The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-11-05

lIlO lIi4S tS(NS, SlI1Nl SliSlAI-
selves, come out almost maddened
as with the sting Of hundred wasps
and hornets, and with lips and eye
lids swollen with the strange ablution
The sparkle OF its waters is not like
the sparkle of beauty on other lakes
buta metallic luster like unto the flash
Of sword that would thrust you. The
gaZellos and the ibeXes that live on the
hills beside it, and cranes and wild
] ducks that fly acroSS-for, contrary to
the old belief, birds do safely wing their
way over it-and the Arab horses you
have been riding, though thirsty
enough, will not drink out of this
dreadful mixture. \ mist hovers over
parts of it almost continually, which
though natural evaporation, seems like
a wing of doom spread over liquid des-
olation. 1t is the rinsiugs of abomina-
ton. 1t is an aqueous monster colled
among the hills, or creeping with rip
pies. and stenchful with rauseating
malodors.
THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN.
In these regions once stood four
great cities of Assvria: Sodom. Gomor-
rah, Adma and Zeboim. The Bible
says they were destroyed by a temptest
of fire and birthstone after these cities
had filled up of wickedness. mo; that
is absurd" cries some one; ''it is evil
dent that this was a region OF salt and
hrimstone and pitch long before that"
And so it was. The Bible says it was
a region of sulphur long before the
great catastrophe. ''Well, now" says
some one, wanting to raise a quarrel
between science and Revelation, "you
have no right to say the cities of the
plain were destroyed by temptest Of
lire and sulphur and birthstone, be-
cause this region had these characters
tics long before these cities were des-
troyed." Volcanic action, is my reply.
These cities had been built out Of very
combustible materials. The mortar
was of bitumen easily ign'ted, and the
walls dripped with pitch most infiama-
bic. They sat, think, on ridge of
hills They stood high up and conspic-
uous. radiant in their sins. ostentatiouS
in their debaucheries, four hellS on
earth.
One day there was rumbling in the
earth, and a quaking. whats that ?'
cry the affrighted inhabitants. "What's
that?' The foundations of the earth
were giving way. a volcano. whose
fires had been burning for ages, at
Gods command bursts forth, easily
setting everything alame, and first
lifting these cities high in air and then
dashing them down in chasms fathom-
less. The fires of that eruption inter
shot the dense smoke and rolled unto
the heavens, only to descend again.
And all the confguration of that coun-
try was changed, and where there was
a hill there came a valley, and where
there had been the pomp Of unclean-
ness came widespread deSolatlon. The
red hot 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 toucheth the
hills and thev smoke
No 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 go under. But
as in the Dead sea instance so in all
cases Gods writing On the earth and
Gods writing IN the Bible are harmo-
NOUS. The shelves of rock correspond
with the shelves Of the American Bible
society. Science digs into the earth
and 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 dowl and says. Land ami
mails next" and the Bible responds,
Land ANIMALS next Then comes
man. says science. "Then comes
man. responds the Bible. Science digs
into the regions about the Dead sea,
and finds result Of fire and masses of
birthstone, and announces wonderful
geological formation. "Oh, yes" says
the Bible, "Moses wrote thousands of
years ago, The Lord rained upon Sod
fire from the Lord out of heaven. and
David wrote. He toucheth the hills and
they smoke" So guess we will hold
on to our Bibles Il little longer. A gen
tleman in the ante-room of the White
House at Washington, having an APP
pointment with Mr.. Lincoln at 3
o'clock in the morning, got there fif-
teen minutes early, and asked the ser
want, "Who is talking in the next
room?" 1T is the president. sir" Is
anybody with him." No. sir; he is
reading the Bible. lie spends every
morning from to 5 o'clock reading the
Scriptures"
PROFLIGATE CITIES OVERWHELMED.
My text implies that God controls
volcanoes, not with the full force OF
his hand, but with the tip of his finger.
Etna, StronhoE aud NesuviuS fawn
at his feet like hounds before the hun
ter. These eruptions of the hills do not
belong to Pluto's realm. as the ancients
thought, but to the divine dominlons-
| Humboldt counted two hundred OF
them, but since then the Indian arch!-
pelago has been found to have nine
hundred of these great mOuthpleceS.
They are OH every continent and in all
latitudes. That earthquake which
shook all America about six or seven
Summers ago was only the raving
around of volcanoes rushing against
the sides OF their rocky cayerns trying
TO break ou1. They must come to the
surface, but it Will he at the divine call.
They seem reserved for the punishment
of one kind of sin. The seven cities
they have obliteTated were celebrated
for one kind Of tranSgresslon. ProIil.
g:acy was The chief characteristic OF the
seven cities over which they put their
smothering wing: Pompeil, Hercula-
neum, Stabia, Adma, Zeboim, Sodom
and Gomorrah.
If our American cities do not quit
their profligacy. if in high life and low
life dissoluteneSs does not cease to be a
joke and become a crime, if wealthy
libertlnism continues to find so many
doors OF domestic life open to its faint
est touch, if Russian and French and
American literature stepped lnprurlen-