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It is faid in Heb. x. 26-31. If we fin wilfully after that we have received the Knowledge of the Truth, there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sin, but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment, and fiery Indignation, which shall devour the Adverfaries [of God.] He that defpifed Mofes's Law died without Mercy under two, or three Witnesses: Of how much forer Punishment, fuppofe ye, fhall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under Foot the Son of God, and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant, wherewith he was fantified, an unholy Thing, and hath done Despite unto the Spirit of Grace: For we know him that hath faid, Vengeance belongeth unto me, faith the Lord. And again, The Lord fhall judge his People. It is a fearful Thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God.

That the Inhabitants of L- — and W have long, and most dreadfully provoked the Wrath of the Holy God, and go on ftill multiplying the Provocations of his deftroying Judgments, is undeniably evident from what his Lordship the Bishop of London, in his most seasonable and ferious Letter to the Clergy and People of thefe Cities, has very juftly obferved.

The Righteous God has not only manifested amazing Patience and Forbearance towards us, and the reft of the People of Great Britain; but he has, through a Course of many Years, and by various Difpenfations of his Providence, both merciful and afflicting, been calling us to Repentance, and Reformation, calling us to feek Peace with him: And he has given awful Tokens of his Indignation, on the account of the numberlefs Sins against him, by which the Land is polluted; Tokens that the Time of his tremendous Vifitation for Sin is very near; nay, but rather that is already begun.

I ball only mention Two Particulars out of many, viz. 1. The MORTALITY, which, for fome Years, has been deftroying the larger Cattle; by which

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God plainly admonishes us, that if we will not be reformed by fuch Judgments, he will deftroy our Perfons. 2. The EARTHQUAKES, which have lately happened. 1. The Mortality among the Cattle is one fearful Token. For after God had threatened to inflict divers Calamities on his People, if they would not hearken to him, and would not do all his Commandments, if they fhall defpife his Statutes, or if their Soul fhould abhor his Judgments, fo that they would not do all his Commandments, but break his Covenant; I fay, after God had denounced various Judgments to be inflicted on them for their Sins, one of which was, that he would deftroy their Cattle. (Lev. xxvi. 22.) He fays, If ye will not be reformed by me, by thefe Things, but will walk contrary unto me, then I will also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you feven Times for your Sins. And I will bring a Sword upon you, that shall avenge the Quarrel of my Covenant: And when ye are gathered together within your Cities, I will fend the Peftilence among you, and ye shall be delivered into the Hand of the Enemy. Vid. Lev. xxvi. 23, 24, 25.

The Holy God, by continuing the mortal Sickness among the Cattle, tells us, that his Wrath is not turned away from us, that we muft repent, and amend our Ways, or expect to feel his Vengeance in our Perfons; and by the flow Progrefs of the Mortality among the Cattle, through a Courfe of feveral Years, he fhews himself a moft merciful God, and that he is loth to destroy us. Therefore,

If People will not hearken to the Almighty, but go on in their Trefpaffes, their Guilt will be most heinously aggravated, and the Righteousness of God's deftroying Judgments will be most confpicuous, when they fhall be executed.

The other Token of God's Displeasure and Controverfy with us, are the EARTHQUAKES, which

have lately happened, not only under thefe Two great Cities, but in other Parts of this Kingdom.

EARTHQUAKES are the Productions of the Almighty Power of God; and happen only when and where he commands them to happen: No Aftronomer, no Philofopher, can tell when or where the terrible and mighty CONVULSIONS of the Earth fhall be: No, no more than they can tell when the Wind will change from Eaft to Weft, or to any other Point of the Compafs, or how long it fhall blow from this or that Quarter, or when it fhall raife Storms and Tempests: And although natural Caufes may be employed in producing fuch' Effects, yet it is God who manages thefe natural Caufes, and who can reftrain, or quicken their Agency as he pleafes, and who always does fo.

It is the Mighty God, who makes the Earth to tremble; therefore faid David (Pfalm lx. 12.) O God, thou hast caft us off, thou haft scattered us, thou baft been displeased; O turn thyself to us again. Thou baft made the Earth to tremble, thou haft broken it: Heal the Breaches thereof, for it shaketh.

