4
THE-
AN EXCELLENT'
ADVERTISING MEDIUH.
Official Organ of Washington County.
FIEST OF ALLTHE NEWS.
Circulars extensively in the Counties c!
' . J;b Printing In ItsYarlous Branches.
Washintci, Martin, Tyrrell and BituforL
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l.OO A YEAR iy ADVANCE. ''FOR GOD, TOR C'OUXIRY, AXD TOR TRUTH." SINGLE COPY, S CENTS.
VOL. IX. : PLYMOUTH, N. C, FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 1898. NO. 10.
FOOLISH
1 saw a sweet young mother with
Her first-bom at her breast;
"And what's the baby's name?" I asked
Of her so richly blessed.
She looked at me with pity, as
She proudly poised her head:
"We call him Dewey, sir. of course,"
In tender tones she said.
I met a dainty little girl
Who led a kitten by a string,
JLnd as I stroked her head, I asked:
"What do you call the pretty thing?"
She looked at me with wide blue eyes,
And as she went her way,
"I call my kitten Dewey, sir,"
I heard her sweetly say.
r
.A. i. A A Jt A
THE RED BOOK.
i
BY RAYMONO
mm mm mm mm mm MM mm mJM.
Poor dear mail!" ejaculated Mrs.
Moneypenny, laying down the news
paper and looking at her small grand
daughter, "I must put him. into the
Red Book." And she gave a gentle
sigh as she spoke, for the names in
the Red Book were already numerous.
"What has he done, granny?"
Doreen Oolding dropped the much
hated sampler she was working and
pushed back the golden curls that
would fall into her eyes. ' "Has he
killed, somebody, or drunk poison, or"
her blue eyes growing large' with
.sudden interest "has he been ship
wrecked, and was he starving, and did
he eat up all the other peoples in the
boat one by one?"
jjt . "Doreen," said Mis. Moneypenny,
T severely, "you are an extremely
7 , naughty little girl. If you were older
f-l I should almost think that you had
Jueen reading my newspapers. Uon
rrifnne your work at once."
, "I haven't read any old newspa
' pers," answered Doreen in an injured
tone of voice; "you told me yourself,
granny."
"I told youl" The old lady held
, up her hands in horror at the very
Idea. -
"Yes, you did, granny," persisted
Doreen, standing up, a defiant little
figure; "when you read anything in
the paper that makes you feel sorry
you say 'Poor mau!' or 'Poor woman!'
and then you go on reading and begin
; . thinking out loud, and you say,
'Fancy killing his poor little girl!
Dear, dear! Just a fit of temper; or
- v starving, dying of thirst; dear me! I
might have done it myself; one never
knows!' You tell me a bit about
r everything, and I make believe the
rest. When I can't make it all out I
ask Sophie. Sophie always tells me
just what I want to know."
"Doreen! You are a very naughty
little girl indeed!" gasped the old
lady, clutching hold of her newspaper
' with both hands. "Sophie is a very
good girl she never reads the news
papers." "Yes, she does, granny," asserted
Doreen, gathering up a colony of dolls
from the hearthrug as she spoke, "she
loves it as much as you do. I always
tell her when you've read anything
specially dreadful, and she says 'Law,
Miss Doreen! I'll be sure to read it
this very night. ' What has the man
done, granny?"
"Nothing that is at all proper to
tell little girls or servants," answered
Mrs. Moneypenny, stiffly. "You are
a very strange child, not at all like
what your dear mother used to be.
Go away and play in the garden,
Doreen."
Doreen .hesitated and then obeyed,
determined to find out) what the man
V in the newspaper had done for Sophie
as soon as possible.'
Mrs. Moneypenny lived toward the
close of the nineteenth century, but she
belonged in spirit to the eighteenth.
. She wore long silk mittens, a puce
colored silk dress that fell around her
' in voluminous folds and a cap with
laoe4 lappets that rested lightly upon
J her ' gray, corkscrew curls. She
Swashed the china herself after break
fast and tea. She. owned a stillroom
and rejoiced in its mysteries. Her hall
land sitting room were sceuted with
potpourri and her linen press with
lavender. Her bed was warmed every
night with a warming pan, and when
'"" J had a cold she sat with har fe.t
in hot mustard and water and drank
treacle-posset. Also, she wore go
loshes whenever it was wet and d;d
an immense amount of worsted needle
work. Her grandchild was the off
spVing of the- nineteenth century; so
was Sophie, the maid of all work. Oc
y casionally the two centuries disagreed
and met iu combat, but, owing per
haps to a certain stateliness in its
representative, the eighteenth century
more often than not drove the ninety-
.? the field.
