A STRONG ENEMY by C. M. S.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 10, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 15.

A STRONG ENEMY.

By C. M. S.

On every hand is accumulating evidence of the fact that the wages of sin is death. Thru sin death came into the world in all its varied forms. There are multitudes of immediate causes; but the cause of all causes is sin. The continual breaking of God's law gave us a broken character, a broken constitution; and upon this broken constitution earth's myriad maladies are able to prey at will.

In years gone by, an occasional plague would sweep over a country, or leave a windrow of its dead around the world, having found in some unsanitary locality a favorable breeding ground; but the great, dreaded malady of to-day is local to almost all parts of the world, and other diseases which had been dominant only in certain localities are fast taking root and making for themselves homes everywhere—planting their seeds as it were for a great future harvest.

The prevalence of consumption in Great Britain has aroused the government of England to the thought that something must be done to restrict the ravages of this omnipresent plague. The statistics of the English isles have startled the world on account of the great proportion of deaths from consumption. The State of New York recently took action looking to the establishment of a consumptive hospital in the high Adirondacks. The city of Boston finds that the number of deaths from this disease within its borders for the past year is 1,236. In view of this fact, the city health board has taken action directing that physicians shall report all cases of consumption as they would cases of smallpox, and disinfection of the premises must be performed after the removal or death of the patient. Circulars have been distributed giving information in regard to how to prevent the spread of the disease, what precautions the patients themselves should take, etc.

California has been considering the feasibility of having a State quarantine against consumptive patients, as the mild climate of this State has induced many such sufferers to locate within its borders in the hope of gaining relief; and the number of these has become so great as to be an actual menace to the inhabitants of the State. The city board of health of Oakland has advised the board of education to employ no teachers known to be afflicted with tuberculosis. In 1899 the surgeon-general of the army was authorized to establish a general hospital at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, for the treatment of officers and soldiers suffering from consumption.

At the present time the State of New York is considering the proposition of entirely remodeling the famous State prison at Sing Sing, as its somber interior seems particularly adapted to the increase of tuberculosis. Its cells are small and low, get no sunlight, and often have more than one occupant, and in their damp, fetid atmosphere the bacilli of this malady thrive without hindrance. So prevalent has the disease become that wherever companies of people are gathered together, as in the army, the hospitals, and the prisons, its victims are bound to multiply. There are two reasons for this: more people have it, and the human system is less able to withstand its ravages than formerly. The germ may be taken into a healthy body and no ill effects follow; but a weakened constitution is a standing invitation to it, and there are more of these standing invitations than we imagine, and they are growing more numerous all the while.

Insanity is increasing rapidly; the statistics in regard to hydrophobia indicate that this malady also is increasing. This last, taken in connection with the phenomenal increase of tuberculosis in cattle, shows that even the animal kingdom is deteriorating in its disease-resisting powers. The bubonic plague is spreading with a slow, dogged persistence, and other maladies are showing the same tendency. Students of the medical profession are doing their utmost to combat this strenuous enemy, but little is accomplished. If the present rapid increase of disease should continue, the whole race would be sick before many years. The continual breaking out of the bubonic plague in unexpected places shows how a persistent malady can baffle quarantine laws when fertile soil is provided for its spread and growth.

All this is the fruit of sin. It is working out its weakening process in all parts of the earth. Amid the groups of the dying and the anguish of the sick, the fearful work of Satan is speeding to its end in the earth; and that end will come in the midst of the most terrible diseases. That work of sin is making fertile soil of the human family for the “noisome and grievous” sores that shall fall upon both man and beast when the angels of God are pouring out the vials of His wrath in the earth. See Rev. 16. When that work of God is in progress, He reminds His children to watch, and to be ready for His coming (verse 15). It will be a sign to the faithful that their King is at the door. It is blessed to know that even this strong enemy can not triumph over the people of God in that time. The pestilence of those days will not be able to fasten itself upon them; for “He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. . . . Thou shalt not be afraid . . . for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” Ps. 91. The one who would stand in that day must put away sin, and flee for safety to the arms of the Almighty. It is time to do this now; for the Judge standeth at the door.

C. M. S.