for all the Vengeance of an Earthquake upon you, be gene­rally and thoroughly Reformed among you.

The Cry is, REFORMATION, O Degene­rating Plants, REFORMATION; or more Evil to come upon you!

'Tis no fond Superstition to think, An Earth­quake usually carries in it, some Intimation of the Divine Displeasure; 'Tis a Token which we who dwell in the Wilderness may be afraid of. If God [Page 18] overturn the Mountains as He does in Earthquakes, 'tis in His Anger that He does it. If the Earth Tremble, as it does in Earthquakes, 'tis at His Wrath, that it does so. When the Mountains quake, as they do in Earthquakes, 'tis from His Indignation. It was declared concerning some Tents of Wicked Men; Num. XV. 30. If the Earth open its Mouth, and swellow them up, and they go down alive into the Pit, you shall understand that these Men have provoked the Lord. Yea, If no Body be kill'd in the Earth­quake, yet the Divine Displeasure against Sin, is to be apprehended in it. By such an Earthquake did the Father of our Blessed Jesus testify something of His Resentment, upon the Wickedness of the Jews, when, All their Wickedness was in Golgotha: The most nefandous Wickedness that was ever perpetrated! Rarely an Earthquake sent any where, till a People have sinned grievously. If we search for the Moral Causes of an Eartiquake, a Prophet of GOD has declared them; Isa. XXIV. 5. The Earth is defiled under the Inhabitants thereof.

And shall I now Cry aloud, and spare not, but lift up my Voice like a Trumpet, and show unto you, O our People, that you have sinned grievously? 'Tis true, Our People are not for the most part so Abandoned unto Immoralities, as they are in many Ungospellized, or Apostatized and Anti­christian Regions. But our Faults are aggrava­ted into Crimes, because we sin under, and against the glorious Gospel of the Blessed GOD. We Rebel against the light in what we do amiss; and a light [Page 19]which teaches us, & quickens us, & gives us ma­ny Advantages, to be the best People in the World. If we are not the Best People on the Face of the Earth, it must not be wondered at, if the Earth do Groan, in the Murmurs of Earthquakes under us. It has been thought by some, that Earth­quakes are not mentioned among the Plagues in the Twenty Eighth Chapter of Deuteronomy, be­cause of a Transcendency in this beyond all o­ther Plagues, [It is impossible to contrive any Defence against it; but it says, Tho' they hide in the top of Carmel, I will find them there!] which renders it a more proper Vengeance for Sins un­der the Evangelical Dispensation. Our Sins are such. But Oh! What a Black List is there to be formed of them!

[I see none Asleep at this Time. 'Tis a Con­gregation of Hearers, that I am this Time speak­ing to. This very circumstance awakens a Thought in me; That sleeping in the Assemblies of Zion, when it is Indulged, and not a meer Invo­luntary surprisal upon Insirmity, 'tis utterly a Fault, & offfers an Affront unto Heaven: But it is a very Epidemical Miscorriage in the Countrey. Now, Syrs, You have an Earthquake to give you a push like that of the Goads given of old, by the Masters of the Assemblies, for the Awaking of the Drowsy Sleepers there. An Earthquake is crying in your Ears, What meanest thou, O Sleeper in the House of GOD? Oh! No more sleeping in this dreadful place! It may soon be made so.] I can go on, and be heard.

[Page 20] How do the Sins of Intemperance grow upon us! 'Tis the Description of an Earthquake, The Earth reels to and fro like a Drunken Man. How does it call for an Earthquake, when the Earth can show so many ugly pictures of such a Thing, in Drunken Men reeling to and fro upon it!

How do the Sins of Unchastity under the Curse of Heaven Increase and Multiply among us? The Cities which GOD overthrew in His Anger, and sunk for the compass of Eighteen Miles in Breadth and Eighty Miles in Length, and are covered with a Lake that is called, The Dead Sea: Was there not an Earthquake that help'd in the over­throwing of them? If an Earthquake do unspeak­able things upon us, let the Impurities of Sodom stand indicted for it.

