crime of suicide, in a much larger sense than is commonly assigned to it, and in such a sense as will greatly extend the application and utility of the lessons which these discourses convey. "By suicide is meant," says Dr. Miller, "not merely self-murder by immediate violence, but also the destruction of our own life by wanton exposure to violence from others, or by any indirect means. The duellist is guilty of this crime. He who commits a felony with the express view of being put to death by the hand of public justice, is also guilty of it; and, in general, every one who, voluntarily and without ne cessity, places himself in the way of danger. There are occasions, indeed, on which it is the duty of men to put their lives in jeopardy, and even resolutely to sacrifice them, The case of martyrdom is one instance of such duty, and the case of just and necessary war is another. But it is possible, in either of these cases, to court death foolishly and wickedly. We are bound to use all lawful means to preserve our own lives; and, therefore, he who, in any case whatever, destroys his life, or who permits it to be destroyed, when he is able, without denying the truth, or abandoning duty, to save it, is chargeable with the whole guilt belonging to the crime which we are about to consider." To those who may imagine that the rarity of suicide makes it an unsuitable theme for public and pulpit admonition, he addresses himself in the following earnest and cogent manner : "Brethren, be not deceived!Every individual who hears me has an interest in this subject. Who can foresee the situations in which he may hereafter be placed, or the temptations by which he may hereafter be assailed? Or who can tell how soon the conduct of a near relative, or of a valued friend, may bring the subject home, with the deepest interest, to his bosom? It is probable, that the most of those who have fallen into this de plorable sin, were once as ready as any of my present hearers can now be, to think and to say, What, is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing? In truth, it becomes depraved creatures, with regard to every sin, to be humble and watchful; for there is no sin into which they may not fall, if forsaken by restraining grace." In the first of these discourses, the orator dwells upon the guilt and folly of suicide; in the second, he enumerates and explains the causes from which this crime usually proceeds. In proving the guilt of suicide, he advances the customary arguments, drawn from the submission due from man to the will of his creator; from the force and authority of the principle of self-preservation; and from the duty of the individual to society. On all these topics the author reasons in a manner plain, serious, and remarkably cogent. Most of these reasonings are chiefly adapted to influence our judgments of the suicide, and thus indirectly and remotely to regulate our own conduct, by previ ously persuading us of the guilt and folly of self-murder: but we cannot forbear quoting the following passages, because they most eloquently and persuasively address the reason and feelings of desperate men, and are calculated eminently to influ- ̈ ence the victim in the critical hour. "Say, miserable man! who art contemplating the crime of selfmurder, hast thou no parent, the evening of whose days, by this crime, would be embittered, or whose gray hairs would be brought down with sorrow to the grave? Hast thou no amiable partner of thy life, who would be precipitated by this step into the deepest affliction? Hast thou no tender babes, who by thy desertion would be left fatherless, and exposed to all the dangers of an unpitying world? Hast thou no brethren or sisters to share in the grief and the disgrace of thine unworthy conduct? Are there no friends who love thee, who would weep over thy folly and sin, and feel themselves wounded by thy fall? In short, would the execution of thy wicked purpose disturb the peace of no family? defraud no creditor? plunge no friend into difficulty? rob no fellow creature of advantage or enjoyment? Ah! if the evil terminated in thine own person, though still a crime, it would be comparatively small. But the consequences of such a step would probably extend beyond thy conception, and last longer than thy memory. Stay then, guilty man! stay thy murderous hand! Extinguish not the happiness and the hopes of a family, it may be, of many families! Forbear, O forbear to inflict wounds which no time can heal, and which may tempt survivors to wish that thou hadst never been born! "Let no one say, that he is useless in the world; that his life is of no value, either to his relatives, or to mankind; and, therefore, that he does no injury by taking it away. If any man be really useless, it is his disgrace and his sin; and to think of justifying one crime by pleading that he has committed a previous one, is as wretched logic as it is detestable morality. But the degree of our usefulness in society is a question concerning which, as we are not competent to judge, so we are not at liberty to decide for ourselves. The victim of depression and melancholy may sometimes think himself an unprofitable member of the community, a mere cumberer of the ground, when his services are really substantial and important. And even admitting that he is, at present, so afflicted, so infirm, so vicious, so degraded, or so unfavourably situated in any respect, as to be entirely useless, has he lost every capacity of being otherwise in time to come? Or, if this capacity be now lost, is every possiblility of recovering it certainly precluded? May not his infirmities be hereafter removed? the clouds which hang over him be dissipated? his vices be repented of and abandon ed? his reputation be restored? and his means of usefulness become, if not great and extensive, at least important in a moderate sphere? If these things be duly considered, it will be manifest that there is not an individual breathing who can, with propriety, plead in defence of despair and suicide, that he is useless; as there is certainly no individual, on this side the grave, whose life either is not, or might not be, of some value to mankind." In the same forcible and persuasive strain he afterwards proceeds: "Let us go to yonder victim of impatience and despair, who wanders silent, melancholy, and alone, meditating the termination of his sorrows by the pistol, or the poisonous draught; let us approach, and inquire why he is