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THE WASHIMON GAZETTE.
VOL, XIX.
THE CAUSE OF SUICIDE.
Da. TAMIACHTB SERMON IN THE BROOK
LYN TA3SRKAOLE.
“H® Dr®w Out Ell Sword and Would Have
Klllad Himself. Supposing: that the Prlaoner
had Pled, but Paul Orlod Wltb a Loud
Voice, ’3>o Thyself no Aarxn’’ ”
BbooAtv, September 21.
The opening livinn at the
Brooklyn tabernacle to-day was:
•0 ir 450e1 dur help in pa*t,
Our hope far years to cotaat”
Dr. Talmage expounded the lltli
chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews,
and preached on “The Cause ot Sui
cide,” taking his text from Acts xvi.
27 and 28; “He drew out his sword
and would have killed himself, sup
posing that the prisoners had fled,but
Paul cried with 4 loud voice: ‘Do
thyself net harm!’” Dr. Tahnage
spoke as follows:
Here is a would-be suicide arrest
ed in his attempt. Ho is a sheriff
having prisoners in charge. Accord
ing to the Roman law the bailin'
had to suffer the punishment that
■was due any culprit escaping, and if
the prisoner breaking jail ws to have
been eudungooned three or four years,
then the keeper must lie endungooned
three or four years, and if the prison
er escaping was to have suffered cap
ital punishment then the keeper must
suffer capital punishment. The sher
iff had received unusual charge to
keep a close lookout for Paul and Si
las. There was something strauge
and supernatural about them, and
the government had not much confi
dence in bolts and bars to hold fast
these two Incarcerated clergymen.
And now, sure enough, they are
loosed by miraculous power, and as
they were to die for the crime .of
preaching Christ, thfc sherifl sup
posed ho would have to die, and
rather than go under the execution
er’s axe on the morrow and sutler
public disgrace he would, precipitate
his own decease. But the sharp,
keen, cruel dagger which the sheriff
aiming at bis own heart, halts at
of one of the unloosed
“Do thyself no harm!”
In olden times and when Christian
ity had not Interfered with it, suicide
was popular and considered a sign of
courage. Demosthenes poisoned him
self when Alexander’s ambassador
demanded that the Athenian orators
be surrendered. Socrates, the ora
tor, starved himself to death rather
than surrender to Philip of Maccdou.
Cato slow himself rather than submit
to Cwsar, and after the wounds had
been dressed three times Cato tore
them open and died, jtalliridates
poisoned himself to escape Pompey,
the conqueyor. Hannibal killed hiin
selfwith poison, which he always
carried in a ring because he thought
life unbearable. Lycurgus, a sui
cide. Brutus, a suicide. Empedo
cles ended his life by jumping into
the crater at Mount Etna. Zeno, the
great philosopher, at ninety-eight
years of age passing out of a school,
fell and put a finger out of joint, and
because of the accident, hanged him
•self. After his Moscow retreat Na
poleon always earned a preparation
of opium for self-destruction, and his
•errant one night heard him rise and
put something Into a glass and drink
it, and soon after there followed
groans that awakened all his atten
dants, aud it took utmost modical
skill to resuscitate hi from the stu
por of the opiate.
So the crime goes down through
the ages and modern society needs
some toning-up on the subject of
•uicide. You can’t take up a news
paper without seeing the account of a
passage out of life by one’s own
hand. Defaulters, alarmed at the
prospect of exposure, qnit life thus
precipitately. Men losing fortunes
enda life that they think not worth
living. Frustrated affection, domes
tic ills, dyspeptic impatience, re
m*rsc, envy, grief, destitution and
misanthropy are considered sufficient
cause for absconding from this
world. BjfcFaria green, by bellado
na, by laudanum, by leap off an
abnttment, by Othello’s dagger, by
rope, by firearms. Never so many
cases of felo de se in any two years as
in the last two years. The trime is
becoming common by the day. A
pulpit not long ago expressed a doubt
as to whether there was really any
thing wrong in ending one’s life when
it becomes too disagreeable. And
there are strewn through the com
munity among respectable people
apologists for the deed that the apos-
WASHINGTON, GA., FRIDAY, OCTOBER % 1884.
tie in the text arrested. I shall show
that it is the worst possible crime
and will lift against it a warning un
mistakable.