How do the Sins of Dishonesty bring an abomi­nable scandal on our Profession; and the perni­cious ways thereof, make the way of Truth to be evil spoken of? The Habitations, that are not Habitations of Righteouswess, but built, or fill'd, or sed, by Dishonest Gain, 'tis not wrong, if the Earth don't bear them to stand upon it. GOD sends an Earthquake to demolish the Nests that have been Feathered with so much Iniquity.

To these Miscarriages may we not annume­rate the Lust of Excesses and Vanities in Appar­el; the Costly Pride whereof is a Temptation to take Indirect ways, for the supporting of it? The Earthquake says to us, Put off some of your Orna­ments!

[Page 21] And shall the Cry of Defrauded Labourers, be stifled? I am sure, the Pulpit may speak of them; the Earthquake does it.

How are we in regard of Sabbatizing? The Right and High Strain of it, how is it sadly de­cay'd with us? An Offended GOD by an Earth­quake has not suffered us to take the Rest, into which we were composing our selves; has fetch'd us out of our Beds, and made us unca­pable of enjoying our usual Rest. Most Equally punished! We have wretchedly Violated the Rest of GOD, by our Profanantions of the Holy Sabbath, with which He has favoured us.

The Evenlng that follows the Lord's Day!— I do not plead for holding it properly a part of the Holy Time that belongs to the Christian Sab­bath. Not only the Scripture, but also the Practice of the whole Church in all Ages and in all Pla­ces, have ever made the Evening that precedes the Lord's-Day, to be a part of it; until a cer­tain Writer in Switzerland a little while ago, started that Opinion for another Beginning of the Sabbath, which now so many run into. But yet, I hope, I may plead, That this Evening may not be prostituted unto such Vile Purposes, as to spoil and lose all the Good of the Day; And that there may no more be such a Quick Transi­tion as there often is, from the Exercises of God­liness, to all Ungodly Vanities and Lewdnesses. It is complained, That there is more Sin com­mitted on that Evening among us, than in any [Page 22] Evening of all the Week beside. Young People, Where were you, and what was it that you did last Night? And in what Airs did the Earth­quake find you? Verily, Syrs; The Glorious GOD has taken the most Suitable Evening that could have been taken, to send an Earthquake upon us. A Time, how Indigitating! What He speaks to us, what He points to us, is plainly This. Let the Evening that ensues upon my Day, be better spent than it use to be. Spend it more in Employments, that may be agreeable and serviceable unto the Inten­tions of my Day that is then Expiring with you. Oh! That House-keepers would restrain those that are within their Gates, from going out of them, and assign them those Things to do, which may be most useful to them. [The Societies of Young Men meeting to Worship GOD and Edify one ano­ther, on this Evening, how much ought they to be Encouraged!]

Family-Religion; In what Condition is it? We are told, they are most Ominously abating of it, among those whom we esteem our United Brethren beyond-Sea. But is not there amongst us also, some Abatement of it? There were Twelve Sermons on Family-Religion lately preached unto the City, in so many Lectures of your United Pastors. They were not regarded as they should have been; And GOD now makes an Earthquake succeed them, which preaches them over again, in a manner to be trembled at. It is upon Record, That there was a Town [Page 23]in Switzerland, all destroy'd by an Earthquake: Only One House escaped, in which the Good Man was at his daily Family-Sacrifice. If the Earthquake last Night, had caused every House to fall, that has not a daily Family-Sacrifice to GOD in it, what a rueful Spectacle had we seen this Morning! O Prayerless Housholders, How Obdurate, How Obstinate are you, How Inex­pressibly and Prodigiously given up to a Repro­bate Mind, if upon this Earthquake, which you have outlived, [But are not sure, that you shall Another!] you do not call your Domesticks toge­ther, and let them know, You are exceedingly troubled, that your Family has been so long ex­posed unto the Great Wrath of GOD, by being a Family that has not called on His Name, and that from THIS TIME, such Atheism shall no lon­ger be persisted in; from THIS TIME you will have them join with you, in seeking of GOD that you may Live. And BEGIN without any further Delay: Fall down on your Knees be­fore the LORD, with the Expressions of a Soul Returning to Him; and then Rise up Resolv­ing, As for me and my House, we will serve the Lord.

