SUCH was the startling heading of an English newspaper. In it we were told that the inhabitants of the island of Martinique had four days’ indication of the coming disaster, first by dense clouds of smoke and towering flames being emitted from Mount Pelée, twelve miles north of the city, then by a heavy fall of ashes raining on the doomed place, and then at length the terrible eruption took place. Suddenly, a stream of molten lava, twenty feet high and half a mile wide, was belched forth.
Its progress was appalling. Rushing down the dry bed of the Rivière Blanche, at the rate of one hundred miles an hour, it reached the sea in three minutes from the top of the mountain, 4,000 feet high and fine miles away, and blotted out everything in its course. The force of the impact was so terrible that the sea receded for 300 feet for miles along the western shore, and then returned with violence. The noise of the eruption was carried by the wind a distance of 300 miles.
This was on Monday. Tuesday, the volcano continued to belch forth smoky fumes and lava, while rumbling noises and earthquakes went on incessantly. By Wednesday morning this awful state of things had somewhat subsided, but in the afternoon heavy “cannonading” sounds were resumed.
The morning of the fateful Thursday was relatively still. St Pierre’s last day had come. Its inhabitants rose for the last time. Business was being partly carried on, when suddenly at seven o’clock “a sort of whirlwind of steam, boiling hot mud, and Eire” swept down on and over the city and shipping in the roadstead, and within twenty minutes of the eruption, 30,000 souls were launched into―ETERNITY!!! The people rushed to the quays, till they were black with the crowds, but only for a moment. Ships were canted over, and began simultaneously to burn and sink in the sea, which was then a raging cauldron. Very few, if any, persons in the city escaped. Every house in the place was destroyed by fine, and only a few walls left standing here and there.
Such is the appalling and thrilling account of the last days of St Pierre.
France was thrown into mourning, the whole world was startled, monarchs headed the subscription lists, everything in the way of sympathy and money and help that could be offered was offered, yet how puny man is when such an event happens! And we may well ask, Is the whole affair to end there? When will men understand that by this God hath spoken? It was said that the noise of the eruption was heard three hundred miles away. But God’s warning was carried on the wings of the cablegram, and was printed in every newspaper in the world. Will men pay heed to it, or will they be shaken for one moment out of their false security, and then forget all about it?
The title of this article, “The Last Days of St Pierre,” is startling, but did you ever reflect that the last day of the world will come?
The world is solemnized when it reads in its newspapers one morning of 30,000 souls being swept into ETERNITY in one brief moment of time, but what are 30,000 souls compared to the millions that inhabit this globe. What about the last days of the world? This world is growing hoary in its sin. Its days are numbered, and its future is doomed.
Some months ago a distinguished scientist, at the annual meeting of time Royal Society, told his hearers that the end of the world would be by a similar disaster to that which wrecked the island of Martinique. St Pierre was destroyed by a local disaster, time world will be destroyed by a universal disaster. This earth, said the scientist, would be destroyed by fire; that was the scientific forecast of its end.
The apostle Peter, who was not a member of the Royal Society, and who wrote in the infancy of the Christian era, left the same record centuries ago. A twentieth century scientist tells us the doom of the world will be destruction by fire; a first century fisherman tells us, THE DAY OF THE LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:1010But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10)). We said a first century fisherman foretold this astonishing fact. Nay, it is GOD, who hath spoken through the apostle Peter by inspiration. It maybe you may not see the last day of the world, but that instead your last day will come. Are you ready for―ETERNITY!!! Happy will you be if the earthquake in Martinique should wake you up.
The inhabitants of St Pierre had four days’ warning. GOD has warned you in many ways. Open His book, and the warnings of love lie thick on almost every page, and are presented in many forms. Will you listen? At your peril you refuse to do so. The devil would persuade men that it is not His book, or only His “in parts,” and then man’s unhallowed mind will sit in judgment on it, and his inclination leads him to keep the part that suits him and throw the rest away. I beseech you not to throw the warnings away, you will do so at your peril. Here are but one or two of them, but enough, if only you will pay heed. “The soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezek. 18:44Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4)). “Prepare to meet thy God” (Amos 4:1212Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. (Amos 4:12)).” The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). “After death the judgment” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). “Nation shall vise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 24:7, 87For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:7‑8)). “Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 24:4444Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 24:44)).
Nor do I call the voice of the earthquake the voice of God out of mere sentiment. God’s book gives us a grand example of an earthquake awaking the soul-slumbers of a jailer and bringing from his lips that question of all questions, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:3030And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:30)). It was a kind earthquake that terrified him to such a purpose. You remember the story.
The jailer with many indignities had cast the apostle Paul and his companion Silas into the inner prison, making their feet fast in the stocks. “A great earthquake” shook the foundations of the prison, and released the prisoners. It was a strange way for God thus to shake the shackles off His servants’ feet-nothing can withstand God. Better still, by the earthquake the jailer was aroused. Doubtless his first inquiry was as to the prisoners. Supposing them to have fled, he could not stand the disgrace, and was about to commit suicide. What passed between his soul and God, as he stood shivering on the brink of death, we know not. Perhaps his soul was as suddenly illuminated as the inky darkness of midnight by the vivid lightning’s flash. Anyhow a question not of Roman law, but of God’s frown, demanded settlement. Heme his eager question. Behold the erstwhile brutal jailer with light in hand, trembling, and at the knees of his prisoners, whose shackles had been broken as easily as the ten-foot walls of the prison, asking, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
How will God answer such a question? In a moment of imminent peril, with no time to lose, will the answer be satisfactory, will it involve much toil or time? Nay, listen, ye seekers after peace. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)). Here is the earthquake text for you. On the spot the jailer was saved, and on the spot you may be.
I had a friend on the ill-fated island of St Vincent, and I was naturally very anxious as to his safety. There the gases from the crater of the Soufrière made death very tragic and sudden. The papers told us that death was sometimes so sudden that the attitude was undisturbed, books remaining in the hands of readers and guns in the hands of sentries. Thank God, I knew my friend was ready. If his body had been charred to charcoal, I knew his soul was saved, for he trusted Christ, and His precious blood had cleansed him from all sin. He might have gone to heaven from St Vincent in a chariot of fire, but I knew he would use the earthquake text if opportunity occurred. May God thus speak widely and effectually.
I am writing these fines in the city of Lisbon, where in 1755 the great earthquake destroyed 60,000 people. The papers of two days ago give warning that an earthquake may visit the city again. In adjoining Spain shocks have been felt within the last week. The whole world seems in unrest. Thank God, I am ready. Are you? But it is only through the merit of my Lord and Saviour that this is so. It is our delight to sing―
“Why are ye troubled when death comes in view?
Christ giveth rest;
Though after death there shall come judgment too,
You may be blest;
Christ bore God’s judgment poor sinners to save;
He gained the vict’ry o’er death and the grave.
Oh! now believe Him, and life you shall have.
You shall have rest.”
There is no true rest to be found out of Christ. He died that we might have it. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 12:2828But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. (Matthew 12:28)), is His gracious invitation still. “Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, Now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)).
Oh! reader, hear God’s voice of warning, “Flee from the wrath to come.” Hear His voice of invitation, and “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)).
Thank God for such a message, will you accept it?
A. J. P.