The Storm: or, a Collection of the most Remarkable Casualties and Disasters which Happen'd in the Late Dreadful Tempest, both by Sea and LandDefoe, Daniel
History
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
Defoe, Daniel
Storms -- Early works to 1800
In short, Sir, it is impossible to describe the Danger we were in;
you your self was an Eye-witness of some Part of what is here
related; and I once more assure you, the whole Account I have here
given you is true, and what can be attested by the whole Family.
None of all those unfortunate Persons who are said to have been
killed with the Fall of a Chimney, could well be much more expos'd
to Danger than we were; it is owing wholly to that watchful
Providence to whom we all are indebted for every Minute of our
Lives, that any of us escaped; none but he who never sleeps nor
slumbers could have secured us. I beseech Almighty God to give us
All that due Sense as we ought to have of so great and so general
Calamity; that we truly repent us of those Sins that have so long
provoked his Wrath against us, and brought down so heavy a Judgment
as this upon us. O that we were so wise as to consider it, and to
_sin no more lest a worse thing come upon us_! That it may have this
happy Effect upon all the sinful Inhabitants of this Land is, and
shall be, the Dayly Prayer of Dear Sir,
_Your real Friend and Servant_,
John Gipps.
Another Account from a Reverend Minister in _Dorsetshire_, take as
follows, _viz._
_SIR_,
As you have desired an Account of the Disasters occasion'd by the
late Tempest, (which I can assure you was in these Parts very
Terrible) so I think my self oblig'd to let you know, that there was
a great Mixture of Mercy with it: For though the Hurricane was
frightful, and very mischievous, yet God's gracious Providence was
therein very remarkable, in restraining its Violence from an
universal Destruction: for then there was a Commotion of the
Elements of Air, Earth and Water, which then seemed to outvie each
other in Mischief; for (in _David_'s Expression, 2 _Sam._ 22. 8.)
_The Earth trembled and quak'd, the Foundations of the Heavens mov'd
and shook, because God was angry_: and yet, when all was given over
for lost, we found our selves more scar'd than hurt; for our Lives
was given us for a Prey, and the Tempest did us only so much Damage,
as to make us sensible that it might have done us a great deal more,
had it not been rebuk'd by the God of Mercy; the Care of whose
Providence has been visibly seen in our wonderful Preservations. My
Self and Three more of this Parish were then strangely rescued from
the Grave: I narrowly escaped with my Life, where I apprehended
nothing of Danger; for going out about Midnight to give Orders to my
Servants to secure the House, and Reeks of Corn and Furses from
being blown all away; as soon as I mov'd out of the Place were I
stood, I heard something of a great Weight fall close behind me, and
a little after going out with a Light, to see what it was, I found
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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