[I might go on, and ask; Are we not sound faulty in having our Hearts divided as they are, in our foolish Factions? And may not the Glo­rious GOD cause the Earth to split with Chasms and Gasps and frightful Divisions; to animadvert upon our sinful Divisions?

[Page 24] Oh! Let us not be Impenitent, and worse than the Rocks which have been moved by this Earth­quake, — Impenitent under such Reproofs of GOD, as have been given us. What? Shall another Earthquake be invoked? — Or, must some­thing like a Pestilence follow upon it?]

Syrs, Let every one of us, [For I call upon you in the Style of the two Micahs; Hear this, O all ye People, every one of you!] — I say, Let every one of us, be awakened, — Won't a Rugient Earthquake awaken us? — To search and try our ways, and turn unto the Lord. Find out, what Errors in our Lives, our Conscience may Condemn us for. When an Earthquake is at work, it will be strange indeed if our Conscience be not also at work. The Work of the Law writ­ten in our Hearts will be now exerted. And, O Man, What thy Conscience may now convict thee of, as a Thing to be Reformed in thy life; Be­wail it, Abhor it, Repair to thy SAVIOUR, that it may be pardoned, and that He may grant thee, the Aids of His Grace for the avoiding of it. Oh! That we may now all speak aright, in the Ear of the glorious GOD, who hearkens to hear, how His Earthquake operates upon us; and that these Two Words may from every Quarter, be our Echo to the Earthquake! The one, What have I done? The other, I will not offend any more!

But more especially, Hear the Word of the Lord, Ye Rulers of BOSTON. — Has there not been [Page 25]of late, a blameable Intermission of the Lauda­ble and Excellent Zeal, with which the Sword in your Hands, is to be and sometimes has been, a Terror to Evil-doers? The great GOD by His Earthquake to Night has been shaking and jogging and pulling of you, to make you shake off the slum­ber, that may be upon you. Syrs, will you be prevailed withal, to meet and consult and con­trive, what you may do, for the Suppression of Dis­orders; for the Correction of all Punishable Wick­edness; and particularly, for the stopping of that Language of Fiends, heard so often in our Streets, from the Tongues that are set on Fire of Hell; and for the discountenancing of Idleness; and for the breaking up of the Execrable Seminaries for Wick­edness, which there are in some Wicked Houses! — You may be the Phineas's, that shall turn away the wrath of GOD from the Congregation, and save it from a desolating Earthquake, by the Zeal of GOD boiling in you, which is now more loud­ly than ever called for.

III. The VOICE of the glorious GOD, crying to the City in His Earthquake, is This; IMME­DIATELY get into such a STATE of SAFE­TY, that no Earthquake may cause an Heartquake in you; but that you may be Ready for all the Events and Changes, which may be intended for you, and impending over you. IMMEDIATE­LY, I say. Stay not for Another shock. — The Rumbles of the Earthquake, — Oh! How do [Page 26]they ring that peal in our Ears; Match. XXIV. 44. Be ye Ready! Can any of you tell, when there may be Another shock. And, what horren­dous Effects it may have? — I say again, What you do, must be done IMMEDIATELY. You must not put off a Moment, what you have to do, that you may be brought into, A state of Safety for Eternity.

Our LORD mentioning the Signs of His coming to Burn THIS World, and Create New Heavens and a New Earth wherein shall dwell Righ­teousness, He says, Luk. XXI. 11. There shall be great Earthquakes in diverse places.