"v vpeuny was old-fashioned
ye iu prayer. She be-
-so firmly that her
it also, which is
'ities as she
prayed
heard a
iW
i
or
the
a
-.it
If.
QUESTIONS.
I met a curly-headed boy
Who had a brlndle pup,
"And what's your doggy's name?" I asked,
As I held the creature up.
He gazed at me in wonder, and
He proudly cocked his head:
"I cail him Dewey, sir, of course,".
He pityingly said.
I stopped beside a rustic stile,
Ana heard a milkmaid sing a song;
"And what's your bossy's name?" I asked
The lassie as she came along.
She looked at me in mild surprise,
And as she strode away,
"Why, Dewey i9 her name, of course,"
I heard the maiden say.
-Jj, WrAAAJWA A
1
fr
TV-lb
JABBERUS.
11 MMT 1
life fresh and sweet, and who cau tell
how far-reaching may have beeu the
iufluence of that book? Several pages
at the eud were left blank so that
Mrs. Moneypenny could record when
ever her prayers brought forth visible
fruit. When such items could be hon
estly entered she was a proud old
lady indeed.
Some weeks previously the loss of
a small chiua hen caused Mrs. Money
penny great perturbation.
It was a favorite plaything of her
granddaughter's and lived generally
in Doreen's pocket with a string at
tached to its neck. When its small
owner went for a walk the china hen
went out as well and was bumped
along every bit of grass that could be
found; also, to give it a fondness for
water, its was dipped in and out of
every pond and puddle and was, in
fact, such a compauion that when one
day the string was found to have lost
its appendage in the course of a long
walk, Doreen was heart-broken and
agitated her old grandmother consid
erably. "You really might put my own dear
Snowflake into your Bed Book,
granny," she had sobbed. "You pray
for nasty old bad men and women. aud
my china hen never did anything but
get lost. You are a mean old granny,
and I won't love you any more."
"You said, granny you said I was
to tell God 'bout everything and ask
Him for everything I think I think
you are very unkiud not to tell Him a
little girl has lost her dear china hen.
You can pray much better than I can,
'cos you are so old. Why can't you
do what you told me to do, granny?"
The tears and the logic won the
day. With au unspoken prayer that
she might be forgiven, Mrs. Money
penny wrote down in her book: "My
granddaughter, Doreen, has lost a toy
and frets over the loss. Mem.. ....
To pray that it may be found and re
stored to her keeping."
Since then nothing more had been
seen or heard of the china hen. Every
Sunday Doreen reminded Mrs. Money
penny that it had not come back, till
the simple-hearted old lady grew anx
ious lest the child's faith should suf
fer and prayed as earnestly for the
restoration of the toy as she did for
the hitman woes that filled her book.
She need not have been i anxious, how
ever, for Doreen was a trusting little
soul. She was quite content now that
Snowflake was beiug prayed about
properly and amused herself by imag
ining what sort of adventures the
china hen was enjoying.
When dismissed from her grand
mother's sitting room Doreen ran off
to shady corner of the garden over
looking the main road. The main
road was neither very broad nor very
important, for it merely led from the
village of Hurst to the village of
Finch, Mrs. Moneypenny's cottage
standing in rather an isolated position
between the two. Doreen's favorite
seat was on the top of the low wall
that bounded the garden, and on the
afternoon in question, after scrambling
aloft, she deposited her disreputable
array of dolls amidst the ivy with va
rious slaps and bumps.
Unconscious that a tramp was
watching from the other side of the
road, Doreen played with her dolls
for several minutes, until a harsh
voice olose to her said abruptly,
"You've got a big fam'ly up there, lit
tle missy."
Doreen looked down into the road,
studied the man's villainous face aud
tattered clothes a minute in silence.
Then, with a friendliness born from
the security of her position above
him, she answered: "Yes, beggar
man, I have a very large family, and
every one of my children is desperate
wicked."
