Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-06-26

occasions OF great naIurdi ulSoS
ters to dwell upon the causes back
of the phenomena presented in such
events and to inquire II the horrors
brought to pass were the outcome
of heartless fate or the doing OF a
wise and loving Father.
In the days of Jesus the falling
tower of Sloan killed eighteen per-
SONS. and forthwith certain inquir-
ers proceeded to ask of the divine
Master II the eighteen victims were
sinners above all that dwelt at Je-
rusalem, and IL they were therefore
overtaken by a judgment from
heaven. The theory proposed was
that exceptional suffering pointed
TO exceptional sinfulness, but they
who proposed, 1t never dreamed of
charging cruelty or injustice on the
God OF providence who imposed the
suffering.
In these later and more sceptical
times there are minds which go to
the opposite extreme in accounting
for suffering among men. They are
far more inclined to find fault with
God for human pain than to hold
men responsible for their own deeds.
On the occasion of great disaster
these minds proceed at once to read
God out of the world. preferring to
believe the absurdity that all that
happens comes by the impersonal
force of chance than to accept the
idea that a good God. would permit
men to suffer extraordinary pain.
A case in point is that of the
atheistic editor of the organ OF
free-thinkers published in New
York. In a recent issue of that
profane periodical the editors COM
ments upon the calamity which
lately befell st. Pierre as follows:
"It was the Lisbon earthquake
which shook Voltaire's faith in a
God who governs, who pervadeS all
places and ages, and who has estab-
lished a direct relation between
himself and mankind. He was COM
PEELED to ask, What was my God
doing? Why did the universal
Father crush to shapelessness thou
sands of his poor children, even
at the moment when they were up
on their knees returning thanks to
him? The tragedy of st. Pierre
ought to drive sincere theist in
sane.
How the Christians can recon-
Gle such an appalling calamity as
this volcanic eruption with the con-
ception Of a good God who cares
for his children, and without whose
watchful supervision not even a
sparrow falls to the ground, is one
of those things which astonishes
men who think. The inhabitants
of st. Pierre were literally burned
UP and buried in the white-hot mud
which came from the crater and
dropped upon the town. Such an
act occurring through personal vo-
lition of any being would stamp
that being as a demon OF infinite
cruelty. Nothing could equal it
except the creation of a hell in
which billions instead of thousands
are to burn forever. There are no
words in any language which can.
describe such a being"
There we have a fair sample of
free thought" concerning the prob
lem of human suffering. The editor
tells us that he had notable pre-
decessor in Voltaire who was turn
ed theologically topsy-turvy by the
Lisbon earthquake, and who never
thereafter recovered his balance
religiously. We are given to un-
derstand that this editor is in a
state of mind himself on account.
of the eduption of Mont Pelee, and
that he escapes insanity only by
avoiding theism. So to speak, 1t
appears that he is at outs with the
God of Christianity and has gone
OFF in a pout with Christians for
continuing to believe in such a
God. It is "just too bad" to see the
poor man take on So"
But perhaps he and Voltaire, and
their sort, are trifie too easy on
trigger. and it may be that they
have gone off half cooked. Let us
see.
Have they any proof that it would
be best for men that the earth
should never quake and that volca-
noes should never become active?
1t has been generally acknowledged
by scientific men that earthquakes
and volcanoes take place under the
operation of natural laws. Are we
now to understand that IL would
be better that nature should be
lawless or that nature should have
a different sort of laws from
those now of force? Would this
gentleman repeal or revise the laws
Of nature, or would he suspend them
every time a lot of foolish men felt
inclined to disregard and defy
them? What kind of a universe
would he make by such a method
of procedure?
Again, would Voltaire have rails
ed any question about the goodness
Of the God of nature If the Lisbon
earthquake had been confined to an
uninhabited area? would this New
York editor be in such fret about
the eruption of Mont Pelee If no hui
man being had lived near enough
to ii to have been hurt by it? Per-
haps at bottom the quarrel of these
offended philosophers is rather with
the free agents who built their
homes at Lisbon and st. Pierre than
with the Almighty who made the
earth subject to earthquakes and
volcanoes. If upon the whole it
should turn out after careful invest
tigation las doubtless would be the
case)' that such phenomena were
the result of laws of the most far
reaching benevolence. 1t would APP
pear that a God who would suspend
those merciful laws because a few
thousands of foolish men put them
selves IN the way of the operation
of them would be weak to the ex-
tent of wickedness. To sustain the
contention of these compliments
against God and nature, it is there
fore necessary to prove that earth