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


of the world, not by special interpo-
sitions in the case of each one sever
ally: "The events of the world are the
result of the operations of laws
framed for the highest good of all,
though often bearing very hard upon
the Individual" God let's dreadful
things happen because it is better
that the universe should be governed
by rules than by exceptions; and that
which is good for all must, in the
end, be best for each.
2. Under this reign of ldaC, the
mistakes of men, their cdretessness
and acant of foresight, became fac
tors an the education of the race.
Calamities, disasters, accidents are
our teachers. They show us our
plumbers.
Do we want God, after all, SO to
change the nature of things that
rotten wood and rusty iron shall hold
train or a house as well as sound
material? Why should we find fault
with him? Do we want him by ON
nipotent power to suspend the law of
gravitation SO that the building shall
not fall or the train plunge over the
precipice? Men must find out what
materials to use, and must observe
the will of God expressed in timber
and gravitation. A writer in the
Westminster Review says: eff tower
falls on men and mangles them to
death, it is pity they were near it.
But neither their character, good or
bad, or any unseen personal power,
good or bad, had anything to do with
the towers falling on them. The
terrifying phenomenon would be If
the toner acre not to fall under the
strain of that elasticity which we call
gravitation, and which shows the
tendency of inorganic nature toward
unity and rest. One well-confirmed
instance of natural law relaxed, of
miracle established, would be enough
to terrify the universe, if its meaning
were caught. 1t aooatld be demon
stration of the insecurity Of the foat'a-
dutions of the atniUerse."
Suppose, then, the question to be
pressed: eff there was God in
Minneapolis last Thursday night,
why did he not seize that tottering
wall and save those brave young
men2" He could only have done so
by reversing every law that has been
in operation from the beginning; by
overturning the entire system under
which the race has been trained and
advanced from the days of the prim-
tive first until now. He could only
have done so by taking out of fire the
quality which burns; by taking out
of timber that which is combustible;
by changing the law of gravitation
SO that walls unsupported shall stand
as those which are buttressed and
strong. 1t is a simple question and
easy to ask-the one have supposed
the answer is far-reaching and in
tricate. 1t involves change, upheaval,
revolution, in the whole order under
which 1--WE live and move and have
our being" One miraculous inter-
ference would mean others. A reign
of miracles instead of law would put
us to permanent confusion. No man
could work with any degree of assur-
ance; no man could count upon the
nature of his materials or the result
of his efforts. No man could foresee
when the law would be suspended,
and all that he had done in accord
ance with that law overturned and
destroyed. An interference from
without sustaining by supernatural
power broken bridge, falling tree,
tottering building-even to save
some precious life-would simply in
troduce chaos and anarchy into all
human affairs.
Men must find their way to safety
through law and not through its mi
raculous suspension. "Calamities, +"
it is said, "are at once perturbed
parts of the order of nature and prov
idential signals of the will of God,
calling attention of men to mistakes,
sins, dangers; and it is our duty to
study them and profit by their in
struction, to remedy their disastrous
consequences and prevent the need
of their repetition" Accidents to
the individual at length bring safety
to the community. The young men
who were lost Thursday night, cut
off in the very flower and promise of
their days, cut off while trying to
save a portion of the city from de-
struction, cut off in obedience to the
behests Of duty, cut off from those
who loved them and whom they