A 
 
 DISSERTATION 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 UNNATURAL CRIME 
 OF 
 
 S E L F-M U R D E R: 
 
 OCCASIONED BY THE 
 
 Many late Inftances of Suicide in this City, &"c. 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 AN APPENDIX, 
 
 That points oat the Inequality of feme of our PenaJ 
 Laws, wliich take away the Lite of Man. 
 
 By C A L E B F L E M I N G, D. D. 
 
 Nor love thyfelf, nor hate ; but what thou liv'ft 
 Live well ; how long or fliort permit to heav'n. 
 
 Milton's Paradife Loft. 
 The moft cruel of all deaths, is Suicide. 
 
 Anonymous. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly, 
 
 MDCCLXXIII. 
 
 [ Price One Shilling. J 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 U B L I C 
 
 My Fellow Citizens, 
 
 THE very diftreffed condition into which 
 we are fallen, is very humiliating. Levity, 
 luxury, impiety, and enormous vice, have been 
 the guilty caufe which has brought upon us 
 thefe formidable evils, viz. an alarming fhake 
 to public credit ; a direful obflrudiorv to trade 
 and commerce ; a deplorable want of employ for 
 our manufadlorers, and artificers ; a fhocking 
 advance in the price of the neceflary food of 
 man ; the induftrious part of the people emi- 
 grating ; our poor ftarving j our rich and great 
 indulging themfelves in every debauchery and 
 extravagance. Gaming, gambling, monopoliz- 
 ing, give the reigning avaricious fpirit of the 
 times. The infolvent, and diflatisfied, are cruelly 
 laying violent hands on themfelves, in gre^t 
 pumbers I 
 
 Jo 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 In which corrupt and perilous ftate of our 
 natiorill Iiave prefumed.to ihraw before you a 
 fhort Diflertation upon the unnatural crime of 
 Self- Murder; this I have done from a defire of 
 contributing, all" in my power, towards exciting 
 a dread of fo daring an infult on the divine 
 prerogative. I call the crime unnatural^ f-om 
 Its repugnancy to that firfi: law of our natufe^S, 
 felf-prefervation. 
 
 Near forty year*? ago, I had the uncommon 
 pleafure of reconcihnga geatlemin, racked with 
 the ftone, to a patient endurance of his painful 
 cbnditioti ; though he had fctliis houfe ift br:de^, 
 had form'ed his refoluti'ori, aft'd lixed on'{heTime 
 of difpatching himfelf. Which pcrfuaffon, the 
 faid gehtlefnan acknowledged,^ in ia letter to' a 
 worthy fViend of'm'ine'*, was wrought in hini, 
 by a i^einlinftr^hcel had drawn xipagainli'^Sui- 
 cifm, whi6h 'was inferred irttHe'OiiOWiiid^;'!'" 
 - Should" this diflertatiori h^ve any fuch feeA'e^- 
 cial effefl:-, it will richly reward the labour-' for 
 in truth, the benefit of ^niy fellow citizens' is my 
 objea;"^ '-'' '^ ' ^S^^^;^^^;^^^^r^^^^ c§niiri3 
 
 The Appendix, points \6u\yi\it'meptafiiy of 
 Tome penal laws, which take away the lift of man. 
 
 Hvxton-Square^ Mar. r. -in'j /I C.2 #•. •' 
 
 • Dr. Benjamin Avery, late treafurer to Gui)r's;Ho^j|af. 
 f A weekly paper. 
 
DISSERTATION 
 
 O N 
 
 S U I C I D E. 
 
 IN an attempt to cxpofe the crime of Suicide, 
 as unnatural and extiemelv cruel; we might 
 beorin with confidcrino; man before he enter- 
 ed into civil fociety, and, v^ith Mr. Locke, take 
 a view of him " in a ftate of nature, as in a 
 ftatc of liberty, yet net in a ftate of licence : 
 for though man in that (late has an uncontroul- 
 able liberty to difpofe of his perlon or polTcf- 
 fions, yet he haS not liberty to deftroy himfelf, 
 or fo much as any creature in his poficfiion, 
 but where fome nobler ufe, than its bare pre- 
 fervation, calls for it. The ftate of nature 
 has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges 
 every one : and reafon, wliich is that law, 
 teaches all mankind who will but confult it, 
 that being all equal and independent, no one 
 ought to harm another in his life, health, li- 
 berty, or pofTeirions. f'or men being all the 
 workmanfhip of one omnipotent, and infinitely 
 wife Maker; all the fervants of one fovereign 
 Maftcr, fent into the world by his order, and 
 about his bufinefs, they are his property,whofe 
 B • " work-* 
 
( 2 ) 
 
 " workmanfhip they arc, made to lafl during his, 
 " not one another's pleafure *." 
 
 Thus evident is it, that if man in a (late of 
 nature had no uncontroulable liberty of taking 
 away his own life, when he is contemplated as a 
 member of civil or political fociety, he cannot 
 poflibly be permitted to have any fuch licence. 
 — I fhaii therefore prefume firft to lay down, and 
 afterwards prove the truth of this propofition, 
 'uiz. " That not any thing can be more unnatu- 
 ral, and argue a greater depravity of mind, than 
 felf-murder." Yet here I would be underftood 
 to except fuch, who, by the hand of God, are 
 deprived of the ule of their reafon and under- 
 ftanding. 
 
 That felf-murder is an unnatural crime, and 
 has in it many aggravations, may appear flagrant 
 under the following views, which fhall be taken 
 of the impiety and inhumanity. It will fo ap- 
 pear to thofe who believe there is a God, and a 
 future flate of recompence ; and confequently, 
 do own that man is an accountable being. With 
 none but fuch, is it to be fuppofed, that any kind 
 of realbning on the fubjett can have the leall ef- 
 ficacy. 
 
 But to thofe who do believe there is a God, 
 and that man is accountable, this will be one 
 powerful reafon againit the act of Suicifm, viz. 
 that the prefent mode of man's exiftence is, and 
 muft be probationary. It fhould appear to be a 
 felf-evident truth, that during the term of human 
 life, wherein man has the ufe of his intelledlual 
 faculties and powers continued to him, he is a 
 probationer, and as fuch is appointed to conflift 
 
 • Of Civil Government, chap.x. feft. 6. 
 
 with 
 
C 3 ) 
 
 with temptation. Now every man is well in- 
 formed, that the breath which is in his noftrils, 
 is not under his own volition or command ; and 
 that what propriety he has in it, is only that of a 
 loan^ which affords him no manner of right to give 
 it a difmiflion at his own pleafure. The life-prin- 
 ciple, he knows, is not his own ; becaufe it ope- 
 rates wholly under another's diredion. In other 
 words, he has no hand at all in that wonderful 
 principle or power, which animates his bodily 
 machine. 
 
 It certainly is a communicated beuowment for 
 all the purpofes of man's prefcnt perceptions, pur- 
 fuits, and aifo fenfiiive fruitions. Or, it is that 
 mealure of bis probationary duration, which is 
 fubjeft only to the uecifions of infinite unerring 
 wifdom. It is therefore the unalitrnable preroga- 
 tive of the^iniverfal Sovereign, and is thus repre- 
 fented by the oracle •, I kill, and 1 make alive ! 
 I WOUND, AND 1 HEAL ! This charatleF the Al- 
 mighty claims and appropriates. A truth to 
 which the Son of God bears witnefs, when he 
 makes this appeal, "■ Which of you can, by tak- 
 *' ing thougiit, add one cubit to his ftature, fha- 
 " dow, or age r" 
 
 Since therefore life is a divine communication, 
 it behoves us to reverence and hold facred the im- 
 portant gift, nor ever once refign, or confent to 
 facrifice it, but upon the altar of truth and God. 
 Of fo great importance is life, that an inceflant 
 care to preferve it from any apprehended peril, is 
 a firft law of our make. And although in the 
 book of Job, it was that figurative chara(5ter, 
 called Satan, who faid, " Skin after fkin, yea, all 
 " that a man hath, will he give for his life :'* it 
 is neverthelcfs an indifputable truth. Witnefs the 
 
 B 2 many 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 many painful and dcfperate operations, to which 
 great numbers of mankind fubmit, in order to 
 prelerve life. But then, even this principle, 
 though univerfal, has its boundaries and excep- 
 tions : for at the fame time, that, in its efficacy, 
 it fliould extend ro all afflidive or painful vifita- 
 tions, with which heaven is pleafed to try the pa- 
 tience, fubmifRon and refignation of man •, it ne- 
 verthelefs fliould, by no means, ever admit of a 
 man's hurting his virtue, or the morality of his 
 own mind, in order to prelerve his natural life. 
 —I am perfuaded, there truly is not one fuppof- 
 able circumftance, which can poiTibly enter into 
 the compafs of human trial, where man could be 
 juftified in taking away his own life. There can- 
 not for this very reafon. viz. his prefcnt mode 
 of exiftence, is mofi: certainly probationary : and 
 the God, whofe gift it is, has rcferve,,^. to him 'elf 
 x^n^ fole right of difpofal of human life. 
 
