THE DAY OF HIS PREPARATION.
By S.
EVENTS on every hand are indicating that we are now living in the days of the Lord's preparation. The events to which we refer have been designated by the Lord Himself as signs of the approach of that day which will close the history of this present world. The terrible chain of disasters from Guatemala to St. Vincent and Martinique is telling us with mighty voice that we are living in the most important time this world has ever known. There have been earthquakes before; volcanoes have destroyed cities before; tidal waves have carried destruction to the dwellers by the sea in years gone by; and great storms have done execution in the past; but the ratio of increase in these direful manifestations has been fearfully rapid within the last few years. As events that were to be to His followers signs of His second coming, Christ mentioned the following: “Great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.” Luke 21:11. In Haggai 2:6, 7, the Lord declares, “Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come.” Just preceding the second coming of the Lord the prophet Joel (3:16) tells us that “the heavens and the earth shall shake.” Isaiah tells us of a time when the Lord shall rise “to shake terribly the earth,” (Isa. 2:19, 21); and we learn from verse 12 that this terrible manifestation is to occur in “the day of the Lord of hosts.” We get a more vivid idea of what this means from a reading of Revelation 6:14–17, where the Lord declares that the heavens shall depart as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and every island shall be moved out of their places. But this includes the greatest of all earthquakes (Rev. 16:18), a more terrible one than has ever yet come upon the earth. Thus we see something of the experiences that are awaiting the people of this generation, as announced by the Lord through His prophets and by His own lips. Let us look to the records and ascertain if there are any indications that we are entering upon the times to which the prophets and our Lord had reference. He declared that there would be “earthquakes in divers places,” “the sea and the waves roaring.” Earthquakes were rare phenomena before the fifteenth century; but there has been a tremendous increase since that time. Mr. Mallett, an acknowledged authority in such matters, has been able to find record of but 58 earthquakes before the birth of Christ, or about one in 29 years. From that time to the end of the 9th century they averaged one in 4 years. Up to the end of the 15th century they averaged one to the year. From the 15th to the 18th century the increase became more marked, the average being 9 to the year. For the 50 years ending 1850 the average had grown to 64 per year; and for the next 18 years the average had risen to 277 per year. At the present time so great has been the increase in the number of earthquakes that the earth's crust is in a continual tremor. We hear now only of the more severe ones; but the seismographs are busy in some part or parts of the earth at all times, writing the signatures of earthquakes. “Earthquakes in divers places”—that prophecy is fulfilling now. The burnings that are going on under the earth's crust are ramifying every country. Dangerous chemicals embedded in the earth are coming into contact with one another; and the explosions which occur in consequence are shaking up the crust of the earth, and bringing still more of these chemicals together or into proximity; and they in turn shake and rend and shatter the earth crust more, and so the work goes on increasing continually. As the crust is shattered by the explosions and the shaking, the waters of the ocean and the contents of the great oil depositories are permitted to rush or trickle through the openings made down into and among these veritable magazines of explosives, heating and setting off their contents. Each new shock is a new menace, and brings about conditions which will make many other such shocks not only possible but inevitable. The rapid rate of increase in these occurrences, as seen in the statistics given above and in the fearful prevalence of these phenomena before our own eyes, shows how the fulfilment of Christ's words is coming to pass in our day. We are nearing the time of that greatest of all earthquakes, to which reference has been made, and toward which all the shakings of the earth's crust are tending. In connection with the recent terrible volcanic manifestations in the West Indies, volcanic or seismic activities have been reported from various parts of the earth, even in far Alaska. Volcanoes that have been apparently dead for many years show signs of renewed activity. Mount Colima, Mexico, developed a very threatening aspect, so that numbers of the inhabitants of that vicinity left their homes, fearing for their lives. Little Chinati, an extinct volcano of Texas, showed signs of uneasiness. The hot springs of Teplitz-Schoenau, in Austria, became a deep red, the water carrying large quantities of red ochre. The oil wells of Texas, which before had thrown their oil high into the air, lost their power, and pumping now has to be resorted to in order to bring the oil to the surface, according to reports from that district. Thus we can see the connection between these combustible materials and the volcanic and seismic activities that are manifest in the earth to-day. Earthquakes are increasing—there are now “earthquakes in divers places.” They will increase more and more until they culminate in that great earthquake in comparison with which all others will be as mere tremors. It is the time of the Lord's preparation, and the culmination “hasteth greatly.”