passes, but we hear of the dreadful Effects of Earthquakes in _Italy_.
Dost thou, like the Jewish Doctors above-mentioned, think, that these
People were _Sinners above all others_ that escaped that dreadful
Visitation? And yet, by supposing the two slight Shocks we have lately
felt the Effects of a special Providence, that uncharitable Doctrine is
fairly inferred; a Doctrine diametrically opposite to the Spirit of our
Holy Religion. But I have said enough to convince thee, that, in thus
explaining that Event, thou hast followed too much the Devices of worldly
Wisdom; and that thou thyself hast fallen into a greater Error than those
Philosophers, whose little Knowledge thou takest upon thee to despise.

But thou hast not only, Friend, mistaken the proper Use of thy Text, but
in the Improvement of it thou hast left unsaid many things that ought
naturally to have occurred to thee, whether thou supposedst the Shocks to
be the Effect of a special or a general Providence. Verily, Friend, on
such an awful Occasion, I expected, that thou wouldest have enumerated,
without any palliation or disguise, the many heinous Sins, that in this
wicked Age are even a Disgrace to Human Nature, and, after such an
Enumeration, thou wouldest candidly, and without Respect of Persons, have
pointed out the real Source of all these Iniquities that overwhelm the
Land, and have directed thy Flock to the natural Means of freeing
themselves from the Thraldom of Sin and Death. But in all this verily thou
hast fallen short: For in the List of the Crimes, with which thou hast
charged the People, thou hast forgot the most atrocious, and taken notice
of the most trivial of our Transgressions, and hast missed intirely of the
true Source of our growing Impiety, and left us altogether in the dark as
to the Practical Method of _amending our ways, and turning again unto the
God of our Fore fathers_.

The First Sin thou takest Notice of, and what, by the Order in which thou
hast placed it, and the Conclusion thou hast drawn from it, would appear
in thy Sense the Source of all our publick and private Transgressions, is
the Number of bad Books with which the Town swarms. This indeed is a
crying Sin, and much to be lamented: but, great as it is, it does not
deserve to lead the Van in a List of National Sins, capable of drawing
down the special Vengeance of the Almighty upon a whole People. Nor is its
Influence so great, as to corrupt the Morals of the Generality o