Chapter 55—The San Francisco Earthquake
Thursday afternoon, April 12, 1906, Mrs. White left her home to at-
tend the annual meeting of the Southern California Conference, at Los
Angeles, and the dedicatory exercises of two sanitariums—Paradise
Valley, near San Diego, and Loma Linda, in the San Bernardino Valley.
The first few days were spent in Loma Linda, and during this time she
had a remarkable experience, which she has briefly described thus:
Retributive Judgments
“While at Loma Linda, Cal., April 16, 1906, there passed before
me a most wonderful representation. During a vision of the night, I
stood on an eminence, from which I could see houses shaken like a
reed in the wind. Buildings, great and small, were falling to the ground.
Pleasure resorts, theaters, hotels, and the homes of the wealthy were
shaken and shattered. Many lives were blotted out of existence, and
the air was filled with the shrieks of the injured and the terrified.
“The destroying angels of God were at work. One touch, and
buildings so thoroughly constructed that men regarded them as secure
against every danger, quickly became heaps of rubbish. There was no
assurance of safety in any place. I did not feel in any special peril, but
the awfulness of the scenes that passed before me I cannot find words
to describe. It seemed that the forbearance of God was exhausted, and
that the judgment day had come.
“The angel that stood by my side then instructed me that but few
have any conception of the wickedness existing in our world today,
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and especially the wickedness in the large cities. He declared that the
Lord has appointed a time when He will visit transgressors in wrath
for persistent disregard of His law.
“Terrible as was the representation that passed before me, that
which impressed itself most vividly upon my mind was the instruction
given me in connection with it. The angel that stood by my side
declared that God’s supreme rulership, and the sacredness of His law,
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