of them were mobbed, and narrowly escaped with their lives. In Paisley,
considered to be the most intelligent town in Scotland, a doctor, who
was working night and day for the relief of the sufferers, had his house
and shop sacked, and was obliged to fly for shelter, or his life would
have been sacrificed to the fury of the mob.

When we read that epidemics which broke out in the times of our
forefathers, were ascribed to such absurd causes as the introduction of
forks, or because the nation neglected to prosecute with sufficient
vigour alleged cases of compact with the devil, we wonder at and pity
their ignorance, and rejoice that we live in a more enlightened age. But
the fact is, that among the mass of the people there is really no great
difference between the present and the past. There is a close family
likeness in this matter of superstition between now and long ago, and
this state of matters will continue so long as a knowledge of physical
science--that science which treats of the laws by which God is pleased
to overrule and direct material things--is not made a religious duty.
There are physical sins and there are moral sins, and the punishment for
the first is apparently even more direct than for the second, for in
the case of physical sins we are punished without mercy. Through neglect
of these laws, we are continually suffering punishment, shortening and
making miserable our own lives and the lives of those dependent upon us;
and periodically judgments descend on the careless community, in the
form of severe epidemics. Any religion which advocates practices, or
teaches doctrines inconsistent with our physical, intellectual, or moral
well-being, cannot be from God, and _vice versa_; and this is a strong
argument in favour of Christianity _as taught by its Founder_. I wish I
could say the same of the Christianity taught by our ecclesiastics,
either Protestant or Catholic.