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

ruents and tire nSeiul lives aud th9 l. as
trious deaths Of It's disciples, IL is fact
alarminRly patent that suicide is ON the
increase. What ~ the cause? charge
upon infdelity and senosticisn this
whole thing. If there be no hereafter
or if that Hereafter be blissful without
reference to how we live and how we
die, why not move back the folGing
doors between this world and the nc KIT
! Ard when our existence here becomes
! troublesome why not pass right over
into Elysium? Put this down among
your most solemn reflections aud con-
slider it after you go to your homes
| there has never been case of suiC ide
where the operator was not either de-
mented, and therefore irresponsible, OF
an infidel. l challenge all tho ages, and
l challenge the whole universe There
never has been a case Of self destruction
while in full appreciation of his immor.
tality and Of the fact that that ilnmor-
tality would be glorious or wretched ac-
cording as he accepted Jesus Christ OF
rejected him.
Tom Paine'a Responsibility.
You say it is business trouble, or you
say it is electrical currents, or it is this,
or it is that, or it is the other thing.
Why not go clear back, my friend, and
acknowledge that in every case it is the
abdication of reason or the teaching OF
infdelity which practically says, ''I1
you don't like this life, get out of it,
and you will land either in annihila.
tion, where there are no notes to pay,
no prosecutions to suffer, no gout to
torment, or you will land where there
will be everything glorious and nothing
to pay for it. Infdelity always has been
apologetic for self immolation. After
Tom Paine's "Age of Reason" was pub
lished and widely read there was q
marked increase of self slaughter
Rousseau, Voltaire, Gibbon, Mon
taigne, under certain circumstances,
were apologetic for self immolation.
Infidelity puts up no bar to people, rush.
ing 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
oblivious nowhere or glorious some
where And infidelity holds the upper
end of the rope for the suicide, and aims
the pistol with which man blows his
brains out, and mixes the strychnine foz
| the last swallow. If infdclity could
carry the day and persuade the major
| ity of people that it does not make any
difference how you go out of the world
you will land safely, the rivers would
be so full Of oorpses the ferry boats
would be impeded in their progress, and
the crack of a suicides pistol would be
no more alarming than the rumble of a
street Car.
Christ Was Tempted.
Ah, infidelity, stand up and take thy
sentence! In the presence of God and
angels and men, stand up, thou mon
ster, thy lip blasted with blasphemy,
thy cheek SCARED with lust, thy breath
foul with the corruption of the ages
Stand up, satyr, filthy goat, buzzard OF
the nations, leper of the centuries
Stand up, thou monster infldelity, part
man, part panther, part reptile, part
dragon, stand up and take thy sentence
Thy hand is red with the blood III
which thou hast washed, thy feet Grim
son with the human gore through which
thou hast waded. Stand up and take thy
sentenced Down with thee to the pit and
sup on the sobs and groans of families
thou hast blasted, and roll ON the bed of
knives which thou hast sharpened for
others, and let thy music be the everlast-
ing miserere Of those whom thou hast
damned brand the forehead CT infidel-
ity with all the crimes of self immola-
ton for the last century on the part Of
those who had their reason.
Ny friends, if ever your life through
it's abrasions and its molestations should
seem to be unbearable, and you are
tempted to quit it by your own behest
do not consider yourselves as worse than
Others Christ himself was tempted to
cast himself from the roof of the tenn
pie, but as he resisted so resist ye.
Christ came to medicine all our wounds.
In your trouble prescribe life instead
of death. People who have had it worse
than You will ever have it have gone
songful ON their way. Remember that
God keeps the chronology of your life
with as much precision as he keeps the
chronology of nations,
A Christians Life and Death.
Why was it that at midnight. just at
midnight, the destroying angel struck
the blow that set the Israelites free
from bondage? The 4S0 years were up
at 12 o'clock that night The 43O year,
were not up at IL, and o'clock would
have been tardy and too late The 430
years were up at IL o'clock, and the de
stroying 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 of things, but the
best of them. II you must take the pills
10 not chew them. Your everlasting re-
wards will accord with your earthly
perturbations, just as Caius gave to
Agrippa chain of gold as heavy as
had been bis 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
IalorfaIIa nrohawA - tLo an,,s.., ..,.s.