Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-08-13

l
liam COwper, the author of those three
great hymns, "Oh, For q Closer Walk
| With GQdp' "What Various Hin
drances We Meetp "There Is Foun.
tain Filled With Blood" William
Cowpor, who shares with Isaac Watts
and Charles Wesley the chief honors of
Christian hymnoloFy. In hypochon8ria
he resolved to take his own life and
rode to the river Thames, but found a
man seated On some goods at the vcly
point from which he expected to spring
and rode back to his home and that
night threw himself upon his own
knife, but &c hlade brol1G, and theE he
hanged himself to the coiling, but the
rope parted. No wonder that when Coo
mercifully delivered him from that
awful deMentia he sat down and wrote
.hGt other hymn just as memorable:
God moves Ia a mysterious way
Hts wonders TO perform.
Ec r.a' ts his footsteps in the sea
A..d ices upon ,ls s,arm.
Elind unbelicf is suco 70 ccr
And scan his work in vain.
Ccd is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
Treason to God.
While we mako this merciful and
righteous allowance in regard to those
who were plunged into montal incoher-
once, | declare that the man who il the
use OF his reason, by his own act, snaps
the bond between his body and his soul
goes straight into perdition. Shall /
prove it? Revelation xxi, s, Murder
ers shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstcne;"
Revelation xii, 10, without are dogs
and sorcerers and whoremonger3 and
murderers. You do not believe the
New Testament? Then perhaps you be-
lieve the Ten Commandments, Thou
shalt not kill.
Do you say all these passages refer to
the taking of the life of others? Then ]
ask you if you are not as responsible for
your own life as for the life of others?
God gave you a special trust i'll your
life He made you the custodian of
your life as he made you the custodian
Of no other life He gave you as weap-
ons with which to defend it two arms
to strike back assailants, two eyes to
watch for invasion and a natural love
of life which ought ever to be on the
alert. Assassination of others is mild
crime compared with the assassination
of yourself, because in the latter case it
is treachery to an especial trust, it is the
surrender of a castle you were especially
appointed to keep, it is treason to nat
ural law and it is treason to God add
ed to ordinary murder.
To show how God in the Bible looked
upon this crime l point you to the rogues'
picture gallery in some parts Of the Bi-
BILE, the pictures Of the people who have
committed this unnatural crime Here
is the headless trunk of Saul on the
walls of Bathshan. Here is the man
who chased little David-10 feet in
stature chasing 4. Here is the man
who consulted a clairvoyant witch of
Endor. Here is man who, whipped il
battle, instead Of surrendering his
sword with dignity, as many a man has
done, asks his servant to slay him, and
when the servant declines then the giant
plants the hilt Of the sword in the earth,
the sharp point sticking upward, and he
throws his body on it and expires, the
coward, the suicide! Here is Ahitho-
phel, the Machiavelli of oldcn times,
betraying his best friend, David, in or
der that he may become 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 q disgraced
life into the suicides eternity. There he
is, the migrate!
Two Cases In Point.
Here is Abimelech practically a sui
eide. He is with an army bombarding
tower, when a woman i'll the tower
takes grindstone from its place and
drops it upon his head, and with what
life he has left in a cracked skull he
commands his armor bearer, Draw III!
sword and slay me, lest men say WCla
an slew me. " There is his post morter
photograph in the book of Samuel. But
the hero of this group is Judas lscariot
DR.. Donne says he was a martyr, and
we have in our day apologiats for him.
And what wonder in this day when VT
have book revealing Aaron Burr as
pattern of virtue, and in this day wher
we uncover a statue to George Sand a.
the benefactress of literature, and il |
this day when there are berayals OF |
Christ on the part of some Of his pre-
tended apostles-a betrayal so black il
makes the infamy of Judas Iscario, |
white! Yet this man by his own hanC |
hung up for the execration of all tn,
ages, Judas Iscariot.
All the good men and women Of the |
Bible left to God the decision Of theiI |
earthly terminus, and they could have
said with Job, who had right 10 com
NIT suicide if any man ever had-whai
with his destroyed property, and hi |
bodyall anam0With insufferable carbnn-
cIes, and everything gone from his homo |
except the chief curse OF it-a pestifeT |
GUS wife-and four garulous people |
peltiug him with comfortless talk Will, |
he sits on heap Of ashes scratching hi
seabs with a piece Of broken pottery,
yet crying out in triumph, "All the
lays'of my appointed time will wait
-;ll my oIoStfe cgptc 30