The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-12-09
Of Er. Bonds Remark =
upon Administering Gods Juds-
From the st Louis Christian Advocate,
PROVIDENCE AND FIRE.

calamity llS Dccn TeIsOuioly icSntueu 10
visitation of God, but we fear, like other
judgments. its awful lessons are overlooked
in our individual seltsbness, which always
seeks some graduation for ourselves in the
misfortIncs Of others. Already various ln-
tcrDreters of Providence have claimed IN
the confederation confirmation Of their
special condemnation of some local I'M
Righteousness. Zion's Herald sees in it vim
dication Of the law OF the Sabbath west.
cru journal declares it to be retributton
for the burning and sacking of Columbia
and q writer in this paper, under the sigma.
ture of Low Churchman," attributes the
great fire in London to, and connects the
burning of Chicago with, prelatc persccu-
tions-in the first case Of the Puritaus, in
the second Of Rev. MIR. Cheney. We have
nowhere seen disposition to adopt the
sweeping corollary Of our Lord, "Nay,
but except ye repent ye shall all likewise
perish"
independently of the want of all Divine
warrant in these private interpretations,
we object to them because they are utterly
Ineffective to correct opinion or improve
morals. Sabbath. in Chicago will
not be convinced by Zion'S Herald that the
fire was meant to punish them. Perhaps
they will attribute it to other offences, and
"Compouud for sins they are inclined to,
BY dsmning those they have no mind TO-"
While it is just as easy for High Church
man to look upon it as q testimony against
US tor Rev. Mr.. Cheney. True. he was
not burDcd out, Tut the Methodists were,
and the dstilleries were spared, and the
most proflgate part Of the city escaped,
and undoubtedly Mr.. Cheney suffered
with the rest. After all this tremendous
expense of Divine testimony the bishop
will not cease to pursue Mr.. Cheeney.
Yet the Scriptures instruct us to look
upon affliclionS as the chaStisemcnts of God,
and 1t is practical atheism to deny the spe-
cial Providence that is ever at work among
men. Bow, then, are we to find its mean
ing? We answer that when we seek in any
calamity lesson for ourselves We are never
at loss fer an Interpretation that har-
monies with the law of God and is full of
profitable reflection. But when we look
upon calamity as vlndication of ourselves
and our opinions we just as invariably 20
wrong-we adept the principle Of Jonah
instead Of the principle Of Jesus. In that
remarkable account Of the prophet sent to
kineveh we have lesson fresh TO all ages,
and never more needed than now. The
little kingdom III which was all of the true
Church vas in continual fear of its power.
full and unscrupulous neighbor, whose
ruthless armies ever hung like cloud
upon It's northern horizon, threatening in
vasion. devastation, blood. and slavery.
That Nineveh WAS the particular enemy
Of jehovah Jonah did not for moment
doubt. That it ought to be DESTROYED
for its idolatries, he believed as an Or
tnodoX worshlppcr; that it should be, he
heartily wished as patriotic jew. The
stress of visible danger to his country over
bore in him the spiritual aspect of the
case. He forgot that the Ninevites had
souls. lie forgot that they, too, were
creatures Of God. He forgot everything
but that he was for God, and God for
him, aud Nineyeh visibly against both It
heart there was sin as gross as idola:rv,
and that MS conceptions Of Jehovah were
very narrow and provincial-in fact, very
much like himself. When be learned that
the iniquity Of Nineveh was full, he was
by no means afflicted. He was glad TINT
the judgment was TO come, and so rampant
was his patriotic religionlsm that he re-
fused even to carry an announcement of
their fate, because the very warning con-
tanned remote suggestion of mercy.
Jonah's idea OF divine visitation was Just
an open vindicatiOn of his own prejudiced
judgment concerning the sin of others,
which would eXalt him at the cost of their
suffering. AS it turned out. the Nineyites
repented before he DID, They made their
peace with God by rcnounclng their own
sins, and it appeared that their antagons-
tic attitude to Israel was not one Of them
alter all. Had they been DESTROYED, Jonah
would never have doubted that their pOitl-
cal relations caused their ruin.
After this lesson Christian people are
utterly unjustitiable In making God party
to their political strifes aud inhuman wars.
Nothing is more shocking to the right sense
OF piety than the tnanksSivipSs anu prayers
to God for battles, now on this side and
now ON that, which disgrace the present
age by heathenish praise or humiliation, as
though our Heavenly Father could be in
duced to fight here to-day and there to.
morrow by alternate presumptions, psalms,
or ceremonial HASTINGS. During our late
civil war. both parties claimed the appro-
baton OF God, both won and lost battles,
both praised and prayed; and when the
natural conclusion came, the stronger as
sumed it as demonstration of their rigbte-
BUSINESS and authorization Of their bitter.
ness-finding in 1t even the assurance ofsal.
vation for all who were killed In procuring
it. Many of the beaten party were sorely
staggered in their faith. and many ga
house built upon the sand" went down be-
fore the food Of disappointment, chagrin,
and humiliation. Between both, the les
son Of God was scarcely discerned at ala
lesson which man will not learn, though it
be engraYen all over the earth with the
horrible spade that follows hard after the
weapon of war. "FFon 1ohence come ardrs
and fghtings among you? Come they not
hence of your lusts that acdr in your mem.
berss Ye last and hare not. Ye k,H and
desire to haze, and cannot OBTAIN. Ye fight
and 1oar, get ye haze not, because ye ask
not. Ye ask and recelUe not, because ye ask
anaiss, that ye may consume at upon your
lusts." These powerful words OF James
pondered by the Church. They were ad-
dressed to Jewish Christians burning
with O sense of political and religious
wrongs, and full of the disposition to
identity the vindication of their rights by
force with iealty to God. The zealots de-
sired and killed, and prayed, too, but
without effect, because their desire was to
obtain worldly advantages for worldly en-
ioyment. Is this not the secret history OF
all wars? Was 1t not glaringly the motive
OF our civil war! Can any man calmly read
the history Of the long and bitter discus
sions that preceded it without confes sing
that it was q collision of carnal hearts in
the struggle for material prosperity: and
can any man doubt that the fruits Of sue
cess ut the North have been expended for
lust, or that, had the coveted prizes fallen
TO the South, they would have been eX-
pended in the same way? Now, the lesson
of the war is for all men--that they must
subdue the lusts OF the heart that they
must reprcss envy, and coveteousness, and
pride that they must not put the govern
ment of nations into the hands OF goddess
persons, who will let themselves be swayed
by carnal passions. If men do this they