Transcriber's note.
This book contains variable punctuation, hyphenation, archaic and
inconsistent spelling as well as apparent printer errors which have been
retained as they appear in the original. For the reader's convenience
the table on page 146 was split.
Mark up: _italics_
THE STORM: OR, A COLLECTION Of the most Remarkable CASUALTIES AND
DISASTERS Which happen'd in the Late _Dreadful TEMPEST_, BOTH BY SEA
and LAND.
_The Lord hath his way in the Whirlwind, and in the Storm, and the
Clouds are the dust of his Feet._ Nah. I. 3.
_LONDON:_
Printed for _G. Sawbridge_ in _Little Britain_, and Sold by _J. Nutt_
near _Stationers-Hall_. M DCC IV.
THE PREFACE
_Preaching of Sermons is Speaking to a few of Mankind: Printing of
Books is Talking to the whole World. The Parson Prescribes himself, and
addresses to the particular Auditory with the Appellation of_ My
Brethren; _but he that Prints a Book, ought to Preface it with a_
Noverint Universi, _Know all Men by these Presents_.
_The proper Inference drawn from this remarkable Observation, is, That
tho' he that Preaches from the Pulpit ought to be careful of his Words,
that nothing pass from him but with an especial Sanction of Truth; yet
he that Prints and Publishes to all the World, has a tenfold
Obligation._
_The Sermon is a Sound of Words spoken to the Ear, and prepar'd only for
present Meditation, and extends no farther than the strength of Memory
can convey it; a Book Printed is a Record; remaining in every Man's
Possession, always ready to renew its Acquaintance with his Memory, and
always ready to be produc'd as an Authority or Voucher to any Reports he
makes out of it, and conveys its Contents for Ages to come, to the
Eternity of mortal Time, when the Author is forgotten in his Grave._
_If a Sermon be ill grounded, if the Preacher imposes upon us, he
trespasses on a few; but if a Book Printed obtrudes a Falshood, if a Man
tells a Lye in Print, he abuses Mankind, and imposes upon the whole
World, he causes our Children to tell Lyes after us, and their Children
after them, to the End of the World._
_This Observation I thought good to make by way of Preface, to let the
World know, that when I go about a Work in which I must tell a great
many Stories, which may in their own nature seem incredible, and in
which I must expect a great part of Mankind will question the Sincerity
of the Relator; I did not do it without a particular sence upon me of
the proper Duty of an Historian, and the abundant Duty laid on him to be
very wary what he conveys to Posterity._
_I cannot be so ignorant of my own Intentions, as not to know, that in
many Cases I shall act the Divine, and draw necessary practical
Inferences from the extraordinary Remarkables of this Book, and some
Digressions which I hope may not be altogether useless in this Case._
_And while I pretend to a thing so solemn, I cannot but premise I should
stand convicted of a double Imposture, to forge a Story, and then preach
Repentance to the Reader from a Crime greater than that I would have him
repent of: endeavouring by a Lye to correct the Reader's Vices, and sin
against Truth to bring the Reader off from sinning against Sence._
_Upon this score, tho' the Undertaking be very difficult among such an
infinite variety of Circumstances, to keep, exactly within the bounds of
Truth; yet I have this positive Assurance with me, that in all the
subsequent Relation, if the least Mistake happen, it shall not be mine._
_If I judge right, 'Tis the Duty of an Historian to set every thing in
its own Light, and to convey matter of fact upon its legitimate
Authority, and no other: I mean thus, (for I wou'd be as explicit as I
can) That where a Story is vouch'd to him with sufficient Authority, he
ought to give the World the Special Testimonial of its proper Voucher,
or else he is not just to the Story: and where it comes without such
sufficient Authority, he ought to say so; otherwise he is not just to
himself. In the first Case he injures the History, by leaving it
doubtful where it might be confirm'd past all manner of question; in the
last he injures his own Reputation, by taking upon himself the Risque,
in case it proves a Mistake, of having the World charge him with a
Forgery._
_And indeed, I cannot but own 'tis just, that if I tell a Story in Print
for a Truth which proves otherwise, unless I, at the same time, give
proper Caution to the Reader, by owning the Uncertainty of my Knowledge
in the matter of fact, 'tis I impose upon the World: my Relater is
innocent, and the Lye is my own._
_I make all these preliminary Observations, partly to inform the Reader,
that I have not undertaken this Work without the serious Consideration
