Year: 1863

The Painlessness of Death.


All who have thoneht upon the subject,
know how nearly pleasure and pain are
allied to each other. 1t appears as if they
were two adjoining spheres or elements. and
that you cannot overstep the domain of the
one without entering the opposite state. 1t
is this proximity of opposites that will ex-
plain many of those remarkable occurrences
which are recorded in histories and biogra-
phies. Martyrs roasting at the fire, crimi-
mails under the rack, and soldiers mangled
upon the battlefield, have all shouted in &C.
stasy, and never were happy in their.
lives. George Fox relates how that, on
a certain time, when he had been beaten in
most horrible manner and thrown into a
sinking prison. he was SO happy that he sat
up in the dungeon and sung for joy. Just
think of that,--a Quaker singing when the
brutal populace thought they had killed
him I! and yet this is nothing more than
what might have happened to any of US in
similar circumstances. Here, then, are the
Limitations which the Creator has fixed to
our susceptibility of ufering-faintness de-
lirium. pleasure, death, and all is over.


A still better conception may be formed
OF the painlessness of death by comparing
it with what Homer calls


Deaths halfbrother, sleep.


for the phenomena in one case bear close
analogy to the other. We sleep whenever
the circulation of the blood in the brain is
so low as not to stimulate the gray matter
which overays the involutions and convo-
luIions. If one particular part 6e excited
and not the others, we dream; dreaming is,
therefore, partial wakefulness. IF the cir
culatio1 be entirely Withdrawn, the sleep is
profound, and if the brain be full Of blood
we are thoroughly awake. / have now
been awake for about thirteen hours. in the
course of another three hours / shalt retire
to rest; a slight change will take place in
the circulation. and sleep will ensue; and
when sufficient excitahiity has accumulated
TO sustain another days toll, shall awake
again. Now, am not only unconscious of
the time when I go TO sleep, but may be
burnt TO death without ever waking at all.
This often happens to people in case of fire,
or TO those sleeping upon lime kilns, when
the limbs are burnt from the body without
the sleeper ever being conscious of what is
taking place. As therefore a person can
mol go 10 sleep in pam, no more can they
die IN pain; the one event being as impos-
sible as the other, and for the same reason.


We may remark further. that this pain
lsssness of death is the result of physical
causes, and altogether independent of moral
qualifications. Shakespeare, who is always
true TO nature, represents the death of
boasting, cheating, guzzlng old Falstaf as
calm and peaceful.


Nay, sure he's not in hell says Dame
Quickly, he's in Arthur's bosom, if ever a
man went to Arthur's bosom. "A made a
finer end, and went away an it had been
any christom child "a parted ever just be-
tween twelve and one cen at turning of
the tide; for after saw him tumble with
at his fingers ends. / knew there was but
one way, for his nose was sharp as a pen.
"a babbled of green fields. Henry Y.
Scene III.


A still more positive proof of the pain
lessness of death may, if you seek it. be
found in the experience of those who, after
being rendered insensible, and apparently
dead, have been resuscitated. Of these
cases we have an abundance. Some have
been hung, others drowned, and others suf-
( focated for want of air; but the experience
is much the same in every instance. There
was one keen sensation of pain, one moment
of vivid memory. as though the whole life had
been restored, succeeded by series of pleas
| ing sensations but the consciousness of ex-


stence was never lost, and the per: on who
had been hung amidst the yells and infamy
of public execution, or engulphed in the
boiling surges of the sea, was. until restored
to our actual life, surrounded by beautiful
scenery, and in a state of tranquil bliss; the
whole of the suffering encountered being
| scarcely more than the extracting of a tooth.
We have abundant testimony that this is
the case even when the muscular contor-
tions might lead us to infer the contrary
for. as person in convulsive fits is perfect
ly free from pain, SO the spasmodic contor-
tons sometimes observed in dying people
are no indications of the conscious sensa.
tons OF the subject; they the mere resources
of nature to reain her vitality. In the last
moments of our existence, nature deals
gently with US, and lays no burden upon the
soul as it makes its exit from the body
We came unconsciously into existence. and
found kind friends arourd, who rejoiced al
our advent, and mothers arms and heart
ready to receive US and az we make our
exit from the stage of life. its cares and
troubles, which have often pressed heavily
upon US, are gently removed; we pass on
ward to our new home. and angel friends
more kind and beneicent than we Of earth
can ever be, wait our spiritual birth, and
rejoice that another immortal is added tc
their number.-Dr. John Mn.


Humphrey Anthony, of South Adams


Mass, in his 95th year. laid rod Of stone