Foot and Mouth Crisis in
2001
When England experienced a major outbreak of foot and
mouth disease in 1865, the Suffolk vicar J. C. Ryle (later Bishop of Liverpool)
drew attention to a factor which most of his contemporaries had overlooked.
The Egyptians in the time of Moses acknowledged ‘the finger of God'
in their plagues. Ryle called Englishmen to consider their national disaster
in the same light. His address here reprinted, establishes the principle
that national calamities might be the judgements of God and examines the
causes of such a chastisement. Readers may judge for themselves how far his
words apply to more recent outbreaks.
Ryle examines the crisis in relation to specific
‘national sins'. Some of the details of his tract are now obviously
dated, but the author's religious and moral points are as relevant as ever.
To Ryle's list of national sins we could add: widespread divorce, Illegitimate
births, drugs, homosexuality, abortion, multi-faith apostasy and ‘new
age' idolatry.
It needs to be understood that God's punishment is
national, not personal. If a farmer's animals contracted the disease, it
does not prove that he was wicked. Jesus told the people of his day about
"the eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think
they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you,
no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Luke 134,5
Jesus redirected their eyes away from relative guilt to personal action.
In this fallen world the righteous suffer and groan along with all creation;
and the wicked seem to prosper - at least for a while. An arrogant, God-defying
farmer once wrote to his local newspaper. "This year I ploughed my fields
on Sunday, harrowed and drilled the seed on Sunday, I sprayed on Sunday and
reaped a record harvest on Sunday." Under his letter the editor had added,
"God does not always settle his accounts in October."
Ryle saw the just hand of God in the tragedy and that
God's chastisement should points us to the need for national repentance.
He also speaks words of comfort in declaring the only antidote to despair
- the healing providence and saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. Sadly,
when Prime Minister Blair was asked about calling the nation to a day of
prayer he said that he did not think that the situation merited it. (April
2001). i.e. The UK Government did not need God's help to tackle this problem.
And even Archbishop George Carey in his Easter 2001 sermon said, "Some have
talked of our recent trials and tribulations as the judgement of God. I resist
that notion." Using the excuse of time and expense, Mr Blair repeatedly refused
the demand for a full public enquiry. Too much incompetence and too many
mistakes were made. Like when man first sinned; Adam and Eve refused to admit
their fault and repent. Adam preferred to blame Eve, and God who put Eve
in the garden with him! and Eve blamed the serpent. Neither escaped their
just punishment.
What does God have to do to cause this nation to wake
up?
Now (Nov 2005) the disease has long past. Has our national
indifference caused God's gracious warning to vanish into the mists of time?
I fear he will send other and greater disasters. That is what the Lord did
in the days of Amos the prophet. Israel failed to learn the lesson which
God had repeatedly taught. He sent poor harvests, drought, blight, plagues,
war and disaster. Five times he repeated Yet you have not returned to me,"
says the Lord. ... Therefore ... prepare to meet your God, O Israel. Amos
46-13
Will we follow in the same tragic path and ignore God's
clear warnings?
The Finger of
God
by J. C. Ryle, MA
Look at the words which form the title of this booklet, and consider them
well. They were spoken by heathen men more than three thousand years ago.
They fell from the lips of Egyptian magicians when one of the famous plagues
came on the land of Egypt. "Then the magicians said unto Pharoah, This
is the finger of God." (Exodus 8:19). It would be well if all Englishmen
were as wise as these Egyptians!
There is an evil among us that demands our serious attention. It forces itself
on our notice, whether we like it or not. It has seized the nation by the
throat, and will have a hearing. That evil is THE FOOT AND MOUTH EPIDEMIC.
It is a heavy calamity. Myriads of cattle have already died. Myriads more
seem likely to die. The loss of national wealth, and the injury of private
interests are something fearful to contemplate. It is as bad as if gold and
silver were snatched from us and thrown into the sea. A vast amount of property
is clean gone and cannot be restored.
It is a wide-spread calamity. There is hardly a county in England which is
not suffering. There is not a family which will not sooner or later suffer.
The meat on the rich man's table, and the cheese in the cottage, the milk
and butter which form so large a portion of our food, all will be affected
by it. It will reach every home, and come home to all.
It is a perplexing calamity. No medicines, or remedies, or modes of treatment,
appear to have any effect on the disease. After all the discoveries of science,
after all that has been written by learned doctors, the skill of man is
completely baffled. Even our statesmen and rulers seem at their wits' end.
With all the accumulated wisdom of the nineteenth century, we have found
no foe that entirely beats us. The curse of helplessness seems upon the land.
