506 THE UNLAWFULNESS OF SELF-MURDER. law, both natural and revealed ; that it includes aggravated guilt in the nature of it ; and consequently that the person who dares committhis crime, stands exposed to severe and terrible punish- ments in the invisible world. I. Consider that the great God, the Maker of all things, has assumed to himselfthe power and lordship of life and death ; " I kill and make alive ;" Dent. xxxii. 39. It is he sends us into this world, and he expects that we should wait his will to send us out of it. Has not our Creator formed us with infinite wisdom, and placed us by providence to act our parts, maintain our posts, and fulfil some service for him in thispart of his domin- ions ? Has he not a right todetermine the time of our continu- ance here, and themoment of our removal ? Is it not an inva- sion of that divine right and prerogative, if we will appoint the time for ourselves without his order and contrary to the rules he has given us for our government ? Where is his licence for any man to dismiss himself? A spirit, who is ordained to dwell in flesh, what warrant has be to destroy that flesh at his own plea- sure, to quit his appointed station in this visible world, and to force his way into God's invisible dominions, before he obtain the leave of his Maker ? Or dares he do this at a venture, accord- ing to his own capricious humour without a warrant from on high ? Can a soldier who is fixed in his post, though it rain and blow at midnight, forsake his guard before his General permit ? Can such a faithless centinel expect any thing but frowns and death from the General ? Is it excuse enough to say, " I broke the orders of my superior because it rained ?" What a pieceof shameful cowardice is this ? And dares a soul that is placed by its Creator to act in a human body, dismiss itself, and fly from its appointed station, as far as the distance of two worlds, and yet hope for approbation ? Dares such a soul run from its post, into the immediate presence of its sovereign Lord, in the world of spirits, and say, " I have fled from my post because I found it troublesome, I have done it indeed without leave, and yet I ex- pect a reward ?" May not sucha wretch rather justly expect to he banished for ever from the presence of his Maker, and be doomed to suffer eternal penalties without mercy and without hope ? Perhaps you will tell me, " There is no want of courage discovered in self- murder : And that it was not accounted cow- ardice, but a noble instance of fortitude in many of the heathen heroes, who put an end to their lives with their own hands, ou various occasions." Answer. Concerning the heathenswho destroyed thetnsel ves, I shall speak in another place. It is enough at present to say this, that whatsoever degrees of courage a mistaken fancy may ascribe to those ancients, I must confess I am of a very different
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=