IS IT PROVIDENCE?

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 4, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 27.

IS IT PROVIDENCE?

THE following from Our Dumb Animals is pertinent at this time: "A Western religious society, according to the Springfield Republican, adopted recently a joyful resolution to the effect that 'a wise Providence, through the incidents of war, has opened vast fields for the advancement of Christianity.' This was passed at a time when fifty car-loads of beer left the same part of the West to be shipped to the Philippines. The Republican is of the opinion that the beer train is only the prelude to a grand and impressive advance of New England rum and Kentucky whisky—for which a wise Providence through the incidents of war must likewise be regarded as responsible."

"How many of the Indians who once owned this continent have we ever converted to join our Protestant churches, in proportion to the number we have killed by bullets, and the vices we have carried among them?"

Better the sad sentiment ascribed to the Iron Chancellor, Bismarck: "How many have I made unhappy? But for me three great wars would not have been fought, 80,000 men would not have perished."