The Question Settled

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 23, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 37.

The Question Settled.

The great earthquake in Charleston has set the people to conjuring up some cause for the great disturbance, so that they may fortify their minds against any fear of a repetition of the calamity. For it is a strange peculiarity of human nature, that when men think that they know the cause of any event however calamitous, they cease to fear it, even though they are powerless to remove the cause. The wiseacre of the Christian Union has set his wits to work, and has figured out the following concerning the recent earthquake:—

“The best explanation of the present shock attributes it to a combination of causes. [That of course is more satisfying than if there were only one cause.—Ed. SIGNS.] The granite formation of the Appalachian Mountains runs nearly horizontally as far east as Columbia, at which point the granite crops out; it then drops suddenly, so that at Charleston; it is 3,000 feet below the surface, which is composed of clay, marl, gravel, and other superficial formation. It is supposed that a disturbance of the Appalachian Mountains, due either to volcanic action or the cooling of the earth’s surface, has caused a jar in the granite foundation such that the composite rocks and fragments resting upon it have slipped down, producing a dislocation and disturbance of this vast area. If this explanation is correct, it is not probable that the present disturbance will be repeated for hundreds of years. The soil, having readjusted itself, may be expected to remain stable.”

This “explanation” will no doubt be eminently satisfactory to the majority of the readers of the Union. It has such an air of grandeur about it; it considers great things in so lordly a way that earthquakes are made to seem but trifles. The “explanation” itself amounts simply to this: “Earthquakes are caused by the shaking of the earth.” Thus, according to the sage who has spoken, when the earth has readjusted itself, it will probably not shake again for hundreds of years. Perhaps the people are so glad to be “satisfied” on this subject that they will not think to ask how it is that the soil in other portions of the world doesn’t stay “readjusted” longer at a time.

It is such “vain babblings” as this falsely called “science” that leads people to say, “Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” And it is of men who get off such trash as this that we have quoted, that people say, “If the seventh day were indeed the Sabbath, surely these learned men would have found it out long ago.” If the blind trust in the blind, shall not they both fall into the ditch?