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"HE REIGN OF LAW By Rsbbi Simun R. Cohn, in Norfolk VirginianPilct. From a daily paper I quote the fol lowing from an editorial anent the re cent earthquake in San Francisco, and the reason assigned in the form ot a symposium by several ministers of the city: "There is a wide difference of opinion on. the subject on the part of those interviewed, even between minis ters of the same denomination. While this is not surprising in view of the yet unsettled state of theological thought, it nevertheless emphasizes a, very unfortunate fact that the doc tors (of divinity in this case) are in serious disagreement as to a very fun damental matter of vital interest to the human family, viz: as to whether Diet deals with mankind through special or general Providence; and to his actual relation to the universe in the matter of its government." QUESTION PUT TO MINISTRY. When I read the editorial I was somewhat surprised. As I was one of the ministers interviewed, I had exact knowledge of the reason of the sympo sium and the limitations placed upon enrh writer. In the firs place we were compelled to confine our remarks to fif ty words in answer to the following questions: I-'irst. Was the earthquake disaster seat by God? Second. If God sent it, why did He send it? Third If it was not God-send, what reasons do you assign? In other words we were asked thrfe questions that required al most fifty words to frame them; ques tions of such nature that the com bined intellect of humanity has stag gered blindly before them for four thousand years, and today science is only beginning to lift the veil of mys tery that envelopes them; questions that have engaged the attention of the master minds of humanity from Moses to Aristotle, from Plato to Spinoza from Kant to Spencer; questions that have furnished the motive thought to the great dramas of history, from Pro metheus Bound and the Book of Job to Shakespeare's Hamlet, Goethe's Fauste, Hugo's Les Miserable, ' and Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter; questions so profound that the whole, edifice of philosophy has crumbled before thein: religions nave warred the one with the other and man has submitted to mar tvrdon because they believed that the were justifying the ways of God to 1 man and testifying to the truth of their particular interpretations of the myH teries of life; questions so pretentious that the whole fabric of religion is wo ven about tnem; yet we were asked to give a logical, satisfactory reason in fifty words. What surprised me the most was this, in face of these facts, despite the writer's assertion to the contrary! there was a remarkable agreement run ning through the symposium, the Meth odist minister, the Baptist minister and myself were agreed as to the cause. While of the other ministers two took occasion to deliver sermonettes upon the disaster, one spoke of the logical necessity of "Special Providence" if we admit that there is "General Provi dence;" while one conforming to his creed denied that God was in the earth quake. With regard to those who mor alized it is hardly necessary to say that an infinite number of sermons could be preached upon such a disas ter from the most spiritual to the most practical, that would not be out of place in the pulpit, Jewish or Christian While m the case of the writer who asserted that God was riot in the earth quake he certainly must admit that a divine law or a special edict divine in nature was the origin of the earth minir In this sense God was in the earthquake. In short, where there was a real attempt to answer without resui l to homily there appeared a marked agreement of opinion in spite of the diversify of theological bias of 'the writers. Which proves most conclu sively that when it comes to the real untimate facts immediately affecting humanity, Doctors of Divinity come very near standing on the same plat form; and that far from confronting an unsettled state and an unfortunate fact the veil is lifting and we begin to see dimly the coming of that day when all men shall acknawledge the Fatherhood of God and the Brother hood of -man. It its just such terrible calamities as these that compel the sinners and the thoughtful to conclude that, if God is a God of love, justice and wisdom, He will not arbitrarily in flict ruin and death upon some to ad monish or warn others, nor will He afflict t':e innocent with the guilty. CRITICISM. But I have not yet finished the edi torial in Question. WTe were limited to fifty words; the editorial writer took one thousand words to show what a sad state of affairs existed among 'tne ministers and to give his own views upon the points presented to us. After reading his opinions and conclusions, in the language of Shakespeare I must exclaim "A second Daniel has come to judge us!" we are told that the theo logical mind, 5, e., the -popular" part of it I can't quite discover who or which that is has made a mistake in concluding that terrible and destruc tive forces are "natural." 