Signs on the Earth by L. L. C.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 30, 1916

Signs on the Earth

By L. L. C.

Signs of Christ’s Coming—No. 4

Signs on the Earth

OUR Saviour spoke not only of signs in the heavens, but also of signs that would appear on the earth, saying, “There shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” Matt. 24:7.

Space would fail us to describe all the great famines which have come upon the earth. The Encyclopedia Britannica, in its list of the great famines, gives one in the seventh century, one in the ninth, one in the tenth, five in the eleventh, two in the twelfth (one universal famine in 1162), two in the fourteenth, one in the sixteenth, one in the seventeenth, three in the eighteenth (the last of the three, which was in 1790-92, is said to have been one of the severest ever known), and twelve in the nineteenth century. We quote the full list of these last twelve:—

A. D. 1838. Intense famine in Northwest Provinces (United Provinces) of India; 800,000 perished. 1846-47. Famine in Ireland, due to the failure of the potato crop. Grants were made by Parliament amounting to £10,000,000. 1861. Famine in northwest India. 1866. Famine in Bengal and Orissa; 1,000,000 perished. 1869. Intense famine in Rajputana; 1,500,000 perished. The government initiated the policy of saving life. 1874. Famine in Behar, India. Government relief in excess of the needs of the people. 1876-78. Famine in Bombay, Madras, and Mysore; 5,000,000 perished. Relief insufficient. 1877-78. Severe famine in North China; 9,500,000 said to have perished. 1887-89. Famine in China. 1891-92. Famine in Russia. 1897. Famine in India. Government policy of saving life successful. Mansion House Fund, £550,000. 1899-1901. Famine in India; 1,000,000 people perished. Estimated loss to India, £50,000,000. The government spent £10,000,000 on relief, and at one time there were 4,500,000 people on the relief works.

The plague has brought death to untold thousands, and it would be too long a list even to enumerate the occurrences of the disease in the years since Christ spoke his prophetic words. We can only quote a paragraph from the Encyclopedia Britannica concerning the recent spread of the disease to “divers places:”

“Taking up the story at the point where the earlier historical summary leaves off, we get the following list of countries in which plague is known to have been present in each year (see Local Government Board’s Reports): 1880, Mesopotamia; 1881, Mesopotamia, Persia, and China; 1882, Persia and China; 1883, China; 1884, China and India (as mahamari); 1885, Persia; 1886, 1887, 1888, India (as mahamari); 1889, Arabia, Persia, and China; 1890, Arabia, Persia, and China; 1891, Arabia, China, and India (as mahamari); 1892, Mesopotamia, Persia, China, Russia (in Central Asia); 1893, Arabia, China, Russia, and India (as mahamari); 1894, Arabia, China, and India (as mahamari); 1895, Arabia and China; 1896, Arabia, Asia Minor, China, Japan, Russia, and India (Bombay); 1897, Arabia, China, Japan, India, Russia, and East Africa; 1898, Arabia, Persia, China, Japan, Russia, East Africa, Madagascar, and Vienna; 1899, Arabia, Persia, China, Japan, Mesopotamia, East Africa, West Africa, Philippine Islands, Straits Settlements, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Egypt, European Russia, Portugal, Sandwich Islands, New Caledonia, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil; 1900, to the foregoing should be added Turkey, Australia, California, Mexico, and Glasgow; in 1901, South Africa; and in 1902, Russia, chiefly at Odessa. This list is probably by no means exhaustive, but it sufficiently indicates in a summary fashion the extent of that wave of diffusion which set in during the closing years of the nineteenth century.”

The table given by the same encyclopedia concerning recent deaths by plague in India is significant:—

Year	Bengal Presidency	Bombay Presidency	All India
1896	......	2,219	2,219
1897	......	47,710	47,974
1898	219	86,191	89,265
1899	3,264	96,592	102,369
1900	38,412	33,196	73,576
1901	78,629	128,259	236,433
1902	32,967	184,752	452,655
1903	65,680	281,269	684,445
1904	75,438	223,957	938,010
1905	126,084	71,363	940,821
1906	59,619	51,525	300,355

The property loss through earthquakes runs into untold millions of dollars. Some conception of the loss of life may be gained from the following table of the “Great Earthquakes of History,” given in Nelson’s Encyclopedia:—

Year	Place	Lives lost
1038	China	25,000
1057	China	25,000
1169	Sicily	15,000
1268	Cilicia	60,000
1290 (?)	Peking	100,000
1293	Japan	30,000
1531	Lisbon	30,000
1556	China	500,000
1622	China	20,000
1692	Jamaica	3,000
1693	Sicily	60,000
1703	Yeddo (Japan)	200,000
1724	Lima	18,000
1731	Peking	100,000
1737	India	150,000
1755	Lisbon	50,000

Year	Place	Lives lost
1755	Northern Persia	40,000
1783	Messina, Calabria	60,000
1797	Quito	41,000
1812	Caracas	12,000
1822	Aleppo	22,000
1828	Japan	30,000
1851	Italy	19,000
1857	Calabria	12,000
1860	Mendoza	12,000
1868	Peru-Ecuador	25,000
1875	Colombia-Venezuela	5,000
1880	Manila	3,000
1883	Krakatoa	35,000
1886	Charleston	27
1888	China	5,000
1891	Japan	7,000
1892	Peru	25,000
1896	Japan	26,000
1897	Assam	1,500
1905	Kangra	15,000
1906	San Francisco	500
1906	Valparaiso	1,000
1907	Jamaica	1,000
1907	Turkestan	14,000
1908	Messina-Reggio (?)	150,000
1910	Costa Rica	1,500
1911	Turkestan	200
1911	Luzon	1,500
1912	Turkey	3,000
1912	Mexico	1,300
1915	Italy	30,000

As we notice the many places affected, we cannot but be struck with the exact fulfilment of the Saviour’s words, ‘There shall be . . . earthquakes, in divers places.’ These calamities, which seem to be increasing in frequency, should serve to turn our minds with greater longing to the time of our Saviour’s return, which is now near, even at the doors. While, as foretold in the Scriptures, men’s hearts are ‘failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth,’ we may renew our courage and trust in the speedy fulfilment of Christ’s promise, ‘I will come again.’

L. L. C.