The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1889-04-12

Ma COUNIY, DAASsIA,
Wonders of Disaster.
DIR. Talmage Reviews tks Strange His.
tory Of the Earth Whi6hh Now
Being Duplicated.
KANSAS Cry, NO., March 81 syha Rev. T.
De Witt Talmage preached o sstllon here to
day on "wondes Of Disaster dad Blessing, -
his text being, 81 will show wonders Id the
heavens and in the earth." Joei;ii, 80. He
said:
Dir. Cumming-great and .good man-
would have told us the exact time Of the full
filment Of the prophecy. AsI stepped into
his study in London on my arrival from
Parisjust after the French had surrendered
ut Sedan, the good doctor sold to me: at
is just us told you abont France; people
laughed at me because talked about the
seven horns and the vials. but u foresnw all
this from the Book of Daniel and the Book
of Revelation" Not taking any such re-
sponsibility In the Interpretation Of the pas
sage simply assert that there is in it sug-
gestions Of many things in our time.
Our eyes dilate dnd our heart qMckens it's
pulsations as We read of events in the third
century, the sixtl, century, the eighth centu-
ry, the fourteenth century, but there are
more far-reaching events crowded into the
nineteenth century thanjneo any other, and
theiast quarter bids fair &nse+pss tho pre-
cetling three quarter. We read In the daily
newspapers ofcvents announced in one par
agraph and without any special emphasis
ofevents which IL Herodotus, II Joscpl,ns. IL
Xenopon, II Gibbon would have taken whole
chapters or whole volumes to elaborate.
Looking out upon our tinio VIC must cry
out in the words OF the text: "Wonders in
the heavens and in the earth"
lproposc to show you that the timc in
which We live il wonderful for disaster and
wonderful for blessing, for there must bo
lights and shades in this picture as in all
Others. Need argue this day thnt our
time Is wonderful for disnstcr? Our world
Inns had II rough time sine by the hand of
God it WINS bowled out into space. 1t Is All
epilcptic earth: convulson after colivulsion;
frosts pounding it with slc,lglIammer ol
iceberg, and fires melting it with furnaces
seven hundred times heated. 1t is u wonder
Il me it has lnstcd no long, Metcors shoot
ing by on this side and grazingit and me-
tcors shooting by on the other side and
grazing it, none of them slowing up for
safety. Whole fleets aud nnvics aud argo-
sizes and hotillas Of worlds sweeping all
about us. Our earth like II fishing smack
off the bnnks of Newfoundland, while the
Etrurin and Gcrmnnic and the Arizona and
the City OF New York rush by. Besides that
our world has by sin been damaged in its
internal machinery, and ever and anon lie
furnaces have hurst. and the walking-beams
Of the mountain have broken, ard the is.
lands have shipped sen. and the great
bulk Of the world has been Jared with
accidents that ever md anon tIlreut-
cned immediate demolition. But it seems To
us us if our century were especially cl,nract-
erized by disaster, volcanic, ryclonic oceanic,
epidemic. ! say volcanic because an e,,rtll-
quake in only u volcano huRhed up When
Stromboli and Cotopnxi and Vcsuyius stop
breathing let the foundations of the earth
heware. Seven thousand earthquakes in
two centuries recorded In the catalogue q
the British assOcintion. Trainn, the en-
peror goes to ancient Antioch, and amid The
splendors of his reception is met by an earth
quake thnt nearly destroys the emperurs
lie. Lisbon, fnir md beautiful at l o'clock
nj ho 1uf Nryo,p1,nr 1CEE ;,, al:
utcs 10000 people persisted and Noltnire
writes OF them: "For that region il wns the
lust Judgement nothing wanting but u
trumpet" Europe and America feeling the
! thrOb; 500 cbimneys in Boston partly OF
fully destroyed.