"Wicked, be they?" and the tramp
showed all his toothless gums in a
grin. "I've a little gal at 'ome what
has a fam'ly same as you, missy; but
her fam'ly's powerful good, she alius
tells me."
"Oh," remarked Doreen; then, anx
ious to be polite, she added, "P'raps
your little girl likes good childrens. I
don't. I like them to be wicked; then
I can punish them. They're all being
punished now," waving her hand tow
ard the forlorn group in front of her.
"They've all got their legs where
there's most tickly things, earwigs and
spiders and snails and beetles, and
they are being tickled frightfully
they are screaming like I scream when
granny combs my hair. It's dread
ful anxious work having ehildreus to
in g up properly."
-'totems as if I'vegot somethin' 'era
as yer might like to play with, missy,"
said the tramp after a moment's pause;
fumbling in a dilapidated pocket. "It
is a purty little thing wot I picks up
in a ditch this morning," and he stood
close to the wall and held something
up to Doreen, who took hold of it
rather gingerly.
The next moment she cried: "Why,
it's my Snowflake! My own dear lit
tle white hen that ran away from me
years and years ago!. Did God tell
you to bring it back to me,beggarman?
I love you just enormously," and Do
reen beamed down on the tramp, cud
dling her restored treasure close to
her clean white dress, regardless tht
Snowflake was no longer white, but
black, and had lost a wing during her
wanderings.
The tramp scowled. "One good turn
'serves another, missy. What time
do you and the servant girl go a-walkin'
on Sundays?"
"We go after dinner when it is fine,
as soon as Sophie has washed up,"
answered Doreen, still gazing in ad
miration at the china hen. When she
looked down into the road again the
trarnp had disappeared, and the rector
of Finch was turning in at the garden
gate. -
The next afternoon about 3 o'clock,
this same tramp stood listening out
side a half-opened door in the hall at
Holly Lodge, and as he listened the
expression on his face changed strange
ly. Fear was transformed into won
der, wonder into into - incredulity, in
credulity into belief, belief into some
emotion impossible to classify. With
a hitch up of his tatters, as if to make
sure that they still clung together, he
suddenly pushed open the door, en
tered the sitting room, set his arms
akimbo, scowled at the old lady who
gazed up at him in wonder from her
knees and said harshly: "What's that
yer been a-saying 'bout Sam Blake?
Hurry up, missus "
It was not a dignified position, per
haps, in which to be caught by a bur
glar, but Mrs. Moneypenny maintained
her self-possession, rose from her
knees and faced the intruder boldly,
still holding the red book.
"How dare you enter my house in
this manner?" demanded the old lady
after a slight pause, while she inves
tigated him through her spectacles.
"Yer may thank yer stars, missus,
as yer ain't a deader already," said the
man, roughly, coming close to her;
"but when a chap hears his own name
and facts 'bout his own life, he'd maybe
like to know what it means afore he
sets to work."
"So you are Sam Blake?" an
swered Mrs. Moneypenny, under
standing as people do sometimes in
sudden emergencies. "You are the
Sam Blake that nearly killed his wife,
that starved his children and broke
into a jeweler's shop 15 years ago. I
know you very well, Sam Blake, for I
have prayed for you and your miser
able family every Sunday afternoon
for 15 years. I am very glad you
heard me, Sam Blake, Now what do
you want?"
"Wot yer done it for?" asked Sara
Blake, still scowling.
"Because you were wicked enough
to require a good many prayers, and,
my friend," Mrs. Moneypenny smiled
a quaint, shrewd smile, "unless you
are going to murder me, which would
be but a simple matter, as you see I
am old and alone in the house, I
shall continue to pray for you."
"You're a game 'un, you are!"
growled Sam Blake, half-approvingly.
"I've a mind to let yer off this time,
blowed if I ain't. Look a-here,- mis
sus, if I don't , knock yer over the
head as I had a mind, nor take that
diamond ring o' your'n in charge for
yer, yer must hand over what money
yer has in the 'ouse and give us a feed
afore yer little 'un comes back. Look
spry, old 'un, and maybe , us won't
quarrel after all."
