The morning times., 1896-06-01

Rev. c. w baldwin, pastor of Wesley
| Vi. E. Church, spoke interestingly and edi-
| fyugly last evening before a large con-
gregation, his subject being one Of the
! greatest current comment the st. Louis
| tornado. There was excellent music by
| the choir of the church, aud a special
number, a cavatina by Raff, which was
played with much skill and taste by Miss
Bertha Lucas on the violin.
The lessons OF the great calamity were
discussed by the speaker in connection
with the words of Christ to the Jews:
Unless ye repent, ye shall all like ewise
| perish"
Rev. Mr. Baldwin began by noting some
| of the great cyclones, of which he gave
the statistics of loss Of life and property,
as that of April, 1880, i'll Missouri and
! Illinois; that of June IT, 1884, i'll Illinois,
and the Fort Keogh tornado in February,
| 1884, in which 500 lives were lost, $500
were wounded. and the loss Of property
! was about $4,0O0,000 He then referred
| 10 the st. Louis disaster and its cost in
| life and material considerations.
WHY ST LOUIS?
The natural questions to ask in these
calanities lie said, is what do such vista
| tions mean? Why, for instance, was the
city of st. Louis selected, or the Fort
Keogb territory, or Louisville, or Grin
nell, or any other place that has been
stricken? Considering this question, it is
absolutely necessary to take the providence
Of God into a &C ouDt; for God is the ruler OF
the universe and directs all its forces
Christ has referred in two places in scrip
turc TO CalamitieS which overlook the
chosen people, one Of which was the muir
der OF the Jews by Plate, as stated by
Jerome. 1t was to these great miSfor-
tunes that Christ referred when He said:
Unless ye repent We shall all likewise
PERISH
Owing to the iufirmity OF our nature
and our reasoning from sources, which
are not quite clear, we are prone to draw
conclusions which are not warranted by
the facts. 1t would, perhaps, be natural
10 assume that such visitatons are punish
ments, as punishments were inflicted in
the historical cases of tie -old and new
testaments. To assume that the tornado
was an avcnging visitation to St Louis
would be false reasoning. for we know
that st. Louis is no worse than New y ork.
ngtou in proportion to its population.
Furnishing THE INNOCENT.
In this presumption nf the wrath OF God
L should also be borne in mind that punish
ment was inflicted on Moses, Job the Just,
and on Joseph the innocent, cases which
prove that rewards and punishments are
not meted out according to such standards
as would be laid down by men.
Another consideration is that suffering by
humanity is not always penal. Paul is the
authority for the doctrine that many classes
Of sufferings are To be received as chastise-
nents, which are visited on those whom
God loves, would redeem, and bring to
repentance. OF men SO chastised are Gods
Jewels made.
1t is true that there is a connection be-
tween sin and suffering. but the true con-
sideration will be evident to those who re-
gard the connection between suffering and
The words of Christ unless We repent We
shall likewise perish.
There will be no misunderstanding by
those who conceive OF God as a just
God, who brings to pass his designs in
a multitude OF ways which are often IN
Ineligible to men.
AS was the intention of Christ when He
spoke on a similar subject. it is apparent
that it is Gods purpose by these awful
visitations to give men warning; to cause
them to stop and consider. to ask them t o
search their hearts AMI be prepared for His
judgments Let this then be a warning that
we be not found unprepared, but turn 10 a
God who bleSses abundantly those WHO
-epent