Chapter XI: Popular Puritan Literature

AN EARTHQUAKE IN BOSTON.

On the Lord's day, June 3, 1744, between ten and eleven o'clock, there was experienced at Boston, a violent earthquake, "which was felt for above an hundred of miles." The matter, naturally somewhat startling and impressive, called forth from some unknown author, an elaborate poem, the purpose and spirit of which will be readily understood by a few extracts. It is printed on a sheet, about 12 by 20 inches, in three columns, and was "sold by Benjamin Gray, in Milk Street, 1744." The first portion and some other parts of the poem are missing from the copy we have. Somewhere near the middle of the first column our quotations commence:--

"Again the Lord did shake the Earth,
While Christ was in the Tomb,
When from the glorious Heavenly World
A glorious Angel came.
Behold there was at that same Time
An Earthquake strong and great,
Which made the Watchmen at the Tomb
To tremble, shake and quake.
Again when Paul and Silas was
Once into Prison cast,
And cruelly the Keeper had
In stocks made their feet fast,
Like the dear Children of the Lord,
They to their Father sing,
They praises sing unto the Lord
Till all the Prison did ring.
When lo! immediately there was
A terrible Earthquake,
Which made the whole foundation of
The Prison-House to shake.
The Doors fly open by its Power
And now wide open stand,
'Till these dear Prisoners of the Lord
Are loosed from their Bands.
And thus we see in very Truth,
This wondrous Work is done,
By none but the eternal God,
And Israel's holy One.
And that they're tokens of his Wrath,
O, let not one gain-say,
For sure the Lord is much provok'd,
When he speaks in this way.
Be then excited, O, dear Friends
With vigorous accord,
And all the might and strength you have,
To turn unto the Lord.
For lo! on the last Sabbath day,
The Lord did plainly shew,
What in a single moment's time
He might have done with you.
A solemn warning let it be,
To all with one accord
For their Souls precious Life to haste
Their turning unto God.

* * * * *

"Perhaps you'll think the Danger's past
That all is safe and sure
Because the mighty God hath said
He'll drown the world no more.
But, oh! consider dearest Friends,
How vast his judgments are,
And if you are resolv'd to Sin
To meet your God prepare.
Who hath his Magazines of Fire,
In Heaven and Earth and Seas,
Which always wait on his Command,
And run where'er he please.
If God the awful word but speak,
And bid the Fire run,
The Magazines together meet,
And like a furnace burn.
Above our Head, below our Feet,
God Treasures hath in Store;
And when he gives out his Command,
The Volcano's will roar.
Amazingly the Earth will quake,
The World a flaming be
When God, the great, the mighty God
Gives forth his just Decree.

* * * * *

"That man can't be prevail'd upon
Tho' with our strong desire,
To get prepar'd against the Day
When all the World on Fire
Shall burn and blaze about their Heads,
And they no Shelter have;
No Rock to hide their guilty Heads,
No, nor no watery Grave.
For Rocks will melt like Wax away
Before the dreadful Heat,
And Earth and Sea and all will flame
In one consuming Heap.
The Earth beneath abounds with Stores
Of Oils and Sulphurs too,
And Turfs and Coals, which all will Flame,
When God commands the blow.
The flaming Lightning which we see
Around the Heavens run,
Do livelily now represent
The Conflagration.
Those flaming magazines of God
Have fire enough in store,
And only wait their Lord's commands
To let us feel their power.
When once receiv'd they then will run,
They'll run from Pole to Pole,
And all the strength of Earth and Hell
Cannot their power controle.
Justly may we now stand amaz'd,
At God's abundant Grace,
To think so base and vile a World
Is not all in a Blaze;
When far the greatest part thereof
Are poor vile Infidels,
Among the Christian part thereof
Are sins as black as Hell."

In conclusion, these "precious souls" are entreated to join with one accord

"In praising of the Holy Name,
Of the Eternal God."

