Apprehension of General Pestilence
CURRENT OPINION says: "Europe has been, from a sanitary point of view, polluted. The statement is made in one form or another by almost every medical journal abroad. The danger of epidemic disease is described by an expert in the London Times as 'very actual,' and the precautions which can be taken to provide safeguards against the menace are necessarily restricted by the prevalence of a general war." Pestilence is one of the almost certain accompaniments of great slaughter. Hundreds of thousands of bodies have but a shallow covering of earth in the great war theaters of both eastern and western Europe. August and the first part of September, unless unusual precautions can be taken, are liable to result in as great disasters from pestilence as have attended the war itself. This pestilence, if it comes, will bring as much suffering and death to the civilian population as to the army, and possibly more. What a terrible thing this war is! Yet it is not Armageddon. How earnestly should every true-hearted Christian on earth breathe the prayer, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." His coming is the only hope that can be offered in this world.