2s'o said the writer, they are not natural; they are unnatural! EurekaJ We have discov ered the solution. "They must be un natural!" Proclaim it from fie house tops; Tell in Gath, that the mystery whose solution has engaged the atten tion of myriads and for which other myriads have yielded their. lives has at last been solved! millennium has come! Let choirs chant odes of triumph let poets indite rythmic melodies, let orators declaim in swelling periods this new triumph of the twentieth century! "If Deity is the preserver of man, it is only logical and rational to conclude, it seems to us," the editor tells us, "that the phenomena of the universe which tends to man's unhappiness and destruction is more properly classified as unnatural contrary to divine law than as natural and in accordance with I divine will." You may desire to know how this discovery was .rcule? The writer has condescended to enlighten us even upon the secret. It is somewhat as follows: When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden their trans gression was 'doubtless, more far reaching than merely affecting man's moral status." When Adam denied he --. the apple hU falsehood and dis obedience affected the whole creation. Because of that cne forbidden bit2 all nature has been convulsed and nas neen acting m an unnatural, uuguui way ever since. A beneficient Deity cannot help that No, never! The thought is blasphemy. The Lord God had destined man to one perpetual round of "pink teas" and "literary di gests;" but the first man by his dis obedience upset the whole plan of cre ation, cursed humanity with perpetual sin, and afflicted Mother Earth with intermittent, unnatural upheavals earhquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves subject to the divine 'aw, even battling for supremacy with God Almighty him self. How the shades of Zoraster must smile at this piece of naive dual ism! Oh, yes my beloved lay-writer, this solution has a merit; we could never assert, if we accepted it that God de liberately brings a catastrophe to mankind", as a part of the natural or der; but we would rather place such catasthrope under the category 01 un natural phenomena. The merit of this solution However, is wholly lost sight of when we remember that in accept ing it we must likewise accept the idea that there are manifestations in nat ure which occur without the delibera tion or permission of God, in fact iome could occur without Divine warrant. I confess, I would rather reject this mer itorious plan than deny unity, infinite wisdom, and infinite power cf God. The very idea is repugnant to the lay man as well as the theologian. KNOWLEDGE VS. SENTIMENT AND FEAR. The solution is not to be found here; but rather along the lines that ad vancing knowledge has laid out for us. When humanity knew absolute noth ing of the laws governing and controll ing the world, any change in nature was ascribed to a special Deity who was angered or pleased as some act of wisdom or folly committed by man. 1 cannot enter into an extended dis cussion of this subject here, but offer a single illustration. Before the as tronomers discovered the xact laws eovernins: eclipse, men believed that they were a special manifestation of God portending some important event affecting mankind, we do not 100 upon an eclipse in this manner touay We know the simple natural law gov erning eclipses and laugh at the fear of the ancients. In the same way many manifestations in nature which at one time were looked upon as signs of God's special providence are known to be subject to laws which if under stood can be foretold. GENERAL. AND SPECIAL PROVI DENCE. This leads us to the discussion of the ideas comprised under the heading of General and Special Proevidence. Strip ping the subject of all theological ver biage the common distinction between general and special providence is this: whn we use the term "General Prov idence" we mean that God, has estab lished a series of laws whicn govern and control the universe without con sidering the individual man. Where God suspends the operation of these general laws for the sake of man we have "Special Providence," i. e., God from time to time, performs what is commonly known as a miracle to save, to punish, or to admonish individ ual or society. Many of those to who hold this view would say that the earthquake was an act of special Providence." It is true even Judaism described earthquakes as special acts of Providence. That was before it knew that they were the result of well defined natural causes. Judaism then said: "God in his infinite wisdom afflicted some to warn others." Today the idea is discarded in. the face of the evidence available. SCIENCE. Science has shown that there are cer tain regions on earth where earth quakes are common. In fact ninety seven per cent of all earthquakes oc cur there; that they are due to "faults" in the sub-strata in the earth of these regions. Maintains are in process of growth there. As they grow the material necessary