The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-21
DEATH LOSING IT'S TERRORs.
The Great Change which Has Taken
Place in the View of Death.

Place In the view of Death.
From the Fortnighuy Review.
Death as a motive is moribund Per
haps the most distinctive note of The mod
ern spirit Is the practical disappearance OF
the thought of death as an influence d.
rectly bearing upon practical life. We in
sure our lives, # is true but having done
SO, thank no more of the matter. except
in the spirit of William Mcawber when
he signed a promissory note. There are
no skeletons at our feasts nowadays or
at worst, they are living ones. Death has
lost its terrors, and II is often regarded
as the last and best friend
one Of the main causes Of this remark
able change in sentiment is the improve
ment In modern sanitation and hygiene
and the increased average duration of life.
In the Middle Ages nothing was so un-
certain as life Duets and private wars.
feuds and bandits. plagues and pestilences,
made men uncertain Of ther lives from
hour to hour. When mems position in NE
depended upon the strength of their right
arm, they ceased TO be effective when they
became stale as athletes. Thus OLD
age began for men early in the forties
The average age was younger yet deaih
came more frequently, so that his visits
were The more and more unwelcome.
When any day might be ones last, IL was
natural to be always thinking what came
after death. Nowadays death comes
later. with more warnings Of his approach,
and takes us less by surprise we are
more willing TO so, less eager TO stay.
That increase In the average age of men
has wider results than would appear at
first sight The forties in man ne
are the decade of dislluslon, and a so
ciety in which the tone Is mainly given
10y men of forty and upwards Is sure 70
be practical and pessimistic. NOW the
tendency of modern life Is to put power
into mems hands mainly after they have
reached tile age of 40. Mr.. cation
has noticed in his Hereditary Genius, that
men do not get into the biographical dc
tlonarles tin after the age OF forty. IL
Is only in the present generation thar the
cumulative effect of the increased age
of the men Of influence has had time 10
show Itself and the result has been what
rs known as the fin de steele tone. Part
OF this tone Is characterized by the dying
of death. More and more death tends to
remove the Oldest and the gaps IL causes
seem more natural ana normal. Otten,
too medical science protracts life at the
cost of extra suffering, so that death
comes at last more as a release, and
frequently causes more relief than griet
to those who remain.
Thus on all sides death is losing its ter
rors. We are dying more frequently when
our Ife's work Is done, and 1t seems
more natural to die. We live so hurriedly
tnat the Hl1dl ctdSlnB 10 ne ~ EtANiAb "
be regarded as the summum bonum. The
faVorfte text on tombs Is getting TO be
God giVeth his beloved sleep" The
sentiment expressed on Prof. Huxleys
tombstone, 1T is well even II the sleep
be endless" expresses a general feeling.
Life Is becoming so complicated that any
one man seems less important and signir-
cant In this life, so IL is harder to imagine
him having any more significant function
In any other And when the joys and
fears Of a future life become dim, death
as motive disappears.
1t Is not as If any marked revolution OF
feeling with regard to continued life in
the future existed; that remains the great
Perhaps 1t always was. What people think
about it, when they do think about It.
depends on their temperament. But the
point / am making U.s. that they do not
think about 1t at all; and the whole
subject is ceasing to have practical effect
on the life of man.
There are signs of this everywhere. The
increasing popularity of cremation is one
of them. Stll more significant Is the dis
appearance of hell from popular theology.
THAT is all very Well" said the Scotch
Calvinlst, when he heard Dean Stanley,
but gle me my hell" But few will be
found to re-echo his cry. And with the
disappearance of hell the dvergences Of
the various creeds lose much Of their Sig
nihcance; and so we have federation,
which 50 often wears the garb of indif-
ference.
The most significant of all. however, is
! the attitude of the church In all Its
! branches. The old idea of the clergymen
was of the man who prepared us for an
other life. This is being gradually changed
to q conception of him as a charity re-
generator Facts of corporal charity are
taking precedence of the sacraments.
Other-wordiness Is giving way to worldli-
ness Of another sort. Al the root Of half
the socialism Of the day Is the thought
that this life is the only one with which
men have practically to do. While heav-
en- and hell could act as compromising
| balances the inequalities of mems lives
| could be regarded with something APP
preaching equanimity II would all be
| made right ia another world. But now
thi sthought fails ia efticacy,a and as a con-
sequence we are socialists now.
What further effect the dying of death
may have upon the tone OF civilization
would be hazardous to predict. Generally
speaking. the loss of belief Ia personal
Immortality may influence the character
In Two opposite directions. Either there
will be a clutching after the goods of this
world for oneself, and feverish activity
OF enjoyment of them: or, with the higher
and better mind, there Will be increased
social activity and a striving 10 make
things better all round. There are signs
Of both tendencies In contemporary life.
The spread Of the decadent spirit makes
one form Of the tendency. The wide in
terest In social schemes and regeneration
may be regarded as a move IN the other
direction. How far either OF these Is con-
scously based upon what ! call the dying
Of death, or may be traced TO other in
duences rs "A question not easy OF decls-
ion.