Practical Reflections on the Late Earthquakes, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX.
God will yet preſerve his Church, and enlarge the Kingdom of Chriſt; tho Particular Churches and Countries may be deſtroyed. The Accompliſhment of Scripture-Prophecies and Promiſes, uſher'd in by great Commotions, and by Earthquakes. Some Inſtances thereof.
LAſtly, However God may deal with any particular Branch of the Proteſtant, Reformed Churches, as to National Judgments; yet we may hope he will gloriouſly Accompliſh his own Work, for the ſpreading, and inlarging of the Kingdom of Chriſt; and that all the Shakings of Heaven and Earth, ſhall but make way for the Deſire of all Nations to come. God has preſerved his Church hitherto, notwithſtanding all Oppoſition. The Preſervation of the Venetian Government for eleven or twelve hundred Years, is nothing to the Continuance and Progreſs of the Chriſtian Church, in the midſt of Paganiſm, Atheiſm, Antichriſtianiſm, Deiſm, Arianiſm, Socinianiſm, and all the Scoffs, and Reproaches, and Oppoſition of ſenſual profane Infidels. It hath born up its Head under all the Revolutions, and Changes of Countries and Nations; notwithſtanding all the Wars, and Confuſions, and Overturnings, that have been in the World. The Kingdom of Chriſt is an Everlaſting Kingdom, and ſhall endure; he will always have a Church, and People, againſt whom the Gates of Hell ſhall not prevail. Tho famous Countries and Cities have been deſtroyed, that made a great Figure in Hiſtory, whereof nothing is now left but their very Name; and hardly ſo much of their Duſt and Aſhes, as will ſuffice to write their Names in. But Jeruſalem that is from above, the City of the Great King, which is built upon the Rock, doth and ſhall indure. No Length of Time can weaken this Foundation, no Storms can ſhake it, no Earthquakes overturn it, no Waves or Floods drown it. There ever hath been, and will be, a Church of Chriſt on Earth, profeſſing ſo much Truth as is neceſſary to Salvation. He hath appointed his Ordinances, and a Miniſtry to continue to the End of the World, and promiſed his Preſence with them: He hath appointed the Memorial of his Dying Love to be kept up, till his ſecond Coming: And therefore will always have a People, amongſt whom theſe ſhall be kept up. Tho particular Churches, in this Country, or another, may have their Riſe, Growth, and Period, as there have been particular Inundations in ſeveral Countries, notwithſtanding the Oath of God to Noah, that there ſhould not be another General Deluge: But the Truth of God endures throughout all Generations: Mount Sion abideth for ever, and cannot be moved; and all the Promiſes of the latter Days ſhall certainly be accompliſhed: Though I will not be poſitive, as to the Time of thoſe things, ſo as to ground any Aſſurance concerning their near Accompliſhment, or the particular Share of this Nation in them: Yet as to ſuch prophetick Periods, God will break through all Obſtructions to accompliſh his own Counſel. And what the preſent Shakings, and Convulſions of the Nations round about, may iſſue in, who can tell? For never was any great Good to the Church, or any conſiderable Reformation introduc'd, without great Commotions. And Literal Earthquakes are often taken notice to have preceded.
About the Beginning of the Reformation from Popery, An. 1569, and 1570, there was one in Ferraria, which Country was lately given to the Pope, and in Portugal, whereby *P. Jovius.Lisbon was ſhaken, 1500 Houſes ruined, all the Temples turn'd into Rubbiſh, the Ships ſwallowed up in the Ocean, the River thrown out of its Channel. And the ſame Earthquake affected the Netherlands, and cauſed great Inundations of the Sea. And the like formerly is obſervable before the Diviſion of the Roman Empire into ten Kingdoms, that there were frequent Earthquakes, and other Prodigies. Before Saladin attempted the Overthrow of Jeruſalem, and to ravage the Holy Land, An. 1172. *Saladinus adjecit animum ad Regni Jeroſolymitani everſionem, praevio, ut ſolet fieri, Terrae motu, quo Antiochia, Laodicea, Alapia, Caeſarea, Emiſſa, Tripolis, aliaeque Urbes ferè conciderunt. Cluverius.great Earthquakes preceded. Anno 1300. when the Turkiſh Empire began to be conſiderable, there †Platina.was ſuch an Earthquake at Rome, as the like never was before. As when the Pagan Empire was to turn Chriſtian, in the time of Conſtantine the Great; great Earthquakes alſo did precede: by one whereof thirteen Cities in Campania were overthrown.
