A Succession of Calamities
By Editor
RECENT dispatches tell of the hurricane that swept the Gulf States on October 18. The wind blew 99 miles an hour in some sections, while in others it is said to have reached a velocity of 114 miles. There was much destruction of property and some loss of life in the wake of this great storm. On the twenty-third of October, a storm swept over the Great Lakes. Four steamers are reported as having gone down, and more than 50 lives were lost. Word comes from India of a sharp earthquake shock felt all over the United Provinces. This shock was especially severe in the mountains. But more serious than the earthquake in India were the floods that have spread destruction along the Jumna and Ganges rivers. These floods are declared to be the worst in the last 30 years. We have also read in the dispatches, during recent days, of the earthquake that shook a large part of the South. There was also recently a severe earthquake on the southern portion of the Pacific Coast. In the report of one of the storms, mention is made of an individual who died from fright. The Master has told us, concerning the last days, that we would finally reach the condition where men's hearts would be failing them for fear while they are looking on those things that are coming upon the earth. See Luke 21: 26. With all the turmoil that there is in the world, occasioned by the violence of strikes and the blood-red carnage of war, with storm and pestilence so manifest, it is not surprising that men should be filled with fear. But this need not be our condition. If we understand the meaning of these things, and our hearts are stayed upon God, we will be calm in the very midst of stress and storm, tempest and pestilence. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." Ps. 46: 1-3.