Where Is the Sign of His Coming?
By H. F. Phelps
Where are the signs of his coming, do you ask? Here; yonder; everywhere. We cannot look amiss. Look above: The sun, the moon, the stars, all show that His coming is near. Look beneath: The very waters tell us by their angry tidal waves, and would fain convince us that the day of his wrath is near, by the reckless destruction of life and property. Marine disasters, without a parallel in earth’s history, would add their testimony as signs of his coming. The very earth trembles, and trembles as never before, engulfing her thousands of human beings, and millions of property, as if to say, Earth’s dissolution is near. Fires and floods, droughts and inundations also give their powerful testimony as witnesses in the case. Some of earth’s more favored regions enjoy plenty, while in those less favored, thousands of skeleton forms and dead bodies declare but too plainly the want of bread. And pestilence follows, mowing down her thousands, perfectly regardless of the station of her fated ones. Tornadoes, storms and gales, by land and by sea, swell the tide of witnesses. Go where you will, and ask the question, “Where is the sign of his coming,” and the answer is ever the same, “Here.” If the years 1871 and 1872 have been noted for a multiplication of signs and wonders, the year 1873 bids fair to be none behind its predecessors. The fair, fertile and heretofore undisturbed country of the north-west has been visited by the most desolating storm that has been witnessed by its oldest inhabitants. And it will be remembered as the terrible storm of January 7–9, 1873. It is impossible for us to picture the amount of suffering that was endured during these three days. News comes in from all quarters. The sympathizing heart can but heave, and the eye moisten, at their terrible recital. We will copy a few as samples of the many from some of the Minnesota papers:— Three men and four women found dead in a sleigh. Six section hands on the Sioux City road met the same fate. A woman frozen to death in her own house, not being able to go out for wood. Twenty-one deaths near Mankato. And from St. James comes the same sad tale of disaster. Seventeen persons frozen to death in that vicinity; and snow piled so high one could step from the second story window upon the snow drifts. A sleighing party of six young people and the driver frozen to death. But we cannot particularize. Men and teams found dead within a few feet of shelter, and in many cases near their own dwellings. Twenty-six found dead along the Sioux City road; eleven in the vicinity of Minnesota Falls; six near Red Wood Falls. Seventeen coffins were taken from New Ulm to bury the dead in its immediate vicinity. Six children were frozen to death on their way from school. But the papers give account of some saved by burying themselves in the snow, and of one man, a Mr. Hugh Jones, who kept forty scholars for forty-eight hours, traveling a mile or more to obtain food for those committed to his care. We think this worthy of mention. How unlike the general deportment of man to man. The storm covered an extent of nearly all of Minnesota, Northern Iowa, and all of Dakotah, traveling at the varied estimate of from eighty to one hundred and thirty miles per hour. The day of its commencement opened very mild, thus many were away who otherwise would not have been. It is estimated that from three hundred to five hundred lives have been lost, and probably a thousand head of stock. Truly this must be a sign of the times.