Connecticut western news., 1894-08-16

moTClIuily ueuVereQ nm rom tnhb awful dementia he sat down and wrote that other hymn just as memorable: God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.
 He plants his footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm Blind unbelef is sure to err
 And scan his work in vain. God Is his own interpreter,
 And he will make 1t plain.
 Treason to God. While we make this merciful and righteous allowance in regard to those who were plunged into mental incoher- ence. declare that the man who in the use of his reason, by his own act, snaps the bond between his body and his soul goes straight into perdition. Shall l prove it? Revelation xxi, s, Murder CTS shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and birthstone" Revelation xxi, l5, Without are dogs | and sorcerers and whoremongers 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 l ask you if you arc not as responsible for your own life as for the life of others? God gave you special trust in your ! life. He made you the custodian of your life as he made you the custodian of nc, 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 natural love of hfc 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 1t is treachery to an especial trust, it is tlse 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 point you to the rogues' picture gallery in some parts of the Bi- ble, 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 in 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 suicidel Here is Ahitho- I phel, the Machiavelli of olden 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 8 disgraced is, the ingratei
 Two Cases In Point.
 Here is Abimeleoh practically a sui eide He is with an army bombarding a tower, when woman in the tower | takes grindstone from its place and drops it upon his head, and with what | life he has left in cracked skull he commands his armor bearer, "Draw thy sword and slay me, lest men say wom- an 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 martyr. and And what wonder in this day when we have a book revealing Aaron Burr as a pattern of virtue, and in this day when we uncover a statue to George Sand as the benefactress of literature, and in this day when there are betrayals of | Christ on the part of some of his pre- tended apostles-a betrayal so black it makes the infamy of Judas Iscariot whitel Yet this man by his own hand hung up for the execi ation of all the ages, Judas Iscariot
 All the good men and women of the | Bible left to God the decision of their said with Job, who had 8 right to com init suicide if any man ever had-what with his destroyed property, and his bodyall aflamewith insufferable carbun- cles, and everything gone from his home except the chief curse of it-a pestifer- ous wife--and four garrulous people polting him with comfortless talk while he sits on heap of ashes scratching his scabs with piece of broken pottery, yet crying out in triumph, All the days of my appointed time will wait till my change come.
 Notwithstanding the Bible is against this evil and the aversion which it ere. ates by the loathsome and ghastly speo- tacle of those who have hurled them selves out of life, and notwithstanding Christianity is against it and the argu- ments and the useful lives and the illus tfious deaths of its disciples, it is fact alarmingly patent that suicide is on tho increase. What is the cause? I charge upon infidelity and agnosticism thii whole thing. If there be no hereafter or if that hereafter be blissful without reference to how we live and how W, die, why not move back the folding doors between this world and the next And when our existence here becomes troublesome why not pass right ove into Elysium? Put this down amont your most solemn reflections and con sider it after you go to your homes there has never been a case of suicid
 where the operator was not either de mented, and therefore irresponsible, O an infidel. I challenge all the ages, an, l challenge the whole universe- Ther never has been case of self destruction while in full appreciation of his immor tality and of the fact that that immor tality would be glorious OF wretched ac cording as he accepted Jesus Christ O rejected him.
 Tom Pafne,s ResuOnsibllftv
 You say it is business trouble, or yo
 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. an
 acknowledge that in every case it is tn
 abdication of reason or the teaching c
 infidelity which practically says, "1
 you don't like this life, get out of il
 and you will land either in annihila
 tion, where there are no notes to pay
 no prosecutions to suffer. no pout t