Our SAVIOUR having foretold, That His Coming will be with all possible Surprise upon the World; like that of a Thief in the Night, wholly unlooked for; no more looked 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 Rouse 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, ⟨p. 27⟩which in Those Days more than ever shook the World, in Diverse Places, and especially that unparalleled one at Antioch, the second City of the World, when People were come together to wait upon the Emperor, 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 Believe, That all the Signs, which our LORD promised 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 Premonition 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 Glorious LORD is coming, [who can say, How Quickly!] to bring upon a sinful World.
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, ⟨p. 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.
