RECENTLY the business section of the town of Telluride, in Colorado, was devastated by a flood. This town had the reputation of being one of the worst strongholds of vice in the country. The maintenance of gambling dens, saloons, and brothels, and all combinations of the three, for the purpose of mulcting the miners from the surrounding country, was its principal interest, according to correspondence published in the New Republic.
To one who believes in an overruling providence, such an event will appeal as being a striking confirmation of his faith. But we must not rest our faith on such foundations. It would be safe to say that places as bad go without signal visitations of any kind for year after year, while comparatively innocent communities are visited with terrible devastations.
God has too many things to consider for us to expect to comprehend all His purposes. Oftentimes it seems as though a free hand to wickedness were purposely given, only to show its true nature more clearly. And on the other hand, destruction visited upon a community may be just the stimulus to nobler endeavor that it needs. "All things work together for good to them that love God," and it is frequently demonstrated that the wicked are not benefited by even the greatest blessings.
Often the purpose of calamities seems to be dimly discernible; but generally, even then, it is well not to have confidence in surmisings, or judge things "before the time."
The attitude that Christ recommended is the one to take. Some of the Jews had been talking with Him about calamities, and speaking of eighteen men who had been killed in the collapse of a tower. He said: "Think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Luke 13: 4, 5.
Such happenings must warn us to be ready, however, and doubly so to-day, when, according to the prophecies of the Bible, the final day of reckoning for the whole world is just ahead.