Great Deſigns of Providence being ſerv'd, and the Changes of States and Countries uſher'd in by Earthquakes, after the mention of that Terrible One in the Days of Ʋzziah King of Judah, Zech. 14.5. it is added, And the Lord my God ſhall come, and all the Saints with thee: Or thus, And yet O Lord my God come, and all the Saints with thee. Notwithſtanding our Fears and Terrors, without this we ſhould not ſee thy Salvation. Dr. *Dr. Jackſon's Works, Tom. 2. Part 2. lib. 7. p. 526.Jackſon thinks that Earthquakes were Emblems, and Types of that Great Change by the Miniſtry of John the Baptiſt, our Lord's Forerunner, in the 15th Year of Tiberius, who declared the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand; when Publicans and Sinners were advanc'd, and the Children of Abraham, who gloried in their Birthright, were debaſed; when poor Fiſhermen became Heads of the Tribes of Iſrael, greater Men in the Houſe of God, than Moſes and Aaron had been; while the Succeſſors of Moſes, the Chief Prieſts and Doctors of the Law, were infatuated, and like Salt without Taſte or Savour. And he reckens the Prophecy of Iſaiah, chap. 40.14. Every Valley ſhall be exalted, and every Mountain and Hill ſhall be brought low, was fulfilled, and anſwered in its literal Meaning (in part at leaſt) by that Terrible Earthquake in the 6th or 7th Year of the Emperor Tiberius, which overthrew twelve famous Cities in Aſia. For among other Symptoms of it, Tacitus *Sediſſe immenſos Montes, viſa in arduo quae plana ſuerint. Tacit. Annal. lib. 2.relates this for one, that the Valleys were exalted, and mighty Hills brought low. Before the Accompliſhment of divers Prophecies, God gives ſome Glimpſe or Hint, by ſome real Event, anſwerable to the plain literal Senſe of the Prophet, but immediate Prognoſticks of Greater Myſteries approaching.
He ſaith farther, that the Earthquake which happened in Jewry, while Auguſtus Ceſar, and Anthony tried their Fortunes in that great and famous Seafight at Actium, was in part an Accompliſhment of the Prophet Haggai his literal meaning, chap. 2.6, 7. Yet once, it is a little while, and I will ſhake the Heavens, and the Earth, and the Sea, and the dry Land: And I will ſhake all Nations, &c. This ſhaking of the Nations, and of the Earth at that time, was a ſore Prognoſtick of that Myſtery, which the Prophet in the following Verſes foretells, viz. That the Glory of the latter Temple ſhould be greater than the Glory of the former; and that He, who was the Deſire of all Nations, and the Glory of both Temples, the Prince of that Peace which God had promiſed to give in Jeruſalem, ſhould ſhortly come. For about twelve Years after, Herod erects the Temple anew, and made it even for External Pomp and Ornament, more Beautiful than Solomon's Temple had been; that the King of Glory, and Prince of Peace, for whoſe Entertainment (though unwitting to Herod) it was erected, might come into it, and fill it with Glory. And within eighteen Years after Herod began this Work, our Lord was preſented in it, and acknowledged by Simeon to be the Light of the Gentiles, (or one deſired of all Nations) and the Glory of his People Iſrael.
Great Revolutions, and Changes ſometimes for the better, but more often for the worſe, have been obſerv'd to follow Earthquakes, as to Natural, Civil, and Eccleſiaſtical Affairs: Let me mention ſome Inſtances.
Three Cities in *Oroſius, l. 7. c. 9.Cyprus fell by an Earthquake, in the time of Veſpaſian and Titus, followed with a great Peſtilence at Rome. In Julian's †Sozomen, l. 6. c. 2. Theodoret, l. 4. c. 4.time there were ſeveral great Earthquakes, followed with a terrible Famine at Alexandria, and in Egypt ‖See Hottingeri Diſſert. de Terrae motu, Diſſ. 4. Quaeſt. 3. Unde Terrae motus immittantur, fintne fortutti, purè naturales, an foreign?.
