West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1889-04-11
AN AGE OF CONTRASTS.
THE DIVINE FORCES OF NATURE
Dr. Talmago Delivers an Able Dis.
course In Kansas City.

NO nev. 1. lie witt Ialmage preached n
sermon at Kansas City on "Wonders OF Dis.
asters and Blessing" his text being: at will
show wonders I'm the helven and I'm tho
earth" Joel Il, 80.
Our eyes dilate and our he,rt auickens its
puisations as we read OF events in the tbirJ
century, the sixth century, the eighth CEN
.uny, tns fourteenth century, but there are
nineteenth century than into any other AMI
the last quarter bids fair TO eclipse the pr,-.
ceding three quarters. We reed In the daily
newspapers OF events announced In one par,
sgrapn ana without any. spec al emphasis
~ events which a Herodo us, n Josephus n
Aenophon, a Gibbon would have taken whole
TnaPters or whole volumes to elaborate.
LOOKING out upon our time, we must cryout
IN the words OF the text: Wonders n, the
heavens and in the earthn
THE TIME IN WHICH WE LIVE.
propose to show you that the time In
WnIcn we I'VE Is wonderful for dis ,ster and
lights and shades in this picture ms In All
Others Need argue this day that our time
Is wonderful for di.asterl Our world has had
a rough time since by the hand OF God h was
BOWED out into space. 1t Is an epIleptic
e,rth; CONFUSION after CONFUSION:
frosts pounding 1t with sIsdgs
hammer OF iceberg, and fires melting II with
furnaces seven hundred times heated LISA
wonder 10 me 1t has lasted so long. Meteors
shooting ooy ON this side and grain II. aud
n.e.tors snooting by on the other side and
grazing 1t, none Of them slowing up for safety
Whole fleets and navies and argoses and 40.
tilias OF worlds sweeping all about ms Onr
earth Ikea fishing smack Off the banks of
Newfoundland, while the Etruria aud Gers
'Wua.lc anu tue ARENA and the City OF New
YORK rush by. Besides that, our world mas
~ SIN been damaged in its internal machin.
cry, ana ever and anon the furnaces have
burst, aud the walking beams OF the mountain
ave broken, and the islands have shipped a
sea, ana the great hulk of the world has been
Jared with accidents that ever and anon
threatened imme late demolition.
but it seems to us as il our century were
especiiliy characterized by disaster. volcanic
cyionic, oceanic, epidemic. | saw Volcanic
Secsuse an earthquake /, only volcano
end Vesuvius stop breathing, let the fouiIdas
lions OF the earth beware. Seven Thousand
earthquakes In two centuries recorded In tba
Catalogue OF the British Association. Traians
the emperor, goes TO ancient Antioch, and
amid the spendors of his reception Is mai nv
an earthquake that nearly destroys the EoS-
perors lie. Lisbon, fair and beautiful at
O'Clock on the LIST of November. I755 in civ
minutes 6O,OOO have persisted, and Voitairs
writes OF them: For that region IL was the
last guu smeit, nothing wanting but trum-
Ter Europe and America feeling the throh.
Lou chimneys in BJston partly or fully :,
stroyed ~
Bue the disasters of other centuries have
had their counterpart in our own. Ia 1872
CnaIacels was caught in the grip OF the
eartnquakei In 1872, in Chill, 100, 0O0 square
miles VI land by volcanic force uphe lveI 70
-FOUR and seven feet of permanent elevation.
IN 1884 japan felt the geoloz cal agony: Ma,
pies shaken In 1851; Mexico in 1853; Medosa
the capital OF the Argentine Republic, in 1861:
Manila terrorized IN 1868: the Hawaiian 10
lands by such force upliftei and let down in
1911 Nevada shaken in 1871; Antioch in
lo12. Caiiforniain 1872: San salvador In 1874.
