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Show Underlying Cause of Crime. rpHE ALARMING frequency of sul-I sul-I cide and homicide has led the Salt Lake daily press to comment com-ment on the evil effects of the saloon, the gambling room and lack of enforcement of the law, all of which are alleged as causes promoting these two great evils. That such are, no doubt, the mediate causes of homicide and suicide, facts prove. But back of these causes is another, deepen and what might be, termed the direct or immediate cause, which is ! produced by infidelity and agnosticism. Both tell the unfortunate victims that death is the end of all things. Even with a doubt of the future, they still promise their deluded votaries that the transition from this world to the next puts an end to all the miseries that human hu-man nature is subject to; that all will be sunshine beyond the grave. Infidelity, Infi-delity, with its boasted enlightenment, stands on the same plane with paganism pagan-ism regarding the dreadful consequences conse-quences of man shedding the blood of another, or taking his own life. Voltaire, Vol-taire, Rousseau and Hume assumed the role of defenders of suicide under certain cer-tain conditions. Hume in one "of his essays wrote: "You admit that it would be nd crime in me to divert the Nile or Danube from its course, if I could. Where, -then, is the crime of turning a few ounces of. blood out of their natural na-tural channel?" ' The effect of these two sentences on a friend was so great that next day he shot himself. Where these crimes are not the effect of insanity, it is needless to seek for other cause than that produced by infidelity in-fidelity and its latest development, agnosticism. ag-nosticism. We are prone to boast of the enlightenment of the age; but enlightenment, en-lightenment, tainted with pride'and devoid de-void of moral and Christian principles, can not avert dreadful evils when the trials, crosses and failures of this lffe present themselves. . The most enlightened of the old pagans, pa-gans, when their pride was wounded or their submission demanded, committed suicide. Hannibal carried poison in his ring to be used when he considered this life not worth living. It came, as it is sure to come to every mortal at some period, and he took the fatal dose. Rather than surrender to Alexander, Demosthenes took poison. The great orator, Isocrates, to avoid submission to Philip of Macedon, starved himself. Cato would not submit to Caesar, and to escape the consequences of his rebellious re-bellious nature, he slew himself. Three times his wounds were dressed and each time he opened the gaping scars. Christianity tells of the awful consequences con-sequences meted out to murderers and suicides. Infidelity and agnosticism call this superstition, and that cry has so persistently gone up that its effects are apparent. In 1S98 the Chicago Tribune Tri-bune published criminal statistics for that year 100 persons lynched, 7,810 murders, 5,920 suicides making a total of 13,869 illegal murders. All this in the most enlightened country in the world ! No true Christian, unless he is absolutely abso-lutely insane, will take his own life. The direct and immediate cause of this wholesale slaughter of man, the noblest of God's creatures, whether by his own hand or that of another, is the teaching of infidelity and agnosticism. To remedy rem-edy the evil, begin with the youth and instill into their minds sound moral principles. Let parents by their example exam-ple lead them up to the plane of good Christians. When those same youths grow to manhood and become the country's legislators, they will regulate regu-late the saloon, the gambling den, and make life and property safe. |