to build them flnwa from beneath the affected region this constitutes the "fault" above Tninned. When this flow occurs, or ! when the earth's surface through these I flows, is left without support until the surface finds a new tounoation 10 its., on it is subjected to violent rockings and shakings. If you pull the founda tion from under a building it wall crumble to pieces. It obeys the general law of gravity. If in the snriKage 01 the mountains the earth and rocks ifh -fiimnort the surface settles upon its new foundation, it is likewise obey ing the general law or gravity, ju neither case is there a special act of Providence. Now, suppose we build a building upon an insecure foundation and it fell in. Suppose the disaster claimed a victim and that Victim was Sa sinner; would you say it "was an act of special Providence?' I would not I would place the blame where it belonged upon ourselves. We knew or should have known that there are laws of resistance and pressure which we violate At our peril. If there is any merit in the death of a sinner Jet us even claim the merit for ourselves because "God delighteth not in the death of a sinner, but that he repent and return unto Him." You will find this in the Bible. EARTHQUAKE CENTRES DANGER OUS. Garret P. Serviss discussing the scientific aspect of the California ca lamitv has this to say of the earth quake regions of the World, especially San Francisco: "Men dwell in such re gions and erect cities there at their peril. They cannot be ignorant of the danger." Even if churches, hospitals monasteries, asylums, schools, and col leges, were to be erected there it would not. delav a single day the coming cf ! the earthquake or lessen in the least .its violence It is ridiculous to ques tion the benevolence of Deity in this matter. Our emphasis should rather be on the fatuity and idiocy of men who Ifly in the face of natural law. Een (the angles must weep when they be- hold the cumsnulative folly of human ! ity. I GOD'S PLAN UNFOLDING. I As men solve more and more of the i problems of nature, the plan of God i is slowly unfolding. We are beginning (to recognize that nothing in nature is I left to chance; that all things are sub j ject to some well defined law, which if j recognized and respected is beneficient ! in its action; but if disobeyed or dis i regarded is. malevolent n its results. ; The plea of ignorance can no more save ; us from the penalty of a violated nat j ural law than can the plea of ignorance I save us from the violation cf a stat utory law. It is the duty of men to imake a most careful and exhaustive ! study of the earth to the end that they .learn the nature of the forces which guide, preserve and conserve it. It is jour duty to learn which are the con ! structive and which are the instruc ! tive forces. To turn the constructive 'forces to a benevolent end if possib!'? 1 as in the case of electricity, steam and I fire and, where this is not possible, to I avoid them, or minimize their mtensi SDH aiDLUM tv for forbidding habitations near them ;or constructing buildings that may j withstand them, as in the case of vol ! canoes, tidal waves and earthquakes, j CONCEPTION OF .SPECIAL PRO- VIDENCE. ! You might say that this conception I does? away with God's providential care 01 the lndiviar.ai. iou wtre licvc. farther from the truth of the matter. In this universal reign of law, one of the most unique facts" is God's special care of the individual, of each and ev erv life. To cay that God leaves each man to jog along at his own sweet will until a crisis Ke "reigns" him in as a driver would check a spirited horse, ! is a kind of special providence against ! which even the prophets of old hurled i their infectives: "Call on your God, 1 perchance he is asleep, or he is walk ing, or he is in council and does not 'hear vou." One of the most marve lous facts in nature is the persistence of life. The heart, the nerves, tne brain, the cerebellum, the madulla, are not the centers and sources of life. The phvsicians will tell yu that the ulti mate center of life is in the vaso-motor center of the brain. This center is a minute congery of nerves. Not different in nature than any other nerve in the body and yet if it were injured in the least it would result in immediate death. How this maintains our lofe will doubtless never be known. We re driven to the inevitable conclusion that just as, if God withdrew his laws from the World it would crumble into a mist wave of atoms lying in space, so if God were to wihdraw his laws that maintain the vaco-motor center in man for a sinele instant, life would in stantly cease. The Divine in us is ever present not only maintain ing but also sustaining life. God is with us every moment of our live. We exist by and through God's will. We are a part of His laws which are universal and in exorable in their operations. The one supreme fact that stands out amid the flux and flow of nature is the perma nance and unchangeableness of God and His laws. This is the rock upon which we