The sun., 1904-06-17
The Mystery Of Good and Evil.

The Mystery Of Good and EVIL.
This IL bitter and q sacrilegious letter
brought out by the frightful catastrophe
Of Wednesday: but We are not surprised
at receiving it. Many expressions OF q
like character came to us at the time oi
The awful destruction Of life by the vol
canio eruption in Martinique
TO rn EDEros OF TEE SUN-sr' We rese
t>dsy Of tho fats Of the school children out for
~ Of happiness. Is this then an instance OF th'
eeoAness and loving kindness OF Gop-she most
eeud sad malignant idol that was ever and Il now
voesAiupedf Hundreds OF children out for ar
hasssns holiday. and He Of whom we are told ths
He % loved the beings He had created that He
up 70 death HIS only son for their salvation. per
units . thousand Of them 70 dio awful deaths 70,
believing In Him
-When will this terrible fraud end. and men oe
hssess for the sake OF being honest,
WILLIAM @. LANopoS.
-BAooXLYH. June Is"
Tho mystery Of human existence. Mr..
IANapoN, is insolvable by man. Whence
comes evil, and why did it come under
tho government Of the universe by q
personal COP described to us in re-
puted revelation as merciful and Of ex-
haustless loving kindness? These are
questions which have never been an
svered and they never will be answered,
for they are eunanswerableb by man.
Calamities which have befallen men
and communities have often been at
tributed to their wickedness and their
unbelief. The death of Tom PAINE
used to be described by religious writers
a. peculiarly horrible because OF his in
fidelity. If the calamity of Wednesday
had happened to crowd OF excursion
lists OF evil character and evil lives the
comment Of the religious on it might have,
and in many instances it would have,
been that it was judgment Of GoD on
people 80 fragrant in their sinfulness.
But here was a party made up Of men.
women and children of a Sunday school,
brought up in the nurture and admoni-
ton Of the LORD. profound in their re-
ligious belief and assiduous in their re-
ligious practice, disciples OF Church
peculiarly strong in its adherence to the
-strict Eeligious faith Of the past. Was
this judgment Of COP?
The ways Of Cop are past finding out.
We are told by st. PAUL. They are in
scrutable. But the ways Of nature are
discoverable, determinable, foreseeable
and preventable. If a child ventures
in front of a locomotive it is crushed.
II people live on the sides of volcano
they are liable to perish in its eruption,
whether believers or unbelievers, sig
nally righteous or aagrantly wicked.
But here man and mans prudence and
science can step in. ward off and prevent
the catastrophe. In our public schools
crowded with children has been per-
fected system of fire drill by which the
children, from the littlest to the largest.
are enabled to escape unharmed, in a
few moments. from fire in the building.
II there was no such possible human pre-
caution great numbers Of them would
always be liable to destruction.
That is all we know, but we know that
thoroughly. We know that we must
hook out for ourselves, that every pre-
caution suggested by science and by ex-
perience must be used to prevent panic
and save life in crowd. We know that
an possible measures OF safety should be
provided and taken on steamboat
loaded with passengers-discipline, con-
slant watchfulness and proper construc-
tion-and we know that they can be made
successful in their employment. except
in those rare instances where the cause
Of disaster seems as unpreventable az
it Is undiscoverable.
Mr.. LANaDoN puts on GoD the respon-
sibility for the General SloCum disaster,
but actually the responsibility was alto
Rether human. Ia not COP responsible
for the laches Of his creatures, and how
can mercy and loving kindness in Him
be reconciled with their suffering and
death il they violate natures laws?
That is a mystery. Mr.. LANaDoN, and
the world OF civilization is no nearer to
It's solution to-day than was the first
saw age in the form Of man.
Cuba Under Palma and Under Wood.
We are inclined to request the Cuban
Government to refrain from publishing