At theopeuingof my sermon let me
say that some of the best Christain
people who have over lived havo
committed suicide, but they did
so in dementia ami therefore
were irrspousible. I would
have more no doubt about
their immediate entrauce upon eter
nal happiness thand have about thoso
who die in their beds in tho delirium
of a typhoid fever. Wljile the shock
of the catastrophe is greater than in
ordinary demise, I charge those whose
Christain friends have in cerebral ab
berration stepped off the
of this life to have no fear about their
destiny. The dear Lord took them
out of their dazed and frenzied stale
into perfect safety. If you want to
know how Christ feels toward the in
sane, see his treatment of tho do
moniacs of Cardura and the child
lunatic, and the potency with which
he hushed tempests, whether of water
or brain.
Among ail the grand and glorious
men of Scotland, the land prolific of
intellectual giants, no one grander lias
lived than Hugh Miller. Croat in
seienco aud groat for Cod. lie came
from the best highland blood and was
a descendant of Donald Roy, memor
able for “piety and for the rare gift of
second sight.” His attainments,climb
ing up as he did from quarry aud
stone. Mason Wail, drew forth tiie
amazed admiration of Buckland and
Murchison, the scientists, and Chal
mers, the theologian, and held univer
sities spell-bouud as lie told them
what he had seen of Cod iu tho old
red sandstone, lie did more than any
man that ever lived to show that the
God of tho hills is the God of tho Bi
ble; striking his tuning-fork on the
rocks of Cromarty uutil geology and
theology lifted their voices iu the
same psalm of worship; his books en
titled “The Footprints of the Creator”
and “The Testimony of the Rocks,’’
proclaiming the banns of an eternal;
marriage between science and revela
tion. He toiled on this last book day
and night from love ot nature and love
of God until sleep was impossible,
and his brain gave way and lie was
found dead with a revolvor by his
side, the cruel instrument that had
two bullets, one for him and the other
for the gunsmith, who afterwards
fell dead while examining tt. Can any
one doubt the beatification ot Hugh
Miller when his hot brain ceased to
throb that winter night in his study
at Porto Bello? Among the migh i.st
of heaven.
No one ever doubted the piety of
William Cowpcr, author of “Oh, for
a closer walk with God,” “There is a
fountain filled with blood,” “Whai va
rious hindrances we meet.” William
Cowper, who with Isaac Walts and
Charles Wesley, wears the chief hon
ors of the sacred out
hypochondria William Cow
per rcsolvod on seif-dostruc
tion, rode to the Thames river for this
purpose, but found a man seated up
on some goods on the bank from
which the sacred poet expected to
spring, and so returned to his house
and that night lay on the blade of a
knife which broke, and then sus
pended himseli with a rope which
parted. No wonder when he got
out of his abnormal condition he
wrote that other hymn. '
“Ood moves In s Mysterious wty,
Bis wonders to perform.
But while we make all this merci
ful and righteous allowance for those
Christain people who have been
plunged into a state of mental incoher
ence, I declare that he who, while iu
the posession of his reasoning facul
ties by his' own hand intentionally
snaps the hand between body and
soul, goes straight into perdition.
Shall I prove it? Revelation xxi. 8:
“Murderers shall have their.'part [in
the lake that [burneth with fire and
brimstone. Revelation xxi. 15: “With
out are dogs and sorcerers and
whoremongers and murderers.”
Don’t believe in the new Testament ?
Perhaps, then, you believe in the Ten
Commandments; “Thou shalt not
kill.” Do you say all these refer to the
taking of the life of others ? I ask is
not a man as much responsible in re
gard to his own life as the life of oth
ers? Your lifo is committed to your
especial care. You are its custodian
as you are the custodian of no other
life. God has given you [means for
its defense, arms with which to strike
back assailants, eves with which to
watch invaders, and a natural love of
life that was intended always to lie on
the alert. Assassination of others Is
a mild crime as compared with the
assassination of yourself, beoauso in
this last case you are treasurers of an
especial trust, and you surrender a
castle you wore especially bound to
protect. It is high treason against
natural law, and high treason to food
added to murdor.
