The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1865-07-29
THE USES OF PAIN.

Pain is a sentinel that warns us of danger.
| And, therefore it stands upon the outposts OF
the citadel the body for pain is keenest,
the surgeons knife is felt keenest on the sur
| face. Now, be it granted, that pain does us
| some harm, but saves us froG worse harm. II
| fire did not pain us it might burn US up. 1t
cold did not pain us, it might freeze US to
death. If disease did not pain US we might
die before we knew that we were sick Ii
| contacts, Of all sorts, with surrounding OBJ
jects- tie woodmsns axe, carpenters saw,
the farmers barrow--dd not hurt US they
might cut and tear us all to pieces. Think OF
it. A knife held by a careless hand approaches
US, it touches the skin We start back
Why Because there is pain But for this it
might have entered the BODY and cut some
vital organ. An OLD Greek verse says: "The
gods sell US the blessings they bestoW." These
are the best terms for Us. They make rs care
ful and prudent. Unconditional giving might
lead to reckless squandering Pain, then, is
q teacher of prudence, OF self-oare. Nay, and
if happiness alone we're considered, it might
be argued that an occasional bitter drop gives
a zest to the cup of enjoyment; as hunger
does to the feast, or sharp cold to the winters
But in moral relations the argume 1t is still
stronger,
Here is human aouI clothed with body
to be trained to virtue, 10 self command, to
spiritual strength and nobleness. Would per-
petual ease aud pleasure, "A perpetual luxury
of sensation best do that2 We know that it
would no.. Every wise and thoughtful man,
at least, knows that same psiu, some sickness,
some rebuke of the senses is good for bim.-
Such man often feels, in long continued
states of ease and comfort, that some should
come to try, to discipline, to enure and en-
noble his nature. He is afraid of uninter-
rupted enjoyment Pain, patiently and nobly
ensured, peculiarly strengthens and spirits
ualizes the soul. Heinrich Heine says: "Only
the man who has known bodily suffering is
truly man" The Hottest states of minds
and, compared with mere sensual indulgence,
the happiest are those of courageous endur-
ancf, and..t martyr is often happier than the
voluptuary. Cicero says, speaking of the sac
rifice of Regulns, and after speaking Of his
happy fortunes--he had carried on great
wars, and had been twice consul, had tri-
umphal honors decreed to hiin-"Nothing
was so great as his death ;''when to fulfil his
word be went back to Carthage to suffer all
that could be inflicted on him. ITO US hear
ing of it, says Cice o, cit is sad; to him suf
fe1ipg it, u was ajoy; it was pleasure )" srat
voInptarious "For," added be, "not the light
and gay in their jolliy, nor their wantonness,
nor their laughter nor jestiug -companicns
of misunderstanding the serious and resolved
in their endurance and coustaney are happy"
This is the general statement to be made with
regard TO pain. 1t is general, indeed, and
does not propose to cover every case.
But now, it may be asked, could not the
same end be gained, the same nobleness, the
same constancy have been achieved without
paiu Which rs, think, as if one should
ASK, whether the wood could have been cut
INFO shape without tbs axe, or the marble
without the chisel, or the gold purified with
ol the furnace But LIT US answer ; and we
say not ia any way that we can conceive of.
1t may have been absolutely inevitable in the
nature of things that frame sensitive to
pleasure should be liable to pain. This may
he the explanation of that long continued and
severe pain which presents the hardest prob
lem In our physical life. With such causes
for going, such train OF Influences, mental
moral or physical. as produced this terrible
suffering, it may have bsen impossible, with.
out Il miracle, to prevent it. Ordinarily in
deal, sueh pam is not long continued. 1t
destroys life, or life destroys it. 81 grauis,
6revis; 81 longus, levis, ''if severe, brief; if
long, light" is the old adage, and it is true
But if it fai and the terrible case OF protract.
ed anguish is before US, we may be obliged to
ieaFc ~ uhuoi soiHo BreaL law VI Tue human
constitution which makes prevention impos
sibe may be told that such pain does no
G od that it breaks down the mind and body
together; and, therefore, that it cannot, in
any way, be useful. But we do no. know
that In the great cycle o, eternity all may
come right. How much happier the sufferer
may De forever for this present pain, we know
not, All experience, all known analogies,
ia or Tue idea of that immense remuneration