by the ground moving east or west, and not towards the river. This appears likewise by part of a ploughed field, which has been torn from the rest, and carried several yards to the south-west, as the direction of the furrows evidently demonstrates. From these observations we may conclude, that it was an earthquake, accompanied by a considerable eruption of air: And this appears from the sudden gust of wind, that shook Samuel Cookson's windows, and affected a yew tree, which seems to have been blasted, as well as two young trees, whose leaves have also turned yellows They stand at the end of the long chasm, just in the way from it to the house where the sudden blast terrified the farmer at the time of the desolation. This sentiment is confirmed, not only by the accident of the house at Buildwas, which unaccountably moved, cracking in several places, and partly sunk in, two days before; but by another singular earthquake that was, it seems, both felt and heard a little after at Hennington, in Shiffnal parish; though the earth did not open there, as it did at the Birches. D It seems, the matter, which was the second cause of our phenomenon, operated near the surface of the earth, and consequently could not cause those violent shocks and convulsions, which are felt far and near, when she is affected in her inmost bowels. Perhaps also the confined matter, that struggled for a vent, finding one soon, and working itself out gradually when it had found it, at once caused the earthquake to last longer upon the desolated spot, and prevented its being felt at a greater distance. ནན་ But whatever the second or natural cause of our phenomenon was, it is certain that the first or moral cause of it is two-fold; on our part, aggravated sin; and on God's part, warning justice. The design of the following discourse, was to point out that moral cause to inconsiderate spectators in gene.. ral; and in particular to excite, in the hearts of my parishioners, an unfeigned gratitude for our preservation, and a salutary fear of the Almighty, who equally fulfils his providential will by storms or inundations, consumptions or fevers, famine or pestilence, slips or earthquakes. Should the reader wish to know why I preached on that occasion upon the ruins, I will ingenuously tell him by what accidents and reasons I was induced to take that step. The day the earth opened at the Birches, as I considered one of the chasms, several of my parishioners, whom curiosity had brought to the awful spot, gathered around me. I observed to them, that the sight before us, was a remarkable confirmation of the first argument of a book called "An Appeal to Matter of Fact, or a rational Demonstration of Man's fallen and lost Estate," which I had just publishsd, as a last effort to awaken to a sense of the fear of God, the careless gentlemen of my parish, to whom it is dedicated. Having a few copies about me, which I was going to present to some of them, I begged leave to read that argument. And, as I read, I enlarged a little upon the following passages. 6 "Does not the natural state of the earth cast a light upon the spiritual condition of its inhabitants? Amidst a thousand beauties that indicate what it was when God pronounced it 'very good,' and (as the original imports also,) extremely beautiful,' can an impartial inquirer help taking notice of a thousand striking proofs, that a multiplied curse rests upon this globe; and that man, who inhabits it, is now disgraced by the God of nature and providence? "Here deceitful morasses, or faithless quicksands, obstruct our way; there, miry impassable roads, or inhospitable sandy deserts, endanger our life. In one place, we are stopt by stupendous chains of rocky mountains, broken into frightful precipices or hideous caverns; and in another we meet with ruinous vallies, cut deep by torrents, whose tremendous roar stuns the astonished traveller, &c. ." Nor does heaven alone dart destructive fires; earthour mother earth, as if it were not enough frequently to corrupt the atmosphere by pestilential vapours, borrows the assistance of the devouring (or of the fluid) element, to terrify and scourge her guilty children. By sudden frightful chasms, and the mouths of her burning mountains, she vomits clouds of smoke, sulphurcous flames, and calcined rocks; she emits streams of melted minerals; and as if she wanted to ease herself of the burden of her inhabitants, suddenly rises against them, and in battles of shaking, at once crushes, destroys and buries them (or, as in the present case, their fields and buildings, their bridges and roads, their woods and rivers,) in heaps of ruins. "When these astonishing scenes are past, they may indeed entertain us like a bloody battle that is seen at a distance; they may amuse our imagination when in a peaceful apartment we behold them beautifully represented by the pen of a Virgil, or the pencil of a Raphael. But to be in the midst of them, as thousands are sooner or later, is inexpressibly dreadful. It is actually to see the forerunners of Divine vengeance, and to hear the shaking of God's destructive rod. It is to behold at once a lively emblem, and an awful pledge, of that fire and brimstone, storm and tempest, which the righteous Governor of the world will rain upon the ungodly; when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise; the elements shall melt away with fervent heat; and the earth, with the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. "Now as reason loudly declares, that the God of order, justice, and goodness, could never establish, and continue this fearful course of things, but to punish the disorders of the moral world by those of the natural, we must conclude that man is guilty, from the alarm. ing tokens of Divine displeasure, which (sooner or later) are so conspicuous in every part of the habitable globe," and which are now so clearly seen, so sensibly felt in this ruinous spot. I concluded my reading and remarks by thanksgiving and prayer; beseeching the Preserver of men to bless the dreadful phenomenon before us, not only to the awakening of those who were then present, but of all the impenitent in the land; that when they should hear, voking him by their crying sins to stop our rivers, overthrow our roads, cut off our harvest, carry away our lands, sink our buildings, and bury us in such immense and fearful graves, as had been instantaneously dug around us that morning. Perceiving that seriousness sat upon all faces-remembering the apostolic precept, Preach the word: Be instant in season and out of season,' which is abundantly confirmed by these words of our Church in the communion-service, "It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks to almighty God;" hoping also that curiosity might bring some of the most profane to hear a sermon and join in thanksgiving on so extraordinary an occasion, and flattering myself that the sight of the ruins would fix the attention of the most trifling auditors, and add solemnity to the devotion of the most serious; I told the people then present, that if they would come again the next evening to the same place, I would endeavour to echo back and improve the loud call to repentance, which God had given us that day. They readily consented; and when I came at the time appointed, to my vast surprise, I found a great concourse of people, and among them several of my pa. rishioners, who had never been at church in all their lives; to whom after prayer and thanksgiving, suitable to the uncommon circumstances, I then preached a sermon, of which (so far as I can recollect) the reader may find the substance, with some additions, in the following pages. May it have a better effect upon him, that it had upon some gentlemen that heard it! Whether they would also preach in their way a lecture to drunken colliers, waggoners, and bargemen; whether they would give me to understand, in the face of heaven and earth, that no ordinary nor extraordinary calls, should ever make them regard the public worship of Almighty God; or whether they would shew, on the margin of the newlyformed chasms (those uncommon and dreadful graves) their approbation of the Heathenish maxim mentioned by St. Paul, Let us drink, for to-morrow we die,' I MADELEY, July 6, 1773. JOHN FLETCHER. |