Connecticut western news., 1898-07-14

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
 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 ill regard to those who were plunged into mental incoher- ance I declare 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 l prove it? Revelation xxi, s, Murder CTS shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brim- stone. " Revelation xii, 15, Without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremon- gers and murderers.." You do not be- lieve the New Testament? Then per-
 laps you believe the Ten Command ments, "Thou shalt not kill. {" Do you say that all these passages refer to the taking of the life of others? Then 1 ask you if you are not as responsible for your own life as for the life of others?
  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 a mild crime compared with the assassination of your self because in the latter case 1t is treachery to an especial trust It is the surrender of castle you were especial ly appointed to keep. It is treason to natural law, and it is treason to God added to ordinary murder
 Biblical Rogues' Gallery.
 To show how God in the Bible looked upon this crime l point you to the rogues' picture gallery in some parts of the Bible, 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-l0 feet in stature chasing 4. Here is the man who consulted a clairvoyant, witch of Endor Here is man who, whipped i'll battle, instead of surrendering his sword with dignity, as many man has done, asks his servant to slay him, and when that 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 ex- pires-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 a disgraceful life into the suicides eter nity. There he is, the ingrate
 Here is Abimelech, practically sui eide. He is with an army, bombarding tower, when a woman i'll the tower takes 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 slay me lest men say wom an slew mel" There is his post mortem photograph in the book of Samuel. But the herQ of this group is Judas Iscariot. Dr. Dome says he was mar tyr, and we have in our day apologists for him. And what wonder in this day when we have a book revealing Aaron Burr as pattern of virtue and this day when we uncover 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 pre- tended apostles, betrayal so black it | makes the infamy of Judas Iscariot whitei Yet this man, by his own hand, hung up for the execration 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 init suicide if any man ever had, what with his destroyed property and his body all aflame with insufferable car buncles and everything gone from his home except the chief curse of it, pestiferous wife and four garrHlous peo- pie pelting him with comfortless talk while he sits on a heap of ashes scratch ing his scabs with piece of broken
 
 the days of my appointed time will wait till my change comes" '"
 Notwithstanding the Bible is against this evil and the aversion which it cre- 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 the useful lives and the illus | trious deaths of its disciples, it is fact alarmingly patent that suicide is on the | increase What is the cause? l charge upon infidelity 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 our existence here becomes ! troublesome why not pass right over | into elysium? Put this down among your most solemn reflections. There has never been case of suicide where the | operator was not either demented, and | therefore irresponsible or an infdel. I challenge all the ages and challenge | the universe. There never has been d l case of self destruction while in full ap- preciation of his immortality and of the fact that that immortality would be | glorious or wretched according as he &C., cepted Jesus Christ or rejected him. Insanity and Infdelity.
 You say it is a business trouble UT you 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, and acknowledge that ill every case it is the abdication of reason or the teaching of infidelity, which practically says, eff you don't like this life, get out of it, and you will land either in annihilation, where there are no notes to pay, no prosecutions to suffer, no