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In keeping with a recent theme of exploring pastoral responses to epidemics centuries ago, which includes examples by men such as Ashbel Green, George Dodd Armstrong, Benjamin Morgan Palmer, E.D. McMaster, Francis J. Grimké, and William Marshall, we turn now to the story of Samuel Miller and his experience with the yellow fever in New York City.
In March 1798, from the nation’s capital (Philadelphia), U.S. President John Adams issued a proclamation declaring May 9th of that year to be a national day of “solemn humiliation, fasting and prayer.” An outbreak of the dreaded yellow fever had again struck Philadelphia, and New York City as well, and the need for fasting and prayer was widely recognized. On the appointed day, among those who delivered sermons was Ashbel Green in Philadelphia (Obedience to the Laws of God, the Sure and Indispensable Defence of Nations - not yet available to read at Log College Press) and Samuel Miller in New York (A Sermon Delivered May 9, 1798, Recommended by the President of the United States to be observed as a Day of General Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer). Miller affirms in his sermon that:
TO notice the dispensations of Providence, to examine their connexion, and to trace, as far as possible, their design, are among the most important duties of man. Through the medium of these dispensations God exhibits his own glories and our duty to us; and, of course, to neglect them is to incur the character and the guilt of those who do not regard his work, neither consider the operations of his hands.
Miller did indeed notice the events connected with the outbreak in his city as shown in the journal he wrote on his birthday later that year.
October 31, 1798. Never have I had more occasion to bless God for the return of my birth-day than now. I have just passed through the most awful scene of epidemic sickness and mortality that I ever witnessed. The Yellow Fever has been raging in the city for more than two months past. From the middle to the 25th of this month was the most mortal time. Though the city was deserted by, perhaps, two-thirds of its regular inhabitants, more than two thousand persons fell victim to the disease. I remained with a brother — a beloved brother — a practitioner of medicine — a bachelor as well as myself. We were both mercifully borne through the raging epidemic without any serious attack. Our housekeeper died of it, and I attended her funeral between midnight and day. To attempt to describe the scenes of mourning and horror which this epidemic presented — I dare it. The task transcends my power of expression. I preached every Sabbath; but only a few attended public worship; and I know not that any sensible — certainly no conspicuous — good was done (Samuel Miller, Jr., The Life of Samuel Miller, D.D. LL.D., Vol. 1, p. 118).
The following year, Miller was in a position to preach a sermon of thanksgiving: A Sermon, Delivered February 5, 1999; Recommended by the Clergy of the City of New-York, to be Observed as a Day of Thanksgiving, Humiliation, and Prayer, on Account of the Removal of a Malignant and Mortal Disease, Which Had Prevailed in the City Some Time Before. In this sermon, Miller called for joy at the relief New York had begun to experience as the horrors of the epidemic were abated to be tempered with trembling (Ps. 2:11). The voice of the rod had spoken, calling many to repentance, but now people were called upon to refrain from careless security, and forgetfulness of the awfulness of what had just transpired. They were called to give renewed appreciation and thankfulness to the mercy of God. Miller gave a detailed account of the number of deaths, including churches affected. Of the more than 2,000 fatalities which he noted, almost two hundred members from his own United Presbyterian Church alone were taken during the recent plague from August to November 1798. He notes the wisdom of many who left New York for safety.
It is pleasing to find, that the scruples which were formerly prevalent and strong, against flying from pestilence, are now entertained by few. There seems to be no good reason why those who consider it sinful to retire from a place under this calamity, should not have the same objection to flying from famine, from the ravages of fire, or from war, which are equally judgments of God. And yet those who reprobate the former, never think of condemning the latter. In fact, if it be criminal to retire from a city in which the plague rages, it must be equally criminal to send for a Physician, or to take medicines in any sickness; for they are both using means to avert danger to which the Providence of God has exposed us [Jer. 21:6-9]. It is hoped, therefore, if Providence should call us to sustain a similar stroke of affliction in future, there will be a more general agreement than ever, in the propriety of immediate removal; and that all will escape without delay, who are not bound to the scene of danger, by special and indispensible ties. Had all the inhabitants of New-York remained in the city, during the late epidemic, probably four or five times the present number, on the lowest computation, would have been added to the list of its victims. As every diseased individual or family adds force to the malignity of the atmosphere, it appears that the most benevolent principles conspire with the selfish, in prescribing immediate and general flight.
