ground on every side cracks and opens like a gaping grave, or heaves and swells like a rolling sea. A noise of crashing is heard from without, occasioned by the rending streets, and falling structures. Thunders, infernal thunders,+ bellow from beneath, mingled with despairing shrieks and dying groans from those wretched creatures, who are jammed betweep the closing earth, or going down alive into the horrible. pit. Where now will you fly? To your strong towers! they are shattered in pieces. To the stronger rocks! they are thrown out of their place. To the open fields? they are a frightful gulf, yawning to devour you. Wherever you fly, in the wildness of your distraction wherever you seek for shelter, it shall be as if a man Zeph. i. 10. + Before the overthrow of Catania by an earthquake, a noise was heard, vast and horrid, as if all the artillery in the world was discharged at once. Very memorable, and equally tremendous, is the account of the earthquake that visited Sicily, in the year 1693. It shook the whole island. The mischief it caused is amazing. Fifty-four cities and towns, beside an incredible number of villages, were either demolished, or greatly damaged. Catania, one of the most famous and flourishing cities in the kingdom, was entirely destroyed. Of 18,914 inhabitants, 18,000 perished. Another earthquake almost as dreadful, and in the same year, spread desolation through the colony of Jamaica. In two minutes' time it shook down, and laid under water, nine-tenths of the town of Port Royal. In less than a minute, three quarters of the houses and the ground they stood un, together with the inhabitants, were quite sunk; and the little part left behind was no better than heaps of rubbish. The shake was so violent, that it threw people down upon their knees or their faces, as they were running about for shelter. The ground heaved and swelled like a rolling sea, and several houses still standing were shuffled some yards out of their places. The earth would crack and yawn, would open and shut, quick and fast; of which horrid openings, two or three hundred might be seen at once. in some whereof the people went down, and were seen no more; in some they descended, and rose again in other streets, or in the middle of the harbour. Some swiftly closing, seized the miserable creatures, and pressed them to death; leaving their heads or half their bodies above ground, to be a spectacle of terror, and a prey to dogs. Out of others would issue whole rivers of water, spouted to a great height in the air, and threatening a deluge to that part which the earthquake spared. Scarce a planting-house or sugar-work was left standing in all the island. Two thousand lives were lost, and a thousand acres of land sunk. The whole was attended with frightful noises, with brimstone blasts, and offensive smells. The noisome vapours belched forth, corrupted the air, and brought on a general sickness, which swept away more than three thousand of those who escaped the fury of the earthquake. See Chamb. Dict. on the word Earthquake. fed from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand upon the wall, and a serpent bit him." Yet there is one place of refuge, which will prove an inviolable sanctuary, and a perfect security; I mean the great, the gracious, the adorable Redeemer's righte ousness. Hither let us betake ourselves. Now, before the day of desolation cometh, let us betake ourselves to this strong-hold: then shall we have no reason to fear, though the earth be moved, and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea. For thus saith God, the omnipotent and faithful God: The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord' Jesus Christ will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the chil dren of Israel.'+ Or if the true believer is involved in the same undistinguished ruin with the ungodly, even this shall turn to his gain; it shall exempt him from the lingering pains, and the melancholy solemnities of a dying bed. Like Elijah's fiery chariot, it shall speedily waft his soul to the bosom of his Saviour; while the hideous cavern that whelms his body in the centre, shall be its chamber of rest, till the beloved Bridegroom comes, and the day of resurrection dawns. We lift up our eyes and behold the radiant colours which flush the forehead of the morning; we turn and gaze upon the no less beautiful tinges which impurple the cheek of evening; we throw around our view, and are delighted with numberless forms of fertility which both decorate and enrich our plains: whereas, other countries are overrun with immense swarms of locusts, which intercept, wherever they fly, the fair face of day; and destroy, wherever they alight, the green treasures of the ground. Ah! what avails it that the laborious hind sows his acres, or the skilful husbandman prunes his vineyard? that spring, with her prolific moisture, swells the bud; or with her delicate pencil paints the blossom? Nor grain, nor fruit, can hope for maturity, while these rapaAmos v. 19. ↑ Joel iii. 15, 16. cious and baleful creatures infest the neighbourhood. They ravage the gardens; they strip the trees; and shave the meadows: scarce a single leaf remains on the boughs, or so much as a single stalk in the furrows. A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing can escape them.'• Now let the dreadful artillery roar from all its iron throats, and disgorge the heaviest glut of mortal hail. Now, ye sons of slaughter, men 'skilful to destroy;'+ now huri the sulphureous globes, which kindle into a hurricane of fire, and burst in ragged instruments of ruin. To no purpose: the linked thunderbolts are turned into stubble; the bursting bombs are accounted as straw. These armies of the air laugh at all the formi. dable preparations of war; and when they fall on the sword, they shall not be wounded. Surprising and awful destination of the everlasting God, at once to stain the pride and chastise the guilt of man! These are a despicable and puny race, clad in no coat of mail, but crushed by the slightest touch; they wear neither sword, nor scimetar, nor any offensive weapon: yet in spite of opposing legions they carry on their depredations, and push their conquests. Terror marches A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth,' Joel ii. 3. This is one of those bold and expressive metaphors, in which the Hebrew language