Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-06-13
FAITH IN PRESENC.

FAITH IN PRESENCE OF DISASTER.
Cleveland Leader.
as there anything can do for you?'
said a visiting minister to the pastor of
Johnstown church on Wednesday,
yes" was the reply. pray that we
become not hardened Of heart"
The idea was this, that the terrible
experience had shaken the faith of some
of the survivors s-hOw many none can
know-in God and religion This is not
strange or unexpected. Many of those
who saw the relentless sweep of the
flood, the drowning, crushing, or burn
ing to death of husbands, wives, chill
dren, parents, and friends, and survived
to mourn, will remember the futile
prayers of the faithful, and find it hard
to believe in an overruling Providence
for good.
1t takes good deal of philosophy as
well as religion in the afflicted to sur
Vive such shocks to faith. But we may
well believe that this is due to human
weakness and ignorance. The human
mind is unable to grasp the plans of the
Almighty, or maintain its perfect bal
ance in the presence of unfamiliar hOr-
rors involving great destruction of life
The aggregate of human suffering and
death every year completely oyershad-
owS that of the COpemaugh Valley, but
even the devOut hardly give 1t a thought
They do not see it and therefore cannot
feel 1t. They are not constituted to see
it with indifference, and only at rare in
teryals are such visions forced upon
them. But they know that it exists
and the seeing of it with the eve instead
of the mind is no justification for unbe-
lief now to those who believed before.
The Conemaugh disaster proves moth
ing one way or the other in regard to
an overruling Providence, so far as any
man can now see. 1t may have been
merciful dispensation, the purpose of |
which is now hidden from human eyes. |
1t is as easy for believers, except the |
Sorely afflicted, whose minds are more |
or less unbalanced, to see in the Johns
town horror the manifestation of Om-
loving kindness as in many of
the events so ascribed in biblical history,
and which believers have accepted with
out question.
Perhaps the nation, sweeping on in a
tide of magnificent growth and prosper
lty, needed an impressive warning Why
need believer question that in view of
what is related in the Bible? Because
the human mind is weak and ignorant
at its best, unable to safely withstand
more than limited strain, or to philOs-
0phize when in anguish, is that any rea-
son for rejecting the faith of years in
The existence of mind supreme, God
rs loving now as when he he gave his
Son to redeem the world? Manifestly
lOt.
The minds of those who saw and sur
rived the frightful occurrences in the
Valley, and many others,
doubtless, are appalled, at the aggregate !
If loss and suffering taken in at one
view. But it stands to the whole cOun-
ry no more than the loss of husband,
wife, or child to one family, and single !
leathS, by whatever means, have rarely !
Unsettled the foundations of faith.
The plan of creation and Divine gov !
is on scale that the greatest !
luman intellect could never compre- ;
lend; and this explains why we are often :
'affled and sometimes in doubt as to the :
etailS of that plan allotted to us to see :
nd feel.
TuR ESSON ON Jnu\rcrnJIrN- d