The origin of this contradiction is obvious.
These prophets. are too clever to hope to convince the educated, by pretending that God will direct the million stars to the earth, as if a- million cannon balls were to be aimed at a pea as a target. They would be simply laughed down. On the other hand, however educated we may be, tidal waves, earthquakes, and lesser grade tempests (thanks to Siccawei and others we know something about the coming of typhous) have escaped until now our scientific foresight. So these prophets have still a chance to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.