That God is against self-immola
tion, I show you a rogue’s gallery in
the Bible, the pictures put there as
warning to alt men agninst this un
natural deed. There hang* (lie head
less trunk of Saul on tho walls of
Buthsham. Tills is tho great big
coward who tried to kill little David,
ten feet of stature chasitig four. This
is tho man who consulted with tho
clairvoyant, the witch 1 rtf Endor.
Completely Whippod in battle, in
stead of surrendering his sword with
dignity as hundreds of heroes have
done, ho asks his servant to kill him ;
and the servant declining, tho giant
plants tho hilt of his sword iu the
ground and tuimsthe sharpened point
of it up and flings himself upon it.
And there his picture hangs in the
rogue’s gallery of miscreants. There
also is Ahithophel, the Macceaviclli
of Bible times. He betrayed David
in prospect of being prime minister to
Absalom and joined that fellow in
his attempt at patricide. Ahitho
phol's change of politics not securing
him what lie wanted, ho took a short
cut out of a disgraced life into a sui
cide’s eternity, and in Ist Samuel you
havo his post mortem photograph.
Yonder also is Abimelcch, practically
a self-murderer. While ho was bom
barding a tower a woman took a
grindstone from its place and dropped
it upon his head, leaving just enough
life in his cracked skull to say to his
armor-bearer: “Draw thy sword
and slay me that men say not ‘a wo
man slew him.’” and thrust fllTßugh
at his own command, itio was practi
cally a sofetdo, and his picture hangs
'in the imbe
ciles. ■■ V *“
But the hero of this group is Judas
Iscariot. Donne, in his celebrated
book, calls him a martyr. Aud in
our time some have been his apolo
gists. And what wonder, in this ago
which lias a book reviewing Aaron
Burr as a patron ef virtue, aud which
lias a monument recently built to
George Sand as a benefactor of lit
erature. and whtcli has cases of be
trayal of Christ among his pretended
apostles so black that in the contrast
Judas Iscariot’s infamy is white. But
there he is, after selling Ins Master
for about fls, suspended by his own
hand for the execration ot all centu
ries. At! the good honorable men
and women of tho Bible loft to God
the decision of their earthly terminus.
Aud they could all have exclaimed
with Job, who, though he had good
reason for suicide if any mail ever
had, what with his property gone
and his body inflamed with insuffera
ble carbuncles, and nothing of his
home left except the curse of it—a
pestiferous wife and four garrulous
pelting him with their comfortless
men talk whilo he sot on an ash-heap,
scratching his scabs with a piece of
broken pottery, yet triumphantly say
ing: “All the days of my appointed
time will I wait till my change
cone.”
Notwithstanding all that the Bible
says against suicide and all the aver
sion it would create by the ghastly
and loathsomo spectacle of those who
hnrled themselves out of life and the
fact that Christianity has always
been against It by the arguments and
the useful lives and illustrious
deaths f its disciples, the fact is
alarmingly patent that suicide is on
the increase. And everybody asks
why is it ? I charge the whole thing
up'on the infidelity and agnosticism
abroad. Ifthcrebeno hereafter, Or
if that hereafter is blissful without
reference to how we live and how we
die, why not swing back the sliding
doors between this world and the
next? Why not let all those who
find this world uncomfortable pass
right over to Elysium? Take this
tact for consideration: In every case
of suicide that has ever been recor
ded, or ever will be recorded, the per
petrator was cither demented, and
hence not responsible, or an iufiedel.
I challenge the universe Jand I chal
lenge the ages for one exception.
