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Show H GOD AND THE EARTHQUAKE. H All this talk aboutGODhavhigaii)-H aboutGODhavhigaii)-H thing to do with that earthquake, the B i deliverance of some and the annihilates annihila-tes tlon of others, appeals to none but H strict sectarians. Sectarians from H time Immemorial have been and till H I kingdom come will he extremely nar-H nar-H row. Their very existence religiously H ' depends on their narrowness, and the H first law of nature Is self picscrvatlon. H The assumption of a great eastern H minister that 001) scut this calamity H to bind closer the tics of brotherhood H is as ridiculous as the assumption that H COD Interposed hi behalf of Mormon H elders. Neither science nor religion H can olTcr rational explanation as to H why such calamities come just when H they do, why certain sections and pco-H pco-H pic sutler and others escape, and H speculation as a rule takes the trend H of the desire of the person making the H1 explanation. M None KNOW the why nor the H wherefore of this material existence, H and It seems Impossible that any mor- H tal man Is able to Interpret the la w B of that existence. We are here with- H out our consent, In an environ- H , ment that was not our choosing and H over which we have but the slightest H ' control. We live a lltful existence of H some three-score and ten years on a H globe the origin and llual destination H I of which we can have no certain H knowledge, and then we lay down H our llcs for what? No man has re- H '' turned to tell and If he did most H I sectarians and most graceless atheists ! would call him a liar If Ids story did- H ' not tally with what we In ourarrogant H p-idc and dense Ignorance have chos- en to believe. H The thinking man knows that In H this life only good Is worth the while, B and to the good, the noble and the HBJ true this world Is ever beautiful. Sin M brings Its recompense,' it brings it H here, and only those who have sinned H and know the real dllfercnce between H good and bad can know how terrible H is that recompense. As to the wlij H ami wherefore of such catastrophes as H , that at San Francisco, as to the fu- H turc, when in this life wo shall be H known no moie, the deponent saith no H further than that the power or force H ' ' that formed this woild and Its people H so mysteriously, which Hives and takes H away as it chooses without our under- H standing, is certain to dispose of us H I no less mysteriously and In accord H with any plan that has been or may H yet be perfected. H The writer lias no fear of a future H hell for any man and docs not ask a H heaven. He who opens Ids soul to the H glory there is for any life devoid of H sclllshncss has a heaven hero that no H power can take from him, and just as H certainly docs that other Individual H ' whose soul is cramped with sin and H wrong doing have Ills lieil. The heav- H en or hell in either case may not al- H ways be patent to the casual observer, H hut we believe eithei is there accord- H ing to the ment. H The w liter hopes never to distuib H the belief of any Individual as to the m imalllbillty or any religion or ciecd. B Any religion tliat makes of any man H or woman the best man or woman H that pel so n can be is certainly the H tiue religion r i him or her How- H ever, to him who lias doubts, the as- H surance may be offered that to H attempt to bcllcvo that which doe.s H not and can not appeal to his reason H must be false for him. For Instance, H ' any attempt to make reasonable an H f explanation involving a Deity's hand H " in that San Francisco earthquake Is B , I folly which none neid hesitate to HHl I throw aside If it does not appeal to |