Milford chronicle., 1903-07-17
TALNAGE
SERMON
@
ByRsM
y Rev
FRANK DE- WITT TRLsGAG2. B.D,
Pastor q Jeffsrsea FAsk Prsshy-
teEiRa ollRrohs Chiaa6O

most llmeig one. Ills text IS JOB il, ,
Curse God and die"
Two desperate, fierce
definite, outrageous! The one urges
the broken hearted father. the financial
bankrupt the physically tormented
man, to grit his teeth and. with flash
ing eyes and uplifted hand, hurl a fu-
tile malediction at the Almighty, to
curse God with an eternal hlasphemy.
What a shocking appalling suggestion!
Enough TO make all heaven stand
aghast in horror and to ronder even the
demon infested cuyeras of hopeless
inferno silent with fear and to turn
tle flushed cheeks adame with the fires
of eternal woe white with terror
Curse God! Who could do that but a
human being erazed and desperate and
reckless under intolerable anguish?
Tie second Indictment puts I'm the
hands of the sufferer the suicides
Knife the hangmnn's' moose or the vial
labeled with the two fatal words.
Deadly Poison" To how many in
every age has that insidious temptation
come? In the United States alone
more than 10000 persons have yielded
to it during the past four years. In
Chicago alone 1924 persons passed out
Of life by the suicides gate in three
yaars-nine victims on a single Sab
bath. In two months Of the present
year seventy-ive lives have ended in
self immOlation. How long will the
human race listen to that hideoHs voice
which bade Job seek in death escape
from his misery? That tempter's voice
is sounding louder and louder every
day. Shall the crime Of self murder /
be allowed longer to spread the per
nicious doctrine that with one stroke !
of the razor across the jugulGr vein /
or with one plunge IN front Of flying |
locomotive or with one leap from high /
building or lofty palisade the would be /
suicide can End rest eternal rest. God .
given, blissful oblivion for all who are
weary Of life and peace for souls sick
Of the results Of sin?
The increasing suicidal epidemic Of
the present generation should be halted
In its onward march of destruction.
lift my voice today in warning against
this evil. 1t cannot be stayed by up
braiding a mangled corpse or by call
Ing dead man Il coward. | would
and earnestly try to indi-
cate some Of the causes which produce
Il. Then, in guarding you against the
evils, l might perhaps by the
grace Of God keep some from ever tot
ering and swaying on the verge of the
'recipice or tumbllng into a suicides
grave. The gunpowder magazine can .
De exploded by a spark We would
leal this morning with primal causes
ather than with resultant confagra-
ions. fl
Atheism Responsible.
First charge atheism with the chief
esponsibility for the crime Self MUIR
Ter is the hideous black visaged ex-
cutiouer Of the merciless monster we
all atheism, agnosticism inhdelity. It
5 the old. Shiny serpent coiled up un- {
er the overshadowing branches of the '
narled and worm eaten tree Of unbe-
ef, at the foot of which sits the grin {
Ing, blear eyed bag misery grooming a I
irge for lullaby. 1t Is the death rat c
e of a human being whose parched
ps have been set to the rim of the Il
lalice filed with the scorching, poi s
1nous concOctlon of blasphemy and t
llsehood compounded by Voltaire, a |,
ousseau, Thomas Paine or a Robert v
. Ingersoll. 1t is the milestone, wet t,
ith human blood, upon which the "
oral sensibilities can be blunted and Il
the same time the suicides knife Il
iarpened, for it teaches immortal man | p
at there is no hereafter and that he W
responsible for his life's actions to a
Divine Maker and King. Il
No suicidal razor was ever honed u
IN the leaves OF the opened Bible. tc
lough the morning newspapers al bl
ost every day are blackened with ki
g awful obituary tragedies of men tu
d women who have deliberately 81
Ken their lives by the bloody hand al
self murder, you cannot find among in
lsc who perished. in the full posses Il
p Of reason, Il single copsecrated Sc
ris-ign church member. Tou can
hnd one person among them all
y realized that he was beloved W
Id of God and that he expected to tb
to meet a loving Heavenly Father ba
less the person killed himself dur fr,
6t Of temporary insanity. as did tr,
gh Miller, the great Scotch scientist. Is
o blew out his brains during men trl
arrangement or that eminent New wi
* clergyman who. in delirIum, of
ped from a window. Why? Tie on
lie distinctly and emphatically de- COZ
res that no man has a right to COM me
self murder. 1t warns men that be,
= must answer for this terrible me
ne before the judgment seat Of we
list, and it holds out to them no hir
g of pardon during all eternity the
d the eighth chapter of Revelation: kir
ID murderers and whoremongers ma
idolaters and all liars shall have Of
r part in the lake which burnetb tor
} fire and birthstone, which is the cid
nd death" Read the first epistle rod
Tohp, third chapter ana fifteenth lie
e. "Eo murderer hath eternal life hin
ing in him" In the sound of such iai;