, 1877-04-15
IT WOULD NOT LIVE ALwAY"


The venerable Dr. MuH1KHBEBo. after ,
life of unostentaious charity and kindl,
deeds, has passed away, but has left behini
him hymn which gives not only the re
lig1ous but tho true philosophical view o,
death. It is the wel1-mown poem, "]
I would not live Away" and it breathes the
sentiment Of man who has formed the
noblest conception of life, and the most
complete recognition Of the kindly Offices Of
death.
The one thing that man least likes to do
is to die. The supreme object Of life is to
avert that necessity, although one man in the
millions of men is Of no more Importance to
the world and is no more missed than one
drop from the ocean. Take the one drop
away and still the great ocean rolls on. One
man drops out Of Life to-day. The Rreat
world goes on just the sans, and tomorrow
he is forgotten. Mankind recks as little of
his going as of his coming. Occasionally
some poor, sick soul, unuttezably tired Of
Life, to whom Nature will not bring the re-
lief of death, shufles off the mortal coil,
careless of the hereafter, and flies to the
unseen world rather than suffer longer
the miseries Of stale, fiat, unproft-
able" existence; but it is the rule
TINT men and women fear death, and waste
their puny existence in seeking to battle
A1RoPos, who always cuts the thread at the
appointed time. There are great souls like
GOETHE who can recognize the Fates in the
air weaving the web Of each human life and
severing its strands but most men regard
Death as an enemy, fighting him b1indly, as
If they could repel a foe that is not only On
the battlefield, in the whirlwind, the earth
qnake, the fire, and the epidemic, but also in
the drop of water, the breath Of air. the
perfume Of the flower, in the very atoms ve
tread under our feet; as universal as life
for every instant one is born another dies. II
and just as benefcent in its Offices.
Suppose, however, that mankind had ;ta |
wish. Suppose that men could keep on liv-
ing one, two, five, ten centuries. What a
burden life would become Suppose that
man could not die, what exquisite torture e..
lstence would prove! DR.. MuH1ENpxaos
hymn presents the religious view:
Wonld not live alway, thus fettered bv Sin.
emptataon without and corruption within:
N moment Of strength, II I sever the chain.
'casee The victory Is mine ere I'm captive again.
carry this thought to its Ultimate limitfrom
ne moral point Of view. The very worst
men at one period Of their lives have been
'ore aud Innocent They hive reached their
'ower to do harm, their elimination of
EepraV1ty, by gradual development. Sup
rose, then, that the vicious, growing worse
S they grow older, should keep on living to
he age..of the patriarchs or longer,-with
That kind of monsters would the world at |
ast be peopled? How would society be
egulated, except by universal hanging OF all
be aged-lf there we're any hangmen? Can |
here be any more horrible view OF life than .
mt in which the miser goes On developing
Is greed, the nncharitable growing colder ,
earted, the murderer increasing his thirst
Or blood, the tyrant devising new forms Of
ersecutlon, the mean, the selfish, and thu ! !;
Fuel growing more mean, selfish, and crnel y
5 the years increase? To what condition =
deprav1y would the criminal classes =;
egenerate? To what degree would thev :
'uitlply? From this point Of view death il :
erc1ful 1t purifies the world of vice. Bv +
le continual infusion Of fresh elements and =
'e removal OF corruption, the world ia saved =
ON decay, and perhaps the race from e. !,
nctlon. Under the operation of The con. -
ooal increase Of corruption and the h
sredtary transmission of vicious monstnos;. =,
, the race would sooner or later decay and ~
sappear, as forests hsve turned into =.
old. IL
From the philosophical point Of view. D,
am Is the natural outcome, the synmetri- tc
end, the harmonious purpose, of life. A r
"a 20 germlnates' and from it springs stem, 81
IN oud, blossom, and leaf. The stem re
'1es into the tree, and the acorn has be- b.
ne the oak, nourishing other vegetation m
its shade, sustaining other life in its Il