of what I owe to Truth, and to Posterity; nor without a Sence of the
extraordinary Variety and Novelty of the Relation._
_I am sensible, that the want of this Caution is the Foundation of that
great Misfortune we have in matters of ancient History; in which the
Impudence, the Ribaldry, the empty Flourishes, the little Regard to
Truth, and the Fondness of telling a strange Story, has dwindled a great
many valuable Pieces of ancient History into meer Romance._
_How are the Lives of some of our most famous Men, nay the Actions of
whole Ages, drowned in Fable? Not that there wanted Pen-men to write,
but that their Writings were continually mixt with such Rhodomontades of
the Authors that Posterity rejected them as fabulous._
_From hence it comes to pass that Matters of Fact are handed down to
Posterity with so little Certainty, that nothing is to be depended upon;
from hence the uncertain Account of Things and Actions in the remoter
Ages of the World, the confounding the Genealogies as well as
Atchievements of_ Belus, Nimrod, _and_ Nimrus, _and their Successors,
the Histories and Originals of_ Saturn, Jupiter, _and the rest of the
Celestial Rabble, who Mankind would have been asham'd to have call'd_
Gods, _had they had the true Account of their dissolute, exorbitant, and
inhumane Lives_.
_From Men we may descend to Action: and this prodigious Looseness of the
Pen has confounded History and Fable from the beginning of both. Thus
the great Flood in_ Deucalion'_s_ Time _is made to pass for the
Universal Deluge: the Ingenuity of_ Dedalus, _who by a Clue of Thread
got out of the_ Egyptian _Maze, which was thought impossible, is grown
into a Fable of making himself a pair of Wings, and flying through the
Air:--the great Drought and violent Heat of Summer, thought to be the
Time when the Great Famine was in_ Samaria, _fabl'd by the Poets and
Historians into the Story of_ Phaeton _borrowing the Chariot of the
Sun, and giving the Horses their Heads, they run so near the Earth as
burnt up all the nearest Parts, and scorch'd the Inhabitants, so that
they have been black in those Parts ever since._
_These, and such like ridiculous Stuff, have been the Effects of the
Pageantry of Historians in former Ages: and I might descend nearer home,
to the Legends of Fabulous History which have swallow'd up the Actions
of our ancient Predecessors, King_ Arthur, _the Gyant_ Gogmagog, _and
the_ Britain, _the Stories of St._ George _and the_ Dragon, Guy _Earl
of_ Warwick, Bevis _of_ Southampton, _and the like_.
_I'll account for better Conduct in the ensuing History: and tho' some
Things here related shall have equal Wonder due to them, Posterity shall
not have equal Occasion to distrust the Verity of the Relation._
_I confess here is room for abundance of Romance, because the Subject
may be safer extended than in any other case, no Story being capable to
be crowded with such Circumstances, but Infinite Power, which is all
along concern'd with us in every Relation, is suppos'd capable of making
true._
_Yet we shall no where so Trespass upon Fact, as to oblige Infinite
Power to the shewing more Miracles than it intended._
_It must be allow'd, That when Nature was put into so much Confusion,
and the Surface of the Earth and Sea felt such extraordinary a Disorder,
innumerable Accidents would fall out that till the like Occasion happen
may never more be seen, and unless a like Occasion had happen'd could
never before be heard of: wherefore the particular Circumstances being
so wonderful, serve but to remember Posterity of the more wonderful
Extreme, which was the immediate Cause._
_The Uses and Application made from this Terrible Doctrine, I leave to
the Men of the Pulpit; only take the freedom to observe, that when
Heaven it self lays down the Doctrine, all Men are summon'd to make
Applications by themselves._
_The main Inference I shall pretend to make or at least venture the
exposing to publick View, in this case, is, the strong Evidence God has
been pleas'd to give in this terrible manner to his own Being, which
Mankind began more than ever to affront and despise: And I cannot but
have so much Charity for the worst of my Fellow-Creatures, that I
believe no Man was so hard'ned against the Sence of his Maker, but he
felt some Shocks of his wicked Confidence from the Convulsions of Nature
at this time._
_I cannot believe any Man so rooted in Atheistical Opinions, as not to
find some Cause to doubt whether he was not in the Wrong, and a little
to apprehend the Possibility of a Supreme Being, when he felt the
terrible Blasts of this Tempest. I cannot doubt but the Atheist's
hard'ned Soul trembl'd a little as well as his House, and he felt some
Nature asking him some little Questions; as these_--Am not I mistaken?
