Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-27
LIKE SODOM OF OLD.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Says the Wrath of
Heaven Will Be Visited Upon
TIE WICKED AMERICAN CITIES.
Volcanoes in Reserve Ready to Burst Forth
in Eruption.
ANOTHER SERMON on THE HOLY LAND
,s,rr,,, rr1FcRAM TO THE p1sp1rcu /,

IL N
preached the fifth OF the series on his tour in
the HOLY Land, in the Academy of Music
in this CITY this morning. This evening at
the service in the Academy of Music, New
York, the sermon was repeated before an
audience which filled the vast building in
every part. DR.. Talmage announced as
his text Psalm 1O4:32: HE :oucheth the
hills and they smoke" He said:
David. the poet, here pictures a volcano and
what Church's Cot0paXi does on painters can
vas, this author does in words. You see hill.
calm and still, and for ages immovable, but the
Lord out of the heavens puts His finger on the
top Of il. and from it rise thick vapors, inter-
shot with fire. He toucheUh the hills and
they smoke
Coo is the only being who can manage vol
cauO and again and again has He employed
volcanic action. The pictures on the walls OF
PomDeii the eXhumed Italian city. as we saw
them last November, demonstrate that the city
was not fit to live. In the first century that
CITY, engirdlcd with palaces, emparadised with
gardens plllared into architectural exquisite
ness was at the foot Of mounts ain up the sides
of which it ran with vineyards and villas OF
merchant princes and all that marble and
bronze and imperial baths and aTboriculture.
and raluhOwed fountains. and coliseum at the
dedication OF which 9,CCO beasts had been slain
and a supernal landscape in which the shore
gave roses 10 the sea and the sea gave crystals
and wealth could give was there to be seen OF
heard.
DESTROYED FOR ITS SINS.
But the bad morals of the city had shocked
the world In tie year IS. on the 4th of August,
black column rose above the adjoining mount
ain and spread out Pliny SAYS, as he saw it,
like a great pine tree. wider and wider. until 1t
began 70 rain upon the city. first thin ashes and
then pumice stone ana sulphurous fumes
ecouned aud streams OF mud poured through
the streets TIL few people escaped and the city
was buried and some Of the inhabitants lSi0
wears after were found embalped in the
sCUrIas Ct that awful doom. The Lord called
up0n volcanic forces to obiitera:e that profit
.ate city. He toched the hills and they
smoked
Nothing hut volcanic action can explain what
J shall show You al the Dead Sea upon which
looked last December and of whose waters 1
took bitter and singing taste. Concerning
all that region there has been a controversy
enOJgh 20 I'll Libraries. science saying one
Jb.nC, revelation saving another thing. But
admit volcanic action divinely employed and
both testimonies are one and the same. Geolog",
chemistry, geography. astronomy, IchtEyolog-,
ornithology and Zoology are coming one by ono
10 confirm the Scriptures. Two leaves OF one
book are Revelation and Creation and the pen
ma1ship Is by the same divine hand. Our
horseback ride will not he SO steep today ard
You can stay on without clinging to the POM
me! OF the saddle, but the scenes amid which
Ts rice shall. if possible. be more thrilling and
by the time the horses snuff the sulphurOus at
moSphcre of Lake Asplaltites or the Dead
Sea, we will be ready to dismount and read
from our Bibles about what was done that day
by the Lord when He touched the hills and
they smoked.
Take detour and pass along by the rocky
fortress of MaSada where occurred something
more wonderful in the way of desperation than
you have ever heard Of unless you have heard
Of that Herod built palace amid these heaps
Of black and awful ROCKS which look like
tumbed midnight A great band of robbers
about 1000 including their families. afterward
held the fortress. When the Roman army
stormed that steep and the bandits could no
longer hold the place, their chieftain, Eleszar,
made powerful speech which persuaded them
TO die before they were captured
DEEDS OF DESPERATION.
