try, and the Means to prevent the fatal Consequences of such a Calamity. So (to mention no more) in that great Famine foretold by the Prophet Elijah, 1 Kings 17. God Almighty provided for him in a particular Manner, having first of all commanded the Ravens to fupply him with or perhep Bread and Flesh Morning and Evening,

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signifiés,

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the Arabs till the Brook that supplied him with Water was dried up: After which he exprefly or Arabian orders him to repair to the Widow of Zarephath, whom he had commanded to fustain him; which she was enabled to do, by a miraculous supply of Neceffaries, till God fent Rain upon the Earth. Whether it may be by this, or by any other Means, yet we may rest satisfied, that God knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of Temptations, (or Trials, as ἔκ πειρασμό may be better rendred) even as he delivered just Lot, vexed with the Con versation of the Wicked, out of the Flames that consumed the Ungodly; and saved Noah, a Preacher of Righteousness, from the Great Deluge that came upon the disobedient World, 2 Pet. 2.

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An Address to those who

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§9. To those therefore who are yet Strangers to this State, and to these Proare Stran-mises, it will not be amiss to apply the gers to this Advice given by the Prophet Daniel to King Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 4. 27. That they break off their Sins by Righteousness, and their Iniquities by shewing Mercy to the Poor; it may be a lengthening of their Tranquillity, or a deferring of their Punishment. As also that Passage of St. Hermas, in the Third Vision of the First Book, which relates to the glorious Building of the Triumphant Church, and the various Sorts of Reprobates, (Vide Locum, Edit. Cotel.) which by many Passages plainly refers to these Times; as also by the Title of the Chapter immediately following. (De Tentatione & Tribulatione, &c.) Where, when the Woman had shown him the Mystery of the Building, and the various Sorts and Orders of Men that should be rejected, she comes at last (§.9.) to put him, and in him the whole Church (to whom these Truths were to be committed. See the End of the preceding Chapter.) in mind of fome Duties, the practice of which would be extreamly necessary, in order to secure their Part in this Spiritual Building; amongst which she gives this as the chief. Abundantius autem inspertite egentibas, &c. i. e. But give liberally to them that be in need; for fome by too free Feeding, contract an Infirmity in their Flesh, and do Injury to their Bodies; whilst the 'Flesh of others, who have not Food, withers away, because they want sufficient Nourishment, and their Bodies are confumed. Wherefore this Intemperance 'is hurtful to you who have, and do not communicate to them that want. Prepare for the Judgment that is about to come upon you; ye that are the more Eminent, search out those that are Hungry, whilst the Tower is yet unfinished. For when the Tower is finished, ye shall be willing to do Good, and shall not find any Place for it. See therefore

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fore ye that glory in your Riches, left perhaps they groan who are in want, and their fighing come up unto God, and ye be shut out with your Goods without the Gate of the Tower. Thofe therefore who have exercised themselves in Abstinence and Alms-Deeds, shall be wrought into this Tower: i. e. Be living Members of Christ's Mystical Body, and by consequence shall escape those Evils and Punishments, which in the End of the following Chapter are foretold, as coming upon those who are shut out. Agreeable to which is that Declaration of our Blessed Lord, Matth. 25. 35. That in his Judgment of Men, he chiefly regards these Virtues, telling those Holy Souls whom he admitted into his Kingdom, that it was for (or because) they had fed him (in his Members) when he was hungry, and given him Drink when he was thirsty, took him in when he was a Stranger, and visited him in Prison. Such as these shall dwell on high, their place of Defence (in the Day of Evil) shall be the Munition of Rocks; (even the Rock of Ages, upon whom the whole Spiritual Building is founded, Jefus Chrift himself being the Head-corner Stone ;) Bread Shall be given them, their Waters shall be sure, Ifa. 33. 16.

Other leffer $10. THUS have I endeavoured to give Evils shall an Account of those Three Great Evils, prevail at viz. Of the Sword, Pestilence and Fathat time. mine; which shall be, as it were, the great and principal Strokes of that great Destruction, whereby God will punish the Apoftate

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Apostate World, when their Iniquities are come to the heighth. Befides which, we may imagine several other lesser Manifestations of Judgment and Terror ever now and then, flashing forth in a dreadful Variety, representing as well as punishing that vast Variety of Iniquities, in which the Body of Sin displays it self, though it be briefly expressed by that three-fold Divifion, The Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eye, and the Pride of Life. Such may be particularly, First, Strange Appearances in the Heavens, as Comets, &c. expressed in St. Luke 21. 25. By Signs in the Sun, and in the Moon, and in the Stars. By fearful Sights and great Signs, V. 11. 2dly, Earthquakes, foretold alfo by our Blessed Lord, Matth. 24.7. St. Mark 13. 8. St. Luke 21. 10. These have been lately felt in a dreadful manner in America, and fince that in Italy more than usual As alfo in our ownt and a Country, which has been all along reputed to be less subject to them than many other Countries, we have had feveral warning Shocks. 3dly, Tempestuous and Stormy Winds; such was that never-tobe-forgotten-one, in 1703, which made so many Widows and Orphans in this Nation; and which, like a Besom of Deftruction, swept through the Length of Europe, from the Shoars of the Atlantick Ocean, to the North of Moscory. 4thly, Innundations; such was (not to mention those occafioned by the aforesaid Tempeft) that dismal one which lately happened in Italy, in the Venetian Territories, which overflowed

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flowed vast Tracts of Land, and a very great Number of People and Cattle. Sthly, Fiery Eruptions out of the Bowels of the Earth; fuch have been very lately in the Canary-Islands, breaking out in different Places, where many of the Inhabitants perished, either by the Flames or by the Terror. So says the Apochryphal Author of the Second Book of Efdras, Chap. 15. speaking of the Destruction of Myftical Babylon, v. 38. There shall come great Storms from the South, and the North, and another part from the West, and strong Winds Shall arise from the East, &c. Fire, and Hail, and flying Swords, and many Waters, that all Fields may be full, and all Rivers with the abundance of great Waters. And they shall break down the Cities and Walls, Mountains and Hills, Trees of the Wood, and Grass of the Meadows, and their Corn. 6thly, Terrible Thunders and Lightnings; fuch as we have often experienced in most dreadful and fatal Instances; of which one Phenomenon in particular, our Modern Mechanical Philosophers have put us off with very trifling Accounts, the most probable of which would be easily confounded only by asking two or three Questions. But Job, who may be prefumed to have known as much of the Philofophy of Nature las any of them, calls it )רגן קלו( the angry Voice of God, Chap. 37. 2. Which, though our English Tranflation reads (the Noise of his Voice) so making the Word )רגן( signifie no more than Sonitus or Commotio, as fome + and much more than render our modern heathenish Sophs