Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-07-22

From the Yorkyille
Rev. w. G. Neville, pastor of the
Presbyterian church of Yorkville,
preached last Sunday morning on
the crime of murder. His sermon
was timely and of such obvious
strength that it gives us pleasure to
reproduce it in full. He took his
text from Exodus Xxx, 13: "Thou
shalt do no MURDER" and discussed
the subject as follows:
Murder. Let us consider first, the
enormityof this crime. God teaches
us in His word that murder is one Of
the most atrocious crimes that can
be committed by man and mans
enlightened judgment corroborates
Gods estimate of this sin. As far
as man is concerned, there is more
involved in this sin, perhaps, than in
any other. In order to realize to
some extent, at least, " compre.
hensive sweeps of the is es involved
in this sin, just consider for a mo.
ment how the man who is murdered
is affected. He is ushered into the
awful and untried realities of eternity
aud, as a rule, without a moments
warning. His connection with this
world is forever severed and his
destiny is eternally fixed.
The man who commits murder is
exercising a prerogative which be-
longs to God exclusively, and one
which is especially sacred to him.
Hence the man who assumes the
prerogative of taking his fellows
life, and exercises this prerogative
without the direct permission of God,
is guilty of very heinous crime in
the sight of God.
Murder is sacrilege in the sight of
God. 1t is infinitely different from
taking the life of dumb brute. 1t
is not only violating commandment
of God-this is bad enough, but it is
defacing the image of God. 1t is
practically an effort to put an end to
being who is made in the image
of God. Yes, the murderer does
all he can to annihilate, not only a
product of Gods creative power,
but a person who is made in the
image of God and who bears upon
his very being the stamp of Deity.
Oh, how deep man has sunk into
the depths of iniquity who can
commit this crime! Human language
is inadequate to depict the real
character of this sin.
In the next place, let me call your
attention to the fact that this crime
has been on the increase in recent
years in this country. Statistics
show that murder in the United
States in the last fifteen or twenty
years has increased with startling
and alarming rapidity. believe the
number of homicides i'm this country
did not exceed the 1000 mark till
1886; but in one year since that time
it has reached the 10000 mark.
just think of it-an increase of ten
hundred per cent in little over ten
years. We have been sowing the
wind and we are now reaping the
whirlwind. Human life is cheap in
the United States. Look at England.
There is in that country an average
of only BIT murders each year. The
average in this country from 1896 to
1901 was 7,746. While our popula.
tion is only two and one-half times
as large as England, the number of
homicides in this country is more
than twenty times as many as in
England. That is, if we had the
same standard on this subject that
England has, we would have only
942 homicides a year, instead of
7,746. There was in South Carolina
225 homicides last year. If our rec
ord had been as good as England's,
there would have been only fifteen.
When we study these figures it is
not surprising that thoughtful people
are seriously considering the subject
and are trying to devise some plan
by which this great evil may be
abated. Truly can we say that our
land is polluted with the sin of mur-
der. Just think of it--46,478 homi.
cides in this country in six years !
Let us now consider some of the