PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

~56 Suicia!:
who were authorized to instruct tJlankilld, llave no~
decided a question, which never, so far as appears to
us, c me before them ; yet, 1 think, they have It:'ft:
enough to constitute a presumption, how they would
have decided it, had it been proposed or thought of.
'Vhat occurs to this purpose is contained in the fol ..
lowing observations :
1. Human life is spoken of a5 a term assigned or pre~
scribed to us. "Let us run witll patience the race that
is set before us." "I have finished m"{ course." 'i: That
J
1 may finish my course with joy." " Y ou have need of
patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye
might receive the proDlises." These expre5sions appear
to me inconsistent with the opinion, that \\'C are at lib ..
erty,to determine the duration of our lives for ourselves.
It- this \\~ere the case, \virh what propriety could life be
called a race that js set before UJ", or, \vhich is the same
thing, our course,. that r.;, the course set oct, or appoint.
cd to us? The remaining quotation is equally strong ~
" that after ye have done the will of God, ye might
receive the promises." The nlost natural nteaning that
can be given to the \vords, " after ye have done the
will of God," is, after ye have di~charged the duties
of life so long aj God is pleased to continue you in it .
.L~ccording to \vhich intel·pretation, the text militates
strongly against suicide; anll they who reject this
pharaphrase, will please te) propose a better.
~. 1'here is not OI1C quality, \vhich Chri.:t and hi~
.:\postles itlCulcate llpOl1 their follo\vcrs so often or so
earnestly, as tllat of paticIICC Ullder aflliction. Now this
\·irtue \\~ould have beel) ill ;\ great meaSljre superseded,
and theexhortations toit Illi:..;llt 11avc t---een spared, if the
disciples of his reJi~ion had bcen at liberty to quit the
world, as soon as they gre\ .... weary of the ill usage which
they received init. \Vhen the evils of life pr~ssed sore,
they were to look forward to a ,.. far more exceeding
dud eternal weight of glory;" they were to reccwe
tllem " as the cllilstenillg (Jf tIle I.,ord," as the intimae.
•
tions of his care ~lJld love: by these and the like reflections,
they were to support .md improve themselves Wlder
their sufferings, but nuta hint has any where escaped