 Jgo.in^ as this mode of man's exiftence is pro- 
 bationary, fo it is, that he is inftrucled both by 
 reafon and revelation, to conduct himfelf as be- 
 comes a candidate, who has in view a ftate of 
 recompence. li therefore he is found to behave 
 reafonably, or according to the truth, propriety, 
 and fitnefs of things, he cannot but fee it to be 
 rcquifice, that he leave the matter wholly to the 
 giver and Lord of life, to determine both zvhen 
 and ho\v he iliall finiih his probation : forafmuch 
 as it would be an expreffion of the moft provok- 
 ing infolence and arrogance, in any one creature, 
 to affume the fole prerogative of iieaven. Thus, 
 at firft view, it appears unpardonably criminal in 
 the probationer for a world of recompence, to 
 give himfelf a difcharge from his duty, upon any 
 difguft petulantly taken by him, at the circum- 
 
 ftances 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 fiances of his trial. The guilty wretch inftantly 
 and impioufly plunges himfelf into renriedilefs 
 mifery. 
 
 I am aware, fome do imagine it to have been 
 a mark of grcatnefs of mind in the ancient Ro- 
 mans, and particularly the Utican-Cato, whofe 
 felf-murder, tlie ingenious, the amiable Addison" 
 fo unhappily and fo mifchievouOy too, celebrated 
 in tragedy. Which occafioned the Suicide Budget 
 to iay, 
 
 " What Cato did, and Addifon approved, 
 " Muft fure be right." 
 
 Whereas, far better and more honourable had it 
 been for Cato, had he waited a lawful, rather than 
 have prefumed upon a felonious difmifllon of life. 
 For, fay what men will, it manifertly was the refuk 
 of pride, dirtrufl: of providence, and an ungoverned 
 palfion in that Roman. And we are to obferve, 
 that in the moft depraved ftate of pagan Rome, 
 felf-murder was very common. Even a Caffius fell 
 on his fword ; and Brutus perfuaded Strato to kill 
 him. Nay, feveral emperors did deftroy them- 
 felves ; among others, Decius, Aurelian, and Se- 
 verus. But their motives were mean and ignoble, 
 and took it not into confideration, that they were 
 to behave as candidates for a ftate of recompence. 
 True it certainly is, no man ever can demean 
 himfelf uniformly well in adverfe circumftances, 
 who does not keep in view a ftate of unmixed, 
 endlefs, blifsful fruition. It is this idea that 
 only is large and powerful enough to give the 
 needful fupport under any afflidive painful vifi- 
 tation i and enable the virtues of patience, faith, 
 and fortitude to have their perfed work. One 
 B 3 would 
 
( ^> ) 
 
 would then afk, why the rankling chagrine in 
 any profefllng Chriltian ? Why fo much fretful- 
 nels ? Why luch a furious agitation of mind, as 
 to offer an open infult to the divinely animating 
 fpirit, merely becaufe fallen under fomjc calami- 
 ties ? — But, alas ' among the horrible number of 
 ftlf- murderers, fcarce any have betn fo prefump- 
 tuous and daring, except minds confcious of 
 fomc perpetrated villanies, that would not bear 
 the canvafTing eye of their fellow-men. More 
 Uiually, they have been fuch v/ho have brought 
 on their diftrefles, either from luxury, gaming, or 
 other extravagance, elfe from debauchery. 
 
 As to others of mankind who have fallen un- 
 der very heavy afflidions, immediately and ap- 
 parently from the hand of heaven, and are con- 
 fcious that they have not brought onthofe theirdif- 
 trefles by their own follies and vices -, thefe, feeing 
 the vifitation to be no other than a fatherly chaf- 
 tifement, are never fo prefumptuous or daring. 
 In truth, all men who live as probationers, or 
 who ad in character, learn to fay with Joh^ 
 whenever evils fall heavily upon them, " Shall 
 " we receive good at the hand of God, and fhall 
 *' we not receive evil } — The Lord gave, and 
 " the Lord hath taken away, blefled be the 
 " name of the Lord." — On the contrary, peev- 
 ifli, fretful minds, full of difcontent, are ready 
 to arraign not only the goodnefs, but even the 
 equity and jultice of the adorable fovereign; 
 and are deplorably inattentive to their own ap- 
 pointments ; for they will not be perfuaded to 
 confider themfelves as candidates for a world of 
 recompence. But on the contrary, if heaven 
 does not indulge them with all the prefent fen- 
 fitive good they wifh, or fhall throw into their 
 
 lot 
 
( 7 ) 
 lot more evil than their pride and vanity can 
 admit, they fcruple not prelentiy to fpit in his 
 face, and impudently quit the ftation he had 
 affigned them. 
 
 We may further confider Suicifm, not only 
 as a crime unbecoming a probationary ftate, and 
 no way pardonable in a candidate for a world of 
 recompence, but alfo as in itfelf fo very (hockingly 
 deformed^ as not to have been difcriminately no- 
 ticed in any of the divine prohibitions •, jult as if 
 it was not fuppofable, that an intelligent rational 
 creature, accouniiablc to its Creator, could ever 
 once admit the fhocking idea, the unnatural, ab- 
 horrent image. 
 
 In the facred hiftory, Cain is recorded to have 
 been the firft murderer, and that under the an- 
 guilh of his guilt he did moft bitterly complain, 
 tkat his puniihment was greater than he could 
 bear ; becaufe he was fentenced to live the life 
 of a fugitive, or vagabond upon the earth: which 
 was made necefiary, as that very earth became 
 barren to his tillage -, his brother's blood crying 
 from thence for vengeance. And he moft na- 
 turally concluded himielf, obnoxious to the ab- 
 horrence of every human eye. — Neverthelefs, we 
 are not informed of his ever once attempting to 
 take away his own life, though bereft of the moft 
 defireable benefits of fociety. It is likewife ob- 
 iervable, that when the Almighty gives his laws 
 to Noah, the father of the new world [in that ftate 
 of nature,] for the obfervance of all mankind, he 
 exprefsly fays, " Whofoever ftiall fhed man's 
 " blood, by man ftiall his blood be ftied," And 
 this reafon is afligned for it, " becaufe in the 
 *' image of God made he man." Here again I 
 would obferve, felf-murder is not fuppofed to be a 
 
 crime 
 
crime which man would commit •, forafmuch as 
 the fanflioii which is heic affix-d to the law 
 which forbids murder, cannot operate upon the 
 it'lf-murderer. 
 
 And, in facT:, there does not appear to have 
 been a record made of any Suicides in tlie facred 
 hiilory, but thofe of the iriolt abandoned charac- 
 ters.. Saul and his armour-bearer, we may con- 
 clude to have been extremely wicked. So was 
 uibitophel, who firft fet his houfe in order, and 
 then hanged himfelf. A very deliberate felf- 
 murderer. So was that mifcreant, y^^^^zj, the trai^ 
 tor. And may we not fay of all fuch, " better 
 ••' they had never been born." — For in the very 
 lall adt they perform, they wilfully and impiouQy 
 withdraw themfelves from the animating fpirit of 
 God, and leave themfelves no fpace for repen- 
 tance. In truth, that fame fpirit which animates 
 our bodies, is the only fource of light and life. 
 '"' He, in whofe hand is the breath of all man- 
 " kind, is the fpirit in whom we all live, and 
 " move, and are." Or as Job has .exprefled 
 himfelf, " the fpirit of God hath made me, 
 " and the breath of the almighty hath given me 
 '-'• life." Therefore for any to difmifs wilfully 
 this animating fpirit, by the hand of violence, or 
 by taking the deadly potion, is outrageoufly to 
 thrull himfelf out of the reach, either of light or 
 life. 
 
 It is obferved, by a moft amiable and venerable 
 pen, namely^ that of St. John, " that he who can 
 " fo hate his brother, as to take away his life, 
 " can have no fuch thing as the principles of 
 ** eternal life abiding in him." And if this be 
 fo, we may he well affured, that a felf-murderer 
 cannot ; for he impioufly ruflieth into cwter- 
 
 darknelsj 
 
( 9 
 
 darknefs, and in the atrocioufnefs of his guilt, 
 he becomes the prey of death. — Death feeds on 
 him. — But one would have thought, that the 
 horrors of many a Suicide who furvived the mor- 
 tal tliruft or draught, a few hours, fhould have 
 fpread univerfidly a dread of the atrocious crime. 
 But though it has not more effe(5tually done this, 
 yet the extreme deformity and malignity of Sui- 
 cifm, is what fhould be inferred, from its not 
 having had any diftinft, difcriminating idea given 
 of it, in any of the written laws of God. Its 
 diametrical oppofition to the moft pov/erful in- 
 llincftive principles of fclf-prefervation in the 
 bread of every man, fcems to have rendered 
 needlels any exprefs prohibition. 
 
