N02463:74
The terror of the Lord. Some account of the earthquake that shook New-England, in…
The terror of the Lord. Some account of the earthquake that shook New-England, in the night, between the 29 and the 30 of October. 1727. : With a speech, made unto the inhabitants of Boston, who assembled the next morning, for the proper exercises of religion, on so uncommon, and so tremendous an occasion. : [One line from Corinthians]
Boston: printed by T. Fleet for S. Kneeland, 1727
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.
And here, first, see the forlorn and frighted Aspect ⟨p. 36⟩of the Wicked; How their Countenance is changed, and their Thoughts trouble them, and their knees do smite one against another! Their Flesh it self evidently quivering, and their Hearts failing for fear, and for looking after: be Things that are coming on the Earth! — And NOW, they wish, Oh! That I were in good Terms with Heaven! they think; Well, If they may escape this once, how they will Exercise themselves unto Godliness; how Regularly they will order their Conversation; how conscientiously they will work out their own Salvation! — Sayest thou so, Friend? — But Oh! Let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more! We shall see, how they remember the Vows of GOD upon them; how they behave themselves.
And here, first, see the forlorn and frighted Aspect ⟨p. 36⟩of the Wicked; How their Countenance is changed, and their Thoughts trouble them, and their knees do swite one against another! Their Flesh it self evidently quivering, and their Hearts failing for fear, and for looking after: be Things that are coming on the Earth! — And NOW, they wish, Oh! That I were in good Terms with Heaven! they think; Well, If they may escape this once, how they will Exercise themselves unto Godliness; how Regularly they will order their Conversation; how conscienciously they will work out their own Salvation! — Sayst thou so, Friend? — But Oh! Let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more! We shall see, how they remember the Vows of GOD upon them; how they behave themselves.
But then, the Righteous! Mark the perfect Man, and behold the Upright; See the Peace of GOD that fortifies him, even, when he has a prospect of his End just come upon him. There is indeed a Reverence and godly Fear with which he regards what the great GOD is doing in an Earthquake. Even a Moses himself is an Example of it. He is neither a Stoic, nor a Mocker. But yet — not Afraid with any Amazement! — you may see an Amiable Serenity in him, when all the World about him is in an uproar. How free from the Commotions, and Convulsions and Confusions, with which the reft of the World is agitated. Even an Heathen Poet, celebrates it among the privileges and prerogatives of a Virtuous Man, Let an Earthquake break and sink the World, [Impavidum serient Ruinae]