The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1886-09-15

commit suicide and sometimes do. and
pious persons may become suddenly in
sane from hereditary causes or from some
obscure nervous disease and take their
own lives tor imaginary causes. But
does every man who kills himself become
50 mentally derangea as to be morally
irresponsible before he commits the act ?
Is that certain? In other words, has
there never been man who killed him
self in his ri ght mind, 1. e., who was re-
sponsible and culpable for the act before
God =?
What has become of the man in the
light of Gods word is what all men in
stinctively think about. They cannot
help it. But now they should under
stand that an impenitent, unregenerate
life ends in perdition, and therefore it
should not seem of prime Importance
what happened to be the last and crown
ing act Of that impenitent life. Respect
able, worthy, useful, but unconverted
men are going down all around us by
natural death into perdition every day
Chat is, if Gods word goes for anything
with us), and if any such man should
even in his right mind commit suicide it
would still be perdition. Not for the
self-murder, but as the natural and In
evitable result of an unrenewed nature,
the self.murder having been only the last
of a long series Of products of that ma
ture. There is great deal of confused
thinking among men on all subjects con-
nected with the doctrine of sin. l have
been inclined to believe that men are
more generally orthodox in their views
of God than about the Devil. More peo-
pie disbelieve in real, live, personal
Devil in the world, than in living God.
Very few suspect the Devil in human at
fairs. 1t is pleasanter to believe in a
God than IN Devil: the one NAV be
good to US, the other cannot be. Now
the facts of Satan, sin, and hell are as
necessary parts of revealed religion as
God and holiness and heaven. And
without due recognition of all these
facts one reads human history, whether
of nations, or of societies, or of individ.
uals, without key. There is a progress.
sive development in sin as in righteous
ness. Satan leads men unsuspectingly
until they have sometimes become mon
sters OF sin, even in this life. Men do
not realize at all the possibilities of the
unrenewed human soul. Faith in God
is the ballast OF the human soul on the
storm tossed sea of life Paul says, all
men have not faith Whenever l hear
OF suicide [ repeat those pregnant
words. Without taith-and how many
are practically without faith-without
faith how little 1t may some day require
to capslze the lite boat of any unregener-
ate person. This should be thought OF
fearful weight to you. Gentle reader,
you read perhaps with wonderment all
the circumstances of a suicide in to.days
newspaper and shudder at the thought
of such an irrational act. But now re-
fleet how can you know your peculiar
mental constitution? how can you know
how near you are to state in your life
without an abiding sense of God present
with you, as your God, in which the
Evil One, knowing that peculiar mental
frame and taking this course with you
as he takes that with another of differ.
ent order of mind, may spring upon you
very small trials it may be, yet Just such
trials and in just such order and comb
nation of attack as shall make it easy for
you in this new and terrible experience
to seek relief in death
1t will matter little after that whether
you were sane or insane when you killed
yourself. If insane, the date of insanity
was virtually death to you, :. E., it mere
ly ended your opportunity for repent
ance, and you did not repent: you are
lost. 1t sane, the self murder simply
adds one more sinful act to an already
sinful life: you are lost.
Now what do we mean when we say
man is not in his right mind. In fine
and yet perfectly true sense every unbe-
lever is not in his right mind. He evil
IDENTIFY does not see things as they are,
else he would act very differently and
very promptly too. The Prodigal Son
was never in his right mind until he
came to himself after he had lost all.
Unless stopped by the grace Of God all
men become more and more blinded, ir-
rational, demented, regarding the future
passing on into incurability without
faith, losing all fear of God and deliber.
ately choosing way that Seemeth right
to them, but the end thereof are the WAYS
OF death. There is a great mental dis.
order approaching us through the soul,
which we all come into the world dis
tempered with, Just as surely as there is
a mental disorder due to mere physical
changes In the nervous system and hered.
itary IN certain families of men. And it
can no doubt be successfully maintained
q l.. Nh.