 Self-murder may be yet further confidered, as 
 an a<5t of high-treafon, not only againft the fove- 
 reignty of the univerfal Lord, but againft the 
 laws of human fociety. It deftroys the very 
 foundation of focial virtue, and of all moral 
 obligation, for this is one of the two principles 
 or axioms, on which all moral virtue and piety 
 does lupport, vix. '* thou (halt love thy neigh- 
 " bour as thyfelf.'* And the above apoftle 
 fays, '' if a man love not his brother, whom 
 " he hath feen, how can he love God whom 
 *' he hath not feen V Now, if we can thus 
 capitally abufe ourfelves, as to become per- 
 fuaded we may take away life at our pleafurc, 
 and fo quit our appointed llations, then that fun- 
 damental principle or axiom is of little meaning, 
 and has in it nothing ufeful. It has not, foraf- 
 much as if wt think we may wantonly and wick- 
 edly fport with our own moft facred perfonal 
 property, how fhall we be led to hold in re- 
 verence the facred rights and properties of others.^ 
 
 AfTurcdlv, 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 Afluredly, the man who is perfuaded he may 
 difmifs his own lite, whenever he is out of humour 
 with his circumftances, can furnifli us with no 
 good ground of dependance, either on his focial 
 virtue, or even on his humanity. 
 
 Nay, the argument againft Suicifm has a yet 
 larger fcope and extent; fince if one man may 
 be juftified in taking av/ay his own life, then 
 another may. — Now, do but let the idea once 
 fpread and become infedious, a depopulation or 
 walle would anon render our villages, ay, our 
 very towns and cities defolate. But molt aflur- 
 edly, the univerfal verdict of mankind does con- 
 demn the licentioufnefs : and we are told, that 
 the great community, as well as our families and 
 friends, have a claim to our fervices, fo long as 
 heaven fees meet to preferve our capacities and 
 abilities of fervice. — Be/ides, upon the fuppofition 
 that we have, by our vices and extravagances, 
 brought upon ourfelves diftrefs and wretched- 
 nefs, it is but reafonable we (hould make the 
 bed fatisfaclion in our power, to an injured cor- 
 refpondence ; by remaining enfamples to others, 
 of the evil confequences of gaming, luxury, or 
 debauchery : and that we alfo fhew the fincerity 
 of our repentance, by endeavouring to diiTuade 
 others from fuch vile courfes. This is the bell 
 reparation men can make, who have abufed the 
 confidence of others, by their villanies, de- 
 baucheries, and extravagances. 
 
 The innocently unfortunate, who have by lofles 
 been reduced from affluence to a narrow pittance, 
 Ihould reconcile themfelves to this change of 
 circumftance, from the confideration, that they 
 have now aai opportunity of exercifing fome vir- 
 tues, with which they had been unacquainted in: 
 
 their 
 
( li ) 
 
 their profpericy -, and of giving evit|ence, that 
 they arc free fion> that niort deftrucftive vice, a 
 love of the world \ and that they can happily fa- 
 tisfy others, they are not under the influence of 
 any deadly forrow. 
 
 Should it now be afked, what are the apologies 
 which have been made for felf-murder ^. They 
 have been fuch as follow. 
 
 There are fome who have pleaded in excufe 
 for the Suicide, *' that the acl is in itfelf a proof 
 " of infanity ; and that no man ever had the ufe 
 " of his reafon when he deftroyed himfelf." 
 
 To fuch I would reply, that the fame apology 
 might be made for every wicked aftion which 
 men commit -, becaufe it had place from reafon 
 being dethroned, and from appetite and paffion 
 having ufurped the reins of government. But 
 who will fay, that the highway-robber and mur- 
 derer, from having taken the qualifying draught 
 of ftrong liquors which he found neceffary for 
 the daring enrerprife, did thereby acquire lefs 
 degree of demerit and guilt ? Or, is it a greater 
 apology for the felf- murderer, that by a feries of 
 extravagance, or fome previous act of great 
 v?ickednefs he qualified himfelf? Or even becaufe 
 he fuffered his avarice, pride or ambition,^ to be- 
 come outrageous ? Suicifm, on the contrary, has 
 more aggravations in it, than many capital crimes 
 for which men are cat off by the punifhing hand 
 of juftice. 
 
 There are many inftances of the Suicide having 
 given full proof that he was in the poffefTion of 
 his reafon and underftanding, when he perpetrated 
 the unnatural crime, and that it was done with 
 deliberation, and diredt purpofe to deftroy him- 
 felf: and that he was neither lunatic, nor dif- 
 
 tra(5ted 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 tra'fled by dillemper or difeafe. For our lavir 
 makes this allowance, " that if a perfon durin.of 
 *' the time that he is not compos mentis^ gives him- 
 *' felf a mortal wound, though he dies thereof 
 " when he recovers his memory •, he is nox. felo ds 
 '* /^, becaufe at the rime of the ftroke he was 
 " not compos 7nentis.*'* i.e. As I underftand the 
 law, the man himfclf then knew he was not. — 
 But if man was not capable of perpetrating the 
 Suicifm, except in a Itate of infanity, it would 
 be no crime -, and the law would be extremely 
 iniquitous, that fuppofed it criminal. 
 
 Some have been ignorant and ftupid enough, 
 to imagine, *' that inafmuch as they did not 
 " give any confent to be brought into being, fo 
 " they had a right to put themfelves out of 
 " being at their own pleafure." 
 
 As, at the very firft fight, this appears to be 
 the quintefTence of abfurdity, fo it borders upon 
 atheifm. But who that reafons at all, could ever 
 think of a creature's affent or confent, before he 
 had any exiftence ? And how deplorably de- 
 praved mull be the mind, that can fuppofe the 
 Creator countenancing his creature in putting an 
 end to its own exiftence. This is abfolutely im- 
 poITible ; fince a rational accountable creature 
 could not be formed with an independency on its 
 Creator, and whatever is the fole property of 
 another, cannot be at its own difpofal. Both 
 the defign of its formation, and the circumftances 
 of its probation, muft be the prerogative of its 
 author. There can therefore be no inherent, 
 nor any communicated right of determining the 
 duration of its prefent mode of exiftence. 
 
 ♦ Jacob's Law Diftionary. 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 Again, the Suicide thus argues in his own 
 defence, " if he who made him is a good being, 
 *' he muft give him more good than evil -, other- 
 ** wife exiftence will be a curfe to him. So that 
 " whenever he finds more pain than pleafure, 
 *' more adverfity than profpericy in his lot, he 
 " has reafun fufficient to juftify him, in throwing 
 " away the gift of life and being." 
 
 Here we fee the ftupidity is altogether as 
 great as betore : fmce man, a probationer and 
 candidate for a world of recompence, muft ac- 
 knowledge, that his Maker knows infinitely better 
 than he either does or can know, what that mix- 
 ture of eafe and pain, of good or evil, fhould be 
 in his trial. Nor can the wideft compafs of com- 
 plicated adverfity impeach either the equity, the 
 goodnefs, or the wildom of God : even though 
 the exercifes of patience and refignation fhould 
 run through the whole of his courle. And in a 
 very ftrong light will this appear to thofe whom 
 God has favoured with the fullcft difplay of his 
 truth and grace, by his Son Jefus Chrift our 
 Lord. 
 
 Should it in the next place be afked, " What 
 " is moft ufually the exciting motive to an ad; 
 '' of Suicifm ?" 
 
 It might be anfwered, that in the female it is 
 more commonly a dread of fhame, from having 
 fuffered herfelf to be difnonoured ; alfo from the 
 love-palfion having been ungovernable •, or from 
 
 the infidelity and ill-ufage of an hufband. 
 
 Whereas in the males, it is ordinarily fome crofs 
 event, which has deeply affected the man's worldly 
 circumftances : or, perhaps, he has had a bad run 
 of chances in his gaming : t\(t, by fome other 
 criminal indulgences, he has reduced his finances 
 
 to 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 to a very low condition : elk he has fuffered 
 the chagrin to rife fo fatally high, becaufe of 
 very fudden provocation. I own, I am appre- 
 henfive, there is feme confcious guilt ever at- 
 tends the lofs or difappointment, or whatever the 
 external evil is, that excites to Suicifm. 
 
 But let imagination have full play, and vary, 
 as much as you poflibly can, the motives to felf- 
 murder, their total amount can have no propor- 
 tional weight •, even though the rack of the ftone 
 or gout fhould have all its excruciating tortures : 
 fmce the meafure is full of guilt and crime ; and 
 has nothing in it that can promile to relieve, 
 but mud greatly aggravate the wretchednefs ! — 
 Whereas the language of approved piety and ex- 
 alted virtue, is recorded to have run thus, in the 
 deepcft diftrefs, "• Though he flay me, yet will I 
 *' truft in him." And the fuppiicatory addrefs, 
 this — " Shew me wherefore thou contendeft with 
 " me." Even the higheft, the moft amiable, and 
 perfeft of all human charadVers, faid, *' Not xMy 
 
 " WILL ; BUT THINE EE DONE." 
 
 Far otherwife the exciting motive in the Sui- 
 cide, which is a rankhng, unreafonable diflatif- 
 fadion with his prefent fituation ; proceeding ei- 
 ther from adifbelief of a wife, powerful, and good 
 fuperintending mind, that intuitively and incef- 
 fantlyfurveys the whole fyflem of beings! elfefrom 
 an impious dilguft at his own allotments. And 
 it may be fafely prefumed, that the operating mo- 
 tive is always worldly. The heart had nothing 
 better than an earthly treafure, elfe it would never 
 have committed the unnatural adion of a felo 
 de fe. 
 
