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Show INFIDEL SYMPATHY. . Affliction and public calamity always' set the human mind in motion, and the expressions of opiniein from a religious, secular and infidel standpoint of view are so divergent as the opinions opin-ions of quack doctors on materia medica, or the cures for consumption. Natural causes are seldom sel-dom studied, whilst Providence is held responsible if a public calamity befalls a wicked city, and equally so for. not intervening when the little innocent in-nocent ones are as were, those sacrificed last week in New York. When Martinique was swallowed up in a lake of fire it was attributed to Providence because of the wickedness of that city. By those who hold Providence responsible for such casualties, no account is taken of natural causes which are as regular and unerring as those that regulate the rising and setting sun. Science demonstrates dem-onstrates that Martinique was doomed, be its inhabitants in-habitants good or wicked. The Iroquois disaster in Chicago would be avoided by supplementing a little "if," i. c., if the law had been complied with and rigidly observed. If the burning Slocum contained con-tained Foley a cargo of lewd and wicked persons, religious zealots would attribute the catastrophe to Providencet as it was, the passengers were innocent inno-cent children. God-fearing and loving parents who did their, duties to God and man. Because it happened hap-pened a blasphemer who calls belief in God "a fraud," writes in this sacrilegious manner to an eastern journal. "Is this, then, an instance of the goodness and loving kindness of God the most cruel and malignant idol, that was ever, and is nosv worshipped?' The writer's darkened and perverted intellect calls God, in whom he has no belief, to an account. Poor consolation for the devout surviving sur-viving members Who may have lost a father, a child, a brother or a sister. How inconsistent, maHg-nant maHg-nant and hateful unbelief is. The entire communication communi-cation shows the writer has no faith, and he arraigns ar-raigns the faith of those pious Christians and in-.nocent. in-.nocent. little ones whose lives were sacrificed, because be-cause God in-whom they placed their confidence ; and trust, fnd iu;whqse. existence he has no faith, ! did ijot-:int'rVeift:,yWi.:ou1l- .naturally suppou '. j that an atheist, who worships the-.god of nature would direct his anathemas to the laws of nature which are unchangeable, and not direct his spiteful spite-ful and venemous spirit to the consoling belief of the pious souls who went into eternity in the, hope of securing eternal and infinite bliss. The world may change, and men progress, but man's nature, spiteful and hateful and revengeful, without grace and' religious influence, seldom changes. Not only this, but the perversity of his nature makes him the most inconsistent of all beings. The writer says: "Hundreds of children out for an innocent holiday, anel He of whom we arc told that He so loved the beings he had created that He gave up to death His only son for their salvation, permits a thousand of them to die awful deaths for believing." believ-ing." In distilling the venom of his soul the writer is both inconsistent and contradictory. No one outside of the writer would suppose, imagine, or conclude that God permitted the holocaust, because those devout people believed in Him. Only the atheist, who hates the name of God, would ever come to such a conclusion. To the surviving friends their dear departed ones are not dead but livetb, Christian hope is their only solace, but the writer of the above communication would rob them of their only hope and like Job's comforters, blaspheme his Creator, or like Sataln dispute the power of omnipotence. Whatever view may be taken of public calamities, that of the atheist, whose proud boast is, "There is no God," is the most inconsistent and discouraging. If he followed up, what we suppose he does believe, be-lieve, namely, that the laws which govern nature and all existences aro faithfully observed, many accidents would be avoided. The very laws of nature na-ture sometimes, like at Martinique, lead up to the destruction of human life and property. Jesus, ' when tempted to throw himself from the temple, did not obey the. evil one, thereby teaching by example ex-ample that.thq laws which govern the preservation and perpetuation of life must not be disregarded. Why. infinite wisdom did not interfere with the law in the ill-fated steamboat, no man can tell. The finite mind can not compass or explain the infinite, for as St. Paul tells up, "The ways of God arc past finding out." The worst of all calamities is the sympathy of cold-hearted infidelity. |
