The Genius of the Mountain

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 20, 1908

The Genius of the Mountain

A Vision and a Sermon

[Under this title there appeared Nov. 3, 1906, in Town Talk, a weekly paper published in San Francisco, a rather remarkable article written by Theodore Bonnet, dealing with the experiences of San Francisco, in which, under the form of an allegory, the real meaning of the earthquake was clearly pointed out. The first part of the article gives the setting of the allegory, in which a “Young Man” is represented as leaving the city, depressed by his meditations concerning the disaster, and especially because the fair fame of San Francisco was being dimmed by the reports of crime and graft which were being disseminated throughout the country. Going to a mountain, he sat down and wept on account of these troubles. Then the “Benign Genius,” “much versed in the ways mysterious of an Inexplicable Providence,” came forward to interpret the lessons of the disaster.—Ed.]

“THEN the Benign Genius sat down by the side of the Young Man and communed with him. And he said unto him: ‘My son, thou shouldest not doubt the evidences thou hast received and art now receiving of the retribution that hath been visited on the city of thy birth. The inhabitants of that fair city were given to evil ways. For lo, these many days, a confederacy of evil has marshaled its forces in the highways.’”

“And the Young Man arose. He was much displeased, and he spake to the Benign Genius, saying: ‘Wouldest thou have me believe that the Lord hath done evil even unto his own servants; that he raised up evil against his own houses, his temples of worship, made for his greater glory?’”

“And the Benign Genius made reply and spake on this manner unto him: ‘Even the ministers of God fall from grace and are in need of chastening. In all that stricken city not one servant of the Lord possessed the courage of his convictions. By none were the people reminded that his writing is upon the wall, whether of the Indian or the porticoes of Greece. In no temple was it told that the Jews of old oft found themselves involved in retributive suffering for what even they, the anointed of the Lord, could not conceive to be serious delinquencies. Not once was it said from the altar that in all times there hath been scoffers at the great exemplifications of the connection of depravity with misery and ruin. I tell thee, my son, that there was no impertinent moralizing in the words of the Philistines. The Holy Book is filled with accounts of spectacles of admonition, of tales of extraordinary convulsions that made men reflect on the hereafter.’”

“And the Young Man wept; for the words of the Benign Genius seared his wounded heart.”

“And the Benign Genius said unto him: ‘When public villainy, too strong for justice, showeth his bold front, the harbinger of ruin is unmistakable; no need then to wait for heaven to dispatch messengers of light or comets to be interpreted by seers, or to wake the dead to warn men of their fall.’”

“And the young man groaned. And he pleaded in palliation of the ways of the stricken inhabitants, that they were uncertain of the character of their rulers.”

“And the Benign Genius frowned and made answer unto him, saying: ‘Thrice they selected from themselves depraved rulers. They shut their eyes to iniquity. My son, dost thou forget that the Mayor of that fair city sacrificed on the altar of his greed the fair name of a young woman that he might give pretext for the consummation of an infamous commerce?’”

“And the Young Man raised his hands in protestation.”

“‘Then,’ said the Benign Genius, ‘behold, the populace laughed at the young woman’s shame, and at the polls once more was the indecent ruler acclaimed. Listen! Why shouldest thou wonder at the ruin of churches? Were the temples not made desecrate even by the ministers of God, who entertained within the sacred walls at money-grabbing festivals that shameless ruler, and there commended him unto the esteem of their flocks?’”

“And once more the Young Man groaned, and pleaded that the ministers had been deceived by hypocrisy incarnate.”

“‘Say not so,’ said the Benign Genius, ‘they trafficked open-eyed with him by whom they were consumed, with the man that devised against them. They heard him proclaim from the housetops his allegiance to the King of Graftopotamia. They saw that king with the connivance of their ruler traffic with iniquity in the purlieus of the town, with keepers of brothels and with keepers of rumshops. I say unto thee that no man was deceived. The ruler of that once fair city paraded as his mentor, one whose stinking reputation sent its effluvia heavenward, stifling the angels above. My son, God is ever just. Oftentimes to the lambs whom he loves he gives by seeming to refuse, but more often his ways are less difficult of comprehension. He that blew the spirit of life into the nostrils of men deals with them as he sees fit; sometimes he is patient, but not always. Sometimes he rebukes with direful cosmic forces, sometimes by making men suffer what seemeth to be the natural consequences of their sins, as in the stricken city to-day where he doth seem to have strewn the path of justice with thorns and briers. I say unto thee that as he plagued Egypt, as he tormented all the congregations of Israel with his wrath, as he committed Jerusalem to the legions of Rome, so did he surrender the inhabitants of the city of your birth and of your love into the hands of Abraham King of Graftopotamia.’”

“‘But,’ pleaded the Young Man, ‘are the afflictions of the city of my birth, never to cease?’”

“And the Benign Genius made reply: ‘Not until the inhabitants thereof cease from their stubborn ways and harken unto the voice of God; not until they have paid the full penalty of their misdeeds. The wicked that are snared in the works of their own hands must come to know God by the judgment which he executeth. What signs of repentance have been given? As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so pants their souls still after wickedness. Even unto this day are men chosen to dispense justice that waver between deviltry and duty. The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. In the city of thy love at this hour are men that have been licensed to plead for justice. They are of one tribe called Lawyers. They affect concern for the altar of Justice, and tolerate within their midst one by whom their profession hath been exposed to the scorn of the righteous.’”

“And once more the Young Man wept, and the Benign Genius said unto him: ‘The mercy of the Lord endureth forever. Wilt thou therefore, now being wiser in thy thoughts, promise me that thou wilt go forth and strive to incline men’s hearts away from evil and unto the testimonies which have been vouchsafed them by the Author of their being?’”

“And the Young Man gave his promise, whereupon a shaft of dawn fell athwart the mountain top whence the Benign Genius had vanished.”