 If the above reafoning be good, there is no- 
 thing more clear and convincing than the propo- 
 
 fition 
 
( 15 ) 
 
 fition at firft laid down, namely, " That there can 
 " be nothing more unnatural and cruel ^ or that 
 *' argues a greater depravity of inind than lelf- 
 " murder." I am inclined to think the favage 
 and barbarous nations have it not. 
 
 And vet, fome perhaps may be apt to fay, there 
 is another crime become more epidemical and in- 
 fedious, which is equally deteftable, and to -ivhich 
 we have more commonly affixed the idea of un- 
 natural. Concerning the deformity and demerit 
 of which, an eftimate is beft made by the fulphu- 
 rous fiery fhower which fell on Sodom ! The 
 turpitude of that crime, I am not at all in- 
 clined to debate, — but more of this in the Ap- 
 pendix. 
 
 There may now be fundry inftruftive Corolla- 
 ries, or conclufions drawn from the above reafon- 
 ing upon the Suicide ; which may welj deferve the 
 notice of my fellow-citizens. Such as follow. 
 
 CoroL I. The increafed number of felf-mur- 
 ders about this great city, and in other parts, is 
 an irrefragable proof of the deep depravity of the 
 morals of our country. The infidious and reft- 
 lefs enemies of Britain's welfare, have at laft fb 
 far fucceeded in dificminating fcepticifm and infi- 
 delity •, i. e. a difbelief of a providence, of a reve- 
 lation, and a future ftate ; which is what qualifies 
 men for thefe enormities. And they have com- 
 paiTed their end in thus depraving the people, by 
 inventing every mealure that could lead to difli- 
 pation, and diffolutenefs of manners. It was 
 never known fince the reformation, that Britain 
 wore fo deteftable a complexion as that fhe now 
 does, in whatever department you make the fur- 
 
 vey : 
 
( i6 ) 
 
 vey: for when you put to the account, the great 
 advantages fhe has had above the former times of 
 palpable darknefs, under a popifli fyftem of go- 
 vernment both in church and Hate, you muft 
 fall under convidlion •, and be conftrained to 
 own, her condition appears to be incurable and 
 defperate. In fafl, her impieties, immoralities, 
 and vices, are matchlefs. — I queftion whether 
 there be a nation upon the face of this globe, 
 which in its annals could produce fo great a run 
 of Suicides, fince Chriftianity made its fpread in 
 the world. — It has been already obferved, that 
 when pagan Rome was in. the decline of her 
 glory, having loft all public virtue, Suicifm then 
 became common : and thofe of that depraved 
 people were reckoned hrave^ v/ho had rather 
 choien to defiroy themfelves than become the 
 flaves of tyrants. But our felf- murderers pre- 
 tend to no fuch fpecious motive. They have 
 lived vicioufly, and they will die impioufly. The 
 life which God only lent them, they prekime to 
 facrifice to their own pride and paflion. And al- 
 though our laws would fet a brand of mfamy 
 upon them, yet the horrid impiety is concealed or 
 covered, either through a miftaken tcndernefs, 
 elfe by a fhameful venality and bribery. 
 
 I have faid, a miftaken tendernefs — Yet would 
 obferve, that the inequity of our laws does feem 
 to apologize much for that tendernefs ; fince it 
 appears to be a very fevere " forfeiture in fclo de 
 " fe, of all his goods and chattels, real and per- 
 " fonal, which he hath in his own right ; and all 
 " fuch chattels, real and perfonal, which he hath 
 *' jointly with his wife, or in her right, when 
 " found upon the oath of twelve men before the 
 ** coroner, fuper vifum corporisy that he felo de fe 
 
 " hath. 
 
( 17 ) 
 hath. He forfeits alio bonds, or things in ac- 
 tion, belonging folely to himfeif, and all en- 
 tire chattels in poflcfTion ; except in the cafe 
 of merchants, where a moiety only of fuch 
 " joint-chattels, as may be faved, is forfeit- 
 " ed*." 
 
 This forfeiture has a manifeft feverity in it'; 
 and which makes the heart of humanity to revolt 
 at the punifhment falling fo heavily upon the 
 criminal's wife and children, who are innocent; 
 and have already by the ad of Suicifm fuffcred 
 the lofs of an hufband and father, and are de- 
 prived of all further afuftance and comfort from 
 and in him. 
 
 To pretend, in juftification of this forfeiture, 
 that " God himfeif is faid to vifit the iniquity of 
 " fathers upon their children unto the third and 
 " fourth generation of them who hate him ;" 
 mull be impertinent •, for in fuch vifitation, man 
 is not of competent ability to copy his unerring 
 meafures of infiifting punifhment. And if I 
 have not millaken the divine vifitaiion, it in- 
 tends only fuch children as copy their fathers 
 iniquity; fuch as continue to refemble him in 
 wickednefs. And fo I am perfuaded it muft be 
 iinderftood, when I read the i8th chapter of 
 Ezekiel's prophecy. 
 
 Other meafures (hould be taken to deter men 
 from the unnatural, fhockins; crime of felf mur- 
 der. — And I am humbly apprehenfive, that a 
 flop might be put to the fpread of Suicifm, by 
 having the naked body expofed in fome public 
 place : over which the coroner fhould deliver an 
 
 * Wood's Inftitute of the Laws of England, book Iv, 
 feliap. 3. 
 
 C oration 
 
( IS ) 
 
 oration on the foul impiety; and then the body, 
 like that of the homicide, be given to the fur- 
 geons. 
 
 Corol. II, If this be the only probationary 
 ftate of man, in which he can be a candidate 
 for a world of recompence, then life muft be 
 his moft ineilimable property, as an improve- 
 able talent. An elegant writer has thrown out 
 this idea with great exprefiion, in the following 
 addrefs of an hermit. " A lewd young fellow 
 ' feeing an aged hermit go by him barefoot, 
 ' Father^ fays he, you are in a very miferable 
 ' condition if there be not another world. 
 ' True, Ion, faid the hermit ; but what is thy 
 ' condition if there is ? Man is a creature de- 
 ' figned for two different Hates of being, or ra- 
 ' ther, for two different lives. His firil life is 
 ' Hiort and tranfient •, his fecond permanent and 
 ' lading. The quellion we are all concerned 
 ' in, is this, In which of thefe two lives is it 
 ' our chief intereft to make ourfelves happy .? 
 ' or in other words, whether we fhould endea- 
 ' vour to fecure to ourfelves the pleafures and 
 ' gratifications of a life which is uncertain and 
 ' precarious, and at its utmolt length of a 
 ' very inconfiderablc duration ; or to fecure 
 ' ourfelves the pleaiures of a life which is fixed 
 « and fettled, and will never end .? Every man, 
 « upon the firfl hearing of this queftion, knows 
 ' very well which fide of it he ought to clofe 
 ^ with. But however right we are in theory, 
 ' it is plain that in pracftice we adhere to the 
 « wrong fide of the queftion. We make pro- 
 < vifion for this life, as though it were never 
 to have an end ; and for the other life, 
 
 « as 
 
( ^9 ) 
 
 ** as though it were never to have a begin- 
 " ning V 
 
 This citation is much to the purpofe of (hew- 
 ing, that the prelent hfe of man is probatio- 
 nary : and it alfo docs honour to the pen of that 
 polite reformer of the manners of mankind. In 
 another paper he has obferved, " that feveral 
 heathen as well as Chriftian writers, have repre- 
 fented the world as an Inn, which only fur- 
 nifheth accommxcdations for travellers. And 
 that Epi^etiis has ufed another kind of beauti- 
 ful allufion, wonderfully proper to incline us to 
 be fatisfied with the poft in which providence 
 has placed us." '^ We are here, fays he, as in 
 a theatre, where every one has a part allotted 
 him. The great duty which lies upon a man, 
 is to adt his part in perfedion. We may in- 
 deed fay, that our part does not fuit us, and 
 that we could ad another better. But this is 
 not our bufinel's. All that we are concerned 
 in, is to excel in the part which is given us. 
 If it be an improper one, the faultf is not 
 in us, but in him who has cad our feve- 
 ral parts, and is the great diipofer of the 
 drama -f." 
 
 Thefe obfervations ferve to fhew, that the 
 idea of our being probationers for a world of 
 recompencc, has had the aflent of the mod wife 
 and judicious of mankind j that it is manifeftly 
 a document of reafon and nature \ and what will 
 bear the moft accurate and critical examination. 
 The reafoning and argument, which has been 
 built upon this foundation, is therefore irre- 
 fragable and conclufive. And fincc this is the 
 
 • Speftator, N" 575. t Ibid. N° 219. 
 
 C 2 truth 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 truth of the cafe, Suicide is capitally crimi- 
 nal. 
 
 CoroL III. Every man who gratifies an appe- 
 tite or paffion, which has a mantfeft tendency to 
 hurt his health, or (liorten his life, is [though 
 by a lefs fudden aiTault upon the life-principle] 
 a real feif-murderer. I mean, the man who 
 luxuriates at his table, is too free with his bottle, 
 and thereby brings on difeafe or diilemper ; or 
 whether his lu'is lead him into an illicit and em- 
 poifoned bodily commerce. This laft fpecies of 
 debauchery is, among us, rifen fhamefuUy high, 
 and difgracefully become as epidemical as the 
 plague. One would be aftonilhed beyond mca- 
 lure, that men who affeft fo much as the name 
 of Chrijiians^ whofe great charter abfolutely ex- 
 cludes all fornicators and adulterers from the 
 kingdom of God, fhould yet rather give up all 
 hopes of entering God's heavenly kingdom, than 
 mortify their lufts. — They do not at all confider, 
 that by thus defecrating and polluting their na- 
 tural bodies, they render themfelves utterly dif- 
 qualified for pofiefiing fpiritual bodies j or, for 
 htcovcim^rhildren of the refurreElion. 
 