Mrs. Moneypenny measured the
man with her eyes, recognized his
strength and her weakness, realized
there was nothing to 'do under the
circumstances but obey, unlocked
her dispatch box and handed its con
tents to Sam Blake, who was pleasant
ly surprised, the nearness of rent day
not having entered into, his calcula
tions, and treated her unwelcome guest
to . as good a meal in the kitchen as
the larder could provide.
"Let's have a look at that book of
your'n," said Sam Blake, as he made
Mrs. Moneypenny fill up his glass
again with beer.
He studied the neat entries in si
lence and then banged . his fist down
on the table with such force that Mrs.
Moneypenny started. "Of all the rum
'uns you're about the rummest!" he
exclaimed. "There, shake hands,
missus you needn't be afeared for
your diamond, though -it's a mighty
fine 'un, as word was passed down tc
in,e, sure euougu. x guras jci
book 'ull be full afore you goes under,
eh, miscus?"
"I am c.fraid it will, Sam Blake?"
began Mrs., Moneypenny, racking her
brain for fa suitable word in season,
b'ut just jat that moment a. child's
merry lanjL-b sounded in the distance.
Sam BlaWshoved half a loaf into his
pocket a jl made a bolt out of the
kitchen, jthe door slammed, and Mrs.
Moueyptnny was left alone to tidy
her disordered kitchen with hands
that Btil leuly tiembleda she realized
for tlye first tiins that the Bed Book
had iuved her life, if not her money.
DR TALMAGE'S SEEMON.
SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE. '
Subject: "Self-Slaughter "A Terrible
Denunciation of Suicide Assassination
of Others a Mild Crime Compared With
Assassination of Yourself.
Text: "Do thyself no harm." Acts
16:28.
Here la a would-be suicide arrested in
his deadly attempt. He was a sheriff, and,
according to the Roman law, a bailiff him-
seu must sutler the punishment due an es
caped prisoner;and if the prisoner break
ing jail was sentenced to be endungeoned
for three or four years, then the. sheriff
must be endungeoned for three or four
years, and If the prisoner breaking jail was
to have suffered capital punishment, then
the sheriff must suffer capital punishment.
The sheriff had received especial charge to
keep a sharp lookout for Paul and Silas.
The government had not much confidence
in bolts and bars to keep safe these two
clergymen, about whom there seemed to
be something strange and supernatural.
Sure enough, by miraculous power, they
are iree, ana tne snerirr, waking out or a
sound sle9D. and suDooflinffthesumintatara
have run away, and knowing that they
were to aieior preacning Christ, and real
izing that he must therefore die, rather
than go under the executioner's axe on the
morrow and suffer public disgrace, resolves
to precipitate his own decease. Bvjt before
the sharp, keen, glittering dagger of the
sheriff could strike his heart, one of the un
loosened prisoners arrests the blade by the
command. ""Do thvself no harm "
In olden times, and where Christianity
had not interfered with it, suicide was
considered honorable and a sign of cour
age. Demosthenes poisoned himself when
told that Alexander's ambassador had de
manded the surrender of the Athenian
orator. Isocrates killed himself rather
than surrender to Philip of Maeedon
Cato, rather than submit to Julius Crosar.
took his own life, and three times after his
wounds nad been dressed, tore them open
ana pensnea. Mitnridates Killed hlmseir,
ratner tnan submit to Pompey, the con
queror. Hannibal destroyed his life by
poison from his ring, considering life un
pearaoie. A.ycurgus a suicide, lirutus a
suicide. After the disaster of Moscow,
Napoleon always carried with him a prep
aration of poison, and . one night his
eervant heard the ex-emperor arise, put
something in a glass and drink it, and
soon after the groans aroused all the at
tendants, and it was only through utmost
medical skill that he was resusoitated
Times have changed, yet the American
conscience needs to be toned up on the
subject of suloide. Have you seen a paper
in the last month that did not announce the
passage out of life by one's own behest?
