The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-07-31
THE LESSON OF CALAMITY,
Sad Events From Which We Ought I
Gather Profitable Instruction.

Ssu L'onts FROM Wnicn We Ougnt 20
Gather Profitable Instruction.
The appalling calamity by which, in
Pennsylvania, thousands Of lives were
lost and such vast damage done TO
property. followed by the great fire in
Washington Territory, at Seattle.
awakens thought and inquiry. Many
ask why God permits such terrible dis
asters. 1t hardly meets the difficulty
to say that the bursting OF dam or
great conaagrations are the result of
human negligence. Undoubtedly, il
that dam had been properly built it
would have kept the water in bounds,
and If an oil-can had not been upset.
Seattle might have escaped destruction.
1t has been said that only by special in
terposition of Providence could the
catastrophe at Johnstown have been
averted. Certainly, every Christian
must believe that God is constantly
saving us from perils which we can
neither forsee nor avoid. Why the
great calamities which have filled the
land with mourning were permitted is,
to us, an inscrutable mystery.
But, if we can not fathom the mys-
terry, we ought to gather instructions
from these sad events. We may learn
that we should employ all proper safe
guards against damage from food or
fire. Those citizens who do not ex-
anime their surroundings, and seek the
removal of threatening dangers, are
themselves culpable. Carelessness in
vlte CONGREGATIONS. Disease must be
expected where proper sanitary pre-
caution is not exercised" Except
the Lord keep the city, the Waterman
waketh but in vain" But if men pre-
sumo that the Lord keeping is so GER
tain that they are not called to use the
reason with which He has endowed
them, for their safety, they may have
rude awakening
And we may again learn OF the I'M
certainty of our hold on life, and all
that we most deeply value in this
world. We may ascribe the calamity
which befell Johnstown to the want of
human forethought but there are fire.
quently like dire events which, it is
evident. are beyond all human pre-
science. Take, for instance, the earth
quakes at Charleston, or the cyclones
which spread devastation in the West.
All these show us that it is undoubted-
ly true that
"He builds too low who builds beneath the
Skies"
Human life everywhere is not unlike
a battlefield. The missiles Of destruc-
ton are flying around us perpetually.
In travel we are constantly exposed to
danger. There may be some hidden
defect in the machinery OF the steam
vessel or in the wheels Of the railroad
car. We entrust ourselves to those
who may be Incorporate or reckless.
There is no house into which death
may not enter by some agency which
the keenest scrutiny has overlooked.
There is the arrow that f1ieth by day,
and there is the terror by night.
Many men have learned, as never be-
fore, the instability of earthly posses
sions Doubtless, sagacious skinnints,
who have thought bonds and mort
cages and fire insurance policies made
them sure of their money, will now
calculate the dangers of flood and
storms. But, with all the precautions
men can possibly take, they can moi
avoid learning that earthly good is un-
certain and evanescent
In these calamities, certainly, the
pride which men have in their acquisi-
lions is most fearfully rebuked. They
who felt their wealth was a reservoir
which made them Independent Of God
have seen 1t all pass away. The lesson
is not for them alone. Christian mer
everywhere are greatly dominated by
things seen and temporal. 1t is hard
to escape greed for wealth, and while
we may throw religious vail over our
selves in the race for riches, and think
how much good we will do if we obtair
them, yet the controlling ambition is tt
have them to minister to our own de
sires Well will it be If the calamitie.
OF our times lead Christian people more
fully to 'trust not in uncertain riches
but in the living God. christian In