ACCOUNT OF THE Late Earthquake IN JAMAICA, June the 7th. 1692.  
Written by a Reverend Divine there to his Friend in London.  
With some Improvement thereof by another Hand.  Watch ye therefore,( for you know not when the Master of the House cometh, at Even, or at Midnight, or at the Cock-crowing, or in the Morning) Least coming suddenly, he find you sleeping— And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch— 13 Mark 35, 36, 37. 
LONDON, Printed for Tho. Parkhurst, at the Bible and three Crowns at the lower End of Cheapside, near Mercers chapel. 1693.   

THE PREFACE.  
READER,  
HEre is( I think) the fullest Account of the Amazing severity of God towards Jamaica in their suprizing Earthquake, that has yet been given us: And thô it be many Months since the first Effects of it appeared in that iceland, and the News of it first reached us, yet it's not fit( I conceive) that this Relation of it( which lately came over) should be concealed, and lie butted in unprinted Privacy; and that for these Reasons:  
1. The Dreadfulness of the matter of Fact requires that it should be declared abroad; to the Inhabitants of that Isle has the Lord spoken terrible things in righteousness: His sudden Judgments there have destroyed many, astonished all; their Streets have quickly been swallowed up by the gaping Earth; their Houses overturned, the Inhabitants have either gone down quick into the Pit, or been cast floating upon the Waters; the numbers of their corrupted Dead has almost killed the Living; their Mountains have been cleft asunder, or dashed one against the other; some of the People have been almost pined with Thirst, while others feared the Sea would overwhelm the iceland: Is it not necessary then that we should know what God has done to them, that we may hear the Voice of his Rod, and fear and forsake our Transgressions?  
2. That from this dreadful Story we may learn Thankfulness to God: Has London already forgot what fright and amazement it was cast into this last Summer by reason of an Earthquake? Whether the Concussion at Jamaica, and that here was one Earthquake or no, yet we should stand and admire the distinguishing Mercy of God: Are we spared to hear of the doleful Judgments in Jamaica? Are we alive, and preserved from an Earthquake here, to understand how many are slain by it in that Plantation? We are only jogged, that we may be awakened from our Security; they are surprised in their deadly sleep, and hurried away to endless Death: Let these Terrors of the Lord excite in us grateful resentments of his forbearance and Long-suffering towards us: Why is not England like to Jamaica, and our Metropolis like to Port-Royal?  
3. The Quality of the Relator may justly recommend the History to public perusal; 'tis penned by a Reverend Divine who is now in the Plantation, and has long been seated there; One who with a tender sense of Gods Displeasure, felt the Trepidation of the iceland, an Eye-witness of the direful effects of the Earthquake, and one that has full opportunity of informing himself by others of what he has not seen; one that in the very writing of this Narrative knew not how soon he might be in the case of the Inhabitants of St. Jago de la Vega, and therefore writes as in the presence of that God whose Power he had seen and felt; one that writes, as not knowing but that he might quickly be entombed in the opened Earth, and go down into silence with his Pen in his hand: One who writes to á dear Relation, and therefore could have no design to deceive; one whose Integrity would not suffer him to seek any sinister End: And thô his Account may seem to come late, yet therefore it may be supposed to be the more full, and the longer it stayed for Information, the more credible Testimony it brings along with it. Therefore,  
4. This Narrative may serve for Prevention or Discovery of false Reports that may be spread abroad concerning this stupendious Disaster; some perhaps out of good meaning may aggravate the Calamity, in order to signalise the Judgments of God; and some( as the Reverend Author observes) may serve their own ends in representing the Case worse than it is; and others may carry on malicious Designs, endeavouring by an amusing Story( as if the whole iceland were destroyed) to discourage Merchants from Trading thither, which would indeed advance their sufferings greatly, and increase the Desolation the Earthquake has made.  
5. Since the Author has been so grateful to God, so ingenuous as to recount the remaining Mercies of the Place, as well as faithful in rehearsing Gods Judgments there, tells us what they enjoy, as well as what they want, it may be( and we hope it will be) that hence all due care may be taken for their speedy and constant supply with such things as are necessary for 'em in a state of Peace or War; since their strongest Houses are demolished, their Arms broken, their great Dependency( as to Visible Means) the Town of Port-Royal destroyed, their Fleets lacerated, and their Spirits quaking as well as their Isle, they may justly fear the forcible Invasion of the Barbarous French, or Insurrection of domestic Slaves: Therefore we hope they will be( if they are not already) assisted and furnished with Men, Arms and Ammunition for their speedy Defence and Protection. And since their Staple-business goes on, since Cotten's, Indigo's, &c. are in Preparation for the Market, and their Sugar-works employed, let Pious Merchants especially hasten to fetch their Goods, and to carry things necessary for the Plantation: So may they reap advantage to themselves, and show Charity to the Distressed iceland; The Kindness they Exhibit to the poor Inhabitants may quickly be return'd with Interest into their own Bosoms. Blessed are the Merciful, for they shall Obtain Mercy.  
On these Considerations, who can but Conclude, that the Publication of this Letter( for so it is) may be very useful. And since the things Printed in the Volume of Divine Creation and Providence, as well as those written in the Inspired Records, are for our Learning, I shall at the End of this Narrative subjoin a few Corollaries for our Instruction and Notice.  
H.L.   

The Truest and Largest ACCOUNT OF THE Late Earthquake IN JAMAICA, June the 7th. 1692.  
