The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1915-01-14

managed TO crawl to the end OF the
basement and after removing a few
sticks reached the outside. Only
one of them was seriously wounded;
he received three broken ribs, the rest
escaped with only few scratches.
The building was an old two story
grout structure; two of the upstairs
rooms were occupied by an old negro
woman. She escaped with few
scratches which che received when
she was hurled through the skylight
by the concussion of the air. Not
one of the men thought of thanking
God for their lives 1t never oc-
Cured to them that Gods hand was
the hand that saved them. They
believed that it was the protection
formed above them by the floor that
had saved them. That floor might
have ben broken to kindling as
was the rest of the other floors, but
in some way 1t held together and
thus their lives were spared. Was
1t not Gods will that that floor should
hold and that those men should fall
III the Identical spot where that floor
would protect them? Did not God
intend only that the calamity should
be a warning to them? Who can
say for certain, but we feel positive,
every time we recall the occurrence.
that Gods hand was manifest.
All the above occurrences were
catastrophies to a greater or less ex-
tent. All of them brought about
change for the better. All of them
point to the evident fact that God
suffers catastrophe to occur in
order to save us from greater, and
possibly. overwhelming calamity.
We, who find ourselves in prison.
are continually bewailing our mis-
fortune; are continually finding
fault with this or that. Many of
us never realize that perhaps God
in His great mercy has seen fit that
we should languish in prison in
order that we might be saved from
worse fate. How often we forget
to thank Him for the blessings he
has bestowed upon us. Rather we
let our fancy, our sensitlveness and
our prejudiced reasoning run away
with us, and we condemn where we
should praise. We cannot under
stand that we may have been on the
verge of great catastrophe, yea,
even death itself, and that God the
Father of all things has saved us
from a cruel fate.
Many of the men to whom we
have spoken in the past have dis
agreed with our writings, urging
elf-advancement, self education and
self-mastery, merely on the grounds
that fate is fate and we can't change
it. Don't you ever believe it:
there is no such thing as fate to the
man who decides to make his life
better, morally, physically, mental
ly and spiritually. God, when he
created man, gave him the power to
choose between good and evil; and
although we have been, and still
am, diligent student of theology
we have never found where Goi
has revoked this great power he
gave to man; but we do find where
He says, he that cometh unto Me.
L will in no wise cast out" Also
we find, Seek We first the kingdom
of heaven and all things shall be
added unto you." Goodbye to the
doctrine of fatalism when we COM
prehend these words Why? Be-
cause we are compelled to deny
either the existence of God or the
existence of fate. We cannot for
moment argue That the proof con-
cerning the matter eliminates God
for we have had too, many manifes-
tations of His presence, and a few
hours of careful study should CON
vince the most see ptIcal that fatal
ism hasn't a leg to stand on.
Therefore, when we find ourselves
up against it as it were, why not
reason with ourselves and see wheth-
er the calamity which has overtaken
us has not saved us from something
worse? Even though we are in
prison we are not denied the op-
portunlty to better our education,
our self control and our daily thots.
Neither are we barred from success.
for some of tie greatest successes
ever obtained by mortal man have
been won behind the walls and
gates of prison. Do you doubt?
Then let us say this: The greatest
success which lies within the power
of man to obtain is yours when you
have learned to be MASTER of YOUR.
SELF; when you can truthfully say