The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-08-14

EsRs&J viii cry out Where was
q God ~ and proclaim that they have lost
K faith In God, because Il there we're a q
d God He would not have allowed limo centg
" people to perish 80 terribly
To thinking men this is evidence only Of
ths&curiousE blindness and though tlessness$
58ot & great Ii masses OF the community. for
& these ira gedies are, after all. only ii the
large, the same thing which is going on
about us constantly on smaller scale;
but the Ignorant and thoughtless never
consider such things unit 1 they are forced
upon their observa tinn by some great ca
X lamity. and then they go. as 1t were, into
Il mental and moral pa mic. These drama
" tic tragedies derangG~ Them, because hey
u have never considered the constant daily
81 ira gedy8 Of II lie which Isl and has been
going on all about hem sS ss.ffsss
B Little children die by the thousand 8 In
this city every year y as carelessly and 4
q who died in the Slocum disaster. The
sum 81 agony caused by disease and 4
< death In any one year. from what We call
& ma tural causes. VI a. ci the size OF New
York isl much greater 4thanthe pain and \
suffering resulting from the burning OF
the sloc,m. There it Isl nothing In a4t ne
Iroquofs, n the slocun1. s the Norge III the
train wrecks or Il he mar " OF her lesser
disasters which the paper " have OF late
reported different In principle from the
& ordinary conditions OF life about ,,s.
1t q Is only that I he, scale Is larger;
d hence these disasters attract the atten-
ton }of tho u community and make the
&thoughtless and careless and selfish men
Z and women who have never though t or
& questioned before, think and question, In
spite Sof themselves.
Y Any one who has found God and come
Ito five in touch with God S universe will
3 find nothing in these 4 disasters which
needs other explanation than Is needed
lin the ordinary q tfatrs OF life.
{ The very fact that God has made us in
b His own image, capa bic OF compreh nd
%of ma tire, makes us pc clllarlyi II BILE to
&disa sters when we disregard and abuse
our powers and our duties; and, on the
other side the moral sense implanted In
ms, In which above all elsa We are in
the image OF God, makes US keenlys
Justice land sensitive to anything that
seems to Sus like viola ton OF that moral
order. isss 81 8 Fl ID w
81 Men and women die and have y died
from time immeno rial from certain
lavoidab le diseases. It used to- be ass
sunled. and still Is in uncivillz ed communi-S
ties. that these diseases are unavoidable
and in the course of nature. At times
G came scourges OF pestilence, the black
death / cholera, yellow fever and the like,
and while In the end fewer people died
from these plaques It han died from scar
Slet fever. diphtheria, typho .I, pneum onia,
consumption and OF her constant diseas SEES.
for a short period lied mems minds with
81 peculiar horror and made them seem to
them like syisitatIons from the hand of
an angry God, sent to punish them 10 r
their sins. X #
That is the way in which ignorant
people In Russia, Turkey, India, China
and elsewhere look al such estilences to-
day. But thoughtful men, studying out
THE law Of God s un verse, became con-
WINGED that these scourges were due to
cause q within the troll OF man, ana to,8
day, as resultsof t heir researches, their
8ceaseless labor and oftenti times their sac 4
xrlfce OF themselves for their fellow
men. we know how to prevent or controlB
4 yellow fever, cholera and he bubon!c#
8plague . u # 5s5 IA n
35 4, We know that such pla CUES are the
consequence OF u the fllth and q ignoran nee
Y and vice Of men; blu t we ais TO- know III e
IT iss not merely the man who is Althy,@
ignorant or vicious who Is swept on by
such plaques when they come { The peo-s
\ ether that each memb Der Of the comnun-5
ity must bear the burden Of evil s. dos
ing OF all who are In b t. at community
Just as he also profits by their well
Mdplng. * sSs isY ss
S13{ Ia CHI Is responsible for. all and all for
K each h, And In these tier years the w hole
world has been becoming ono great COM
nunitY, so knit togethe that the sin OF 4
one affects all, and, SINH rly. the good
ness 8of one helps all, a.i 53s8 =
Il The fact that these scoQrges, cholera,
yellow fever and the like, 81 weep away AZ
great number q u one lime, q roused the
community to q concerted effoGt to fight
Them. and the result of that effort has
y been a distinct impro cement in, the man
ners and the morals OF he FL yillzed world.
60 that those terrible calamitie Of the
4 past have been agents In the world IS pro-
gress in krowledge. II, 4 happiness and In
4 right eopsness. Because s. con- nlepti Ion new