The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-04-03
A WONDERFUL AGE.
Sermon by Rev. T. reWitt Tai
mage, d. D.
The Nineteenth Century Ono OF Wonderful
Disa.ters and Wonderful blessings
The Christian Religion March
ing Onward-An Eloquent
Discourse.

Rev. 7. Dewitt Ta'mage preacned ser.
mon at Kansas City, Mo-, recently on
~Wonders Of Disaster and Bl ssing," his
text being, Il will show wonders In the
heavens and In the earth"-Joel H., 80. The
sioquent divine spoke as follows;
I DR.. Cumming-great and good NAV
]. would have told us the exa I time OF the
fulhllment OF this prophecy. As stepped
into his study In London on my arrival fr' m
Raris Just after the French had surrendered
% Sedan, the good doctor said to me: "It
= 1ust % told you about France; peorle
laufhed at me because talked about the
seven horns and the vials. but foreSaw all
this from the Book Of Daniel and the Book
Of Revelation" Not taking any such re-
sponsibillty In the Interpretation Of the pas
sage, Isimply assert that there 10 in 1t sug-
Eest ons Of many things In our time.
Our eyes dilate and heart qulckens It's
pulsations as we read Of events In tho third
century, the sixth century the eighth CEN
tury. tue fourteenth century, but there are
more far reaching events crowded into the
pinetaenth century than into any other.
and the last quarter Ids fair to eclipse the
preceding three-quarters We read In the
daily newspapers OF events announced In
one paragraph and without any special EN-
phasis-of events which q Herodotus q
Jnsephu, a Xenophon, a Gbbon would
have taken whole chapters or whole vol
umes TO elaborate. Looking out upon our
time we must cry out In the words Of our
text: "Wonders In the heavens and In the
earth.n
propose to show you that the time in
which we live Is wonderful for disaster and
wonderful for Blessing, for there must be
lights and shades In this picture as in oil
others Need argue this day that our time
is wonderful for disasterl Our world has
had rough time since by the hand Of God
II was bowled out into space. II Is ap
ep'leptlc earth; convulsion after convul ion |;
frosts pounding IL with sledge hammer OF
iceberg, and fires melting II with furnaces
seven hundred times heated. It is wonder
70 me II has lasted so long. MeteOrs shoot
Ing by on this 81 le and grazing II, and me-
teors shooting by on the other side and
grasing n, none Of them slowing up for
safety. Whole fleets OF navies and argosies
and fotillas Of worlds sweeping all about
us. Our earth like q fishing smack OF
the banks OF Newfoundland, while the
Etruria and Germanic and the Arizona
aud the City Of New York rush by.
Besides that, our world has by sin been
damaged In It's internal machinery, and
ever and anon the furnaces have burst,
and the walking beams Of the noun
tain have broken, and the islands have
shipped a sea, and the great hulk OF the
world has been Jared with accidents that
ever and anon threatened immediate demoli-
nnN N ma AuR Nnr
were especially characterized by disaster
volcanic, cyclonic, oceanic, epidemic. ] say
volcanic, because an earthquake is only q
volcano bushed up. When Stromboli and
Cotopaxl and Vesuvius stop breathing, let
the foundations Of the earth beware Seven
thousand earthquakes In two centuries re-
corded In the catalogue Of the British as
sociation. Trajan, the Emperor, goes TO
anoient Antioch, and amid the splendors OF
his reception 10 met by an earthquake that
Z nearly destroys the emperor's life. Lisbon,
fair and beautiful at one o'clock on tho 1st
Of November, 1855, In six minutes 000O0
have perished and Voltaire writes Of them I:
"For that region II was the last judgment,
nothing wanted but q trumpet" Europe
and America feeling the throb; 1900 CHM
neys in Boston partly or fully destroyed.
But the disasters OF othe centuries have
had their counterpart In our own. In 1919
Caracas was caught in the grip OF the earth
quake; In 1922, In Chilli, 100000 square miles
Of land by volcanic force uph eaved 10 four
and seven feet OF permanent elevation; In
1854 japan felt the geological agony; Naples
shaken in 1857; Mexico in 1883; Medosa. the
capital Of the Argentine Republic, in 1861 !;
Manila terrorizei In 1888; the Hawaiian
Islands by such force uplifted and let down
In 1871; Nevada shaken In 1871; Antioch in
1872; California In 1872: San Salvador In
1873; while in 1888 what subterranean ex.
citemeotl Ischia, an island Of the Medi-
terranean, a beautiful Italian watering
place, vineyard clad, surrounded by all
natural cham and historical remlnis-
cence; yonder Capri, the summer resort OF
the Roman emperors; yonder Naples, the
paradise OF art-this beautiful island sud-
denly toppled into the trough OF the earth,
5000 merry makers perish, and some
Of them so far down beneath the reach OF
human obsequies that II may be said OF
many one Of them rs II was said OF Moses,
'sThe Lord buried him." Italy weeping, all
Europe weeping. all Christendom weeping
whe there were hearts 70 sympathize and
ChrI tians 10 pray. But while the nations
were measuring that magnitude OF disaster,
measuring II 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 island
OF all the earth. Is caught In the grip OF the
earthquake, and mountain after mountain
goes down, and city af'er city, until that
island. which produces the healthiis ct beyer.
age OF all the world, has produced the ghast-
Hest accident OF the century. One hundred
thousand people dying, dying, d nd, dead.
But look at the disasters cyclonIc. Al
the mouth OF the Ganges are three islands. :
the Haitian, the bundeep and the Dalxin
3habaspore. In the midnight Of October,
1877, on all these three islands the cry was
'sThe waters, the watersp' A cyclone arose
and rolled the sea over those three islands,
and OF O population Of $4,000, 2i50o0 were
drowned. Only those saved who had
climbed 10 the top of the highest trees.
Did you ever see q cyclonei MOI Then
pray God you may never see one saw one
on the ocean, and II swept US eight hundred
niles back from our course, and for thirty
six hours during the cyclone and afIer II
we exp cted every moment TO 20 10 the bot
tom. They told US before we retired at nine
o'clock that the barometer had fallen but at
eleven o'clock al night we were awakened
with the shock Of the waves All the llyh 9
outl Crash went all the life-b ats. Waters
rushing through the skylights down
into the cabin and down on the
furnaces until they hlssed and smoked
IN the deluee. Seven hundred people
oravine blnspheminR shrioklnR. Our