Page 22 - PT-Spring-2021

Gary Clayton

The light at the end

of the tunnel

‘It was a most surprising thing, to see those streets, which were usually so thronged, now grown
desolate, and so few people to be seen in them’ (Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year).

lthough COVID-19 is caused by a virus, saddened by the Prime Minister’s 2020 Christmas Message, Photo Credit: istockphoto.com/MarioGuti
and the plague Defoe wrote about was when, in a moment of apparent hubris, Boris Johnson
Acaused by bacteria, both caused (or are referred to ‘the deeper meaning of Christmas’.
‘It’s about hope,’ he said, ‘It’s about a basic idea of
causing) the deaths of extremely large numbers rebirth and renewal.’
of people. But rather than talking about the hope brought about
It is thought that while some 50 million souls by Jesus’ birth, Boris spoke of the ‘hope’ resulting from
perished in Europe because of the 14th century ‘the efforts of wise men and wise women in the east and
Black Death, the recent coronavirus outbreak – elsewhere, that we have a vaccine. And we know we are
according to the World Health Organisation – has going to succeed in beating coronavirus.’
The Magi or wise men of the Christmas story would
caused a reported 2,875,672 deaths worldwide. appear to have been replaced with the scientists seeking to
(Figure as of 8 April 2021.) produce an effective vaccine to combat COVID.
th
The implication of Boris Johnson’s speech seemed more
The UK Office for National Statistics indicate that about asking the UK to ‘follow the science’ than to seek
although 530,841 people died in England and Wales of the star that leads to the Saviour. Science would appear to
various causes in 2019, a far larger total of some 697,000 have become the new religion, with SAGE (the Scientific
people perished in England and Wales in 2020. Advisory Group for Emergencies) its wise men, prophets
And although today’s pandemic is clearly different from and priests.
the Antonine Plague (165-180 AD), the Plague of Justinian It’s even beginning to feel as if everything we’re asked to
(541-542), the Black Death (1346-1353) and the 1665-1666 do – whether it’s lockdown, social distancing, handwashing,
Great Plague of London that Daniel Defoe wrote about in wearing masks or working from home – we’re being told to
1722, it is nevertheless a plague in the dictionary sense of do in the name of the NHS.
a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent Towards the end of his message, the Prime Minister
and devastating. also spoke about ‘glad tidings of great joy’. But this again
had nothing to do with the Incarnation, but a 1,246-page
A seasonal message of ‘hope’? Brexit trade document ‘for anyone who may be looking
The situation is clearly serious, which is why – like a for something to read in that sleepy post-Christmas
number of friends from church – I was both shocked and lunch moment’!

22 The Plain Truth Spring 2021 Find us online at www.plain-truth.org.uk