FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THE DISEASE. 117 



previous to that. We know it only in its progressive 

 character, and we might even possibly have it ten times 

 more numerous next year, and it might destroy to a ten- 

 fold greater extent our usual sources of food. Should this 

 nation of destroyers appear next year much earlier than it 

 has heretofore, it may produce the most disastrous results 

 by killing all the most serviceable kinds of human food. 



(463.) Upon the whole, let us buoy ourselves up with 

 the hope that the plague has reached its utmost limit, that 

 it may speedily cease, and that its effects are merely tran- 

 sitory. Let the husbandman be of good cheer, and remem- 

 ber, that if nature deviates for a time from its wonted 

 relations, it always returns to its normal condition, and 

 ultimately maintains the proper balance of animated beings. 

 Let all people remember the promise in Malachi, " that 

 God will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall 

 not destroy the fruits of your ground." 