Now I wish to speak of the cattle plague as a minister of Christ. I wish
to draw attention to one or two things which, amidst the anxieties of the
crisis now upon us, appear likely to be forgotten. Let members of Parliament
view the cattle plague from the political side. Let physicians and men of
science propound their theories of prevention and cure. I only ask leave
to offer a few thoughts on the whole subject as a believer of the Bible,
and as a Christian.
1. Whence does the cattle plague come?
I answer, unhesitatingly, that it comes from God. He who orders all things
in heaven and earth, - He by whose wise providence everything is directed,
and without whom nothing can happen, - He it is who has sent this scourge
upon us. It is the finger of God.
I shall not spend time in proving this point. I refer any one who asks for
proof to the whole tenor of God's Word. I ask him to mark how God is always
spoken of as the governor and manager of all things here below, from the
very least to the greatest.
Who sent the flood on the world in the days of Noah (Genesis 6:17)? It was
God. Who sent the famine in the days of Joseph (Genesis 41:25)? It was God.
Who sent the plague on Egypt, and specially the murrain on the cattle (Exodus
7:5; 9:3)? It was God. Who sent disease on the Philistines, when the ark
was among them (1 Samuel 5:7; 6:3-7)? It was God. Who sent the pestilence
in the days of David (2 Samuel 24:15)? It was God. Who sent the famine in
the days of Elisha (2 Kings 8:1)? It was God. Who sent the stormy wind and
tempest in the days of Jonah (Jonah 1:4)? It was God!
I count it mere waste of time to dwell much on this point. I cannot understand
how any one can be called a believer of the Bible who denies God's providence
over this world. For my own part, I believe thoroughly that God has not changed.
I believe that He is governing all things on earth as much now as He was
in the Old Testament days. I believe that wars, famines, pestilences, cattle
plagues, are all His instruments for carrying on the government of this world.
And therefore when I see a scourge like the cattle plague I have no doubt
as to the hand that sends it. "Shall there be evil in a city, and the
Lord hath not done it?" (Amos 3:6). It is the finger of God.
Can any one give a better account of the cattle plague? If he can, let him
speak out like a man, and tell us why it has come. To say that it originated
in another land, that it is not a new but an old disease, that it has done
great harm in days gone by, - all this is evading the question. I ask to
be told why it has come upon us now? How and in what way can the outbreak
be accounted for at this particular period? What possible causes can be assigned
for it that have not existed for hundreds of years? I believe these questions
cannot be answered. I believe that the only cause that we must come to as
last is, the finger of God.
Does any one regard my assertion as absurd and unreasonable? I have no doubt
that many do so. Many, I suspect, think that God never interferes with the
affairs of this world, and that pestilences and cattle plagues are only the
result of certain natural laws which are always producing certain effects.
I pity the man who thinks so. Is he an atheist? Does he believe that this
wonderfully designed world came together by chance, and had no creator? If
so, he is a very credulous person. But if he does believe that God made the
world, where, I ask, is the absurdity of believing that God governs the world?
If he allows that God framed the universe, why not allow that God manages
it? Away with this modern scepticism! It is offensive and revolting to common
sense. They are not to be heard who would shut out the Creator from His own
creation. He who made the world at the beginning by the finger of creating
wisdom, will never cease to govern the world by the finger of His providence,
until Christ comes again. This cattle plague is the finger of God.
Does any one pretend to say that God is too loving to send us such a scourge
as this, and that it is wrong to suppose that anything evil can come from
Him? I pity the man who can argue in that way. - Has he children? Does he
never correct them? If a wise and sensible man, I have no doubt that he does.
- But does he hate them because he chastises them? Does he not show the highest
love by checking them when they do wrong? And shall not our Father in heaven
do the same? Yes: indeed! God does not hate us: He is a God of mercy and
love, and therefore He keeps up His providential government of mankind. There
is love even in this fell scourge which is now upon us. The cattle plague
is the finger of a wise and loving God.
2. Why has the cattle plague come upon us?
I answer that question without hesitation. It has come upon us because of
our national sins. God has a controversy with England, because of many things
among us which are displeasing in His sight. He would fain awaken us to a
sense of our iniquities. This cattle plague is a message from heaven.
The sins of individual men and women are often not reckoned for while they
live; but this is because there is a judgement day yet to come. In that day,
"every one of us shall give account of himself to God." (Romans
14:12) For nations there can be no future judgement day. The sins of nations
are reckoned for in time. Special sins and corruptions in a nation call for
special chastisements. I believe that this cattle plague is a special national
chastisement on England, because of our special national sins.