Our SAVIOUR having foretold, That His Coming will be with all possible Surprize upon the World; like that of a Thief in the Night, wholly unlook'd for; no more look'd for than the Fate of the old World, and of Sodom, in the Day that it overtook them; and, The Day shall come as a Snare, on all them who dwell on the Face of the Earth: How is this consistent, with such Signal, such Observable, such Astonishing, Forerunners of His Coming? — It seems to me, the Signs which He foretells, were to be Things which were not so much Immediately to precede His Coming, and Rowse a sleeping World, as to Prefigure, and there­with to Demonstrate unto Mankind, How Things will be at His coming. And it is intimated, as if they would be given Immediately after the Tribu­lation of those Days, which dispersed the Jewish Nation. I suppose, the Stupendous Earthquakes, [Page 27]which in Those Days more than ever shook the World, in Diverse Places, and especially that un­parallel'd one at Antioch, the second City of the World, when People were come together to wait upon the Emperour, and celebrate their Sports, from all parts of the World, might suf­ficiently fulfil what our SAVIOUR foretold, of Great Earthquakes in diverse places. I verily Beleeve, That all the Signs, which our LORD promis'd of His coming, have been given; and are passed, and over; and the Heedless Children of Men, under the Intervening Reign of Anti­christ, have taken little Notice of them. For my part, I can ask for no more! Nevertheless, in eve­ry Earthquake, there is a Renewing and an En­forcing of the promised Signs: GOD puts us in mind, of what He is going to do, upon a World, that has His Curse lying upon it: And it be­comes us to look upon every Earthquake, as a Praemonition of the Day, wherein, as we are certified; Isa. XXIV. 18, 19. The Foundations of the Earth shall shake; The Earth shall be utterly bro­ken down; the Earth shall be clean dissolved; the Earth shall be moved exceedingly. We are certifi­ed; Rev. XVI. 18. There will be a great Earth­quake, such as has not been since Men were on the Earth, so mighty an Earthquake, and so great an one. Every Earthquake has that Voice in it, Make Ready, make Ready, for the Dissolution, which the Glorions LORD is coming, [who can say, How Quickly!] to bring upon a sinful World.

[Page 28] —But, what a CONFLAGRATION, will be joined with it!—

When I consider, That the Coming of the Son of Man in the Clouds of Heaven, [which must mean His Literal, Personal, Visible Coming; We take the Name of the Lord in Vain, if we Expound it otherwise,] Tis to be at and for the Destruction of the Roman Monarchy, in the Papal and Final Form of it; And when I consider, the Flames, declared by Daniel, and by Paul, and by Peter, to accomplish it; I confess, I cannot but ad­mire, how any Men of Thought can content themselves, with the commonly Received Opi­nions, about the Coming of our SAVIOUR in His Kingdom, which are indeed calculated, as if on purpose, to lay and keep the World in that profound SLEEP, wherein the Day of GOD is to find it: Opinions, which the Petrine CONFLA­GRATION, makes a miserable Hay and Stubble of! — But, if I should own, That I know of Nothing that remains to be done, before the Lord shall destroy the Man of Sin by the Brightness of His coming; If I should own, That this Word, is like a Fire in my Bones, and I am not easy in forbearing; If I should make the Cry, FIRE, FIRE! The Fire of GOD will sooner than is generally thought for, fall upon a wretched World, which dreams little of it!— I should be as much mocked, and as lit­tle minded, as Lot was in the Morning of the Day when he went out of Sodom. The Sleepy People of GOD, will not bear to be Awakened: Our [Page 29]SAVIOUR has foretold, That it must be so!—

