The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1901-06-27
SERMON BY
REV. ]. SHAPE.


Baptist Church. June sd. 1901
Text: Thou shalt not kill, - EXodu
2O:l3.
The Human Body is a sacret
thing; ''it is the priceless casliet o
sacred potentlalities.' " 1t is the
husk OF the wheat. the covering ol
the wheat, the shell of the kernel,
the temple in which Deity dwells.
Animal. ward it is but dust-tor out
of dust it was made and unto dust
must it return. "Ashes to ashes.
earth to earth, dust TO dust; spirit
ward it is the Spirits house. 1t il
but tenement house it's true, upor
which Our Father let's the lease,
but conceals its duration from ten
ants. The lease is never renewed
(there is no such thing as a new
lease on liie.) and when God wills
is terminated. Man must not hurry
God, or assume Deitys prerogatlve.
God breathed into mans nostrils
the breath Of life, and he became a
living soul. Who shall dare to
take Almighty's breath away? In
the image OF God created He man.
Who shall destroy God S image? Oh
the dignity OF life. made in the
image of God. Bleered-eyed, bloated,
ugly, s:n-marked. disease ouched,
man is still God $ image. Oh how
marred! man after the fall is still
the blurred image of the perfect
God. He may have trausgressed
Holy Laws. He may have disobeyed
Divine commands. lie may have
denounced his birth-right and de.
med his scriptural description. but
he is still His Makers image,
Marked, marred. bloated, stained,
blurred image of the Holy God.
And the whole task OF the Gospel is
to remove the STAN, aud present
every man perfect before God. Be-
cause man is made IN Gods image,
to touch whose body is t. touch the
handiwork OF God, commandment,
Thou shalt not Kill, "
Tine killing Of any human beirg
bv the act of man is homicide. 1t
may be wilful as when a man lies
in wait for fellow, and stabs him
to tn, heart, or sends bullet
through his brain, or drugs himto
his death. 1t may be accidental as
when some foo! (notknowing it was
loaded) kills his bosom companion,
and grows grey with his own sell
inflicted sorrows Or as when some
heads up scorcher runs down an
old lady. and is eNhonerated d from
crime at the coroners inquest, be-
cause she happened to step in front
Of his wheel. Or as when some
mother let's fall her baby from the
third story to the pavement below,
and whose mangled dying form is
her sufficient condemnation and
SORROW Ii may be careless, As
when some criminal contractorputs
unsafe material in a building or
some employer takes not sufficient
precaution In case OF hire or other
accident. 1t may be vengetul as
when on sudden provocatlon one Is
goa ded into fatal perateness, or
as when a mob IS moved to frenzcd
action by some fiendlsh crime. 1t
may be reckless as when some in
human rum seller pours liquid poison
down the throat of him who was
made in the image of God. and mars
aud blurs that image and thrusts
it forward fatelully to an unbeau
ti(ul death.
Infanticide, more prevalent than
we know. is also thundered against
BY our commandme To those of
us who love little children, whose
delight it TO look intotheir cherub.
faces and to press upon their young
lips the kiss OF friendship and OF
love, it seems scarcely credible that
mother could find it in her heart
to place pink and white bundle OF
her own flesh and blood and bone
on a back lot TO perish. aud yet
there are some mothers who can do
it. God pity them, and forgive them
fol their shame on decent mothers
who think only Of their babies as
their Jewels. 1t may be that the
baby will never know its fathers
name. He hides well his identity
and shame. 1t may be that the
poor misguided unfortunate young
mother is content to suffer unallied
with him, but why must that baby
also suffer. OF what crime is it
guilty? What law Of nature or OF
God has it broken? Why, if lis un-
welcome life is not taken should it
be branded by society as an illegit-
mate child 1t is not illegitlmate, it
transgressed no law, it is here nat
urally and legltimately. Its par
ents have transgressed. They are
parents, but the pro.
duct OF their mutual sill has a right
to live.
Forticide is sin against which
the smoke of Sinai, and the light
ming OF Jehovah = wrath are turned
| spe ak gently but | must speak
plainly. To murder and unborn
child is murder as certainly as to
choke to death child one day old.
1t m alters not the foetus is but an
embryonic child aud at the time of
murder has no life. To hinder life
is crime against God as much as
to quehch life, and it is a pity and
a crime th at the shame of torticde
is as many as believe increasing in
our land.
Suicide is also condemned by this
sixth commandment, Business re-
verses overtake man, he tries to
conceal it from his wife and chill
dren, only partly succeeds. be-
comes more and more involved, hest.
tates about telling his family the
whole awful truth, and then in de.
spair goes down to the river brink