AN AMERICAN DISASTER AND ITS LESSONS.
EVERY now and then the Press conveys the news of some startling event that is fitted to awaken reflection in the minds of Church and world, but seldom has there been reported a more terrible or pathetic disaster than that which took place at Boyertown, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the evening of the 13th January. The circumstances of the calamity appear to us of such a peculiar nature that we think they call for some special notice, and afford an opportunity of pressing home some solemn facts in regard to the unwholesome character of many modern Church activities.
The history of the present incident is briefly told as follows:—The children of a Lutheran Church at Boyertown had gathered, under the conduct of their parents and friends, in the Rhodes Opera House, with the purpose of witnessing a play, entitled, “The Scottish Reformation,” performed by a number of their fellow Sabbath school pupils. The second part of the play had just been reached, and a number of pictures were to be shown on a cinematograph, when a gas tank in connection with this machine in the rear of the building burst. This occurrence alarmed the people at the back, who rushed forward towards the stage, and in the excitement one of the children on the stage accidentally overturned one of the oil lamps used as footlights, and instantly the front of the stage went on fire. The scenes which followed were dreadful beyond description. A frenzy of fear took possession of the audience, and a terrible stampede was made for the doors, but the stairways got speedily choked, and numbers of women and children were literally crushed to death, while many people who remained behind in the auditorium were burnt by the flames from the burning stage. Police and firemen came to the rescue, but after all was done, it is stated that 167 persons—mostly women and children—were burned or trampled to death, while about 100 were injured, many of whom are not expected to live. It is reported that a number of those killed belonged to the most prominent families of the town. The town numbers about 2,500 inhabitants, and it is said that few families have escaped injury, while, in many cases, several members of one family have lost their lives. Truly, the disaster was a great one for this little community. God’s hand has been stretched out upon it in a way never-to-be-forgotten, and it would be well if the inhabitants thereof would learn wisdom in a manner and in a degree in which they have never learned it before. “The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.” The voice, we believe, is to other cities besides, and has lessons for the modern Churches, which they would do well to lay to heart.
The first thing that strikes us as remarkable in this painful story is the peculiar character of the performance at which these people were present—a stage play by Sabbath school pupils. Mr. Archibald Brown, of London, wrote some years ago about “The Devil’s Mission of Amusement” among the Churches, and truly Satan’s mission has been very successful indeed when the Church has become the patron of the theatre, and when Sabbath schools are devoted to the training of youthful actors. We defy anyone to prove that this is the way to instruct the young in the principles of Christianity. No; but it is the way to train them up in the shams and hypocrisies of an empty profession—more delusive than open ungodliness.
The second thing to be observed is hardly less astonishing than the first, namely, that the subject of the play was “The Scottish Reformation.” We can hardly imagine anything more incongruous. If ever there was an event which in its spirit and principles was opposed to the theatre root and branch, it was the Scottish Reformation. The work of our Reforming ancestors was no stage-play business, but most sober, serious, solemn work carried on in the light of eternity, and having in view the everlasting welfare of men’s souls. Truly, it has been left to the unsanctified ingenuity of our all-too-fast American friends to form a union between the stage and the Scottish Reformation. Though the Lutheran Reformation was not quite so thorough as the Scottish, it seems unworthy of the children of Luther, that man of truth and reality, to make a play of Reformation work. “The leaders of the people cause them to err,” and such performances will only bring forth evil fruit. The natural senses of young and old may be impressed for a short time: they may even imagine that they are more in sympathy than they were before with the spirit of the Reformers, when all the while the mind and heart are really untouched, and Satan is rejoicing behind the scenes how well he can befool and delude the professed followers of Christ.
A third thing that falls to be noticed is that when the terrible cry of fire got up, the stage-play Christianity and bravery soon showed its hollowness, and disappeared in smoke. We desire to touch tenderly upon this point, as we do not know how the most solid Christians might behave in such alarming circumstances, unless sustained by the special grace of God. But one thing we are sure of is, that a theatrical religion will do little for people when they are suddenly brought face to face with death and eternity. If they have nothing more than imitation Christianity, they will only show the depravity and cruelty of the human heart in all its selfishness. Nothing will change our natures but the saving grace of God, and nothing will preserve from the power of remaining indwelling sin, even in true believers, but the same grace. We are entirely ignorant of the meaning of true religion if the theatre or opera house is one of the places in which God has promised to keep the feet of His saints.
Since this disaster has happened in Boyertown the complaint is made that the Rhodes Opera House was faulty in construction, and that the exits were not sufficiently ample for the safe and rapid outflow of a large audience, especially in a state of panic. We trust that the terrible calamity has given rise, by the blessing of God, to more serious enquiries than this, enquiries as to the nature of the Christianity that provides for and enjoys such entertainments. But certain it is, that the godlessness which characterises so much the American continent stamps itself even upon their material handiworks. Everything must be done as cheaply and quickly as possible. Cheapness and taste are more valuable than worth and safety, while the pleasure-seeker shuts out as far as possible the very thought of danger, living, as he does, in a dream of unbroken happiness and success. Faulty construction is also alleged as the cause of a recent similar disaster at Barnsley, England, whereby thirteen children lost their lives.
It is our earnest prayer that this voice of God may awaken reflection and concern in the minds of many who mix religion and frivolity, and try to make the Church and world walk hand in hand. Let us solemnly be assured of this, that if our Christianity is only a counterfeit imitation, the end will be fire, and that not a temporary blaze which will burn only the body, but an everlasting flame that will torment both soul and body in hell, where “the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.” May the Lord in His infinite mercy awaken dead souls who are asleep on the brink of destruction to flee from the wrath to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one hiding place from the storm and covert from the tempest—the one Saviour of the lost!
The Golden Chain of Providence.—The golden chain of Providence is let down from the throne of the Supreme, through all the ranks of animated and of unanimated nature, guiding and governing every individual spirit, and every individual atom, by such means, and in such a manner, as best comport with the dignity, the efficacy, the wisdom, and the love of Him Who holds the chain, and Who has implicated every link.—Toplady.