 Were this kind of reprefentation to be made 
 in our polite afiemblies, and houfes of pleafure -, 
 or were thefe pages to reach the eyes of the gay 
 and wanton, who are the devotees of Venus^ 
 they would meet with every kind of difdainful 
 ridicule. But no matter : the fon of lewdnefs 
 and debauchery, is, in a very capital fenfe, a 
 felf-murderer. Every one individual is fo, that 
 indulges the luftful appetite or paflion, 
 
 • CoroL 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 Carol. IV. The {hameful crime of Duelling 
 h another prevailing vicious pradlice ; which re- 
 flects difgrace on the iinderftanding of the man, 
 and proves him deplorably unacquainted with 
 fclf-government. The duelliji is an atrocious 
 violator of the law of his make. He tramples 
 upon and fubdues the firft inftinclive principle, 
 with which his Maker has endowed him, viz. 
 that of felf-prefervation. The proud, pafTionate 
 man, will rather rifle his own life, in his attempt 
 to take away the life of another, than pais 
 by an affront. And this he moll ftupidly fan- 
 cies to be, and is not afhamed to call it, a path 
 OF HONOUR ! for, contrary to a fundamental 
 law of civil fociety, he prefumes upon being 
 his own avenger. And though the matter of of- 
 fence may have been nothing more than a breach 
 of politenefs, fome little fally of the paiTion, or 
 fome mark of contempt •, yet the blood-thirfty 
 wretch will not be reconciled rill he has fired his 
 piRol, or with his fwv.rd lunged ac the life of his 
 fellow- man. Not any crime evinces more ab- 
 surdity and ftupidity than duelling does : for 
 whoever he is that hazards his ov/n life with 
 a man who gave him offence, is a fool ; and 
 the very challenge he fent, proves that he is 
 
 Did the duellifl reafon at ail, he vvould at 
 once fee, that he had altogether as good a claim 
 to his opponent's whole fubilance or fortune, as 
 
 * There was much humour and good fenfe In Quin the 
 comedian's treatment of a challenge, given him by a very 
 {lender little man; " Go, fays he, make thyfelf an equal 
 *' mark with my corpulency, and then I will fight thee." 
 
 C 2 he 
 
( 22 ) 
 
 he could poflibly have to his life : and mufl be 
 convinced, ihat the comfort and peace of the 
 man's tamily and friends, was too great a recom- 
 pence for the infult he had received, cxclufive 
 of the life he had felonioufly taken away from 
 him. 
 
 By our own lav/s, " If a duel is fought, and 
 " one fall in the rencounter, the other is deemed 
 ''' guilty of murder, and (o are the feconds." 
 Nor can any one comm.ence duellid, but ht miufl 
 firft have flripped off all his humanity, and put 
 on the fpirit of a deftrud:ive demon. No man 
 of fubftantial virtue, no truly good man, would 
 dare to draw his fword, as a duellifl", upon his 
 fellow-man, a creature whom God has made in 
 his own image. And, verily, it is an irrefraga- 
 ble proof of a very corrupt civil adminiftration, 
 where duelling has either any countenance, or 
 even connivance. On the other hand, it would 
 retrieve much of the loft glory of our nation, if a 
 noble lord or two were once hanged for duel- 
 ling. 
 
 CoroL V. The love we have of life, muft 
 never lead us to facrifice either our innocence, 
 or our virtue. Here it is natural to obferve, 
 that the hypocrite, or liar, muft always be a 
 coward. Deceit and fallhocd give proof of pu- 
 filanimity, or of a contemptible meannefs of fpi- 
 rit. The fawning fycophant has no true cou- 
 rage ; he has a flavifti fear of man. — Accord- 
 ingly, when a lift of black charaders are drawn 
 in the facred page, the fearful are found clafs- 
 ed with all liars *. In truth, none but wicked 
 
 * .Apoc. xxii. 8. 
 
 men 
 
( 23 ) 
 
 men have reafon of the fear that is enflaving, 
 or tormenting. To my purpofe, in an ancient 
 writing, called the book of Joh^ we find the 
 hero of that dramatical piece, thus greatly ex- 
 preffing himfelf, " Till I die, I will not remove 
 " my integrity from me. My righteoiifnefs I 
 " hold faft, and will not let go ; my heart fliall 
 " not reproach me as long as 1 live." 
 
 Corol. VI. The conclufion of true philofophy 
 will .ever fpeak this language : A conilant reve- 
 rence of that divine pow^r, which holds our 
 breath in our noitriis, we efteem a moft apt 
 means of fecuring his favourite prefence with us, 
 when thic- frail tabernacle fliall be no longer te- 
 nable. And for this reafon, vix, the condufl- 
 ing ourfelves habitually upon the moral life- 
 principle, will immocralize our natures ; unite 
 us with that infinite Spirit, whom we have habi- 
 tually reverenced •, and render us meet for the 
 interminable fruitions of life ' We may therefore 
 fafely conclude, that the very fame animating 
 divine prefence will never leave nor for fake iis \ if 
 ■we have but lived a life of obedience and con- 
 formity to thofe informafions which we have 
 had, from the infinite fource of light and 
 life. 
 
 This very interefling idea was not hid from 
 the virtuous of mankind, in the earlier ages of 
 the world -, as appears from the facred page. 
 They were well affured, that when fielh failed, 
 and heart failed, God would be the rock of their 
 heart, and their cverlafling portion ! and, for 
 this reafon, their homage was dire(ft:ed to him, 
 as to a being, who is from everlafiing to everlafi- 
 ing God. 
 
 Thefe 
 
( 24 ) 
 
 Thefe feveral Corollaries feem to have a free, 
 and unforced derivation from the fundamental 
 propofuion, namely^ " That not any thing can 
 " be more unnatural, and argue a greater de- 
 " pravity of the human mind, than felf-mur- 
 " der." 
 
 A N 
 
A N; 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 Dissertation on Self-Murder : 
 
 WHICH 
 
 Points out the Inequality of fome of our penal Laws, 
 that take away the life of Man. 
 
 The fundamental maxim in our law is this, " Nothing is to 
 'f be accounted a law, that is contrary to the laws of God, or of 
 *' reafon j no more than a tyrant can be faid to be a king, or a 
 *' minifter of the devil a minifter of God." 
 
 Milton's profe works, edit. 1755, Vol. I. p. 576. 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 APPENDIX, dec. 
 
 POSITIVE human puniHimenr, fays Puf- 
 fendorf, has nothing in it repugnant to 
 natural equity : but on the contrary, is abfo- 
 lutely neceflary to the common quiet and fe- 
 curity of mankind. For as it was requifite 
 for the public peace of the world, to put an 
 end to the equality of nature, by eredling civil 
 government. So in the general loofenefs and 
 corruptions of manners, and averfion to virtue, 
 the force of government would foon- be dif- 
 folved, if bad men were not confined and 
 frightened into obedience, by the dread, of 
 fome penal evil.*" 
 
 And as the great Locke obferves, " befide? 
 the crime which confifts in violating the law, 
 and varying from the right rule of reafon, 
 whereby a man becomes fo far degenerate, 
 and declares himlelf to quit the principles of 
 human nature, and to be a noxious creature, 
 there is commonly injury done fome pcrfon or 
 other ; fome other man receives damage by 
 his tranfgreflion, in which cale, he who re- 
 ceived any damage, has, befides the right of 
 punifhment common to him with other men, 
 
 • Law of nature and nations, book viii, ch. 3. feft. 6. 
 
 l[ a par- 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 " a particular right to feek reparation from Kim 
 " that has done it."— 
 
 " From thelc two diftinfl rights, the one of 
 
 «' punifhing the crime for reftraint, and prevent- 
 
 " ing the like offence, which right of punifhing 
 
 ** is in every body ; the other of taking repara- 
 
 *' tion, which belongs only to the injured party, 
 
 " comes it to pafs, that the magiftrate, who 
 
 " by being magiftrate, hath the common right 
 
 " of punifhing put into his hands, can often, 
 
 " where the public good demands not the exe- 
 
 *' cution of the law, remit the punifliment of 
 
 *' criminal offences by his own authority, but 
 
 «' yet cannot remit the fatisfadion due to any 
 
 " private man, for the damage he hi.s received. 
 