Wherefore, I will wave it. I will say no more of That. I will say, only what no body doubts of! And I will the rather supersede the former Contemplation, because the very same Actions of Religion, which will prepare for what we are sure cannot be far from us, [Oh! Let us not make it an evil Day, by putting it far from us!] will also prepare us for the Day of GOD, which many are not for, Hastening of; tho' they are Looking for it; but chuse to put it further off. 'Tis This; That within a little while, a very little little while, we shall every one of us, be swallowed up in the Earth. Altho' the Cry of the many more than Ten Righteous ones prevent any further Earthquake; yet the Opened Mouth of the Earth, will shortly swallow every one of us up! It will do so, in the common way of Mortality: At our In­terment it will do so. Indeed, there will be This Difference. In that way we die, and go one after another, and not All together. And in that way, we are not Buried at once on the spot where & when we expire; but are carried from the House where we die, to the House appointed for all the Liv­ing. But still, We may die as very suddenly, as if we were suffocated by an Earthquake: and we may go down into the lower parts of the Earth, be­fore another Week be over with us. For this, Of the Day and the Hour knoweth no Man. There is no Man in this very Numerous Collection of People, does know, whether This may not before [Page 30]this Day Se'might be his Portion.

Wherefore, in taking the Methods of PIETY which are to be taken, for our Safety, the Voice of our Earthquake is, Do with thy might what thy band finds to do. More particularly, An Earthquake awakened a poor Man to cry our, What shall I do to be saved? Oh! That upon our Earthquake, this Enquiry were more made among us. I am upon answering that Important Enquiry.

First. A Process of Repentance, I say, A PRO­CESS OF REPENTANCE: You must go thro' That IMMEDIATELY. You can have no safety in an Earthquake, till That be done. For a Man to have This to Do, when the sudden Con­vulsions of an Earthquake are upon him, — I say unto you, I would not be in the Circumstan­ces of that Man, for ten thousand Worlds!

The perils of an Earthquake bring us all into that woful plight; Thy Life shall hang in doubt be­fore thee, and thou shalt fear Day and Night, and thou shalt have no Assurance of thy Life. Yea, there is not one Unregenerate among us, but what may say, I have no Assurance, that I shall not be in Hell before to Morrow Morning. How can any Man dare to live so? Now, an Immediate Process of Repentance is the only security.

There was an Earthquake at the giving of the Law. An Earthquake should bring us to a Re­flection on our breaking of the Law. Retire, O sinful Man, Retire; and first Confessing the Sovereign Grace which must shine forth in enabling [Page 31]of thee, if thou art enabled ever to turn unto GOD, then Consider thy ways. Take the Ten Commandments, with the Exposition of the Cate­chism upon them; and Reflecting upon thy Tres­passing against what is Forbidden and what is Re­quired, in the Commandments, loath and judge thy self before the Lord, for thy many and heinous Trespasses. Go back to thy Original Sin, which has been the source of all thy Actual Sins, and of Innumerable Evils: Thy share in the Guilt of the first Apostasy: Thy deriving from thence an Heart that is Desperately wicked, and a Mother of Abominations. Full of Self-abborrence, present be­fore the glorious GOD, the Blood of His own SON, which Cleanses from all Sin; Admiring the Merit and Virtue of that Blood, Beg and Hope on the account thereof to be cleansed from all thy Sin. Do this, and weep to a GOD Ready to par­don; until His good SPIRIT has raised a Comfor­table Perswasion in thee, that He has pardon'd thee. At the same, take up a full purpose of Heart, that thou wilt cleave to Him, and walk with Him, in perpetual Endeavours to keep a Conscience void of Offence before Him, to the period of thy Days. This is the way, Oh! walk in it; and thou shalt find Rest for thy Soul; A Rest wherein tho' an Earthquake may toss about the Earth under thy seet, thou shalt yet sing; The Lord is my Defence, I shall not be moved!

Secondly; A speedy Flight unto the only REDEEMER: This is the ONE THING [Page 32]NEEDFUL. 'Twill procure our safety in an Earthquake. As they fled from before the Earthquake in the Days of Uzziah King of Judah, so let us now Flee unto the LORD whom we see on a Throne high and lifted up; the High priest upon the Throne; the SAVIOUR who calls upon us, Come unto me! We read much about being safe and lodg'd and hid in the Tabernacle of GOD. But, O! what? O! where? — is the True Tabernacle? Truly, our Blessed JESUS is Tabernacle of GOD; Our Bible calls Him so. In Him there personally dwells the Fulness of the Godhead; Here the Shechinah. My Friend, Get into a CHRIST, and thou art in all the safety, in which the Tabernacle of GOD can cover thee: A Tabernacle that no Earthquake ever can reach unto.

