The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1894-08-23
Among the mightiest OF earth among


dria he resolved to take his own life
and rode TO tho river Thames, but
found mau seated on some goods at
tho very point from which he expected
to spring, and rode back TO his homo and
that night threw hlmself upon his own
knife, but the blade broke, and then he
hanged himself TO the ceiling, but tho
rope parted. No wonder that when God
mercifully delivered him from that awful
dementia he sat down and wrote that
0 her hymn just es memorable:
God moves In myterlOus way
His wonders to perform.
lie plants his footsteps in thu sea
And rides upon tho storm.
Blind unbolief Is sure to err
And scan his work In vain,
God is his own interpreter,
And ho will make 1t plain.
While we make this merciful and
righteous allowance in regard to those
who were plunged INTO mental incoher-
enCe declare that tho man who in the
use Of his reason by his own act soaps
the bond between his body and his soul
goes straight into perditlon. Shall I
prove il? Revelation xxi, 8, ''Murder.
ers shall have their part in the lake that
burneth with fire and brmstone." Rev.
elation xxii, Is, "Without are dogs and
sorcerers and whoremongers and mur-
derors." You do not believe the Now
Testaments Then perhaps you believe
not kill" DO you say all these pas.
sages refer to the taking of the life of
others? Then ask you if you are not
as responsible for your own lite as for
the life Of others2 God eavo you aspe-
clal trust in your life. ne made you the
custodian of your life as he made you
the custodian of no other life. He gave
you as weapons with which to defend it
two arms to strike back assaillants, two
eyes to watch for invasion and a natural
love Of lite which ought ever TO be on
the alert. Assassination of others Is O
mild crime compared with the assassina-
tlon OF yourself, because in the latter
case it is treachery to an especial trust;
it ls the surrender Of q castle you were
ESPECIALLY appointed to keep; it is trea.
son to q natural law, and 1t treason to
God added TO ordinary murder.
TO show how God in the Bible looked
upon this crime L point you to the
rogues' picture gallery in some parts of
the Bible, the pictures OF the people who
have committed this unnatural crime.
Here is the hendless trunk of Saul on
tho walls Of Bathshan. Hero ia the
man who chased little David-10 feet in
stature chasing 4. Here is the;man who
F Consulted a clairvoyant. witch of Endor
Hero is man who, whipped in battle
instead OF surrendering his sword with
dignity, as many q man has done, asks
his servant to elaY him, and when the
servant declines then the giant plants
the hlt OF the sword in tho earth, the
sharp point sticking upward, and he
throws his body on it and expires, the
coward, the suicide! Here is Ahithopel,
the MachlavelH of olden times, botray-
ing his best friend David in order that
he may become prime minister of Absa-
lom and joining that follow ia his at.
tempt at parrIcide. Not getting what
iie wanted by change ofpolitics, he takes
a short cut out Of n disgraced life into
suicides eternity. There he is, the
ingratel
Here is Abimelech, practically sui
| eide. He ID with au army bombarding
tower, when a woman IN the tower
takes grindstono from it's place and
drops it upon his head, and with what
life he has lett in cracked skull he
commands his armor bearer, "Draw thy
sword and slay mo, lest men say wo-
man slew me-" There is his post NOR
tom photograph in the book of Samuel.
But the hero of this group is Judas Is
CARROT. DIR. Donne says he was a mar
tyr, and we have in our day apolgists
for him. Aud what wonder, In this day
when we have book revealing Aaron
Burr as a pattern Of virtue, and in this
day when we uncover q 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 1t
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 mon and women Of the
Bible left to God tho decision of their
earthly terminus, and they could have
eald with Job, who had right TO com
! NIT suicide if any man ever had, what
with his destroyed property and his
body all aAame with insufferable car.
buncles and everything gone from his
home except the chef curse of it--a pes.
tiferOus wife-and four garrulous people
peltlng him with comfortless talk while
he sits on heap Of ashes, scratching his
scabs with q pece Of broken pottery,
yet crying out in triumph, "All the days
of my appointed time will wait till my
change come.n
Notwithstanding tho Bible is against
this evil and the aversion which it Gre.
ates by the loathsome and ghastlY spec.
tacle 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
trieus deaths of its disciples, it is a fact
alarmingly patent that suicide is on tho
increase. What is tho cause2 charge
upon inldelity and agnostlcism this
whole thing. If there be no hereafter
or If that hereafter be blissful without
reference to how we live and how we die
why not movo back the folding doors
between this world and the nexR And
when our existence here becomes troub-.
lesome why not pass right over into Ely.
SUM? Put this down among your most
sOlemn reflections and cOnsider il after