The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-07-27

| the spiritual. Our first business In
this world is character. Life is no
more play day for us than school is
for our children. 1t has its periods
of recreation, but they must help and
not hinder its grand and solemn pur-
pose. When we begin to recognize
and act upon this principle, we shall
find that all the events of nature and
of life have their lessons. Painful
they may be, but they come with an
everlasting gospel whose message we
must hear and heed. They are not
ministers of wrath, but angels of in
struction. The moment we begin to
realize that we are in this world, not
first of all for pleasure, but first of all
for discipline, we shall begin to find
the soul of good that lies in the heart
of what we call evil. We shall not
only see the throne with its light
nings and voices and thunders, but
also the rainbow that surrounds it.
II. If THE OBJECT OF LIFE is EDUCA-
TIoN AND DISCIPLINE, WE MUST MAKE
THE SYSTEM OF THINGS IN WHICH WE ARE
PLACED HELP FORWARD THE ACCOMPLISH
MENT OF THAT PURPOSE.
1. The physical globe itself, acith
all ats liability to disaster, is the best
place for that aUork.
Cd 1t is difficult to understand how
nature, radiant and light, can SO
quickly wrap herself in mantle of
terror. We must remember, however,
that what are natural calamities,
such as tempest, volcano, earthquake,
tornado, are necessary parts of the
entire system. The forces that make
the tornado are the same that make
the zephyr and the dewdrops. Take
away the one and you take away the
other. The entire harmony is pre-
served by the temporary disturbance.
The earthquake that swallows thou
sand men in its remorseless jaws pre-
serves the stability and safety of the
earth for it's teeming populations.
The lightning that smites the belated
traveller burns up the poisons of the
air. Our papers, in the early part of
the season, had some accounts Of cy-
clones; but the tornado that lays a
score of people dead among the ruins
of their homes, restores the equilib-
rum of the atmosphere and thou
sands of homes are rendered safer,
while tens of thousands of human be-
ings breathe purer air. To remove
the possibility of their occurrence,
one would have to pluck the sun from
the heavens. The sun is the great
culprit; for it is his shining that is at
fault. But what of the victims? We
shall not forget. This is the sad and
dark part of the problem. We shall
speak of them. Suffice it now to say
that not one of them, had he fully
understood, would have had the world
destitute of the very forces that COM
bined to Stay him.
(2) But the elements which destroy,
may, to large extent, be controlled
and used. In learning to control and
use them, the human intellect is slim
ulated and human resources are de-
veloped. Placed in world where he
must tug with giant forces in the
air and earth, man himself becomes
strong and wise. He catches the
wind and makes it drive sail and
draw water. He may yet make it
carry him on its wings across oceans
and continents. He slips the light
ming from the cloud, and compels it
to bear his message over land and
through the ocean. The wild, rag
ing, unframed steeds of nature are
harnessed to the chariots of human
ity. The process of tanning becomes
| ldCLOT Ill bno oQuCdblOa VI buc IdCSs
How was the mind of man stimulated
and his will strengthened in learning
to conquer the sea! eff fate is ore
and quarry" says Emerson, 'if evil
is good in the making, if limitation is
power that shall be, if calamities, op-
positions and weights are wings and
means, we are reconciled."
(3) Now is it too much to hope
that, in the progress of investigation,
the laws of those catastrophies, which
now seem abnormal and exceptional,
will themselves be so definitely ascer-
tanned that man can arm himself
against them, or evade their fatal on
sets when he can not master and use?
Nothing goes haphazard in this uni
verse. Every effect is the result of
certain causes. The most cratic
phenomena are linked to the univer-
sal order. One step we have made
over other generations in trying to
answer the questions with which we
eta rod. vua have learned that the