There never has been, there never will
be a man who took his own life while
appreciating tho fact that lie is im
mortal, and that this immortality
wilt be glorious or wretched accord
ingto his reception Jesus Christ as a
Savior pa the rejection of Him,
You aceotiutfor tho increase of sui
cide by business raisiortun.es, by
overwork, by insomnia, by this, by
that, by Ibe-otfrer thing. Go back to
tire soitroo and soc that it is either
through abdication of reason or
thvOuglrthe handsome and detectable
worie of infidelity, which practically
saysi “Ifyon'don’t like this world
got outoffrJKi you will either go
into aiini’,Ration where von will have
no uoUM to jwv anrl no’fiersecutiori to
suffer (Mtiltiio tfentt to torment, or you
will pass immediately into a world
where you have everything
glorious without paying for ft. Infi
delity has always been an apologist
for suicide. David Hume writes:
“You admit that it would bo no crime
in me to direct the Nile or Danube
from I could. Where
then is tJpßffic of turning a few
out of their natural
channel?'’ Ilnme lent this essaj to a
friend, who, after reading it, returned
it with thanks, and tho next day slioy
himsfelf. Voltaire, Rousseau, Gib*
bon, Montaigne were advocates for
suicide under certain conditions. In
fidelity-puts not up one bar to hinder
pooplosjjtliiiig voluntarily out of this
lifo into the next. They all tell you
that you will land safely anyhow
either ill tijwhere or a happy some
wlietc. Bo infidelity holds the upper
end of the repo of the suicide, ami
fires off jhe pistol with which tho
man blows Ids brains out, and mixes
the strychnine for tho last swallow.
If infidelity could carry tho day and
persuade tho majority of the people
that it is right, and tlmt however
men go out of tins life they land well
in tho next existence, the East river
and Hudson would soon bo so full of
tho ferryboats would be
way to New York,
jnd tfQV f Uin suicide’s pistol
would bow Inn ion as tho rumble of
a strict car. Let coroner's juries got
brave enough to render a verdict ac-
cording to the case, and ns iu (lie it
rcspons hle cases they, “Whilo in a
slate of insa'nlty the deed was done;”
iti other cases, say, “While suffering
from the resujts of reading infidel
books or hearing infidel lectures
which destroyed all idea of retribu
tion, the deceased took his own tile.”
Let brazen infidelity stand up and
get its sentence; its lip blistered with
every blasphemy, and its cheek scar
red with every lust, and its breath,
foul Wlth'tho corruption of the ages,
this satyr, this filthy goat, this unclean
buzzard of nations, this leper of cen
turies. Btand up, thou monster, purl
man, part panther, part yulture, part
reptile, and part dragon, and take
the sentence for that thou an the in
stigator of self-murder, and thy hands
are red with the carnage in which
thou hast washed, and thy feet crim
son with the human gore through
which thou hast waded. Go down
sentenced to the pit, and sup on the
sobsTmd'groans of families whom
thou Hast blasted, and roll on a bed of
knives, which thou hast sharpened
for others, and tby musio be the un
ending “miserere” of l hose thou hast
damnod. I brand infidelity and ag
nosticism wit It the crime of all those
who, in possession of their mind, com
mitted self-slaughter during the last
eentufy.
My hotKcrs, it you ever, became
life, by reason of its trials and moles
tations, is unbearable, should be
tempted to quit it at your own behest,
do no condemn yourself above all
others. Christ hiraseif was tempted
to cast htmseltd*wnfrom the roof of
the temple; but as he resisted, so re
sist ye. Christianity comes in to me
dicine all our wounds, and give us
victory. I’coplo who had it worse
than you, have been songful all the
way. Beside that, God has arranged
with precision tho chronology of
your life as well as the chronology of
nations, tho time to die as well as the
time to be born, your grave as well as
your cradle. The Egyptians were
slain.in Egypt at precisely 12 o’clock
night, and tho Israelites emancipa
ted. Why at 12 o ( cloek at night ?
