Rev. Dr. Colfelt, pastor of Oxford Presbyterian Church, touching on the Galveston disaster in his sermon on “Repentance,” said:—
“The changes are so quick and excessive in our mortal life that none of us know what to-morrow will bring forth. Not one of us knows whether our money will be a blessing or a curse, separating us from our good work. Christ declares that disasters are not to be interpreted as judgments, but they are simply personal. The object in every instance of disaster and calamities is to bring us fast to repentance.”
The ministers in nearly all of the churches referred to the Galveston calamity in their sermons. At the close special collections were taken.
MAKES THE WHOLE WORLD KIN.
Galveston’s great calamity was the central thought in many sermons preached in Chicago, and in a majority of the churches a collection was taken for the benefit of the sufferers. Some of the expressions were as follows:
The Rev. William A. Burch (South Park Avenue Methodist Church)—“Such catastrophes reveal the worst and the best. There was mutilation of the sacred dead. But so on every battlefield a glittering diamond on the finger or in the ear excites the passions of men. But look at the better side. A cry for help went up and the nation was moved. Responses started with tens of thousands of dollars, and will run into hundreds of thousands. Human sympathy has mightily grown.”
The Rev. Charles Reynolds (North Congregational Church, Fifty-ninth and La Salle streets)—“We have heard the news of the terrible calamity, also heard of the depravity of the human ghouls who pounced upon the dead for robbery, and how they were shot down like dogs. The whole has been like a terrible nightmare. Then we must look for a bright side. We rejoice at the noble gifts made by the people of the United States, especially Chicago. The lesson of the terrible catastrophe is that we at all times must be prepared to meet our God. We are facing death, which may come at any moment, like it did upon those poor souls in Galveston.”
The Rev. Samuel Fallows (St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Adams street and Winchester avenue)—“From breaking hearts we must say, ‘Father in heaven, all is well, though faith and form are sundered in the night of fear.’ The lesson of selfhelp which this calamity teaches will not be lost. God intended man to conquer nature, to bind its forces, to ride triumphantly on its seemingly resistless energies. Galveston must not be blotted out. It must rise to newness of life. Like our own Chicago, it must be rebuilt on a higher level. It must rear its structures so that the angriest waves shall not dash them to pieces. Another lesson of American pluck and energy will thus be learned by mankind.”
MISFORTUNES MAKE US ONE.
The Rev. Frank DeWitt Talmage (Jefferson Park Presbyterian Church)—“We know not why this misfortune happened. Only eternity can solve for us the mystery, but we can learn two or three lessons that may be of help to us. God has made of one blood all nations. The misfortunes of mankind make us one, and when we hear the call we can hear Christ say, ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto Me.’”