Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-08-17
The Crime Spreads

Inc HpfthtA-t
Times have changed, and yet the
American conscience needs to be toned
upon the subject of suicide. Have you
seen paper in the last month that die
not announce the passage out Of life by
ones own behest? Defaulters, alarmed
at the idea of exposure, quit life pre-
cipitately. Men losing large fortunes &c
out Of the world because they cannot
endure earthly existence. Frustrated af-
lection, domestic infelicity, dyspepdC
impatience, anger, remorse, envy Jeal'
ousv. destitution, misanthropy, are con-
sidered sufficient causes for absconding
from this life by paris green, by lauda
mum, by belladonna, by Othello's dag
ger, by halter, by leap from the abut'
ment Of a bridge, by firearms. More
cases Of "felo de Sc" in the last two
years Of the worlds existence. The evil
is more and more spreading.
A pulpit not long ago expressed some
doubt as to whether there was really
anything wrong about quitting this life
when it became disagroeable, and there
are found in respectable circles people
apologetic for the crime which Paul III
the text arrested. l shall show you be-
fore l get through that suicide is the
worse Of all crimes, and l shall lift a
warning unmistakable. But in the carly
part Of this sermon wish to admit that
some Of the best Christians that have
ever lived have committed self destruc-
ton, but always in dementia and not
responsible. Ihave no more doubt about
their eternal felicity than have Of the
Christian who dies in his bed in the de-
lirium of typhoid fever. While the
shock Of the catastrophe is very great,
charge all those who have had Chris
tan friends under cerebral alteration
step off the boundaries Of this life to
have no doubt about their happiness.
The dear Lord took them right out OF
their dazed and frenzied state into per
feet safety. How Christ feels toward
the insane you may know from the kind
way he treated the demoniac Of Gadara
and the child lunatic, and the potency
with which he hushed the tempests
either of sea or brain.
Hugh Miller and Cowper.
Scotland, the land prolific Of intel
lectual giants, had none grander than
Hugh Miller, great for science and
great for God. He came Of the best high
land blood, and he was descendant OF
Donald Roy, a 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 Of the
stonemason, drew forth the astonished
admiration of auckland and Murchison,
the scientists, and DR.. Chalmers, the
theologian, and held universities spell
bound 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
the hills is the God Of the Bible, and
he struck his tuning fork on the rocks
of Cromarty until he brought geology
and theology accordapt in divine wor'
ship His two books, entitled Foot
prints Of the Creator" and the "Testi-
mony of the Rocks" proclaimed the
banns of an everlasting marriage be
tween genuine science and revelation.
On this latter book So lied day and
night, through love Of ii%ure and love
of God, until he could not sleep, and his
brain gave way, and he was found dead
with q revolver by his side, the cruel
instrument having had two bullets-one
for him and the other for the gunsmith
who at the coroner's inquest was exam
lining it and fell dead. Have you any
doubt Of the Justification Of Hugh Mil
Ter after his hot brain had ceased throb-
bing that winter night in his study at
Portobello? Among the mightiest OF
earth, among the mightiest Of heaven.
No one ever doubted the piety Of Will
liam Cowper, the author of those three
great hymns, "Oh, For a Closer Walk
With Godw "What Various Hin
ORANGES We Meet" ''There Is a Foun-
tain 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 to the river Thames, but found a
man seated on some goods at the very
point from which he expected to spring