Death by J. Clarke

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 17, 1865

Death

By J. Clarke

Meets us in so many forms, and so frequently, that we become hardened; and as the war-worn soldier becomes accustomed to the scenes of battle and slaughter, so do we become accustomed to scenes of death and suffering. All around is decay, and only constant care and toil are able to renew and keep in repair the works of man; and nature itself, too, seems to languish. Not only does autumn bring blight and decay, but often we witness the destruction from unknown causes, of trees, plants, grain, and vegetables; and sometimes want and famine follow.

The damps of night sow the seeds of pestilence, and the sultry heat of noon distracts the head with pain. Summer brings its fevers, and winter its chills. Diseases lie in wait for the hardy mountaineer, and for the dweller in the valley; and coffins and shrouds are as much needed at sea as on the land. Miasmatic, pestilential odors, arise from the decaying substances upon the ground, in the deep valleys, and in the forest; and, flying upon the winds carry sickness and death; and dreadful plagues breed among the filthiest of our race, and then travel around the globe.

No more can we rely upon the purity of our food. The dweller in the city, gets perhaps even the cream for his coffee thickened with drugs and thinned with water; his beefsteak may have been cut from a carcass deceased with murrain; and his nice cut of bacon is probably perforated with scrofula. He knows not but sick wheat may have been mingled in the flour which composes his bread; and his nice potatoes may be just ready to turn into a mass of corruption. If he is sick, empirics stand ready to drug him with a thousand poisons, each with his own patent nostrum, for "only a dollar a bottle;" or the different "pathies," for from one to five dollars per visit, will hasten him with all medical decency to the tomb.

All the different mineral and vegetable poisons, so deleterious to the man in health, are good for him when sick if administered in professional style; and a certain class of men may use opium, arsenic, lobelia, mercurial preparations, and all the various poisons may enrich their list of remedies, and thousands of victims may fail, yet no law can touch them, even if they deserve the felon's fate.

Careless, drunken engineers and conductors, sea captains and pilots, do yearly hasten the death of thousands; and crafty distillers, to increase their gains, do make their alcoholic beverages ten times more poisonous than alcohol. The drunkard looks like a poisoned man; and the tobacco, so commonly used, does not abate the tide of death, but like a lulling opiate, puts men beyond the reach of argument, and accelerates their ruin.

Death is a curse upon our race. Thorns, weeds, and thistles, are a curse; yet by some strange fancy, some would try to make it out, that all these are a benefit. They are of use, just as the rod is of use in training the child; for purposes of chastisement, and to hold in check the pride of man, which would otherwise overrun all bounds. J. CLARKE.

Portage, Ohio.