St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-08-13
WORST CRIME OF ALL.

Rev. D.. Talmage Discourses On
on the Crime of Suicide.
70 Either Mental Irrespenslbnlty or - In-
sdellty. Il Due Every Case of SELF
Immolation-TrucC Cure
for Sorrow.
z The following sermon by Rev. 7. De
Witt Talmage is directed against the
crime of suicide. It is based on the
text:
Do thyself no harm--Acts xvi, q.
Here is would-bc suicide arrested
in his deadly attempt. He was n sheriff.
and, according to the Roman law. q
bailif himself must suffer the punish
ment due an escaped prisoner; and if
the prisoner breaking Jail was SEN
fenced to be cndungeoned for three or
four years, then the sheriff must be
endungeoned for three or four years,
and it 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 a sharp lookout
for Paul and Silas. The government
had not much confidence in bolts and
bars to keep safe these two cler-
gymen, about whom there seemed to
be something strange and supernatur-
81. Sure enough, by miraculous pow
er, they are free, and the sheriff. walk
ing out of o 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 exechtioncr's AK on the
morrow and suffer public disgrace, re-
solves to precipitate his own disease.
But before the sharp, keen. glittering
dagger of the sheriff could strike his
heart, one of the Inloosened prisoners
arrest the blade by the comment: do
myself no harm"
In olden times, and where Chris
tianity had not interfcrcd with it, sui
eide was considered honorable and a
sign of courage. Demosthenes poisoned
himself when told that Alexander's
ambassador had demanded the surren-
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
persisted Mithridates killed himself
rather than submit to Pompey, the con-
queror. Hannibal destroyed his life
| by poison from his ring, considering
life unbearable. Lycurgus 4 suicide,
Brutus suicide. After the disaster OF
Moscow Napoleon always carried with
him a preparation of poison, and one
night his servant heard the ex-emperor
arise, and put something in o glass and
drink it, and soon after the groans
aroused All the attendants, and it was
only through utmost medical skill that
he was resuscitated.
Times have changed, and yet the
American conscience needs to be toned
up on the subject of suicide. Have you
seen a paper in the last month that did
not announce the passage out of. life
bv ones own behest? Defaulters,
alarmed at the idea of exposure, quit
life precipitately. Men losing large
fortunes 60 out of the world because
they can not endure earthly existence
Frustrated affection, domestic infe.
licity, dyspeptic Impotence, anger, re
morse. envy, jealousy. restitution, mis-
anthropy, are considered sufficient
causes for absconding from this life By
paris green, by laudanum, by bella
donna, by Othello's dagger, by halter
4 by leap from the abutInent Of bridge
by FIRE arms More cases of fclo de 81
in the last two years than any two
wears of the worlds existence, anG
more in the last month than in any
twelve months. The evil is more and
more spreading.
A pulpit not long ago expressed som'
doubt us to whether there was really
ANYTHING wrong about quitting this
life when it became disagreeable, ant
there are found in respectable circles
. people apologize for the crime
which Paul in the text arrest
ed. 1 shall show you befor,
IL get through that suicide is thu
worst of all crimes. and l shall lift
warning unmistakable. But in tn
early part OF this sermon wish to nd
init that some OF the best Christian
that have ever lived have committee
self-destruction, but always in demen
tia and not responsible. have NJ
more doubt about their eternal felicity
than I have Of the Christian who die
J in his bed in the delirium of typhoi'
fever. While the shock of the catas
trophe is very great, charge all thos
who have had Christian friends unde
cerebral alteration step of the boun
DIARIES of this life to have no doub
, about their happiness. The dear Lor'
took them right on: of their dazed an
: frenzied state into perfect safety
How Christ feels toward the insan
YOU may know from the way He treat
ed the demoniac of Gadara and tn
; child lunatic, and the potency witt
which He hushed tempests either o
sea or brain.
i, Scotland, the land prolific of il
ltellectual giants, has none create
Il than Hugh Miller. Great for scienc
| and great for God. He was an elder i
J St. Johns Presbyterian church. q
/ came of the best Highland blood an
J was . descendant of Donald Ray,
] Imam eminent for picty and the rar
lrift Of second sight. His attainment
l climbing up rs he did from the QUAR-
! and the wall of the stone-mason, dre'
forth the astonishcd admiration {
auckland and Murchison, the scien
, lists, and DR.. Chalmers, the thcologial
{ and held universities spellbound Will
: he told them the story of what he ha
4 seen of God in the Old Red San,
, lstone. That man did more than an
other being that ever lived to sho
I that the God of the hills is ii
: God of the Bible, and he struck b
. tuning-fork on the rocks Of Cromart
; until he brought geology and theoiog
accordant in divine worship. His tv
! books, entitled Footprints of Il
Creator- and 1.-THE Testimony of Il
!, Rocks proclaimed the banns of a
/. Everlasting marriage between genuir
a