The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1901-12-13
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
WONDERS IN THE HEAVENS AND IN
THE EARTH"
Text from the Second Chapter OF Joel
The World Constantly Advancing in
the Right Direction-The Triumph of
Christianity Over Inhdelity.

/
events and shows that the world is ad-
vancing in the right direction; text
Joel H.. so, Il will show wonders in the
heavens and in the earth.
There were more far-reaching events
| crowded into the nineteenth century
than into any other and the last ~
wears eclipse any preceding 20. we
read in the daily newspapers OF events
announced in one paragraph and WIN
out any special emphasis-events
which a Herodotus. Josephus, Ken
ophon, a Gibbon would have taken
whole chapters or whole volumes 10
elaborate. Looking out upon our time
we must cry out, in the words OF the
text. "Wonders in the heavens and In
| the earth"
| propose TO show you that the time
| in which we live is wonderful Tor us
| aster and wonderful for blessing LOT
there must be lights and shades in this
| picture as in all others. Need argue
| that our time is wonderful for disas-
ter? Our world has had a rough time
since by the hand of God it was BOWED
ont into space. 1t is an epileptic earth
-conyulsion after CONFUSION; frost
pounding it with sledge hammer of ice
berg and fires melting it with furnaces
seven times heated. 1t is wonder 10
me it has lasted so long. Meteors
| shooting by on this side and grazing II
and meteors shooting by on the other
side and grazing it, none of them slow
| ing I'D for safety. Whole fleets ana
navies and argosies and fiotillas or
worlds sweeping all about us. Our
earth like fishing smack off the
banks of Newfoundland, while the Ma
iestic and the st. Paul and the Kaiser
Wilhelm der Crosse rush by. Besides
that, our world has by sin been dam
aged in its internal machinery, and
ever and anon the furnaces have burst,
and the walking beams of the noun
tains have broken, and the Islands
have shipped sea, and the great bulk
of the world has been Jared with acct
dents that ever and anon threatened
| immediate QemOlltlOH.
But it seems to us as if the last hun
dred years were especially character
| lied by disaster-volcanic, oceanic,
endemic. Seven thousand earthquakes
in two centuries recorded in the cata-
| logue of the British association! Ira
jan, the emperor, goes to ancient Anti
och and amid the splendors of his re-
ception is met by an earthquake that
nearly destroys the emperor's life. LIS
bon. fair and beautiful, at l o'clock on
the LIST of November, 1875, in six min
utes $4,000 have persisted, Europe and
America feeling the throb-1 800 Chin
neys in Boston partly or fully de-
stroyed!
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
square miles of land by volcanic force
upheaved to four and seven feet Of per-
manent elevation, in 1854 Japan felt
| the geological agony; Naples shaken
in 1857, Mexico in 1858; Mendoza, the
capital of the Argentine Republic, in
! 1861: Manila terrorized in 1868; the
Hawaiian Islands by such force up
lifted and let down in 1871; Nevada
shaken in 1871, Antioch in 1872, Cali
fornia in 1872 San Salvador in 1873
while in 1888 what subterranean ex-
element ! Ischia, an island OF the
Mediterranean beautiful Italian wat
ering place, vineyard clad, surrounded
nv all natural charm and historical
"Reminiscences; yonder Capri, the sum
mer resort of the Roman emperors;
wonder Naples, the paradise OF art
this beautiful island suddenly topplet
into the trough of the earth, 5000 mer'
rymakers perishing, and some of then
so far down beneath the reach of hui
man obsequies that it may be said o.
MANY of them, as it was said OF Moses
THE Lord buried him." Italy, all Eu
rome weeping, all Christendom weep
ing where there were hearts to sym
pathize and Christians to pray. Blu
while the nations were measuring tina
magnitude of disaster, measuring it no
with golden rod like that with which
the angel measured heaven, but will
the black rule of death, Java of the In
dian archipelago, the most fertile is
land of all the earth, is caught in tn
grin of the earthquake, and mountain
after mountain goes down and cit.
after city until that island, which pro
duces the best beverage of all tn
world, produced the ghastliest catas
trophe. One hundred thousand peopl
dying, dead!
But look at the disasters cycloniC
Cyclone in Kansas, cyclone in Missouri
cyclone in Wisconsin, cyclone in Hi
nois. cyclone in Iowa! Satan, prince G
the power of the air, never made sue
cyclonic disturbances as he has in GU
day And am | not right in sayin
that one of the characteristics Of tn
time in which we live is disaster cy
clonic?
But look at the disasters oceanic
Shall call the roll of the dead shiI
ping? II is as long as the white scro
OF the Atlantic surf at Cape Hattera
| hreakers II the oceanic cables coul