An. D. 342. Conſtantius made ſeveral beneficial Laws for the People, and renewed the Privileges granted to Artificers. It is obſerv'd he was conſtrain'd thereunto by a ſenſe of Publick Calamities: for during the War with Perſia, and about thoſe Times, great Miſchiefs had proceeded from many, and moſt Terrible *Howel's Gen. Hiſt. Vol. 2. p. 83, 84.Earthquakes. St. Jerom in his Cronicon tells us, that the Year following the Death of Conſtans the Younger, many Cities of the Eaſt fell to the Ground by an horrible Motion of the Earth. And ſome three Years after this, that Neocaeſarea was overturn'd, and all its Inhabitants periſhed, except ſuch as were ſaved with the Biſhop in the Church: as alſo that the Year following this, and preceding the building of the Haven in Seleucia, Dirrachium was by an Earthquake demoliſhed, Rome trembled for three Days, and as many Nights, and many Towns of Campania were ſorely troubled. To theſe Cedrenus adds, that in the fourth or fifth Year of Conſtantius, Antioch was endangered by an Earthquake of three days continuance; that in his eighth Year Rhodes was much diſtreſſed by the ſame Accident: That when Dirrachium, the City of Dalmatia, periſhed, and Rome was in ſuch Danger, twelve Cities of Campania were deſtroyed: And that in the twelfth Year of Conſtantius, the greater part of Berytus, the City of Phaenicia, alſo miſcarried. In which Year alſo happened an Eclipſe of the Sun, on the ſixth Day of the Month Deſius. The ill Succeſs of Conſtantius in the Perſian War, was by the more Orthodox Chriſtians, according to the Judgment of Parties, concluded to have happened to him, becauſe of his adhering to, and countenancing the Arian Hereſy.
An. 344. In the fifth Year after the Death of Conſtantine, (Marcellus and Probinus being Conſuls) a Synod was held at Antioch that condemn'd Athanaſius, and only in Words profeſs'd to own the Nicene Faith, but really to condemn it, and ſubſtitute another in its room. This Impiety God declared againſt by *Socrat. Hiſt. Eccleſ. l. 2. c. 7, & 10.Terrible Earthquakes, ſay the Hiſtorians of that Time, eſpecially at Antioch, for above a Year together.
An. 366. while Procopius's Rebellion was yet but little advanc'd, July 21. in the Conſulſhip of the two Emperors, Valentinian and Valens, there hapned ſuch Horrible Earthquakes throughout the World, as neither true Hiſtorians have related the like, nor Fables themſelves repreſented to us. A little after the Day dawn'd, there was a great Tempeſt of Thunder and Lightning, which was followed by ſo dreadful a Trembling of the Earth, that the Sea alſo was ſhaken therewith, and deſerted the Shore, and its ancient Bounds for a great ſpace; and the Depth of its Channels were diſcovered; multitudes of Fiſh were ſeen to ſtick in the Mud, and the Unequalneſs of the Seas Bottom appear'd, here Hills, and there Valleys, which never had before ſeen the Sun, ſince at the Original of all things they were firſt overwhelm'd with the Floods. Many Ships were left on the dry Ground, and Swarms of People flew thither to catch Fiſh; when ſuddenly the Sea, as diſdaining to be impriſon'd, return'd to its former Place with ſuch Fury, that not containing it ſelf therein, but tranſported beyond its Bounds, by the Violence of its Rage and Motion, it overturned Houſes and other Buildings innumerable, drowned many Thouſands of Men, and overwhelmed numbers of Ships; Great Veſſels were by the Violence of theſe Guſts blown upon the Tops of Houſes, as it happened at Alexandria, and ſome near two Miles from the Shore, as Ammianus Marcellinus (who relates theſe things, lib. 26.) ſaw one himſelf *Howel's Gen. Hiſt. Vol. 2. p. 231. ad An. C. 366.. This Prodigy we cannot take to have ſignified any thing to Procopius's Rebellion, ſo much as that Dreadful Inundation made into the Roman Empire by the Northern Nations, which ſhortly after happened; and the Ruin of the Weſtern Provinces, which followed thereupon.
