the Apostolic age, furnishes no obscure indication of their sentiments on this subject. They lived in a confirmed belief of happiness to be enjoyed by them in a future state. In this world every extremity of injury and distress was their allotment. To die was gain. The change, which death brought with it, was, in their expectation, infinitely beneficial. Yet it never, that we can find, entered into the mind of any one of them, to hasten this desirable change by an act of suicide, from which, it is difficult to say, what motive could have so universally restrained them, except a conviction of unlawfulness in the act. It is, then, equally the sentiment of philosophy and of religion, both natural and revealed, "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come."t We must be still further convinced of the unlawfulness and criminality of suicide, if we bring the practice to the further test of the general consequences which it involves. Indeed, there is no subject in morals, to which the test of general consequences can be more successfully and properly applied. Particular and extreme cases of suicide may be imagined, and may arise, of which it would be difficult to assign the particular mischief, or from that consideration alone, to demonstrate the guilt; but this is no more than what is sometimes true of universally acknowledged vices. Possible cases, even of the highest crimes known to the law, might be proposed, which, if they could be detached from the general rule, and governed by their own particular consequences alone, it would be no easy undertaking to prove criminal. When brought to this test, the question is no other than this; May every man who chooses to destroy his life, innocently do so? Limit and discriminate as we please, it will come at last to this question. For, shall we say, that we may commit suicide, when we find that our continuance in life has become useless to mankind? Any one may make himself useless, who pleases; and persons given to melancholy are apt to think themselves useless, when they really are not so. Suppose a law were enacted, allowing each individual to destroy every man he met, whose longer continuance in the world he might judge to be useless; Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy, p. 228. * who would not condemn the latitude of such a rule? Who does not perceive, that it would, in substance, be a permission to commit murder at pleasure? A similar rule, regulating the right over our own lives, would be capable of the same abuse. Besides which, no one is useless for the purpose of this plea, but he who has lost every capacity and opportunity of being useful, together with the possibility of recovering any degree of either ; — a state of such utter destitution and despair, as cannot, I presume, be affirmed of any man living. Again, shall we say, that to depart from life voluntarily, is lawful for those alone, who leave none behind them to lament their death? If this consideration is to be admitted at all, the subject of inquiry will be, not whether there are any to lament us, but whether their pain, caused by our death, will exceed that which we should suffer by continuing to live. Now this is a comparison of things so indeterminate in their nature, so capable of varying judgments, and concerning which the judgment will differ so much according to the state of the spirits, or the pressure of any present anxiety, that it would scarcely vary, in hypochondriacal constitutions, from an unqualified license to commit suicide, whenever the distresses, which men felt or fancied, rose high enough to overcome the pain and dread of death. Men are never tempted to destroy themselves but when under the oppression of some grievous uneasiness; the restrictions of the rule, therefore, ought to apply to these cases. But what effect can we expect from a rule, which proposes to weigh one pain against another; the misery that is felt, against that which is only conceived; and in so false a balance, too, as the party's own distempered imagination. In like manner, whatever other rule we assign, it will ultimately bring us to an indiscriminate toleration of suicide, in all cases in which there is danger of its being committed. What then would be the consequence of such toleration? Manifestly, the loss of many lives to the community, of which some might be valuable; the affliction of many families, and the apprehension of all; for mankind must live in continual apprehension for the fate of their friends and dearest relatives, when the restraints of religion and morality are withdrawn ; when every disgust, which is powerful enough to tempt men to suicide, shall be deemed good cause to justify it, and when the follies and vices, as well as the inevitable calamities of life, so often make existence a burthen. Besides the reasons against suicide derived from philosophy and natural religion, from Christianity, and from the general consequences, each case will be aggravated by its own proper and particular consequences; by the duties that are deserted; by the claims that are defrauded; by the loss, affliction, or disgrace, which our death, or the manner of it, causes our family, kindred, or friends; by the occasion we give to many to suspect the sincerity of our moral