The Penn's Grove record., 1894-08-17

David-ten feet in statue chasing foHr. Herr
is the man who consulted IL cialryoyant,
witch OF Endor. Hero Is n man who,
whipped in battle, instead OF s~urrenderinS
his sword with dignity, asks his servant 70
slay him. and when the servant declines then
the giant plants the hilt OF the sword in tho
earth, the sharp point sticking upward, an1
he throws his body On it n expires, the
coward, the suicide Here is Ahithophel,
the Machiayelli of olden times, betraying his
byst friend, David, in order that he may pc
30 ne prime minister of Absalom and Joining
That fellow IN his attempt at parricide. Not
getting what he wanted by change OF poittics
5a tatea n short cut out OF % disgraced life
into the suicides eternity. There ne is, the
Here il Abinelech practically a suicide.
No Ia with an army bombarding a tower,
when q woman In the tower taxes q Srlhd'
stone from its place and drops it upon ms
head, II with what lie he has left in q
cracked skull he commands his armor bearer,
'Drlw thy sword and Stay me. lest men say
n woman slew me-" There is his post mortem
photograph in the book Of Samuel. But tho
hero OF this group is Judas Iscariot. Dr..
Donne says he was n martyr, and we havein
our daT apologists for him.. And what Won
der in this day when we have a book reveal
ing Aaron Burr as a pattern OF virtue, an |
in this day when we uncover a statue to
tEOIEt t0tllh as III 80 "a AAANAH
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 it
makes the intainy of Judas IscGriot white !
Yet this man by his own bani hung up for
the execration OF all the ages, Judas ~Iscar!ot.
All the good men and ome OF the Bible
left to God the decision OF their earthly ter
minus and they could have said with JOB
who had a right to commit suicide II any
man ever had-what with his destroyed
property, and his body all flame with insu.-
ferable ~carbuncles, and everything gone
from his home except the chief curse OF ftv
4 pestiferous wife-and four g~arrulous peo-
Pile pelting him with comfortless talk while
he sits on a heap of ashes scratching his
scabs with q piece of broken pottery, yet
CRYING out in triumph, TAll tho days Of my
appointed time will l walt till my change
come"
Notwithstanding tho Bible is against this
evil and the aversion which it creates by tho
loathsome and ghastly spectacle OF those
who have hurled themselves out
Of life, and Notwithstanding Christ
lanity is against it and the arSG-
ments and the useful lives andthe tllustriou5
deaths OF its disciples, 1t is a fact alarming
Iy patent that suicide Is on the increase.
What is the cause2 l charge upon intidelity
and agnosticism this whole thing. If there
@ no hereafter, or il that hereafter be bliss
full without reference to how we 1--we n 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 a case of suicide
where the operator was not either demented,
and therefore irresponsible, or an infdei. L
challenge all the ages, and l challenge tho
whole universe. There never has been u
case of self destruction while in full appre-
cation OF his Immortality and of the fact
that that Immortality would be glorious or
wretched according as he accepted Jesus
Christ or rejected Hin.
You say it is business trouble, or you say
it is electrical currents, or it is this, or 1t is
that, or it is the other thing Why not go
clear back, my friend, N acknowledge that
in every case it is the abdication ofreason or
the teaching of infdelity which practically
says, 'If you don't like this life, get out OF
it. and you will land either in annihilation,
where there are no notes to pay, nc persecu-
tions to suffer, no govt to torment, or you
Will land where there will be everything
glorious and nothing to pay for it," Infdeli-
~ always has been apologize for self imno-
lation, After Tom Paine's cage of Reason"
was published n widely read there was a
marked Increase of s~elf-slaughter.
Rousseau, Yoltaire, Gibbon, Montaigne,
under certain circumstances, were apollo
getia for self immolation. Infdellty 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 obliyious nowhere or a glorious some-
where. And infde.ity holds the upper end
of the rope for the suicide, and aims tho
pistol with which a man blows his brains
out. and mixes the s~trychnine for tho last
swallow. If inHdelity could carry the day
49, H. - a.a. ~ -A~-I aL-A "a
does not made any difference how you go
out of the world you will Ian safely, the
rivers would be so full of corpseS the Jerry
boats would be impeded in their progress,
and the crack OF Il suicides pistol would be
no more alarming than the rumble OF a street
car.
All, infidelity, stand up and take thy sem
tenee! In the presence Of God and angels
and men, stand up, thou monster, thy lip
blasted with blasphemy, thy cheek SCARED
with lust, thy breath foul with tho corrup-
ton of the ages, Stand up, satyr, filthy
goat, buzzard of the nations, leper OF tho
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 blood in which
thou hast washed, thy feet crimson with the
human gore through which thou hast wlded.
Stand up and take thy sentence Down with
thee to the pit and sup on the sobs II
RlDhlS Ol AutlttlltS lhOu lt,l bIaL9AGu, Atll tpll
on the bed of~Antyes which thou hast sharp
enei for others, and let thy music be tue
everlasting miserere OF those whom thou
hast damnedl L brand the forehead Of inf
deity with all the crimes of self immolatiou
for the last century on the part OF those who
had their reason.
My friends, il ever your life through its
abrasions and its mo,estation5 should seem
TO be u~nbearable, and o are tempted to
quit II 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 l prescribe life in
stead OF death. People who have had It
worse than you will ever have it AVE 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 It at midnight, Just at midnight.
the destroying angel struck the blow that
set the Israelites free from bondage? The
$50 years were up at II O'clock that night.
The $50 years were not upatlt, and 1 o'clock
would have been tardy and too late. Tho
4S0 years were up at ~ O'Clock, and the de-
gtroying 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, hut 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
q 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 delectabie orchard OF the Leonine pris-
on"
There Is a sorrowless world, and it Is SO
radiant that the MONDAY sun is only the
lowest doorstep, and tho aurora that lights
up our northern heavens, c-onloundins as
ironomers as to what it can be, is tho wav-
ing of the banners OF the procession come
to take tho conquerors homo from church
militant TO church triumphant, and you and
1 have 10000 reasons for wanting to 90
there, but we will never get there either By
self immolation or ~impenttency, All our
sins slain by the Christ who came 20 do that
thing, we want to so in at just the time
divinely arranged, aud from u couch divine
Is spread, and then the cinng Of the sepul-
cbral gates behind us will be o~Yerpowered
by the clang OF the opening of the solid