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Show o SAN FRANCISCO'S WOE. iTho overwhelming disaster which has, according to tho latest accounts, wiped a city of nearly 400,000 inhabitants inhab-itants off tho face of the eartli and (slew thousands of peoplo is bo stun ning and so appalling that ono cannot can-not oven Imagine tho extent of tho horror. Why that a good, a merciful, ! an all-powerful and a just God permits such things to happen, is a thought that comes to tho minds of many. A promlcnt lawyer on Thursday told tho writer that such a thought had como to him whllo resting on his couch In tho silent watches of the , previous night and that ho believed 1 ho had solved tho mystery. Ho said: "Thoro Is n God, an all-powerful, an all-wlso spirit behind everything In the universe. Ho created all things an:l guides nnd directs all things. Ho works through material channels to establish and demonstrate spiritual things. Man Is ono of tho croaturei of Ills hand, but tho tendency of man has always been to forgot God, to for-1 for-1 got that ho (man) should omulato purity nnd strivo after holiness. Wlion , all goes well with Individuals and with nations tho greater their incllna- , tlon is to forgot God, to walk in tho j paths of sin and Iniquity and to grat- , Ify their tendencies towards ovil rather than strivo nfter truth nnd holiness nnd tho things that tend to make man God-llko. As long as things go well and comfortably men forgot God, but j when trouble comos thoy nro brought to think about God and His attributes of holyness, justice, goodnoss and truth, brought to somo realization of how far thoy havo gono astray and j how, Instead of striving to attain j God-llko qualities, thoy havo been ' traveling on the other road which loads downward." "These terrible disasters," said my I friend tho lawyer, "aro permitted in , order to bring mankind to their senses I as it wero. The peoplo of San Fran cisco aro no moro wicked than the I peopjp of many other cltfos. Those upon whom tho tower fell, tho Scriptures Scrip-tures say, wero not moro wicked than their neighbors. Tho tendency of those modern times Is to forgot God, and In order to mako mankind remember that there Is a God. God permits those things to happen, holocausts, disasters, by earth and sea, and under tho earth. It is necessary to prevent man from descending nnd to mako him look upward up-ward and advance in things that aro good, that nro true, that aro holy." This reasoning may bo correct. We don't know, but wo do know that many men nnd women nnd children in San Francisco aro suffering; that thoy need sympathy and help. Let us give them both. If thoy aro suffering as an cxamplo to us, as an admonition to us to mend our ways, let us learn tho lesson, nnd at tho samo time remember that If such Is their caso thoy aro doubly entitled to our sympathy and assitanco. n |
