In some parts of Africa the natives are attacked with
“sleeping-sickness.” The first symptom is drowsiness, and the
following days and weeks drift past in sleep. The sleep grows
deeper and heavier until the sufferer has passed out into the
unknown, to the sleep that knows no waking.
Sleeping-sickness, in a moral sense, is a common disease in the
world. It is often as fatal to activity and character as the
dread plague of Africa is to the body. The temperature of the
heart falls, the soul sleep deepens, God is forgotten, Christ
forsaken. (Text.)
(1777)