WHEN IT COMES IN THE LESSONS OF THE JOHNSTON CALAMITY. CONTACT WITH THE TREMENDOUS FORCES OF NATURE. Our life of to-day is spoken of as a span, a post, swift ships, vapor, an eagle hastening to his prey, weaver's shuttle, handbreadth, water spilt on the ground, cloud, a tale that is told a dream and the like. The frailty of our physical life is seen very distinctly in the light of the power disease has over it. How soon a fever produced by a slight cold, will lay low the body, produce disorder in this fine mechanism of ours, and bring about the total cessation of the functions of the human body. In the glaring light of the Johnstown disaster we look upon the frailty of physical, yea human life when it comes in contact and into conflict with some of the forces of nature. There were men of power and authority in Johnstown on Friday morning the 31st of May, they spoke and obedience was given, they planned and their plans were carried into execution, they were masters in various industries, but by night because of the blind force of the mighty flood, their bodies lay stretched in death along the ill-fated valley. Our physical organization with all its nice adjustments, its manifold complications, its wonderful regularity, when it comes in contact with blind unintelligent force has to bow, yea has to perish. The glory of the flower cannot be told by the poet, and the beauty of the plant cannot be described by the scholar, yet the clumsy foot of the beast that perisheth puts an end to all the glory, and does away with all the beauty, Johnstown had men of wonderful energy, of fine intelligence, women of influence and of great endurance, but how helpless they became in the strong arms of the flood. We call such deaths accidents, truly 213 speaking they are not so, they are only the natural effects of natural causes. Far Some call these sudden deaths visitations of God,' and call them one of the many ways by which God teaches some of his important and momentous truths to the race. In such calamities as befell Johnstown I can hear the voice of my God above that of the flood, but I cannot look upon Him as the cause of the disaster, or the disaster as one of his visits to the children of men. from it. A short time ago more than one hundred of my countrymen descended a coal shaft in South Wales. In the morning when they went down, they had good health, strong nerves, and cheerful spirits. They left behind them industrious wives, merry children and loving parents and friends. They were in the pit only a short time before everyone was a lifeless body. I cannot look upon this as a visitation from God. Their death was caused by a superabundance of inflammable gas, which in someway took fire and caused a fearful fatal explosion. I was in Eastern Pennsylvania when the terrible calamity of Avondale, Luzerne Co., happened when over three hundred men and boys perished. Some at that time, yea some preachers in the pulpit called it a visitation from God. One preacher lifted up his voice and said: "Honor the hand that has brought this to pass." I thank God that at that time I had enough of courage to lay the blame where it belonged, and that was at the door of the proprietors of, those coal works. Had they observed all the laws regulating coal mines they would have constructed a way of egress in time of danger, and it was because that there was not such a way that the hundreds perished. Lay it to the hand of God? No, I lay it to the hand of a greedy corporation, and I lay the cause of the deaths of thousands in the valley of the Conemaugh at the door of the members of the sporting and fishing club that owned this lake. It was looked upon as dangerous. The walls were not of massive masonry, the waste gates that were in it when it fed the Pennsylvania Canal, which could be easily opened in time of flood were permanently closed so that the game fish, with which the lake was stocked, might not escape, and though the man that guarded it knew of the dangerous character of the walls and had often told the officers of the club he was not listened. The heroic Parke the engineer in charge who gave at last the alarm and was the means of saving hundreds if not thousands had spoken of a possible disaster for the want of more sluices, and all tend to confirm me in my mind that imperfect human mechanism and the neglect of the owners were the cause and not the hand of God. The lake was not for any industry, it was not for the water supply of Johnstown, it was merely for the pleasure and sport of wealthy men who delight in boating and fishing. I speak not against this, but it was their duty to see that everything was done in the way of making it safe that was within the reach of human hands. But they did not do it. According to the testimony of experts it was faultily constructed at first. The material used was not the right one, and when it was enlarged the inner and outer walls were filled between with dirt, and this was unsafe. A man living in woodvale, every time a flood came, moved with his family to the hillside because of his conviction that the dam was not safe. Should