Prof. G. Currie Martin points out the difference between the Christian
and the unchristian views of death.
In the old days, when the plague swept over Italy, the ladies
and gentlemen of fashion used sometimes to withdraw into some
beautiful country residence, with its surrounding park, and
behind its high walls shut themselves off from all thought
of the misery and sorrow that surrounded them. Death, they
imagined, could no longer reach them, until suddenly the
spectral figure stalked into their midst, no one knew whence,
and the false safety was shattered at a blow. The power of
Christianity is found in the fact that it can say such brave and
hopeful words about life, while all the time it is perfectly
conscious of death. (Text.)
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