The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1894-08-16

| trust, Il IL the surrender OF castle you were
especially appointed TO keep. II Il treason to
n natural law, and II Is treason to God added
| TO ordinary murder.
| To show how Cod In the Bible looked
| upon THE crime I point you TO the rognes'
picture gallery In some parts OF the Bible,
the pictures OF the people who have COM
| mitted this unnatural crime. Here IL the
headless trunk OF Saul on the walls OF Bath
shan. Here Is the man who chased little
David-ten feet In statue chasing four. Hero
Is the man who consulted a clairvoyant,
witch OF Endor. Hero is man who,
whipped In battle, instead OF surrendering
his sword with dignity. asks his servant TO
| slay him. and when the servant declines then
the giant plants the hit OF the sword In the
earth, the sharp point sticking upward and
he throws his body on II and expires the
coward, the suicide! Here is Ahithophel,
the Machiavelli OF olden times. be:raying his
| best friend. David. In order that hc may be-
come prime minister OF Absalom and joining
that fellow In his attempt at parricide. No.
| getting what he wanted By change OF politics
| he takes short cut out OF n dtsgraced life
into the suicides eternity. There he is, the
| migrate
Here Is Abimelech practically a suicide.
Hs Is with an army bonbarding tower,
when woman In the tower takes grind
stone from Its place and drops II 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
| 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 martyr, and we havein
| our day apologists for him. And what Won
| der In this day when we have book reveal
| ing Aaron Burr as pattern OF virtue, ana
| In this day when we uncover n statue to
| George Sand ms tho benefactress of litera-
| atal In 1aN xvh
traSals OF Christ on the part OF some OF His
pretended apostles betrayal so black II
| mikes the ininmy OF Judas Iscariot white
ye, 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 ter
minus, and they could have said with job,
| who nad n right TO commit suicide II any
man ever had-what with his destroyed
proIerty. and his body all afiame with insult
ieralle carbuncles, and everything gone
! from his home except the chief curse OF it
n ptstiferous wife-and four garrulous peo-
DIE telting him with comfortless talk while
he shs on heap OF ashes scratching his
| scabs with n pieco OF broken pottery, yet
srying out In triumph, "All the days OF my
appointed time will wait till my change
| cone.
Notwithstanding the Bible is against this
evil and the aversion which II creates by the
loathsome and ghastly spectacle OF those
who have hurled themselves out
OF life, and Notwithstanding Christ
lanity Is against II and the argu-
| ments and the useful lives andthe illustrious
deaths OF its disciples, II is fact alarming
| ly patent TINT suicide Is on the increase.
What Is the cause2 charge upon intidelity
and agnostcism this whole thing. IL there
ne no hereafter, or II that hereafter be bliss
ful without reference to how We live and how
we die why not move back the folding doors
| hats u.aan this world nd thp nnNt2 And whpn
our existence here becomes troublesome why
not pass right over into Elysun? Put this
down among your most solemn reflections
and consider 1t after you so to your homes
there has never been Gag, OF suicide
where the operator was not eitifr demented,
and therefore irresponsible, or IN inadel.
challenge all the nges, and Challenge the
whole universe. There never has been
case OF self destruction while II full appre-
ciation OF his Immortality andiof the fact
that that immortality would bsAlorious or.
wretched according as he accepted Jesus
Christ or rejected Hin.
You say II Is business trouble, or you say
II is electrical currents, or 1t Is this, or It Is
that, or II is the other thing. Why not go
clear back, my friend, and acknowledge that
in every case 1t is the abdication OF reason or
the teaching OF infidelty which practically
says, "If you don't like this life, get out Of
IL. and you will land either In annihiation,
where there are no notes TO pay, no persecu-
tions 10 suffer, no gout to torment, or you
will land where there will be everything
glorious and nothing TO pay for it," Inhdeli-
~ always has been apologetic for self immo-
lation. After Tom Paines cage of Reason"
was published aud widely read there was a
marked increase OF self-slaughter.
Rousseau, Voltaire, Gibbon, Montaigne,
under certain circumstances, were apollo
getic for self immolation. Inhdelity puts up
no bar to peoples rushing out IRON this
into bA tta
not make any difference how you live here
or go out OF this world, you will land either
In an oblivious nowhere or a glorious some-
where. And inhdelity holds the upper end
OF the rope for the suicide, and aims the
pistol with which a man blows his brains
out and mixes the strychnine for the last
swallow. IL iniidelity could carry the day
and persuade the majority OF people that II
does not made any difference how you go
out OF the world you will land safely. the
rivers would be so full OF corpses the ierry-
boats would be impeded In their progress,
and the crack OF "a suicides pistol would be
no more alarming than the rumble OF street
car.
An, inndelity, stand up and take thy SEN
tence In the presence OF God and angels
and men, stand up, thou monster, thy lip
blasted with basphemy, thy cheek Scared
with lust, thy breath foul with the corrup-
ton OF the ages Stand up, satyr, filthy
| goat, buzzari OF the nations, leper OF the
centuriesl Stand up, thou monster inldel.
uy, part man, part panther, part reptile, part
dragon, stand up and take thy sentence
| Thy hand Is red with the blcoi IN which
thou hast washed, thy feet crimson 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 sharp
enei for Others, and let thy music bo tbo
/ everlasting mlserBro tlCrl whom thou