Certainly there is some such thing as a God--What can all this be? What
is the Matter in the World?
_Certainly Atheism is one of the most Irrational Principles in the
World; there is something incongruous in it with the Test of Humane
Policy, because there is a Risque in the Mistake one way, and none
another. If the Christian is mistaken, and it should at last appear that
there is no Future State, God or Devil, Reward or Punishment, where is
the Harm of it? All he has lost is, that he has practis'd a few needless
Mortifications, and took the pains to live a little more like a Man than
he wou'd have done. But if the Atheist is mistaken, he has brought all
the Powers, whose Being he deny'd, upon his Back, has provok'd the
Infinite in the highest manner, and must at last sink under the Anger of
him whose Nature he has always disown'd._
_I would recommend this Thought to any Man to consider of, one Way he
can lose nothing, the other he may be undone. Certainly a wise Man would
never run such an unequal Risque: a Man cannot answer it to Common
Arguments, the Law of Numbers, and the Rules of Proportion are against
him. No Gamester will set at such a Main; no Man will lay such a Wager,
where he may lose, but cannot win._
_There is another unhappy Misfortune in the Mistake too, that it can
never be discover'd till 'tis too late to remedy. He that resolves to
die an Atheist, shuts the Door against being convinc'd in time._
_If it shou'd so fall out, as who can tell,
But that there is a God, a Heaven, and Hell,
Mankind had best consider well for Fear,
't should be too late when his Mistakes appear._
_I should not pretend to set up for an Instructor in this Case, were not
the Inference so exceeding just; who can but preach where there is such
a Text? when God himself speaks his own Power, he expects we should draw
just Inferences from it, both for our Selves and our Friends._
_If one Man, in an Hundred Years, shall arrive at a Conviction of the
Being of his Maker, 'tis very well worth my While to write it, and to
bear the Character of an impertinent Fellow from all the rest._
_I thought to make some Apology for the Meanness of Stile, and the
Method, which may be a little unusual, of Printing Letters from the
Country in their own Stile._
_For the last I only leave this short Reason with the Reader, the Desire
I had to keep close to the Truth, and hand my Relation with the true
Authorities from whence I receiv'd it; together with some Justice to the
Gentlemen concern'd, who, especially in Cases of Deliverances, are
willing to record the Testimonial of the Mercies they received, and to
set their Hands to the humble Acknowledgement. The Plainness and Honesty
of the Story will plead for the Meanness of the Stile in many of the
Letters, and the Reader cannot want Eyes to see what sort of People some
of them come from._
_Others speak for themselves, and being writ by Men of Letters, as well
as Men of Principles, I have not Arrogance enough to attempt a
Correction either of the Sense or Stile; and if I had gone about it,
should have injur'd both Author and Reader._
_These come dressed in their own Words because I ought not, and those
because I could not mend 'em. I am perswaded, they are all dress'd in
the desirable, though unfashionable Garb of Truth, and I doubt not but
Posterity will read them with Pleasure._
_The Gentlemen, who have taken the Pains to collect and transmit the
Particular Relations here made publick, I hope will have their End
answered in this Essay, conveying hereby to the Ages to come the Memory
of the dreadfulest and most universal Judgment that ever Almighty Power
thought fit to bring upon this Part of the World._
_And as this was the true Native and Original Design of the first
Undertaking, abstracted from any Part of the Printer's Advantage, the
Editor and Undertakers of this Work, having their Ends entirely
answer'd, hereby give their humble Thanks to all those Gentlemen who
have so far approv'd the Sincerity of their Design as to contribute
their Trouble, and help forward by their just Observations, the
otherwise very difficult Undertaking._
_If Posterity will but make the desired Improvement both of the
Collector's Pains, as well as the several Gentlemens Care in furnishing
the Particulars, I dare say they will all acknowledge their End fully
answer'd, and none more readily than_
The Ages Humble Servant.
