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Show !G0D AND MOUNT PELEE. There is a curious coincidence in the Tr' t'st which comes to us from Bishop 3" Hoy. the superior general of the j '' 2 relation of the Holy Ghost, and ihe j;(.Us of the latest volcanic out- t'k in Martinique. Soon after the I Pierre catastrophe a number of sto- Jf !gan to be circulated in pious 3'i'n-h periodicals, which were evi- fl'Miv intended to convey the impres- j"n that the inhabitants of the stricken strick-en town were abnormal portents of ir-r,''ion ir-r,''ion and lasciviousness, and that the f rrible events of May ought of j Jht to be considered as so many "-uks of the divine vengeance. Sev-of Sev-of those "women's tales," we re-K! re-K! t to record, were copied into a good many of our American Catholic newspapers. news-papers. Bishop Le Roy, however, nips edifying stuff in the bud; and the 1 J'-port of the last awful catastrophe at 5 -('"rn Rocue will serve to give point to : Jf is rebuke. Instancing the result of 1 ''is own personal investigations, and '''Troboratfng his discoveries by the I '' Mmonv of Mgr. de Cormont. bishop I r,f Martinique, he arrives at the con- I 'lu.-ion that the origin of these strange I ' "ports must be traced back to the su- I J'rrstitious imagination of the Creoles rf the neitrhboring, islands, and espe-tiallv espe-tiallv of Trinidad. lie has traversed 'he entire district in the company of lather Malleret, rector of the former ! coHrgp 0f the order in St. Pierre, and lie denies every separate detail that iad seemed to lend color to the stories in question. Of the legend that a gross insult had been offered to the Corpus r " hristi procession of the year before, fcnd that the bishop had been induced, in, consequence, to announce that a Public celebration would never again v held in his diocese, . Monsignor Le iioy avers that there is not a particle "v of truth in it. He denies the story about the need of introducing special preachers to bring the people back to their senses, and says roundly that the account of the alleged miraculous escape es-cape of a group of sisters from the chapel in which they had been shut up for two days is wholly apocryphal. Men are bound to be careful at all times, but especially in scoffing days ' like these, about giving "occasion to the enemies of Israel to blaspheme." God is in His world, no doubt; and some of the deepest lessons of scripture scrip-ture lead the reverent minded to believe be-lieve that He often heals the breaches of the moral universe by signal and instant interference with the play of physical laws; but His ordinary rule of action seems to be otherwise. Short j of a revelation, which is seldom vouch- j safed us, one can never know and is bound accordingly to be mute. The natural and supernatural are two orders or-ders that interlap. but seldom collide. Witness Our Lord's rebuke about the fall of Siloam. and His answer to the quer,y about the man born blind. We know God rather as a silent judge, for the most part, making His rain to fall upon the just and the unjust with an impartiality that is quite terrible to behold when one comes to think upon it. He needs no Pelee to preach for Him. Conscience is His best witness and the worm of conscience His most awful vindicator. That is the lesson that His church has always enforced, and wise are the Catholics who lay it to heart. Providence Visitor. |