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It is said 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 Adversaries [of God.] He that despised Moses's Law died without Mercy under two, or three Witnesses: Of how much forer Punishment, Suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under Foot the Son of God, and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant, wherewith he was fanctified, an unholy Thing, and hath done Despite unto the Spirit of Grace: For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, faith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his People. It is a fearful Thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God.

That the Inhabitants of Land W have long, and most dreadfully provoked the Wrath of the Holy God, and go on still multiplying the Provocations of his destroying 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 these Cities, has very justly observed.

The Righteous God has not only manifested amazing Patience and Forbearance towards us, and the rest of the People of Great Britain; but he has, through a Course of many Years, and by various Dispensations 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 numberless Sins against him, by which the Land is polluted; Tokens that the Time of his tremendous Visitation for Sin is very near; nay, but rather that is already begun.

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

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God plainly admonishes us, that if we will not be reformed by such Judgments, he will destroy 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 shall despise his Statutes, or if their Soul should 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 destroy their Cattle. (Lev. xxvi. 22.) He says, If ye will not be reformed by me, by these I hings, but will walk contrary unto me, then. I will also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you seven 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 Pestilence 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 must repent, and amend our Ways, or expect to feel his Vengeance in our Persons; and by the flow Progress of the Mortality among the Cattle, through a Course of feveral Years, he shews himself a most merciful God, and that he is loth to destroy us. Therefore,

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

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

have lately happened, not only under these 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 Astronomer, no Philosopher, can tell when or where the terrible and mighty CONVULSIONS of the Earth shall be: No, no more than they can tell when the Wind will change from East to West, or to any other Point of the Compass, or how long it shall blow from this or that Quarter, or when it shall raise Storms and Tempests: And although natural Causes may be employed in producing such Effects, yet it is God who manages these natural Causes, and who can restrain, or quicken their Agency as he pleases, and who always does so.

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

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

And the Prophet Ifaiah, declaring God's Indignation against the Inhabitants of Jerufalem, for their Sins, says to them; Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of Hosts with Thunder, and with Earthquake, and great Noise, 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 Universe, so it is always

always acting in upholding, preserving, 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 Tempests, Thunderings, and Lightenings, and Earthquakes. They that go down to the Sea in Ships, that do Business in great Waters; these see 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 Persons 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 destroyed; yet, tremendous as they are, they are mentioned by our Blessed Saviour as foregoing SIGNS of greater Miseries. For after he had foretold them, he says, All these are the Beginning of Sorrows. Mat. κχίν. 8.

And have not Famines, and Pestilences, 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 Justice, 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 Course! Are not greater Calamiti.s, and greater Deftructions of Sinners, to be feared, and expected?

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The Prophet Ifaiah having expoftulated with the Inhabitants of Judah for their Wickedness, and Incorrigibleness, under those Judgments, which had been inflicted on them, adds, (Isaiah i. 24.) Therefore faith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, the Mighty One of Ifrael, Ab, I will ease me of mine Adversaries, 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 inexpressible are the Terrors of the Time, when the Righteous God shall avenge himfelf of them.

I may likewise observe, that after the Prophet had faid to the Lord, Thou hast forsaken thy People, he fays to the People, Enter into the Rock, and bide thee in the Dust for Fear of the Lord, and for the Glory of bis 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 Majesty, when be shall arife to shake terribly the Earth.

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

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