That it was he--and that too in mercy as well as anger--who
visited the land in Isaiah's time with thunder and earthquake, and
great noise, and storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
That the earth opened and swallowed up those whom God chose, and no
others. That if fire came forth, it came forth from the Lord, and
burned where and what God chose, and nothing else. Yes. If you
will only understand, once and for all, that the history of the Jews
is the history of the Lord's turning a people from the cowardly,
slavish worship of sun and stars, of earthquakes and burning
mountains, and all the brute powers of nature which the heathen
worshipped, and teaching them to trust and obey him, the living God,
the Lord and Master of all, then the Old Testament will be clear to
you throughout; but if not, then not.
You cannot read your Bibles without seeing how that great lesson was
stamped into the very hearts of the Hebrew prophets; how they are
continually speaking of the fire and the earthquake, and yet
continually declaring that they too obey God and do God's will, and
that the man who fears God need not fear them--that God was their
hope and strength, a very present help in trouble.
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