8.
What is the meaning then of that principle that a man who, tired
of life and hunted by pain and misery, bravely overcomes all the natural terrors of death and makes his escape from this cruel scene; that
such a man I say, has incurred the indignation of his Creator by
encroaching on the office of divine providence, and disturbing the
order of the universe? Shall we assert that the Almighty has reserved
to himself in any peculiar manner the disposal of the lives of men,
and has not submitted that event, in common with others, to the general laws by which the universe is governed? This is plainly false. The
lives of men depend upon the same laws as the lives of all other animals, and these are subjected to the general laws of matter and
motion. The fall of a tower, or the infusion of a poison, will destroy
a man equally with the meanest creature. An inundation sweeps
away every thing without distinction that comes within the reach of
its fury. Since therefore the lives of men are forever dependent on the
general laws of matter and motion, is a man’s disposing of his life
criminal, because in every case it is criminal to encroach upon these laws, or disturb their operation? But this seems absurd. All animals
are entrusted to their own prudence and skill for their conduct in the
world, and have full authority as far as their power extends, to alter
all the operations of nature. Without the exercise of this authority
they could not subsist a moment. Every action, every motion of a
man, innovates on the order of some parts of matter, and diverts
from their ordinary course the general laws of motion. Putting
together, therefore, these conclusions, we find that human life
depends upon the general laws of matter and motion, and that it is
no encroachment on the office of providence to disturb or alter these
general laws. Has not every one, of consequence, the free disposal of
his own life? And may he not lawfully employ that power with
which nature has endowed him?18.
that suicide may often be consistent with interest and with our duty to ourselves, no one can question, who allows that age, sickness, or misfortune, may render life a burden, and make it worse even than annihilation. i believe that no man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.