Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-11-06

lids swollen with the strange aoiu'
The snarkle of its waters is not hhe thS
-narEfe If beauty on other lakes, but a
npa,all;c luster like into the Hash OF d
snrord that would thrust You. Tn gazellss
ond the ibexes that live on the hills Deslle
- and cranes and wild ducks that ny
across-for. contrary to the old oeleI'
birds do safely wing their way over II
and the Arab horses you have been rlulns,
Though thirsty enough, Will not drlnA ou'
81 this dreadful mixture. a mist hovers
over parts of it almost continually Which,
though natural evaporation, seems llAea
yving Of doom spread over liquid desola-
ron IT, is the rinsings OF abomlnatioh-
II ia an aqueous monster eolled among
the hills. OF creeping with ripples' ana
stenchful with nauseating malodors.
THE CITIES OF II PLAIN.
In these regions once stood four great
cities Of Assyria: Sodom. Gomorrah' Adma
and Zeboim, The Bible says they were de
stroyed by a TEMPEST OF hre Il uripn
STONE after these cities had filled up OF
w~ickedness. "No. that is absurd cries
some one. sit is evident that tins was q re
pion of salt and birthstone ana pltch Iong
before that" And so it was. The blole
saws It was a region of sulphur long DC.
fore the great eatastrope. wen, nov
snvs some one. wanting TO raise "a quarrel
between science and Revelation, you nave
no right to say the cities OF the piain'
were destroyed by a temptest OF hfe ana
sulphur and birthstone, because TINS re
oion had these characteristics long before
these cities were destroyed. Volcanic nc
ton. is my reply These cities had been
mill ont of very combustible materials
The mortar was OF bitumen easily ignlted,
and the walls dripped with pitch most IN
aammable. They sat, | think, on a rage
of hills. They stood high up and conspicu-
ous radiant in their sins, ostentatious IN
tbeir debaucheries, four hells on earth.
one day there was a rumbling in the
earth. and a quaking whats THAR cry
tho afTriphted inhabitants. Nv hat sthatt
the foundations of the earth We're giving
wav A yolcpno, whose fires had been burn
mo for aces. at Gods command bursts
fortb. easily setting everything ailame, and
FIRST lifting these cities high in air and
then dashing them down in chasms fathom
less The fires Of that eruption intershot
M dense smoke and rolled unto the heay
ems only to descend again. And all the
eouliguration Of that country was hanged
and where there was a hill there came q val
lev. and where there had been the pump d
nncleanness came widespread desolation
The red hot spade OF volcanic action hnd
shoveled under the cities Of the plain. re
fore 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
Gle toncheth the hills and they smoke
10 science ever frightened believers IN
Revelation so much as geology They
! feared that the strata of the earth would
contradict the Scriptures. and then Moses
must 20 under. But as in 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 cor
respond with the shelves Of the American
Bible society Science digs into the earth
and finds deep down the remains of plants.
aud SO the Bible plants first.
Science digs down and SAYS, Marine ami
mails next and the Bible says, Marine
animals next" Science digs down and
| saws. Land animals next" and the Bible
responds. land animals next. "Ihen
comes mani says science. Then comes
mani responds the Bible. Science digs
into the regions about the Dead sea, and
finds result o. fire and masses Of brim.
stone. and announces a wonderful geologi
cal formation "Oh, yes, = says the Bible,
Moses wrote thousands OF years ago, The
Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Go.
morrah birthstone and fire from the Lord
out of heaven, and David wrote, lie
toucheth the hills and they smoke So
I guess we will hold on 10 u Bibles a ill.,.
tie longer. \ gentleman in the aute-room
Of the White House at Washington, hav.
ing an appointment with Mr.. Lincoln ut 8
o'clock in the morning, got there fifteen
minutes early, and asked the servant,
'.Who is talking in the next room?' ut
is the president, sir" Is anybody with
himY" "No, sir; he is reading the Bible,
He spends every morning from 4 to =,
! O'Clock reading the Scriptures.
pRoFLIGATE CITIES Overwhelmed.
Ny text implies that God controls vol.
canoes, not with the full force Of his hand,
but with the tip Of his finger. Etna, Strom.
boil and Vesuvius fawn at his feet like
hounds before the hunter. These erup-
tons Of the hills do not belong to Pluto's
realm, as the ancients Thought, but to the
divine dominions. Humboldt counted two
hundred Of them, but since then the In
dian archipelago has been found to have
nine hundred Of these great m%outhpieees
They are on every continent and in all lati
tudes. That earthquake which shook
ali America about six or seven summer
ago was only the raving around Of volca.
noes rushing against the sides of thcil
rocky cayerns trying to break out. They
must come to the surface, but it win be al
the divine call. They seem reserved Coz
the punishment Of one kind of sin. Ths
seven cities they have ohliterated were Gel
ebrated for one kind OF transgression
P~ronigacy was the chef characteristic o.
the seven cities over which they put theii
%smothering wing. Pomneii. Herculaneum
Stable, Adma Zeboini. Sodom and Go
morrah.
II our American cities do not quit thei'
p~rofigacy. if in high life aud low life disso
l~uteness does not cease to be "A joke and be
come "A crime. if wealthy libertinism con
tinues TO find 50 many doors of domestic liz
open to its faintest touch, if Russian au'
French and American literature STEPPED il
pruriency does not get banished from th
news stands and ladies' parlors, God will lie
loose some of these suppressed monsters o
the earth. And | tell these American cite
that it will be more tolerable for Sodon
and Gomorrrah in the day of Judgment