The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-04-23
DR.. PADEN TALKS
ON EARTHQUAKE
Presbyterian Pastor Points
Out Lessons of San Fran
cisco Calamity.
DESCRIBED IN THE BIBLE
"AFTER EARTHQUAKE, AFTER
FIRE, STILL SMALL VOICE."
DESCRIBED IN THE BIBLE

Dr. W. NJ. Paden preached on the San
Francisco earthquake at the First Pres
byterian church yesterday morning He
took for his text the following:
And after the earthquake a fire
and after the fire a still small voice.
Kings. 1872
DR.. Paden said in part:
This phrase from the recorded expe-
rlence of Elijah at Sinai sounds very mod
ern. First the earthquake, then the fire
ana then the voice of gentle stiffness.
across the mountains who have experi-
enced the terrors of the EARTHQUAKE and
IRE an mayhap Ike Elijah, without
finding God in them, may, during these
days and weeks which follow find God
speaking TO them out of his blessed quiet
! ne editor of the Charleston Courier who
has given us most vivid record of his
experience during and after the Chrleston
earthquake of Aug 81 1856. after descrfb
ing the terror and panic which seemed to
take possession not only of his senses
but of his, whole being. during the awful
his blessed relief which came when the
shock was over: The earth was still
Stiffness
First the Earthquake.
Those who know agree that an earth
quake is the most terrifying of all nat
ural phenomena. Unseen. unannounced
unlooked-for. and instantaneous it's shocks
ander Won Humboldt says, a moment de-
strOys the illusion of a whole life: our
deceptive faith in the repose of nature
Nanishes. and we feel transported as it
were, into realm of unknown. destrIc-
tive forces The earthquake. therefore
conveys 10 man an idea of some universal
and unlimited danger. We may flee from
the crater of a volcano in active eruption
or from the dwelling whose destruction is
threatened by the approach of lava
stream; but in an earthquake. direct our
d.g i9 whi the we will, we still feel
as II we trod upon the very focus of de-
struCtiOn-'
1T comes not like lightning out of a
Of the solid earth. The electric storm
or cyclone does not usually burst upon us
without premonitory signs The earth
quake comes unannounced and usually I'M
looked-for. An electric storm whose bolts
should shake and shatter a whole city
IN one terrible minute could hardly create
a more universal panic The suddenness
and completeness with which this unex-
pected power LAYS hold of and shakes
cities and men to their very Foundation
is without parallel in human experience
If l mistake not. the earthquake at Lis
tidal wave. did not last more than five
minutes; and yet within that brief period
the city was laid in ruins and over thirty
thousand people were destroyed. It is
questionable whether any other natura |
calamity has ever made such havoc of
NE ana property within such brief time.
While the recent earthquake at San Fran
7 cisco was neither so deadly nor so de
structlVe as that at Lisbon. not to spea k
Of the repeated commissions which have
:, shaken southern Italy. yet like all its
kind. IT came without announcement and
cid it's part toward destroying the citv
within the limits Of perhaps a hundred
seconds.
After Earthquake, Fire.
II say. did its part. for. as it was in the
Cescrt of Sinai so in a different sense and
in more terrible way, II was in San
Francisco. After the earthquake the fire.
At Sinai the fire was probably volcanic.
1t was so when In the year 1879 the earth
tai
by the eruption of Vesuvius which de-
stroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum The
fires which followed the earthquake in
San Francisco. though they were not kim
died by torrents of lava, were scarcely
quake having laid mems own houses as
wood 10 be burned. had kindled them from
6helE Re Own Nm fir REP f First the earth
natural If / mistake not the great fire
I'm Chicago was started by the overturn-
ing OF one lamp In a remote quarter of
the city. IT would seem as If a thousand
lamps might have been overturned or a
thousand fires let loose on that awful
morning last week when the staunchest
buildings and the strongest men staggered
to and fro and were thrown PROSTATE
AS We all know. it has been the fire
rather than the earthquake that has left
what is left of San Francisco like a brand
plucked from the burning. There have
possibly been in our own land swifter if
not greater fires; II is n question how
ever. whether the cruel gale which fell
To work with the flames in Chicago was
so terrible as the shattering earthquake
which preceded the fire in San Francisco
The hope for San Francisco. as for all
Of US, i'm the face OF calamity. is not that
Cod was or will be specially present in
the earthquake or the fire. but that if we
listen We may hear him speak in the after
quiet After the earthquake and the fire
comes the voice of gentle stiffness This
does not mean that God does not speak in
the earthquake and the fire: his voice is
never silent He speaks in the terrors of
natural law as we'll as in the peace which
comes as we rest upon his personal love.
Moral Use of Danger.
Fear, terror. shocks which make rs
afraid. calImities which make our hearts
quake, fires which burn out our pride or
melt down our self-sufficiency have their
place in the human discipline Peril has;
its place in the schooling of the soul and
the making OF character. Without dam
ger we would be without daring. As Hor-
ace Bushnell has said: To bear and dare
these two great lessons are among the
chief moral uses of life. Danger is the
educator OF courage and pain of its other
twin principle, fortitude.' Without these
two aweSOme teachers our school of life
would produce neither heroes nor MARTYRS.
1t IS a question 10 whether without
the wickedness on antipathy would not
within few generations, crowd out the
sweet and strong benediction Of SYM
pathy
1t is one of the commonplaces of hu-
man experiences that such calamitieS as
earthquakes and fire seem to break open
fountains of charity as from a great deep.
The very best that is in the best of men is
called forth and springs Of human benef-
lCence break forth in unexpected places.
1t is as if some shock We're needed to
Hberate our philanthropy; as If some uni
VerSal stroke of calamity were needed TO
weld US together one man. So the
. newspapers tell us that the rich and the
nor dur,