The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-11-15


crime In me diverting few drops Of
blood from their ordinary channelfo
And having written the essay he loaned
it to friend, the friend read it, wrote q
letter of thanks and admiration and shot
himself: Appendix to the same book.
Rousseau, Voltaire, Gibbon, Montaigne,
under certain circumstances, were apollo
getic for self immolation. Infidelity puts
up no bar to peoples rushing out of this
world into the next They teach us it does
not make any difference how you live
here or go out of this world, you will land
either in an oblivious nowhere or a glo-
rious somewhere. And infidelity holds
the upper end of the rope for the suicide,
md aims the pistol with which man
blows his brains ont, and mixes the
strychnine for the last swallow. If inf
deity could carry the day and persuade
the majority of people in this cou2try
that it does not make any difference how
you go out of the world you will land
safely, the Hudson and the East rivers
would be SO full of corpses the ferry
boats would be impeded in their progress,
and the crack OF suicides pistol would
be no more alarming than the rumble OF
a street car.
l have sometimes heard it discussed
whether the great dramatist was Chris
tian or not. do not know, but know
that he considered appreciation of fut-
ure existence the mightiest 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 dispisd love. the laws delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns.
That patient merit Of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus 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 traveller returns-puzzles the willi
Would to God that the coroners would
be brave in rendering the right verdict,
and while in a case of irresponsibility
they say: ''While this man was demented
he took his life," in the other case say:
Having read infdel books and attended
infdel lectures, which obliterated from
this mans mind all appreciation of any
thing like future retribution, he commit
ted self-slaughter."
All! infid city, stand up and take thy
sentenced In the presence of God and
angels and men, stand up, thou monster,
they lip blasted with blasphemy, thy
cheek SCARED with lust, thy breath foul
with the corruption of ages! Stand up,
Satyr, filthy goat, buzzard of the nations,
leper of the centuries Stand up, thou
monster infdelity! Part man, part
panther, part reptile, part dragon, stand
up and take thy sentence! Thy hands
red with the blood in which thou hast
washed. thy feet crimson with the human
gore through which thou hast waded,
stand up and take thy sentence! Down
with thee to the pit and sup On the sobs
and groans of families thou hast blasted,
and roll on the bed of knives thou hast
sharpened for others. and let thy music
be the everlasting miserere of those
whom thou hast dammedi / brand tn
forehead of infidelity with all the crimes
of self immolation for the last century
on the part of those who had their reason.
My friends, If ever your life through its
abrasions and its molestations should
seem to be unbearable, and you are
tempted to quit it by your own behest, do
not consider yourself as worse than
others. Christ Himself was tempted to
cast Himself from the roof of the temple,
but as He resisted, so resist We. Christ
came to medicine all our wounds. In
your trouble I prescribe life instead of
death. People who have had it worse
than you will ever have it, have gone
songful on the way. Remember that God
keeps the chronology of your life with as
much precision as He keeps the chronolo-
gy of nations, your death as well as your
cradle.
Why was 1t that at midnight, just at
midnight, the destroying angel struck
the blow that set the Israelites free from
bondage? The four hundred and thirty
years were up at twelve o'clock that
night The four hundred and thirty years
were not up at eleven, and one O'Clock
would have been tardy aud too late. The
four hundred and thirty years were up at
twelve O'Clock, and the destroying angel
struck the blow, and Israel was free.
And God knows just the hour when it is
time to lead you up from earthly bond
age. By His grace make not the worst
of things, but the best of them. IL you
must take the pills do not chew them
Your everlasting rewards will accord with
your earthly pertur bations, just as Caius
gave to Agrippa chain of gold as heavy
as had been chain of iron. For the ask
ing-and / do not know to whom l speak
in this august assemblage, but the word
may be especially appropriation your
asking you may have the same grace that
was given to the Italian martyr, Algerius,
who, down in the darkest of dungeons,
dated his letter from sthe delectable
orchard of the Leonine prison"
And remem Der that this brief life of
ours is surrounded by rim, a very thin
but very important rim, aud close to that
rim is a great eternity, and you had bet
ter keep out of it until God breaks that
rim and separates this from that. To get
rid of the sorrows of earth, do not rush
into greater sorrows. To get rid Of a
swarm of summer insects leap not into q
jungle of Bengal tigers.
There is sorrowless world and it is so
radiant that the MONDAY sun is only the
lowest doorstep, and the aurora that
lights up our northern heavens
confounding astronomers as to what
it can be, is the waving of the ban.
ners of the procession come to take
the conquerors home from church mill
tant to church triumphant and you and /
have ten thousand reasons for wanting to
go there, but we will never get there
either by self -immolation or impenitency.