Sign#3 A Great Earthquake
Key
Text
"There
was a great earthquake; and the sun became black
as sackcloth of hair, and the moon become as blood."
Revelation 6:12 |
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In the year 1755 occurred the most terrible earthquake that
has ever been recorded. Though commonly known as the earthquake
of Lisbon, it extended to the greater part of Europe, Africa,
and America. It was felt in Greenland, in the West Indies, in
the island of Madeira, in Norway and Sweden, Great Britain and
Ireland. It pervaded an extent of not less than four million
square miles. In Africa the shock was almost as severe as in
Europe. A great part of Algiers was destroyed; and a short distance
from Morocco, a village containing eight or ten thousand inhabitants
was swallowed up. A vast wave swept over the coast of Spain
and Africa, engulfing cities, and causing great destruction.
It was in Spain and Portugal that the shock manifested its extreme
violence. At Cadiz the inflowing wave was said to be sixty feet
high. Mountains--some of the largest in Portugal--"were
impetuously shaken, as it were from the very foundation; and
some of them opened at their summits, which were split and rent
in a wonderful manner, huge masses of them being thrown down
into the subjacent valleys. Flames are related to have issued
from these mountains."
At Lisbon "a sound of thunder was heard underground, and
immediately afterward a violent shock threw down the greater
part of that city. In the course of about six minutes sixty
thousand persons perished. The sea first retired, and laid the
bar dry, it then rolled in, rising fifty feet above its ordinary
level." "The most extraordinary circumstance which
occurred at Lisbon during the catastrophe, was the subsidence
of the new quay, built entirely of marble, at an immense expense.
A great concourse of people had collected there for safety,
as a spot where they might be beyond the reach of falling ruins;
but suddenly the quay sunk down with all the people on it, and
not one of the dead bodies ever floated to the surface."
The shock of the earthquake "was instantly followed by
the fall of every church and convent, almost all the large and
public buildings, and one-fourth of the houses. In about two
hours afterward, fires broke out in different quarters, and
raged with such violence for the space of nearly three days
that the city was completely desolated. The earthquake happened
on a holy day, when the churches and convents were full of people,
very few of whom escaped." "The terror of the people
was beyond description. Nobody wept; it was beyond tears. They
ran hither and thither, delirious with horror and astonishment,
beating their faces and breasts, crying, 'Misericordia! the
world's at an end!' Mothers forgot their children, and ran loaded
with crucifixed images. Unfortunately, many ran to the churches
for protection; but in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain
did the poor creatures embrace the altars; images, priests,
and people were buried in one common ruin." Back |
