| Show FAITH IN THE operations OF GOD MANY intelligent people throughout the world regard the present bistu disturbed abed condition of human affairs as a manifestation fe of divine displeasure because of the wickedness of this generation the cholera has been apken of in this connection by persons who have faith in god we have shown that such views are not inconsistent and that current events are in exact harmony with the prophecies of joseph smith the theme of whose predictions deals largely with events of the times there is also a class of cynics in the world who are always ready to sneer at people who express any belief in divine interference with human concerns they treat with ridicule any evidence of faith in omnipotence with respect to the present phenomenal situation of earthly matters those people who exclude god from exhibiting his handin hand in connection with the family of man have recourse to the worn out argument it if such it ORR be properly called that diseases like cholera have swept the earth at different periods of the worlds worldly history and it is therefore absurd to regard the present visitation as a judgment of god because of wick wickedness ednee is and that it Is ie specially ridiculous to claim it to be a latter day divine scourge it is not claimed by any intelligent christian that the almighty creates a now new force or condition by which to accomplish his purposes it is only held that th the existing elements are used for tb this Object and that they are merely shaped and operated by divine intelligence so BO as to attain the end in view because those conditions have expiated in differ f ent nt ages does not support the theory of the non interference of deity it jis is asserted by those who combat the views of people who are ena enabled bleds by faith to we see the hand of god upon the nations that the cholera scourge is 19 merely caused by ignorance and neglect of proper sanitation and by peculiar atmospheric condit conditions ione Is it true however that the world is retro betro grading in an understanding of sanitary science and its application while advancing in every other department of learning and its use for the benefit of man such an assumption is not creditable to the age we live in and with regard to atmospheric conditions are they or are they not directed by divine intelligence who is prepared to assert and maintain the negative of this qu question estien such a position might be assumed but its intelligent main cenance would be attended with herculean difficulty who for instance bas discovered the primary cause of cholera it 11 is easy to answer flippantly that the causes consist of imperfect sanitation and peo peculiar ullar atmospheric conditions but these would only operate an dependent causes by others then them it la is easy to may eay that the primal cause is bacteria of a specific and peculiar kind known as germs these again are not the primary cause of the disease to discover it one must go behind the germ so far as ae known no person has been able to do this jf ef it were possible to do this then the scientific production of these bacteria would be possible if this manufacture were within reach then the be eradication of the germs would be practicable by the extinguishment extinguish ment of the causes of production and even if these discoveries should be made that would not prove that divine intelligence did not make use of such means in order to accomplish providential purposes there are some peculiarities about cholera which do not appear to have been explained in harmony with the theory of un believers in divine interference with human concerns if for instance the visitation a s of this disease are merely due to the he absence of proper sanitation and certain conditions of the atmosphere how is it that the malady to is not always present when sanitation and the atmospheric situation are precisely similar as at times when it puts i i an appearance and does its deadly work in reas reasoning onina thus we do not wish to be understood as supporting the idea that the scourge is not encouraged and oil fed by and conditions of the air but that is merely a matter of modification or aggravation and does not net belong to the present argument a of the scourge that whenever it h has swept the globe it has after having worked havoc upon the people dim disappeared p with phenomenal suddenness without any apparent change having occurred in relation to material conditions dit ions what has destroyed the germs and caus edthe malady to take its ite flight it is not an unpleasant belief nor au an illogical inference to attribute the die dib appearance to a manifestation of divine mercy history furin furnishes many nf the wickedness of nations being beina para nai t lebed ly by calamitous conditions TAW lai record of ancient israel w object lesson in that reb respect peet jhb the romans were simple and co moral they were mighty a prosperous when they became vohan viiu and malicious and corrupt tile they wem we visited with every a decies of affa ic tiola in fact it would be difficult to find clear instance in history of a nation ngaio IL cr r generation which was comparative righteous being visited with scoury and disruptive conditions entailing s un told suffering buffering A belief in the manifestation of tho divine hand in human afflictions do not imply that those who possess it at t tribute vindictiveness to k it la Is a recognition of the operation the laws of nature and of god whoa wh r the statutes of godas goda universe ws i trampled upon the consequences mart follow not nat only that justice may easy be K but it ensues also upheld as a corree tive process provided in the divil diving lift economy the believer in the deaden lations of divine providence reeo reco cizes the hand of god as much in t td k showering upon the n nations ution of blew hla 5 ings inge as in the infliction of ment melt consequent upon broken lawa a |