SIR,  
WAving all other Private and Particular Concerns at this time, give me leave to present you with an Account of a late dismal Calamity and judgement, which hath befallen us here in this country by a Terrible Earthquake, which a just God hath sent upon us on Tuesday the 7th. of June, about a quarter of an Hour after Eleven of the Clock, and continued with great Violence and Terror,( as most say, about one Quarter of an Hour) but in my Opinion not above six or seven Minutes; in which time it overthrew all the Brick and ston Buildings in the country, whereof several in my own Parish, which now are either leveled with the ground, or standing Monuments of the Wrath of God, are so shattered and torn that they are irreparable: While these were tumbling, the Earth opened in my Parish in multitudes of places, and through their dire Chasms spewed out Water to a considerable height above ground, in such quantities in some places, that it made our Gullies run on a sudden, tho' before exceeding dry; insomuch that some were afraid of being overwhelmed at once by the River and Sea joining together to swallow up the country, these gaping Mouths being no less than 12, 20, or more Foot deep under the Earth, and above two Miles up in the country, especially nigh the River, in the purest Mould, which had not day or other Consolidating Matter beneath to oppose the force of the Fountains of the Deep breaking up● for where that was, we do not find any Cracks of the Earth at all; and yet it pleases God that we in this Parish have escaped the Danger much better than our Neighbour Parishes; for happening to Content ourselves with mean and low-built Houses, for the most-part built with Timber, and boarded, or with Cratches set deep in the Ground, and plastered, such Houses are generally standing: So that we have Means to assist one another in this calamitous distress: While from the other parts of the iceland we have no less true than fearful Relations, of hundreds of Souls cast out of their Dwellings, and not a Place to hid their heads in, except what they have since built, Booths or Tents, to shade themselves from the Sun.  
Our noted Town of St. Jago de la Vega, or Spanish Town, is utterly down to the ground, with its Church devoured in the same ruins. Our magazine and only Store house of Port-Royal is three parts swallowed in the Sea, Ships and Shallops now riding at Anchor where great numbers of fine fabrics have been not long since; the Relation of which single Places Sufferings to give you in particular, would not only weary your Eyes, but make your Heart ache to red it; many very eminent Merchants, before worth thousands, are now scarce worth more than the blew linen on their backs; several are dead, either overwhelmed with their Houses, or drowned in the Sea, which flowed in suddenly upon them; while they fled from the Sea, the Earth devoured them in her gaping Jaws, or they were knocked on the head with the Houses falling on them, and while they fled from the gaping Chasms of the Earth, or the tottering Buildings, the Sea met them and swept them away. A whole street,( which we call the Wharf, where most of the noted Merchants lived, and where much of the Planters Goods was Landed for convenience of Sail and Shipping,( more especially Sugar and Cotron) sunk at once from one end to the other, with a general crack at the very beginning of the Earthquake, together with two Forts, Guns, &c. built thereupon; and which is more dreadful, all those poor Wretches perished that were either upon, or nigh it, without any Warning; and presently after this, while the People were in the greatest Horror and Consternation imaginable, neither having time to fly, or thoughts where to fly for safety, two or three more streets in their whole length tottered and fell, and were immediately sunk, Land and all together deep into the Sea, as far as the Jews street: All the upper part of the Town, together with the Church, and all above towards the palisadoes, is under Water, even their palisadoes itself where their Burying place was, is now no longer Earth, but Sea, and( ghastly to behold) the very dead Corps that were there submerged( I may say) instead of Inhumed, even at their Funerals floated from thence to all parts of the Harbour.  
Such Houses as do yet remain, are from the Jews street, and backward, to that we call the great Sea side, but many of them so rent and torn, others so deeply sunk into the Water, whereof some as high even as the Balconies, that they are unserviceable; the Wall at Pallisadaes is utterly ruined, with the Port thereto belonging; and tho' Morgans line,( which stands the best of all) the principal Fort,( and as they say) Walker's Fort, do yet stand, yet they are sorely shaken and rent, and so sunk, they are not tenable; the whole place that is yet above water, sinking daily by those Earthquakes we have ever since had, sometimes four, five, or six times, more or less, in four and twenty hours, I myself expecting now while I am writing, when the Earth will tremble under me, thô in other parts of the country I have not heard or seen any farther damage done by any Earthquake that hath followed the first; for which Mercy we have great cause to Bless God even in our Misery, who only so frequently puts us in mind of what he hath so lately done, and can yet do what he will with us at his pleasure. The reputed number of the Dead, according to the general estimation( for perhaps there will never be any true Account) is commonly reckoned at fifteen hundred persons, besides Blacks, who 'tis probable may be six or seven hundred more, a multitude of whose Corps floated a great many days after from one side of the harbour to the other, which caused such an intolerable stench, that the Dead were like to destroy the Living, till at last some were sunk, others disperss'd by the Sea-breeze, some to one place, some to another, upon the Keys to the Leeward of the place, some even fallen down as far as the Outbounds of my Parish, which is many Leagues from Port Royal, where they lie unburied upon the Rocks and Sands as they were cast up.  
