To be an infallible guide, the Bible must be able to instruct in all things pertaining to life and godliness. Such instruction, to be competent, must reveal the eternal purpose of God concerning this earth and its inhabitants. This purpose being a fixed one, God's omniscience must foresee and make note of those events which are to affect the destiny of His people. To believe otherwise would belittle the Creator, and make Him unworthy of confidence in time of dire need.
Taking this view of the Bible, we are compelled to believe that the terrible calamity just visited upon the Pacific Slope is significant, as indicating something for which the people ought to be prepared. The havoc wrought in San Francisco, San Jose, and other cities of California, was not wholly accomplished by the shaking of the earth. In San Francisco particularly, fire of the most persistent character followed, devouring the most formidable structures the art of men could devise. This is remarkable in one way, because these two elements are represented in God's Word as accompanying agencies for the destruction of those whose sins have become so flagrant as to provoke the indignation of Heaven. Isa. 29:6.
By the combination of these two elements the destruction of the world will be accomplished in due time. Speaking on this point the prophet says: "And the seventh angel poured out his vial [of wrath] into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." Rev. 16:17-20.
A view showing the power of the earthquake in front of the new Post Office Building, Seventh and Mission Streets. This street was previously level. The new Post Office Building was not greatly injured.
Those who passed through the recent earthquake will corroborate the statement that the scenes which followed it beggar description. Rich men lost their all, and were reduced from affluence to poverty. Poorer people were reduced to beggary, and cried like children. So much confusion prevailed that martial law was proclaimed. But calamitous as was this recent occasion, the event predicted in the foregoing scripture will bring infinitely greater distress, so much so that "the mighty man will cry there bitterly," for that day will be "a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness." That day will be "the day of the Lord's wrath," in which "He shall make a speedy riddance of all them which dwell in the land." Zeph. 1:14-18.
A view from the ferry-boat Berkeley on its way from Oakland to San Francisco, taken the morning of the earthquake when the fire had well started. The tall tower is the center of the Ferry Building, the fire tug at the right.
At this time the ethereal arch of heaven will pass away as a scroll being rolled together, and every mountain and island will remove. Then all men—kings, rich men, chief captains, and earth's mighty men, with the bond and free—will hide together among the rocks of the hills, and in one mighty chorus of lamentation, cry to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and to hide them from the face of Him whose wrath they have provoked by their glaring enormities in sin. Rev. 6:14-16. But rocks and mountains can not then bury them away from impending destruction; for as in previous foretastes of that day, fire springs up in all directions, and consumes them from off the earth.
That this is not a fancy sketch, we have only to refer again to scripture. Speaking of the attitude of those who will make light of the evidences of Christ's near coming, the apostle Peter says such are willingly ignorant of the fact that by the word of God the world was once destroyed by water. He then adds: "The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:4-7.
Such a sure and terrible ending of all things sinful must be reserved for a definite time in the purpose of God, who could not be true to His declared merciful character should He fail to give warning of its direct approach. When the Saviour was asked what signs would herald His second advent and the end of the world, among other things He said: "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and great earthquakes shall be in divers places." Matt. 24:1-8; Luke 21:10, 11.
The first really great earthquake to be noted in history since that prediction was made, is that of 1755 in Portugal, when Lisbon was overthrown. Since then they have occurred in ever-increasing rapidity, until quite recently they have followed almost upon the heels of each other. Within ten years Stromboli erupted, following an earthquake. Mount Pelée soon followed, carrying great destruction in its wake. Within three months Vesuvius has vomited forth fire, ashes, and lava, destroying at least two towns and threatening others. These, to say nothing of an earlier disturbance affecting Charleston on the Atlantic Coast, with others in South America, Central America, and in other countries, are a sure indication that we are approaching the end of the world, according to the prediction of the Lord Jesus Himself.
But, as if to make this doubly sure to us,7there now comes unheralded the sad catastrophe in California, breaking down and destroying important centers of industry. This also must be accepted as a premonition of the great and terrible earthquake before which all the cities of the nations will soon surely fall, and the accompanying fires of the last day which will complete the destruction of all sinful things.
He who pays heed to this warning and lets the Lord direct his ways, will certainly escape the general ruin, because he will have found shelter under the protecting wing of the Almighty. A thousand shall fall at his side, and ten thousand at his right hand, but it—the destruction—will not come nigh him, because he has made the Lord his refuge, even the Most High his habitation. The angel of the Lord shall keep him in all his ways. Ps. 91:5-11.
In that day, every earthly thing will be removed by the terrible shaking it will receive. One thing alone will remain, the word of God, because it can not be shaken, hence must stand forever. Fixed on this, one will be safe, even tho the earth be removed out of its place. Heb. 12:26-28.
Shall we not, then, learn the lesson God would have us study in what is occurring about us, and so yield our hearts to be controlled by Him that our lives may be moulded after the fashion of His own, and we be prepared to meet those things that are so rapidly coming upon the earth? God grant that we may. J. O. Corliss.
