and flee from the wrath to come; and if such are penitent, we shall exert ourselves to save them, otherwise we cannot aid them, having enough to do to take care of ourselves, and to stop the plague from spreading more and more.
"Given this twentieth day of , 19—, by
This plague exceeded everything in its extent of destruction of human life that was ever known or heard of. Hundreds of thousands fell dead daily, which so horrified the balance of the orthodox and rebellious worldlings that they were anxious to become Naturalists, as they saw that very few of the latter died, and the few who did die with it were those who had only recently turned reformers, and whose bodies had not yet had time to be remodelled sufficiently to bear the brunt of so great a pestilence.
The dead bodies were ordered to be burned, and thousands who were lying on their death-beds were consumed by the burning of the various cities, which seemed a visitation too horrible to be anticipated; but what could be done beside this course?
Drug doctors fell dead in hundreds, and they seemed to know nothing about the disease; in fact, they do not, and never did, understand the true nature and causes of diseases, or they would not poison a person just because he had been ill through one or more violations of God's laws of health, thereby adding insult to injury. However, these hypothetical vipers dared, in past ages, to assume the attitude of the "Regular Standard" lights of healing of the sick, when every step in life's great battle proved them charlatans and stuck up and opinionated impostors!
If what is here asserted be not true, then are Jesus Christ and nature false doctors; but the fiat has gone forth, and these quacks have died and vanished by their own achievements; therefore peace to their ashes, but a warning to all generations to come!