Defaulters, alarmed at the idea of exposure,
quit life precipitately. Men losing large
fortunes go out of the world because they
cannot endure eartnly existence. rus
trated affection, domestic infelicity, dys-
fieptio impatience, anger, remorse, envy,
ealousy, destitution, misanthropy, are
considered sufficient causes for abscond
ing from this life by Paris green, by lauda
num, by belladonna, by Othello's dagger,
by halter, by leap from the abutment of a
bridge, by firearms. More cases of felo
de se in the last two years than in any two
years of the world's existence, and more
"in the last month than in any twelve
months. The evil is more and more spread
ing. -
A pulpit not long ago expressed some
doubt as to whether there was really any
thing wrong about quitting this life when
it became . disagreeable, and there are
found in respectable circles people apolo
getic for the crime which Paul in the text
arrested. I shall show you before I get
through that suicide is the worst of all
crimes, and I shall lift a warning unmis
takable. But in the early part of thi.s ser
mon I wish to admit that sbme of the best
Christians that have ever lived have 'com
mitted self-destruction, but always in de
mentia, and not responsible. I have no
more doubt about their eternal felicity
than I have of the Christian who dies in
his bed in the delirium of typhoid fever.
While the shock of the catastrophe is very
great. I charge all those who have had
Christian friends under cerebral aberration
step off the boundaries of this life, tq have
no doubt about their happiness, The dear
Lord took them right out of theirHazed
and frenzied state Into perfect safety. How
Christ feels towards the insane you may
know from the way He treated the de
moniac of Oadara and the child lunatic,
and the potency with which He hushed
tempests either of sea or brain.
Scotland, the land proiiflo of intellectual
giants, had none grander than Hugh Miller.
Great for science and preat for God. -He
was an elder in St. John's Presbyterian
Church. He came of the best Highland
blobd, and ?as a descendant of Donald
Bov, a man eminent for piety and the rare
gift of second sight. His attainments,
climbing up as he did from the quarry and
the wall of the stone mason, drew forth
the a-tonished admiration of Buoklandand
Murchison, the scientists, and Dr. Chal
mers, the theologian, and held universities
spellbound while he told them the storv of
what he had seen of God in "The Old "Bed
Sandstone." That man did more than any
other being that ever lived to show that
the God of the hills is the God of the Bible,
and he stuck Ms tuning-fork on the rocks
of Cromarty until he brought geology aud
theologv accordant in divine worship. His
two books, entitled "Footprints of the
Creator" and "The Testimony of the
Rocks," proclaimed the banns of an ever
lasting marriage between genuine selence
and revelation. Oq this latter book he
tolled dayand night.through loveof nature
and love of God, until he could not sleep
and his brain gave way, and he was found
dead with a revolver by his side, the cruel
instrument having had two bullets one
for him and the other for the gunsmith,
who at the coroner's inquest-was examin
ing it and fell dead. Have you any doubt
of the beatification of Hujrh Miller after
his hot brain had ceased throbbing that
winter night in his study at Portobello?
Among the mightiest of earth, among the
mightiest of heaven. ,
No one doubted the piety of William Cow
per, the author of tnosethree great hymns,
"Oh, For a Closer Walk With God,"
"What Various Hindrances We Meet,"
"There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood"
William Cowper, who shares with Isaac
Watts and Charles Wesley the chief honors
of Christian hymnology. In hypochon
dria he resolved to take his own life, and
rode to the Biver Thames, but found a man
seated on some goods at that very point
from which he expected to spring, and
rode back to his home, and that night
threw himself upon his own knife, but the
blade broke; and then he hanged himself
to the ceiling, but the rope broke.
While we make this merciful and right
eous allowance in regard to those who were
plunged into mental incoherence, I declare
that the man who, in the use of his reason,
by his own act, snaps the bond between hia
body and his soul, goes straight Into perdi
tion. Shall I prove it? Revelation 21, 8
"Murderers shall have their part in the
lake which burnetii with Sre and brim
stone." Revelation 22, 15 "Without are
dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers
aud murderers." You do not believe the
New Testament? Then, perhapB, you be
lieve the Ten Commandments: "Thou
shalt not kill." .Do you say that all these
passages refer to the taking of the life of
others? .Then I ask you if you are not as
responsible for your own life as for the life
of others? God gave you a special trust in
life, and made you the custodian of your
life, and He made you the custodian of no
other life. He gave you as weapons with
which to defend it two arms to strike down
assailants, two eyes to watch for invasion,
and a natural love of life which ought ever
to be on the alert. Assassination of others
is a mild crime compared with the assas
sination of yourself, because in the latter
case u is treacnery to an especial trust; jt
us iuB siurenuor ui u, uttue you were e-.
pecially appointed to keep; it is treason t o
a natural law, and it is treason to God add
ed to ordinary murder.