Earthquakes were at one time rather common in New England, but nothing to be compared to their frequency in England. It is said that in what is called the "mobile district," of Comrie, in Perthshire, during the winter of 1839 and 1840, they had one hundred and forty earthquakes, being at the rate of about one shock a day on an average; and it is added, "They seldom do much harm."

The following is a memorandum, probably nearly correct and complete, of earthquakes experienced in Boston, between the years 1636 and 1817; and it may be considered fortunate that they were not all commemorated by Puritan poets.

1638. June 1. Great earthquake in Boston.

1639. Jan. 16. Another earthquake.

1643. March 5. Sunday morning another earthquake.

1658. A great earthquake.

1663. Jan. 26. Very great earthquake.

1669. April 3. An earthquake.

1727. Oct. 29. An earthquake.

1730. April 12. An earthquake.

1732. Sept. 5. An earthquake.

1737. Feb. 6. An earthquake.

1744. June 3. The earthquake commemorated.

1755. Nov. 18. A very great earthquake. About one hundred chimneys
thrown down, and other damage.

1757. July 8. An earthquake.

1761. March 12. An earthquake.

1761. Nov. 1. An earthquake.

1782. Nov. 29. An earthquake.

1783. Nov. 29. An earthquake.

1800. March 11. An earthquake.

1810. Nov. 9. An earthquake.

1817. Sept. 7. An earthquake.

DEBORAH: A BEE.

Another broadside sheet, some seven by twelve, is entitled as above, and divided into paragraphs, numbered from one to twenty, in prose. It is a sort of sermon in which the Christian is compared to the Bee, or perhaps placed in competition with the industrious and self-supporting insect. Its positions, omitting most of the applications, are these: The bee is a laborious, diligent creature; so is the Christian. The bee is a provident creature; so is the Christian. The bee feeds on the sweetest and choicest foods; so does the Christian. The bee puts all into the common stock; so is the Christian of a generous, communicative temper. The bee is always armed; so is the Christian with respect to his spiritual armor. Bees are a sort of commonwealth; so Christians are likened to a city that is compacted together. The bee, as it always has a bag of honey, has also a bag of rank poison; so has the Christian, with the grace of God, a body of sin and corruption, &c. Lastly, the bee lies dormant all winter; so the Christian sometimes slumbers, &c. "Yet the hour is coming when all that are in the graves shall awake and come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; but alas, they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation!" Sold by Kneeland & Green, in Queen Street. Illustrated with a small fanciful engraving of a bee-hive, surrounded with horns of plenty and decorative carving.

PROPOSED POPISH INVASION.

Every thing which occurred in England, or elsewhere, in fact, having any reference to Popery, however remote, was sure to interest the Puritans, and demand their attention; and, it would seem, was sometimes provocative of poetry. So when the "happy discovery of a cursed plot against the church of God, Great Britain and her King," was announced by the King, on the 15th of February, 1743 (i.e., 1744), a large hand-bill was issued from the Boston press, to which the printer did not put his name, headed, "Good news from London, to the rejoicing of every christian heart." This was the discovery of the plot "for bringing in a young Popish pretender." The news was received by an arrival at Portsmouth, N.H., in twenty-six days from England, and included the message of the King to Parliament. The hand-bill contained the message in which the King declares that "having received undoubted intelligence that the eldest son of the pretender to his crown is arrived in France, and that preparations are making there to invade this kingdom, in concert with disaffected persons here," &c., his Majesty acquaints the House of the matter in order that measures may be taken, &c.

This is followed by a long anonymous poem, beginning,--

"Behold the French and Spaniards rage,
And people with accord
Combine, to take away the life
Of George, our sovereign lord.

* * * * *

"When George the first came to the throne,
Their rage began to burn,
And now they fain would execute
The same upon his son.

"Their hellish breast being set on fire,
Even with the fire of Hell,
Nor Love, nor charms, nor clemency,
Can their base malice quell."

* * * * *

And so on through three columns, and then comes the