538 TIIE UNLAWFUL? ESS OF SELF-MURDER. self. I must honour my own parents, and by the same reason, if I am a parent, I must not do any thing to dishonour my own person or parental character in the sight of children. Now since ourselves, as well as our neighbours are taken into consideration in all these commands, wheresoever it is possible in the nature of the thing, I think the destruction of ourselves as well as of our neighbours is equally forbidden by the sixth command. Thus this law secures the life of every man, woman and child in the world, who have not forfeited their lives to the pub lic justice by some capital crime : And even then it is only this public officer, or the person authorized by the law of the land, who has right to take away the life of the criminal. Secondly, I answer, The injury forbidden in the sixth command does not only reach to the person who is slain, but to his friends, his relations, his country, and the community to which he belongs. It is upon this account chiefly that human penalties are annexed to murder by men, because the community is hereby deprived of a member, or the princeof a subject, and the various parts of that community are deprived of a helper. It is also upon this account of the injury done to our fellow- creatures, that God has appointed blood to be repaid with blood, as he is the sovereign guardian of human society. Now I would ask, Whether the same injury is not done to our friends, our kindred and our country, if wemurder ourselves, as if another hand murdered us ? Yes surely, and in some re- spects a greater injury too, especially to our friends, as shall appear hereafter. But besides all this, the injury reaches to God our Creator; it is he has appointed to each person his station in this world for some special service to himself as well as to our fellow-crea.. tures. And as another man must not injure and affront our Creator by removing us from this station, so neither must we do it ourselves. It is not for any man to say, " I can be of no service to God or man in this world ; I am rather a burthen to the earth, a piece of useless lumber; therefore I throw myself out of the way." But can you tell for what services God has reserved you ? Are you one of his council ? Do you know what future events may arise, wherein you may be made use of, if not in an active manner, yet at least in a passive way, to carry on some part of the divine scheme of providence ? Now for this reason no sort of murder is permitted, that so no man may be cut off from all future and possible capacities of service to God or his fellow- creatures. God has not made any man a judge in his own case, to determine for himself concerning his own life and usefulness in opposition to the general sense both of nature and scripture, and the constant judgment of divine as well as human laws.
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