The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-08-17

hanged nlmselI 10 inc coming, Dut tho
rope parted. No wonder that when God
mercifully delivered him from that
awful dementia he sat down and wrote
that other hymn just as memorable:
God moves in mysterious way
His wonders to perform.
Elephants his footsteps In the sea
| And rides upon the storm.
Blind unbelief Is sure to err
And scan his work In vain.
God Is his own interpreter,
| And he will make It plain.
| Treason to God.
While we make this merciful and
righteous allowance in regard to those
who were plunged into mental inooher-
enoe declai that the man who in the
use of his reason, by his own act, snaps
tho bond between his body and his soul
goes straight into perdition. Shall !
prove it? Revelation xxi, s, Murder
ers shall have their part In the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone;"
nevelation xxi, 10, without are dogs
nd sorcerers and whoremongers and
n,urderers. " 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 /
ask you If you are 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 no 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 a natural love
of life 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 it
is treachery to an especial trust, it is the
surrender of 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 BIZ
Bile, the pictures of the peoplewho 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 clairvoyant, witch Of
Endor. Here is man who, whipped in
battle, instead Of surrendering his
sword with dignity, as many 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 1t and expires, the
coward, the suicide! Here is Ahitho-
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 disgraced
life into the suicides eternity. There he
is, the migrated
Two Cases In Point.
Here is Abimelech practically sui
eide. He is with an army bombarding
a tower, when woman in the tower
takes a grindstone from its place and
drops it upon his head and with what
life he has left in a 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
the hero Of this group is Judas .Iscariot.
Dr. Dome says he was a martyr. and
we have in our day apologists for him.
And what wonder in this day when we
have book revealing Aaron Burr as a
pattern of virtue, and in this day when
we uncover 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
white! Yet this man by his own hand
hung up for the execration of all the
ages, Judas Iscariot.
All the good men and women of the
Bible left to God the decision Of their
earthly terminus, and they could have
said with Job, who had right to COM
init suicide if any man ever had-what
With his destroyed property, and his
bodyall afiamewith insufferable carbun-
cles, and everything gone from his home
except the chief curse Of it-a pestifer-
GUS wife-and four garrulous people
pelting him with comfortless talk while
he sits on heap Of ashes scratching his
scabs with piece of broken pottery,
Jet 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 Gre
ates by the loathsome and ghastly spec
tacle Of those who have hurled them
selves out of life, and notwithstanding
Christianity Is against it and the argu-
| ments and tic useful lives and the lin
/ trious deaths Of its disciples, it is a ia
4 alarmingly patent that suicide IS on i.
' increase. What is the cause? | char,
S upon infidelity and agnosticism thi
whole thing. If there be no hereafter
or if that hereafter be blissful Wits I
: reference to how we live and how V.
q die, why not move back the foldiI,
4 doors between this world and the next
: And when our existence here become
f troublesome why not pass right ove
8 into Elysium? Put this down amonl
. your most solemn reflections and con
4 slider it after you go to your homes :
9 there has never been a case of suicid
d where the operator was not either de
!, munted, and therefore irresponsible, o
9 an infdel. challenge all the ages, ar
: challenge the whole universe. Their
f never has been case of self destructio
d while in full appreciation of his immoi
tality and of the fact that that immo1
8 tality would be glorious or wretched &C
4 cording as he accepted Jesus Christ @
d rejected him.
8 Tom Paine's Responsibility.
y You say 1t is business trouble, or 20
:. say it is electrical currents, or it is thi.
; Dr. it is that, or it is the other thing
Why not go clear back, my friend, an
: acknowledge that in every case it is til
ibdication of reason or the teaching
infidelity which practically says, 90
Il ,vo,, don,t 1iko fhic 1ifo not <,,,t &c |;