But the disasters OF other centuries have
had their counterpart III our own. In 1912
quake; in 1922, in Chill, 100000 square
miles of land by volcanic force uplienved to
four and seven feet of permanent elevation;
in 1854 Japan felt the geological agony;
Naples shaken in 1857 Mcxiro in 1858;
Medosn. the capital of tho Argentine Hcpnl,-
lie, in 1861; Mnnilla terrorized in lSG:,: the
Hawaiian islands by such force upiftcd nn,l
let down in 1871: Nevada shaken in 1871;
Antiocilin 1872; California in 1872; San Sal
vndOr in 1873; while in 1883 what subtcr-
rancan excitement! lscl,in. an island of the
Mediterranean. a beautiful ltulinn Watering
place. vineyard clad. surrounded by all nat
ural charm and historical rrminiscrnre;
yonder Capri, the summer resort OF the
itoman Emperors; yondcr Naples, the para
disc OF art-this beautiful island suddenly
tOppled into the trough Of the earth,
5000 merry makers I,ershins, and some nf
them 80 fur down beneath tho reach of hu.
man obscquies that it may be said otmany u
one Of them ms it WINS OF Moses, "1he Lord
buried him." ItnIy weeping. all Europe
weeping, all Christendom Mecrn. where
there were hearts to sympnthizc and Chris
tains to pray. But while the nations were
measuring that magnitude of disaster, Ine.l.
surfing it not with golden rod like that with
which the angel measured heaven. but with
the black rule Of death, Java, Of the Indian
archipelago, the most fertile isnnd Of all The
earth, is caught in the grip oi tlreartl,luakc
and mountain inter mOuntain goes down,
md city after city, until that island, which
produces the healtl,est beverage of all the
world, has produced the ghnstIiest accident
of the century. One hundred thousand peo-
pie dying. dying, dead, dead.
But look Mt the disasters cvclonic. At the
mouth Of the Ganges ara three islands-tlIe
Hattiah, the Snndeep. and the Dakin Shn.
lnzpore. In the midnight ofOctobrr. 1877,
on all those three islands thecry was: Tile
waters. the waters!" cyclone arose and
70 rolled % the ven over thos" dha three i.lans md and
" pOPutdtbou VI c1p,Opp Stb'VVp NcIe
drowned. Only those saved who had
climbed to the top of the highest trees. Did
you ever see cyclone? No? Then pray
God you may never sce one. saw one ON
the ocean and it swept us 800 miles back
from our course and for thirty v siy hours dur
ing the cyclone and after it we expected
every momentt q got 70 the bottom. They told
us before we retired at o'clock TINT the
barometer had fallen, but ut I o'rlork at
night We were awnkentd wit lc shock Of
the waves. All the lights out. Crash!
went nIl tine liie-boats. Waters rushing
through the skylight down into the cabin
and down on the furnaces until they hissrni
and smoked in tho ileluge. Seven hundred
people praying, blaspheming shrciking.
Our grent ship poised n moment on the top
Of a mountain Of phosphons'ant fire and
then plunged down. down, down, until it
seemed us ii she would never again lie right
sen. But was in Minnesota, where there
was ono of those cyclones on land that
swept the city of Rochester from it's foun-
dations and took dwelling houses, barns,
men, women, children, horses, and cattle
and tossed them INTO indiscriminate ruin,
and lifted a rail train md dnahed 1t down,
Al mighticr hand than that of the engineer
clone in Missouri, cyclone in Wisconsin. cy-
clone in lllonos, cyclone in Iowa. Satan,
prince Of the power Of tho mir. never made
such cyclonic disturbances as he has in our
day. And am not right in saying that
one of the characteristics Of tho time in
which We live IN disaster cyclonc?
But look ut the disusters ocaric. Shall
call the roll of the dead shipping? ie mon
sters Of the deep. answer when call your
names. Vile de Iiavrc, the Schiller, City of
Boston. the Melville, the President. the Cim-
briu. But whv should I 20 on calling the