To show how God of the Bible looked
upon this crime, I poir.t you to the rogues
picture gallery in some parts of the Bible
the pictures of the people who have com
mltted this unnatural crime. Here is the
headless trunk of Saut on the walls ot Bath
shan. Here is the man who chased little
David ten feet in stature chasing four,
Here is the man who consulted a clairvoy
ant, Witch of Endor. Here is a man who,
whipped in battle, instead of surrendering
his sword with dignity, as many a man has
done, asks his servant to slay him, and
when that servant declined, then the giant
plants the hilt ot his sword in the earth,
the sharp point sticking upward, and he
throws his body on it and expires the cow
ard, the suicide! Here is Ahitonhel, the
Machiavelli of olden times, betraying his
best friend, David, in orderthat he may be
come prime minister of Absalom, and join
ing tnat fellow in nis attempt at parricide.
Not getting what he wanted by change of
politics, he takes a short cut out of a dis
graceful life into the suicide's eternity.
mere ne is. tne mtrratei
Here is Abimelech, pratically a suicide.
He is with an army, bombarding a tower,
when a woman in the tower takes a grind
stone from its place and drops it upon his
neaa, ana witn wnat me ne nas left in his
cracked skull he commands his armor-
bearer: "Draw thy sword and slay me,
lest men say a woman slew me." There is
his post-mortem photograph in the Book of
samuei.
But the hero of this group is Judas
Iscarlot. Dr. Donne says he was a mar
tyr, and we have in our day apologists for
him. And what wonder, in this day when
we have a book revealing Aaron Burr a3 a
pattern of virtue, and in this day when we
unoover a statue ol George Hand as tne
benefactress of literature, and in this day
when there are betrayals of Cnrlst on the
part of some of His pretended apostles a
betrayal so biacK it mates tne intamy ot
Judas Iscariot whitel Yet this man by his
hand hung up for the execration of all
ages. Judas iscarlot.
All the good men and women or tne Bible
left to God the doclslon ot the earthly
terminus, and they could have said with
Job, who had a right to commit suicide if
any man ever had, what with his destroyed
property and nis Dody an atiamewitn in
sufferable carbuncles, and everything gone
from his home except the chlel curse ot It,
a pestiferous wife and four garrulous peo
ple pelting him witn comiortless tallc while
he sits on a heap of ashes scratching bis
scabs with a piece ot broken pottery, yet
crying out in triumph: "All the days of my
appointed time will i wait till my change
comes."
Notwithstanding the Bible Is against this
evil, and the aversion which it creates by
the loathsome and ghastly spectacle of
those who have hurled themselves out of
life, and notwithstanding Christianity is
against it and the arguments and the use
ful lives and the illustrious deaths of its
disciples, it is a fact alarmingly patent
that suicide is on the increase. What is
the cause? I charge upon infidelity and
agnosticism this whole thing. If there be
no hereafter, or if that hereafter be bliss
ful without reference to how we live and
how we die, why not move baok the fold
ing doors between this world and the
next? And when our existence here be
comes troublesome why not pass right
over into Elysium? Put thi3 down among
yourmost solemn reflections. There has
never been a case of suicide where the
operator was not either demented, and
therefore irresponsible, or an infidel. I
challenge all the ages and I challenge the
universe. There neer has been a
case of self-destruction while in full
appreciation of his immortality and of the
fact that that immortality would be glori
ous or wretched according as he accepted
Jesus Christ or rejected Him.
You say it is a business trouble, or you
say it is electrical currents, or it is this, or
it is that, or it is the other thing. W hy not
go clear back, my friend, and acknowledge
that in every case it. is the abdication of
reason or the teaching of infidelity, which
practically says: "If you don't like this
life get out of it, and you will land either
in annihilation, where there are no notes
to pay, no persecutions to suffer, no gout
to torment, or you will land where there
will be everything glorious and nothing to
pay for it." Infidelity has always been
apologetic forself-immolation. After Tom
Palne's "Age of Reason" was published
and widely read there was a marked, in
crease of self-slaughter. ,
A man in ljonaon" neard 3ir. owen de
liver his infidel lecture on socialism, and
went home, , sat down, and wrote these
words: "Jesus Christ is one of the weakest
characters in history, and the Bible is t he
greatest possible deception," and then shot
hlmseir. David Hume wrote tnese worn:
"It would be no crime for me to divert the
Nile or the Dahube from its natural bed.
