New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-05-28

of dying, the balance, If any there be, 10
probably in our favor; yet, strange to say,
the entire terrors of death seem to be greater
in our time than in that of the great CLASH
this assertion, but scholars will hardly dis
pute it, The hest Of the ancients took .
negative view of death az the mere end of
life, the goal in the course Of nature; with
US it is life that dwindles into being the &C.
cident of our existence, the ante-chsnber of
1.-the doom we dread yet dwell upon" Les
sing held that in comparing the views en-
tertaineC by different ages or races con.
corning death, their art was safer guide
than their literature. Ancient art symbol
ICES death by emblems Of repose and insen-
sbility, modern art by a skeleton.
What is the nature of the moral terrors Of
death which must have increased in modern
sges7 The revolving associations of the
grave THAT might be softened by the adop-
ton Of cremation) may be included. CHRIS RI,
tian charity has done much to make the
domestic ties sacred and tender, 80 that we
shrink from dying and leaving those who
will grieve for US. But Christian charity is
not the only cause Of our 80 recOiling from
the separation.
1t might have been thought that the
Christian faith, BY declaring the parting not
to be final, would do as much to mitigate
it's pangs as Christian charity could to EN-.
bitter it; yet. in fact, both seem to combine
to embitter it. The pain Of the final parting
is partly due to the deep solemnity which
Christian sentiment attaches to death, SOL
emnity not unconnected with vague sense
of diemay ut the tremendous uncertainty as
to what our dying friends will see and feel
when their eyes are closed. A moderately
good pagan might hope to be moderately
happy hereafter: whereas moderately
good Protestant is tOttering between infinite
N
% Q mean. In short, there is reason to
think that it 10 the dread of something after
death which now makes towards of US alll
and that, St. Paul notwithstanding, Christ
ian mourners, as q rule, have sOrrOwed not
less than others who have no hope, but
more than others who have no fear.
Objections founded on the stories that
and heretics will, of course. be euggested.
The modern free-thinker, who has emanci
pated himself after years of thought and
effort from the impressions of those around
him and the beliefs Of bis youth, seldom,
especially at bis last hour, can utterly
shake those of; besides, it is most difficult
| tO0obtain' true account of q heretic's
death-bed. As in the case of V0ltaire, his
| enemies may evolve his remOrse out of their
own consciousness, or they may give flip
pant version of his courage and dist0rt it in
Q cynical caricature.
Cases of apathy or ostentatious indiffer-
ence in the hour and article of death are
| whether real CT neutrality-suspicious.
| numerous. There was the French Acade-
| micjsn, who announced his imminent de-
parture: II go-0r am going; the Academy
has not yet decided which," Augustus
| C2 sar, who sent for mirror and deliber-
stsly arranged his hair. asking if he was
not a good commedian; Buchanan, who,
forbidden to drink wine during his fatal
| illness. choee to expire theatrically. hold
| ing glaes and reciting verses of Proper
thus; or La Pompadour, who, after putting
on q silk dress and painting her face,
stopped her departing c0nfessor with her
dying words: ''Wait a moment; we will 60
hence together.
The glad tidings of orthodoxy are tidings
the most appalling that ever exercised q
great influence. Under no other system
has there been so intense and widespread q
| belief in future torments, themselves so in.
tense, general and prolonged. But it is not
necessary hence to deduce with the early
Urilitarians that the success of Christianity
| was one of the saddest events in history.
We may regard the belief in hell as having
embittered the fear OF death without
being iconoclasts. Through long usage
present 90 dependent on theological
dogmas that these dogmas may be re-
garded as the supports Of lame man that
must be removed very gradually indeed
The national morality stripped too suddenly
of it's bandages might fall. We should be
better off in many ways if We could put 9
speedy end to cur intellectual anarchy and
illogical compromises. Still. slowly and
uneraciously though it may be, divinee
ratify the changes which common sense
forces upon them. and they will act thus in
regard to the belief in he'll. Without any
cataclysm in the theological strata, but by
q gradual process of subsidence and up
heaval, change will come over those toe
consistent Purtans who through fear Of
death are all their life subject to bondage.
At the same time it is by NO means clear
that the modern fear of hell, however silly
and distractiDg, has, on the whole, beenin
furious. Christianity has made the human
race less imperfect through suffering. II
men at first became sadder, they became
also wiser, and showed their wisdom IN try
ing to Lessen sadness. Without an exagger
ated view of human depravity and misery
they might have lacked the stimulus for re
pentance and reformation. At any rate
having it, they repented and reformed in 9
way in which the pagans. not having tn
stimulus, did not repent and reform. Hence
may we rejoice that, instead of the pagan
Carpe Diem, Christianity has adopted d
her watchword Mcmeato Mori.