The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-06-12
EPIDEMIC OF SIN,
NJ ALL|sTER' TOPIC
Baptist Preacher Compares it to
Smallpox Epidemic-Is First
Of Series Of
Sermons.
WAS FoRcEFUL ADDRESS
Pastor Last Evening scathinsIy Ar
ralsns Sin Of Present Day
: Touched the Young
People.

Comparing the present epidemic OF
smallpox to the epidemic OF sin, Rev
F. B. McAllister, pastor Of the First
Baptist church, in forceful sermon
preached last evening, made scath.
ing arraignment ct the latter. The
subject was Have fou the Smallpox
Too?" 1t was the first OF series OF
sermons Rev. McAllister will preach
throughout the summer months on
present day conditions, under the gen.
eral title of "Forceful Sermons From
Foolish Questions" The complete ad-
dress, which touch on many points OF
pertinent interest to young people, is
given below:
Have You the Smallpox, Too7
We have all been alarmed, to, more
or less extent, by the epidemic that
has lately visited our city. l under
stand there are about sixty people
infected with disease that has raw
aged many a town to such an extent
that they have been compelled to
quarantine whole villages and cities.
Disease epidemics have been, in the
past, the curse of the human race.
Perhaps 1t has been the judgment
placed upon the Inhabitants because
OF their unsanitary methods Of living,
but these dreaded infections have
sometimes taken from whole CONT
nents one-third to one-half of the en-
tire population. War effects pri-
marily the men Of the nation, but an
epidemic strikes the innocent and
helpless as well, and too frequently,
entire families are wiped from the
earth or children are left without
father or mother. Even in our times
we have seen pictures of the ravages
of cholera in India, where men and
women died so fast they were COM
PEELED to burn them where they fell,
or construct huge pyre and burn
them by the scores. In Europe, when
the black death dealt such a fear
full blow, men and women died in the
streets so rapidly they could not ade-
quately handle the victims and many
OF them lay in the streets for days
before they could be removed by the
authorities.
- But. greater than these epidemics,
decidedly more far reaching in It's in
flueflce. is an epidemic that has
wrecked nations, ruined churches, de-
stroyed homes, and polluted individu-
ais. 1t RACES all the time, 1t never
abates. 1t has caused betrothed to
be untrue to their lovers, parents to
be unjust with their offspring, wives
unmindful and careless of their hus-
bands, and husbands at variance with
their wives. Suicide, crime, adultery,
lying, cheating, and stealing may
largely be attributed to it. It !, has
caused impure thoughts to find lodge
ment in the mind, vice and habit of
a baser nature to become rooted in
the heart. 1t has turned the highest
impulses to the most degrading ac-
tivities. 1t has caused city offices to
be aggrandized for the purpose Of
enriching some in control 1t has
caused the infamous cess pools of
humanity to flaunt in the highways,
and the more degraded to pander our
streets for trade, while Insignificant
pettifoggers hold these enticers virtu-
Gus verdants. This mighty power is
with us now, it is sin. We may gloss
over facts as much as We please,
deny as we want, but at every corner,