Where, then, can be the crime in my divert
ing a few drops of blood from their ordin
ary channel?" And having written the
essay he loaned it to a friend, the friend
read it. wrote a letter of thanks and admir
ation, and shot himself. Appendix to the
same book.
i Rousseau. Volt aire. Gibbon, Montaigne,
were apologetic for self-immolation. Iull-
iieiitv Duts up no oar to peonierusamgouc
from this world into the next. They teach
us it does not make any difference how you
Hv here or go out of this world; you will
land either in an oblivious nownere or a
glorious somewhere. And infidelity holds
the Upper endof the rope for the suicide,
and Hirns the pistol with which a man
blows .his brains out, and mixes the strych
nine f ir the last swallow. If infidelity
could :arry the day and persuade the ma
jority ct people in this country that it does
not ni'iSce any difference how you go out
ot thi world you will land safely, the
Totomatt would be so fuil of corpses th
boats w
aud the
ml.l b9 impeded in their progress.
c rack of the suicide's pistol would
ire alarming than the rumble of a
be no m
'street ct
r.
I hav
h sometimes neara it aiscussea
whetherjthe great dramatist was a Chris
tian or dot. THe was a Christian. In his
last wilnand testament he oommeads his
soul to Gvd through the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. 1
Woul3rd that the coroners would be
brave in i W iering the right verdict, and
when in a i-e of irresponsibility they say:
' Wbilrt this vian was demented he took his
life:" la the
infidel booi
4t her '
tad a
case say: "Having read
attended infidel lectures.
which obliterated from this man's mind a ,
appreciation of future retribution, he com
mltted self-slaughter!"
Have nothing to do with an infidelity so
cruel, so debasing. Come out of that bad
company into the company of those who
believe the Bible. Benjamin Franklin
wrote: "Of this Jesus of Nazareth I have
to say that the system of morals He left,
and the religion He has given us are tha
best things the world has ever seen or 13
likely to see." Patrick Henry, the electrlo
champion of liberty, says: "The book
worth all other books put together is tha
Bible." Benjamin Rush, the leading phys
iologist and anatomist of his day, the great
medical scientist what aid he say? "The
only true and perfect religion i Christiani
ty." Isaac Newton, the leading philoso-'
pher of his time what did he say? "The
sublimest philosophy on earth is tbephilos
ophy of the Gospel." ' David Brewster,
at the pronunciation of whose name every .
scientist the world over bows his head
David Brewster, saying: "Oh, this religion
has been a great light to me, a very great
light all my days." President Thiers, the
great French statesman, acknowledging
tnat he prayed when he said: "I invoke
the Lord God, in whom I am glad to be
lieve." David Livingstone, able to con
quer the lion, able to conquer the panther,
able to conquer the savage, yet conquered
by this religion, so when they find hiin
dead they find him on his knees.
Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the Su
preme Court of the United States, appoint
ed by President Lincoln, will take the wit
ness stand. "Chief Justice Chase, please to
state what you have to say about the bock
commonly called the Bible." The witness
replies: "There came a time in my life
when I doubted the divinity of the Script
ures, and I resolved as a lawyer and judge
I would try the book as I would try every
thing else In the court-room, taking evi
dence for and against. It was a long and
serious and profound study, and using the
same principles of evidence in this religious
matter as I always do in seoular matters, I
have come to the decision that the Bible is
a supernatural book, that it has come from
God, and that the only safety for the human
race is to follow Its teachings." "Judge,
that will do. Go out back again to your
pillow of dust on the banks of the Ohio."
Next I put upon the witness stand a Presi
dent ot theWnlted States John Qutncv
Adams. "President Adams, what have
you to say about the Bible and Chri-i-
tlanlty?" The President replies: -1 have f or
many years made it a practice to read
through the Bible once a year. My cus
tom is to read four or five chapters erery
morning immediately atter rising irom my
bed. It employs about an hour of my time.
and seems to me the most suitable manner
of beginning the day. In what light so
ever we regard the Bible, whether with
reference to revelation, to history or to
morality, it is an invaluable and inex
haustible mine of knowledge and virtue."
