Adam Olive
Puritan Board Freshman
Hi
I am not thinking this is particularly likely but does anyone have a copy of this tract (a few pages) in an electronic or photo form?
I understand it exists in special collections at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the British Library, Cambridge University Library and the National Library of Scotland. It might not be published.
It relates to divine providence with regard to national disasters and the need for repentance. I have only the following partial quotes but cannot find the article in full.
I am not thinking this is particularly likely but does anyone have a copy of this tract (a few pages) in an electronic or photo form?
I understand it exists in special collections at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the British Library, Cambridge University Library and the National Library of Scotland. It might not be published.
It relates to divine providence with regard to national disasters and the need for repentance. I have only the following partial quotes but cannot find the article in full.
cholera, like every other pestilence, is a direct visitation from God
Some men will tell us confidently that cholera arises entirely from second causes. Bad drainage, bad water, want of cleanliness, want of sufficient food—all these are enough in the eyes of these men to explain the present visitation. But unfortunately for these people there was no drainage at all in former days! The streets of our great cities were dirty and unpaved! The water supply was miserably defective! The sanitary condition of the people was in every respect disgracefully bad. Yet in these days there was not cholera. No! it will not do. Second causes, no doubt, may help on cholera when cholera begins. But second causes will not account for its beginning. There is no standing ground for a man on this point, but the simple ground of the Bible. . . . It is the Lord’s hand
It should oblige us to remember that heaps of spiritual and moral filth are just as dangerous to a nation as heaps of material dirt. Oh! that God, by the cholera, may give Englishmen an eye to see and an ear to hear! … Once more God is speaking to us by His providence. Once more He is calling on us by His judgments, to repent of our national sins. I trust that He will not call in vain.
Insist on the utmost cleanliness in every part of your house from top to bottom. Wage war against bad smells and heaps of dirt, as you would against a poisonous serpent. Complain at once to the parish authorities if nuisances near you are not removed. Be very careful about your own eating and drinking, and the eating and drinking of all the members of your family. Forbid green apples, unripe plums, and cheap stale fish to come within your doors. . . . Have a bottle of simple cholera medicine always in the house.
Some men will tell us confidently that cholera arises entirely from second causes. Bad drainage, bad water, want of cleanliness, want of sufficient food—all these are enough in the eyes of these men to explain the present visitation. But unfortunately for these people there was no drainage at all in former days! The streets of our great cities were dirty and unpaved! The water supply was miserably defective! The sanitary condition of the people was in every respect disgracefully bad. Yet in these days there was not cholera. No! it will not do. Second causes, no doubt, may help on cholera when cholera begins. But second causes will not account for its beginning. There is no standing ground for a man on this point, but the simple ground of the Bible. . . . It is the Lord’s hand
It should oblige us to remember that heaps of spiritual and moral filth are just as dangerous to a nation as heaps of material dirt. Oh! that God, by the cholera, may give Englishmen an eye to see and an ear to hear! … Once more God is speaking to us by His providence. Once more He is calling on us by His judgments, to repent of our national sins. I trust that He will not call in vain.
Insist on the utmost cleanliness in every part of your house from top to bottom. Wage war against bad smells and heaps of dirt, as you would against a poisonous serpent. Complain at once to the parish authorities if nuisances near you are not removed. Be very careful about your own eating and drinking, and the eating and drinking of all the members of your family. Forbid green apples, unripe plums, and cheap stale fish to come within your doors. . . . Have a bottle of simple cholera medicine always in the house.
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