First the men kissed their families loving
and tearful goodby ana then put dagger into
their hearts and the women and chidre were
slam. Then ten men were chosen by lot to slay
ali the other men. and each man lay down by
Tie dead wife and children and waited for these
to do their work. This done one /
man of the ten killed the other nine, Then the |
survivor committed suicide. Two women and |
five children had hid themselves and after all
was over came forth to tell of the 960 slaught-
cred Great and rugged natural scenery makes |
the most tremendous natures for good or evil. |
Great statesmen and great robbers great ora
tors and great butchers were nearly all born OF
reared among mountain precipices. Some ma
When men have anything greatly good OF
greatly evil to do, they come down off the
rocks
SCIENCE AND REVELATION.
IN these regions once stood four great cities
Of AssyrIa: Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma and Ze-
Uojm. The Bible says they were destroyed by
a tempest of fire ard birthstone after these
cities had filed up of wickedness. No that is
absurd" cries some one; at is evident that
this was region of salt and birthstone and
pitch long before that" And so it was. The
Bible says it was region of sulphur long be-
fore the great catastrophe. well, now," says
some one. wanting to raise quarrel between
SAY the Cities of the Plain were destroyed by a
tempest OF fire and sulphur and birthstone, be-
cause this region had these characteristics long
before these cities were destroyed" Volcanic
action IS my reply These cities had been built
OUT Of very combustible materials The mortar
VAS Of bitumeE easily ignited. ana the walls
Giiupeu with pitch most indammahle. They
sat. j think, on ridge OF hills. They stood
high up and conspicuous, radiant in their SINS
o>tcntatIous IN their debaucheries, four helis
on earth. one day there was a rumbliug in
5hc earth. and a qaaklng "What's that?r crv
lie aftiughted inhabitants. What's that?''
The foundations OF the earth were giving
way. 4 Volcano whose fires had been burning
FOR ages at God's command burst forth. easily
setting everything afame, and first lifting
these cities high IN air and then daShing them
down Ia chasms fathOmless. The fires OF that
eruption IntershoL the dense smoke. and rolled
unto the heavens, only 10 descend again. And
al the conrgurauou of that country was
changed, and where there was hill there came
a vaileN, and where there had been the pomp of
uuvlcauline>s came widespread desolation.
The reu-hut spade of volcanic action had
Shoveled under the cities of the plain. Before
the catastrophe the cities stood on the top OF
the salt and sulphur After the catastrophe
they were under the salt and sulphur Science
right. Revelation right He touched the
hills and they smoke"
NO CONFLICT WITH GEOLOGY.
No science ever frightened believers in Reve-
lzJion 50 much geology. They feared that
the strata OF the earth would contradict the
Scriptures and then Moses must go under.
But as III the Dead Sea instance. so in all cases
Gods writing on the earth, and Gods writing
IN the Bible are harmonious. The shelves of
rock correspond with the shelves of the Amer
lean Bible Society. Science digs into the earth
ana finds deep down the remains of plants, and
so the Bible announces plants first Science
digs down and says. Marine animals next"
and the Bible says. Marine animals next"
Science digs down and says, Land animals
next" and the Bible responds Land animals
next" Then comes man r. saws science
Then comes mani' responds the Bible. Science
digs into the religious about the Dead Sea- and
finds result of fire, and masses of birthstone,
and announces wonderful geological forma-
non. "Uh, yes" says the Bible: Moses wrote
buN1odANS " godlo lSO llle IOTu Tdl0eQ upon
Sodom. and upon Gomorrah birthstone and
fire from the LORD out of heaven and David
wrote, he toucheth the hills and they smoke
80 guess we will hold on TO our Bibles a
lttle longer A gentleman in the ante-room of
the White House at Washington, having an
with Mr.. Lincoln at o'clock IN |
the morning, got there Is minures early and |
asked the servant: "Who is talking in the |
next room?' 1T is the President sirr' Is |
anybody with him?' NO, sir; he is reading |
the Bible. lie spends every morning from to |
) o'clock reading the Scriptures"
My text implies that God controls the vol |
canoes not with the full force of His hand, but |