The Lord is the true God, and an everlasting King : At bis Wrath, the Earth fhall tremble, and the Nations fhall not be able to abide bis Indignation, faid the Prophet, Jer. x. 10.

And the Prophet Ifaiah, declaring God's Indignation against the Inhabitants of Jerufalem, for their Sins, fays to them; Thou shalt be vifited of the Lord of Hofts with Thunder, and with Earthquake, and great Noife, with Storm, and Tempest, and the Flame of devouring Fire, Ifaiah xxix. 6.

And doubtless, when any other People fall under the like Guilt, they fall under the like Threatenings, which will be executed when ever the Lord pleases.

The Divine Power is never idle, or inactive: As it did act in the Creation of the Univerfe, fo it is always

always acting in upholding, preferving, and regulating all the Parts of it: and fome Things appear to be the immediate Effects of the Divine Agency; particularly, the Course of the Wind, whence, and whither it blows, Storms, and Tempefts, Thunderings, and Lightenings, and Earthquakes. They that go down to the Sea in Ships, that do Business in great Waters; thefe fee the Works of the Lord, and his Wonders in the Deep. For be commandeth, and raiseth the Stormy Wind, which lifteth up the Waves thereof, Pfal. cix. 23, 24, 25.

The Agency of the Power of God appears like wife in his Management of Things in the Moral World, the Concerns of rational Creatures, the Things in which Nations, Cities, and Families, and particular Perfons are concerned. Shall there be Evil in the City, and the Lord hath not done it, it is faid, Amos iii. 6.

FAMINES, and PESTILENCES, and EARTHQUAKES are tremendous Judgments of the Almighty and Holy God, by which Multitudes have been deftroyed; yet, tremendous as they are, they are mentioned by our Bleffed Saviour as foregoing SIGNS of greater Miseries. For after he had foretold them, he fays, All these are the Beginning of Sorrows. Mat.

xxiv. 8.

And have not Famines, and Peftilences, and Earthquakes, been lately in divers Places? And hath not the Inhabitants of Great Britain, and its Cities, long, even through the Course of many Years, been provoking the Most High? Have they not been regardless of his Laws, affronting his Authority, and defying his Juftice, and his Power? And do they not still go on in their evil Ways, and in a dreadful Rebellion a gainst him? And what will be the End of fuch a defperate Courfe! Are not greater Calamities, and greater Destructions of Sinners, to be feared, and expected?

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The Prophet Ifaiab having expoftulated with the Inhabitants of Judab for their Wickedness, and Incorrigibleness, under thofe Judgments, which had been inflicted on them, adds, (Isaiah i. 24.) Therefore faith the Lord, the Lord of Hofts, the Mighty One of Ifrael, Ab, I will eafe me of mine Adverfaries, and avenge me of mine Enemies. And who are these? Doubtless, all who lead ungodly Lives: They evidently appear to be God's Enemies by their wicked Works and inexpreffible are the Terrors of the Time, when the Righteous God fhall avenge himfelf of them.

I may likewise observe, that after the Prophet had faid to the Lord, Thou haft forsaken thy People, he fays to the People, Enter into the Rock, and bide thee in the Duft for Fear of the Lord, and for the Glory of his Majesty, (vid. Ifaiah ii. 6, 10.) And he foretels their going into the Clefts of the Rocks, and into the Tops of the ragged Rocks, for Fear of the Lord, and for the Glory of his Majefty, when be fhall arife to fbake terribly the Earth.

When the incorrigible Sinners fhall come to fee the dreadful Execution of God's threatened Judgments, when the Arrows of his Wrath fhall fly thick around them, when they fhall hear nothing but dreadful Tidings, when they fhall hear and fee of many Families, and Multitudes destroyed, or reduced to extreme Diftrefs and Mifery, who a little before enjoyed Health, Profperity, and Peace; when Dangers thicken about them, when their guilty Souls fhall be filled with horrible Fears, they may fly from their Dwellings, and feck hiding Places for their Security, but they cannot fly from God, nor get out of the Reach of his Arm: Whitherfoever they fhall go, the Juft God is there; if in the City there comes a Peftilence, or Famine, without it the Sword may devour.

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