Immediately upon the Cessation of the extremity of the Earthquake, your Heart would abhor to hear of the Depredations, Robberies, and Violences that were in an instant committed upon the Place by the vilest and basest of the People; no Man could call any thing his own, for they that were strongest, and most wicked seized what they pleased, and whose they pleased, and where they pleased, without any regard to Propriety. Gold and Silver, Jewels, Plate, or Goods was all their own that they could or would lay hands on: Nothing but breaking open of Houses, rushing into Shops, and taking what they pleased before the Owners faces, forcing Goods or Money from them in the open street, as they were carrying it elsewhere for better Security, succeeded the Horrors of this dreadful time; while others in Canoo's, Wherries, Ship-boats, &c. were plundering Chests, Boxes, Screwtores, &c. of what they could find in them upon the Water, even the very Slaves thought it their time of Liberty, wherein they committed many barbarous insolences and Robberies, till they were suppressed by the Death of some, and punishment of others. Many days did these Depredations last, especially upon the Water, where the Dead were robbed of what they had about them, some stripped, others preached, their Pockets picked, their Fingers cut off for their Rings, their Gold Buttons taken out of their Shirts, and then they were turned adrift again; from thence was taken all manner of Stores that would swim, every one taking that for his own which he could lay his hands on, as Pork, Beef, Mackril, Salt-fish, Coaca, Candles, Soap, Wine, Beer, Brandy, and a vast deal of other things, not here to be thought of, or reckoned up; and tho' our Council( for our governor is dead) have published a Proclamation, That all manner of Goods, Money, &c. so seized, as by way of prise upon the Water, shall be accounted for by the present Possessors unto such Persons throughout the iceland, as are by Proclamation appointed, and for Encouragement thereunto, they are allowed the third of the whole prise; or if they do not return in an account of what is in their possession by such a time, they are to be proceeded against as Thieves and Robbers according to Law; yet by the present Proceedings of some who are reputed to have most of such Prize-goods in their hands, it seems that much of it will never be discovered; much of it is certainly damaged and spoiled, and other of it will be in others possession, and that by the Consent of the Owners themselves: So that the richest are now the poorest, and the meanest of the People are now enriched by the Losses of others, which Loss duly to Estimate and Value, is perhaps more difficult than to reckon the number of the People lost.  
Port-Royal in its flourishing Condition, was a Famous Empory and Mart Town for these Indies, whither were brought partly by a private, and partly by a public and allowed traffic( the Achiento being settled here) a very large share for so small a place of the Riches of Peru and Mexico, which not only enriched our Merchants and Factors here, but whereof yearly were Transported for England in Coin and Bullion vast sums; so that 'tis not to be computed what is lost, but many People think at least to the Value of 400000 l. at Port Royal only, of which the Merchants at home will bear the greater share, which when you hear what 'tis there, you may perhaps give as good a guess as ourselves.— You would admire at the Goodness of God in the Preservation of the residue; some were very miraculously delivered from Death, swallowed down into the Bowels of the Earth alive and spewed up again, and saved by the violent Eruption of Water through those Gaps; some( as they say themselves, if they were alive at that time to know what was done to them) were swallowed up in one place, and by the rushing of Waters too and fro by reason of the agitation of the Earth at that time, were cast up again by another Chasm at places far distant. But the general Means of Preservation was by Peoples flying as fast as they could toward the back Seaside, or getting aboard the Ships in the Harbour by one means or other with all speed possible, which were presently crowded with Men, Women and Children, and among which our Man of War, The Swallow, then in the Harbour, and Careening close by the Wharf, was so damnified by the Fall of the Houses, that upon View since she is condemned as unfit for future Service; and Capt. Cunning's Ship being a Merchant-man of some Force, is made our Guard-ship, himself being ashore and butted in the ruins. Besides this, 12 Shalops are sunk that lay within the reach of danger, and further Damage at Sea I do not hear of any.  
Port Royal being thus ruined, and utterly despaired of being a place of Safety for Habitation, it is intended utterly to be deserted, most people believing that in a few Months it will either be all under Water by reason of its daily sinking, or at least but a very small remnant or riff of that narrow Neck of Land will show itself after a while: Wherefore the Council have very lately agreed upon another place, called The Rack, whereon to build a Town for the Reception and Accommodation of Merchants, which is within the same Harbour as the other, but some Leagues farther up in the country, at the farther end of the Haven, whereunto an approved of Channel leads, and which is not only more safe for Shipping both against Enemies and Storms, but is described also to be very nigh, and with very little Labour may be made altogether as convenient as the famous Harbour of Port Royal; it being Capable( now as Nature framed it) to receive Ships of the greatest Burden very nigh to the shore, which may be much advantaged in a small time by the building of wharves, &c. for the Benefit of lading and unlading of Ships, as at Port Royal before. From thence it is but a short way to Ligania, the first and principal place for Planting,( whereunto my own Parish is immediately the next) which for the most part imitating, if not exceeding the stateliness of Port Royal, is now the more terribly brought to Desolation, together with its fine New Built and not yet finished Church, butted in the same ruins with the Houses; above which Place the lofty blew Mountains lift up their Heads, but are now so rent and torn that they are fearful to behold, and are like to stand for lasting Marks of the Wrath of God, which hath also happened in other parts of the country, it being very Mountainous in the middle part, insomuch that by the Fall of a Mountain into the Channel of the River which supplies both the Town and Port Royal with Water, the River became dry for sixteen Hours together, to the Amazement of the Inhabitants, fearing the Desertion as well as Desolation of the place, till it afterwards run again as formerly; and they were informed of the Cause of the stoppage of the Water for so long a time. This among other Reasons was the Cause why the People that were saved at Port Royal were almost perished for Thirst in their deep Extremity, their own Water-Casks being either ruined or swam away into the Sea, or no Boats to fetch any in that deep Consternation, or otherwise employed to save People's Lives, or to get Plunder; or if any did go, there was no Water to be had, so that as it was hard to be gotten, so it was dear, and many paid great rates only to quench their Thirst. And yet for all these great Disasters, great Numbers of People are not at all reformed of their Wickedness, which brought this upon us, but there is the same Whoring and Drinking, the same Cursing and Swearing, if not worse than formerly; so that we may fear the judgement of Sodom will be the next Punishment you will hear of.  