"Chancellor Kent, what do you thinfc of
the Bible?" Answer: "No other book
ever addressed itself so authoritatively
and so pathetically to the judgment and
moral sense of mankind." "Edmund
Burke, what do you think of the Bible?"
Answer: "I have read the Bible morning"
noon and night, and have ever since been
the happier and the better man for such
reading."
loung men ol America, come out of the
circle of infidels mostly made up of
cranks and inbeciles into the company of
intellectual giants, and turn your back
on an infidelity which destroys body and
soul. .
Ahl Infidelity, stand up and take thy
sentence! In the presence of God, angels
and men, stand up, thou monster! Thy lip
blasted with byisphemy, they cheek scarred
with uncleanness, thy breath foul with the
corruption of the ages! Stand up. Satyr.
filthy goat, buzzard of the nations, leper of
the centuries! Stand up, thou monster.
Infidelity. Part man, part panther, par.t
reptile, part dragon, stand up and take
thy sentence! Thy hands red with the
blood In which thou hast washed, thy feet
crimson wlth the human gore through
which thou hast waded, stand up and take
thy sentence! Down with thee to the pit.
and sup on the sobs and groans of those
thou hast destroyed, and let thy musio be
the everlasting miserere of those whom
thou hast damned! I brand the forehead
of infidelity with all the crimes of self-immolation
for the last century on the part
of those who had their reason.
My friends, if ever your life, through its
abrasions and its molestations, should
seem to be unbearable, and you are tempt
ed to quit it by your owu behest,, do not
consider yourself ns worse , than others.
Christ Himself wa3 tempted to cast Him
self from the roof of the Temple, but as
tie resisted, so resist ye. Christ came to
medicine all wounds. In your trouble I
prescribe life instead of death. People who
have had it worse than you will ever have
It, have gone songfully on their way. Re
member that God keeps the chronology of
your life with as much precision as He
keeps the chronology of nations, your
grave as well as your cradle. Why was it
that at midnight, just at midnight, the de
stroying angel struck the blow that set the
Israelites free from bondage? The four
hundred and thirty years were up at twelve
o'clock tha. nl?ht. The four hundred and
thirty year3 were not up at eleven, and one
c clock would nave been tardy and too
late. The four hunired and thlrtyyears
were up at twelve o'clock, and the de
stroying angel struck the blow, and Israel
was tree. And God knows just the
hour when it is time to lead you up from
earthly bondage. By His grace make not
the worst of things, but best of them. If
you must take the pills, do not chew them.
Your everlasting reward will accord with
your earthly perturbations, just as Caius
gave to Agrlppa a chain of gold as heavy
as had been a chain of iron. For the ask
ing you may have the same grace that wa3
given the Italian martyr, Algerius, who,
down in the darkest of dungeons, dated his
letters from "the delectable orchard of the
Leonini prison." And remember that this
brlel life Is surrounded by a rim. a very
thin, but very Important rim, and close uo
to tnat rim is a great eternity, and you had
better keep out of It until God breaks that
rim and separates this from that; To get
rid of the sorrows of earth, do not rush
into greater sorrows. To get rid of a swarm
or summer Insects, leap not into a jungle
of Bengal tigers. -
There is a sorrowless world, and it is so
radiant that the noonday sun is only the '
lowest doorstep, and the aurora that lights
up our northern Heavens, confounding
astronomers as to what It can be. ishe
waving of the banners of the procession
come to take the conquerors home from
church militant to cnurch triumphant, and
you and JL nave ten thousand reasons for
wanting to go there, but wh will never get
there either by self-immolation or impenl-
tency. au our sins slain by unrist who
came to do that thing, we want to go in
at just the time divinely arranged, and
from a couch divinely spread, and then
the clang of the sepulchral gates behind
us will be overpowered by the clang ot the
opening Of the solid rtirl before us. O
Godt Whatever oth"s m ly choose, giv
tne a Christian's life, a Ca-tstian's death, a
Christian's burial, a curidtian's ininior
tality!
Louisiana Judges are forbidden by the
new constitution ot that State kto maka
public a dissenting opinion.