The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1890-01-23
THAI SUICIDE.

uNDiHb@U ny gam.
THAT SUICIDE.
In THE SENTINEL of January 10th,
| see an accounts of Il young lady in
Grayson county, Va, who evidently
in i, state of insanity produced by re
llglous excitement) committed sui:
eide by jumping into a well.
Is it not time that both preachers
and people reconsider the creeds and
doctrines that lead to such shocking
consequences? Statistics from our
lunatic asylums show that more peo-
pie become insane from religious mel
ancholy, induced by great excite
ment, or the effort to believe unreal
sonable and conflicting doctrines,
than from any other single cause, mot
excepting intemperance. .=...-... -.
Is it possible that such results can
follow the preaching of the gospel Of
Him whose coming was announced
by the angels as ''Good tidings of
great joy which shall be to all peo-
ple?' Is it not rather to be attrib-
uted to false doctrines, and false
views of the Divine character, which,
finding a congenial soil in dark,
fanatical and superstitiOus minds,
are reflected in such hideous distor-
lions of the divine attributes as to
drive the strong minded into infidel-
ity and the honest believer to insani-
ty or suicide?
Although the character of our Hea-
venly Father is fully expressed in the
one word, love, such preachers do
not hesitate to attribute to him feel
ings of wrath and vengeance, which
would deepen the guilt of the great
est tyrant who ever lived on earth.
They do not hesitate to lay upon
the individual soul all the accumu-
lated guilt of the world from Adam
to the present time, and account it a
mortal sin, justly deserving the ven
geance of God, to be born into this
world. They have, however, provid
ed q kind of spiritual bankrupt law,
by means of which the debtor can
evade payment. Losing sight of the
fact that by a law of creation incor-
porated into the spiritual constitu
ton of man, sin and it's punishment
are related to each other as cause
and effect; and that the punishment
can only be evaded by removing its
cause, and Notwithstanding the
teaching and practice OF the postles,
which show that they required of the
believer only that he repent Tor turn
away from his sins or stop sinning)
and be baptized, teaching them after
wards to add to their faith virtue,
and to virtue knowledge, and to
knowledge temperance, etc; thus
hni al I1.aJ
and Notwithstanding the fact that
they were thus able to save three
thousand on tie day of Pentecost
witout leaving one heart-broken
mouner behind, they have proceeded
to'enthrone an arbitrary God who is
Independent of all law, and whose
wrath had to be appeased by the
death Of an innocent one in payment
of the debt due by the guilty.
All this, however, is not effective
witout some human suffering. 1t
matters not how sincerely the believ-
er may confess his faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, nor how honestly he
may strive to put away his sins, and
by obedience to commandments to
cultivate the better life, Gods wrath
must be appeased, and he hides his
face from the penitent, until by bitter
cries and tears and eXcruciating ago
ny his heart softens, the penitent is
pardonded, and the evidence of his
pardon is-what do lyou suppose,
reader?-the promises of God s word?
No; f1eeting emotion! And upon
this he is to look back through the
remaining years of his life as the evil
dence that God once pardOned his
sins, while he fights the real battle
against sin upon precisely the same
ground as does the man who has not
this experience to look back to.
"To the law and to the testimony;
if they speak not according to this
word, it is because there is no light
in them" Search the scriptures, for
they contain the words of life, and
will lead you into the better way.
But even if we had nc Bibles, that
| universal inspiration which is the
gift of God to all who love the good
and the true, should save us from
| such monstrouss conceptions of the
Divine Being.
Is there in all this wide world a
loving heart that has not had visions
of better things? Perhaps in your
secret chamber, or while walking
through verdant fields, with the soft
sunlight falling around you and
| stealing you away from the busy
| haunts of men into communion with
with Nature and Natures God. Al
such times, while the secret chambers
of your soul were unlocked, have you
not heard in your inmost heart the
voice of your Heavenly Father
stamping the seal OF condemnation
upon this accumulation of horrors
If SO, you have been face to face with
! your Maker, and need never doubt
what he has told you.
| New CHURCHMAN