 *' That he who has fuffered the damage has- a 
 
 .*' right to demand in , his own name, and he 
 
 *' alone can remit: the damnified pcrfon has. this 
 
 *' power of appropriating to himfelf, the goods 
 
 " or fprvice of the offender, by rigb^ of felf-vre- 
 
 *' fervation^ as every man has a power to punifh 
 
 *' the crime, to prevent its being committed 
 
 ;*' again, by the right he has of pyeferving all 
 
 ^^ mankind^ and doing all reafonable things he 
 
 ." can, in order to that end : and thus it is, that 
 
 *' every man in a, ftate of nature, has a power to 
 
 j" kill a murderer, both to deter others from 
 
 ." doing the like injury, which no reparation can 
 
 " compenfate, by the example of the punifti- 
 
 " ment that attends it from every body, and 
 
 *' alfo to fecure rhen from th^ attempts of a 
 
 " criminal, who having renounced realon, the 
 
 >' common rule and meafure, which God has 
 
 *' given to mankind, hath, by the unjufl vio- 
 
 "• knee and flaughter he hath committed upon 
 
 ^* one, declared war againfl all mankind, and 
 
 '■' '' therefore 
 
( 29 ) 
 
 " therefore may be deflroyed as a lion or a ty- 
 " ger, one of thofe wild favage beads, with 
 " which men can have no fociety nor fecurity. 
 " And upon this is grounded that great law of 
 " nature, whofo jheddeth marl's bloody by man Jh all 
 " his blood be Jhed." — 
 
 And this mafterly reafoner adds, " each tranf- 
 " grefTion may be punifted to that degree, and 
 " with fo much feverity, as will fuffice to make 
 " it an ill bargain to the offender, give him 
 " caufe to repent, and terrify others from doing 
 " the like. Every offence that can be com-^ 
 " mitted in the ftate of nature, may in the ftate 
 *' of nature be alfo punifhed equally, and as far 
 " forth as it may in a commonwealth.*" 
 
 I have therefore this great authority with me 
 in concluding, that by the rules of found policy, 
 punifhments fhould be proportioned to the dif- 
 ferent degrees of demerit which there is in crime. 
 Now, among thofe which are or fhould be deemed 
 capital, we may reckon murder, adultery, buggery, 
 burglary, forgery, treafons, and feveral kinds of 
 theft, by fraud or violence. — Great complaints, 
 and very fenfible remonftrances have long been 
 made of the iyiequality of capital punifhments, 
 awarded upon criminals in our courts of judica- 
 ture, and very certain it is, that they are ex- 
 tremely inequitable ; or do obferve no propor- 
 tion, e. g. The flealing of a fheep, a cow, an 
 horfe, or a fimple robbery on the highway, alfo 
 a burglary where no corporal injury was attemp- 
 ted to be done, are punifhed equally with a 
 robbery, or burglarious plunder committed with 
 every aggravation, whether of wounding, maUn- 
 
 * Of civil government, ch. x. feft, lo, ii, 12. 
 
( 30 ) 
 
 ing, dripping and binding, and fometimes even 
 with ravilhing the female. But who does not 
 fee, that in the two different fpecies of crime, 
 there is unfpeakably more demerit in the one, 
 than there is in the other •, and that the lelfer 
 guilt fliould have the leffer punifhment. 
 
 Nay, there are fome inftances of theft, where 
 a deplorable want of bread has occafioned hunger 
 to break through Jl one walls. A crime, which by 
 our laws formerly had no punifhment at all*. 
 Such was the fenfe of humanity in the days of 
 Solomon^ who fays, " men do not dcfpife a thief, 
 " if he (leal to the fatisfying of his foul, when 
 *' he is hungry." Pity ihould be fhewn to 
 the miferable poor, if guilty of fuch purloining. 
 In fuch thefts, there is a wide diiFerence from the 
 felonies of thofe who are able, and may have 
 opportunity to earn their bread by honeft labor, 
 but rather choofe to prey felonioufly upon man- 
 kind. In truth, I do not find that in the code 
 of judicial laws given by Mofes to the Hebrew 
 people, that fimple theft was ever to be punifhed 
 with death. A neighbouring flate has wifely 
 appointed a rafp-houfe, and other fevere labors, 
 as a far more equitable and efficacious punifh- 
 ment-, and at the fame time, the criminal is 
 thereby made ferviceable to the public. 
 
 In like manner, when I confider our laws 
 cutting off the young criminal, whofe mind has 
 been totally neglefled, and from his infancy 
 been trained to pilfering and ftealing : I cannot 
 but fuppofe this to be a fault in our civil police. 
 Care ihould be taken of all expofed deferted 
 
 • Theft was fir ft made capital, with us, \ti the reign of 
 Edmund the Saxon. See Rapin. 
 
 children 
 
( 3' ) 
 
 children of the wretched poor. They fhould be 
 more carefully educated, and found fome em- 
 ploy. The Dutch would teach us better. But 
 to HANG fuch negleded uninformed young crea- 
 tures, muft give the feeling mind a painful fenfe 
 of the vindictive meafure. Afraid I am, we 
 have fome execrable mifcreants among us, who, 
 (like Jonathan Wylde, that infamous thief- taker) 
 do traffic in the lives of fuch youths, for the fake 
 of the reward ! — 
 
 Hereupon I thus reafon, if the depredations 
 which are made upon the alienable properties of 
 mankind, ought to have their degree of demerit 
 determined by the degree of injury or mifchief 
 done to fociety; I fhould, upon this ratio^ be 
 perfuaded, that an aggravated guilt is found in 
 thofe flaves of luft, thofe fons of luxury and ex- 
 travagance, who, under fpecious falfe pretences, 
 have decoyed their correfpondents into an exten- 
 five credit : and by their infolvency brought 
 many induftrious families into very great diftrefs. 
 Certainly, they have contracted a degree of guilt 
 and demerit far more aggravated than that of 
 the man who has only taken a purfe upon the 
 highway, ilolen a fheep, a cow, or an horfc. 
 Such great devourers of mankind, would, mc- 
 thinks, make a much more decent finilhing fi- 
 gure at Tyburn, than many of them have done 
 by their own hands. And yet, I fhould not 
 wi(h them to be punifhed with death ; but rather 
 to be dilabled from being evermore entrufted 
 in trade or commerce. — 
 
 As to all gamejlers and gamblers^ men, who 
 cither fport away their own fortunes, or thofe 
 of others j they ought to be treated as fuch were 
 treated by the old Romans, even as madmen 
 
 confined 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 confined for life. A milder punifliment they 
 deferve not, and a more equitable one could not 
 well be devifed. Allow me to add, though 
 gaming is not made capital by our laws, there 
 are many crimes lefs mifchievous to fociety; 
 which neverthelefs lead men to pay a kit vifit 
 at Tyburn. 
 
 There is a crime which bur judicial laws pu- 
 hifh with deaths which appears to be of fuch a 
 nature, that an humane tender mind cannot but 
 revolt at the execution of it ; I mean, the young 
 girl or woman, who, from the paffion of fhame 
 having overcome the natural parental ftorge, has 
 ralhly deftroyed her illegitimate new-born infant. 
 The fruit of a criminal bodily commerce, into 
 which fhe had been allured, by the man who 
 dilhonoured her. For I take it for granted, this 
 muil ufually, if not always, have been the cafe 
 with thefe unhappy young creatures. The fa<ft 
 was perpetrated inftantly upon the birth, in a 
 •weak bodily condition, and under a powerful 
 dread of difgrace ; in great confufion, attended 
 with diftra6ting ideas of her extreme folly and 
 infatuation, in having confented to fuch a cri- 
 minal commerce, and to have put fuch an im- 
 prudent confidence in man. Thofe of lefs mo- 
 defty, and of a more hardned front, are not 
 found committing the crime: they make known 
 their pregnancy, and they feek a feafonable 
 fuccour. 
 
 But after all, if any reafon can vindicate the 
 capital puniihmentV being executed upon fuch 
 unhappy young women, the men, by which they 
 were deluded and dilhonoured (hould be confi- 
 dered as much accejfories^ as itien are judged to 
 be in ail other murdera committed in company. 
 
 And 
 
( n ) 
 
 And for this reafon ; in the latter cafe, it is fup^ 
 pofable there might be one unconfenting ; and 
 yet the law deems him an acceffory. Whereas 
 in the former cafe, the man who deflowered the 
 maid mull have been caufal of the mifchief. 
 And, more commonly, if not always, has for- 
 faken her, and perfidioufly broken tbofe engage- 
 ments he laid himfelf under, when he debauched 
 her. Confequently, one would rather conclude 
 him z principal^ than an acceffory in the murder. 
 Indeed by the a<5l of 21 Jac. I. ch. 27. conceal- 
 ment is deemed an undeniable evidence that the 
 mother murdered her baftard child. To which 
 concealment I cannot but fuppofe the man privy, 
 and in m.any inftances countenancing the con- 
 cealment. So that in whatever view v-'e place 
 him, whether in that of an acceffory or principal, 
 would the law once confider him, we muft rea- 
 fonable expeft fuch delufions and fedudions 
 would be much lefs frequent, and the infl-ances 
 of infant-murder fcarcely ever known among 
 us. 
 
 Forgery, is another crime v^^hich our penal laws 
 do make capital, and as it (hould leem, has the 
 general approbation of the people ; becaufe of 
 its very pernicious effe(fts upon the credit and 
 confidence of men in trade and commerce. But 
 if I am rightly informed, the Dutch have a far 
 better way of punifhing the criminals ; for they 
 cut off the firfl: joint of his thumb, and thus 
 render him for ever unable to commit another 
 forgery. At the fame time, we are to keep in 
 mind, that this very maiming is what fixes on him a 
 perpetual mark of difgrace •, and yet, leaves him 
 opportunity of reforming himfelf, and of being 
 further ferviceable to fociety. Thus it appears, 
 D tha{f 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 that the fagacious provident republic are not f& 
 lavifh of mens lives as we are. They do not fo 
 injudicioLifly cut them off — To proceed. 
 
