Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-07-17
sodom and eomorrah.

When Lot was brought outside the city
BY the angels they said 20 Lot, Escape
for thy life: look not behind thee. neither
stay thou IN all the plain. Escape TO the
mountain lest thou be consumed"
When the sun was up then the Lord
rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah orim-
stone and FIRE from the Lord out OF heav-
en-. And he overthrow these cities and all
the plain and all the inhabitants OF the
cities. and that which grew upan the
ground. Gen. xix. 24-5.
DR.. Adam Clarke. in commenting on
the destruction Of the cities Of the plain,
says the birthstone was bitumen; that the
plain abounded In bituminous deposits.
and these deposits were set on nre by
lightning. probably.
The plain was filled afterward by what
Is known now as the Dead sea, 20 miles
long and Is In width. he mentions also ire
ouent eruptions from the bottom 70 the
surface. which. he says. would seem 10
argue a subterranean fire. and hence the
accounts that the place was burning even
after the days OF the apostles"
Dr.. Clarke quotes from DR.. shaw: This
phenomenon still continues. for masses
OF bitumen in large hemispheres are rails
ed at certain times from the bottom.
which. as soon as they reach the surface
and are hereby acted on by the external
air. burst at once with great smoke and
noise ike the pulvis fulminaus Of the
chemists. and dispers themselves IN
thousand pieces. = The bitumen is,
in all probability. accompanied from the
bottom with sulphur. as both OF them are
found promiScuously upon the shore. and
the latter is precisely the same with COM
mon native sulphur"
Dr. Clarke thinks Lots wife was struck
BY lightning and enveloped in the bitumi-
nous and sulphur matter which aoounded
IN the country.
Without attempting TO express a scien-
tie opinion. IL would seem that the plain
was lying over a submerged volcano. and
when the time was ripe the explosion took
place and burned everything as Mt. Pelee
exploded IN Martinique. and which COW
cred that part Of the island with deluge
OF boiling mud and bad-smeiling lava. de-
stroyfng human life by the suffocating
gases which escaped at the time OF the
break. Some reports tell Of a lake that
occupied the basin OF Mt. Pelee's crater
IN the side Of the mountain, which had
been lying IN the same place since the dis
cOvery or settlement Of this volcanic is
land over go years ago. We hear that the
first overflow in Martinique was thick
mud. boiling mud. followed by suffocating
gases and then molten lava flowed.
The destruction OF Seldom and Gomorrah,
the wicked cities OF the plain. was similar
70 the destruction OF 81. Pierre in Mar
Unique, except that Mt. Pelee IS a noun
tain with a volcano on the inside Of II.
and tie birthstone and fire that burned up
these wicked cities came from heaven and
Egnited the infiammable matter that I'M
deriay the surface. and which now consti-
tutes the Dead sea. in liquid form mixed
with water.
To one who has no deeper knowledge OF
the subject than myself II looks as II the
inside OF the terrestrial ball Is full OF red
hot stuff When the heat makes crack
in the outside the water on top dashes
down. generates steam and away the thing
goes
Volcanoes are perhaps the outbreak Of
pent I'D steam in the bowels Of the earth,
and IL the fires below in subterranean cav
ems are hot enough. nobody need ever
question the final confagration when the
heat viii roll the heaven together as
scroll and the earth win suffer the ven
geance OF eternal FIRE"