delights, and by which it is eminently distinguished. It signifies a total devastation of the vegetable produce; such as must ensue if a raging and resistless fire attended the progress of these pernicious animals; burning with such vehement impetuosity, that none could quench it; spreading such extensive havoc, that nothing could escape it. + Ezek. xxi. 31. The prophet Joel, foretelling the plague of locusts, gives, under the image of an embattled host, a most alarming display of their terrible appearance, their impetuous progress, the horrible dread they raise as they advance; and the irreparable mischief they leave as they depart; adding, among other amazing circumstances, 'When they fall upon the sword, they should not be wounded; which implies, I apprehend, that no method of slaughter should prove destructive to their troops, or that every expedient contrived for their suppression should be utterly bas fled; being, through their immense numbers, as invincible as if every one was absolutely invulnerable. For, though millions and millions should perish by the weapons of war, even such a blow, in reference to their whole collective body, should scarce be perceived as a loss, scarce be felt as a wound, neither diminishing their strength, nor retarding their march. Joel it. 8. in their front, and famine brings up the rear; they spread universal devastation as they advance, and frequently give the signal for the pestilence to follow. Potent armies lose their hands, and haughty tyrants tremble for their dominions. O! that the natives of Great Britain would bethink themselves; would break off their sins by righteousness, and their iniquities by cherishing the influences of the Divine Spirit; lest this overflowing scourge,' under which some neighbouring kingdoms have severely smarted, should be commissioned to visit our borders, and avenge the quarrel of its Maker's honour! Distant as those countless legions are, with interposing seas between, yet if God lift up a standard from far, or but hisst unto them from the ends of the earth; they come with speed swiftly.' Who will convey this wish to the ears, who will transmit it to the hearts of my countrymen; that our land may always appear, as it does at present, like the darling of Providence; may Overflowing scourge.' Isa. xxviii. 15. It is the property of a scourge to lash, of a river to overflow. The sacred writer (by an elegant #apovoμadia, which beautifies the original but cannot be preserved in the translation) has connected these different ideas and different effects. The vindictive visitation with which he threatens the disobedient Jews, shall pierce deep as a scourge and spread wide as an inundation: they shall feel it to their very souls, and it shall involve the whole nation in misery, auguish, and ruin. There seems to be such a form of expression in the service of our church; when we pray, in behalf of our fellow Chritians, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing: thatwhich may be refreshing and salutary as the dew, yet copious and abundant as the shower. +Hiss unto them,' Isa. v. 26. With great significancy and peculiar grandeur, the prophet applies this expression to the Lord God of Hosts, influencing the most powerful armies, g. d. They come, without a moment's delay, and from the remotest regions of the earth, to execute all his pleasure. Formidable and innumerable as they are, they come, I say not upon his repeated injunctions, or at his strict command, but at the first, the very smallest intimation of his will: such as the shepherds used to their flocks, such as the bee-men of old to their swarms, or such as we in these days to some of our domestic animals. The Hebrew I would not translate, 'At his whistie,' because this phrase in our language creates a vulgar sound, and conveys a low idea: but such is the import of the original; which denotes all that unconcerned ease of action, without any of the offensive familiarity of diction. always resound with the voice of joy, and be filled with the fruits of plenty; may always wear the robe of beauty, and be adorned with the smile of peace? How great are the advantages of peace! said Theron, Peace at her leisure plans, and leads out industry to execute, all the noble and commodious improvements which we behold on every side: peace sets the mark of property on our possessions, and bids justice guarantee them to our enjoyment: peace spreads over us the banner of the laws, while we taste, free from outrage and secure from injury, the milk and honey of our honest toil. Amidst the tumultuous confusions of war, who could have a heart to contrive, or a hand to accomplish, any such works of dignity and use? In those days of darkness and distraction, how languid to the sight are all the dewy landscapes of spring! how insipid to the taste are all the delicious flavours of autumn! When the nation is overrun with armies, and embroiled in slaughter, a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind,'t are the dismal distinction of the times. Instead of a calm acquiescence-in our portion, our very life hangs in continual suspense. But what are all the benefits of external peace, though displayed in the fairest light, and enlivened by the strongest contrasts; what are they all, compared with the blessings of the gospel, by which sinners may have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord?" Pax optima rerum,' says the Latin poet: but the Orientals, I think, discover the most superlative esteem for this blessing, by making it the constant form of their salutatious. and the suoiect of their most cordial wishes for their friends: Peace, be unto thee. In this short sentence they seem to have comprised a whole volume of mercies, meaning, by their single bw, all that the Greeks expressed by their χαίρειν, υγιαίνειν, ευπραττειν; I, e. a confluence of that joy of mind, that health of body, that prosperity of outward circumstances, which complete the happiness of mankind. We have a fine description of peace and its various blessings, I Maccab. xiv. 8, 9, &c. The picture is very exact, though per fectly artless: nothing should hinder me from transcrioing the passage but a fear of being too diffusive in my notes; lest the reader who expects a treat should complain of a glut, or have reason to object that the sideboard is more copiously furnished than the table. + Deut. xxviii. 65.] |