build our faith in Deity. ! Though all the World should fail us, we are buoyed up by the thought aid conviction that God, as He manifests himself tomorrow to humanity. DIVINE VS. HUMAN REWARD. Let us compare God's way and man's way of regarding and punishing. Even of the victims of the San FranciscD disaster were sinners, the punishment would not fit the crime and hence would not be divinely just. If you in sist :.at God brought the disaster upon u-m because they were sinners, I ask vo .. how will you account for the death cf the righteous, the inno cent, the children and the destruction of so much sacred and seculiar prop- perty that belonged to the guiltless, to religious and to charitable organisa tions? "The innocent shall not sutfe1 with the guilty," is a divine law. God does not punish as man punishes, nor does He reward as man rewards. Human reward and punishment is rarely just, it either falls short or overshoots the mark. A governor-general of a Russian Province has been assassinated, the Czar immediately de mands that justice be done; which consists in killing forty or fifty peopla and sending one hundred or so to Si beria by way of warning. Does God punish this way! Some thing so. a benefactor of humanity is left to per ish of starvation and hunger. Perhaps he is a martyr to his principles. A hundred years after tardy humanity recognizes his services, acclaims him a benefactor, erects a monument to hi TTiPmorv. and tells the children of his greatness. Does God reward that way? Some people think so, but I do not When God rewards or punishes, such rewards and punishments corre spond exactly to the deed and is vis ited upon the individual who does the deed. Obedience or disobedience to a divine law carries with it its own reward or punishment immediately upon the commission of the act itself and is precisely in proportion as the deed merits. To say that God punisn ed the wicked men and women who died in the earthquake disaster be cause of their moral terpitude is to absolutelv misconceive God's govern ment of the world as well as His jus tice and His wisdom. PLACE BLAME WHERE IT BE LONGS. Let us he honest with ourselves and put the blame where it belongs. It is because we will not look truth in the fact that our progress is so slow and 6ur path so devious. When a disaster occurs we fold our hands, lift up our eyes, and with lips give utterance to the cant phrase "God's will be done!" Shall we never get into our heads that swvrt AM-tflinlv God's will WILL be done, though the foundations of the J cures. 1 Dear Sirs : I had a friend who had a bad case of Con tagious Blood Poison and was in a terrible condition. He tried all the medicines he could bear Of. but nothing did him any good. He went to Hot Springs but It was like the other treatments he had used, and he was In despair of a cure when he heard of S. 3. 8. After taking It for awhile the sores all healed, his hair stopped falling out, and, continuing with it, he soon found himself cured en tirely of this hideous disease. JOHN LESLIE, Rockford, 111. 719 W. State St. I was afflicted with Blood Poison, and the; best doc tors did me no good, though I took their treatment faith fully. In fact I seemed to get worse all the while. I took almost every so-called blood remedy, but they did not seem to reach the disease, and had no effect whatever, X was disheartened, for it seemed that I would never be cured. At the advioe of a friend I then took S. S. S. and began to improve. I continued the medicine, and it cured me completely. W.R.NEWMAN. Hamlet. N. C. The very name, Contagious Blood Poison, suggests contamination and dread. It is the worst disease the world has ever known; responsible for more unhappiness and sorrow than all others combined. Nobody knows anything about the origin of this loathsome trouble, but as far back as history goes it has been regarded the greatest curse of mankind. No part of the body is beyond the reach of this powerful poison. No matter how pure the blood may be, when the virus of Contagious Blood Poison enters, the entire circulation becomes corrupted, the humiliating symptoms begin to appear, and the sufferer finds himself diseased from head to foot with the vilest and most destructive of all poisons. Usually the first symptom is a small sore or ulcer, so insignificant that it rarely ever excitcsT suspicion, but m a short while the skin breaks out in a red rash, the glands of the groin swell, the throat and mouth ulcerate, the hair and eye-brows come out, and often the body is covered with -copper-colored spots, pustular eruptions and sores. There is hardly any limit to the rava ges of Contagious Blood Poison; if it is not driven from the blood it affects the nerves, attacks the bones, and in extreme cases causes tumors to form on the brain, pro ducing insanity and death. No other dis ease is so highly contagious; many an inno cent person has become infected by using the game toilet articles, handling the clothing, by ...... . r- rr - a (ManHlir hotlHchoL'P Of thp L'lQC