Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1894-08-30

the next? And when our existence here
becomes troublesome. why not pass
right over into Elysium? Put this
uown among your most solemn re-
nectlons, and consider it after you go
10 your home; there has never been a
case of suicide where the operator was
not either demented. and therefore ir-
responsible, or an infidal. | challenge
all the ages, and challenge the whole
universe. There has never been a case
OF self-destruction while in full appre-
cation of his immortality and of the
TACT that that Immortality would be
glorious or wretched according as he
accepted Jesus Christ or rejected him.
GU say it is business trouble. or you
say 1T 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
acknowledge that in every case it is the
abdication of reason or the teaching of
lnfidelity which practically says: IF
you don't like this life, get out of it,
and you will land either in annihila-
tion. where there are no notes to pay,
no prosecutions to suffer. no govt to
NCAhANhbs VI YOU Will ldltl ntlEIt NANAN
will be everything glorious, and moth
ing to pay for il. Infdelity always
has been apologize for self-immola-
ton. After Tom Paine's age of Rea-
SON was published and widely read
there was marked increase of self
slaughter
man in London heard Mr.. Owen de-
liver his inhdel lecture on Socialism.
and went home and sat down and wrote
these words: Jesus Christ is one of
the weakest characters in history, and
the Bible is the greatest possible de-
ception, and then shot himself. David
Hume wrote these words: 1T would
be no crime for me todivert the Nile or
the Danube from its natural bed
Where, then, can be the crime in my
diverting few drops of blood from
their ordinary channel?" And having
written the essay he loaned il to a
friend; the friend read it, wrote let
ter of thanks and admiration. and then
shot himself Appendix to the same
book.
Rousseau, Voltaire. Gibbon. Mon
taigne, under certain circumstances.
We're apologize for self-immolation
lnfidelity puts up no bar to people
rushing out from this world into the
Aext. They teach us it does not make
any difference how you live here or go
out of this world. you will land either
in an oblivious nowhere or glorious
somewhere And infidelity holds the
upper end Of the rope for the suicide,
and aims the pistol with which man
blows his brains out, and mixes the
strvchnine for the last swallow, If in
fidelity could carry the day and per-
suade the majority of people that 1t
does not make any difference how you
go out Of the world you will land safe
". the rivers would be so full of corpses
the ferryboats would be impeded in
their progress. and the crack of the
suicides pistol would be no more alarm
ing than the rumble Of street car.
| have sometimes heard it discussed
whether the great dramatist was a
Christian or not. do not know. but
know that he considered appreciation
of future existence the mightiest him
drance to self-destruction.
For who would bear the whips aud scofns Of
time,
The oppressor's wrong the proud mans con
tumely,
The pangs or despis d love. the laws delay,
The insolence OF ONCE. and the spurns
That patient merit Of the unworthy takes.
When he himself might his quietus make
With bare bodSin? Who would fardels bear
TO erunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread OF something after death I
This undiscovered country, from whose bourne |
No traveller returns-puzzles the VIII.
Would God that the coroners would |
be brave in rendering the right verdict
and when in the case Of responsibility |
they say. while this man was de-
mented he took his life, in the other /
case say Having read infidel books
and attended infdel lectures, which
obliterated from this mans mind all
appreciation of anything like future
re.ribution he committed self-slaugh.
ter"
All. infdelity, stand up and take thy
sentence. In the presence of God and
angels and men, stand up, thou mon
ster. thy lip blasted with blasphemy.
thy cheek Scared with lust, thy breath
foul with tne cOrTuptAOu VI Jhe ages.
stand up, Satyr, filthy goat, buzzard
of the nations, leper OF the centuries!
Stand up, thou monster infidelity. Part
man. part panther. part reptile, part
dragon, stand up and take thy SEN
tence! Thy hands red with the blood
in which thou hast washed. thy feet
crimson with the human gore through
which thou hast waded stand up and
take thy sentenced Down with thee to
the pit and sup on the sobs and groans
of families thou hast blasted, and roll
on the bed of knives which thou hast
for others, and let thy music
he the everlasting miserere of those
w.lom thou hast damned | brand the
forehead of intidelity with all the
r.mes of self-immolatioD for the last
aaturv on the part of those who had
III cir reason.
Nv friends, If ever your life through
is abrasions and its molestations
should seem to be unbearable and you
are tempted to quit it by your own be-