Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-10-15
.beGnsR ssiater
DO THYSELF NO HARM.
DR. TALNAGBS SERMON on THB CRIME
OF SUICIDE.
TIE American Clnsc;snes Needs IOning Up
On the Sabjst-It Is Not a Esroic Act
How God Rsgaris Il in
the Bible.
Special 7asrcm 10 ne Register.

DhOOhLNN, OcIOOsC II Az tno AsO
nscle this morning, the Rev. I. Dewitt
Talmsge, D. D., TOOK for his text, Act
ch. II, verses - aud Is: "He drew DC
his sword, snd would have killed bimteli
~supposing that the prisoners had bee
fled. But Paul crisd with q loud voice
saying: DO myself no harm" The ser
mon was as follows:
Here is o would-be suicide arrested il
his deadly ait ampt. he was q sheriff, ant
according to the Roman law, q bailiff him
self must suffer the penalty due an escapes
prisoner, and if the prisoner breaking Jsi
was sentenced to be endungeoned for thre'
or four years, then the sheriff will bs en-
dungeoned for three or four years; and /
the prisoner breaking all was to have sui
fersd capital punishment, then the sheriff
must suffsr capital Punishment. Toe
sheriff bad received especial charge t.
keep a sharp lookout for Paul and Silas
The government had not had confidence
in bogfs and bars to keep safe these two
clefgymsn, about WI ON there seemed tc
be something strange and supernatural.
Sure enough, by miraculous power, they
are free, and the sheriff, waking ont CT a
sound SLEEP, ard supposing these ministers
have run awsy, and Knowing that they
were to die for preaching Christ, and real
IL NJ thst be must therefore die, rather
thsn 20 under the exscutionei' axe on the
morrow and suffer public disgrace, resolves
to p~recipitate his own decease. But before
the seaIp, keen, glittering dagger of tae
sheriff could strike his heart, n Of the
uuloOsened prisoners arrests the blade by
the command: do t5yself no harm"
10 oldea time, and where Christianity
had not iuterfered with it, suicide was
eonsiIe:ed honorable ard a sign of cour-
ago. Dsmostteaese poisoned himself wEeo
told thst AlexandeI's ambassador had de-
manded the surrender of the Athsnian ora
yoys. IsOcrates killed himself rather than
Surrender himself to Philip of Mscedon
Cato, rather than submit to julius Caesar,
rock his own life, and after three timee
hig yocuds had been die sed tore tbeD
o;ea ard persisted. M~ithIidates killed
himself rather than 20 submit TO Pomrey,
the c2rqCeoor. Hannibal destroyed his
life by poison from his ring, considering
life Undesirable. Lycurgus S suicide,
Brutus o suic;da. After the disaster Of
Hclcow, Napoleon always carried with
Kin q preparation Of opium, and on night
bis servant heard the Emperor arise, put
something in q glass and drink it, and
soon after the grosns aroused all tie at
tendsIts, and il WA only through the ut
most medical skill he WAS reSusc.tited
from the stupor of the cpiste.
Tines have changed, and yet the Ameri-
can conscience needed to be toned up on
The subisct Of suicide. Have ycu seen a
paper in the lat month that did not an
uounce the passage out of life by ones own
behsst? D<fAulters, alarmed at the idea
of exposure, quit life precipitstsly. Men
losing large FORTUNES so out OF the world
hecluse they cannot endure earthly exist
ence. Frustrated affection, domestic To-
felicity, dyspsptic Impotence, anger, re-
morse, envy, jealousy, restitution, missn-
thrcpy, are con,idered sufficient caas:s for
~sbscOadiug from this life by Paris green
by laudanun, by b~sllsdonna, by Oihs!-
lo's dagger, ty halter, by leap from the
sbu'ment Of q bridge.
To show how God in the Billie looked
upon tn crime, l rOint you 20 therog1e's
picture gallery in come parts CT the Bib e.
| tie pictures Of the pee pie, who have com-
mitted this uunSt1rsl crime. Here 10 the
| hsadlass trunk Of Saul on the walls OF
Bstashar. Here is the mar who cha e
,s.aF- nil -. cook - utafnVn nhao.
ing four. Here i3 tie man who
consulted q clsiryoyant, Witch OF
ErdGr. Here is man who, whipped IN
bsttle, instead Of su~rrerderiug bis sword
with dignity, as macy q man has do2e,
asks his servsut to stay him; and when
the ser7ant declines, then the giant plants
the hllt of the sword in the earth, the
sharp Ioilt sticking upward, and n
throws his body on it AID expires, the
coward, TIE suicide. Here is Ahithopel.
the Mscfiivelli of olden times, b~etraying
his best friend David in order that he
MAJ beccme prime minister OF Aeasiom,
sui Joining that fellow in his attempt 81
Of rricide. Not getting what he wanted
by charge CT politics, hs takess short cut
out of a disgrsctd life into the suicides
eternity. There he i5, the ingrsts.
Here il AbiueleCh, practically a suicide,
He il with an army, bon b1rtiog q tower,
when a woman in the tower lkes q grind
stone from IFS place and drops 1t upon his
head. and with what life he has left IN hu
cracked skull he commands his stmor'
bearer: DRAW thy sword and slay me
lest men say a woman slew me" There
| . ,.k.~, nhptnnranh IN the hNNk
of Samuel. But thu hero OF this group Il
| Judss I>cariot. DIR. Donne says he was
MARTYR, and we have in our dsy spolo
| qists fer HIM. And what wonder
in this day vixen we hav'
a hook revealing Aaron Burr IS q patterI
| Ct virtus, and in this dsy when We uEcHve
a statue 10 George Sand rs the benefactrest
Of literature, and in this day when Their
are b.trsya!s OF Christ on the part OF some
nf His pretended sp,stles-a betrayal 81
back il makes theiufamy of Judas lscaIlo
white! Yet this man by his own hsn'
hung up for the eNscration OF all the ages
Judas IEcariot.
All the good men ard women Of tn
Bible left IL God the decision of tbel
earthly terminus, aud thy could hsv,
sid with Job, WHO had a right to com
NIT suicide if any man ever had-woa
with his destroyed property. and ti
body all alame with insuffetable carbun
cles, and everything gone flom his hom
except the chief curse Of il, q psstferou
wife, and four ~gsrrulous people peltiD
him with co pfortless talk while he site %
A heap os sste9 scratching his scGb 3 wit
a piece of broken pottery, yet crying on
in triumph: "All the days OF my ap
pcintfd time will l wait till my chang
come"
Notwithstanding the Bible is ngaius
this evil, and the aversion which 1t Greats
hv the loathsome and CHASTITY spectacle
these who have hurled themselves {
life, and Notwithstanding Christianity
against il, and the arguments and the use
fui lives aud illustriouS Selths OF Its oil;
ciples, it is o fact slnrmingly patent tina
suiside is on the increase.
What is the Cause? / charge upon lnf
deity and AgnoJticisu this whCls thinl
II there be no heresfIer, CT if that herr
altar Ia blisafnl reference to no