fit D 1tPrf from, one afflicted!. But no matter how the disease is contracted, the sufferer feels the immiliationnd degradation that accompany the vile disorder. Mercury and Potash are commonly used in the treatment of Contagious Blood Poison, but these minerals cannot cure the disease they merely mask it in the system. All ex ternal evidences may disappear for awhile, but the treacherous poison is at work on the internal members and tissues, and when these minerals are left off the disease returns worse than before because the entire system has been weakened and damaged by the strong action ot the Mercury and Potash. There is but one certain, reliable cure for Contagious Blood Poison, and that is S. S. S., the great vegetable blood purifier. It attacks the disease in the right way by going down into the blood, neutralizing and forcing out every particle of the poison. It makes the blood pure and rich, strengthens the different parts of the body, tones up the system, and cures this humiliating and destructive disorder permanently. The improvement commences as soon as the patient gets under the influence of S. S. S. and continues until every vestige of the poison is driven from the blood and the sufferer IS completely restureu. iu ucanu. vj. vj. vj. an experiment ; it is a success. It has cured thousands of cases of Contagious Blood Poison, many of which had given the Mercury and Potash treatment, Hot Springs, etc., a thor ough trial, and had almost despaired of ever being well again. S. S. S. is made entirely of roots, herbs and barks, and does not in inr tin evetpm in the least. Wc offer a reward of $1,000 for proof that it contains a particle of mineral of any K you are suffering with this despicable and debasing disease, get it out of your blood Un S. S. S. before it does further damage. We will gladly send our book with instructions for self treatment and any medical advice, without charge, to all who write. s THE SWIFT CPSOinO COMPANY, ATLAHTA, OA o PURELY VEGETABLE deep were broken open and the heav ens should fall. Shall we ever learn that our peace, safety and happiness depends upon our obedience -to God's will? God is Love. Yes; but God is also Law. To obtain God's love we must obey his law. It matters not whether they be physical or moral, spiritual or - material. I hold that ninety-nine out of every hundred deaths hv violence, can be traced to human folly, indifference and care lessness. Let society clean its skirts of tjinat selfishness, cruelty, rapacity, and evil, which takes lives before U seeks to know why natural forces de stroy life. There is a stupendous task before us: it consists in this: To seek to learn the play of the mighty laws time let each contribute his share to :be noble task laid upon him of les- man s inhumanity to man. senmg How He Knew. "Not long ago a man was about to purchase a barrel of apples at the es tablishment of a produce dealer, says Harper's Weekly. They appeared ro he especially fine ones, but an old farmer standing near whispered to h:m 1o look in the middle of the barrel. This the would be purchaser did, to find that with the exception of a lay er at each end, the apples were small and inferior. "I'm much obliged," he said, turn ing to the old farmer. "I've Ot some nice ones on my wagon I jest brought in," the old fel low ventured diffidently. "I' take a barrel from you, then," the man said, payinjr him the price and giving his address for their delivery. "Say," a bystander asked as the purchaser walked away, " how did you know that those apples in the center of the harrel were no good?" A twinkle came into the old ooger's eve. "Oh, that was one of my bar'les," he said. MR. RAim AND TI1D SEAUOAKD ihis banking associates paid Mr. Ban: 'a bonus of $100,000 to come to the rood The Experiment on Mr. ilarr'a Pat jas an 'experiment,' it would have becK and Not 011 Tliat of Mr. William. ieconomical to have forfeited this '$250,000 by displacing Mr. Barr, if his- management had ben so costly to tne road." There is something in that to be sure. But Mr. Barr is out. Another man has been elected president and if is to be hoped that the Seaboard, which means so much to the South, will prosper and expand. The harm that was done was caused by the fac tional fight, a even if Mr. Barr did not turn out to be as great as Mr. Williams had expected, the contract proyes much, and If he was as bad as he was nlctured it would have been far cheaper to have removed him long ago. Raleigh Times. HOCK EITXLER S OH, PROMTS Estimated at $1 13,:H0,000 Since Janu ary 1, 1898. The opinion recently expressed by this newspaper concerning the retire ment of President James M. Barr cf the Seaboard Air Line did not meet the approval of many of his friends, while many good railroad men endorsed it. The fight between Mr. Barr and Mr. John Skelton Williams is of little pub lic interest, bat inasmuch as the Wil liams faction has been talking so freely it is proper that the Barr end of nature that we may control or avoid of tne controversy should