and religious professions, and, together with ours, those of all others; by the reproach we draw upon our order, sect, or calling; finally, by a great variety of evil consequences attending upon peculiar situations, with some or other of which every actual case of suicide is chargeable. Besides these more general motives, fitted to dissuade from suicide, one, more particular, may be addressed to all who are tempted in this way. By continuing in the world, and in the practice of those virtues which remain within our power, we retain the opportunity of meliorating our condition in a future state. And there is no condition in human life, which is not capable of some virtue, active or passive. Even piety and resignation under the sufferings to which we are called, testify a trust and acquiescence in the divine counsels more acceptable, perhaps, than the most prostrate devotion; afford an edifying example to all who observe them; and may hope for a recompense among the most arduous of human virtues. These qualities are always in the power of the miserable; indeed, of none but the miserable.* Legislation has been resorted to, both in this country and in England, to prevent suicide; but without any good effect. If the love of life, so natural to man, the prohibitions of Christianity, the restraints of public opinion, the general consequences and particular aggravations of every act of this kind, and the other motives to which I have adverted, are not effectual to prevent suicide, it is in vain to rely on any enactments of penal law, however severe these may be. The offending party is beyond * Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy, pp. 223 – 226. the reach of legal penalties; the confiscation of his estate is punishing the innocent for the offence of the guilty, and any indignities offered to his remains, will only render his relations, already made unhappy by his conduct, still more unhappy. When moral considerations have failed, legal penalties will be ineffectual. CHAPTER II. IMPROVEMENT OF THE CORPOREAL FACULTIES. ANOTHER personal duty consists in the preservation and improvement of our corporeal faculties. On the importance of physical education, which chiefly consists in skilfully calling forth the corporeal powers, strengthening and maturing them by healthful exercise and appropriate training, and bringing them to all attainable perfection, I have before briefly remarked.* The personal qualities, and consequently the usefulness and happiness of the man, depend, in no small degree, on the strength, vigor, elasticity, and general good constitution of the body, on the flexibility and good proportional developement of the limbs, and on its ability to resist exposure, to sustain fatigue, and endure labor and privation of every kind. And such is the reciprocal action of the body and the mind on each other, that whatever affects the one, must in a greater or less degree affect the other. Moreover, a good constitution of body, and high improvement of the corporeal powers, the result of a judicious and persevering physical education, can be maintained only by a continuance of the same salutary exercise and discipline. An eminent Roman author well says, "Orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano. * See above, pp. 149, 150. ↑ Juvenal. Sat. X. 356-362. A sound mind in a sound body, a mind proof against passion, however violent, and inaccessible to degrading pleasures, however enticing, and a body able to bear any labors, however arduous, is the perfection of the physical and intellectual man. Finally, physical accomplishments are intimately connected with moral, as well as intellectual; and, for this reason again, it is still more a personal duty to aim at the utmost physical improvement of which we are capable. CHAPTER III. CULTIVATION OF THE POWERS OF THE MIND. It is, then, a duty to cultivate and, if possible, to perfect our physical powers. But it is a still higher duty to cultivate the faculties of the mind generally; and, in this cultivation, we are to include the discipline of the temper and passions, and attention to manners and personal habits. The intellectual and moral faculties are the chief prerogative by which man is distinguished, and are the most valuable blessings conferred on him by the Almighty. In their natural state, however, they are capabilities of reflection and usefulness, rather than faculties actually in exercise. In too many cases, they continue substantially in this state, through life. In every case, they wait to be called forth by cultivation and discipline. By neglect, by disuse, by sloth, they remain unawakened and unimproved. Even when awakened and cultivated, vice and profligacy waste, corrupt, and ruin them. Extremely feeble in infancy, these powers, under wise and judicious cultivation and discipline, are susceptible of almost indefinite improvement. Some aid may be given towards improving them, by instruction, and by the advice, suggestions, encouragements, and example of others; and still more by the direction which others are frequently instrumental in giving them; but, with slight qualifications, all mental cultivation and excellence, of whatever kind, are the fruit of the personal sacrifices, efforts, and energy of the individual. |