The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-07-25


the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah will
be tolerable as compared with the fate
of our modern society, which knew
better, but did worse.
The Sacredness OF Life.
Then look at the destinations thrown
around assassination. There are in all
communities men who have taken the
lives of others unlawfully, not as exc
free. You say they had their provoca-
tions. God gave life, and he alone has
right to take it, and he may take it
by visitation of providence or by an
executioner of the law, who is his
messenger. But when man assumes
that divine prerogative he touches the
lowest depth of crime.
Society is alert for certain kinds of
murder. If a citizen going along the
road at night is waylaid and slain by
robber, we all want the villain ar
rested and executed. For all garroting,
for all beating out of life by club or
an AK or slungShot, the law has quick
spring and heavy stroke, but you
know that when men get affluent and
high position and they avenge their
wrongs by taking the lives of others,
great sympathy is excited, lawyers
plead, ladies weep, judge halts, jury is
bribed and the man goes free. If the
verdict happen to be against him, a
new trial is called on through some
technicality and they adjourn for
witnesses that never come, and ad-
journ and adjourn until the commun-
ity has forgotten all about it, and then
the prison door opens and the murder.
er goes free.
Now, if capital punishment be right,
I say let the life of the polished MUIR
derer go with the life of the vulgar as
sassin. Let us have no partially of
gallows, no aristocracy Of electro
cution chair. Do not let us float back
to barbarism, when every man was
his own judge, Jury and executioner,
and that man had the supremacy who
had the sharpest knife and the strong
est arm and the quickest step and the
stealthiest revenge. He who willfully
and in hatred takes the life of another
is murderer, 1 care not what the
provocation or the circumstances. He
may be cleared by an enthusiastic
courtroom, he may be sent by the gov
eminent of the United States as minis
| ter to some foreign court, or modern
| literature may polish the crime until
| 1t looks like heroism; but in the sight
of God murder is murder, and the
| judgment day will SO reveal it.
Some Plain Questions,
There are hundreds of young men
who have good blood. Shall ask three
or four plain questions? Are your hab-
Its as good as when you left your IA
Tiers house? Have you a pool ticket
| in your pocket? Have you fraudulent
| document? Have you been experiment.
ing to see how accurate an imitation
you could make Of your employers sig
nature? oh, you have good blood. Re-
member your fathers prayers. Re-
member your mothers example. Turn
not in an evil way. Have you been 60
ing astray? Come back. Have you ven
tured out too far?
AS I stand in pulpits looking over
audiences sometimes my heart fails
me. There are so many tragedies pres
ent, so many who have sacrificed their
integrity, so many far away from God
Why, my brother, there have been too
many prayers offered for you to have
you go overheard. And there are those
venturing down into sin, and my heart
aches to call them back.
At Brighton Beach or Long Branch
you have seen men go down into the
surf to battle, and they waded out far
Their and farther, and you got anxious
about them. You said, 81 wonder if
they can swim?" And you then stood
and shouted: Come back! Come back!
You will be drowned" They waved
their hand back, saying, "No DANGER"
They kept on wading deeper
down farther out from shore,
until after awhile great
wave with a strong undertow took
them out, their corpses the next wash
ed on the beach. So I see men wading
down into sin farther and farther, and
I call to them: "Come back! Come
back! You will be lost! You will be
lost!" They wave their hand back,
saying, "No danger; no danger" Deep
er down and deeper down, until after
awhile a wave sweeps them out and
sweeps them off forever. Oh, come
back! The one farthest away may
come.