For my part, I desire to fear and Adore that terrible Majesty that hath wrought such Terrors among us, all the days of my Life; and however many People at Port-Royal may be given up to a Reprobate Sense, whom neither the Mercies of God, nor yet his Judgments can bring to Repentance, yet I hope this hath been an effectual Warning to many of us in the country, who knowing the Terrors of the Lord, will for the future be the more easily persuaded to an amendment of Life. I question not but there are many Petty-factors at Port-Royal, who have stated their Accounts, and balanced their Books with the sole Answer of an Earthquake, whose Interest therefore it is to represent it in the most dreadful manner possible, that they themselves may seem the more excusable to their Employers, as if the whole iceland were destroyed thereby, which will discourage Merchants from Trafficking hither, and will be a means of further suffering thereby. Yet as I have done my best to give you a true Information hitherto, so I can assure you of the Truth of what I farther assert. That by the Blessing of God having hitherto reasonable good Weather, the Planters continue employed in making of Goods, Cottons, and Indigo's, &c. providing them for a Market; and such who have Sugar works, which is the staple of the iceland, many of them had Timber buildings, which are either little or not at all prejudiced; and others who built with Brick, or ston, have so much time between this and Crop-time, that they can, and doubtless will fit themselves in some measure in order to it: So that I am sufficiently convinced, and therefore would persuade any other, that whosoever Trades hither for any manner of Goods for clothing, household-stuff, Arms and Ammunition,( which are generally spoiled) all manner of Provisions, Plantation Utensils, &c. will come by so much to the better Market, by how much they hasten to our Assistance, and need never fear the freighting of their Ships homeward, there being a present damp upon Trade, which I don't know how long it may continue, so that we shall have great quantities of Goods ready for them, to dispatch them the sooner away. God in his Displeasure remembered Mercy, and therefore this Calamity happened in the Day-time, to the safety of many hundred Souls; for though such Numbers perished at Port Royal, where they were thronged together in an isthmus of Land, yet I cannot hear of fifty Persons, both Whites and Blacks, that perished throughout all the iceland beside.— And though in the midst of our distress it pleased God to give us a signal Victory over our Enemies, the French, who happened at that time to make the sharpest Attack upon us since the War, having landed some say 200, some say 80 Men at the North-side, which is but weakly furnished with Men, where they entrenched themselves, but were shamefully beaten out by a vigorous On-set in the Night, by a Party of about thirty Men, who slay 7 or 8 outright, and the rest flying to their Boats were 30 of them drowned, while in the mean time our Fleet which was set out on purpose pursuing theirs, we took one Shalop, and made them desperately blow up their great Ship; such as were saved remaining our Prisoners, and others fled home to give an Account of their Overthrow. What may be the effect of these sad times, God only knows: Our first Fears were concerning our Slaves, those Irreconcilable and yet Intestine Enemies of ours, who are no otherwise our Subjects than as the Whip makes them; who seeing our strongest Houses demolished, our Arms broken, and hearing of the destruction of our greatest Dependency, the Town of Port Royal, might in hopes of Liberty be stirred up to rise in Rebellion against us, which is a War always the more terrible, by how much there is no Quarter given in it, but they kill and slay all the Whites, Men, Women and Children, that they can Conquer; but God be praised these sears begin to be blown over. The next Consequence is either Famine or great and extreme scarcity, which it is true we do not feel yet, nor may not this six Weeks, yet if it should please God to withhold his Rain from us,( as it hath often happened of late Years about this time; and I never heard of an Earthquake as a Sign of good Weather,) we must certainly very shortly languish under that dire Affliction; or if it please God in Mercy to remember us in Misery, and to give us the former and the latter Rain in its Season, yet the least that we can suffer will be an extreme Scarcity of all manner of Provisions, Port Royal our Store-house being destroyed, in which much of the Provisions are either sunk or spoiled in the ruins, or floated away to Sea no one knows whither, or damaged, &c. Another Consequence we fear is the forcible Invasion of our Enemies, now our Hearts are low, our Arms broken, our Forts Lacerated and useless, our main stay and support sunk under Water;( though God be Praised our magazine of Powder in Port-Royal be saved) the Men that should have been the Strength of the iceland, many hundreds of them drowned, yet do we not dread so much what Mischief our Neighbours here can do us, tho' at this time they may do us mischief enough, with reference to particular Persons that are adjacent to the Sea-shores, but are not able of themselves to ruin the iceland; only that which we most dread, least the King of France upon this News should sand hither an Army to Invade us, to prevent which our whole Trust and Confidence under God is in his Majesty, who is himself Lord and Proprietor hereof in his own Person, and therefore we hope for some speedy Relief from him; in Order whereunto the Council have dispatched a Shalop to him the 22d. or 23d. Instant, to give him an Account of our Present Condition, and to request his speedy help, and which we all hope he will not be backward in, towards an iceland that in its flourishing State brought in very considerable Revenues into his Exchequer; an iceland that hath made a Notable Figure in these parts of the World, and which himself and his Predecessors have dignified with the Government of very Noble Peers, and yet which may be now ruined in our low Estate by a few sleights or Neglects. I am weary now of recounting our Miseries to you, which I have done in a Style as tho' you knew all the Places I have mentioned to you; but tho' you don't, others into whose Hands it may fall, may. I have done with the Account, yet not with my Letter, until I add this sincere Assertion, that I am on all Accounts  
Jamaica. Withywood in the Parish of Vere. June 30th. 1692. SIR, Yours—   

Thus we have heard what has befallen this American Plantation, what wonderful Signatures of Divine Displeasure have appeared there. Let apocalyptic Divines make what use of this Earthquake they shall judge meet for the unfolding of any Portion of prophetic Scripture, we shall only from this Relation deduce a few Remarks of General Use and Concern.  
