The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-11

one sort or any other, eleven showed
mental apprehension, two positive ter
rOr, one expressed spiritual exaltation
one bitter remOrse. The great major
ity gave no sign one way or the other:
like their birth. their death was a
sleep and forgetting The preacher
was right; in his manner man hath no
pre-eminenCe over the beast-'as the
one dieth, so dieth the other beast"
The American yesterday submitted
the above quotation from DR.. Osler's
latest book, "Counsels and Ideals" to
Or. ). I. Armstrong, uperintendent of
Bellevue hospital, and Rev. DR.. George
+. Van de Water, rector of St An
drew's Episcopal church Each. in his
professional capacity. has had wide
experience in administering to the dy-
ing, and their comments are interest
ing
DR.. Van de Water had already read
the passage from Dr. Osler's book. and
he admitted that he was shocked at
the first reading.
But If you will read il over two or
three times" he said, and study the
lines, it becomes apparent that Dr.
Osler is speaking only in the physical
sense. And, physically speaking, I be-
lieve that the majority Of persons are
unconscious. at best, when they pass
away. I should say that this was the
very best Of reasons why mankind
should be prepared for death before
hand.
But, on the other hand, we do hear
frequently Of deathbed conversions.
and in my own experience I have seen
dying persons, absolutely conscious of
the approaching end, rebuke those
about them for their grief These
deaths were beautiful i'm the lofty spir-
ituality of the sufferers. They were
calm. tTustful. confident and realized
to the fullest extent the joys of a
Christian death"
I'm these cases." it was suggested.
"the dying persons had been prepared
for death by religious training"
Certainly" he replied. And on the
other hand. I have been present at the
deathbed of those who had not been
so prepared and witnessed the most
terrifying expressions of fear due to
the realization Of sin.
But at the same time 1 agree with
DR.. Osler in the physical sense that
in the majority Of cases the dying per-
sons have been unconscious and so
passed away, as Solomon long ago ex-
pressed it, like the beasts of the field. -
Have you ever heard of deathbed
visions?" was asked.
"Oh, yes" was the reply. In sew
erai cases. as nave SAID, the dying
person was confident and calm, and
spoke Of visions of the hereafter.
don't think that Dr. Osler's statements
will shake anyOne's grounded faith in
religion"
DR.. Armstrong, in addition to the
views quoted above, said:
"Of course, there are cases where the
ministratiOns Of a clergyman at the
deathbed have resulted I'm so exaltine
the spirit Of the dying that they have
believed, they saw visions. But 1 don't
feel competent to pass upon these
They pass beyond the realm Of medical
science and soar upward into the re-
gion of psychic research. I should say
however, that the priests of the Roman
Catholic church and the rabbis Of the
Hebrew faith might be able to give
some valuable experience. These two
faiths specifically administer to the dy-
ing in their last hours"
It is a fact, however, that so repre-
sentative a rabbi as Rev. DR.. Joseph
Silverman, Of the Temple EMANUEL
not long ago put himself on record as
believing in neither miracles nor Wis
ions.
II mean not only visions and mir
acles at the present time" he said
but also the sO-called visions and
miracles Of the Scriptures. Visions
are always purely subjective and are
usually engendered either by fright,