The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-06-30
THE CAUSE OF SUICIDES.

Rev. Logs Sermon Timely Sub
ject.
At the Battery street Methodist church
last evening Rev. +. w. 10y took for his
subject. "Suicides-Their Cause and Cure. I"
He took for his text:
Acts xvi:2s-"Do myself no HARM"
Nothing" he said. ''is more shocking
than suicide. And suicides are on the in
crease. especially in Seattle. Seattle will
soon be known as the city OF suicides and
divorces.
suicide is intentional self-destruction by
psrson of the wears of discretion and of q
sound mind. Self-destruction by an ire
sponsible person is not suicide. 4 number
of suicides are referred to in the Bible: Saul,
king of Israel, when he saw the battle was
against him and all was lost; Anithophel.
because Absolom followed the counsel of
another: Judas, filled with remorse because
of his sin in betraying the Saviour. The
jailer when the angel delivered Paul and
Silas from prison would have killed him
self had not Paul cried: We are all here:
do thyself no HARM
Il believe the great underlying cause of
suicide is atheism. There is no sin so dire,
so dark as unbelief. We read OF many who
are without God and without hope in the
world One follows the other. Without
God. without hope. To many this life is
not worth living. They see nothing but
sorrow and disappointments before them.
If this life is all and it is not worth living,
why not end it? To the unbeliever there
is nothing beyond to gain or to shun. and
this life has no relation to a future exist
ence, hence they know not how to value
this life. Thousands have been rushed on
to self-murder by the despair of infidelity.
revival of suicides always follows re-
vivaI of atheism.
while unbelief is the underlying cause
there are what 1nay be called the immedi-
ate causes: Disappointment; it may be in
love, in business. or politics. The man
who sets his affections upon the things of
this life, when these things are swept from
under him, has nothing TO rest upon. All
is gone. The believer. when all he holds
dear in this world is taken from him, looks
up and shouts God and heaven are still
my own
Another immediate cause of suicide is
ipation-drink, sin, crime. See the
number of suicides committed in saloons.
There is one saloon in North Seattle
where there have been three suicides in the
last two months. That saloon does seem
to excel in sending men to destruction.
God pity the man who runs it, and God
pity the men who permit him to run it.
An eminent German scholar maintains
that the use of beer in large quantities Is a
prolific cause OF suicide, and supports his
position with invincible arguments. Many
unfortunates who find their way to White
chapel end their lives.
I'VE are are told generally that it is be-
cause they have been forsakenspy lover
or husband. This is to deceive. / believe
in most cases it is because OF the remorse
of sin. Men who have committed crimes
carry the secret with them wherever they
go. Their consciences are like lead, g burn
ing in the soul, hell within. Without faith
in a future, they hope to end all, or believ-
ing in Il future existence, they prefer to
sink into death and hell rather than bear
the suspense and dread.
1--WE offer as the great panacea the Cos
pei of the Son of God. It removes the de-
spair OF unbelief, bids the respondent soul
look up ami nope, and corrects the life OF
evil habits. Christianity says to all men
do thyself no HARM"