Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1894-08-30
THE WORST CRIME.
rev. T. Dewitt Talmags breaches a
Sermon on Suicide.
a. Claims That Infdeiity is the Prime
Cause of the Sin of seIf-Destruction
God Alone Knows the Hour to
Free Va from EesrthIy
bondage and Call Us
to His Realms.

snbiect of his recent sermon through
Y ,be oress, the word Suicide" the to xt
being Acts xvi, 81, 2s: He drew ont
his sword and would have killed him
self supposing that the prisoners had
bsen fed But Paul cried with a loud
voice, saying; Do myself no harm. -
Here is a would-be suicide arrested in
his deadly attempt. He was sheriff.
and according to the Roman law a
bailiff himself must suffer the punish
ment due an escaped prisoner; and ii
the prisoner breaking Jail was sen
fenced to be endungeoned for three or
four years, then the sheriff must be
endungeoned for three or four years:
and if the prisoner breaking jail was
10 have suffered capital punishment.
then the sheriff must suffer capital
punishment
The sheriff had received especial
charge to keepa sharp lookout for Paul
and Silas The government had not
had confidence in bolts and bars to keep
safe these two clergymen. about whom
there seemed to be something strange
snd supernatural
sure enough, by miraculous power,
they are free, and the sheriff. waking
ont Of a sound sleep, and supposing
these ministers have run away, and
moving that they were to die for
preaching Christ, and realizing that he
must therefore die, rather than 90 I'M
der the eXecutioner's ak on the morrow
and suffer public disgrace resolves to
meciptate his own decease But be-
fore The sharp, keen glittering dagger
Of the sheriff could strike his heart
one Of the unloosened prisoners arrests
the blade by the command, "Do thy
self no harm"
IN llden time. and where Christianity
had not interfered with it. suicide was
considered honorable and sign of
courage Demosthenes poisoned him
self when told that Alexander's am
baSsador had demanded the surrender
Of the Athenian orators, Socrates
killed himself rather than surrender
70 Philip nj Macedon. Cato, rather
thar submit to Julius Cesar, took his
OWE life. and after his wounds had
beer dressed three times tore them
open aud persisted. Mithridates killed
himself rather than submit to Pompey,
the oonqueror. Hannibal destroyed
his life By poison from his ring, consid-
eriug life unbearable. Lycurgus a sui
eide Brutus a suicide After the dis
sster al Moscow, Napoleon always car
red preparation of opium. and one
nigh, his servant heard the ex-emperor
lrise put something in a glass and
drink it, and soon after the groans
srOused all the attendants, and it was
only through utmost medical skill he
was resuscitated from the stupor of the
opatt
Times have changed, and yet the
American conscience needs TO be toned
cPo1 the subject of suicide. Have you
seen paper in the last month that did
notaunouuce the passage out of life
by ones own behest? Defaulters,
iarIed az the idea of exposure, quit
lie rrecipitately Men losing large
fortunes 20 ont Of the world because
they cannot endure earthly ex-
htence. Frustrated affection, domestic
1ie-icty. dySpeptic impotence, anger.
FsmorSe, envy, jealousy, restitution
nd misanthropy are considered sutfi-
cent causes for absconding from this
lie by Paris green, by laudanum, by
peladonna by Othello's dagger, by
halter, by leap from the abutment OF a
bridge, by firearms. More cases of
ielo de se' in the last two years Of the
Sorlds existence. The evil is more and
more preading.
Apulpit not long ago expressed some
DOUBT as to whether there was really
anything wrong about quitting this life
Sher It became disagreeable, and there
'r found in respectable circles people
spoiogetic for the crime which Paul IN
ne text arrested. shall show you be-
on ! get through that suicide is the
worst of all crimes, and | shall lift
Warning unmistakable. But in the early
Ari q this sermon wish to admit that
slle Of the best Christians that have
.Vec lave committed self-destruction.
Ntt-ways in dementia, and not re-
'ponSole. have no more doubt about
asr eternal felicity than have Of the
Tristan who dies in his bed in the de-
lfOH of typhoid fever. While the
,aocE Of the catastrophe is very great
eatrge all those who have had Chris
Ah friends under cerebral alteration
W on the boundaries of this life, to
ave 10 doubt about their happiness
he dear Lord took them right outof
.aeF tazed and frenzied state into per-
~ safety. How Christ feels toward
= Insane YOU may know from the kind
\ Wy ne treated the demoniac of Gadara
'al t-e child lunatic. and the potency
WI which he hushed the tempests
a'as, Of sea or brain.
sotand, the land prolific of intel
\ "a giants. had none grander than
--sl Miller. Great for science and
"a -or God He came of the best |
satnd blood. and he was a descend
. Donald Roy, a man eminent for
2isiy and the rare gift of second
- His attachments, climbing up |
q I'D from the ouarrv and the wall |