West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1888-10-25

expires, the coward, the suicide. Here is
A~hitophel. the Machiavelh OF olden times, be-
traying his best friend David in order that he
may become prime minister of Absalom, and
joining that fellow in his attempt at paricide.
Not getting what no wanted by change of
politics, he takes n short cut out OF a dis
graced life into the suicides eternity. There
he Is, the migrated Hers is Abimelech, prac-
tically a suicide. He Is with an army, bonn
harding q tower, when a woman in the tower
take a grtndstone from its place and drops
It upon his head, and with what life ne
has left in his cracked skull he commands
his armor-bearer: Draw thy sword and
STAY me, lest men say a woman slew me.n
There Is his post-mortem photograph In the
look OF Samuel. Bus the hero OF this group
II Judas Iscariot. DIR. Dome says he
was a martyr, and We have in our
day apologists for him. And what
wonder, in this day when we have
n book revealing Aaron Burr as a pattern OF
virtue, and in this day when we uncover a
statue 70 George Sand as the benefactress Of
literature, and i'm this day when there are
betrayals of Christ on the part OF some of
His pretended apostles-a betrayal so lack
IL makes tho infamy OF Judas Iscariot whitel
Yet this man by his own hand huns up for
the execration of all the ages, Judas Iscnriot.
All the good men and women Of the Bible
left 20 God the decision of their earthly
terminus, and they could have said with
job, who had n right 10 commit suicide II
any man ever had with his destroyed
property, his body all alame with insufFera-
BILE ~carbuncles, and everything gone from
bis homo except the chief curse OF IL, a pes
tiferous wife, and four garrulous people pelt-
ing him with comfortlcSs talk while he sits
on a heap OF ashes scratching his scabs with n
piece OF broken pottery, yet crying out i'm
triumph: A the days Of my appointed
time will L wait till my change Gomez
Notwithstanding the Bible Is against this
evil, and the aversion which Il creates by the
loathSome and CHASTITY spectacle OF those
who have hurled themselves out OF life, and
notwithstanding Christianity is against IL,
and the arguments and the useful lives and
the ilIustrious deaths OF its disciples, IL is a
fact alarmlngly patent that suicide is ON the
increase.
What is the causel charge upon MI
deity and Agnosticism this whole thing. IL
there be no hereafter, or IL that hereafter DO
bissful without reference 20 how we live
and how we die, why not movo back the
folding doors between this world and the next
And when our existence here becomes troub-
lesome, why not pass right over into Elysiuml
Put this down among your most solemn re-
Elections, and consider IL after you go to your
homes; there has never been n case of suicide
where the operator was not either demented,
and therefore Irresponsible, or an infidel. /
challenge all the ages, and / challenge the
universe. There never has been a case Of
sel~f-destruction while i'm full appreciation of
his immortality and of the fact that that inn
mortality would be glorious or wretched ac-
cording as he accepted Jesus Christ or reject.
ed Him.
You say IL is a business trouble, or you say
it is electrical currents, or 10 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 il is the abdica-
ton of reason or the teaching of inf
deity which practically says: "if you don't
like this life get out c. il, and you will
land either in annihilation, where there are
no notes to pay, no pers acutions TO suffer, no
govt TO torment, or you will land where
there will be everything glorious aud moth
ing TO pay for It," Inddelity always has
been apologetic for self.immolat.on After
Tom Paine's age Of Reason was published
and widely read there was a marked increase
OF seif-slaughter.
A man in London heard Mr.. Owen deliver
his inidel lecture on Socialism, and went
home, sat down, and wrote these words:
Jesus Christ is one Of the weakest characters
IN history, and the Bible is the greatest pos
sible deception and then shot himself.
David Hume wrote these words: sit would
be no crime for me to divert the Nile or the
Danube from its natural bed. Where then
can he the crime i'm my diverting a few drops
OF blood from their ordinary channell" And
having written the essay he loaned it to n
friend, the friend read it, wrote q letter Of
thanks ~.ud admiration, aud shot himself.
Appendix to the samo book.
Rousseau, No.taire, Gibbon, Montaigne,
under certain circumstances, were apologize
for selt-immolation. Infidelity puts up no
bar to peoples rushing out from 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 glorious some
where. And infidelity holds the upper end Of
tho rope for the suicide, and aims the pistol
with which n mar blows his brains out,
and mixes the st~rychnine for the last
swallow. II inGdelity could carry the day
and persuade the majority of people in his
country that it does not make any difference
how you go out Of the world you will land
safely, the Hudson and the East river would
be so fun OF corpses the ferryboats would be
impeded IN their progress, and the crack ola
suicides pistol would be no more alarming
than the rumble OF a street car.
have sometimes heard it discussed
whether the great dramatist was n Christian
or not. lido not know, but I Know that he
considered apprs iatiOn OF a future existence
the mightiest hindrance To self destruction:
"For who could bear the whips and scorns OF time,
The oppressor's wrong, the prou mans contumcly,
The pangs Of deep'sd iovc. The laws delay,
The insolerce OF Office, and tho spurHs
That patient merit Of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
Win n bare bodk n! Who would fardels bear,
TO Rrunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread OF something after death
The undiscovered country, from whose bourne
No traveller r~eturns-puSl.es .he wlilp
Would Goa that the coroners would DO
brave i'm rendering the right verdict, and
when in a case of responsibility they say:
while this man was demented he took his
hfe% In the other case say: "Having read
inidel hooks and attended infdel lectures,
which obliterated from this mans mind all
appreciation OF anything like future retri-
button, he. committed self slaughteri'
Ali lnfdelity, stand up and take thy sen
tencel In the presence of tod and angels
and men, stand up, thou monster. thy lip
blasted with blasphemy, thy cheek SCARED
with lust, thy breath foul with the
corruption OF the agesl Stand up
Satyr, filthy goat, buzzard Of the ma
tons, leper OF the centuriesl Stand
up, thou monster In6delityi Part
man, part panther, part reptile, part dragon,
stand I'D and take thy sentenced Thy hands
red with the blood I'm which thou Inst
washed, thy feet crimson with the human
gore through which thou hast waded stand up
and take thy SENTENCED Down with thee 10 the
PIT on sup on the sObs and groans Of families
thou has blasted and Poll ON The bel Of knives
which thou hast sharpened for others, and
let thy music 10 the everlasting miserere Of
those whom thou hast damnedi j brand tho
forehead % infdelity with all the crimes Of
salf-immO'atiou for the last century ON the
part n those who had their reason.
Ny friends, n ever your life through It's
nbrasiOns and It's molestations, should seem
u d. unb arabic, AMI you ar8 tempted TO
quit 10 by your own behest. do not consider
yourself as worse than others. Christ him
asii was temDled to cast Himself from the
roof or the Icmplc, but as lie resisted,
70 resist We. Christ came 70 medicine
gu our wounds Ia your trouble ] prescribe
ife instead ~ death. People who have had
D IL nUnHnn fNUaHr arIra rmru 900 Naa. "a $1,000