Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1911-01-23
ASATURDANf'
@s NIGHT
/ SERMONS
BY
- j MIMhuELW.puRMSDl
is SUICIDE A SIN?


ing paper. And the number is legion,
grim and ghastly-12 $500 last year,
More than one every hour. In six
years as many tlinging their lives back
in the face of the Creator as the entire
Union and Confederate losses at Get
tysburg. Five men to one woman.
age from nine to ninety-three. For
the first time native Americans lead
ing the list It's fearful army
bleeding, bloated. burnt Tipped. stag
gering fixed eyed and disheveled un-
hidden into the silent halls Of death
Mans the only animal that takes his
life. Is suicide Il sin or is it a weapon
outraged nature gives us to escape the
unbearable? Is life but tent where
in one takes days rest? May he
take it down at will? There's but one
avenue of birth and many of death
If he had no voice in the entrance
may he choose the exit? If he cannot
fix the day of coming may he select
that of going? The canon of the AL
mighty says. Thou shalt not" You
neither gave it nor may you take it
away. The law of God. the law of the
state, the law of society, forbid you.
allow Came He Dead?"
In the barbarous days of Rome there
was no suicide: it came with civiliza-
ton. This complex twentieth century
existence Is predisposing cause. Our
fast lives, living at high pressure,
trouble. failure. sin and despair drive
men and women to death. In civilized
life there is Il great struggle, great
competition. and many fail There
are more kinds of hell in great city
than Dante ever imagined. To fall in
great city is like being wrecked ut
sea. In the country man has friends,
he can get some help and credit, the
church is closer to the people. but in a
city things are different. The man is
lost in the multitude. In the roar of
the crowd his cry is not heard. Death
seems his only friend. Physically the
stock degenerates and the individual
decays. Mode of living. alcoholic slim
ulants, patent medicines with power
full drugs, premature development. sex
ual excuses, gluttony and worry help
swell the figures. Fashion claims her
quota, too-dances. dress. thin slippers,
slim waists, bare arms and neck, pneu-
monia. Who hath sinned. this girl or
her mother that she was sacrificed to
this popular idol? Mentally "cram-
ming" school system. yellow newspa-
pers, wrong conceptions of life through
melodramatic theaters and moving pic
ture shows. Infidelity-if anywhere
in the world to come is safe landing
place why not jump off? OF the five
Bible characters who committed sui
eide not one was good man. Cyni-
cism says: "Nothing's so cheap as hui
man life. If you don't like this world
get out" No future means no hope.
That spells despair. There is only
one thing in The universe stronger
than love of life and fear of death,
and that is despair. Suicide is the last
resort of despair. There's something
mighty wrong in the psychic world of
the suicide. Things have lost their
proper proportion Humanity's first
law is not self destruction. but self
|
life? I have. Makes me thrill with
horror. They'll fight hunger, thirst.
burning building deck of ferryboat,
anywhere. Don't let drowning man
get his arms around you. a fellows
hard driven when he forgets that pri
NAL law. Suicide while temporarily
insane" says the coroner's jury. Some
I hot 10
our tears should fall They had ended
their lives by their own hands. but
those hands were not directed 10y their
proper selves. One of the saintliest
men I've ever known. great Presbyte
rian clergyman of Baltimore, closed
his life's book that way
Stop! Look! Listen!
Nearly every man Who has lived
deeply and Intensely, who has loved
and hated fried and failed has been
tempted 10 cast himself from the pm
nacle Of lifc's temple at some time on
other, lave YOU. friend? Tired Of
life? It's short the flight of a shut
tie. Dark? Its darker in the grave
Poor: SO was Christ ANA millions Of
others Failed: Who told YOU sue
cess meant happiness? Feel lost?
Don't try And your way out through
the gate Of death Don't do it. It's a
leap in the dark. The trap door of
helrs on the other side. Brace up
The suicides a deserter in life's bat
tie. He drops his gun and runs. Stand
at your post till you're relieved. Path
full of thorns? You're not alone. Most
Of us have planted a few thorn bushes
ourselves. Bind up your heel. Try
not to limp. Folks only grin. Not
your fault? Things can't be worse?
hats good. Listen. Change is the
law of life and human affairs. At the
worst point comes the change. Tide
is about TO turn. Darkest hours just
before dawn" Cheer up. Gods In
his heaven. aIl's we'll with the world
Suicides a blunder. If we were only
bodies it would be different, but we
are souls. Suicide murders both. How
do you know that by suicide you'd es
cape the Ills you are flying from? If
you want To get to a world whore
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