The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-08-15
DO THYSELF NO HARM.
THE REV. DIR. TALMAGE DIsCOURsEs
UPON THE EVILS OF SUICIDE.
The Great Preacher Says Ii Is the
Worst of All Crimes-InfdeIity and
SeIf-Destruction-AC Christians Life,
Death and Immortality.

BROOKLYN. Aug. 12.-The Rev. DIR.
Talmage, who is now abroad. has select
ed as the subject for today sermon
through the press the word suicide"
! the text being acts xvi, 81, IS: He
drew out his sword and would have
killed himself. supposing that the prison.
ers had been fed. But Paul cried with
loud voice, saying. Do myself no
harm.
Here is a would-be suicide arrested in
his deadly attempt He was a sheriff.
and according to the Roman law a bailin
| himself must suffer the punishment due
an escaped prisoner, and If the prisoner
| breaking Jail was sentenced to be en-
| dungeOned 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 capt.
tai punishment then the sheriff must
| suffer capital punishment.
! The sheriff had received especial
! charge to keep a sharp lookout for Paul
| and Silas. The government had not
! keep safe these two clergymen,
about whom there seemed 10 be some
/ thing strange and supernatural
! Sure enough, by miraculous power they
/ are free, and the sheriff waking out of
/ sound sleep, and supposing these min
/ listers have run away, and knowing that
| they We're 10 die for preaching Christ
/ and realizing that he must die, rather
| than go under the eXecutioner's ak on
| the morrow and suffer public disgrace
| resolves TO precipitate his own decease.
| But before the sharp, keen, glittering
| dagger of the sheriff could strike his
/ heart one OF the unloosened prisoners ar
! rests the blade by the command, DO
/ thyself no harm"
In Olden time and where Christianity
| had not interfered with it suicide was con-
| stdered honorable and a sign Of courage.
| Demosthenes poisoned himself when told
| that AleXander's ambassador had de-
manded the surrender of the Athenian
! orators. Isocrates killed himself rather
| than surrender to Philip Of Macedon.
| Cato. rather than submit to julius Gaze
! sar. took his own life, and after three
| times his wounds had been dressed tore
! them open and persisted. Mithridates
| killed himself rather than submit TO
! Pompey, the conqueror Hannial de-
| stroyed his life by poison from his ring.
considering life unbearable. Lyurgus a
! suicide Brutus a suicide. After the dis
| aster Of Moscow Napoleon always car
| ried with him prepare ton of opium.
| and one night his servant heard the eX-
| emperor arise, put something in a glass
| and drink it, and soon after the groans
4
| only through utmost medical skill he
! was resusciated from the stupOr Of the
| opiate.
4 Spreading Evil.
Times have changed, and yet the
| American conscience needs to he toned
up to the subject Of suicide Have you
seen a paper in the last month that did
not announce the passage out of life by
| ones own behest? Defaulters, alarmed at
| the idea of exposure. quit life precipitate-
| ~. Men losing large fortunes go out of
| the world because they cannot endure
| earthly existence. Frustrated affection.
| domestic infelicity, dyspeptic Impotence,
| anger, remOrse, envy jealousy, destitu-
| ton. misanthropy, are considered suf-
| ncient causes for abScOnding from this life
| by paris green. by laudanum, by bella
donna, by Othello's dagger. by halter. by
! leap from the abutment Of a bridge by
| firearms. More cases of ''fe!o de Sc i'm
| the last two years Of the worlds existence.
| The evil is more and more spreading
| a pulpit not long ago expressed some
| doubt as 10 whether there was really any
thing wrong about quitting this life when
| it became disagreeable. and there are
| found in respectable circles people apollo
! getic for the crime which Paul in the text
| arrested. | shall show you before | get
| through that suicide is the worst of all
| crime. and ] shall lift a warning unmis-
| ldhdDle. but III lle early part OF tllS
| sermon | wish to admit that some Of the
| best Christians that ever lived have COM
| mitted self destruction, but always in
| dementia and not responsible. I have nc
| more doubt about their eternal felicity
| than'I have Of the Christian who dies ia
| his bed in the delirium Of typhoid fever
! While the shock Of the catastrophe is very
| great l charge all those who have had
| Christian friends under cerebral aberra-
| ton 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 perfect safe
| ty. 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
ne hushed the tempests either Of sea or
| brain.
Scotland the land prolific Of intellectual
| giants, had none grander than Hugh Mil
Ter. great for science and great for Cod
| He came of the best highland blood, and
| ne 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 admira ton of Buck
land and Murchison, the scientists, and
| Dr. Chalmers, the theoogian. and held
| universities spellbound while he told them
| the story of what he had seen OF God in
| the old red sandstone.
Allowance Made.
That man did more than any being
| that ever lived to show 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 ac-
| cordant in divine worship. His two
books. entitled Footprints of the Crea-
tor" and the Testimony Of the Rocks. q"
| proclaimed the banns of an everlasting
| marriage between genuine science and
day and night through love of nature
| and love of God until he could not sleep,
and his brain gave way, and ne was
! found dead with a revolver by his side
| the cruel instrument having had two
! bullets-one for him and the other for
! the gunsmith who at the cOroners in
! quest was examining ii and fell dead
| Have you any doubt of the beatification
OF Hugh Miller after his hot brain had
ceased throbbing that winter night in
his study at Portebello? Among the
mighuest of earth, among the mightiest
of heaven.
No one ever doubted the piety of WILL
lam COwper, the author of those three
great hymns, "Oh, For a Closer Walk
With Godr' What Various Hindrances
| We Meet There Is a Fountain 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