such a huge reservoir good for nothing but for boating and fishing be allowed to fill the hearts of the people with dread? No, I repeat again that God had no hand in the bursting of this dam, in the slaughter of the thousands in the Conemaugh valley. It occurred through the imperfection of the work of man, and physical life was too frail to face this mighty force and triumph. To prevent this fear ful disaster God would have been compelled to change the laws of natnre. I am a firm believer in the Providence of God, but I can see a difference between God's direct inter ference, and the necessary and only result of a law or action. There is no predestination about the matter. There is no foreordination about it. There is a way from all these events to God, but do not blame God for bringing them to pass. He can bring order out of confusion, he can bring light out of darkness, he can over-rule evil for God, but he is not the author of confusion, he is not the father of darkness, and he is not the fountain of evil. II. THE SUDDEN WORLDLY INDUSTRIES. TERMINATION OF In the light of the late catastrophe we find that we have plans which we cannot execute, outlines which we cannot fill out, foundations upon which we will not be able to complete a superstructure, a book which we cannot read through, and a mark which we cannot reach, we lay out work for the future, we plan for the coming years, we lay a foundation for a great enterprise, but it is passing strange to behold how suddenly all this passes away or comes to nought. Johnstown was a busy town. Cambria works alone employed 8000 men, and this gigantic industry made others necessary. It was a town of intense activity. Many crowded into their brain schemes for the future. If the people as some say were deaf to the warning given them to flee from danger, they were deaf because of the The THE LESSONS OF THE JOHNSTOWN CALAMITY. hum of the wheels of industry. Put all the irons you can in the fire, devise and plan and scheme, but wedge between these plans and schemes, an industry that will not cease, a business that will not come to an end, the tongue ceases to speak, when the hand ceases to work. and the brain ceases to plan; wedge in between them the enterprise that will outlive physical life, that will give grand returns after the preacher shall have uttered the words, "Dust to dust, earth to earth and ashes to ashes." Lay down founnations for future buildings, dig deep and wide, but let not anything stand between you and that building not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Blessed be God that there is one power that remains, which cannot be crushed by natural law or drowned by any flood and that the power of faith in God and of childlike trust in the Saviour. As the mind sings over the ruins of matter so the presence of Christ in us as the hope of glory makes us sing when absent from the body and present with the Lord. A gentleman tells us, that as he battled with the waves he heard sweet music, and then saw a young woman with a calm countenance, and she sang without any tremor in her sweet voice, "Jesus lover of my soul," &c. Before she sang it through, a huge wreck came upon her and the sweet ginger became silent. He says he never witnessed such moral courage as exhibited by this young Christian woman. In connection with this sudden termination of worldly industry, another truth flashes before our eyes, viz: the helplessness of worldly things. Busi ness capacity, wealth, influence, all fail. In the face of that flood of the 31st of May, all was swept away. Death treated all in an impartial manner, for all are equally feeble when 215 death comes as a flood, and carries all alike away in its mighty arms. III. THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF SORE TRIALS AND DEEP AFFLICTIONS. A sudden death makes peculiarly sad countenances, especially such a violent death as the thousands in the Conemaugh valley met with. How sudden a loved one became a fountain of grief. It needs an angel's tongue to describe the preciousness of earthly ties. What joy streams from them! what sunshine flows from them!— what strength they impart! Who can fathom the words, Father, Mother, Husband, Wife, Brother, Sister, Friend? And still in the light of this late disaster, we see how soon and how suddenly these earthly ties may be snapped asunder, and these endearing words be made to convey the blackest grief and deepest sorow. Is it a wonder that the reason of some has been dethroned? In the morning, father, mother and children are together, the house is cheerful, the sky is bright; but in the afternoon, the sound of the mighty torrent is heard, and it is the voice of a prophet proclaiming woe, suffering and death. Johnstown has been changed into Ramah. In the great struggle for life, the sublimest heroism, the purest love, the utmost selfdenial are exhibited. Babes are torn away from the fond embrace of mothers. Mr. Stephen Jones, the guard at the steel works, who now wanders about dazed and stunned with grief, gives an account of how he and his wife and two daughters were together