disgusted with life? You are embarrassed in your circumstances; you have been robbed of your property by fraud, or by other disastrous occurrences; you have been precipitated from the height of affluence to the most abject poverty; you cannot dig, to beg you are ashamed, and therefore resolve to fly from life. But, before you take this dreadful and irrevocable step, pause a moment, and answer me the following questions: Is a large portion of property indispensably necessary to happiness? Have not thousands been contented and happy with as small a pittance as that which you yet possess? Nay, have not some found more real enjoyment after being thus reduced, than they found in the days of their affluence and prosperity? Was not the Saviour of the world, when he sojourned upon the earth, without a place where to lay his head? And has he not, by his example, made poverty and sufferings honourable? Besides, though you are now in straitened circumstances, may not a kind Providence hereafter smile upon you, and reward your industry with comfort and plenty? Who can tell but that, like Job, your latter end, in this respect, may be more blessed than your beginning? But even supposing the worst; will you destroy a life on which so much depends, for the sake of treasures which are transient and unsatisfying; for a little glittering dust which perishes in the using; "for so much trash as may be grasped thus?" Miserable estimate! ignoble alternative! Live! and exhibit the sublime, the edifying spectacle of one struggling with want, and yet holding fast his integrity. "If we inquire of another, we shall find that he is hurried on to despair by the prospect of disgrace. He has, perhaps, been betrayed into infamous crimes, or led, less criminally, into circumstances which, he fears, have destroyed his reputation, and he cannot think of surviving his character. But, alas! deluded man! are you so thoughtless as not to perceive that your calculation is as false as the design which you harbour is criminal? If you are now in disgrace, what advantage will you gain by hiding yourself in the grave? Certainly none. On the contrary, you will aggravate instead of diminishing the evil, because you will seal yourself up under eternal infa my, and cut off all hope of regaining public esteem. Rather live, and, by by a course of worthy actions, endeavour to retrieve your character. Live! and testify, by your future conduct, that you are neither irreclaimable nor unprincipled. "A third is, perhaps, afflicted with a tormenting, or, apparently, an incurable disease. He prefers death to a life of torture, and therefore determines not to wait for his regular dismission from suffering. To such a one I would say, No man can certainly tell whether a disease which he thinks incurable may not afterwards be found to admit of some remedy, or, at least, of some alleviation. Dark and dismal as your prospect now is, you may, like Job, be again restored to health and enjoyment; or, if not perfectly restored, your burden may be rendered comparatively light and tolerable. But supposing that your case is hopeless, and that your whole life is destined to be a scene of suffer ing, which is most becoming in a rational being, and especially in a christian, to bear suffering with firmness, or to fly from it by illicit and cowardly means? What is it that raises to such an elevation the character of the martyrs and other primitive sufferers for the Gospel? What is it in their conduct which men of all habits and modes of thinking admire, and which sometimes even "extorts a trembling homage" from the blaspheming infidel? It is that divine magnanimity which deliberately chose to suffer the most excruciating tortures rather than to escape from them by the sacrifice of principle, or by yielding to forbidden demands. "A fourth, it may be, will plead, that he has the certain prospect of an ignominious death, by the hand of public justice; or of a still more dreadful execution, by the lingering torments of savage foes; and that he is, therefore, justifiable in dispatching himself in a more private and easy manner. Such have been the reasonings and conduct of some renowned personages, whose conduct on other occasions was more heroic, and more worthy of the rational character. But the same reasoning which was employed in the case of painful and incurable disease applies equally to this case. No man can be absolutely certain that the death which he considers as inevitable will be realized. Divine Providence has frequently interfered, in a most extraordinary manner, for the deliverance of those from whom all prospect of relief, from human sources, was cut off. But, setting this argument aside, who can tell what important ends the death which he fears is intended, by Infinite Wisdom, to answer both to himself and society? Unreserved submission to the will of God is always safe; while the smallest attempt to counteract this will is al ways both criminal and dangerous. Had those celebrated heroes of old, who embraced a voluntary death, rather than fall into the hands of enemies, or die by public execution, consented to live, and meet the dis pensations of Providence with unshaken fortitude, they would have displayed a more sublime heroism; and none can tell how much they might have promoted the welfare and glory of their country. "Another has been disappointed in love; and, in the first emotions of despondency, considers life as insupportable. That tender passion which binds the sexes together, and lays the foundation of domestic happiness, is despised by none but those who never felt it; is condemned by none but those who renounce the authority of God, and are enemies of human happiness. But while this passion is allowed to be most important, and, when properly regulated, most laudable, yet let us not imagine, like those who borrow their principles of morality from the stage, or from novels, that love is the main business of life, and the attainment of its wishes all that is worth living for. There are considerations which should be regarded as paramount to every thing of this kind. There may be, and there doubtless frequently is, in this respect, an idolatry as criminal as it is unworthy the rational character. But allowing to each case of disappointed attachment all that importance which the subject of it may require, how many considerations immediately present themselves which should induce the sufferer to lay aside despondency, and determine