N00989:35
The voice of God, in stormy winds. Considered, in two sermons, occasioned by the…
The voice of God, in stormy winds. Considered, in two sermons, occasioned by the dreadful and unparalleled storm, in the European nations. Novemb. 27th. 1703. / By Increase Mather. ; [Five lines of quotations]The voice of God, in stormy winds. Considered, in two sermons, occasioned by the dreadful and unparallel'd storm, in the European nations. Novemb. 27th. 1703. / By Increase Mather. ; [Five lines of quotations]
printed by T. Green for Nicholas Buttolph, 1704
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The Prophet Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven. 2 King. 2.11. Many that belong to God have been translated to Heaven by a stormy Whirlwind, which has then been a Mercy to them. Yea, sometimes a dreadful Storm, has proved a Mercy to a whole Nation. So did that Hail-storm, which fell on the Army of the Canaanites, who were the Enemies of the Lords People, in the days of Joshua, when God did cast down Hail-stones from heaven which discomfited and destroyed them. A dreadful Storm that happened when the Israelitish Nation was under the Government of a Woman as the Chief Ruler, it was a National Mercy to the People of God. It is said concerning their Enemies, That the River of Kishan swept them away. Judg. 5.21 Writers tell us, that the River Kishon was fordable; ordinarily men might safely wade over it, but a sudden Storm raised the River so as that when the Canaanites in their Flight attempted to pass over it, they were drowned in it. And besides what is mentioned in the Scriptures, I may put you in mind of ⟨p. 30⟩other instances, in which Storms have proved a great Mercy to the Church of God. So it was in the Days of the Emperor Theodosius, when he was sorely distressed, and his Christian Army in extreme danger of being routed & ruined, the Lord by a Tempest caused the weapons of the Enemy to turn upon themselves, so that the Good Emperor and the Christians with him obtained a Glorious Victory. In the Year 719. a stormy Wind scattered a great Navy of the Saracens who were then infecting the Christian world, so that scarce Ten Ships of many Scores escaped that Destruction. Holland has often suffered much by Storms and Inundations. Nevertheless that which happened 1574. was a Mercy to that Nation: For it delivered them from the Spaniards, who were then Encamped before Leiden. The English Nation ought never to forget the memorable 1588. when the Spanish Armada thought to carry all before them, but they were in part destroyed by Storms; so that the Duke of Parma blasphemously said upon it, That the Four Elements were become Lutherans; and that God Almighty was a Lutheran on that Day. ⟨p. 31⟩So then dreadful Storms have sometimes been a Mercy to the Lords People, and therefore God sent them.