The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1894-08-23
Among tho mightiest OF earth among
tha mipbfiea Of heaven.

dria he resolved to take his own life
and rode 10 tho river Thames, but
found q man seated on sOme goods at
the very point from which he expected
| to spring, and rode back 10 his homo and
that night threw hlmself upon his own
knife, but the blade broke, and then he
hanged himself to tho ceiling, but the
rope parted. No wondor that when God
mercifully delivered him from that awful
dementia he sat down and wrote that
O. her hymn just es memorable:
God moves in mytorious way
His wonders to perform.
lie plants his footsteps in thu sea
And rides upon tho storm.
Blind unbolef Is sure to err
And scan his work In vain,
God is his own Interpreter,
And he will make 1t plain.
While we mako this merciful and
righteous allowance in regard to those
who were plunged INTO mental incoher-
once I 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 l
prove ii? Revelation xxi, 8, Murder
ers shall have their part in the lake that
burneth with fire and brimstone." Rev.
elation xxiI, Is, "Without are dogs and
sorcerers and whoremongers and muir
derers." You do not believe tho New
Testaments Then perhaps you belicve
the Ten Commandments, 'Thou shalt
not kill" DO you say all these pas
sages refer to the taking of the life of
others? Then 1 ask you if you are not
as responsible for your own lilo as for
the life of others2 God gave you spe-
clal trust in your life. me 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 natural
love of lite which ought ever TO be on
the alert. Assassination of others iB q
mild crime compared with the assassinR.
ton OF yourself, because in the latter
case it is treachery to an especial trust
it is tho surrender Of O castle you were
especially appointed to keep; it is trea
son to q natural law, and 1t treason tt
God added to ordinary murder.
To show how God in the Bible looked
upon this crime 1 point you to tht
lrogues' picture gallery in some parts oi
the Bible, the pictures OF the people who
have committed this unnatural crime
{ Here is the heRdless trunk of Saul on
. tho wallis Of Bathshan. Hero is TIN
= man who chased little David-l0 feet il
stature chasing 4. Here is the;man VIII
E Consulted q clairvoyant. witch of Endor
- Hero is man who, whipped in battle
!. instead Of surrendering his sword wit
, dignity, as many man has done, ask
his servant to elay him, and when tn,
= servant declines then the giant plant
the hlt OF the sword in tho earth, tn
!, sharp point sticking upward, and he
throws his body on it and expires, th
coward, the sulcidel Hore Is Ahithopel
, the Machlavelli of olden times, botray
, ing his best friend David in order thai
= he may become prime minister of Absa
:, lom and joining that fellow ia his at
tempt at parrIcide. Not getting wha
] he wanted by change Of politics, he takes
short cut out Of disgraced life into
a suicides eternity. There he is, tho
ingratei
Here is Abimelech, practically sui
eide. He ls with an army bombarding
q tower, when woman IN the tower
takes grindstone from it's place and
drops II upon his head, and with what
life he has lett in q cracked skull he
commands his armor bearer, "DraW thy
sword and slay me, lest men say wo.
man slew NO." There is his post NOR.
tenn photograph in the book of Samuel.
But tho hero of this group Is Judas Is
CARROT. DR.. Donne says he was mar
tyr, and we have In our day apolgists
for him. Aud what wonder, In this day
when we have book re7ealing Aaron
Burr as a pattern of virtue, and in this
day when we uncover statue to Georgt
Sand as the benefactress of literature
, and in this day when there are betrayal
of Christ on the part of some of his pre-
, tended apostles-a betrayal 30 black
? makes the infamy of Judas Iscario
. white! Yet this man by his own han
Q hung up for the execration Of all th
u. ages, Judas Iecarlot.
g All the good men and women Of tn
a Bible left to God the decision of thei
t earthly terminus, and they could hav
2 sald with Job, who had right to com
f nit suicide if any man ever had, wha
q with his destroyed property and hi
I body all aAame with insutlerable CO,
t buncles and everything gone from hi
homo except the chief curse of it--a paf
. tiferous wite-and four garrulous peopl
, peltlng him with comfortless talk whil
. he sits on q heap of ashes, scratching hi
scabs with piece Of broken pottery
, yet crying out in triumph, "All the day
. of my appointed time will I wait till m
change come."
Notwithstanding the Bible is againa
this evil and the aversion which il ere
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 tho argu
ments and the useful lives and the illus
trieus deaths Of its disciples, it is fac
lalarmingly patent that suicide is on tn
increase. What is the cause? charg
upon infldelity aud agnostlcism thi
whole thing. IF there be no hereafte
or if that hereafter be blissful withOu
reference to how we live and how we di
why not move back the folding door
between this world and the nexR AM
when our existence here becomes troub
leseme why not pass right over into Ely
sium? Put this down among your mos