The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-07-13

to the river Thames, but found 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 won
der that when God mercifully deliv-
cred 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;
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, 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 perdi-
ton, shall prove it? Revelations 81:
s: "Murderers shall have their part in
the lake which burneth with fire and
birthstone" Revelations 27:15:
without are dogs and sorcerers and
whoremongers and murderers." You
do not believe the New Testament?
Then, perhaps, you believe the Ten
Commandments: "Thou shalt not
kill" Do you say that all these pas
sages refer to the taking of the life
of others? Then I ask you if you are
not as responsible for your own life
as for the life of others? God gave
you special trust in life, and made
you the custodian of your life, and he
made you the custodian of no other
life. He gave you as weapons with
which to defend it two arms to 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 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 es-
pecially appointed to keep; it is trea-
son to natural law. and it is treason
to God added to ordinary murder.
To show how God in the Bible
looked upon this crime, I point you to
the rOgues' picture gallery in some
parts of the Bible, the pictures of the
people who have committed this I'M
natural crime. Here is the headless
trunk of Saul on the walls of Bath
shan. Here is the man who chased lit
tie 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, in
stead of surrendering his sword with
dignity, as many man has done, asks
his servant to slay him, and when the
servant declined, then the giant plants
the hilt of his sword in the earth, the
sharp point sticking upward, and he
throws his body on it and expires
the coward, the suicide! Here is
Ahitophel, the Machiavelli of olden
times, betraying his best friend, David
in order 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 q
disgraceful life into the suicides eter.
nifty. There he is, the migrate!
Here is Abimelech, practically sui.
eide. He is with an army, bombardine
a tower, when woman in the tower
takes grindstone from it's 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 slay me, lest men say
women 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 apollo
gists for him. And what wonder, in
this day when we have a book reveal
ing Aaron Burr as pattern of virtue
and this day when we uncover n sta
tue 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 betrayal so black it makes the in.
fanny of Judas Iscariot white! Yet
this man by his own hand hung uI
for the eXecration of all ages, Judas
Iscariot.
Notwithstanding the Bible is against
this evil, and the aversion which it ere
ates by the loathsome and ghastly
spectacle of those who have hurled
themselves out of life, and notwith.
standing Christianity is against it and
the arguments and the useful lives anc
the illustrious deaths of it's disciples
it is fact alarmingly patent that sui
eide is on the increase. What is the
cause? l charge upon intidelity and
agnosticism 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 folding doors between this
world and the next? And when oul
existence here becomes troublesome
why not pass right over into Elysium
Put this down among your most sol
emn reflections. There has never beer
a case of suicide where the operator
was not either demented, and there
fore irresponsible, or an infdel.
challenge all the ages and / challenge
the universe. There never has been
case of self-destruction while in full
appreciation of his immortality and Of
the fact that that immortality would
be glorious or wretched according as
he accepted Jesus Christ or rejected
him.
A man in London heard Mr.. Owen
deliver his infidel lecture on socialism
and went home. sat down, and wrote
these words: "Jesus Christ is one Of
the weakest characters in history, and
the Bible is the greatest possible de.
ception." And then shot himself
David Hume wrote these words: "It
NNnnld he no crime for mo IN diunr4 4l,.