1889 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

Hard! well, what of that?Didst fancy life one summer holiday,With lessons none to learn, and naught but play?Go--get thee to thy task! Conquer or die!It must be learned; learn it then, patiently.--Sel.====================R1123 : page 3CALAMITIES--WHY PERMITTED."EXCEPT YE REPENT,YE SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH.""There were present at that season some who told him of theGalilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that theseGalilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because theysuffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, yeshall all likewise perish."Or, those eighteen, upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, andslew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men thatdwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, yeshall all likewise perish."--Luke 13:1-5.Noble and good in the sight of both God and man are thegenerous impulses, of charity and sympathy, awakened by greatcalamities in recent years. And when this is said, it leaves littlemore of good to be said favorable to calamities or theirinfluence.While these charities should not be misconstrued to signify thatGod's consecrated saints are rapidly multiplying--for many ofthe charitable are not the consecrated, and some are eveninfidels,--yet they are an evidence that at least some of theoriginal God-likeness of our race remains; that it has not beenwholly obliterated by the degradation of the fall, nor whollypoisoned by the bad theology of the dark ages. While we live inperhaps as selfish and money-loving a period as any known tohistory, yet millions of dollars are generously poured forth to aidsuffering humanity. And yet many who in times of calamitousdistress show that they have a tender spot, somewhere, in theirhearts, would and do at other times lend time and brain and skillto the arts of war, and in designing the most horrible implementsof warfare; and on occasions when bitter passions are arousedwould relentlessly and pitilessly slaughter a thousand times asmany as the accidents of nature. Yet, for all this showing of thetwo elements in the same men, we rejoiceR1124 : page 3