Bccaufcdf 130 years were up at that
hour. (Vxl knows when to let you
out o'earthly bondage. By his grace
don’t make the worst but tho best of
things. If you must tako pills, don’t
chew them. Your heavenly reward
will correspond with your earthly
perturbation, as Cain gave to Agrippa
a chain of gold as heavy as once had
been his chain of iron. For the asking,
you can hayo tho same grace that
wasgiveu to the Italian martyr,Alge
rius, who dated his letter “from the
delectable orchard of the Leonine pri
son.”
Above all, let us realize, that there
is around our earthly life a rim which
it is most perilous to us to break. All
around this brief life a rim beyond
is eternity; and wo had better keep
out of It tijl God breaks the rim, thin
but important, which separates this
from that. To go out of present ills,
don’t rush into greater misfortunes.
Don’t to get rid of a swarm of sum
mer Insects, plunge into a jungle of
Bengal tigers. There is a sorrowloss
world, and so radiant, that tho noon
day sun is but one of its lower door
steps, and tho aurora that lights up
thonorthoru heavens, confounding bs
trenomers as to what it can be, is on
ly one of the banners of its procession
come out to conduct a conqueror
from church militant to church
triumphant. And you and I have
ton thousand reaseffis for wanting to
go there. But wo shall not reach it
either by self-immolation, or by im
penitoncy. All our sins slain by the
stroke of Him who came to do that,
and nothing else; wo want to go in at.
tho timo divinely solocted, and from a
bed divinely spread. And then the
clang of the sepulchral gate behind us
will bo drowned out by the clang of
the openiug of tho solid pearl before
us. O, God, whatever others may
choose, give mo tho Christian’s hope
and the Christian’s life, and tho Chris
tian’s death, and tho Christian's burial,
and tho Chris ian’s immortality.
FRANK JAMES
On] Hand According to Promise at
the Moberly Fair.
A recent dispatch from Moberly,
Mo., says: Frank James, known
hero as Colonel James, occupies a
conspicuous position in the Judges’
stand at the Fair Ground. He did
not start the horsjss as ad\txi"jsc<l.
The distinguished bandit is I
of Mr. Theodore Priest, tins
morning the Colonel drove out to the
Fair Grounds, and in the language of
tho evening paper, the Moberly Mon
itor, “Every one wanted to get ac
quainted with him, and many suc
ceeded in doing so.” In the afternoon
he was on hand early, and held quilo
a levee in the office of the Secretary
and weighing-stand on the race
track.
The liberty granted tho “Colonel"
since his acquittal and release from
tho Gallatin tail, seems lo have
agreed will) him, as he is i.i much bet
ter flesh. lie at that limn’mil the ap
pearance of an overworked lavyer’s
clerk. To-day lie looks like a well
fed country school teacher.
Previous to the races many crowd
ed about the office, gazing at'the main
attraction of tho Fair with open
mouthed wonder. Fortunate did the
man who secured an introduction
deem himself, and the bandit’s right
arm must have grown quite tired
shaking hands. Ho was very quiet
and had little to say. One homespun
farmer was raised above tits farmers
in being able to recall to James’ mind
some target practice at the Hopkins
ville depot some yeare ago. Some of
the directors of the fair have rather
weakened upon the James attraction,
and that may account for the fact that
at about 3 o’clock the city marshal
cleared the stand of all but the offi
cers of tho day, and stood guard at
the door. Jamet then took a posi
tion with the judges and remained
there "during the rest of the day,
placidly chewing tobacco and taking
a keen interest in the running races,
of which there are two.
A parade of the local military
company, the fire department and
citizens bearing torches was reviewed
by Colonel James from a carriage.
Thepeopto at Moberly, as a rule,
areaverse to'discussing the James ex
hibition and do not hesitate to blame
the fair directors. The directors
say, “We are away behind in our af
fairs, and we had to look up an at
traction that would help us pan
out.”
The Moberlyfair is very unique.
In the language of the “sports.”
“Everything is run wido open.” In
addition toFrar.k James there areas
attractions a band of Sioux, Indians,
a wheel of fortune, and as an addi
tional novelty, a booth conducted by
an enterprising citizen whose sign
reads, “Money to loan on collateral.”
The indications nre that, tho fair will
be a financial success, and the direc
tors will be more thau satisfied with
their exhibition of Frank James.
