Page:The Philosophy of Earthquakes, Natural and Religious.djvu/58

 54 material nature, like the roaring waves of the ocean, that flow in, and overwhelm every thing, where a breach is made. They can observe no distinction between the lands of a righteous man, and of a sinner: they cannot stop at the breach, and gather themselves on an heap, and not enter in at all, as the waters of Jordan did.

But in the case before us, the hand of the Lord, that stayed the flowing of the waters, that quelled the raging of the sea, and its proud waves; sets bounds to the trembling of the earth. Hither shall its vibrations go, and no further. When alas, if it went but one inch further (in comparison) a total ruin must unavoidably follow.

Consider this particular, when apply'd to all the buildings in this immense city: and wonder and adore, that almighty providence, which overlook'd us, and prescrib'd the limits; so narrow, so precise; which sav'd us from universal havoc!

II. Did we escape; how much happier are we, than the millions that have perished by the like calamity? Josephus the famous Jewish historian records, that about 29 years before our Saviour's birth, there happened such an earthquake in the country of Judea, that 30,000 men perished. In