Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-10-26
that whea God mercifully delivered him
from that awful dementia he sat down
and wrote that other hymn just as mem


God moves in mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea.
| And rides upon the storm.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
| And scan His work i'll vain
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
| While we make this merciful anC
righteous allowance in regard to those
who were plunged into mental incoher-
ence, declare that that man who in the
use of his reason, by his own act, snaps
the bond between. the body and his soul
| goes straight into perdition. Shall
shall have their part i'll the lake which
burneth with fire and birthstone" Rev.
citation xii, Is: Without are dogs, and
sorcerers. and whoremongers, and muir
derers. You do not believe the New
Testament? Then perhaps you believe
the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt
not kill" Do you say allthese passages
refer to the taking of the life Of others?
Then l ask you if you are not as respon-
sible for your own life MS for the life
of others' God gave you special trust
in your life. He made you the custodian
of your life as he made you the custo-
dian of no other life. He gave you as
weapons with which to defend it two
arms to strike back assailants, two eyes
to watch for invasion and natural love
of life which ought ever to be on the
alert. Assassination of others is q mild
of yourself, because in the latter case it
is treachery to an especial trust, it is the
surrender of a castle you were especially
appointed to keep, it is treason to a
natural law and it is treason to God
added to ordinary murder
To show how God in the Bible looked
upon this crime, l point you to the
rogues gallery in some parts of the
Bible, the pictures of the people who
have committed this unnatural crime.
Here is the headless trunk of Saul on
the walls of Bathshan. Here is the man
who chased little David-ten feet in
stature chasing four. Here is the man
who consulted the clai1voyant, Witch of
Endor. Here lisa man who whipped in
battle, instead of surrendering his sword
with dignity as many man has done,
asks his servant to Stay him; and when
the servant declines, then the giant
plants the hilt of the sword in the earth,
throws his body upon it and expires, the
coward, the suicide. Here is Ahithophel,
the Machiaveli of olden times, betray-
ing his best friend David in order that
he may become prime minister of Absa-
lon. and joining chat fellow in his at
tempt at parricide. Not getting what
he wanted by change of politics,
he takes a short cut out of n
disgraced life into the suicides
eternity. There he is, the migrate!
Here is Abimelech, practically sui
eide. He is with an army, bombarding
tower. when a woman in the tower
takes grindstone from its place and
drops it upon his head, and with what
life he has left in his cracked skull he
commands his arlnor bearer: Draw thy
sword and slay me, lest men say a wo-
man slew me-" There is his post mortem
photograph in the book of Samuel. But
the hero of this group is Judas Iscariot.
Dr.. Donne says he was martyr, and we
have in our day apologists for him. And
what wonder. in this day when we have
a book revealing Aaron Burr as pattern
of virtue, and in this day when we I'M
cover statue to George Sand as the
benefactress of literature, and in this
day when there are betrayals of Christ
on the part of. some of his pretended
apostles-a betrayal SO black it makes
the infamy of Judas Iscariot white Yet
this man by his own hand hung up for
the execration of all the ages, Judas
Iscariot.
All the good men and women of the
Bible left to God the decision of their
earthly terminus, and they could have
said with Job, who had right to COM
NIT suicide if any man ever had-what
with his destroyed property, and his
body all atiame with insutferable car
buncles, and everything gone from his
home except the chief curse of it, pes
tiferous wife, and four garrulous people
pelting him with comfortless talk while
he sits on u heap of ashes scratching his
scabs with piece of broken pottery, vet
crying outdn triumph: "All the DAYS of
my appointed time will l wait till nv
change come"
Notwithstanding that the Bible is
against this evil, and the aversion which
it creates by the loathsome and CHASTITY
spectacle of those who have hurled
themselves out of life, and notwith-
standing Christianity is against it, and
the arguments and the useful lives and
the illustrious deaths Of its disciples, it
is fact alarmingly patent that suicide
is on the increase.
What is the cause? I charge upon in
fidelity and agnosticism this whole
thing. If there be no hereafter, or if
that hereafter be blissful without re-
why not move back the folding doors
between this world and the next? And
when our existence here becomes
troublesome, why not pass right over
into Elysium? Put this down among
your most solemn recollections. and
consider it after you go to your home:
there has never been case of suicide
where the operator was not either de-
mented, and therefore irresponsible, or
an intidel. I challenge all the ages, and
challenge the whole universe. There
never has been case of self destruction
while in full appreciation of his immor-
tally, and of the fact that that immor-
tally would be glorious or wretched
according as he accepted Jesus Christ
or rejected Him.
You say it is business trouble. oryou
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 it is the
abdication Of reason or the teaching of
infdelity which practically says: "If
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 per-
SecutiOnS tn Suffar no cont fo %or,oo,+