The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-12-10

eoufse Ut almaSe recItes some great
events and shows that the world is ad-
vaHcing in the right direction; text, Joel
b. 30. Il will show wonders in the heav-
ems and in the earth"
DIR. Cumming-great and good man
would have told us the exact time of the
fzlfllment of this prophecy. AS I stepped
int his study in London on my arrival
from Paris. just after the French had
surrendered at Sedan. the good doctor
said to me: at is just what I have told
yes about France. People laughed at me
because ! talked about the seven horns
and the vials, but | foresaw all this from
the beck of Daniel and the book Of Reve-
lation." Not taking any such response
bhAy in the Interpretation OF the passage,
] simply assert that there is in ii sugges-
lions of many things in our time.
Our eyes dilate and our hear guickens
IA its PulsatiOns IS we re3d of events in
the third century tho sixth century. the
eighth century. the fourteenth centu.v.
bat there were more faTreaching events
crowded into the nineteenth century than
int aRy OTTER. and the last twenty years
eclipse any preceding twenty. We read
In the daily ewSpGpe of events an
hounccd in one paragraph and without
any special emphasiS-events which a
HersdOtus a JOsephus. 4 NenophOn. a
Gib5on would nave taken whole chapters
or whole volumes to elaborate. Looking
out upon our time we must cry out, in the
words Of the text. Wonders in the heav-
ems and in the earth"
I propose to show you that the time in
which we live is wonderful for disaster
and wonderful for blessing. for there
TarE' be lights and shades in this picture
as in all others. Need | argue that our
time is wonderful for disaster? Our world
has had a rough time since by the hand
sf God it was bowled out into space. 1t is
an epileptic earth-convulsiOn after con-
~vulsion; frosts pounding it with sledge
hammer of iceberg and fires melting it
with furnaces seven times heated. 1t is a
weader to me it has lasted so long. Mete-
srs shooting by on this side and grazing it
and neteors shooting by on the other side
xnd grazing it, none of them slowing up
Cor safety. Whole fleets and navies and
argosins and fiotillas Of worlds sweeping
III about us. Our earth like a fishing
snack off the banks of Newfoundland.
wide the Majestic and the st. Paul and
ne Kaiser Wilhelm der Crosse rush by.
Resides that, our world has by sin been
donaged in its internal machinery, and
ever and anon the furnaces have burst,
and the walking beams Of the mountains
have broken. and the islands have ship
ped a sea. and the great hulk of the world
has been Jared with accidents that ever
and anon threatened immediate demoli-
tisA.
A Century of Disasters.
Bet it seems to us as if the last hundred
years were especially characterized by
disaster-volcanic, oceanic, epidemic. 1
- 800, ~ - n -,o 10 :, 1-1-
n volcano hushed up. When Stromboli and
C%otopaxi and Vesuvius stop breathing, let
the foundations of the earth beware! Sew
en- thousand earthquakes in two centuries
recorded in the catalogue of the British
association Trajan, the emperor. goes to
ancient Antioch and mid the splendors
Of his reception is met by IN earthquake
that nearly destroys the emperor's life.
Lisbon. fair and beautiful. at l o'clock on
the LIST of November, 11I5, in six minutes
eO.G00 have persisted. and Voltaire writes
af them. For that region it was the last
Judgment, nothing wanting but a trum-
petT Europe and America feeling the
throb-1.500 chimneys in Boston partly or
fally destroyed.
But the disasters of other times have
had their counterpart in later times. In
1872 Caracas was caught in the grip of
an earthquake. in 1882 in Chile 100000
qua miles of land by volcanic force up,
Reaved to four and seven feet of perma,
Rent elevation. in 1854 Japan felt the ge-
illogical agony: Naples shaken in 1857
Mexico in 1858: Mendoza. the capital OF
the Argentine Republic. in 1861: Manila
tefrsrized in 1868: the Hawaiian Islands
by such force uplifted and let down il
1871; Nevada shaken in 1871. Antioch ir
1870 California in 1870 San Salvador II
1873. while in 1888 what subterranear
excitement! Ischia. an island Of the Med
iterranean. a beautiful Italian wateriH.
place. vineyard clad. surrounded by al
natural charm and historical reminis
eeBce: yonder Capri. the summer reSort
of the Roman emperOrS; yOnder Naples
the paradise Of art-thiS beautiful islam,
suddenly tonpled into the trough Of III,
earth. 5000 ~mCTrvEakerS pPriShing, an,
seine OF them SO fIr down beneath I'll,
reach OF human u~,Spqu;c> that it may b.
said OF many n one az Them. rs il wa.
said OF Moses. The Lord buried him.
Italy. all Europe weeping. all Chris
teaeom weeping. where there were heart
to sympathizn AMI Christians to pray
But while the nations Vera measurin,
THAT magnitude W DISASTER. measuring i
aot with golden rod like ti!Hf with whicl
Ine anger nip1SUttHl ESlN'i- b!I VIII
the black rule Of death. lava uf Tin
Indian archipelago. the most fertil
island of all the earth. is caught in tn
grip OF the earthquake. and mountain aft
er mountain goes down and city after cit
until that island. 'vhich produces the hes
beverage OF all tie world. prnduced III
ghastlicSt catastrophe. One hundred thor
sand people dying. dead, Coming neare
home. on aug. 81. 1886. the great earth
quake which Frustrated onP-half q
Charleston. s e.
swept by Cyclones.
But look III the disasters cycionic. 4
the mouth Of the GangeS are three island
the Haitian. the SunGeep and the DaSi
S~habazp0re. In tie m:dniEh: of Cctnbe
1877. OF all IhnSe three islands the CT
was. THE waters 4 cyrlonc arose an
rolled the sea over those three island
and of a population of 100000. 2l5.oc
were drowned. Only those saved VII
had climbed to the top of rhe highe:
trees! Did you ever see a cyclone? y