and superhuman force of it will suggest to many minds the
thought of an ordered punishment and warning for offenses against a
higher power.

Such a concept, happily more rarely held than in earlier times, is, of
course, revolting to sober judgment and to the instincts of religious
reverence. For it would imply that multitudes of the innocent should
suffer indescribable cruelty; it would attempt the impossible feat of
justifying the smiting of Dayton, where the inhabitants lived lives of
peaceful, helpful industry, and the sparing of communities where men
serve the gods of dishonest wealth and vicious idleness.

This was no vengeance decreed for human shortcomings. It was superhuman,
but not supernatural. It was but a manifestation of the unchangeable,
irresistible forces of nature, governed by physical laws which are
inexorable. Nature knows neither revenge nor pity. She does not select
her victims, nor does she turn aside to save the good who may be in her
path. As her concern is not with individuals, but with the race, so she
is moved not by mercy, but by law.

To the limited vision of man, with his brief life, nature seems
incredibly cruel and wasteful. Her teachings must be learned at fearful
cost. Men will ask themselves what lessons are taught by this
overwhelming sacrifice.

THE HELPLESSNESS OF MAN BEFORE NATURE

There is made plain, first, the utter powerlessness of man when he pits
his strength against the full demonstration of the laws of nature. It is
revealed, again, that there are forces which before all the might of
human intellect remain unconquerable. The same grim lesson confronts the
scientist whose babe is snatched from him by death; it confronts the
millionaire who feels the chill of age creeping upon the frame that has
upheld the finances of a nation and has made and unmade panics with the
crooking of a finger.

THE KINSHIP OF HUMANITY

But there flows from such a catastrophe a brighter and better influence
than this. With all its horror and shock, there comes inevitably a great
joining of minds and hearts. The whole world feels the thrill of kinship
and a common humanity. For the time being all conceptions of social
caste and class distinction, the most unworthy thoughts of beings
fashioned all in the image of their Maker, are leveled and forgotten.
Indifference and selfishness disappear. Throughout the nation,
throughout the world, there thrills the uplifting current of
brotherhood,