But, How is this to be done? Briefly, A glori­ous CHRIST has in a Covenant of Redemption en­gaged unto His FATHER for His People; That He would furnish them with a Sacrifice and a Righteousness, in Relying whereon they should be Forgiven and Accepted with Him; And, That He would then fill them with the Love of GOD and their Neighbour, and Heal all that is Amiss in them, and fit them for and bring them to all the spiritual Blessings in the Heavenly places. Now con­sent unto it, O Gospellized Soul, That thou mayst be comprehended in this Covenant of thy SAVI­OUR. Beg it of Him; O my SAVIOUR, Do for me all that thou hast engaged unto thy FATHER to do for all thy chosen! This Consent brings thee into the [Page 33] Covenant of Grace. Thy SAVIOUR takes thee un­der the shadow of His Wings; And what can any Earthquake do unto thee there? My Neighbours come about me, and Cry, Oh! What shall I do, if I see the Earth opening under me, and seel my self going down into the Pit? I cannot for my life think on a better Answer than This; Get and keep a fast hold of a CHRIST, and you are in eternal safety. I have just now told you, how to do it. Soul, Thy SA­VIOUR calls to thee, With me thou shalt be in safe­ty. Oh! Repair to Him, and say, Lord, I am Thine; save me! If an Earthquake should now sink thee down, thou hast a SAVIOUR that will fetch thee up again.

—And now, O EARTHQUAKE, Do thy worst. Thou canst not make me miserable. My SAVI­OUR is my Friend, I will not fear; what can an Earthquake do unto me!

Thirdly; A Life of Serious, Watchful, Prayer­ful, and Fruitful PIETY; This will do. All its Ways are Ways of Tranquillity, and all its Paths are Safety. He that walks with GOD, what has he to sear, tho' he should have the Earth trembling under his Feet? The Life of GOD, come into That, and thou hast what can't be kill'd; No, Not by an Earthquake. Beleever, Get a Soul as full of a CHRIST as ever thou canst; especially, in Precious Thoughts of Him. Let thy Life be fill'd with Devotions towards GOD, and with Benigni­ties towards Men. Make the serving and pleasing of GOD in them, the main Scope of thy Actions; [Page 34]Make the seeing and serving of GOD by them, the main Sweet of thy Enjoyments. Be daily de­vising of Good, and have a peerless Delight in do­ing of it, and, Be not weary of well-doing. If an Earthquake find thee so doing,—how Safe, how safe, art thou? What can harm thee, if thou be such a Follower of the Good One?

Alas, When I see the Epidemical Decay of Real and Vital PIETY, and how Lukewarm we are in all that is Good, with how few Agonies the affairs of Salvation are carried on, methinks, I see sufficient cause for Earthquakes, to throw us into Agonies. Laodicea had this charged upon her, Thou art Lukewarm. Tis Our unhappy and prevailing Temper. But what is become of La­odicea? Tis intirely lost, in amazing Earthquakes. No Travellers can find where Laodicea stood!— It is entirely absorb'd and vanished, in horrible Earthquakes.

Lastly. What a Contempt is due to an Earth, whereof we see all the Possessions lying under such a dismal Uncertainty!

