Smyrna times., 1881-02-16
.Hg2'ScML1MaUL.
A Startling Sermon.

which are coming on the earth" The
above was the text of the Rev Henry
Wilson, in st. Georges Cathedral, Kings
ton. "Singular Prediction" Trouble
Coming Such as the World has Never
Seen," "Appearance of the Star of Beth
lehem," said the reverend gentlemen, is
the startling heading of paper, lately
issued and widely circulated, protesting
to tell us what is coming on the earth very
shortly and much of which many of us
may live to see. Out of a mess of state
ments, wise and unwise, let ME condense
into the smallest possible space the lead
ing events, which, it is stated, are to take
place within the coming seven years on
which we have Just entered. An event is
about to take place which has not occurred
since Christ was born. -Four of the larp-
est planets Of our system, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune will now be in what
astronomers call perihelion, or in that part
of their orbits which is nearest the sun
The four planets are to be in this position
at the same time, an event of very rare
occurrence and one, we are told, fraught
with important consequences to this earth
of ours One writer, Prof A. G. Grim
mer, tells us that ''from 1880 to 1887 will
be
ONE UNIVERSAL CARNIVAL OF DEATH"
another, DIR. Knapp, who has traced the
history of the epidemics most fatal to the
human race, gives us to understand that
we are on the verge of disease, pestilence
and death such rs the world has not seen,
or at least, seen in such terrible degree
since the birth of Christ The theory is
simply this: When one or more of the
larger planets approach the sun, the tenn
perature and condition of our atmosphere
lsso disturbed thatterrible rains, prolonged
droughts, destruction of crops, famine.
disease and death among the human and
animal creation are sure to follow. The
theory is said to be supported by facts
Jupiter passes around the sun in little
less than twelve of our years. Saturn in
less than thirty, Uranus in about "a, and
Neptune in about 164 years If it be
true that the approach of these planets to
the sun causes atmospheric changes un-
favorable to human life, petilence should
occur once in dozen years, and in a still
more aggravated form in terrible epidemics
at longer intervils. Do the facts of his
tory bear out this theory? We are told
they do. Here are some of which we
can all judge, for the pages of history are
an open secret, and those who will, NAV
verify for themselves In the year 542
and in 1865, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter
were In perihelion These years, we are
told, were the worst
YEARS OF PLAGUE AND PEsTILENCE
which the world has seen. From $40 to
546, it has been estimated that from rs
to l2O millions of people suffered by the
plague For these figures, Gibbon, one
OF the most careful and sceptical of wri-
ters, is quoted, and he certainly does con-
firm them and says decline and Fall,
VOL VII, page 1922 then after all allow
ances have been made he finds that, dur
ing three months, five and at length ten
thousand persons died each day at Con-
stantinople; that the triple scourge of
war, pestilence and famine afflicted the
subjects OF Justinian; and that his reign
was disgraccd by the visible decrease of
the human species which has never been
repaired in some of the fairest counties of
the globe and he admits that one hun
dred million will not be much over the
mark in estimating the number of people
destroyed. When again in 1920, Mars
and Saturn were in perihelia and in the
sign " Virgo" $4,000 of the people of
Marseillies died in less than five weeks.
But, terrible as has been the past, we are
told it will be as nothing compared with
THE HORRORS IN STORE FOR Us
during these years beginning with 1881.
AL the weak and intemperate are sure to
die; there is no escape. Those only
whose blood is pure and free from taint
will survive the wreck of the human
family. Ancient. races will be blotted
from the earth; Asia will be nearly de-
populated, and the islands that border on
1t will suffer frightfully from the scourge
Russia will be the first European nation
to suffer, and next in her turn America.
first on her seabOard and then in the in
terror, will lose more than fifteen millions
OF her inhabitants. No part of the earth
will be exempt from the ravages of the
plague. The icy homes of the Esqui-
maux and the scorching sands of Africa
will be invaded. The jungles of India
and the civilized homes of England and
America will be desolated. Races. like
empires, have their decline and fall.
China will be nearly depopulated, and the
Chinese question will take one of its most
unpleasant forms for us in hordes of
Aslatics crowding every ship and fleeing
from their country, carrying the loath-
some horrors into every lard they turn
to- And we are further told that the
scourage of disease and death will be but
part OF the miseries in store for us during
these fearful seven years
WAR, DIsCoRD, CIVIL STRIFE,
floods, inundations, and IN seventenths of
the world, drought, uprisings and anarchy
OF which the present state of Ireland will
be but very small specimen, will reign
from 1880 to 1887. Fanatics will arise
and cry out that the hand of God ist
against mankind religious frenzy will be
rampant in all the large cities, and SO
called prophets will invite their followers
to deeds of blood and rapine. The above
is but leaf out of the chapter of horrors
which, we are told by those protesting to
know, are coming on the earth during
the next seven years, and occasioned by
the near approach TO the sun at one time
OF four large planets-Jupiter, Saturn.
Uranus and Neptune. Observe. I Am in
no way vouching for the trutb &c ,hAso