The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-10-24

fell dead. Have you any doubt OF tt
Qualification of Hugh Miller. after b
hot brain had ceased throbbing tn.
winter night in his study at Portobellc
Among the mightiest of earth, anon
the mightiest of Heaven.
To show how God in the Bible locke
upon this crime, l point you to tl
rogues' picture gallery in some parts {
the Bible, the pictures of the people wh
have committed this unnatural crime
Here is the headless trunk of Saul O
the walls of Bathshan. Here is the ma
who chased little David-ten feet i
stature chasing four. Here is the ma
who consulted a clairvoyant, Witch Q
Ender. Here is man who, whipped i
battle, instead of surrendering his swor
with dignity, as many man has done
asks his servant to slay him; and whe!
the servant declines, then the gian
plants the hilt OF the sword in the earth
The sharp point sticking upward, and h
throws his body on it and expires, th
coward, the suicide Here is s,Ahithopei
the Machiavelli Of, olden tmes,' betray
ing his best friend David in order tha
ne may become prime minister of Ahsa
lom, and joining that fellow in his at
tempt at parricide. Not getting what h'
wanted by change of politics, he takes
short cut of a disgraced life into tht
suicides eternity. There he is, th'
migrate!
Here is Abimelech, practically a sui
eide. He is with an army, bombardins
q tower, when a woman in the tower
takes grindstone from its place anc
drops it upon his head, and with what
life he has left in his cracked skull he
commands his armor bearer: ssDraw thy
sword and slay me, lest men say wo
man slew me-" There is his post NOR
TEN photograph in the book of Samuel
But the hero Of this group is Judas Is
CARROT. Dr.>Donne says he was 81 martyr,
and we have in our day apologists fol-
him. And what wonder, in this day
when we have q book revealing Aaron
Burr as pattern of9Mrtue, and in this
day when we uncover 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 pre-
tended apostles-a betrayal so black ii
makes tie infamy Of Judas Iscariot
white! Yet this man byshis own hand
hung up for the execraion 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 adame with insuferable carbuncles,
and everything gone from his home ex-
cept the chief course of it, {. pestif rous
wife, and four garrulous people pelting
hin, with comfortless talk while he sits
on heap of ashes scratching his scabs
with piece of broker, pottery, yet cry
ing out in triumph: "AIl the days of my
appointed time will I wait till my charge
come"
Notwithstanding the Bible is against
this evil. ard the aversion which it
creates by the loathsome ard ghastly
spectacle of those who have hurled them
selves out OF life, and Notwithstanding
Christianity is against it, and the argu-
ments and the useful lives and the illus
trious 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, OF if that here
after, he blissful without reference to
how We live and how We die, 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 Efysinn?
Put this down amoung your most solemn
reflections, and consider it after you 60
to your homes: there has never been q
case Of suicide where the operator was
not either aemented, and therefore irTes
sponsibie, or en- inidel. I challenge all
the ages, and challenge the whole uni
verse. There never has been a case of
self destruction while in full appreciation
of his immortality, and~of the fact that
mortality would be- glorious or wretch
ed according as heaccepted Jesus Christ
or rejectedshin. s2a y < ~ y
You say it is trouble, or you 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 acknowl-
edge that in every case It is the Adder
ton of reason or the teaching of ihfdel-
ity which practically says: 'If you don't
like tLis lie get out of it, and you will
land either iu ennihilation, where there
are no notes to pay, no prosecutions to
suffer, 70 gout to torment, or you will
land where there will be everything glcri-
Gus and nothing to pay for it." Infdeli-
ty always has been apologize for self
immolation. After Tom Paine's cage
of Reason was published and widely
read there Was a!marked increase oi Self
slaughter. l. - " ,,.c
A man in London heard Mr.. Owen de.
liver his intia4l lecture On socialism, and
wcut ho1ae. sat down and wrote these
woroS: "Jesus Christ is one Of the weak
est characters IN history, and the Bible
is the greatest possible deception" and
then shot himself. David Hume wrote
these words: cit would be no crime for
me to dlvert the Nile or the Danube
from its natural bed. Where, then, can
be the crime n my diverting q few drops
of blood from their ordinary channels
and having written the essay he loaned
it to friend, the friend read ii, wrote q
letter of thanks and admiration and shot
himself. Appendix to the same book.
Rousseau, Voltaire, Gibbon, Mon
taigne, under certain circumstances, were
apologize for self immolation. Inidelity
puts UP no bar to peoples rushing out