In the Year 430, a great *Triceſimo deinde Anno Theodoſii, Terrae motus facti ſunt ingentes per menſes aliquot integros, maximarum Praenuntii Mutationum, quibus Reſpublica tum Eccleſiaſtica, tum Mundana mox laboravit, ac tantum non occidit. Romanum tum Praeſulatum accepit Lea, qui primus in omnes totius Orbis Chriſtiani Epiſcopos dominatum, ſibi aliquem, ut Privilegio Petro dato, coepit arrogare. Cluverius, p. 322.Earthquake preceded the Death of one of the beſt Emperors, viz. Theodoſius, as the Fore-runner of Great Changes. Some †Howel's Hiſt. p. 673.think this the ſame with that An. 446. which Marcellinus writes to have happened in the Confulſhip of Aelius and Sepronius: which raged in many places, and therein overturned many Cities; the Wall of Conſtantinople, tho but new built, it threw to the Ground, with fifty ſeven Turrets: Stones of great Bulk, lately plac'd in the Building of the Forum of Taurus, fell down. Many Towns were ruined; and a Peſtilent Vapour aroſe, which cauſed a Plague; and this joined with a Famine, deſtroyed many Thouſands. The Civil Motions and Ruptures in the Roman Empire, were agreeable hereunto.
This Earthquake in the Reign of Theodoſius, Evagrius *Lib. 1. cap. 17.ſaith was the Greateſt, and moſt memorable of all others: Such as by its Greatneſs rendred inconſiderable all that went before it. It afflicted, he had almoſt ſaid, the whole World. The Earth gaped, and ſwallowed many Villages, beſides many other, nay innumerable Calamities both by Sea and Land. Some Fountains were dried up; in other Places Water in great quantity broke out, where formerly it had not been known: Great Trees were torn up by the Roots: Heaps of Earth were ſo ſhaken together, that they were raiſed into Mountains. The Sea caſt forth dead Fiſhes: In it many Iſlands were overwhelmed and ſunk: Ships ſailing in the Sea, by a ſudden Retroceſſion of the Water, were left on dry Ground. In concluſion, many Places of Bithynia, the Helleſpont, and both the Phrygia's were grievouſly diſtreſs'd. This Diſaſter a long time and ſorely afflicted the World. *Lib. 14. cap. 46.Nicephorus writes, that it continued ſix Months, and that in a manner without Interruption; that it reached Alexandria, but eſpecially afflicted Antioch. Beſides the Countries mentioned by Evagrius, it invaded the greateſt part of the East, and ſpared not many Regions of the West. He adds, that the People of Conſtantinople not daring to ſtay in the City, for fear of the fall of Houſes, continued together with the Emperour, and Proclus their Patriarch, in the Fields, inſtant in Prayer for the removal of ſo heavy a Judgment.— Theodoſius, when delivered from the Danger of the Earthquake, preſently betook himſelf to repair the Walls of Conſtantinople, &c.
When *Theodoret, l. 5. c. 34.Chryſoſtom was baniſh'd, in the beginning of the fifth Century, by the Emperour Arcadius, from the Church of Conſtantinople, the ſame Night was a great Earthquake that ſhook the Emperor's Palace, and threatned the Ruine of it; on which Meſſengers were ſent to recal him.
An. 458. Evagrius writes of a great †Howel's Hiſt. p. 202.Earthquake that happened at Antioch, which the Citizens had ſad cauſe to remember. Before it began, ſome of the Inhabitants were ſeized with an extraordinary Madneſs, ſuch as ſeemed to exceed all Ferity of wild Beaſts, and to be the Prelude to that Calamity which followed on the fourth Day of the Month Gorpiaeus, which the Romans call September, about the fourth Hour of the Night, and the fifty ſixth Year of the Life of Leo. It overturned almoſt all the Buildings of the new City, which was well peopled, and none of it forſaken or empty, being curiouſly built by the Magnificence of Emperours, who ſtrove to exceed each other in the Adornment of it. The firſt and ſecond Fabricks in the Palace were alſo caſt down, the reſt ſtanding, together with a Bath; which having formerly been neglected, now when by the Earthquake the reſt were choaked up, ſtood the Citizens in very good ſtead. Many other Damages of this Earthquake are there mentioned, (with ſome Differences as to Chronology) and the Diſorder of publick Matters, as the Murder of Majorianus, joint Emperour in the Weſt with Leo in the Eaſt, &c.