THE STORM
CHAPTER I
_Of the Natural Causes and Original of Winds_
Though a System of Exhalation, Dilation, and Extension, things which the
Ancients founded the Doctrine of Winds upon, be not my direct Business;
yet it cannot but be needful to the present Design to Note, that the
Difference in the Opinions of the Ancients, about the Nature and
Original of Winds, is a Leading Step to one Assertion which I have
advanc'd in all that I have said with Relation to Winds, _viz._ That
there seems to be more of God in the whole Appearance, than in any other
Part of Operating Nature.
Nor do I think I need explain my self very far in this Notion: I allow
the high Original of Nature to be the Great Author of all her Actings,
and by the strict Rein of his Providence, is the Continual and Exact
Guide of her Executive Power; but still 'tis plain that in Some of the
Principal Parts of Nature she is Naked to our Eye, Things appear both in
their Causes and Consequences, Demonstration gives its Assistance, and
finishes our further Enquiries: for we never enquire after God in those
Works of Nature which depending upon the Course of Things are plain and
demonstrative; but where we find Nature defective in her Discovery,
where we see Effects but cannot reach their Causes; there 'tis most
just, and Nature her self seems to direct us to it, to end the rational
Enquiry, and resolve it into Speculation: Nature plainly refers us
beyond her Self, to the Mighty Hand of Infinite Power, the Author of
Nature, and Original of all Causes.
Among these Arcana of the Sovereign Oeconomy, the Winds are laid as far
back as any. Those Ancient Men of Genius who rifled Nature by the
Torch-Light of Reason even to her very Nudities, have been run a-ground
in this unknown Channel; the Wind has blown out the Candle of Reason,
and left them all in the Dark.
_Aristotle_, in his Problems, Sect. 23. calls the Wind _Aeris Impulsum_.
_Seneca_ says, _Ventus est Aer Fluens_. The _Stoicks_ held it, _Motum
aut Fluxionem Aeris_. Mr. _Hobs_, Air mov'd in a direct or undulating
Motion. Fournier, _Le Vent et un Movement Agitation de l'Air Causi par
des Exhalations et Vapours_. The Moderns, a Hot and Dry Exhalation
repuls'd by Antiperistasis; _Des Cartes_ defines it, _Venti Nihil sunt
nisi Moti & Dilati Vapores_. And various other Opinions are very
judiciously collected by the Learned Mr. _Bohun_ in his Treatise of the
Origin and Properties of Wind, P. 7. and concludes, '_That no one
Hypothesis, how Comprehensive soever, has yet been able to resolve all
the Incident Phenomena of Winds_. Bohun _of Winds_, P. 9.
This is what I quote them for, and this is all my Argument demands; the
deepest Search into the Region of Cause and Consequence, has found out
just enough to leave the wisest Philosopher in the dark, to bewilder his
Head, and drown his Understanding. You raise a Storm in Nature by the
very Inquiry; and at last, to be rid of you, she confesses the Truth,
and tells you, _It is not in Me, you must go Home and ask my Father_.
