ABOUT five o’clock p. m., on the twenty-third of April, the inhabitants of Lisbon were very much frightened by quite a severe earthquake. The writer was in Lisbon preparing for the Friday evening meeting. Altho he had never before felt such, yet by the peculiar sensation produced, a definite decision was made: “It is an earthquake.” Hearing the noise made by many excited voices in the street, our natural desire was to see the effect upon the people. They were looking up to the sky—toward the buildings—as if it were a cyclone on the way.
Extent of the Destruction
Soon we saw firemen on the run to their stations, and soon we heard that a fire had broken out in another part of the city, caused by lighted candles, set by an oratory of images, which were overturned, setting fire to the wardrobe of the saints. Many chimneys came down, and buildings were badly rocked.
The king viewing the ruins of the Municipal Building in Coruche, Portugal.
The building opposite our hall shows signs of the earth’s “tremor.” It is a building probably built about the time of the 1755 earthquake.
Outside of a few losses and more fright, Lisbon’s inhabitants did not suffer. But not so with several towns a few miles out. These were completely destroyed. The quakes, by continuing for a couple of weeks, kept the survivors in a state of commotion and excitement, and finished the work of destruction not done by the first hard shake.
Relief for the Sufferers
Forty-eight persons were killed, and some seventy to eighty wounded. Thousands, of course, are without homes. The king was very soon on the scene, comforting the people, and promising aid and protection. The parliament being in session at the time, altho badly frightened, soon after voted aid up to $100,000. The Red Cross Society immediately began working, doing nobly to relieve the unfortunates. A custom among the Portuguese is to form a procession for taking up collections. Marching through the streets with a band playing dirges, they catch in a sheet, or a banner, cloth buckets, etc., the donations of money, clothing, jewelry, old coins, etc. For giving alms to help the unfortunate the Portuguese are among the first.
Explanations of Its Cause
We do not desire to enter into details of the effect of the earthquake, because what we have already read from various writers about the different earthquakes gives the experiences in about the same manner, according to the severity of the earthquakes. On the causes, there has been no lack of scientists who have aired their opinions, each one finding certain elements on which to base his ideas.
A few days before the “tremor,” a book came out to the public, being a translation from another language, with the title, “Jesus Christ Never Existed.” This work is a tirade against the Bible, particularly the New Testament, showing that the falsities of the Catholic Church were adopted from the pagan worship, therefore Christ never existed. Pagan writers ignored and were silent about the life of Jesus; therefore He did not exist. Of course the Catholics immediately circulated the opinion that the earthquake was the punishment of God on account of this book. The reply was a question: “Why was it that the churches suffered the most?”
The church of the Benevento reduced to a pile of ruins.
However, when we presented these catastrophes from a Bible standpoint, opposers became silenced and the believers remained more fortified in the faith. When the signs multiply more and more, our desire to warn the people increases in like manner. We have decided to publish a special earthquake number of the “Signs of the Times,” “Os Signaes dos Tempos.” We believe many thousands will be warned in this manner. Perhaps some one who knows of Portuguese in California, in the Hawaiian Islands, and in the Eastern states will desire to order copies for missionary work among this people at three cents a copy, post-paid. We ask the prayers of the “Signs” readers for us and our nation.