 The following crimes either are, or I prefume 
 fhould be deemed capital, in any well-ordered 
 policy ; viz. Adultery, Buggery, Murder, 
 and Treason. 
 
 Adultery is not deemed capital, in the fenfe 
 of our penal laws j but in the reafon and nature 
 of things, it furely is to be fo underftood. 
 Thus thought that celebrated writer upon the 
 religion of nature, Mr. Woolafton. This crime 
 he confiders, not only as an ad of injuftice, but 
 of cruelty : the which, he fays, is plain in the 
 cafe of adultery, " when- any one infnares and 
 " corrupts the wife of another •, notwithftanding 
 *' the protedion it gains from falfe notions, 
 '* great examples*, and the commonnefs of the 
 " crime. For the adulterer denies the property 
 " a hufband has in his wife, by contra6t, the 
 ** moft exprefs and facred that can poffibly be 
 •* made: he does that which tends to fubvert 
 " the peace of families, confounds relation, and 
 " is altogether inconfiftent with the order and 
 *' tranquility of the world, and therefore with 
 " the laws of human nature : he does what no 
 " man in his wits could think reafonable, or 
 " even tolerable, were he the perfon wronged : 
 " briefly, he impudently treats a woman as his 
 " own woman, or wife, who is not his, but 
 " another's, contrary to jufticc, truth, and fad. 
 '' Nor is this fimple injultice only, but injufticc 
 
 * This is his citation, Palam apparet, ad hue aetate divi 
 Hieronymi adulterium capite folere puniri : nunc magna- 
 turn lufas efl. 
 
 " for 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 for which no reparation can be made, if the 
 injured man thinks fo, as he generally does 
 injuflice accompanied with the greateft cruel- 
 ty J {o complicated, as icarce any other can 
 be. The hulband is for ever robbed of all 
 that pleafure and fatisfadlion, which arifes 
 from the wife's fidelity and alfeclion to him ; 
 prcfuming upon which he took her to be not 
 only the partner of his bed, b'ut the com- 
 panion of his life, and fharer in all his for- 
 tunes : and into the room of them fucceed 
 painful and deftrudlive paffions. The poor 
 woman herfelf, though Ihe may be deluded, 
 and not fee at prefent her guilt, or the confe- 
 quences of it, ufually pays dear for her fecu- 
 rity and want of guard, the hufband becoming 
 cold, and averfe to her, and Ihe full of ap- 
 prehenfions and fears, with a particular dread 
 of nis farther refentmenr. And their affairs, 
 in this disjointed and diflrafled condition, are 
 negleded •, innocent children flighted, and lefc 
 unprovided for, without fo much as the com- 
 fort of any certain relation to pity them*." 
 Jufl in this light (lands the crime of adultery, 
 in the eye of reafon and nature, big with evil 
 effeds, and as horrible as that of being under 
 the knife of the truculent rufiian. We cannot 
 therefore be at all furprized at finding it capital 
 in the Mofaic code of penal laws, which fays, 
 *' the man who committeth adultery with a 
 " man's wife, that committeth adultery with his 
 " neighbour's wife, fhall furely be put to death," 
 Lev. XX. JO. And repeated, DeuL xxii. 22. 
 thus, " if a man be found lying with a woman 
 
 * Religion of nature delineated, p. 141, 142. 5th edit. 
 
 D 2 " married 
 
^ married to an hufband, then (hail they botE 
 " of them die : the man that lay with the wo- 
 " man, and the woman. So (halt thou put 
 " away evil from Ifrael." The crime mult 
 have been capital, becaiife of no compenfation- 
 that could be made, nor any atonement. And 
 accordingly, profane hiftory informs us, that in 
 pagan Rome, adultery was made death by the 
 Julian law. ' So in England, king Edmund the 
 Saxon, Leg. Suar. cap. 4. jldulteriiim offici jujp.f 
 injlar homocidij. The law in his reign ordered 
 the adulterer to be treated as an homicide. Of 
 this Edmund the Saxon king, who died 948,. 
 Rapin obferves, " that feme of his laws are flili' 
 " in being, which dcmonftrate how deiirous he 
 " was of his people's welfare and happiftefs.*' — 
 He faw adultery to be a violation of a firft fecial 
 right, and as fuch made it capital by the civil 
 law, which is allowed to contain all the principles 
 of natural equity. 
 
 The civil law, both under the heathen and 
 Chriftian emperors, made this crime capital. 
 As Gothofred fhews, by various infbances both 
 out of the code and pandects. Vide Gothofred 
 in Cod. Th. Lib. ix. Tit. ^6*. Ecclefiaftical 
 councils made the punifhment pennance, and 
 when once it became cognizable in our ecclefiaf- 
 tical courts, and was puniflied with fines, pen- 
 nances and divorce, they, the great clergy avail- 
 ed themfelves of the profits of fuch kinds of 
 punifhment ; and alfo gratified their own pride 
 of power, in the exercife of fuch judicial autho- 
 rity. Whereas adultery is a crime as properly 
 
 * Bingham's antiquities of the Chriftian church. Vol. IT. 
 booh xvi. chap. xi. fe£t. 4. 
 
 coo;nizablc 
 
( 37 ) 
 cognizable in our civil or common law courts of 
 judicature, as any other felony can be. I fay, 
 felony^ " for anciently every capital crime com- 
 " mitted with an evil intention, was felony*. 
 
 That our laws have been changed, with refpedt 
 to the fuppofed demerit of this crime, and do 
 now punilh adultery only by fine, pennance, 
 and divorce, probably was owing not only to the 
 pride and avarice, but alfo to the more general 
 debauchery of the clergy. For it was not till 
 Gregory VII. in the nth century, the ecclefiaf- 
 tics were brought to admit the celehate as a law. 
 The decrees of this pope were againft fuch 
 bifliops and other ecclefiallics who endeavoured 
 to keep their wives or concubines, without ceaf- 
 ing to perform their funftions-f. Nay, by a 
 council he caufed to be held in Germany, thofe 
 who were in orders had a new celibacy enjoined 
 themfelves. This well accounts for the more 
 gentle treatment of adultery in our penal laws, 
 fmce the great as well as fmall clergy, muft lb 
 very generally have become obnoxious to the^ 
 capital punifhment, in their celebate condition j 
 becaufe of their incontinence and debaucheries. 
 
 Neverthelefs, as we havefeen, the teachings of 
 reafon and nature are fo exprefs in determining 
 the obligations on all mankind in civil and well 
 governed communities, to hold the conjugal 
 rights facred ; the defence of thofe rights ought 
 to be as powerful and efficacious, as of any other 
 of the rights of humanity. The fence fet to 
 fccure the marriage-bed from the depredation. 
 
 * See Jacob's Law Diftionary on the word, felony. . ' 
 t Du Pin's hiilory of the church, 3d edit. 1724. Vol, III ■ 
 p. io8. ibid p. 112. 
 
 D 3 of 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 of the lewd and impudent invader, cannot hs 
 difpenfed withal ; but is abfolutely needful to 
 the peace and happinefs of mankind. It muft 
 therefore have been fhamefuUy impolitic in any 
 legiflature. to have annexed a trifling fancflion 
 or punifhmf r.t to a law, which has for its object, 
 a moft mai.gnant capital crime-, — a crime, that 
 robs a man of his peace, as well as his moft facred 
 property. 
 
 That there is an apparent egregious abfurdity 
 in a national fy(iem of penal laws, which are fo 
 unequal, as to cut off the life of man, becaufe he 
 jias llolen a flieep, an horfe, or has taken his 
 neighbour's purfe, or has clipped a piece of 
 money ; and yet punifli only with a fine, &c, 
 the man who has deprived his neighbour of the 
 moft uniting and endearing of all his focial en- 
 joyments; and which damage admits of no re- 
 paration, nor compenfation. An Hebrew prince 
 who underrtood mankind, perhaps, more clearly 
 than any of his predecefTors ever had done, 
 obfcrves, " that jealoufy is the rage of a man : 
 ♦' and that he will not fpare in the day of ven^ 
 " geance*." And that adultery has in it guilt 
 and demerit, which far exceeds that of theft, 
 may be {ten by confuking thofe maxims of the 
 law of nature-f, undercited. 
 
