Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

infenfible of all that paffed around him; we might, then, with fome color, fuppofe that energy, if it may be fo called, perifhable. Were he, like animals, poffeffed of mere vitality, and qualified only to move and feel, ftill we might have fome reafon to fear that, in fome future period of duration, our Creator might refume his gift of exiftence. But can any one, who pretends to the leaft reflection, imagine that fuch a being as the human foul, adorned with fuch extenfive intellectual powers, will ever ceafe to be the object of that love and care which eternally holds the universe in its embrace? Did fhe obtain fuch a boundless understanding merely to taste the pleasure of exercising it? to catch a tranfient glance of its objects, and perish? Formed, as he is, to operate on herself, and all things round her, muft fhe ceafe from action, while yet the mighty tafk is fcarce begun ? muft fhe lofe thofe faculties, by which fhe retains the paft, comprehends the prefent, and prefages the future? muft she contemplate no more thofe bright impreffions of divinity, which are discovered in the material world; nor those ftronger, and more animated features of the fame eternal beauty which fhine in her own god-like form? And muft fhe be abforbed for ever in the womb of unefsential nothing? Strange, that in the view, and even in the arms of infinite power and goodness, a dawn fo fair and promifing, fhould at once be clouded with all the horrors of eternal night ? Such a fuppofition would be contrary to the whole conduct and laws of

nature.

[blocks in formation]

Y life is too heavy for my foul.

E S, my lord, I confess it; the weight of I have long endured it as a burden; I have loft every thing which could make it dear to me, and nothing remains but irksomeness and vexation. I am told, however, that I am not at liberty to difpofe of my life, without the permiffion of that Being from whom I received it. I am fenfible likewise that you have a right over it by more titles than one. Your care has twice preserved it, and your goodness is its conftant fecurity. I will never dispose of it, till I am certain that I may do it without a crime, and till I have not the least hope of employing it for your service.

You told me that I fhould be of ufe to you; why did you deceive me? Since we have been in London, fo far from thinking of employing me in your concerns, you have been kind enough to make me your only concern. How fuperfluous is your obliging folicitude? My lord, you know I abhor a crime, even worse than I deteft life; I adore the supreme Being- I owe every thing to you; I have an affection for you; you

are the only person on earth to whom I am attached. Friendship and duty may chain a wretch to this earth: fophiftry and vain pretences will never detain him. Enlighten my understanding, speak to my heart; I am ready to hear you, but remember, that defpair is not to be impofed

upon.

Let us

You would have me apply to the teft of reafon; I will; let us reafon. You defire me to deliberate in proportion to the importance of the question in debate; I agree to it. investigate truth with temper and moderation; let us discuss this general propofition with the fame indifference we fhould treat any other. Robeck wrote an apology for fuicide before he put an end to his life. I will not, after his example, write a book on the subject, neither am I well fatisfied with that which he has penned, but I hope in this difcuffion at least to imitate his moderation.

I have for a long time meditated on this awful fubject. You must be fenfible that I have, for you know my destiny, and yet I am alive. The more I reflect, the more I am convinced that the queftion may be reduced to this fundamental propofition: Every man has a right by nature to pursue what he thinks good, and avoid what he thinks evil, in all refpects which are not injurious to others. When our life therefore becomes a mifery to ourselves, and is of advantage to no one, we are at liberty to put an end to our being. If there is any fuch thing as a clear

[ocr errors]

and felfevident principle, certainly this is one; and if this be fubverted, there is fcarce an action in life which may not be made criminal.

1

Let us hear what the philofophers say on this fubject. First, they confider life as fomething which is not our own, because we hold it as a gift; but because it has been given to us, is it for that reafon not our own? Has not God given these sophists two arms? nevertheless, when they are under apprehenfions of a mortification, they do not scruple to amputate one, or both, if there be occafion. By a parity of reasoning, we may convince those who believe in the immortality of the foul; for if I facrifice my arm to the preservation of fomething more precious, which is my body, I have the fame right to facrifice my body to the preservation of fomething more valuable, which is, the happiness of my existence. If all the gifts which heaven has bestowed are naturally defigned for our good, they are certainly too apt to change their nature; and Providence has endowed us with reafon, that we' may discern the difference. If this rule did not authorize us to chufe the one, and reject the other, to what use would it serve among mankind?

But they turn this weak objection into a thousand shapes. They confider a man living upon earth as a foldier placed on duty. God, fay they, has fixed you in this world, why do you quit your ftation without his leave? But you, who argue thus, has he not stationed you in the town where you was born, why therefore

do you quit it without his leave? Is not mifery of itself, a sufficient permiffion? Whatever station Providence has affigned me, whether it be in a regiment, or on the earth at large, he intended me to ftay there while I found my fituation agreeable, and to leave it when it became intolerable. This is the voice of nature, and the voice of God. I agree that we muft wait for an order; but when I die a natural death, God does not order me to quit life, he takes it from me, it is by rendering life infupportable, that he orders me to quit it. In the first case, I resist with all my force; in the second, I have the merit of obedience.

Can you conceive that there are fome people so abfurd as to arraign fuicide as a kind of rebellion against Providence, by an attempt to fly from his laws? But we do not put an end to our being in order to withdraw ourselves from his commands, but to execute them. What! does the power of God extend no farther than to my body? Is there a fpot in the universe, is there any being in the univerfe, which is not fubject to his power, and will that power have lefs immediate influence over me when my being is refined, and thereby becomes lefs compound, and of nearer resemblance to the divine effence? No, his juftice and goodness are the foundation of my hopes: and, if I thought that death would withdraw me from his power, I would give up my refolution to die.

This is one of the quibbles of the Phædo, which

4

« AnteriorContinuar »