on the floating roof of his househow he tried in the most desperate manner to save them; at last, by a mighty wave, they were separated, and the last words he heard were those of his little girl, "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will After this they be done on earth". sank in death. Shall I give more instances? No; these sudden deaths should teach us to be ready to part with our best friends. The loss caused by this catastrophe can never be told. Palatial residences, large business stores, great industries, commodious churches and public schools, humble dwelling places-all have been swept away with the flood. The earnings of years, priceless gifts, all are carried away. Ah! but this, though it runs into the many millions, is nothing compared with the value of one life. What noble men and women and children perished! The valley of the Conemaugh has become the second book of Lamentations. STANTLY PREPARED FOR DEATH. To many of them, sudden death was sudden glory. That young girl with that calm countenance, and that voice without the least trace of fear or tremor in it, who sang above the wild current, and the frenzied flow, "Jesus, lover of my soul, we may be ready to help, and if not able to help, we may sing, or cry out, "Not my will, but thine, be done." The way we die is not always a proof of our fitness for heaven, or of our unfituess, but the way we live is. Pilate lived in his palace, but Christ died on the accursed tree. We may not perish in the flame, as many in the town of Seattle did; we may not die in the flood and fire, as did the thousands in the Conemaugh valley, but preparation in life will enable us to cry out, "O death, where is thy sting?" V. THE PRESENCE OF A VAST AMOUNT OF SYMPATHY, GOOD WILL, AND WILLING NESS TO HELP. This world is not as bad as some IV. THE NECESSITY OF BEING CON- people would have us believe. The sympathy for the Johnstown sufferers is universal. Philadelphia leads, New York follows; all the cities, towns, villages and hamlets of the United States have responded grandly. The millionaire and the poorest touched shoulders as they gave their contributions to the suffering thousands. Two little girls came to our lecture room last Monday; one of them said, as she laid two cents on the table, "This is all I have, and she," pointing to the other little one, "has only one penny, but we give all we have to the Johnstown people." Another little one came with a little doll, and gave that. God bless them. "One touch of nature makes all the world akin." One of our good ministers preaching to the inmates of a prison, said, that the only difference between him and them was owing to the grace of God. Afterwards one of the prisoners sent for him, and asked him if he meant what he said. "You said you sympathized with us, and that only the help of God made the difference between you and us. Did you mean this?" Yes," said the preacher. The prisoner then said, Let me to thy bosom fly," &c., was self-possessed, because she possessed that religion which is profitable unto all things. Because of this calmness, men of piety have been wonderfully useful in times of peril. The late Dr. Norman McLeod and Dr. Watson were together on a journey in the west highlands of Scotlands. Dr. McLeod was a giant, physically as well as mentally, but Dr. Watson was physically very feeble. While crossing a lake in a boat, a furious storm came on, and the passengers became wild with fear, and demanded that the two eminent divines should pray. "Nay, nay," replied the boatman, "the little one can pray if he likes, but the big one better take an oar." Let us be ready in life, and then in time of great emergency 66 "I am here for life, but I can stay here more contentedly now, inasmuch as I know that I have a brother out in the world." That prisoner behaved so well that he was pardoned. Times like these that have come upon us make us all brothers. They shall wear our clothes, they shall eat our food, they shall sleep in our beds, they shall feel that we are brothers; yea, they shall feel that all is not lost. From beyond the sea comes the voice of help-from England, from France, from Germany, what an exhibition of humanity. Now I close; the waters are deep; let us sail over them by faith. The stream is dark; let us cross it in the light of God's word; the sky is overcast, let us look beyond, where the sun shines in all its glory, and the sky is clear and serene. I greatly prize the love of friendsHow much one's happiness depends On sympathizing hearts; And scarcely can the meanest die But some one heaves a bitter sigh 'Neath sorrow's piercing darts. But if when my frail form be dead, If in the regions of the blest Or if in splendid "casket" laid, J. D. MORGAN. A WELSH STANZA, Composed by the late Mr. HOWEL GRUFFYDD, Beddgelert, North Wales, on the occasion of the opening of the British School in that village in 1859, when the author was 75 years of age. Dr. Saunders, of Swansea, has frequently used it with great effect in one of his sermons on the 8th Psalm. "Pwy ddysgodd Syr Isaac mor uchel, Wrth reol ysgolion ei wlad?" |