Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1888 — Must Live Right to Die Right. [ARTICLE]

Must Live Right to Die Right.

Church Union. Natural death is to die sweetly without a sob, struggle, or a sigli. It is the result of a long life of interrupted health, of a long life of “temperance in all things,” and such a death should he one of the aims of every human being, so that we may not only livelong, but in that long life be able to do much for man and much for God. The love of life is a universal instinct; life is a duty, its peril or neglect a crime. We are placed on earth for a purpose; that purpose can be none other than to give us an opportunity of doing good to ourselves and others; and to be anxious to be “off duty” sooner than God wills is no indication of true piety. The good man has one ruling, ever present desire, and that is to live as long on the earth as his Maker pleases, and while living to ,do the utmost he can to benefit and bless mankind, and to accomplish a long and activeand useful life, the study how to preserve and promote a high degree of bodily health is indispensable. And it seemsto be ordained by a Providence both wise and kind, as a reward of a temperate life, and that such a life should be largly extended, that its decline should be as calm as a summer’s evening, as gentle as the babe sleeps itself away on its mother’s breast.