1. Then, Since God's Judgments are abroad in the Earth, let the Inhabitants of the World learn Righteousness: Isa. 26.9. The World's Inhabitants should not only learn Righteousness, when they themselves are under the lashes of God's chastising Rod, but when others are so too; when Judgments are in the Earth, in any Nation or part of the Earth, those that see and hear of 'em, should hear the Rod, and who hath appointed it. The Lord in this Alarming Act of his speaks not to Jamaica or America only, but to us also: He calls aloud to us to consider what he has done there, that we may aclowledge his terrible Majesty, and sin no more against him: Had we had no awaking Experience of his mighty Power here, yet the certain Account of what he has done elsewhere, should mind us of our Duty, least their Case should become ours; which Duty seems eminently included in the word Righteousness, {αβγδ}, even all that to which we are obliged by Rules of Equity and Justice, or should be inclined to by a Principle of Mercy and Compassion; that we now learn to give unto God the things that are His, and unto Man what belongs unto him; which is more largely declared by the Prophet, Micah 6.8. He hath shewed thee, O Man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God: v. 9. For this the Lord's voice crieth unto the City, and therefore the Man of Wisdom( he who has {αβγδ}, Senses exercised to discern both Good and Evil) should in these things see God's Name; should red the lively Characters of his Power, Wisdom and Righteousness, the bright discovery of his Glorious Excellence.  
2. Let those whose Hearts are set in 'em to do Evil, know that Sentence is sometimes executed speedily. The Lord is slow to Anger, but he will not retain his Patience for ever; those whom his Goodness leads not to Repentance, shall feel that abused Mercy will end in the most dreadful Sentence: hardened Wretches are apt to encourage themselves in their villainies by reason of the Impunity of the Wicked; Alas, they consider not that Life at longest is but short, and then an Eternity ensues, which is long enough to punish profligate Sinners in; yea, and even that short Life is sometimes shortened by God's immediate stroke, and the Criminal is sometimes apprehended in his Act of Sin, and forthwith hurried unto Execution; See, and trembling see here Sentence executed in few minutes upon above 2000 Persons at once: I say not that all these who fell in this Common ruin perished everlastingly; but as they all thrô Sin deserved thus to die, so Death was in a short time inflicted on 'em all. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art Holy; let all Nations come and worship before thee, for thy Judgments are made manifest, Rev. 15.4. Therefore,  
3. Let Atheistical Spirits seasonably learn that there is a God that judgeth in the Earth: An Omnipotent supreme Being; one who, as Omnipotent, Disposes and overrules the whole Visible Creation; as supreme, dispenses Favours or Afflictions to whom he pleases; One, who as Almighty, can, and sometimes does pervert Nature's long known bias: As sovereign Lord of all, saves or destroys whom he will: One who by his Power causes the Water to spring out of dry Ground, who enlarges the ancient bounds he has set unto the Sea, makes the Earth to tremble, the Mountains to drop down with fear, when he's displeased: One whose sovereignty and Dominion is Absolute and Universal, and therefore may dispose of all things at his own pleasure, accountable to none: One to whom the Lives of all Men are forfeited by Sin, and therefore may execute his threatened Judgments when, where, on whom he will; tho as Absolute Proprietor of Rational things, as well as of all other, he might take away Life and Happiness: yet as he gives Law to us, by which we must be regulated, so he deals not merely Arbitrarily with the World; has revealed rules by which he himself will proceed in distribution of Calamities and Benefits: At the General Day of Account, all shall be judged according to the Law they knew, and all the miseries here that they undergo are Judgments, 
{αβγδ}.  the just Execution of a Righteous threatening, the deserved fruit of their own Sin; and tho' God( as an offended Legislator) may take away forfeited Life and Happiness from all transgressing Creatures, yet in his judging the Earth he leaves evident footsteps of his Supremacy and Lordship: At the same time that he( as just Judge) punishes some, He( as Gracious Benefactor) spares, delivers, and defends others, perhaps no less guilty than the punished. Who has made the Astonishing Discriminations in the Nations of late? Why is not England in the ruinous Case of Italy? or Rotterdam like to St. Jago? Did blind chance make that Visible Difference among the dwellers of Jamaica? Did Chance kill the 2000, and save the preserved? Did that unlock the Bowels of the Earth, to swallow down many alive, and cast 'em up alive at a distance, while others sunk down to be no more seen, or not till they were Dead? He that can think Chance, or any thing else, without th● superintendency of a Wise, Powerful, Righteous being, is the Cause of these Discriminations, must needs be as unreasonable as an Atheist.  