We find People casting away their Idols, when they see the LORD arising to shake terribly the Earth. The Earthquake wherein we just now saw the Glorious GOD arising to shake terribly the Earth, has in it this Voice unto us; Don't Idolize this Earth! Set not your Hearts upon an Earth, which may easily and suddenly prove a Grave unto you, and unto all that you have upon it! If we could look into the uncertain Ground which we stand upon, [Page 35]and build upon, and could see the deep, the wide, and hideous Vaults below, and how liable the thin Arched Roof over the hollow Recesses of the Sub­terraneous World may be to fail and break & sink upon the Expansion of the Vapours there, cer­tainly it were enough to make us almost swoon with Fear, and in a shuddering Horror, and our Hearts even die away within us. The dreadful Abyss, over which there is bent and laid the shallow Bridge, that sustains us, and all that the Men of this World have to subsist upon, or find comfort in! Syrs, we have no earthly Possessions, but what may be call'd, Moveables; Our very Houses are so! O you that mind Earthly Things! What of this Idolized Earth is there, that you can be sure of? How does all appear, when an Earthquake shews you truly what it is? How Undone! How Undone! How Damned are you, if you are put off with a Portion here? The Text, of which the Earthquake is a Cogent and a Pungent Sermon, is that; Col. III. 2. Set your Affections on the Things that are Above, not on Things that are on the Earth. My Fellow-Travellers; Let us live like Strangers on the Earth, and even as Dead unto it; and maintain a wise Indifferency to all the Enjoyments and Endearments of it. As Dying, and behold we Live!

I have done.—But now, Return and discern be­tween the Righteous and the Wicked; between him that serveth GOD, and him that serveth Him not.

And here, first, see the forlorn and frighted As­pect [Page 36]of the Wicked; How their Countenance is chan­ged, and their Thoughts trouble them, and their knees do swite one against another! Their Flesh it self evi­dently quivering, and their Hearts failing for fear, and for looking after: be Things that are coming on the Earth! — And NOW, they wish, Oh! That I were in good Terms with Heaven! they think; Well, If they may escape this once, how they will Exer­cise themselves unto Godliness; how Regularly they will order their Conversation; how conscienciously they will work out their own Salvation! — Sayst thou so, Friend? — But Oh! Let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more! We shall see, how they re­member the Vows of GOD upon them; how they behave themselves.

But then, the Righteous! Mark the perfect Man, and behold the Upright; See the Peace of GOD that fortifies him, even, when he has a prospect of his End just come upon him. There is indeed a Reve­rence and godly Fear with which he regards what the great GOD is doing in an Earthquake. Even a Moses himself is an Example of it. He is neither a Stoick, nor a Mocker. But yet — not Afraid with any Amazement! — you may see an Amiable Se­renity in him, when all the World about him is in an uproar. How free from the Commotions, and Convulsions and Confusions, with which the reft of the World is agitated. Even an Heathen Poet, celebrates it among the priviledges and preroga­tives of a Virtuous Man, Let an Earthquake break and sink the World, [Impavidum serient Ruinae] [Page 37] be is not frighted at the Ruins! But O the Triumphs of the Man that indeed Lives unto GOD, and feels a CHRIST, living in him! He is assured, If the Earthquake put a stop to my Breath, my Soul will be in the Paradise of GOD before the morning. Like Paul & Silas, he can Sing in the midst of an Earthquake; he can Sing for the Majesty of the Lord; he can say, O Death, where is thy sting! O Earthquake, where is thy Victory!

Thus do we turn to see the Voice! — We read, Rev. XI. 19. The Temple of GOD was opened, and there were Voices, and Thundrings, and a great Earthquake. We are this Day come into the Temple, that we may hear the Voices of our Great Earthquake.

A Great Earthquake is called in the Bible, A Trembling of GOD. But, O! If we may Tremble more than the Earth, and be those whom GOD shall see Trembling at His Word; This, This would be a Trembling of GOD in­deed: Such as, Blessed are they that come into it.

In some Expectation, that GOD giving forth His Thundring Voice, in and by the melting of the Trembling Earth, His Voice will be heark­ned unto, and that our Earthquake will prove the most useful Dispensation that ever we have seen, in all the Days of our Pilgrimage, We shall now conclude; and presently Sing part of the Forty sixth Psalm, with the last Verse of the Fourth Psalm annexed unto it.