The teaching of the Bible on this point is to my mind plain, distinct and
unmistakable. Let any one who doubts it read what God says about Babylon,
Tyre, Egypt, Damascus, Moab, Edom, Ammon and Nineveh (Isaiah 13:1; 15:1;
17:1; 19:1; Jeremiah 46:2; 48:1; 49:1-7 ;50:1; Nahum 3:1). Let him read such
texts as these, -
"The eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful nation, and I will destroy
it from off the face of the earth." (Amos 9: 8)
"He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: He enlargeth the nations,
and straighteneth them again." (Job 12:23; 34:29)
Let them study such chapters as Daniel 4 and 5. Surely, if a man believes
the Bible, these passages should set him thinking. The God of the Bible is
still the same. - He never changes.
Does any one ask what the special national sins of England are? I will mention
some which appear to my eyes to stand out prominently in this country at
the present time. I may be quite wrong. I only give my judgement as one who
looks on attentively, and marks the signs of the times.
(1) The first national sin I will name is covetousness. The excessive love
of money,and the desire to be rich in this world, are what I mean. Never,
surely, was there such a race for riches as at the present day. To make money
and die rich seems to be thought the highest virtue, and the greatest wisdom.
Yet God has said "Covetousness is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5) and
"The love of money is the root of all evil." (1 Timothy 6:10)
(2) The second national sin I will name is luxury and love of pleasure. Never,
surely, was there a time when people ran so greedily after excitement, amusement
and gratification of their senses. The many are "lovers of pleasure more
than lovers of God." (2 Timothy 3:4)
(3) The third national sin I will name is neglect of the Lord's Day. That
blessed day is rapidly becoming in many quarters the day for visiting and
pleasure, and not the day of God. Yet Sabbath desecration was specially one
of the sins which brought down God's judgements on the Jews: "My sabbaths
they have greatly polluted." (Ezekiel 20:13; Nehemiah 13:18)
(4) The fourth national sin I will name is drunkenness. The quantity of
intoxicating drink needlessly consumed every year in England is something
frightful. The number of public houses, gin palaces and beer shops, in our
large towns, is a standing proof that we are an intemperate people. There
are more people, every Sunday night, in some London parishes, in gin shops
than there are in churches and chapels. We are worse in this respect that
either France or Italy. Yet God has said, "No drunkard shall inherit
the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:10)
(5) The fifth national sin I will name is contempt of the seventh commandment:
"Thou shalt not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14) In town and in
country among rich and among poor, the tone of feeling about purity among
the young, is at the lowest ebb. Yet God has said, "Let no man deceive
you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God."
(Ephesians 5:6)
(6) The sixth national sin I will name is a growing tendency to look favourably
on the Roman Catholic Church. The very Church which burned our martyrs three
hundred years ago, withheld the Bible from our people, trampled on our liberties,
and to this very day puts the Virgin Mary practically in the place of Christ,
is favoured and trifled with by thousands! A judicial blindness seems to
be coming over us. The line between toleration and favour appears clean blotted
out. The great desire of many is to 'go back to Egypt.'
(7) The last national sin I will name is the growing disposition to scepticism
and infidelity. Little by little, men in high places are ceasing to honour
God. Year after year the Bible is more openly impugned, and its authority
impaired. To believe the Bible was once a mark of a Christian. In the present
day an English divine dares to call himself a Christian, and yet boasts that
he thinks much of the Bible is not true. Nothing, I am thoroughly persuaded,
is so offensive to God as to dishonour His written Word.
I believe firmly that these things are crying to God against England. They
are an offence against the King of kings, for which He is punishing us at
this very day. And the rod He is using is the cattle plague. The finger of
God, I believe, is pointing at our seven great national sins.
To say that we are not so bad as some nations, and that the sins I have named
are far more abundant in other countries than in England, is no argument
at all. We have had more privileges than other countries, and therefore God
may justly expect more at our hands. "For unto whomsoever much is given,
of them shall much be required." (Luke12:48) "You only have I known
of all the inhabitants of the earth, therefore will I punish you for your
iniquities." (Amos 3:2)
I might easily enlarge on the points that I have mentioned. I purposely abstain
from doing so. I am anxious to make this booklet as short as possible. To
effect this, I content myself with supplying little more than seeds of thought,
which I hope may spring up and bear fruit in many minds. It only remains
to offer a few practical conclusions.
3. What does the cattle plague summon every
one to do?
In answering that question, the reader will distinctly understand that I
only write as a Christian minister. Let politicians make the best laws they
can to meet the present emergency. Let medical men use every possible means
to arrest the disease, and patiently try every remedy. Let practical
agriculturists neglect nothing that may be available to prevent contagion,
to diminish the liability to infection, and to 'stamp out' the plague when
it arises. But my standpoint is that of the Bible. In the light of that book
I raise my concluding question. What shall we all do?
