The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1889-04-01
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
HE PREAcHEs ON THE WONDERS OF
DISASTER AND BLESSING.
The Lights and Shades Of the Picture OF
Humanity for Ages-The Calami-
ties and Fortunes That
Have Befell PEG pie.

De Witt Talmage preached a sermon here
today on 'Wonders of Disaster and Bless
ing" his text being ~ will show wonders in
the heavens and in the EARTH" Joel IL, 80.
He said:
DIR. Cumming-greatand good man-would
have told us the exact time of the fulfill
ment of this prophecy. As / stepped into
his study in London on my arrival from
Paris lust after the French had surrendered
at Sedan, the good Doctor said to me: 1T is
just as l told you about France; people
laughed at me because / talked about the
seven horns and the walls, but | foresaw all
this from the book Of Daniel and the book
Of Revelation" Not taking any such respon-
sibility in the Interpretation of the passage,
/ simply assert that there is In It suggestions
Of many things Of our time.
Our eyes dilato and our heart quickens
its pulsations as we read OF events in the
third century, the sixth century, the eighth
century, the fourteenth century, but there
are more far reaching events crowded into the
nineteenth century than into any other, and
the last quarter bids fair to eclipse the three
preceding quarters. We read in the daily
newspapers Of events announced in one par
agraph and without any special emphasis
Of events which q Herodotus, a Josephus, q
Xenophon, q Gibbon would have taken
whole chapters or whole volumes 10 elabo-
rate. Looking out upon our time, we must
cry out In the words Of the text: "Wonders
In the heavens and In the earth"
j propose 10 show you that the time In
which we live Is wonderful for disaster and
Nrnn1arfpl far hlaaafnU for fhapa must ha
lights and shades In this picture as in all
others. Need | argue this day that our time
Is wonderful for disaster Our world has
had a rough time since by the hand OF God
II was bowled out into space. It Is an cpl
leptic earth; convulsicn after convulsion;
frosts pounding II with sledge-hammer OF
iceberg, and fires melting IL with furnaces
seven hundred times heated. II is a Won
der 10 me Il has lasted 30 long. Metoo0
shooting by on this side and grazing Il, and
meteors shooting by on the other side and
grazing Il, none OF them slowing up for
safety. Whole fleets and nayies and argo-
sizes and ~flotillas OF worlds sweeping all
about us. Our earth, like a fishing smack
Off tho banks OF Newfoundland, while the
Etruria and Gcrmanic and the Arizona and
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, aud the walking
beams OF the mountain 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 de-
molition. IL seems 10 US as II our century
were especially characterized by disaster,
volcanic. cyclonic, oceanic, epidemic. i say
volcanic, because an earthquake ~ only a
volcano hushed up. When Stromboli and
Cotopaxi aud Vcsuvius stop breathing. let
the foundations OF the earth beware. Seven
thousand earthquakes in two centuries ro-
corded In the catalogue OF the British Asso-
citation. Tmjan, the Emperor, goes 10 an
cient Antioch, and amid the splendors Of
his reception Is met by an earthquake that
nearly destroys the Emperor's life. Lisbon,
fair and beautiful at I o'clock on the ist Of
November, 1865, In six minutes G0,OO0 have
persisted, and Voltairc writes OF them; FOR
that region Il was the last judgment, moth.
ing wanting but a trumpet" Europe and
America feeling the throb; 1900 chimneys
In Boston partly or fully destroyed.
But the disasters Of other centuries have
had their counterpart In our own. In 1872
Camccas was caught In the grip Of the earth
quake, In 1922, In Chill, 10000 square miles
OF land by volcanic force upheaved 10 four
and seven feet Of permanent elevation; In
1854 japan felt the geological agony; Naples
shaken In 1857; Mexico in 1855; Mcdosa, the
capital Of the Argentine Republic, In 1861;
Manila terrorizcd In 1865 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 subternncan cx-
element Ischia, an island Of the Meditcr-
mnein, n beautiful Italian watering place,
vineyard clad, surrounded by all natural
charm and historical rcininisccncc; yonder,
Capri, the summer resort u the Roman EN-
pcrors. yondcr Naples, the paradise OF art
this beautiful island suddenly topplcd into
the trough Of the earth, 5000 merry makers
p~crishing. aud some OF them 10 FAR down
beneath the reach Of human obscquics
That u may be said Of many a one Of them
a. II was said OF Moses. The Lord buried
him" Italy weeping. all Europe weeping.
all C~hristcndom weeping where there were
hearts TO sympaihize and Christians 10 pray.
But whilc the nations were measuring that
magnitude OF disaster, mcasuringi II not with
golden rod like that with which the angel
measured Heaven, but with the black rule
II death, Java, OF the Indian archipelago,
the most fertile island Of all the earth, h
caught In the grip Of the earthquake, and
mountain after mountain goes down, and
city after city, until that island, which pro
duccs The hcalthicst beverage OF all the
world, has produced the ghastlicst accident
Of the century. One hundred thousand pco-
pie dying. dying, dead, dead.
wnEN HEAVENS WINDS VISITED TnE EARTH
ROUGHLY.
But look az tho disasters c%yclonic. At ne
mouth Of the Gangcs arc thrcc islands-the
Haitian. the Sundecp and the Dakit Shah
azporc. In the midnight OF October, is57,
on nll those three Islands the cry was. The
waters, the waters" A cyclone arose aud
rolled the sea over those three Islands, and
OF n population of $4,000, $4,000 were
drowned. Only those saved who had climbed
IA the top 81 the highest trees. Did you ever
sec q c%yclonc7 No. Then | pray God you
may never zee ono. Law ono on The ocean.
and Il swept us eight hundred miles back
from our course, aud for thirty-six hours
during the cyclone and after u We cx.
pccicd every moment 20 SO 90 the bot.
tom. They told "a before We retired at D
o'clock that the barometer had fallen, but at
N o'clock at night We were awakened with
the shock Of the waves All the lights were
out crash wont all the lifcboats. Waters
rushing through the skylighr Town into the
cabin and down ON the furnaces until
they Kissed aud smoked IN the dcluFc.
Seven hundred people paying bias.
phemlng, shnoking Our great ship
poised a moment ON the ton
q a mountain Of ph~osphorcsccnt IRE. and
then plunged down, down. down. until IL
seemed Of II che never would again be right.
cd. Ali you never a 10 zee a cyclone al
sea hut ! was In Minnesota, where there
was one Of those cyclones on land that swcpt
the city 81 Rochester from H. foundaiions
and took dwcll~ing.housos, barns. mon
women, chlldrcn, hurscs, cattle, nnd Tossed
hcm Into i~ndlscnminaie ruin. and lifted a
rail train aud dashed II down, a mlghticr
hand than that " the engineer ON tho air
brake. cyclone in Kansas. cyclone IN Mis-.
/ aRNm ANWN.HaW Nu L. -