to live! A little time may restore peace to a mind which is now perturbed and melancholy.The object fondly sought may hereafter be attained, and abundantly reward a long pursuit; or, if this be not the case, a kind Providence may have in store, for the discouraged and despairing, a more suitable and a more happy connection. "A sixth, perhaps young in years, but eld in dissipation and vice, has run the round of what he calls pleasures; and having found little happiness in this course, and supposing that life can afford nothing better, he resolves to escape from a scene in which he finds no objects that can any longer interest or gratify him. This is not unfrequently the case with those wretched mortals, who have sought no enjoyments but those of the sensual kind; who have cultivated no taste but for scenes of dissipation and licentiousness. But how degraded is that mind that can find no interesting employment, no gratifying pursuit in such a world as this! Where are those elevated pleasures which arise from the cultivation of our minds, from the acquisition of knowledge, from walking, with chosen companions, in the delightful fields of literature and science?Where are the sublime gratifications which flow from feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, instructing the ignorant, and directing the miserable wanderer" in the homeward way?" Where are the heavenly pleasures which arise from the exercise of grace and the discharge of holy duties? Can a world in which these are to be enjoyed be said to afford nothing that is worth living for? Blind and mistaken mortal! make trial of some of these pleasures; explore some of these paths to happiness, which you have hitherto neglected, and see if they be not worthy of your regard. Above all, open the volume of God, unfold the precious record of Redeeming Love, and there learn, by delightful experience, that the Gospel provides employment and pleasure for the mind, as much superior to the low gratifications of the sensualist as the heavens are higher than the earth." In the second discourse the author attempts to explain the causes of suicide. The principal of these causes he deems to be false principles in religion and morals. In discussing this topic, he introduces the following remarks on the influence of plays and novels: "I cannot help remarking that the mischievous influence on popu lar opinions produced by many dramatic representations, and by licen tious novels, may probably be considered as leading to many cases of the crime before us. Perhaps some will pronounce this a far-fetched and illiberal supposition. But let me ask such objectors, whether many of these compositions do not make virtue and religion appear contemptible, and vice honourable, attractive, and triumphant? Do they not frequently put corrupt opinious into the mouth of some favourite hero, the splendour of whose character, in other respects, is made to embellish the most detestable sentiments, and the force of whose eloquence is employed to recommend the most criminal maxims? Do they not often represent the most odious crimes that mortals can commit, and suicide among the rest, as venial faults, and sometimes as no faults at all? In a word, are not many of them constructed precisely as if their leading object were to frame an apology for every passion, and to plead for the indulgence of every corrupt propensity? Is it far-fetched or illiberal to say that such compositions have a tendency favourable to suicide, and that those who habitually delight in and peruse them are in the high road of danger? No, brethren, it is rather a subject of astonishment and regret that so many who bear the christian "It would be easy to give many examples in support of these remarks. Even the tragedy of Cato, though the production of a decided friend to virtue and religion, has been pronounced, by the best judges, to have a tendency favourable to suicide. Indeed, some accurate observers have asserted, that the exhibition of this celebrated tragedy on the stage has seldom failed to be follow ed by instances of self-murder, which there was good reason to believe were connected with these exhibitions. The name appear to be so little impressed with a sense of this danger, and that some even doubt its reality." Many readers will probably be greatly displeased at the harshness of the sentence thus passed upon dramatic and fictitious compositions. To the author's questions, "Whether many of these," &c. "Do they not frequently put corrupt opinions," &c. "Do they not often represent," &c. "Are not many of them constructed," &c., many readers will promptly reply in the negative. Plays and tales are designed to be pictures of human life, and these pictures are generally selected and coloured, in the present times, in such a manner as to correct the principles and mend the heart of the readers. It was not always thus; but, during the present age of English literature, this fact is particularly evident, and a very long list of popular works, both dramatic and narrative, might be formed, not at all deserving the censure which these passages convey. Suicide, in truth, is very rarely to be found at all in the popular performances of either kind.Wherever it occurs, so far as we remember, it is placed in such a light as to discourage rather than provoke imitation. Dr. Miller mentions particularly the tragedy of Cato and the romance of Heloise. His acknowledged virtue and reli gion vindicates the author of Cato from any intention of recommending suicide, and as to the tendency of that play, the assertion of observ ers must be supported by very strong testimony before we can believe it favourable to self-murder. The faults of Rousseau's famous no moral of that detestable novel, the Nouvel are not few, but it really does velle Heloise, by Rousseau, is, on this not appear to us chargeable with Some readers subject, extremely questionable. For, promoting suicide. though the author argues eloquently on may suppose the preponderance of both sides of the question, concerning argument in the epistolary controthe lawfulness of suicide, yet some have versy contained in the work to be in supposed that his arguments in favour favour of suicide, but readers of of that crime are calculated, and were good sense can hardly fail, we intended by him, to make a deeper im- think, of forming a different con pression than those offered against it. clusion; and as to the intention of 10 VOL. III. NO. XIX. |