Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1898-07-14

COwper, the author or those three great
hymns, 20, for Closer Walk with
God" What Various Hindrances We
Meet" There is a Fountain Filled
with Blood"-William Cowper, who
shares with Isaac Watts and Charles
Wesley the chief honors of Christian
hymnology. In hypochondria he re.
solved to take his own life, and rode "a
the river Thames, but found a man
seated on some goods at that very point
from which he expected to spring, and
rode back TO his home, and that night
threw himself upon his own knife, but
the blade broke; and then he hanged
himself to the ceiling. but the rope
broke. No wonder that when God mer-
cifully delivered him from that awful
dementia lie sat down and wrote that
other hymn just as memorable:
God moves in q mysterious way,
His wonders to perform:
He plants 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"
While we make this merciful and
righteous allowance in regard TO those
who were plunged into mental inco-
herence, l 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? Revelations 21:S-
"Murderers shall have their part in
the lake which burneth with fire and
birthstone" Revelation 22:15-"With-
out are dogs and sorcerers and who're
mongers and murderers." You do not
believe the New Testament? Then,
perhaps, you believe the Ten Com
mandments: Thou shalt not kill" Do
you say that all these passages refer to
the taking of the life of others? Then
] ask you IL you are not as responsible
for your own life as for the life of 9TH
ers? God gave you special trust in
life, and made you the custodian of
your life, and he made you the custodi-
an of no other life. He gave you as wea-
pons with which to defend IL two arms
10 strike back assailants, two eyes to
watch for invasion, and natural love
of life which ought ever to be on the
alert. Assassination of others is a mild
crime compared with the assassination
of yourself, because in the latter case
1t is treachery to an especial trust; it is
the surrender of castle you were es-
pecially appointed TO keep; II Is treason
to natural law, and it is treason TO
God added to ordinary murder.
To show how God in the Bible look
ed upon this crime, point you to the
rogues' picture gallery in some parts OF
the Bible, the pictures of the people
who have committed this unnatural
crime. Hero is the headless trunk of
Saul on the walls OF Bathshan. Here Is
the man who chased little David-ten
feet in stature chasing four Here is
the man who consulted a clairvoyant,
Witch of Endor. Here is a man who.
whipped In battle, instead of surrender
ing his sword with dignity, as many a
man has done, asks his servant to slay
him, and when that servant declined,
then the giant plants the hit Of his
sword in the earth. the sharp point
sticking upward, and he throws his
body on 1t and eXpires-the coward. the
suicide! Here is Ahitophel, the Machi-
avelli of olden times, betraying his best
friend, David, in order that he may be-
come prime minister of Absalom. and
joining that fellow in his attempt at
parricide. Not getting what he want
ed by change of politics, he takes a
the suicides eternity. There he is, the
migrate!
Here is Abimelech, practically a sui
eide. He is with an army, bombarding
a tower, when a woman In the tower
takes a grindstone from its place and
drops it upon his head, and with what
life he has left in his cracked skull he
commands his armor-bearer: Draw
thy sword and STAY me, lest men say
woman slew me-" There is his post
norton 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 apollo.
gists for him. And what wonder, In
this day when we have a book reveal
ing Aaron Burr as a pattern of virtue.
and this day when we uncover a statue
of George Sand as the benefactress of
literature. and in this day when there
are betrayals of Christ on the part OF
some Of his pretended apostles-a be-
trayal SO black II makes the infamy OF
Judas Iscariot white! Yet this man by
his own hand hung up for the execra-
ton of all 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
WIT r,,toId~ 80 49,