"And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea, heaving themselves beyond their bounds. "And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men's hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people." [10] Again: "The earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light, and the moon shall be bathed in blood, and the stars shall become exceeding angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig tree." [11] The Question of Cause.--Who will cause these terrible calamities? Not man--that is certain; though his conduct may justify them. Men can stir up strife and precipitate war. They can even bring pestilence and famine. But they cannot stir up tempests and earthquakes, cause whirl winds and tidal-waves, or govern the action of sun, moon and stars. These, with other convulsions of nature, no less than war, famine and pestilence, are among God's judgments upon the workers of iniquity. Satan, "prince of the powers of the air," may be immediately responsible for these fearful disturbances; [12] but he can do only what he is permitted to do by the All-just and All-merciful, who looses him or holds him in check. The Divine Purpose.--And what is the purpose--the ultimate purpose of it all? Destruction? No, a thousand times no, except in so far as destruction must at times precede reconstruction, and is necessary to preserve what is worth preserving. The world's welfare is the object in view. God's wrath, however fiercely it burns, is not comparable to petty human anger. His work and his glory is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man," [13] and if, in the process, He uses the powers of destruction, as well as the powers of construction--for "all power" is his, "in heaven and in earth" [14]--it is because such a course has become necessary and is for the best. However severe his chastisements, we can rest assured of this: Hatred of humanity has no place in the heart of Him who "so loved the world" that he "gave his Only Begotten Son" to save it from eternal damnation.