DEATH PRAYER.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9397, 18 March 1909, Page 2

DEATH PRAYER.

K; ; POSSIBILITIES. Ifc'of'tho strangest controversies I [era times is now raging bathe defenders and opponents [section (remarks the London Chronicle). Indeed, the sub'ot'is being discussed emotionally pgmany people otherwise nninterthe ethics of dissecting and Ibonlating living animals. kThe question raised is : Whether right to pray for the death oi Mse whom we believe to be enemies El humanity?” . •This pretty ..problem has alreaay. itised the keenest interest of our iatinguished playwright, Mr George lernard Shaw, who finds it worthy fihis philosophy and wit;; it win atxainly be disonased in the pulpit, aoause many religious people are iking - sides on the question, and icSaohers cannot ignore it. ine Tm’es, which devotes its correspond-QOe-voolnmnß to the. most serious Sfbjedts only, has opened them day during the last week to argnnents on both sides of the proposiioh civeu above. v iThe controversy was started a weeK ■by ; a' circular signed M.y , ’addressed to a number of lienees under the Vivisection Act. it ras of a startling, and, indeed, terSfying character, although the filter of it is alleged to be a little afty-of a pious and most respectable haraoter. This lady, seated one fiy : in the oofEee room of a London >dtel ’{it reads like the opening banter of a newspaper serial), overleard aman say that be knew a peroir'who was in the habit of praying fbin time to time for the death of ,e of bur leading viviseotors, and afcalways the man indicated had fed. Stakes effect in u days. this statement made a rofound impression upon the lady, ftboiwas a-member of an anti-vivi-ifotion society. It seemed to her a appy idea, and an© resolved to try lie'-experiment for herself. Accordfglv she prayed earnestly that toe ilmighty. if her prayer were in abbrd with His will, would promptly {move the man most likely to cause ifcdre sufferings to innocent subjects fibis experiments. , The result was, according to her I'roular, impressive. “ About afortigfat later one of onr most distiniished medical scientists dropped irpsumably dead) and the newsipers were lamenting the loss to ienoe or this viviseotor and the iaboverles he was just about to ake.” . The success of her experiments bined so remarkable that the author ?''the circular considered it a iunden duty to call upon all opponits of vivisection to join in a neral deatn-prayer for the anhilation of all operators upon ring animals. - Nothing but the talesale destruction* would satisfy H. 0.” ■‘Let us not,” she urges,‘‘confine r. prayer to our own country. . . ti'-let it include all kingdoms, dples, and languages.” - . Naturally, the publication uf this Hraord inary appeal has caused a psatlon. The Anti-Vivisection Hsiety, of which the Hon. Stephen Kendge is the leading spirit, has Bjtbptly repudiated the letter as any connection with that Wj, and Mr Coleridge himself deHoates the use of the use of the Heath -prayer. ” As he shrewdly Perves, it may lead to retaliatioh, P‘’.malign influences may be used Hviviseotors themselves, for (_the ■pose of removing him! Kb a Daily Chronicle representaK Mr Coleridge explained (what Hi’ surprise some of his opponents) ■t he belongs to the moderate party ■uatl-viviseotionists. “ ■ : WHY KEEP A NAVY? ■s already said, however, the proBn nf the death-oraver has cone

U Uii Ulic* UDCiuu'pAu,; v* qvmv bnd the boundaries of vivisection, is being discussed in relation to 'generally. Mr Q. Bernard Shaw always takes broad views of tgs thinks that viviseotors, as i :of science, should be willing to iifloe their lives for the sake of ring such a deeply interesting sriment as the efficacy of prayer the removal of objectionable lie.

RSfCk, ” he says, ‘‘of the enorfe national economy which will [it if the experiment should Bily succeed in proving that our Fmilitary and naval expenditure ptirely unnecessary, and that the taction of onr country’s enemies Fin future be cheaply and ocmlibly conducted at home upon our fkl” I many political and social circles nh is being taken on the lines tested by Mr Shaw and others, [■stated, on authority for which to not vouch, that the Women’s |l and Political Union are Idpning furtive raids upon Bung-street, and have called an prdiuary general meeting, at pi Mr Asquith, Mr Herbert Gladpikhd Mr Lloyd George are to prayed for” in the way suggesp the author of the now famous Bar. News as to the health of ■ gentlemen will be anxiously Bed. ■4 also stated, on somewhat Hr authority, that the Oonfede■were recently assembled in a Be bouse in Mayfair praying pon sly for the swift removal of pi political gentlemen known Bree Feeders. ” ■ ethics of the death-prayer Biot yet been analysed by curious leaders, but it seems mpns doctrine if adopted withIxtreme caution. If everyone ■(With even moderate success) K removal of bis antagonists, ■thong us will be safe?