Whether then it be the Motion of Air, and what that Air is, _which as
yet is undefin'd_, whether it is a Dilation, a previous Contraction, and
then violent Extension as in Gun-Powder, whether the Motion is Direct,
Circular, or Oblique, whether it be an Exhalation repuls'd by the Middle
Region, and the Antiperistasis of that Part of the Heavens which is set
as a Wall of Brass to bind up the Atmosphere, and keep it within its
proper Compass for the Functions of Respiration, Condensing and
Rarifying, without which Nature would be all in Confusion; whatever are
their efficient Causes, 'tis not much to the immediate Design.
'Tis apparent, that God Almighty, whom the Philosophers care as little
as possible to have any thing to do with, seems to have reserv'd this,
as one of those Secrets in Nature which should more directly guide them
to himself.
Not but that a Philosopher may be a Christian, and some of the best of
the Latter have been the best of the Former, as _Vossius_, Mr. _Boyle_,
Sir _Walter Raleigh_, Lord _Verulam_, Dr. _Harvey_, and others; and I
wish I could say Mr. _Hobbs_, for 'twas Pity there should lie any just
Exceptions to the Piety of a Man, who had so few to his General
Knowledge, and an exalted Spirit in Philosophy.
When therefore I say the Philosophers do not care to concern God himself
in the Search after Natural Knowledge; I mean, as it concerns Natural
Knowledge, _meerly as such_; for 'tis a Natural Cause they seek, from a
General Maxim, That all Nature has its Cause within it self: 'tis true,
'tis the Darkest Part of the Search, to trace the Chain backward; to
begin at the Consequence, and from thence _hunt Counter_, as we may call
it, to find out the Cause: 'twould be much easier if we could begin at
the Cause, and trace it to all its Consequences.
I make no Question, the Search would be equally to the Advantage of
Science, and the Improvement of the World; for without Doubt there are
some Consequences of known Causes which are not yet discover'd, and I am
as ready to believe there are yet in Nature some _Terra Incognita_ both
as to Cause and Consequence too.
In this Search after Causes, the Philosopher, tho' he may at the same
Time be a very good Christian, cares not at all to meddle with his
Maker: the Reason is plain; We may at any time resolve all things into
Infinite Power, and we do allow that the Finger of Infinite is the First
Mighty Cause of Nature her self: but the Treasury of Immediate Cause is
generally committed to Nature; and if at any Time we are driven to look
beyond her, 'tis because we are out of the way: 'tis not because it is
not in her, but because we cannot find it.
Two Men met in the Middle of a great Wood; One was searching for a Plant
which grew in the Wood, the Other had lost himself in the Wood, and
wanted to get out: The Latter rejoyc'd when thro' the Trees he saw the
open Country: but the Other Man's Business was not to get out, but to
find what he look'd for: yet this Man no more undervalued the
Pleasantness of the Champion Country than the other.
Thus in Nature the Philosopher's Business is not to look through Nature,
and come to the vast open Field of Infinite Power; his Business is in
the Wood; there grows the Plant he looks for; and 'tis there he must
find it. Philosophy's a-ground if it is forc'd to any further Enquiry.
The Christian begins just where the Philosopher ends; and when the
Enquirer turns his Eyes up to Heaven, Farewel Philosopher; 'tis a Sign
he can make nothing of it here.
_David_ was a good Man, the Scripture gives him that Testimony; but I am
of the Opinion, he was a better King than a Scholar, more a Saint than a
Philosopher: and it seems very proper to judge that _David_ was upon the
Search of Natural Causes, and found himself puzzled as to the Enquiry,
when he finishes the Enquiry with two pious Ejaculations, _When I view
the Heavens the Works of thy Hands, the Moon and the Stars which thou
hast made; then I say, what is Man_! _David_ may very rationally be
suppos'd to be searching the Causes, Motions, and Influences of Heavenly
Bodies; and finding his Philosophy a-ground, and the Discovery not to
answer his Search, he turns it all to a pious Use, recognizes Infinite
Power, and applies it to the Exstasies and Raptures of his Soul, which
were always employ'd in the Charm of exalted Praise.