while Ia 1888 Whit subterranean excite
ment
Ischia, an island of the Mediterranean. a
beautiful ltsii IN watering place, yineyard-
clad, surrounded by all natural charm and
historic retnlniscence yonder Capri the sums
mer resors OF the Roman 4 nperors: wonder
Naples, the paradise OF art-this bsautifnl
l1a III similarly toppled into the trough of
lshing and some of them so far down he
neatn the reach OF human obsequities that it
may be said OF many a one OF them as it YVES
said OF Moses, The Lord buried him. Italv
we-ping, al Europe weeping, all Christon-
dom weeping where there were hears
20 sympathizs and Christians TO prav. Bnt
white the nations We're measuring their MAG.
nitude 70 disaster, measuring ne not win
golden rod like that with which TIA angel
measured heaven, Uut with the black rule of
deitn. Java, or ths lndial archipelago, the
most fertile island Of all the EARN. Is cal0nt
IN the grip OF the earthquake, and mountain
after mountain (es down, a I'd city after
city, uutll that island, which produces the
neaitniest Leverage of all the world, has pro-
cuce tue ghastliest accident of the century.
V1e hnndIeo thousand people dying, dying,
But look at the disasters cyconic. At the
mouth OF The GAnges are three islands-the
haitian, the Sundeepand the Dakin Shablz,
pore La the mi might OF October, 1871. on
all those three islands the cry was. s!rha
waters, the watersI" A cyclone arose and
rolled the sea over those three Islands. and
out OF population of 340, 900, 2I5ODO were
drowned O.Ily those saved who ha 4 clinbei
10 the top OF the highest trees. Did you ever
zee cyclones NOT Then pray God you
may never ss5 one / saw one ON
the ocean, AMI 1t swept Us so miles back
from our course, and FOR 81 hours during the
cyclone aud a. ter it we expected every mos
snent 70 go 70 the bottom. they tJld us b.,
.OIS W Fe1ircd at oclcck that the barome-
Yer nal Ia len, but a. IL o'clock at night we
were awakened with the shock OF the waves
All the lights outl Crashi went all Tn. lffa
boats Waters rushing through the sxyligbt
down into the c1Din aud down on the fIir.
Laces untii they Kissed and smoked in the de-
iu9es Seven bundrel people praying. blass
pm. ming, shrieking. Oar great shin p3iset
nom on the top Of mountain OF phos.
pnoreScent fire AID thel plungeI down
oO"n, down, until it seemed as II she never
would again be righted. Ah you never want
70 500 a cyclone mt sea.
But y as 10 Miunesot1, where there Wa
one OF those cyclones on land that svver,t tic
city Of Rochester from its foundations and
TOOK dwelling houses, barns, men, women.
childreD, horses, clttle aud tossed them into
iDdlsci Inmate ruin, and lifted a rail train
ana dashed u down, mightier hand than
tnas of the engineer on the air-brake Cy-
clone m kansls cyclone IN Missouri, cyclone
N Wisconsin, cyclone in Illinois, cyclone i'm
lows. SATIN, prince Of the power OF the air.
never made sucn cYclOnic Disturbances az he
mas ~ our day. Aud am / not right in say
ing that one Of the characteristics Of the
t'ms ~ which We live Is disas.er cyclonic1
iock 1t the disasters spide mic. / speak not
q the plague in the fourth century th n raw
aBeo Europe, and 10 MOscow and the Neapol-
itan d5miuiOus aud M0rseilles wrOu xbt such
terror in tbs eighteenth century. Tut [ look
- me yellow levers and the chOleras and the
uip1therias and the scarlet fevers and the ty-
pnoid9 ~ our own time. Hear the wailiogof
memphis aud Shreveport aud New Or.etns
and Jacksonville OF tbs last foT decades
FROM burdwar, lndia, where every twelfth
year 3.000O0O devotees to3gregate, the cara
vans brought the cholera, and that one dis
ease slew 1900 Ia IS days in Bossorah.
tWeiys thousand In one summer slain By 10
30 India and 5000 10 Egypt.
But now turn the leaf in my subject, and
ip'ant Tho white lilies aud the palm tree
amid the nighishade and the myrtle. This age
b. no more characterized by wonders Of dfsae-
ter than BY wonders of Blessing. Blessing Of