WHAT is the cause of earthquakes? The answer of this inquiry seems to be enshrouded in mystery. Those who have addressed themselves to the study of this subject do not come to the same conclusion. The falling of subterranean rocks and vast proportions of earth is given by some as the reason. Others state that it has been demonstrated that the earth is constantly vibrating, and when the wave motions are severe enough to be shocks they are observable. This information necessarily calls in question the reasonableness of the falling theory. Others, again, attribute earthquakes to the formation of gases produced by combustion beneath. This class of theorists look upon volcanoes as the earth's safety valves, and they associate the occurrence of the shocks near their vicinity and in mountainous regions. This position has its misgivings when we consider that earthquakes are recorded to have taken place on plains far removed from both volcanoes and mountains.
Violent tremors have shocked the earth and the people for many years; learned minds have been put to the stretch in studying the mysteries surrounding them; still the enlightenment of the twentieth century has availed nothing that can be relied upon with confidence toward revealing the cause of earthquakes, or toward giving any premonitory advice or warning that would indicate their approach. Yet immediately preceding these terrible events we are told the dumb brutes run to the houses and barns for protection; the wildest birds will fly on the nearest trees to the dwelling and scream in notes of alarm; the snakes, rats, and moles will come out of their holes and run hither and thither in despair, but man is unadvised until the shocks are upon him.
There is a book that tells many things about earthquakes to which if we refer, and study, we will find a great deal of enlightenment on this subject. When reasoning from effect to cause we see there has been times in the world's history when earthquakes denoted the presence of God. When the Lord descended on Mount Sinai and spoke His law midst the enveloping fires "the whole mount quaked greatly." Ex. 19:18. When Christ expired on Calvary, accompanying the gloom that settled over the land, the record shows that "the earth did quake, and the rocks rent." Matt. 27:51.
Statistics reveal the fact that earthquakes are becoming more frequent and violent. The signs of the times are pointing to the soon coming of Christ. Is it not reasonable to associate these two events together?
Earthquakes will play an important part in the finality of things. "The foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard." Isa. 24:18-20. "I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro." Jer. 4:24, A. R. V. "And there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great." Rev. 6:18. The most notable earthquake on record is that of Lisbon, which occurred Nov. 1, 1755. It extended over 4,000,000 square miles of land pervading Europe, Africa, and America. In that city of 150,000, ninety thousand people perished. Of this number 60,000 were killed in six minutes. Adding to the catastrophe was the tidal wave that rolled in a liquid mountain over the city to the height of fifty feet.
This earthquake is referred to in Rev. 61:2. It preceded the universal sign given in the sun, moon, and stars that immediately follow in the text, and about which the Saviour particularly spoke in the 24th9chapter of Matthew in answer to the question propounded by His disciples: "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?"
In the twenty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, the fifth verse, the Lord tells us why the visitation of His judgments are coming upon the earth and the inhabitants, among which are the great and mighty earthquakes. "Because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant." A. R. V.
The earthquakes spoken of in this chapter are evidently the result of sin. Sin is the transgression of the law. The "everlasting covenant" is the new covenant explained in the eighth chapter of Hebrews. To become a party to this sacred contract we must be made "epistles of Christ" (2 Cor. 3:3), by letting the Spirit of Christ write the Ten Commandments "in the fleshy tables of the heart." This can not be done if we do not believe in every precept of the ten. Many are now being deceived about the fourth commandment. The Lord says, "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Ex. 20:10. Instead of the seventh day, Sunday, the first day of the week, is being generally observed by religionists, and the Sabbath is openly violated.
The "everlasting covenant" is part of the "everlasting Gospel" that is to-day being preached "to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people," (Rev. 14:6), some of the burdens of which are the restitution of the down-trodden Sabbath in the hearts of the people (Isa. 58:13), and warning them against receiving the mark of the beast (Rev. 14:9, 10, 11) which is shown to be Sunday enforced by law, a counterfeit rest day, instituted by the Papacy.
The earthquakes here foretold are sure to come. We need no other sign or warning than the "more sure word of prophecy." If we are among the covenant breakers we will be "broken down" with the earth. If we do the will of God, keep His everlasting covenant, and make Him our habitation (Ps. 91:5-9) neither the judgments, the plagues, nor the great and mighty earthquakes will harm us, tho every hill of the earth will "move to and fro."
This is the ark God wants the Noahs of this generation to build.
CYRUS SIMMONS.
Knoxville, Tenn.