Thus in another Place we find him dissecting the Womb of his Mother, and
deep in the Study of Anatomy; but having, as it may be well supposed, no
Help from _Johan Remelini_, or of the Learned _Riolanus_, and other
Anatomists, famous for the most exquisite Discovery of human Body, and
all the Vessels of Life, with their proper Dimensions and Use, all
_David_ could say to the Matter was, _Good Man_, to look up to Heaven,
and admire what he could not understand, _Psal.--I was fearfully and
wonderfully made_, &c.
This is very Good, and well becomes a Pulpit; but what's all this to a
Philosopher? 'Tis not enough for him to know that God has made the
Heavens, the Moon, and the Stars, but must inform himself where he has
plac'd them, and why there; and what their Business, what their
Influences, their Functions, and the End of their Being. 'Tis not enough
for an Anatomist to know that he is fearfully and wonderfully made in
the lowermost Part of the Earth, but he must see those lowermost Parts;
search into the Method Nature proceeds upon in the performing the Office
appointed, must search the Steps she takes, the Tools she works by; and
in short, know all that the God of Nature has permitted to be capable of
Demonstration.
And it seems a just Authority for our Search, that some things are so
plac'd in Nature by a Chain of Causes and Effects, that upon a diligent
Search we may find out what we look for: To search after what God has in
his Sovereignty thought fit to conceal, may be criminal, and doubtless
is so; and the Fruitlesness of the Enquiry is generally Part of the
Punishment to a vain Curiosity: but to search after what our Maker has
not hid, only cover'd with a thin Veil of Natural Obscurity, and which
upon our Search is plain to be read, seems to be justified by the very
Nature of the thing, and the Possibility of the Demonstration is an
Argument to prove the Lawfulness of the Enquiry.
The Design of this Digression, is, in short, That as where Nature is
plain to be search'd into, and Demonstration easy, the Philosopher is
allow'd to seek for it; so where God has, as it were, laid his Hand upon
any Place, and Nature presents us with an universal Blank, we are
therein led as naturally to recognize the Infinite Wisdom and Power of
the God of Nature, as _David_ was in the Texts before quoted.
And this is the Case here; the Winds are some of those Inscrutables of
Nature, in which humane Search has not yet been able to arrive at any
Demonstration.
'The Winds,' _says the Learned Mr._ Bohun, 'are generated in the
Intermediate Space between the Earth and the Clouds, either by
Rarefaction or Repletion, and sometimes haply by pressure of Clouds,
Elastical Virtue of the Air, &c. from the Earth or Seas, as by Submarine
or Subterraneal Eruption or Descension or Resilition from the middle
Region.'
All this, though no Man is more capable of the Enquiry than this
Gentleman, yet to the Demonstration of the thing, amounts to no more
than what we had before, and still leaves it as Abstruse and Cloudy to
our Understanding as ever.
Not but that I think my self bound in Duty to Science in General, to pay
a just Debt to the Excellency of Philosophical Study, in which I am a
meer Junior, and hardly any more than an Admirer; and therefore I cannot
but allow that the Demonstrations made of Rarefaction and Dilatation are
extraordinary; and that by Fire and Water Wind may be rais'd in a close
Room, as the Lord _Verulam_ made Experiment in the Case of his Feathers.
But that therefore all the Causes of Wind are from the Influences of the
Sun upon vaporous Matter first Exhal'd, which being Dilated are oblig'd
to possess themselves of more Space than before, and consequently make
the Particles fly before them; this does not seem to be a sufficient
Demonstration of Wind: for this, to my weak Apprehension, would rather
make a Blow like Gun-Powder than a rushing forward; at best this is
indeed a probable Conjecture, but admits not of Demonstration equal to
other Phænomena in Nature.
