A treatise on the stomach and its trials / by J.C. Eno.

  • Eno, J. C.
Date:
[1870?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the stomach and its trials / by J.C. Eno. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    70/82 (page 68)
    THE FALL OF THE CURTAIN. ‘ To smell a turf of fresh earth is wholesome for the body; no less are the thoughts of mortality cordial to the soul.’ ‘ Is life a perpetual struggle, a vale of woe, a place of disappointment and trial ? Should it not be looked upon as a condition for continued hope and continual mental development, by reflection on our thoughts and those of others ? Surely the gift of life should of itself be regarded as the greatest of blessings—that the gift is coupled with means of great enjoyment—that, in fact, enjoyment is the rule, disappointment and vexation the exceptions, and, most frequently, the result of our own ivant of judgment. Evil appears necessary to induce us to reflect on our present condition as one, not of unmixed happiness, but rather a tran¬ sitional state—an educational preparatory stage to some more ad¬ vanced condition of existence. Our present life must have constant reference to a future. Is it not intuition, given us by our Maker, to desire and expect a future state of existence 1 and is not this fact a suffi¬ cient proof of its truth ? For how could the human mind aspire to future existence, unless it had been so constructed as to make this subject one of its most frequent contemplations % To attain longevity, and to enjoy it, we must not be afraid of calamity; we must habituate ourselves to contemplate death itself as an event which must occur in the ordinary course of things. The love of life is not inconsistent with a constant view of the possibility of death. Fear is said to be a base passion, beneath the dignity of man. There is nothing of which a wise and con¬ sistent man need be afraid, death itself being looked upon as a mere change—a necessary passage from one condition to another, under the laws of a Being of perfect goodness and justice. Were we consistent in our belief of the Supreme—had we such perfect reliance on the absolute wisdom and benevolence of His government as a proper and attainable knowledge would give us—we should hardly know what fear was; for however apparently malevolent was our fortune in this world, however lamentable the separation of our dearest attachments, however lonely and desolate we may be left by the death of those wdio, for a series of years, may have made existence continuous enjoyment, be our calamities what they may, if our faith be steadfast, we must conclude that our suffering can only be temporary, and, in comparison with the future, a mere point in time, unworthy of the sacrifice of our equanimity.’ ‘ Why fear we death, the parent of repose, Who numbs the sense of penury and pain ? He comes but once, nor ever throws, Triumphant once, his painful shaft again.’ Dr. Monroe, in his anatomical lectures, has said, 1 The human frame,