The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-08-18
CRIME OF SUICIDE.
An Appropriate Sermon by Rev. T.
Dewitt Talmage.
The Reverend Doctor Declares Suicide to
be an Act Due to Either Mental
IrresponsiDility In
fidelity.

|
| text:
DO thysclt no harm. Acts xvi. p
Here is a would-be suicide arrested
in his deadl :; attempt. He was sheriff.
and, according to the Roman law, a
ball1if himself must suffer the punish
ment due an escaped prisoner; and if
the prisoner breaking Jail was SEN
fenced to be endungconed for three Or
four years, then the sheriff must be
endungeoncd for three or four years,
and if the prisoner breaking jail was
to have suffered capital punishment,
then the sheriff must suffer capital
punishment. The sheriff had received
special charge to keep Il sharp lookout
for Paul and Silas. The government
had not much confidence in bolts and
bars to keep safe these two cler-
gynen. about whom there seemed to
be something strange and supernatur-
al. Sure enough. by mrac llous pow
cr, they are Tree, and the sheriff. walk
ing out Of a sound sleep, and suppos-
ing these ministers have run away,
and Knowing that they were to die
for preaching Christ, and realizing
that he must therefore die, rather than
| go under the cXecutiOnerS aX on the
morrow and suffer public disgrace, re-
solves to prccipitate his own disease.
But before the sharp, keen, glittcring
dagger of the sheriff could strike his
neart, one Of the unloo5ened prisoners
arrest the blade by the comment: do
| thyself no harm.
| In Olden times, and where Chris
tianity had not interfercd with it, sui
eide was considered honorable and a
sign of courage. Demosthenes poisoned
himself when told that Alexanter's
ambassador had demanded the surrcn-
der OF the Athenian orators. Isocrates
killed himself rather than surrender to
Philip of Macedon. Cato rather than
submit to Julius Caesar, took his own
| life, and three times after his wounds
| had been dressed tore them open. and
perished Mithridatcs killed himself
rather than submit to Pompcy, the con-
queror. Hannibal destroyed his life
by poison from his ring. considering
life unbearablc. Lycurgus suicide.
| Brutus a suicide. After the disaster of
Moscow Napoleon always carried with
him Il preparation of poison, and one
| night his servant heard the eX-emperor
arise, and put something in glass and
| drink it. and soon after the groans
aroused all the attendants. and it was
only through utmost medical skill that
| he was resuscitatei.
| Times have changed, and yet the
I A l., @,> L.. Il
up on the subje of suicide. Have you
seen paper in the last month that did
not announce the passage out of life
by ones own bchcst? Defaultcrs.
alarmed at the idea of exposure, quit
life precipitatcly Men losing large
fortunes go out of the world because
they can not endure earthly existence.
Frustrated affection, domestic infe-
licity. dyspeptic inpatience, anger. re-
morse. envy. jealousy. destitution, mis-
aEthropy. are considered sufficient
causes for absconding from This life by
paris green. by laudanum. by bella
donna, by Othellos dagger, by halter,
by leap from the abutment of bridge.
by fire arms. More cases of fclo dc sc
in the last two years than any two
years of the worlds existence, and
more in the last month than in any
twelve months. The evil is more and
more spreading.
pulpit not long ago expressed some
doubt as to whether there was really
anything wrong about quitting this
life when it became disagrccable, and
there are found in respectable circles
people apo'ogetic for the crime
which Paul in the text arrest
ed. l shall show you before
/ get through that suicide is the
worst of all crimes, and l shall lift a
warning unmistakable. But in the
early part of this sermon | wish to ad.
nit that some of the best Christia ms
that have ever lived have committed
self-destruction, but always in demen-
tia and not responsible. | have no
more doubt about their eternal felicity
in his bed in the delirium of typhoid
fever While the shock Of the catas
trophe is very great, charge all those
who have had Christian friends under
cerebral alteration step off the boun-
daries of this life to have no doubt
about their happiness. The dear Lord
took them right out of their dazed anc
frenzied state into perfect safety
How Christ feels toward the insa ne
you may know from the way He treat.
ed the demoniac of Gadara and the
child iunatic, and the potency with
which He huslled tempests either OF
sea or brain.
Scotland, the land prolific of in
tellectual giants, has none greater
than Hugh Miller. Great for scicnc,
and great for God. He was an elder il
st. Johns Presbyterian church. H.
came of the best Highland blood ant
was descendant of Donald Ray. ;
man eminent for picty and the rare
gift OF second sight His attainments
climbing up as he did from the quarry
and the wall of the stone-mason. drew
forth the as.onished admiration O