The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-08-29


coward, the suicide! Here is Ahithophel,
the Machiavelli Of olden times, betraying his
best friend, David, in order that he may be-
come prime minister of Absalom and joining
that fellow in his attempt at parricide. Not
getting what he wanted BY change OF politics
he takes short cut out Of disgraced lie
into the suicides eternity. There he ls, the
migrate!
Here is Abimelech practically a suicide.
he is with an army bonbarding tower,
when a woman in the tower takes grind
stone from its place and drops it upon his
head, and with what life he has left In q
cracked skull he commands his armor bearer,
"Draw thy sword and slay me, lest men say
q woman slew me-" There Is his post norton
photograph in the book of Samuel. But the
hero of this group Is Judas 1scariot. DR..
Dome SAYS he was q martyr, and we nave In
our day apologists for him. And what Won
der in this day when we have book reveal
ing Aaron Burr as pattern OF virtue, ana
in this day when we uncover statue 10
George Sand as the benefactress OF lltera.
ture, and in this day when there are be-
trayals of Christ on the part Of some OF His
pretended apostles-a betrayal so black 1t
makes the intamy 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 men and women OF the Bible
left to God the decision of their earthly ter
minus, and they could have said with Job.
who had right to commit suicide II any
man ever had-what with his destroyed
property, and his body all afame with insuf-
ferabIe carbuncles, and everything gone
from his home except the chief curse OF it
a pestiferous wife-and four garrulous peo.
ple peItinc him with comfortless talk while
he sits on a heap OF ashes scratching his
scabs with piece of broken pottery, yet
CRYING out In triumph, "All the days Of my
appointed time will wait till my change
come
Notwithstanding the Bible is against this
evil and the aversion which it creates by tho
loathsomo and ghastly spectacle OF those
who have hurled themselves out
of life, and notwithstanding Christ
ianity is against it and the argu-
ments and the useful lives andthe illustrious
deaths OF its disciples, it Is a fact alarming
" patent that suicide is on the increase.
What is the cause2 I charge upon inddelity
and sgnosticism this whole thing. II there
be no hereafter, or if that hereafter be bliss
full without reference to how We live and how
we die, why not move back the folding doors
between this world and the next2 And when
our existence here becomes troublesome why
not pass right over into Elysium? Put this
down among your most solemn reflections
and consider it after you go to your homes
there has never been case Of suicide
where the operator was not either domented,
and therefore irresponsible, or an inf1de. I
challenge all the ages. and challenge the
whole universe. There never has been a
case of self destruction while in full appre-
citation OF his Immortality and OF the fact
that that Immortality would be glorious or
wretched according as he accepted Jesus
Christ or rejected Him,
You say it is business trouble, or you say
It is electrical currents, or 1t Is this, or 1t Is
that, or it is the other thing. Why not go
clear back, my friend, and acknowledge that
in every case 1t Is the abdication Of reason or
the teaching OF inf1delity which practically
says, eff you don't like this life, get out OF
it, and you will land either in annihilation.
where there are no notes to pay, no persecu-
tions to suffer, no gout to torment, or you
will land where there will be everything
glorious and nothing to pay for it." Infdeli-
ty always has been apologetic for self immo-
lation. After Tom Paine's "Age Of Reason"
was published and widely read there was 4
marked increase Of self-slaughter.
Rousseau, Voltaire, Gibbon, Montaigne,
under certain circumstances, were apollo
eetic for self immolation. Inhdelity puts up
no bar to peoples rushing out from this
world into the next. They teach US it does
not make any difference how You live here
or 90 out of this world, you will land either
in an oblivious nowhere or glorious some
where. And infldelity holds the upper end
Of the rome for the suicide, and aims the
pistol with which man blows his brains
out, and mixes the strychnine for the last
swallow. II infidelity could carry the day
and persuade the majority Of people that 1t
does not made any difference how you go
out OF the world you will land safely. the
rivers would be 80 full Of corpseS the terry
boats would be impeded In their progress,
and the crack OF a suicides pistol would be
no more alarming than the rumble OF street
car.
Ah, infidelity, stand up and take thy sem
tencs! In the presence OF God and angels
and men, stand up, thou monster, thy lip
with lust, thy breath foul with the corrup-
ton of the ages! Stand up, satyr, filthy
goat, buzzard OF the nations, leper OF the
centuries! Stand up, thou monster inf1del-
ity, part man, part panther, part reptile, part
dragon, stand up and take thy sentence
Thy hand is red with tho blood in which
thou hast washed, thy feet crimson with the
human gore through which thou hast waded.
Stand up and take thy sentence! Down with
thee to tho pit and sup on the sobs and
grcans OF families thou hast blasted, and roll
ened for others, and let thy music be the
everlasting miserers O; those whom thou
hast damned! brand the forehead OF inf.
deity with all the crimes Of self immolation
for the last century on the part Of those who
had their reason.
MY friends, II ever your life through its
abrasions and Its molestations should seem
to be EnbeaSapIe, and you are tempted to
quit it by your own behest, do not consider
yourselves as worse than others. Christ
Himself was tempted to cast Himself from
the roof of the temple, but as He resisted 80
resist ye. Christ came to medicine all our
wounds. In your trouble I prescribe life in
stead OF death. People who have had 1t
worse than You will ever have it have gone
songful on their way. Remember that God
keeps the chronology OF your life with as
much precision as He keeps the chronology
ofnations.
Why was 1t at midnight, just at midnight,
the destroying angel struck the blow that
set the Israelltes free from bondage? The
490 years were up at IL o'clock that night.
The 430 years were not up at II, and O'Clock
would have been tardy and too late. The
430 years we're up at IL O'Clock, and the de-
stroying angel struck the blow, and Israel
was free And God knows just the hour
when it is time to lead you up from earthly
bondage. By his grace make not the worst
ofthings, but the best OF them. II you must
take the pills. do not chew them. Your ever
lasting rewards will accord with your earthly
perturbations. just as Caius gave to Agrippa
a chain of gold as heavy as had been his
chain of iron. For your asking you may
have the same grace that was given to the
italian martyr, Algerius, who, down in the
darkest Of dungeons, dated his letter from
"the delectable orchard of the Leonine pris-
op."
There Is sorrowless world, and it is so
radiant that the monday sun Is only the
lowest doorstep, and the aurora that lights
up our northern heavens, confounding as
tronomers as to what 1t can be, is the way
inc. of fha hannRrs OF the nrocession come