4. Let the Reader of this Account consider, whether it does not render much of the History of the Old Testament very credible: 
2 Thes. 3.2  There are some Unbelieving( who are also {αβγδ}, illogical, unreasonable) Men, that laugh when they hear of the dividing of the read Sea, the opening of the Rock for the Israelites to drink, and other Instances of Divine Power; but let 'em consider what was done in this iceland: Is not cleaving the Hills by a boisterous Vapour, as difficult as parting the Waters by the Wind? Is not the gaping of the Earth, and out of its Chasms spouting floods of Water aloft into the Air, very near a kin to the losing of water out of the Rock? That Persons sunk down into Caverns of the Earth, should be cast up again Alive by the Eruption of Water, is so stupendious, that it may rationally induce us more easily to believe the safe Conduct of the Israelites thro' the read Sea; and other prodigious Particulars here, tho' they don't parallel mosaic Miracles, yet may be admitted as Motives of Credibility, and may incline us to think, that he that can effect these things, could work those also.  
5. Let us see here the destructive Consequents of offending the Lord of Hosts, the Creator, Proprietary, and Ruler of the Universe: The Soul that sinneth, it shall die, is his established Law, which we see every Day executed on one Transgressor or another; the Graves are every day laying up some or others, but Death comes sometimes and sweeps away shoals along with it at once; sometimes in the shape of a Plague it desolates Cities and Countries; sometimes armed with an Earthquake, it transports whole streets of Inhabitants on a sudden to another World: Two thousand at once slain in Jamaica! and scarce had time to gasp out a Prayer for their departing Souls! O Tremendous judgement! O cruel Sin! And shall we still provoke this Holy Lord God, whose Judgments warn the World to cast off all Impiety in hast, lest Iniquity prove its ruin? Shall we still shut our eyes against the evident light of such clear Admonitions? Shall we deafen our Ears against the loud voice of such instructing Examples?  
6. Let Atheistick Scoffers now be silent, no longer object against the promise of our Lord's Coming; nor pled, that since the Fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation. What great alterations does our Lord frequently make in the World, to tell us that all these things must be changed, and that he is a coming? With what Disorders is Nature one where or other often disturbed, to put us in mind that the whole visible System of Heaven and Earth will e're long be dissolved? How Beauteous and caconical was the whole fabric of the World at its first Creation, when all things were very good, consormable to the Creators Will? when all Creatures knew their Places, Use and End: I mean, when all things according to their Natures and Capacities answered the End of their Creation; when the inferior Beings served Man, and according to their abilities promoted his De light and Happiness; when Man was purely free from all inclination to, and act of transgressing his heavenly Fathers Commands: There is indeed much Exactness and Regularity still in the Universal Frame, but how harmonious may we suppose it to be before the least Disorder or Confusion had untuned any part of it? then the whole was indeed a {αβγδ}, a beautiful structure; and the Noble parts of it indeed {αβγδ}, Poems, exact, symmetrical Composures; or in the words of the heroic Poet, 
The Parts to number, and fixed Rules were brought, 
Cowley's Davideis.   
By the Eternal mind poetic Thought;  
Water and Air He for the Tenor choose,  
Earth made the Base, the triple flamme arose,  
To th' Active Moon a Quick brisk stroke he gave,  
To Saturn's string a Touch more soft and grave,  
The Motions streight and round, and swift and slow,  
And short and long, were mixed and woven so,  
Did in such Artful Figures smoothly fall,  
As made this Decent measured Dance of all.   
But how is the Dance now confused? The Poem since that how stripped of its rhyme and Measure? and the whole Composure how ravel'd and distorted? Sea and Land exchanging places, the Fetters of the Ocean unloos'd, Mountains either plucked up by the roots, or their Branches lopped off, Spouts of Water bursting out of the divided Earth, Cities interred with their Inhabitants, the Sea become a {αβγδ}, a Church-yard; the Earth cast into Convulsive alarums, in America, Italy, France, Holland and England; were not these {αβγδ}, Earthquakes in divers places, foretold by our Lord, together with Wars and Rumors of Wars; since then we find his Word verified in these things, let all be excited to believe the Promise of his coming: Nay, was there not in this American iceland a short representation of the great Day of trial? Hills shaking and rending asunder, the ground reeling under the tottering Inhabitants, and casting up the Dead it had swallowed; the Sea too exposing its Dead on Rocks and Sands to open View, People running to hid themselves from Common Destruction, Hearts aching, Faces appal'd, Outcries and hideous Shrieks terrifying those that were safe; and has not our Lord  told us it will be so at his return? Let us Watch and Pray that we may be found of him in Peace.  
