The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-10-18


say it is electrical currents, or it is this,
or it is that, or it is the other thing.
Why not go clear back, my friend, and
acknowledge that in every case 1t is the
abdication Of reason or the teaching of
infidelity which practically says: eff you
don't like this life get out of it, and you
will land either IN humiliation, where
there are no notes to pay, no prosecutions
to suffer, no gout to torment, or you will
land where there will be everything glori
Gus and nothing to pay for it" Infidel-
ity always has been apologetic for self
immolation. After Tom Paine's .Age
of Reason was published and widely
read there was a marked increase of self
slaughter
| A man in London heard Mr.. Owen de-
liver his infidel lecture on socialism, and
went home, sat down and wrote these
| words: "Jesus Christ Ia one Of the
weakest characters in history, and the
Bible is the greatest possible deception, !"
and then shot himself. David Hume
wrote these words: 'It would be no
crime for me to divert the Nile or the
Danube from its natural bed. Where,
then, can be the crime in my diverting a
few drops Of blood from their ordinary
channel2" And having written the
essay he loaned 1t to a friend, the friend
read it, wrote letter Of thanks and ad-
miratiop and shot himself. Appendix
to the Same book.
| Rousseau. Voltaire, Gibbon, Montaigne,
under certain circumstances. were apollo
| getic for self immolation. Infidclity puts
up no bar to peoples rushing out from
this world into the next. They teach us
1t does not make any difference how you
live hero or 60 onss Of this world, you
win land either In an obHvious nowhere
or glorious somewhere. And infidel-
| ity holds the upper end OF the rope for
the suicide, and aims the pistol with
which a man blows his brains out,
and mixes the strychnine for
the last swallow. If infdelity could
carry the day and persuade the majority
of people in this country that it does not
make any difference how you go out Of
the world you will land safely, the Hud-
son and the East rivers would be 80 full
of corpses the ferryboats would be inn
peded in their progress, and the crack of
suicides pistol would be no more alarm
ing than the rumble OF street car.
/ have sometimes heard it discussed
whether the great dramatist was Chris
tian or not. do not know, but know
that he considered appreciation of a
future existence the nlightest hindrance
to self destruction:
For who could bear the whips and scorns Of time
The oppressor's wrong, the proud mans con-
| tumely,
! The pangs Of despised love- the laws delay
The insolence of Office, and the spurns
| That patient merit Of the unworthy takes,
| When he himself might his qrIietus make
With bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under weary life,
But that the dread of something after death
The undiscovered country, from whose bourne
No travellers returns-puzzles the will?
Would God that the coroners would be
brave in rendering the right verdict, and
when in a case of irresponsibihty they
say: "While this man was demented he
took his life;" in the other case say
'.Having read infidel books and attended
infidel lectures, which obliterated from
this mans mind all appreciation of any
thing like future retribution, he com
Iuitted self slaughter!"
All! Infidelity, stand up and take thy
sentence! In the presence of God ant
angels and men, stand up, thou monster
thy lip blasted with blasphemy, thy
cheek SCARED with lust, thy breath fou
with the corruption of the ages! Stant
up, Satyr, filthy goat, buzzard of the ma
; tions, leper of the centuries! Stand up
thou monster Infidelityl Part man, par
panther, part reptile, part dragon, stanC
up and take thy sentence! Thy hand
red with the blood in which thou has
washed, thy feet crimson with the hu
man gore through which thou hast waded
stand up and take thy sentence! DowI
with thee to the pit and sup ON the sob
and groans of families thou hast blasted
and roll on the bed of knives which thol
hast sharpened for others, and let tl7
music be the everlasting miserere O
those whom thou hast damned! / brant
the forehead of infidelity with all tn
crimes of self immolation for the las
century on the part of those who hat
their reason.
My friends, if ever your life, through
its abrasions and its molestations, shouls
seem to be unbearable, and you al
tempted to quit it by your own behest, d
not consider yourself as worse than others
Christ himself was tempted to cast him
self from the roof of the temple; but a
he resisted SO resist ye. Christ came t
medicine all our wounds. In you
trouble prescribe life instead of death
People who have had it worse than yo1
will ever have it have gone songful o.
the way. Remember that God keep
: the chronology of your life with as muc
precision as he keeps the chronology O
nations, your death as well as you
> cradle.
Why was it that at midnight, just a
midnight, the destroying angel struc
: the blow that set the Iseraelites free fror
bondage? The four hundred and thirt
years were up at 12 o'clock that night
The four hundred and thirty years wer
not up at II, and o'clock would hav
been tardy and too late. The fou
hundred and thirty years were up at 1
I o'clock, and the destroying angel struc
I the blow, and Israel was free. An
= God knows just the hour when it tim
: to lead you from earthly bondage. B
8 his grace make not the worst of thing!
but the best of them. II you must tax
: the pills, do not chew them. Your evel
e lasting rewards will accord with you
Q earthly perturbations, just as Caius gav
to Agrippa chain of gold as heavy 6
: had been a chain of iron. For I'll
: asking-and I do not know to whor
: l speak in this august assemblage, br
the word may be especially appropriat
Q for your asking you may have ii
same grace that was. given to tho Italia
Q martyr Algerius, who, down In the dari
$ est of dungeons, dated his letter frol
s'the delectable orchard of the Leonil
}, prison"
And remember that this brief life {
= ours is surrounded bv rim, q very thi
y but very important rim, end close up
!, that rim is great eternity, and you ha
= better keep out of it until God brcal
= that rim and separates this from tina
= : To get rid of the sorrows Of earth, do III
u !. rush into greater sorrows. To get rid {
y swarm Of summer insects. leap rot In
! a jungle of Bengal tigers.
Is There is sorrowless world, and it
so radiant that the MONDAY sun is cn