And this is all I am upon, _viz._ That this Case has not equal Proofs of
the Natural Causes of it that we meet with in other Cases: The Scripture
seems to confirm this, when it says in one Place, _He holds the Wind in
his Hand_; as if he should mean, Other things are left to the Common
Discoveries of Natural Inquiry, but this is a thing he holds in his own
Hand, and has conceal'd it from the Search of the most Diligent and
Piercing Understanding: This is further confirm'd by the Words of our
Saviour, _The Wind blows where it listeth, and thou hearest the Sound
thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh_; 'tis plainly express'd to
signify that the Causes of the Wind are not equally discover'd by
Natural Enquiry as the rest of Nature is.
If I would carry this Matter on, and travel into the Seas, and Mountains
of _America_, where the Mansones, the Trade-Winds, the Sea-Breezes, and
such Winds as we have little Knowledge of, are more common; it would yet
more plainly appear, _That we hear the Sound, but know not from whence
they come._
Nor is the Cause of their Motion parallel to the Surface of the Earth,
a less Mystery than their real Original, or the Difficulty of their
Generation: and though some People have been forward to prove the
Gravity of the Particles must cause the Motion to be oblique; 'tis plain
it must be very little so, or else Navigation would be impracticable,
and in extroardinary Cases where the Pressure above is perpendicular, it
has been fatal to Ships, Houses, _&c._ and would have terrible Effects
in the World, if it should more frequently be so.
From this I draw only this Conclusion, That the Winds are a Part of the
Works of God by Nature, in which he has been pleased to communicate less
of Demonstration to us than in other Cases; that the Particulars more
directly lead us to Speculations, and refer us to Infinite Power more
than the other Parts of Nature does.
That the Wind is more expressive and adapted to his Immediate Power, as
he is pleas'd to exert it in extraordinary Cases in the World.
That 'tis more frequently made use of as the Executioner of his
Judgments in the World, and extraordinary Events are brought to pass by
it.
From these three Heads we are brought down directly to speak of the
Particular Storm before us; _viz._ The Greatest, the Longest in
Duration, the widest in Extent, of all the Tempests and Storms that
History gives any Account of since the Beginning of Time.
In the further Conduct of the Story, 'twill not be foreign to the
Purpose, nor unprofitable to the Reader, to review the Histories of
ancient Time and remote Countries, and examine in what Manner God has
been pleas'd to execute his Judgments by Storms and Tempests; what kind
of things they have been, and what the Consequences of them; and then
bring down the Parallel to the Dreadful Instance before us.
We read in the Scripture of Two Great Storms; One past, and the Other to
come. Whether the last be not Allegorical rather than Prophetical, I
shall not busie my self to determine.
The First was when God caused a strong Wind to blow upon the Face of the
Delug'd World; to put a stop to the Flood, and reduce the Waters to
their proper Channel.
I wish our Naturalists would explain that Wind to us, and tell us which
way it blew, or how it is possible that any direct Wind could cause the
Waters to ebb; for to me it seems, that the Deluge being universal, that
Wind which blew the Waters from one Part must blow them up in another.
Whether it was not some perpendicular Gusts that might by their Force
separate the Water and the Earth, and cause the Water driven from off
the Land to _subside_ by its own Pressure.
I shall dive no farther into that mysterious Deluge, which has some
things in it which recommend the Story rather to our Faith than
Demonstration.
The Other Storm I find in the Scripture is in the _God shall rain upon
the Wicked, Plagues, Fire, and a horrible Tempest_. What this shall be,
we wait to know; and happy are they who shall be secured from its
Effects.
Histories are full of Instances of violent Tempests and Storms in sundry
particular Places. What that was, which mingled with such violent
Lightnings set the Cities of _Sodom_ and _Gomorrah_ on fire, remains to
me yet undecided: nor am I satisfied the Effect it had on the Waters of
the Lake, which are to this Day call'd the _Dead Sea_, are such as some
fabulous Authors have related, and as Travellers take upon them to say.