A Solemn Appeal

DERANGEMENTS OBSERVABLE IN MANKIND

“Everywhere we see deformity and disease. In almost every land, ‘the pestilence walketh in darkness, and destruction wasteth at noonday.’ Our cities are studded with asylums and infirmaries for the sick, the lame, the halt, and the blind. In every household there are evidences of suffering and sorrow; we can not walk abroad but the heart is pained at the sight of the pale cheek, the sunken eye, the deformed body, the tottering gait, the enfeebled and exhausted men, women, and children, of this enlightened age; yes, enlightened in all things save in regard to the noblest work of God, mankind. SOAP 81.2

“The cities of the dead outnumber far the cities of the living; emblems of mourning and sadness are met on every hand; death is constantly claiming its victims amongst the young and the middle-aged as well as the old. Babes die by thousands before they are born, and one fifth of those born alive are laid away in their tiny graves before they reach the age of seven.” SOAP 81.3