Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-07-21

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| place things.
Ana the Hover that blooms and the
bird that sings,
But dark were the world and sad our
lot,
II the flowers failed and the sun shone
not
So God, who studies each separate
soul,
Out OF commonplace lives makes his
beautiful whole"
The danger is lest an occasion like
this embitter people against God.
Men are apt to say: "The loss of n
child and his would-be savior is a
cruel dispensation OF Providence. God
alone can be held to account for the
accident" But the opinion is super
hclal In its conclusion. God rules by
law. One of the principles of his gov.
ernment is that water strangles. and
when person remains beneath its
surface long enough strangles to
death, Gods way has been made
known. and II people run counter to
MN through carelessness or reckless.
ness of lack of good Judgment, or for
any other reason. their action AT once
transfers from him to themselves the
responsibility Man has to answer
Tor himself the moment he leaves the
hedged-in path OF God.
But one should also turn the
Thought in the direction of God
God himself has part in this and
every calamity, Secondarily the sad
death of these people is due to them.
selves, but the water which drowned
them is the water of God Perhaps
he might have made It so thar its eff
reefs would always be soothing and vi.
talizins. but, for reasons best known to
himself, he has constituted il a de.
slroyins as well as soothing and
vitalizing energy. He himself takes
The pains to see that its actions are
true to its nature, and, if man at.
tempts 10 stem its tide against odds
the divine hand Itself may be said
10 bring him down to nothing.
may Illustrate the truth as fol-
lows: God must have loved Jerome.
His.life was devoted to the service of
the stake and the torch applied. he
did not intervene TO put out the fire.
nor draw out the sting of its caloric.
To say that he could not have done so
would be putting a bit into the mouth
OF Omnipotence. To say that he did
not do so is a simple fact of historic
record. jerome perlshed in the
tlames and that which is true of him
hight be said of great host. The roll
OF the martyrs numbers its thou
sands.
Nor is the Idea of innocence of guilt
at all relevant to the question. The
guileless child browns as well as the
grownup man, and the man as well as
an animal; and the same truth ls ap.
plicable to every class OF beings.
Christ himself would 80 down in the
water as dog without some exercise
of his divine power The fact is that
when he was nailed TO the cross he
died as soon as-yea, sooner than
the thief on either side of him.
Nor does this reflect in the least on
the character of God Here is where
people get their idea of his unchange.
ableness. and his unchangeableness is
the safeguard OF life Uniformity of
procedure on his part alone enables a
man to keep his bearings. People
would be consumed by the Wholesale
if the burn of fire did not hurt, and
blown up by the wholesale If the ex-
plosion of giant powder did not shock.
and drowned by the wholesale if wa.
ter did not strangle; 10 the instru-
ments which destroy the few through
misuse work ont the salvation of the
masses in his hand. Then even the
catastrophes are notable exhibitions
of his love
Besides, disasters are for the moral
purpose of humbling people before
God. Much one-sided talk of his love
is heard nowadays. The desire seems
to be to reduce him to mush of con
cesslons. In the opinion of many his
.fondness for the race has melted out
of his character all respect for HIM
self and his purposes, and reduced his
gospel to a way he has taken to let
the world know that he will do most
anything at all for a man If he be
coaxed enough, but, when people have
to stand face to lace with him in the
midst of calamities, affairs assume al
together different aspect. Back al
all is the eternal force of sin; sin has
warped the judgment of men, and
leads them TO the infraction of his
law; and his law is ineXorable He
is right much set in his WAYS, II one
may so express the truth with reyef-
ence. and. since he never adopts a
plan until he has decided that IL is
the hest. variations in his mode Of
procedure are out Of the question. His
counsels staHd firm tho men be
swept from the face OF the earth. and
people must bow before him to live
even in this world
And one should also lit the thought
mp to II higher level. God, If he
thinks so much OF his physical law
that he does not take out of the water
the force of graytation to save an iu-
nocent child aud his would-De savior,
means for people 10 infer something
in regard TO the divine stubborness
with which he may be expected to
stand by the laws which he has legis.