IS DEATH PAINFUL?

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9007, 21 January 1895, Page 4

IS DEATH PAINFUL?

Many people, through fear, of death (writes the Rev. J3. J. Hardy, M.A., in the Sunday Magazine) are all their lives subject to bondage. The questions—How shall we die t When shall wtf die ? and Where shall we die ? are continually worrying thems Indeed, there have, been several suioide. caused by this haunting terror of death Tbe thought of it made. their lives insupportable, and they killed themselves in order to know the worst. -And yet it is quite poassjble that in respect to the Ehysical sensation of dying we resemble ton Quixote-when he hubg by his wrist from,the stable,window and Imagined that a tremendous abyss yawned beneath his feet. Fate-, in the /character of Maritornes, cats tbe thong with lightsome laughter, and the gallant gentleman falls four iuobes. When Louis XtV, lay dying—« Why weep you.?" he asked those whasurrounded his deathbed. " Did yoa think 1 should live for ever?" Then*, after a pause', "I thought' dying had been harder." Dr. .Hunter/ was another who was, agreeably surprised- by his experience of dying.. His last words were, " If I had strength to hold a pen, I would write down how easy and -pleasant a thing it is to. die." - A charming actress wbo.bad been twice almost drowned told a friend that, dying was the' nicest sensation that she knew. The late ArchbUhop of as hit, befell, quietly remarked* "It it really nothing much after aIL"

. A man. said'io Sacra teV" The. Athaai. ' ~ have condemno'l you to death. ,, . ♦Vα*} ' nature," he replied, "has condemnedtwl\ By the ancient Greeks, dnath wae cowLuti , " simply as a destroyer. To them it JS"' .- last und most bitter of foes. Achillea ' Hades says to Odysseus, "Nay, speak nlS ' comfortably to mc of death. Rather V I live upon the eanh the hireliae *V'another thau bear sway over all the d*»* >* thtiiare no more." When death ie bkw <- it is so, as a general rule, far more by reiZ ;of anxiety and remoiee than from phy»ta} * causes. A man, for instance, can ecarceh! die easily if he is leaving a widow «3 family for whom proviaiou has not )!? made. The medical man who atteo<S 4 Oliver Goldsmith in his last hour aakedW ■ if there was anything on his mind, Mh# could not accouut for his temperature beta* - so high. The poet admitted that fcherl* was. Debt was upon his mind. To sot&a it is riches,.and not poverty, that rehto.' death painfnl. When Garriek showed to '* Dr. Johnson hi 3 palatial residence, the ' latter said, ■ " Ah, David,, these are thethings that make death terrible." - J 1 John Wesley was once asked by a )e4»-~*>i "Suppose you knew that you were todk" at 12 o'clock -to-morrow night, how would, you spend the intervening time V •' Ho*" - madam V he replied ; " why, just aa I fo!/ tend to spend it.now. I should preaoh thk ;'; night at Gloucester, and again at five to. i morrow morning. After that I should t\ifo ''i to Tewkesbury, preach in the afternoon, and meet the societies in the evening, J : should then repair to friend Martin's house. " who expects to entertain mc, couverae an<L v ~ pray with the family as usual, retire to my bed at 10 o'clock, commend myself to qw heavenly Father, lie down to rest, and wake ' lip in glory." This was thb feeling which enabled the American General, Stonewall Jackaon, to die as he did. When told that he had onl« , about two hours to live he euid, ''Very ' good ;it is all right. Order A. P. Hill to prepare for action. Pass the infantry to the ■ front rapidly. Tell Major Hawkee—.,» : " Presently a smile of iueff&ble sweetness/; spread itself over Ills pale face, and he said* quietly, and with au expression of relief "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees."