Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-05-05
THE CAUSE OF DEPENDENCY AND
DESPAIR.

There is a cause for the bitter despair 1
into which so many people fall SO easily (
in our time. It is not total depravity, |
for the majority of suicides are far from
criminals, and not even great sinners, /
barring the deed itself in its enormlty.
Suicides as rule are not 'unbelievers,
for their very existence is cut short III
the hope of better life, free from sor-
row and trouble, Can it be in pecul-
lar temperament engendered by amos
pheric agencies, or in a mental condl-
ton that might arise from any particular
mode of living as to diet or course OF lie
as to pursuits ? Science advances no
such reasons Can it be from want of
home training. in being pushed out into
the world without any safeguards ex-
cept the straws struggling manhood or
womanhood catch at amid the DRIFT
| wood of life in a current too strong to
be stemmed by inexperienced hands !
Home life is not what it was half CEN
fury ago,-no home-life at all for large
per cent. of the young of to-day, which
has to shift for itself from childhood
ND. But an argument against this as a
cause is, that this class (self-made) is the
strongest and most successful and that
most suicides are respectable, good
standing, we'll educated people.
There may be tendency of the age
that might have much to do with sulci-
dial intents,-a love for ease and pleas
ure, an ambition to succeed and have
wealth, enjoyment and distinction or
the contrary effect of disappointment and
encouragement at not being able to hold
| out in the race and rivalry of neck
and neck chase for social and business
attachments. This is most likely one of
the leading causes in the wreckage OF
| life.
| There is another cause which should
have been considered first, as without
| it life at best is not worth living. Reli-
gion too much or not enough, or not of
the right kind, or misconceived or I'M
der estimated, tho benumbing effects
of worldly religion and the want of re-
| ligion really of God and in God fear
and faith, hope and trust, not in great
Unknown, -natuaral ideal or immater-
ial,-something mortal mind cannot
grasp or fathom or unravel, mething
SO far above and out of reach of weak
human nature that the soul recoils from
the arrangement but the God of in
fancy, of poverty, of sacrifice, of love, of
meekness and tenderness,-the God an
tagonistic to the same world with which
we are antagonistic 1T is the want of
such heavenly sympathy and support
that allows respondent man to risk for
better or worse leap into eternity, rath-
er than bear a cross lightened by no touch
of saving grace,-encouraged by no
reckoning hand, visible to the eye of
faith. every calling, Come on, follow
Mel
Religion is not what it used to be. Com
pare the Master and His life's actions with
those He sent to teach whatever He had
taught them. The religion of Calvary
was not religion of the world or of self,
but of Heaven and Salvation for ALL
The ancient shepherd left His whole
flock after He had gathered them into
the fold, and went after the one lost
sheep and brought it back. The modern
shepherd says here is the fold and there are
the rules and the diagram of salvation.
front or rear according to your means
and social standing; and the place for
christian tramps, the ones in the great
est spiritual and temporal need. is in the
desert of life where the wild beasts of
prey may quickest devour them.
In the Masters time and way there
were no Greek or Roman laws. customs
or politics by Him acknowledged or dis
tinguished for their popularity, race
or color or. condition of life whereat He
drew the line of His saving grace for
He regarded not the persons of men,
Jew or GENTLE, Persian or Armenian
were all the same in soul and body.
With His servants of to-day a man must
be true Englishman to be faithful
Roman /; and sympathies northern. or
sympathies southern, affiliations radical
or bourbon detestations, will throw any
foo ri IS 60
lowship, according to time and place.
If men do not believe today they are
cursed and outlawed, ostracized and
minimized the hardest saying the Saw
Tor met with the most appealing words,
" Will you also leave ME-
The religion of the Way of the Cross
changed men, softened their hearts, liber-
ated their minds from temporal attach
ments, cemented the brotherhood of the
lowest with the highest in Christ. Popular
religion in this age sets up seclusive
classes with exclusive privileges the
louder the profession the higher the rate
of interest on social or financial securities
held; the more frequent the
sacrificial offering, the promp-
ter the ejectment for non-pay
of Objectionable neighbors.
humility, modification and self-renun-
citation /; where is the modern imitator
who wants to be poor? where he who
| suffers insult or injury without he re-
sents it with all the malice and retribu-
ton in his power, the
greatest respect, demanding the highest
Difference the lower religious powers
are compelled to yield to the higher,
though the heavens fall good this,
good " that, among the lords of the
church, as if the Lord himself was not
| the only GOOD.
Suicide of the soul is as prevalent as
suicide of the body, Look at the death
| of the greatest statesman, civilian, SOL
der, philosopher, scientist, or person
of national reputation no comforting
religious ministration attends his depart
| ure. Like the self-suicide, all hope and
| trust, if there are any, have been sent
far ahead, leaving the soul to come af-
ter alone and unattended. Is religion to
blame? The cause of the great mind
and that of the poor moral unfortunate,
| is the same. The man of thought and
study feels that high favor with the
| church is an abject surrender to world
ly success that is based rather upon the
customs of the times and manners of
men than upon divine faith or supernat-
ural grounds Christ may be the corner
stone, but eighteen hundred years of
wranggling, pounding and burning
among human architects have
reared super-structure far from invit-
ing to the hungry soul asking for the
bread of life and receiving only the cold
stones of religious folly and worldly for
mality. The experience of the poor out
cast is more humiliating and disappoint-
ing than that of the great mind who is
the wretch that has not on a wedding
garment at the banquet of life lie in
wait poor soul for the heel of scorn and
ignominy.
What greater consolation then for the
tired and worn out mind and the chilled
and hardened heart than to mount
the Tarnaian block and be rncIrad To slaen