NO.
OBN. SCALES’ FEARFUL FALL.
A Detailed Account of the Aooldent to 0
Democratic Candidate for Governor.
(From the Charlotte Observer.)
Early yestoadry morning a tele
gram was received from Greensboro
by Colonel 11. C. Jones, chairman of
the Mecklenburg county executive
committee, conveying the Intelligence
that in conseqnenco of a painful acci
dent General Scales would be unable
to rill his appointment in Charlotte.
Tho accident occurred while the Gen
eral was crossing the Cowee Moun
tain, which divides Jackson from
Macon oonnty. The road is very
rugged and in some places, like most
mountain roads, winds along high
and dangerous precipices. General
Scales wa9 traveling in a buggy with
a companion who was driving.
While descending a steep place in tho
road a portion of the harness gavo
way, which caused tlie buggy to rum
on tho horse. The horse became
frightened and dashed off in a mad
runaway. Just at a narrow bend n
the road, where the mountain rose up
perpendicularly on one side, and on
the other yawned a one hundred foot
chasm, the buggy upset. As it did
so General Scales leaped to tho
ground and landed on tho edge of
the precipice. The horse and buggy
tumbled over tho precipice and went
crashing to tho ground, ono hundred
feet below. In endeavoring to gain
firm ground General Scales lost his
foot hold and going over tho precipico
followed the buggy. Ilis fall was a
terrible one and would have un
doubtedly resulted in his death but
for tho fact that at tho distance of fif
ty feet and before striking tho jagged
rocks below, the force of his fall was
broken by a tree, into the branches of
which General Seales crashed and
where tin lodged.
The buggy was smashed to pieces
and the horse was killed. Climbing
from the tree and regaining solid
ground General Scales found that
none of his bones were broken, but
the pains darling tmyugn til
body gave evidence that ho had ref
ccivcd severe and perhaps serious in
ternal injuries. Witli tho assistance
of his friend, General Scales made his
way to a house near by,where he rest
ed for a while aud then, upon the ad
vice of his physicians, ho made his
way lowards his home in Greensboro,
which place he reached Thursday
night. The doctors who are attend
ing General Scales in Greensboro
command him to keep quiot and re
main in bed for two days yet. They
found that he had received a number
of painful bruises anil his limbs aro
severely wrenched. The doctors an
nounce that lie will be able to fill his
appointment at Albermarlc, in Stan
ly county, oil Monday next.
BIDS TO BUILD THE CAPITOL.
Thirty Firms Trying- to Secure: the Oon
tract—The Offers Near the Hark.
A lettor from Atlanta, says: The
full board of Capitol
mot this afternoon at 4 •’clock. Af
ter tho preliminary organization bids
and proposals were opened, read and '
recorded. Business on this line took
up the time until afternoon, an ad
journment not being had until after
dark. There were thirty bidders,
some of them having as many as five
bids. Prominent among them were
proposals to build the entire build
ing and turn it over to the State for
use. These were as follows: On the
whole building, .Miles & Hearne, of
Toiodo, $776,000. This bid specified
wooden joists. Bor the whole build
ing with iron joists they bid 1910,000,
and according to the original specifi
cations 9972,000. The Hallo wes
Granite Company, of Chicago, bid on
the original specifications $932,500*
The same firm on revised specifics*
tion bid $867,727.
Cbas. Pierce & Cos., of Indianapo
lis, bid on the whole building of Ohio
sandstone $922,860. The same firm
bid on tho whole building of Indiana
limestone $929,000. The same firm
bid for Georgia marble $1,015,000.
The same firm bid for Georgia gran
ite $1,141,784.
D. W. Thomas & Cos., of Akron,
bid on the whole building $1,097,974.
The cotton crop will soon be out of*
tho way, and the farmers will bo
brought.face to. face .with the oppor
tuoity of providing for a heavy oat
crop tierear. A good oat crop has
never vet brought want and confu—
-ton ■ :nio a farming community
There i no danger of overdoing th®
oat crop.