The Penn's Grove record., 1894-08-17
REV DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE,S sun.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Suiclde."

TEXT. HE drew out his sword and would
have killed himself, supposing that the prls.
oners had been fed. But Paul cried with Q
loud voice, saying, Do thyself no HARM
Acts xvi, 81, 2S.
Here is n would be suicide arrested in his
deadly attempt. He was n sheriff, and ac-
cording to the Roman law Il baillf himself
must suffer the punishment due an escaped
prisoner, and if the prisoner breaking jail
was sentenced to be ~enduugconed for three
or Jour years then tho sheriff must be en-
dungeoned for three or four years, and il
the prisoner breaking Jail was to have suf-
fered capital punishment then the sheriff
must suffer capital punishment.
The sheriff had received especial charge
to keep a sharp lookout for Paul and Silas.
bolts and bars TO keep safe these two clergy
men. about whom there seemed to be ome
thing strange and supernatural.
Sure enough, by miraculous p57AS:cs
are free, and the sheriff, waking a1t Of u
sound sleep and supposinc these ministers
have run away, and knowing they were TO
die for preaching Christ. and realizing that
he must therefore die, rather than 80 under
the executioner's AK on the morrow n
suffer public disgrace resolves to p~recipitate
his own decease. But before the sharp.
keen, glitterlng dagger Of the sherlu could
strike his heart n OF the unlooSeus5
prisoners arrests the blade by the eommIn'N
D thyseIi no harm"
In olden time, and whero Christianity
had not interierei with it, suicide was con-
sidered honorable and a syn of courage.
Demosthenes poisoned himself when told
that A~lexander's emhHssndOr had demanded
the surrender OF the Athenian orators.
1socrates killed himself rather than sur
render to Philip of Macedon. Cato, rather
I than ,l,. 80 J,t;,,1 fr,n-.- -. LII -v-n
life, AMI after three times his wounds had
been dressed tore them open and persisted.
Mithridates killed himself rather than sub
nit 10 Pompey. the %conqueror. Hannibal
destroyed his life by poison from his ring,
considering life unbearRble. Lycurgus Il
suicide, Brutus a suicide. Afterthe disaster
of Moscow Napoleon always carried with
him a preparation of opium, and one night
his servant heard the ex-emperor arise, put
something in n glass and drink 1t, and soon
after the groans arouse all the attendants,
and it was only through utmost medical
skill he was resuscitated from the stupor of
the opiate.
Times have changed, and yet the Ameri-
can conscience needs to be toned upon the
subject of suicide. Have you seen a paper
in the last mont that did not announce the
passage out Of life by ones own behest?
Defaulters, alarmed at the idea of exposure,
quilt life precipitately. Men losing large
fortunes go out of the world because they
cannot endure earthly existence. Frustrat-
ed affection, domestic infelicity. dyspectic
tmpatience, anger, remorse, envy, jealousy,
destitution, misanthropy, are considered
sufficient causes for Ascending from this
life by Paris green, by laudanum, by bella
donna, by Othello's dagger, by halter, by
leap from the abutment of a bridge, By fire.
arms. More cases of ''felo de Sc" in the last
two years ofthe worlds existence. The evil
Is more and more spreading.
A pulpit not long ugo expressed some
doubt as to whether there was really any
thing wrong about quitting this life wheni it
became disagreeable, and there are found in
respectable circles people apologize for the
crime which Paul in the text arrested. l
shall show you before / get through that
suicide is the worst Of all crimes, and I shall
hit a warning unmistakable. But in the
early part of this sermon / wish to admit
that some OF the best Christians that h We
syer lived have committed self destruct !,
but always in dementia and not response lie.
l have no more doubt about their eteinal
felicity than I have of the Christian who
dies in his bed in the delirium of typhoid
fever. While the shock of the catastrophe is
very great, l charge all those who have had
Christian friends under cerebral alteration
step Off the boundaries Of this dfe 40 have
40 doubt their happiness. This dess Lord
took them right out of their dazed apl fren-
Kted state into perfect safety. How Christ
feels toward the insane you may know from
the kin way he treated the demoniac 6
Gardara and the child %lunatic, and the po-
tency with which he hushed the tempests
either OF sea or brain.
Scotland, the land prolific OF intellectual
giants, had none grander than Hugh Miller,
great for science and great for God. He
came OF the best Highland blood, and he was
a descendant OF Donald Roy, q man eminent
for his piety and the rare gift of second
sight. His attachments, climbing up as he
did from the quarry and the wall ef the
stonemasop, drew forth the astonished nd
miratfon OF auckland and Murchison, the
scientists, and DR.. Chalmers, the theoloSian,
and held universities spellbound while he
told them the story OF what he had seen OF
God in the old red sandstone.
That man did more than any being that
ever lived to show that the God Of tho hills
Is the God of the Bible, and he struck his
tuning FORK on the rocks of Cromarty until
he brought geology and theology accordant
in divine worship. His two books, entitled
Footprints of the Creator and the "resti.
mony of the Rocks" proclaimed the banns
of an everlasting marriage between genuine
science and revelation. On this latter book
he toiled day and night. through love OF
nature and love OF God, until he could not
sleep, and his brain gave way, and he was
found dead with a revolver by his side, the
cruel instrument having had two bullets
one for him and the other for the gunsmith
who, at the ooroner's inquest, was examin.
ing 1t and fell dead. Have you any doubt oil
the beatihcation Of Hugh Miller alter his hot
brain had ceased %throbbing that winter night
in his study at Portobello2 Among the
mightiest OF earth, among the mightiest oil
heaven.
No one ever doubted the piety Of William
Cowper, the author Of those three great
hymns, "0h. For a Closer Walk With God r
"What Various Hlndrances We Meet ~
''There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood
William Cowper, who shares with Isaac
Watts and Charles Wesley the chief honors
of Christian ~hymnology. In hypochondria
he resolved to take his own life and rode &c
the river Thames, but found a man seated on
some goods ut the very point from winch he
expected to spring and rode back 10 ms
home and that night threw himself upon his
own knife, but the blade broke, AMI then he
hanged himself to the ceiling, but the rops
parted. Nc wonder that when Col meret'
fully delivered him from that awiuI demen
J tia he sat down and wrote that other hymn
just as memorable;
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform.
He plants His footsteps In the seq
And rides upon the storm
Blind unbelief Is sure 10 err
Aud scan His work In vain
God Is His own interpreter,
And He will make II plain.
While we make this merciiul and righteous
allowance in regard TO those who wert
plunged into mental i2coherencsf L deeiart
that the man who in the use of his reason
by his own act, snaps the bond between his
body and his soul goes straight into perdt
ton. Snail I prove III Revelation XXI, 8,
'Murderers shall have their part in tho laLa
which burneth with fire and birthstone =
Revelation xii, IS, ''Without are dogs and
sorosrers and whoremongers and murder
ers.I You do not believe the New Tesla.
ment. Then perhaps you believe the Ter
Commandments, ''Thou shalt not ktll.N
Do you say all these passages refer to the
taking of the life OF Others Then l ask vou
II you nre not as resi- onsihIo for your W
life as fol- the life of Others? God gave you
a special trust in your life. lie made you
the custodian OF your HE as he madeyou the
custodian OF no other life. lie gave yoI as
weapons with which to defend it two arms
TO strike back assailants. two eyes 10 watci
for invasion and a natural love Of life which
ought ever to be on the alert. Assassination
of others is a mild crime compared with the
assassination 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