Miller’s son notes in his biography:
The city had, in 1798, somewhere about fifty thousand inhabitants. At least half of these fled from the scene of pestilence. Of the twenty-five thousand left, more than two thousand were swept into the grave between the 1st of August and the 10th of November. From the two Collegiate churches one hundred and eighty-six persons died, and Mr. Miller was himself twice slightly affected with the disease.
As Miller concluded his message, he called for his hearers to make good use of the affliction sent by God in His providence:
I cannot, however, dismiss the subject, without seriously asking, each individual in this audience, how they have profited by the solemn dispensation of Providence which they have lately passed through? Brethren, have you been led by this affliction to consider your ways; or has it left you more hardened? Have you been brought by it to repentance, love, and new obedience; or has it made you more secure, careless, and deaf to the voice of heaven? Have you come out of the furnace purified and refined; or more full of dross and corruption than before? Did none of you make vows and resolutions in the day of adversity? And are these vows remembered and fulfilled, or disregarded and forgotten? Have you turned from your evil way, and put away the accursed thing from the midst of you; or is all that guilt which drew down the judgments of God, still resting in its dreadful weight upon you? My hearers, these are not vain questions, they are even your life. Let me entreat you to answer them without partiality and without evasion; for they will be speedily asked before a tribunal where all things will be naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
When I look round this populous city, which was, a few weeks since, clothed in mourning, and contemplate the criminal dissipation, and the various forms of wickedness, which have so soon taken the place of those gloomy scenes, I am constrained, with anxious dread, to ask — Shall not God be avenged on such a people as this? Shall he not send greater judgments, and yet greater, in an awful succession, until we either be made to hear his voice, or be utterly consumed before him? Do not hastily imagine, from this strain of address, that because we have been lately afflicted, it would be my wish to see every innocent amusement discarded, and the gloom and sadness of the pestilential season, still remaining upon every face. By no means. To lighten the cares, and to dispel the sorrows of life, indulging in occasional and innocent amusements is at once our privilege and our duty. But do we see no other than innocent amusements prevailing around us? Are the lewdness, the blasphemy, the gaming, the unprincipled speculation, the contempt of Christian duties, and the violation of the Christian Sabbath, so mournfully prevalent in our city and land — are these innocent? Then were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah innocent. Then are the impious orgies of infernal spirits harmless in the sight of God.
Upon each of us, then, as individuals, there is a task incumbent — the task of personal reformation and personal holiness. If it be true that one sinner destroyeth much good; it is equally true, that the fervent prayer, and the exemplary virtue of a righteous man avail much. Remember that if there had been ten righteous persons in Sodom, God would have spared the city for their sake. On the same principle, be assured, that every righteous person in a community adds to its security, and renders it less probable that Jehovah will visit it with consuming judgment. Let those who are strangers to religion, therefore, be entreated, if they regard their own welfare or that of their country, to return to God with penitence and love through Jesus Christ, and to walk before him in newness of life. Sinners! every hour that you continue impenitent, you not only endanger your own souls, but you add to the guilt of the community of which you are members. Awake from your fatal dream! Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation! To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. And let the people of God be persuaded, in these solemn times, to grow more watchful, diligent and holy. Christians! You are the salt of the earth. The importance of your example and of your prayers is beyond calculation. If there be any who have an interest at the throne of grace, and who are encouraged to repair to it with an humble boldness, it is YOU. If there be any who are under special obligation to rouse from their lethargy, and to profit by the late awful dispensation, it is YOU. Let the present season, then, form a new era in your spiritual life. Be sober and watch unto prayer. Sigh and mourn for all the abominations that are done in the land. For Zion’s sake do not be quiet, until the righteousness go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
It was several decades later that Miller’s sermons on The Duty, the Benefits, and the Proper Method of Religious Fasting (1831) were published. They contain his mature thought on the duty to join prayer and fasting, with repentance, especially in times of public calamity. These sermons have been reprinted by various publishers over the years, and they continue to testify to a duty to which God’s people are called in their proper season (see the Westminster Larger Catechism #108 on the duties required by the second commandment). According to Miller, Christians and indeed all human beings, have a duty to give heed to the voice of God in his providential mercies and afflictions, and to answer that call appropriately, by repentance, fasting, thankfulness and renewed personal reformation and holiness. The experience and teaching of Samuel Miller has great value today in the midst of such providential dealings of the Lord in the United States and the world. Read Miller’s writings on these matters both on his page, and in the biography written of him by his son, Samuel Miller, Jr.
HT: Ryan Bever
