"The ancient idea that God sends epidemics and pestilences as punishment for the sins of His people has been widely proclaimed in the Christian pulpit. To the Almighty has been attributed direct responsibility for the frequent plagues which have scourged Christendom. ...during an epidemic of malignant cholera, Dr. Gardiner Spring, pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church of New York City, said: "This fatal scourge is the hand of God... It points us to the provoking cause of God's displeasure, and calls upon us to bow in penitential confession before his throne.... The judgment we deplore has aimed its vengeance at three prominent abominations—Sabbath-breaking, intemperance, and debauchery." Throughout many centuries the Christian church failed to recognize the contradiction between the God of vengeance which it worshiped and the God of love proclaimed by Jesus."