ECHOES OF GOD'S WARNING VOICE.
By S.
For many months before the eruption of the death-dealing volcanoes in the West Indies, there had been destructive and almost continuous seismic activity in Central America and the islands adjacent. The disturbance of the normal conditions in those regions is now persistent and continuous. The volcanoes continue their eruptions, and the earth in the disturbed regions continues to tremble. Since that time the inhabitants of the Japanese island of Toroshima have been blotted out of existence, and the island has been changed out of all semblance to its former appearance, its vegetation seared, and its surface covered with a rain of ashes, sand, mud, and boulders. The island has subsided noticeably, and the volcano continues active. Repeated violent earthquakes occurred throughout the eastern portion of Turkestan from August 26 to September 3. Numerous houses were destroyed in Kashgar and in neighboring villages, and a number of persons have lost their lives. A new crater has opened in the Soufriere volcano, St. Vincent Island, and is sending out clouds of black smoke, while the old crater continues to send out dense clouds of white steam. On August 17 a severe earthquake shock was experienced on the western coast of Alaska, breaking glass in wooden houses and shaking down an unfinished7salmon factory. Innumerable tons of ice were shaken off from glaciers, literally choking the inlets by which the icebergs found passage to the sea. A special dispatch from Naples, dated September 7, states that large volumes of flame are issuing from the crater of Mt. Vesuvius. The volcano of Kilauea, on Hawaii, has broken out again. It was preceded by sharp earthquake shocks which were felt thirty miles away. A lake of molten lava 400 feet in diameter had formed in the crater. It was within 600 feet of the rim of the crater and was steadily rising. Streams of lava would dart high into the air to fall back in spray on the boiling mass below. Hundreds of excursionists are rushing to the scene to witness the phenomena. The volcano on the island of Stromboli, near the coast of southern Italy, is in full eruption, and is throwing up torrents of stones and columns of fire. It has been moderately active for many years, but has not given the inhabitants of the island particular cause for fear until now. The admiral commanding the French naval division in the Atlantic has sent word to his government of the sudden disappearance of the island of Bermeja in the Gulf of Mexico. No reefs, even, have been discovered on the spot formerly occupied by this island. This admiral reports the volcanoes of Mexico, Yucatan, and Guatemala more than ordinarily active. Passengers who arrived recently from Alaska report having seen the three volcanoes of Western Alaska, Redoubt, Iliamna, and Augustine, in active eruption at the same time. They were throwing clouds of steam and smoke miles high. Reports from Manila, P. I., bearing date of September 16, state that the Macien, Taal, and Balusan volcanoes are unusually active. The latter has been inactive for years. The people in the vicinity are alarmed for their safety. The above are taken from the news columns of the daily press of one week. Is there not a striking likeness between the condition of this earth as here portrayed and the condition which Christ said would exist just prior to His coming? In answering His disciples and pointing out to them the signs by which His followers might know when His return was nigh at hand, He said: “There shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles; these are the beginnings of sorrows.” Mark 13:8. We are certainly seeing the earthquakes in divers places, and they are increasing with astonishing rapidity. He tells us in Matthew that we shall hear the sea and the waves roaring. The roaring of the tidal wave was never so frequent as now. “And there shall be famines and troubles.” We have read of the most terrible famines in India; millions have died from this cause. There have been famines in Russia in which thousands of persons have perished. There have been famines and floods in China recently in which thousands upon thousands (some have said millions) of persons have lost their lives. Drought in Australia has ruined thousands of farmers and caused the death of millions of sheep and cattle. The scripture quoted states there are to be “troubles” in addition to the famines. There never was as much unrest in the world as there is at the present time; and the great strikes caused by this unrest and discontent are brewing trouble on every hand. They are troubles in themselves. Spain has her internal troubles; Belgium has hers; Russia is a seething pot of discontent; France is furious over the question of closing the unauthorized religious schools; in Austria the peasants and police are in frequent conflict; eastern Prussia is goaded nearly to desperation over the Germanizing of her speech and customs; China still stands in tremulous dread of another Boxer uprising; and South Africa is now in constant fear of a war between the whites and the blacks. In addition to these internal difficulties, nations are intriguing against nations, thus adding to all the unrest and fears which the other causes had produced. “These are the beginnings of sorrows.” These are omens of the end. But notwithstanding all that we now see in the earth indicative of the last days, men of the world and uncertain religious professors are advising the people that “all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation,”(2 Pet. 3:4) and that there is no cause for unusual alarm. The editor of an influential daily speaks as follows in an effort to quiet the fears of the people and lead them to think that these signs of the earth's dissolution are but common, every-day occurrences with no significance whatever: “It is misleading to assume that volcanic activity is more general or more pronounced than usual. The present activity of volcanoes is not a sign that the earth is about to be visited by universal disaster.” And yet authentic records show that these phenomena are increasing in frequency in a constantly increasing ratio. To such an extent has this increase gone on that the earth's crust is trembling or quaking in some portion continually, and the universal activity in volcanoes is unprecedented. That something unusual is taking place below the surface of the earth is shown in the forcing of crude petroleum to the surface. It is manifest in places where it was not known before by the seepage of the oil. The editor above referred to heads his article “The Earth Is in No Danger.” The multitude will believe it, being, as Peter says, “willingly ignorant,” not knowing or believing that this earth is “kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Pet. 3:4-7. The earth is in danger because it is nearing the climax of its career. The people upon it are in danger, because every possible implement of deception will be used to blind their eyes to the truth of the situation. It is the purpose of the enemy to hush the people of this world to sleep, and keep them slumbering right up to the time when the fate of every man has been fixed and judgment is being poured out upon the world. Every calamity that is visiting the world now is telling its own story of the nearing cataclysm. Let us not be blind to what these things mean; let us not sleep as others are sleeping; let us not refuse to believe the only warning voice that can not deceive us, God's Word. In believing that, there is trust, hope, confidence, and life. If we refuse to believe, there is nothing for us but a part in the destruction which these calamities foretell. S.