 BuGGEKY is a crime, which in our code of 
 penal laws, is made capital, and which they de- 
 fine thus, carnalis copula contra natiiram H hoc 
 vel per confujionem fpecierum. A man or woman 
 with a brute beaft : a man with a man : a man 
 
 * See his maxims of wifdom and found policy, Prov. 
 
 vi- 34. .35- 
 
 f ibid, verfes 32 and 33, compared. 
 
 with 
 
( ^9 ) 
 
 with a woman (i. e. unnaturally) a fin againft 
 God, nature, and the law. Some authors fay, 
 it was anciently punilhed by burning, others by 
 burying alive. At this day, it is felony excluded 
 the clergy. Its dcteftablc finfulnefs may be 
 learnt from the very form of indirement in our 
 courts of judicature, which runs thus — " That 
 " A. B. did, on fuch a day, make an aflault on 
 " C. D. and then and there wickedly, devilifhjy, 
 " felonioufly, and againft the order of nature 
 " commit fuch an ad, &c. not to be named 
 ** among Chrifiians, to the great difpleafure of 
 " almighty God, and difgracc of all mankind, 
 " &c." — And our law books do further inform 
 us, " that this crime is excepted out of all our 
 " adts of general pardon." It therefore appears 
 to be of fo very heinous and atrocious a nature, 
 that it is not, on any confideration, pardonable 
 by any human power, or authority v^hatfoever. 
 
 This conclufidn, I am perfuaded we (hall be 
 obliged to make, not only from the exprefs 
 language of our own laws, but from that politi- 
 cal fyflem of judiciary laws delivered by the 
 Hebrew law-giver, and from whence it is pro- 
 bable our own law-givers may have borrowed 
 fome idea of its turpitude, and the abhorrence 
 in which it Vv^as held, in the early age of the 
 world j — for in thofe laws, it is laid, " Thou 
 " fhalt not lie with mankind, as with woman- 
 '* kind : it is an abomination, Lev. xviii. 22. 
 which law is explained, Deut. xxiii. 17. " There 
 " fhall be no Sodomite of the fons of Ifrael :" i, e. 
 they fhall all be extirminated, as were the fons of 
 Sodom. And it is recorded of king Afa, that 
 he cut them off, i Kings xv. 12. Dr. Lightfoot 
 thought the Sodomites were a remnant of the 
 
 Canaanites 
 
( 40 } 
 
 Canaanites which were kft in the land, 2 Kings 
 xxiii. 7. Thele obfcrvations are what give the 
 meaning of the word rendered abomination, in 
 Lev. xviii. 22. as it intends, " a deteftable crime, 
 " condemned by the law of nature." Or, an 
 extremely loachfome aft of wickednefs, on ac- 
 count of which, a land is faid to vomit out its 
 inhabitants, Lev. xviii. 25. Alfo in that llriking 
 picture of pagan deformity, given by St. Paul in 
 the beginning of his epiftle to the Romans, he 
 has this very moving ftridture, " God gave them 
 *' up to uncleanncls, through the lulls of their 
 *' own hearts, to difhonour their own bodies 
 " between themfeh.TS." — The (liocking fpread 
 of this filthy, this moil detellable abomination, 
 is, a very tremendous fymptom, which as a cancer, 
 is now ulcerating the face of Britain. An ac- 
 curfed thing which is faid to have been origin- 
 ally imported from Italy, that fink of unclean- 
 nefs. Rot. Pari. 50ih Ed. III. Num. 58. 
 
 As to MURDER, as it can admit of no repara- 
 tion, no fatisfaClion or compenfation, fo it is de- 
 termined to be capital-, i.e. a crime which de- 
 icrves death, and cannot admit of any other pu- 
 nifhmcnt. With Mr. Locke, I am fully per- 
 fuaded, that tTie law given to Noah., the father 
 of the new world, was neither local nor tem- 
 porary, but intended for the obfervance of 
 all mankind ; viz. " Whofo Iheddeth man's 
 " blood, by man fhall his blood be fhed." Gen. 
 ix. 6: An univerfal law, founded in reafon and 
 nature. 
 
 Profane hiftory furniflies very remarkable in- 
 ftances, as well as our judicial records do, of 
 many murders that had been long concealed ; 
 which yet, by a difcovery made at a great dif- ; 
 
 tance 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 tance of time, the murderer met his deferved 
 punifhment. And it does not feem improba- 
 ble, but that the wretch who efcaped the puni- 
 tive hand of juftice, providence did fome other 
 way cut off by the hand of man. This alfo af- 
 furedly is another crime, which no human power 
 whatfoever can have a right to pardon ; foraf- 
 much as the murderer, wherever known to be 
 fuch, is too offenfive an objeft for the eye of 
 man : and fuch is the nature of the crime, as to 
 render it abfolutelv unfit the perpetrator of it 
 fhould be allowed a place in human fociety. — 
 Bejides^ the guilt of blood ever haunts the mur- 
 derer *- 
 
 The remaining capital crime, which fhall be 
 noticed, is, that of treason. Under which ar- 
 ticle, it may be obferved, that where an admini- 
 ftration of civil government is juft and equita- 
 ble ; /. e. v;here it protects and maintains the ci- 
 vil and religious rights of a people, by being a 
 terror to evil doers, and a praife to weH-doers, — 
 there, fhould any refufe the homage of loyalty* 
 fhould they confpire, rife in arms, or rebel 
 againft: fuch powers which are of God, the of- 
 fence muft be capital: — " Tribute, to whom 
 " tribute •, cuftom, to whom cuftom •, fear, to 
 " whom fear ; honour, to whom honour ;" is 
 the demand of reafon and truth, and of the law 
 of relation. But wherever a civil admmiftration 
 is arbitrary and tyrannical, the fooner a people 
 can throw off the iron yoke, the better: fince no 
 civil government can be an ordinance of God, 
 
 * I would refer my reader back to the view taken of Cain, 
 in the DifTertation on Self-murder, as an illullracion of us 
 malignity, 
 
 but 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 but what is for t|ie benefit of the governed -, and 
 where it is the reverfe, it is fo far from being of 
 God, that it is of the devil. It certainly is, be- 
 caufe no other than a diabolical fpirit of pride 
 and arrogance, can render any earthly fovereign 
 once capable of imagining, that the power with 
 which he is entrufted, could be ever given him 
 for the end of enilaving thofe under his fcepter. 
 Confequendy, all trealbns againft government, 
 are, what violate the laws of truth, reafon, and 
 righteoufnefs. — Whereas, this being far from the 
 cafe, when an adminiftration is trampling on the 
 juft rights and equitable claims of i. people : in 
 which condition, we are obliged to fay, that 
 none but depraved, difpirited, creft-fallen crea- 
 tures, will tamely fubmit to the tyranny. 
 
 A yet different fpecies of treafon, is that of 
 counterfeiting, impairing, and clipping the cur- 
 rent coin of a kingdom or ftate. With us, this 
 is made capital, by 25 Ed. III. c. 14. and iS Eliz. 
 c. 7. It is alfo treafon to make any ftampj dye, 
 or mould for coining : and fo is colouring metal, 
 refembling coin of gold or filver; marking it on 
 the edges, (^c. This appears, to me, m the 
 light of high treafon againft the majefty of the 
 people-, forafmuch as the injury is principally 
 done to the community, by depraving the uni- 
 verfai medium or meafure of trade and com- 
 merce, " For, in the words of Mr. Locke, 
 " fuch debafers of coin, who counterfeit the 
 *' king's image and fuperfcription, commit a fe- 
 " cret robbery on the public. Becaufe money is 
 " as neceflary to trade, as food is to life ; and, 
 " in its circulation, drives the wheels of trade : 
 *' and is neceflary between land-holder and la- 
 
 " bourer. 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 " bourer, merchant, fhop-'keepei' and confumcr-, 
 " and Ihould be kept in its value Heady and in-> 
 " variable, as all other meafures are*." 
 
 This is a fpecies of treafon, which, at this 
 day, is extremely detrimental to our public-, 
 and loudly calls for fome punifliment, more ter- 
 rifying and efficacious than death. The culprit 
 fhould be made fome wzy a living monitor to all 
 around him, and at the fame time fome benefi- 
 cial fervice Ihould be rendered by him to that 
 public he has injured ; though under circum- 
 ftances that would terrify. 
 
 It is prefumed, that the above obfervations, 
 made upon fome of our penal lav/s, which take 
 away the life of man, do prove, that they are 
 very unequal, and undifcriminating as to the de^ 
 grees of demerit, or of guilt. And we are not 
 to wonder at this, when we confider, that the 
 vaft importance of human life, has not to this 
 day been duly attended unto, nor well under- 
 ftood, by legiflators. Even in our age of 
 boafted light and liberty, it is notorious, from 
 late applications to parliament, that we have 
 fome penal Itatute-laws yet in force and unre- 
 pealed, which are confejfedly inhuman and cruel ; 
 ay, even in the fenfe of thofe fenators, who re- 
 fufe to remove them from a people, whofe 
 loyalty is unimpeached, and whofe claims to 
 the common rights of fubjedls, are inferior to 
 none in the Britifli dominions. But fuch is the 
 depravity of the age, we have no reafon to ex- 
 pe6t a reform, either of our laws, or of our 
 manners, till the dreadful cataftrophe, has fully 
 
 • Confiderations on Money ; fee his Works, vol. ii. 
 
 taken 
 
? "44 ) 
 
 taken place, " when the people fhall be {q 
 *' hungry as to fret themfelves, look upward, 
 *' curfe their king and their God ! and looking 
 " to the earth, fhall behold trouble, darknefs, 
 ** and the dimnefs of anguifli ! " 
 
 O that Britain would fo repent and reform !-— 
 that her iniquities may not bring down upon her, 
 irremedilefs ruin. -" > 
 
 r 1 N I s.