An. D. 557. There was a violent Earthquake, with great Noiſes and Tempeſts, at Conſtantinople and Rome, in *Agathias, who continued the Hiſtory of Procopius.Juſtinian's time, followed the next Year with a great Plague at Conſtantinople. The Earthquake which ſhook that City three Years before, laſted forty Days, and deſtroyed many Places in the Eaſt.
In the Year 648, before the †Cent. Magdeburg. cent. 7. c. 13.Saracens overrun Africa, there were many great Earthquakes in the time of the Emperor Conſtans. The like ‖Ingruentium Maloru praenuncius. Cluver. p. 350, 406.Earthquakes followed with great Calamities in the Eaſt, were obſerv'd, An. 679.
In the Year 740, was another at Conſtantinople, which alſo deſtroyed many Cities of Aſia, and laſted above a Twelve-month. This was thought to (*)Cent. Magdeb. cent. 8. c. 13. Cluver. p. 358.forebode the Death of the Emperor Leo, the Loſs of Artabaſdus, and the Conqueſt of Conſtantinople, which ſoon after followed.
In the Year 791, in the time of the Empreſs Irené, a great Favourer and Patroneſs of Image-Worſhip, was *Hoſpinian de orig. Templorum. l. 2. c. 16.another violent Earthquake at Conſtantinople.
In the Year 1077, the Earthquake on the 6th of April, in the 15th Year of the Reign of King William the Conqueror, was followed by many Calamities, ſay Matthew Paris, Speed, &c.
In the Year 1088, the Earthquake in the time of William Rufus, or William the Second, was followed with ſuch unſeaſonable Weather, that there was no Seeds-time till December.
In the Year 1298, the Earthquake at Rome, in the time of †Inſtabat nimirum ferale ſeculum, quo ſolvendus e carcere Satanas, ſurſum deorſum omnia volutare cogitabat. Cluver. p. 497.Boniface the Eighth, (who fainted away for fear, and afterwards publiſh'd a Jubilee) was followed with many Calamities.
An. Dom. 1509. On the 14th of September there happened a terrible Earthquake at ‖Knolles's Turkiſh Hiſtory. Bajazet the Second.Conſtantinople, and the Country thereabouts, in the time of Bajazet the Second; by the violence whereof, a great part of the Walls of that Imperial City, with many ſtately Buildings, both publick and private, were overthrown, and thirteen thouſand People overwhelmed and ſlain. The Terror thereof was ſo great, that the People generally forſook their Houſes, and lay abroad in the Fields: Yea, Bajazet himſelf, then very aged and ſore troubled with the Gout, for fear thereof, went from Conſtantinople to Adrianople; but finding himſelf in no more ſafety there than before, he left the City, and lay abroad in the Fields in his Tent. This Earthquake endured by the ſpace of eighteen Days; or, as the Turks Hiſtories relate, for a Month, with little Intermiſſion. Which was then accounted ominous, as portending the miſerable Calamities which afterwards happened in the Ottoman Family.
After this Earthquake enſued a great Plague; where with the City was grievouſly viſited, and for the moſt part unpeopl'd. But when the Earthquake ceas'd, and the Mortality was aſſwaged, Bajazet cauſed the Imperial City to be repaired with all ſpeed, and employed eighty thouſand Men about it; who, in the ſpace of four Months, in a moſt beautiful Manner, repaired the Ruins of that great City.
An. 1510. The late Wars of the French in Savoy, were thought to be foreſhewn by many Prodigies, and even thoſe preceded by an Earthquake in Apulia, whereby more than ſixteen thouſand Perſons were overwhelm'd; after which enſued the War, which devoured more than a Million of Men.
An. 1631. The like terrible Earthquake in February, was in, and about the City of Naples, before the Commotions, and Troubles there: which did ſuch Miſchief as to Houſes, Men, Women and Cattel, as can't be expreſs'd.
In the Year 1590. The Election of Pope Ʋrban the Seventh, was ſignalized by an Earthquake, which made Auſtria, Bohemia, and Moravia to tremble, and was followed by an extraordinary Drought. Gregory XIV. quickly ſucceeded, and died in ten Months. There was ſuch a Famine and Plague in *Cluverius, citing Thuanus.Italy that Year, that above 60000 died.