A CHRISTIAN friend in New Zealand has forwarded the Otago Daily Times of September 1, 1903, giving eyewitnesses’ accounts of the fearful geyser disaster that took place in the month of August last.
It is terrible to read. Well do we know that uncanny district with its steaming chasms and its boiling mud-holes, to say nothing of its sulfurous vapors and its active geysers.
But is not the voice of God in this awful disaster? Will men listen and take warning?
We notice that once again a calamity has overtaken a party of Sunday tourists. Is there nothing in this to appeal to men’s consciences?
From early morning of the Lord’s Day, horses, guides, and tourists — working, money-making, and pleasure-seeking. Where was God in their thoughts as they started forth?
We verily believe that God is speaking loudly in these days, calling to men to recognize the folly of despising Him It is the same in England. The Lord’s Day has become the one entirely given up to pleasure. The claims of God by an ever-increasing multitude are utterly ignored; prayer, the reading of the Bible, and the recognition of God even outwardly, are rapidly departing from the life of the people. They say to God by their actions, “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways” (Job 21:1414Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. (Job 21:14)). And yet it is He that fills their houses with good things (Job 22:17, 1817Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? 18Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. (Job 22:17‑18)).
Are not all the calamities that have taken place of late an appeal to men to consider their ways? Look at the volcanic eruptions of St Pierre, the railway disaster in Paris, and the rain-floods in England which have swept away whole cornfields, and turned vast tracts of fertile land into inland seas. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” But God is, and He will make His voice heard, now in providential chastisement, presently in overwhelming judgment. In vain is it for weak man to try and explain these things by spots in the sun —
God is speaking.
And what is man doing? Sporting on the brink of his own everlasting ruin, circling like a silly moth around the dazzling flame of pleasure, which may so soon end in hopeless despair and bitter remorse.
Another lesson may be learned from this sad accident at Rotorua. Eye witnesses of the disaster have borne their testimony to the fact that the unfortunate victims had been duly and abundantly warned of their danger. The guide had pointed out the risk of remaining a moment longer where they were. The mother of the young ladies implored them to come away to a place of safety. But at the inquest it came out that “the girls only looked round and smiled at their mother, saying, Just a moment longer.” Ah, that moment! It just made all the difference. With thundering noise a mass of mud and heated rock was thrown 800 feet into the air, and four lives full of youthful vigor and robust health were suddenly cut short, the mangled bodies being swept a mile down the boiling river.
Reader, we want you to profit by this sad and sorrowful occurrence. Should the grief-stricken relatives read these lines, we render to them our deep sympathy in their affliction. What must it have been to have stood and seen their loved ones thus suddenly snatched from their side, and launched into the eternal world!
But if God in His mercy should use this awful occurrence to awaken any careless sinner, sporting not on the brink of an earthly geyser, but on the very threshold of hell — oh, may it be so!
Christian friends may have often warned you. Once again through the pages of this magazine we raise the alarm. Out of Christ you are in danger of eternal ruin. Any moment death may overtake you; at any moment the Lord may come and take His people home to heaven, and shut the door. Are you still sporting on the brink of your soul’s eternal perdition? Do you smile at the warnings of God’s judgment before the great white throne?
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hades delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.”
“And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”
Solemn words are these! Oh, dear reader, take heed to them in time.
Do you smile incredulously and say, “Just another moment”? That may be your ruin.
“Haste thee away! Why wilt thou stay?
Risk not thy soul on a moment’s delay;
Jesus is waiting to save thee;
Mercy is pleading today.”
“Behold, now is the day of salvation.”
ED.