For one thing, let us all consider our ways. It is an age of hurry, bustle,
restlessness and fast living. Railways and telegraphs keep everyone in a
state of unhealthy excitement. Now surely it would be well, when the hand
of God is stretched out against us, if we were all to sit down and think
a little. Are we not all over England living too fast? Would it not be well
if there was more Bible reading, more Sunday keeping, more calm quiet effort
to serve God and honour Him? Happy is that man, and happy is that nation,
that begins to think!
For another thing, let us all humble ourselves before God, and acknowledge
His hand. Alas, we are a proud, self-conceited nation! We are apt to think
that we English people are the wisest, and greatest, and richest, and bravest
people in the world. We are sadly blind to our many faults and sins. Surely
when God's hand is so plainly stretched out against us, it is high time to
give up this boastful spirit. If there is anything that God hates, it is
pride.
It is written: "Pride do I hate" (Proverbs 8:13) "Pride goeth
before destruction." (Proverbs 16:18) "I am against thee, O thou
most proud" (Jeremiah 50:31) "This was the iniquity of Sodom, pride
and fulness of bread,and abundance of idleness" (Ezekiel 16:49) "Those
that walk in pride He is able to abase" (Daniel 4:37) "He that exalteth
himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
(Matthew 23:12)
For another thing, let us each individually endeavour to break off our own
besetting sins, and to amend our ways. It is easy work to find fault with
the Government, and to blame others when we are in trouble. The better course
is to look within at ourselves, and try to do our own part to make things
better. The sins of a nation are made up of the sins of a great number of
individuals. Now, if every individual tries to amend his own life, and to
do better, the whole nation will soon improve. The city is soon clean when
every man sweeps opposite his own door.
For another thing, let us each use any influence we have to check sin in
others. The power that parents, masters, mistresses and employers have in
this respect is very great. If all such would exert themselves to check Sabbath
breaking, excess of dress, idleness, drunkenness and breaches of the seventh
commandment, it would be an immense gain to the general condition of the
nation. Influence over others, we must never forget, is a talent for which
we must one day give account. There are thousands of parents and employers,
I fear, who completely bury this talent in the ground. They allow those under
them to run into sin and, like Eli, never reprove them. It is written: "His
sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not." (1 Samuel 3:13)
For another thing, let us each lay ourselves out more heartily to do some
good in the world. It is a melancholy fact, that the increase of alms giving
in England of late bears no proportion whatever to the increase of wealth.
The trade and commerce of the country have probably doubled within the last
twenty-five years. Yet the incomes of most of our large religious societies
are almost at a stand still. If English people will not remember that their
gold and silver is only a loan from God, and intended to be used for Him,
they cannot be surprised if God reminds them of it by such visitations as
the cattle plague. The hand that gives a nation wealth is the hand that can
take it away.
Last of all, but not least, let us each resolve to offer special prayer to
God for the removal of the judgement now upon us. Whatever else we do, let
us pray. The Word of God encourages us to it: "In everything by prayer
and supplication let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians
4:6) "Is any afflicted, let him pray" (James 5:13) "If I send
pestilence among my people; if my people, which are called by my name, shall
humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked
ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will
heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:13-14).
The presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven at God's right hand invites
us to it. He that died for sinners on the cross is sitting there to be the
sinners' Advocate and Friend. He can be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, and knows the trials of our earthly condition. The examples
of Scripture warrant us. The men of Nineveh humbled themselves, and cried
mightily to God, and God heard their cry: "Shall I not spare Nineveh
that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot
discern between their right hand and their left; and also MUCH CATTLE."
(Jonah 4:11) The character of God Himself makes it folly not to pray: "He
does not afflict willingly." (Lamentations 3:33) He is the Lord God,
"merciful and gracious, showing mercy unto thousands." (Exodus 34:6).
"'Call upon me,' He says, 'in the time of trouble, and I will deliver
thee'" (Psalm 50:15).
Then LET US PRAY.
PRAYER
Almighty God, who orderest all things in heaven and earth, and in whose hand
is the life of man and beast, have pity on us miserable sinners, who are
now visited with great sickness and mortality among our cattle. We have nothing
to say for ourselves. We humbly confess that we deserve Thy chastisement,
because of our many national sins. - But spare us, good Lord, according to
Thy many mercies. Deal not with us according to our sins. Withdraw from us
this grievous plague, and restore health to our cattle. Above all, stir up
amongst us true repentance, and increase true religion in the land. We ask
all in the name and through the mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom,
with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory.
Amen.
