The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-09-05
SUICIDE
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By L. T. WILDS, D. D.
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Text of Sermon Preached the Presbyterian Church
SUICIDE

We are moved to consider thi
subject from a sense of duty. be
cause of the prevalence of thi'
evil and because we have beer
questioned concerning it, especial
ly by young people. Every news
paper carries the sad story OF
someone who has taken his or hel
life by some instrument of death;
and our own community has been
shocked several times in recent
years by the suicide of some Of
whom we would least expect il.
Suicide is characteristic Of times
of stress and distress, of unbelief
and ungodliness, and of the for
saking of God for, the idols of
money and pleasure.
There are five cases of suicide
in the Bible; and all of them were
bad characters-though we arc
far from the opinion that every
suicide is bad character. There
was Samson, the physical giant
but moral weakling. whose weak
ness was ungoldly women, Delilah,
for example. He finally became
the slave of his enemies, with his
eyes burned out and chained ID
their grist mill. In despair he
killed himself by pulling down the
temple upon his head and upon
the heads of others-and the sui
eide always brushes the hearts
and lives of others, even those
nearest and dearest to him. There
was Saul. the first king of Israel,
who was rejected by God from
being king because of his disobe-
dience and who sought the life OF
the noble young David. Defeated
in battle, he fell upon his own
sword after his armor-bearer re-
fused to kill him at his request.
There was AhithopeL the counsel
lor of King David, who sought the
life of his king and endeavored
to place upon the throne David's
unnatural son, Absalom. He final
ly committed suicide by hanging
himself. And there was a man
named Ziuri, a general in the
army of King Elah, who killed the
king and put himself on the
throne. Seven days later, how
ever, he was deposed by the army
and burned down the palace upon
his own head. And there was Ju-
das Iscariot. a professed Christian
in that he was a member Of
Christ's company. But he was a
hypocrite and betrayed his Lord
for money and in remorse went
out and hanged himself. Every
one of them a bad character, 4
self-seeker and resorting to blood
shed to accomplish his selfish ends.
The Bible company at least into
which the suicide places himself
is that of Samson and Saul and
Ahithopel and Ziuri and Judas.3
Now no family is proud of hay
ing a suicide in it, any more than
having one who has killed an
other. And the most charitable o.
excuses are made to relieve them
of the shame and modification.
The most frequent excuse is that
of insanity-they say he was tenn
porarily insane, mentally deranged
or unbalanced-an excuse fire.
quently made in the courts to
clear one of the penalty of muir
der. Of course, when one be-
comes insane, when the mind that
controls and directs the life fails,
neither God nor man holds him
responsible, any more than the
automobile driver is responsible
for an accident when the steering
gear goes wrong. We think that
beyond any doubt some who COM
nit the dreadful deed of suicide
are insane at the time. And yet
we wonder if sometimes we do
not exercise charity at the eX-
pense Of the truth, we wonder if
some are really insane, when we
see how sane they are about
everything else at the time, how
sanely they arrange their affairs,
and how sanely and expertly they
use the instrument of death. DR..
Henry w. Warren of New York,
president of the "Save Life
League" and who yearly counsels
thousands of would-be suicides,
gives the following causes of sui
eide. in the order of their preva-
lence-loneliness. i'll health, evil
living, love, family trouble, bust
ness losses, and poverty. And he
says that hardly any who commit
suicide are insane. You can take