be published their power to destroy, in tne menn- ine iormer president 01 tne seaboard has maintained a dignified silence, which is to his credit. Coal and Coke, a Baltimore publication, adds an in teresting chapter from wriich. we shall quote. In the first place it must be remem bered that while Mr. Barr resigned from the presidency he is still a mem ber of the board of directors. The Baltimore paper says that the Sea board was so anxixous to secure his services that he was paid a bonus of $100,000 in addition to his salary of $30,000 per annum for a period of five years. At the time he "was made first vice president and general manager and he became president when Mr. Williams was forced out because cf If, as has been reported, John D. Rockefeller owns 33 per cent of tho Capital cf the Standard Oil Company !he has received In dividends since jjanuarv 1, 180?, approximately $113, :50O,0C0. j Statistics bearing upon the stupen dous dividend disbursements of the 'great oil trust were made public in iWall street today, apropos of the Standard Oil Dividends of $9 a share, declared yesterday for the past quar- These figures showed that since " " " ' - - 'nr.. . p-. v. j . . financial reasons. The new head of 'isniwv l tht Standard Oil Via evetom croc tnven "crti ro r-nntrnl Vt. rllsV,nrcAl n ! otrwrV r t i t . . . , . , . .. . . . holders , 043. ow in tnviaenas, cr Always Ailing. Mrs. Clarence H. Mackay, at a meet ing of the Hoselyn School Board, says the New York Tribune, disagreed with a pessimistic opinion that had been ex pressed. "To be so unreasonably and so res olutely hopeless Is unwise," she said. "It reminds me of an old woman I used to know. 'This old woman was always ill, al ways ailing. Her various diseases were to her the most interesting topic in the world, and she must have thought them the most interesting to others also, for she always talked of them she talked of nothing else. "One day I found her eating a hearty meal, and asked her how she was: "She sighed and answered: "'I fell very well, ma'am, but I al ways feel bad when I feel well, because I know I am going to feel worse after ward.' " the svstem was given of the traffic and operation of said road," and he had "the sole right to engage and discharge employes in de partments under his charge, and to make all contracts relating to the operations of the road." Paragraph three of the contract signed by Mr. Barr and Mr. Wililams says: "The term of this contract is to be five years, the said Seaboard Air Line Railway agreeing to employ said Barr as first vice president and gen eral manager for the full term of five years from the date hereof (April 2 1901) but is it understood and agreed that if the said Barr desires to ter- minate this contract sooner he Is to ' have the legal right to do so. The I Seaboard Air Line Railway agrees to t 1 , 1 11 ia - m i gr r. r n m give oona in ine penauy 01 i.:v,vw lor 'nearly three and one-halt times its au Ithorized capitalization of $100,000,000. The company pays more in dm dends to its stockholders than any corporation in existence. The United States Steel Coropration, when it waa j declaring dividends on its common Etock, distributed more than the Standard Oil Company, but no divi dends on Steel common have been paid 'for two or three years. The dividend land interest payments combined of the United States Steel Corporation are, however, considerably In excess of the dividend disbursements of th Standard Oil. Thus far this year the latter has de clared about 24 per cent, or about $21, KK),000, in dividends to its stock holders or the same amount as was disbursed in the corresponding period last year. The total dividends "last year were nearly $40,000,000. Terrible plagues, those itching, pes tering diseases of the skin. Pat an end to misery. Dan"s Ointment At any drug store. the faithful performance of this con tract with some solvent surety ana guarantee company as guarantor. It would appear from this that Mr. Wililams had implicit confidence in ' stenotyplng Machine, the new manager, that he was willing , very efficient stenotyping machine to pay his wages, and that he gave Mr. . Dy which a syllable (and In some Barr the best of the contract. Coal ; caes two or three syllables) is prlnt and Coke does not understand how Mr. ted in plain type at each stroke of the Williams can contend at this late day ; fingers has just been Invented by a that Mr. Barr was an experiment. Parisian. This result has been 00 The contract does not indicate it, and tained by an Ingenious arrangement indeed it would seem that it was Mr. of the letters of the alphabet. It la Barr who was experimenting and not said that fifty words a minute can the Seaboard. "While Mr. Barr." says be written by an amateur, while a Coal and Coke, "had a five year con- normal speed of 125 to 150 words can tract with the company, carrying a be obtained in two months, and in salary of $30,000 per annum for that some cases as high as 300. wt&l length of time, and Mr. Williams and Exchange.