7. Learn the Necessity of Effectual Grace for the renewing of the Mind and Heart: Bare Convictions will not do, the sight of unusual Judgments will not do, the tearing of the Earth we tread on, the beholding of others hastily snatched out of the World, the fearful Expectations of sudden Death, the visible effects of Sin upon others, the lashes of our own Consciences in time of Danger, will not effect so great a Change, without the powerful concurrence of the Holy Ghost. Surely here was ( moralis Suasio) persuasive Argument enough to prevail with the People of this iceland to hate Sin as long as they lived, which had been attended and pursued by such direful effects; surely one would have thought the terror of this quaking day would have left a perpetual impression upon their Spirits, and have been a continual Goad to incite 'em to fear that God, who by doing such Wonders had demonstrated himself Glorious in Holiness; should they not now have examined their State and Relation to another World, and resolved henceforth to live in constant thoughts of Death, and preparation for future judgement? On the contrary, we find 'em in the time of great Danger, under the power of an hardened Heart, and inflexible Obstinacy in Sin: No sooner were the apprehensions of common ruin worn off their Spirits, but all outrageous villainies discovered the fixed perverseness of their Hearts; Immediately upon the Cessation of the Extremity, your Heart would abhor( as our Author says) to hear of the Depredations, Robberies and Violences that were in an instant committed upon the place; Gold and Silver, Jewels, Plate or Goods were all their own who would, or could lay hands on' em. Desperate Sin and Madness! Could they not see the avenging Power of God? Would they not consider the Operation of his hands? Yea, since these deplorable Disasters; There is( as our Author complains) the same Whoring and Drinking, the same Cursing and Swearing, if not worse than formerly. O aggravated Impieties! so that the Reverend Author fears that the judgement of Sodom will be the next Punishment: Or perhaps God may no more punish them so openly, but let 'em perish securely in their Wickedness, as saying, Why should ye be strike any more, ye will revolt more and more: And are not other Countries lately terrified, as flagitious still as they were before their surprising Terrors? Does not Sin still Domineer in Italy, where 'tis said, Many Cities have been lately overthrown? Yea, does not the Man of Sin tyramnize there? Has New England shaken off its wickedness, since its self was shaken? Does not Drunkenness and Sabbath breaking abound as much in lower Germany as ever? Has France repented of, or abstained from Pride, Cruelties, inhuman Barbarities, and Rapines, since their fearful Trepidations? Nay, has not our London too forgot it's Consternation and Amazement? Is not the same Cursing and Swearing, the same Whoring and Drinking, the same prodigious profaneness, Contempt of God, his Authority, Power, Laws and Institutions, the same abounding Profligacy as formerly? Is any part of England reclaimed, either for what it hath felt or heard? 
Isa. 1.4.  Ah! sinful Nation, a People laden with Iniquity, a seed of evil doers, Children that are corrupters, ye have forsaken the Lord, ye have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, ye are gone away backward.  
8. Let's Observe how God in Wrath remembered Mercy: The Cup of Trembling put into their hands was not unmixed with some Favour and Compassion; the Mercies of the Lord failed not, therefore they were not wholly Consumed; 'twas Mercy that this overturning Earthquake happened in the Day, and not in the Night, when all the Inhabitants were chained with sleep: Had it befallen them in the Night, how many Inhabitants had perished which now are safe? in sleep they might have gone down to the Chambers of Death, and so ne're awaked till the Morning, when all the Dead shall arise; they could not have so much Time and Warning to hasten from the gaping Earth and falling Houses, and sinking Streets, as now they had; so that our Author says, That tho' such Numbers perished at Port Royal, where they were thronged together in an isthmus of Land, yet he can't hear of fifty Persons, both Whites and Blacks, that perished throughout all the iceland besides. Yea, in the midst of their Distress, when Dread and Confusion seized 'em, when their famous Empory was sunk or sinking, when Arms, Ammunition, and their best outward Defence was gone, then did the inhuman French make the fiercest Attack upon them since the War; as if they had said, We will pursue, We will overtake, We will divide the spoil, Our Lust shall be satisfied upon them, We will draw the Sword, Our hand shall destroy them, for God hath blown with his Wind, the Sea hath covered them, they sink as led in the mighty Waters: But God was pleased to show, that tho' these Americans fell into his Hands, yet they should not fall into the Hands of their Enemies, for their Mercies are Cruelties. God would show that he would admit no Competitors or human Agents in the Inflicting of his Punishments at this time; what was done should be by his own Hand; and therefore he seems Angry with the French, who would have made great Accessions to their Sorrows. His Providence in this Case seems audibly to say to them, I am sore displeased with you that are now at Ease, for I was but a little angry, and ye would help forward the Affliction; therefore God curbed their Malice, restrained their Power, and gave the Jamaicans a Signal Victory over them, as the History relates; yea, since their Miseries they have had reasonable good Weather, the Planters continue employed, Cottons and Indigo's, and other Commodities are providing for Sale, their Sugar-works little prejudiced, and what are damnified may be repaired before Crop-time; so that many Benefits remain, thô many are lost; their magazine of Powder in Port-Royal preserved, thô three parts of the Town are ruined, a convenient and safe place yet remains for the building of a New Town to the same Harbour; so that God has not quiter forgotten to be Gracious to 'em, nor suffered his Mercifulness to fail.  
9. From the whole Story, let us Contemplate the Happiness of those who {αβγδ}, receive an unshakable Kingdom, a Kingdom that cannot be moved: We see the Uncertainty and Instability of sublunary things. Political Societies are not immutable; the most extended Empires, most flourishing Monarchies, and best settled Aristocracies, States and Churches, die and crumble into nothing; Kings are set up and pulled down, Governments raised or depressed at the beck of the Universal Sovereign; at his Nod too Natures Works forsake their long established Laws, break their settled Peace, start from their wonted Course; unknown Revolutions turn all things upside down; 
Et quicquid gremio Lunae complectitur orbis, 
Buchan.   
Permutat, variatque vices, trepidoque tumulta  
Aestuat,& nunquam sentit pars ulla quietem,  
said ruit in seize,& civili vulnere semper  
Aut cadit, aut perimit, alioque renascitur ore  
Rursus ut intereat—  But happy they who are Members of that stable Society, against which the Gates of Hell shall not prevail, who are the true Subjects of that Kingdom which is ruled and defended by the King Eternal, Immortal and Invisible, and are related unto the Citizens and Court of Heaven, 
— Nitidi est sublimis Regia coeli  
Immunis senij,& vultu immutabilis uno  
Perpetuum servat solida& sincera Tenorem;  Where are no Commotions of the State, or Concussions of the Place; no Disorder in the Government, or Imperfections in the Subjects; no such Vicissitude as that of Day and Night, for they have no need of the Sun, neither of the Moon to shine in it, for the Glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the Light thereof; and the Gates of it shall not be shut at all by Day, for there shall be no Night there; of what sort soever, and how long soever the apocalyptic Reign shall be, which Divines so much speak of now a dayes, the faithful Servants of the Lord Jesus shall have their Portion in it: Or if only part of the raised Saints shall possess it, the rest shall not want it, as being blessed in Heaven; happy they who unweariedly seek that City above, whose builder and maker is God; who are invested with a Title to, and in some measure made meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in light; who are come to Mount Zion,( which no Earthquake shall reach) and unto the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of Angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the first born, which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the Spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, 
Heb: 12.22, 23, 24.  that speaketh better things than that of Abel.  
