Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-07-09
The sacredness Of Human Life.

eyes of men. To establish the great
truth of it's worth and preciousness
we are led to the source Of all life and
, being, the Creator. All life come:
from Him OF whom it was said, I'm
Him was life and the life was the light
OF men, Man cannot impart life.
He may resuscitate and restore the ap.
: parent lifeless form, but he cannot re-
call the vital spark that has once and
forever gone out. Well may the
Isra, litish king exclaim, Gam l God
to kill and TO make alive?"
This fact alone should render life
sacred. Human life differs from brute
life. The atheist and materialist may
admit of no difference, but there is a
: radical one at the outset of their crea-
ton. "In the image Of God created he
him" was not said of any but man.
The murderer lifts his hand against
the image Of the ever living God when
he essays to take human life. Shall
we not consider the great cost of Human
life as 1t enters into the problems of
its values? The dollars and cents,
though great in the aggregate. form
but the smallest part of the cost of
bringing up child. Add to this the
toll, the privation, the anguish, the
care, the watching, and, above
all, the sense of responsibility which
rests heavily on every parents heart
These are not 1.-THE of the things that
go to make up the cost of a human life.
Do we attach peculiar value to n
piece of workmanship, that cost the
inventor years Of patient toll? Some
marvellous Strasbourg clock or electric
l.t NI..,. 1t - Al.
mountain of toll that has been ascended
by every one who has cared for hui
man life. Shall we speak of the
preciousness of human life in the light
of It's possibilities" Again, broad
field opens on our vision. Who
can tell the possibilities wrapped
up in a tiny seed no larger than u
grain of sand Who can tell the fu.
ture of the oak hid within the rugged
shell Of the acorn" Who pretends to
be astrologer enough to forecast u hui
man life? The poets may tell us
blandly that
Childhood shows the man
| AS the morning sh ows the day.
But there is neither rhyme nor reason
in these lines. For as no man can tell
what day may bring forth, and the
old proverb suggests that we praise a
fair day at night" we recognize that
the sentiment, however beautiful,
leaves the future veritable terra in.
cognita without map or guide.
| The poets are poor moralists and poor
philosophers. No one can tell what "A
man may be. No one can Law their
| finger on the headsof the youthful
Napole0ns, Wilberforces or DIR,
JOhnsons. Even the miserable dwarf
and cripple should live. They
may he bright stars in the armament
OF letters. The body may be stunted
while the soul Is fullgrown. Byron,
Pope and Chatterton were all diseased
and detormed specimens of man: vet
they thrilled the world with their
song. Some of the greatest and best of
men had but frail hold on life at
first. A modern philosopher, who
has recently advanced the doctrine
OF destroying "weaklings, blind, lam.
and idiots will not have large fol-
lowing. Human life IL made forever
sacred from It's possibilities. 1t was
this principle that actuated and ele-
waited maternity among the Jewish
wives, because IL was possible that the
kedeemer of Israel might be among
their cherished children. Men every.
where act upon and recognize this
great truth, "the preclousness of hu.
man liie." Does a mine explode. n
train go through bridge or
snip so down at sea, all interest
centers, not In the amount of
property destroyed, but in the fate
of the imperled. The lost and The
saved are the balances In which rise
or fall the hopes of sympathizing
Deeper yet lies the argument in ia.
vor OF our theme. Around the sacred
flame of life stand
| THE INSTINCTS
of our being, like sleepless sentinels
ever ready, with a movement quicker
than thought, To protect their precious
charge. Self.preservation is the A rat
law of nature. "All that 4 man hath
VIII he give for his life," said the pa
triarch Job. No man in his right
mind will court death. Have
we not read of the homesiek
soldier weary of existence, surrounded
with a thousand dangers and prayinr
Tor death. Yet on the sudden nm,
proach OF the enemy he runs for his
HE or stands TO make desperate resist
ahoe. The preservstive instinct il
deeper than all, nor can we fsii To see
the divine hand in the elaborate pren.
aration made in nature for sickness
and disease.
Gods "materia medical scattered
through the vegetable and mineral
world, Is u standing, visible witness Of
tne precionsness of human Iifa
ihat divine wisdom that foresaw
sickness, accidents and disease, and
thus graclously provided for them
also foressw that envy aud passion
would burn In the breast OF man
against mau, hence, He commandS
fhou shalt not kill" The brand Of
cam, whatever that imperishahla
mark may have been, is a terrible no.
ininder of Gods wrath against tho
taking Of human life. Hear the dread
penalty ~ announced In Genesis ana
repeated In Leviticus: "Whoso shsa.
nsth mans blood by man shall his
oiooo be she'd the reasonI
Tor IN the image of God
MADE he man." Again, HE that
siiieth any man shall surely be nut ~
death" Lev. xiv, IL.
10 these add the terrible cur.;n,s
OF the twenty-seventh chantsr.
Cursed be he that smiteth his ,.sish'
Dor secretly, and all the people shaiI
say, Amen. Cursed be he that taka.h
"a reward TO slay an Innocent nsr.on
ana all the people shall .ay Amsn y
one other fact that should siav III.
manu- OF tho murderer is the one sbovs
a,i that probation ends win Iica
How terrible TO be hurled. withont
moment's warning, into eternity n"
we wonder that God speaks ont avsins,