The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-01-16


and "a bahbled of green fields" but
whether of those in the Twenty-third
Pslam or those of his childhood does
not matter; Shakespeare saw that ii
was fit to put him amid the hallowed
associations of early years, and make
them call out a cry of Nature after
God. This instructive tendency to speak
religiously--as did Soerates--as death
approaches, sheds light on a dispute
now going on as to the nature of man.
Is he the creature Of his environment
and does he share In it's fate of finite
ness? or does he belong to q divine and
eternal order of which religion is the
exponent? The natural experience of
man I'm this crisis leans heavily to the
latter view, because death Is so en-
tirely a natural event; and 1t is in the
region of Nature that we to-day look
for confirming testimony.
1t has long been called the honest
hour. What a man says at that time
he believes. What he feels Is sincere.
The mists of time and circumstance
are swept away and all things stand
out as they are. The entire man comes
to himself, and he cannot be kept
from expression. The fioodgates of ten
derness open, and nature pours itself
out in all it's fullness. Grudges are for
gotten; no lie passes the lips. He re-
turns to the genuine type of human
ity. He passes Judgment on himself,
condemns the evil he has done. and
Graves nothing but forgiveness. He
makes great decisions and achieves
final conquests. He puts himself on
the side of all that Is pure and good.
with no proviso or haIf-heartedness;
and when at last he goes hence, he is
at peace with God and man and with
himself also, for he has come back
TO primal relations that were meant to
be eternal.
Now, it is a great thing that one can
thus return to the starting point, and
re-establish the integrity of his nature
and take up again its broken ideals.
1t is easy to say that it were better if
II had been done earlier, and easy also
to sneer at this time-enforced expert
ence, but the sneer Is shallow. as most
sneers are. Look at IL more calmly.
What is truer than that there come to
men hours of Extraordinarily they
cannot tell; great experiences also that
open men to the bottom of their souls,
and they look down into each other to
find hidden man-unsuspected but
real? The moment passes, but, as
flash of lightning at. night shows the
entire landscape, the man is first and
forever revealed. Then life and the
custom of the world fold around him
and he becomes once more what ne had
been; yet not the same, for the divine
ness of his nature has been disclosed.
1t Is then also that. as by instinct, he
asserts a personal God and a spiritual
universe two things that make life
explicable as he looks back, and possl-
BILE as he looks forward.
The rite of extreme junction Is not a
careless custom. and is a superstition
only as II is suffered to become one. 1t
is administered on the ground that the
first and main question of the priest
is answered: do you die at peace
with God and MANI" Then the assur-
ance of safe entrance into eternity can
be granted; and what better passport
could be given? Thus, in a way, one
is oriental and brought into harmony
with both worlds. The rite means that
a rational and immortal being comes
into accord with all other beings. Thus
the unity of creation Is preserved, and
man becomes harmonious factor in
a divine system.
Montaigne-skeptic as he was-called
for the last rites of the church, and
having risen as the Host was lifted up,
fell back upon his pillow dead He
was not making sure of heaven but
as a clear-sighted man brought to still
clearer vision by having reached the
end and summit of life he confessed
that the proper way to leave the world
was by acknowledgment of the su-
preme truths. No priest nor holy oil
is needed to attest or perfect the act
Death itself prescribes the duty. and
by its augustness inspires its fulfil
ment. The soul itself points the way.
and tells what is to be done and UNI
done, and so strives to dress itself in
its most seemly robes as il goes hence
'Too late" does any one say? 1t
will be time to say that when Ii is
proved that nature fools a man when
he is most himself and in his sorest
strait. But we are not contending for
the safety of II, but only that in the
most honest hour of life man instic-
lively bears witness to the fact that
he is akin to the infinite and eternal:
that the divine spark never goes out,
or If 1t finally does go out, It burns
brightest at the end.
The entire sanity of the Bible upon
this subject is significant. The mar
rative of Christ's life begins with a
few legendary words on his birth, but
grows minute on his approach to
death, when every word is set down
with careful accuracy. 1t does not
matter where or when Christ was
born, but what he said and did at the
last is OF infinite moment, because he
then most fully revealed himself One
half of his words could better be
spared than two sentences spoken
upon the cross: Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they
do" and Father, into thy hands l
commend my spirit" one the SUI
premest hight human love ever reach
ed the other all that can be said or
known of destiny, but it is enough.
1t marks an idle and a blind age
and the oncoming of a degenerate one
when men lose that august sense of
time and death that all men feel when
left TO the primal simplicity of their
nature. We do not to-day treat a great
fact fairly. We brave 1t with mock