10. Hence let us be persuaded to be entire Followers of the Lamb, who can secure us from the Troubles of the World, and from the Wrath to come; who gives us now some Demonstrations of his Power and Displeasure, that we may be quickened to prepare for his second Appearing: If we are his, we shall be safe, tho' the cracked World should fall to pieces: He reigns still, and will reign till he hath trampled all his Enemies under his Feet: Thô he were dead, yet he's now alive, and lives for the safety of those for whom he dyed, and has Redeemed out of every Nation, and People, and Language; he now exhibits to the World some small dayes of Wrath, as Prologues to, and prognostics of that great day of Wrath, when the whole Globe shall flee in hast from his Presence, even the whole Terrestrial Globe, of which we are now apt to say 
— Stat nullo mobilis aevo  
Terra, 
Buchan.  supper solidae nitens fundamina molis  
Pollenti stabilita manu—  Not only shall some parts of this lower World start with the Fright of the Judge's Presence, but the vast Ball shall be ready then( if not now) to verify the Copernican Hypothesis, and perhaps shall then become the primum mobile; but to be sure, the Graves shall be opened, and the Archangel's Trumpet shall sound to the utmost Corners of the Earth; then the Tribunal shall be fixed, the Books of Records opened, the Criminals summoned, but shall be found loth to leave their Prisons, shall Wish for a more hideous Earthquake than that of Jamaica to swallow them up quick; shall call to the Mountains to fall on them, and the Hills to cover 'em from the Judge's Face and Sentence; but the Mountains shall skip like Rams, and the little Hills like young Sheep; then shall these poor Miscreants be doomed to Everlasting Destruction, from the Presence of the Judge and from the Glory of his Power; then shall those that Love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, lift up their Heads with Joy, they shall be openly Acknowledged, Dignified, crowned, and instated in the Everlasting Possession of that unmovable Kingdom, which here they were entitled to. O dreadful, 
Rev. 22.14  O joyful Day! But, Blessed are they that do his Commandments, that they may have right to the three of Life, and may enter in thro' the Gates into the City.  
FINIS.   

BOOKS lately Printed for, and Sold by Thomas Parkhurst, at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower End of Cheapside, near devil.  
SYnodicon in Gallia Reformata: Or, the Acts, Decisions, Decrees and Cannons of those Famous National Councils of the Reformed Churches in France, being a most Faithful and Impartial History of the Rise, Growth, Perfection, Decay of the Reformation in that Kingdom, with its fatal Catastrophe upon the Revocation of the Edict at Nants in the Year 1685. also the Confession of Faith and Discipline of those Churches, their Speeches, Sacred politics, Cases of Conscience, and Controversies in Divinity, &c. their Government, Laws, &c. Collected out of the Original Manuscript Acts of those Renowned Synods. In two Vol. Fol. By John Quick.  
A Body of Practical Divinity, consisting of above 176 Sermons on the lesser Catechism, Composed by the Reverend Assembly of Divines at Westminster, with a Supplement of some Sermons on several Texts of Scripture. By Thomas Watson, formerly Minister of St. Stephens Walbrook, London. Recommended by several Ministers to Masters of Families and others. In Folio.  
Theological Discourses and Sermons on several Occasions. In two Parts. By John walls, D. D. Professor of Geometry in Oxford. Quarto.  
A short Story of the Rise, Reign and ruin of the Antinomians, Familists and Libertines, that infected the Churches in New-England, &c.  
A Brief Tract on the Fourth Commandment, wherein is shown the Cause of all our Controversies about the Sabbath Day, and the means of reconciling them. Recommended by the Reverend Dr. Bates and Mr. John Howe.  
A Sermon Preached before the King and Queen at Whitehall, Nov. 5. 1692. By Richard Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.  
satan sifting, or the oil of Joy for the Spirit of Heaviness. In Octavo.  
Death Improved, and Immoderate Sorrow for Deceased Friends and Relations Reproved. By Edward Bury, formerly Minister at Great Bolas in Shropshire. Octavo.  
The Carnality of Religious Contention. In two Sermons Preached at the Merehants-Lecture in Broadstreet. By John Howe. Octavo.  
An Epistolary Discourse on the great Assistances to a Christians Faith, and for a more entire Rest and Assurance in the highest trials and Adventures thereof; with a second Part upon the Present Times, and these rare Vicissitudes of Providence in the public State of britain in this Age. Dedicated to her Majesty.  
A Discourse of Earthquakes, as they are Supernatural and Premonitory Signs to a Nation, with a respect to what hath occurred in this Year 1692. and some special Reflectiuns thereon, &c. These two last by R. Fleming, Minister at Rotterdam, Author of The Fulfilling of Scripture. Octavo.  
A Paraphrase, on the Psalms of David, in Metre. By the late Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter.