Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-08-29
icture gallery in some parts o, the Bible,


bis sword with dignity. asks his servant to
Say 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 1t and expires, the
coward, the suicide. Here is Ahithophe,,
the Machiaveli OF olden times, be. rayinS his
o,st friend, David. in order that he ND be-
sone prime minister Of Absalom and teining
that fellow IN his attempt at parricide. Not
ye,tin what he wanted by change OF politics
he takes n short cut out OF a disgraced life
into the suicides eternity. There he is, the
Migrate!
Here is Abimelech practically suicide.
when a woman in the tower takes a grind.
| stone from its place and drops 1t upon his
head, and with what life he has left In a
cracked skull he commands his armor bearer,
"Draw thy sworl and clay me. lest men say
! woman slew me-" There is his post mortem
photograph in the book of Samuel. But the
hero OF this group is Judas Iscariot. DR..
ponne says he was a martyr, and we have in
! our dar apologists for him. And what won-
der in This day when we have a book reveal
ing Azrcn Burr as pattern OF virtue, AM
! in this day when We uncover a statue to
George Sand as the bensfactress of litera-
turr, and In this day when there ara be-
trayals o! Christ on the part OF some of His
pretended apostes-a betrayal so black it
makes the infamy OF Judas Iscariot white
lei tulS man Dy MS own nanl nung IOc
IN. execration OF all the ages, Judas Iscar,ot.
All the good men and women OF the Bible
left to God the decision of their earthly ter
%bo had issf could haye said job
man ever had-what with his destroyed
property, and his oiy all aiame with insu--
ferable carouncles, and everything gone
from his home except the chief curse OF it
y psstiferous wife-and four garrulous peo.
Pile peiting him with comfortless talk while
haS NJ ali h
scabs with piece of broken pottery, yet
,rylng out in triumph, Gan the days OF my
appointed time will wait till my change
come"
No,withstan ling tho Bible is against this
evil and the aversion which it creates by the
loathsome and ghastly spectacle OF those
who have hurried themselves ont
Of life, and notwithstanding Christ
anity Is against it and the arGu-
m-nts and tn. useful lives andthe ilustrious
deaths OF its di-cipl-s, 1t Is a fact alarmin =
" plt-nt that su ci,ls ~ on the increase.
WHAT Is tn. cause2 1 charge upon iniieiity
An sgnostcsm this who.e thing. II there
no hereafter, or II that hereafter be bliss
fu without reference to how We live and how
we die, why not move back the folding doors
between this world and the next? And wnen
our existence here becomes troublesome why
not pass right over into Elysium2 Put thA
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 demented,
and therefore irresponsible, or an infldel.
challenge all the ages. and I challenge the
whoe universe. There never has been q
olse Of self destruction while in full appre-
alton OF his Immortality and OF tho fact
that that Immortality would be glorious or
wretched according as he accepted Jesus
Christ or rejected Hin.
You say 1t is business trouble, or you say
It is electrical currents, or it is this, or it is
that, or 1t Is the other thing. Why not go
clear back, my friend, and acknowledS sc that
In every case 1t is the abdication OF reason or
the teaching OF infldelity which practically
says, "If you don't IKE this life, get out oil
ii, and you will land either in annihilation,
tions 10 suffer, no gout to torment. or you
will land where there will be everything
glorious and nothing to pay for it," Infdeli-
iy always has been apologetic for self immo-
lation. After Tom Paine's cage of Reason"
was published and widely read there was a
marked increase OF self-slaughter.
Eousseau, Yoltaire, Gibbon, MontaiSne,
under certain circumstances, were apollo
geti for self immolation. InhLelity 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 go out OF this world, you will land either
in an o5liv;ous nowhere or n glorious some
where. AMI infde!ity holds the upper end
of the rope for the suicide, and aims the
pistol with which n man blows his brains
out. and MIXES the strychnine for the last
swallow. II inhieiity could carry tho day
and persuade the majority OF people that it
does not made any difference how you so
OUT OF the world you will lani safely, the
rivers would be SO full OF corpses the teSry-
boats would be lmpeded in their progress,
and the crack OF Il suicides pistol would be
no more alarming than the rumble of street
car.
An, infldelity, s;anl up and take thy scn-
tence! In the presence of God and angels
an men, stani up. thou monster, thy lip
blasted with blasphemy, thy cheek Scared
with lust. thy breath foul with tho coErup-
ton Of the ages! Stand up, satyr, filthy
goat, buzzari OF tho nations, leper Of tine
centuries Stand up, thou monster inadel-
ity, part man, part panther, part reptile, part
dragon. stand up and take thy sentence
Thy hand is red with the blool in winch
thou hast wnshed. thy feet crimson with the
human gore through which thou hast waded
Stand up and take thy sentence Down with
thee to the pit and sup on the soos and
groans of families thou hast blasted, AMI roll
on the bed OF knives which thou hast sharp
enc 4 for others, and let thy music be the
everlasting miserere OF those whom thou
hast damned! brand the forehead o. intl-
deity with all the crimes of self immolatiou
for the last century on the part OF those who
had their reason.
My friends, II ever your life through its
sbys.sions and its mo.estations should seem
to be unbearable, and you are tempted to
quit il 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 rs He resisted so
resist ye. Christ came to medicine all our
wounds. In your trouble I prescribe life in-
stead OF death. People who have had It
worse than you will ever have it have gone
song,ul on their WAY. Remember that God
keeps the chronology OF your life with as
much precision as He keeps the chronology
OF nations.
Why was It at midnight, just at midnight,
the destroying angel struck the blow that
set the Israelites free from bondage? The
430 years were up at IL o'clock that night.
The $50 years were not up at IL. and O'Clock
would have been tardy and too late. The
430 years were up at l2 o'clock. and the de-
stroying angel struck the blow. and Israel
| was free. And God knows just the hour
when 1t 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
listing rewards will accord with your earthly
perturbations, just as Caius gave TO Agrippa
. chain of gold as heavy rs had been his
.hain Of iron. For your asking you may
nave the same grace that was given TO the
| italian martyr, Algerius, who, down in tho
iarkest OF dungeons, dated his letter from
| the delectable orchard OF the Leonine pris-
| on"
| There is a sorrow,ess world, AMI 1t is So
| radiant that the MONDAY sun Is only the
| lowest doorstep, and the aurora that lights
l up our northern heavens, confoundinS as
| 'ronomers as to what it can be. is the wav-
| nc of the banners OF the procession come
| TO take the conquerorI homs from church
| militant to church triumphant. and you and
have 10, ,000 reasons ioc wanting to 90
| there, but we will never get there either By
l self immo.ation or impenitency. All our
sins slain iy the Chris, who came to DO that
thing, We want 10 go in at just the time
| divinely arranged and from a couch divine
| " spread, and then the clang Of the sepul-
| chral gates behind US will be overpowered
| by the clang OF the opening of the solid
| pearl before US. o God, whatever others
| may choose, give me n Christians life, a
| Christians death, a Christians burial, q
| Christians immortality.