as neither the watchfulnesse of Parliaments nor the descents and indulgences of Princes which have consented to lawes derogatory to themselves have beene able to prejudice the Princes non obstantes because prerogative is incomprehensible and over-flowes and transcends all law And as those Canons which boldly and as some School-men say blasphemously say Non licebit Papae diminish not his fulnesse of power nor impeach his motus propriores as they call them nor his non obstante jure divino because they are understood ever to whisper some just reservation sine justa causa or rebus sic stantibus so what law soever is cast upon the conscience or liberty of man of which the reason is mutable is naturally condition'd with this that it binds so long as the reason lives Besides Selfe-preservation which wee confesse to be the foundation of generall naturall Law is no other thing then a naturall affection and appetition of good whether true or seeming For certainly the desire of Martyrdome though the body perish is a Selfe-preservation because thereby out of our election our best part is advanc'd For heaven which we gaine so is certainly good Life but probably and possibly For here it holds well which Athenagoras sayes Earthly things and Heavenly differ so as Veri-simile Verum And this is the best description of felicitie that I have found That it is reditus uniuscujusque rei ad suum principium Now since this law of Selfe-preservation is accomplish'd in attaining that which conduces to our ends and is good to us for libertv which is a faculty of doing that which I would is as much of the law of nature as preservation is yet if for reasons seeming good to me as to preserve my life when I am justly taken prisoner I will become a slave I may doe it without violating the law of nature If I propose to my selfe in this SELF-HOMICIDE a greater good though I mistake it I perceive not wherein I transgresse the generall law of nature which is an affection of good true or seeming and if that which I affect by death bee truely a greater good wherein is the other stricter law of nature which is rectified reason violated SECT III. Another reason which prevailes much with me and delivers it from being against the Law of nature is this that in all ages in all places upon all occasions men of all conditions have affected it and inclin'd to doe it And as Gardan sayes it Mettall is planta sepulta and that a Mole is Animal sepultum So man as though he were Angelus sepultus labours to be discharged of his earthly Sepulchre his body And though this may be said of all other sinnes that men are propense to them and yet for all that frequency they are against nature that is rectifyed reason yet if this sinne were against particular Law of nature as they must hold which aggravate it by that circumstance and that so it wrought to the destruction of our species any otherwise then intemperate lust or surfer or incurring penall Lawes and such like doe it could not be so generall since being contrary to our sensitive nature it hath not the advantage of pleasure and delight to allure us withall which other sinnes have And when I frame to my selfe a Martyrologe of all which have perished by their own meanes for Religion Countrey Fame Love Ease Feare Shame I blush to see how naked of followers all vertues are in respect of this fortitude and that all Histories afford not so many examples either of cunning and subtile devises or of forcible and violent actions for the safeguard of life as for destroying Petronius Arbiter who served Nero a man of pleasure in the office of Master of his pleasures upon the first frowne went home and cut his Veines So present and immediate a step was it to him from full pleasure to such a death How subtilly and curiously Attilius Regulus destroyed himselfe Wo being of such integritie that he would never have lyed to save his life lyed to lose it falsely pleading that the Carthaginians had given him poyson and that within few dayes he should dye though he stayed at Rome Yet Codrus forcing of his death exceeded this because in that base disguise he was likely to perish without fame Herennius the Sicilian could endure to beat out his own braines against a post and as though he had owed thanks to that braine which had given him this devise of killing himselfe would not leave beating till he could see and salute it Comas who had been a Captaine of theeves when he came to the to ture of examination scorning all forraigne and accessorie helps to dye made his owne breath the instrument of his death by stopping and recluding it Annibal because if hee should be overtaken with extreame necessitie he would be beholden to none for life nor death dyed with poyson which he alwaies carryed in a ring As Demosthenes did with poyson carryed in a penne Aristarchus when he saw that 72 yeares nor the corrupt and malignant disease of being a severe Critique could weare him out sterved himselfe then Homer which had written a thousand things which no man else understood is said to have hanged himselfe because he understood not the Fishermens riddle Othryades who onely survived of 300 Champions appointed to end a quarrell between the Lacedemonians and Athenians when now the lives of all the 300 were in him as though it had been a new victory to kill them over again kill'd himselfe Democles whom a Greeke Tyrant would have forced to show that he could suffer any other heat scalded himselfe to death Pâ—…rtia Cato's daughter and Catulus Luctatius sought new conclusions and as Quintilian calls them Nova Sacramenta pereundi and dyed by swallowing burning coales Poore Terence because he lost his 108 translated Comedies drown'd himselfe And the Poet Labienus because his Satyricall Bookes were burned by Edict burnt himselfe too And Zeno before whom scarce any is preferr'd because he stumbled and hurt his finger against the ground interpreted that as a Summons from the earth and hang'd himselfe being then almost â—…oo yeares old For which act Diogenes Laertius proclaimes him to have been Mira falicitate vir qui incolumis integer sine Morbo excessit To cure himselfe of a quartane Portius Latro killed himselfe And Festus Domicians Minion onely to hide the deformity of a Ringworme in his face Hippionas the Poet rimed Bubalus the Painter to death with his Iambiques Macer bore well enough his being called into question for great faults but hanged himselfe when hee heard that Cicero would plead against him though the Roman condemnations at that time inflicted not so deep punishments And so Cessius Licinius to escape Cicero's judgement by choaking himselfe with a napkin had as
in Adams first Homicide in Paradise Sect. 4. 7 Of Tolets first and second Species by Precept and by Advise or Option 8 We may wish Malum poenae to our selves as the Eremite prayed to be possessed 9 That we may wish death for wearines of this life 10 It is sin to wish the evill were not evill that then we might wish it 11 Of wishing the Princes Death 12 In many opinions by contrary Religion a true King becomes a Tyrant 13 Why an oath of fidelity to the Pope binds no man 14 Who is a Tyrant by the declaration of the learned men of France 15 How Death may be wished by Calvins opinion 16 How we may wish death to another for our own advantage 17 Phil. Nerius consented that one who wished his own death might have his wish Sect. 5. 1 Of Tolets third Species of Homicide by permission which is Mors Negativa 2 Of standing mute at the Barre 3 Three Rules from Scotus Navar and Maldonate to guide us in these desertions of our selves 4 That I may suffer a Theif to kill me rather then kill him 5 Of Se defendendo in our Law 6 That I am not bound to escape from prison if I can Nor to eate rather then starve 7 For ends better then this life we may neglect this 8 That I may give my life for another 9 Chrysostomes opinion of Sarahs lie and her consent to Adultery And S. Augustines opinion of this and of that wife who prostituted her selfe to pay her husbands debts 10 That to give my life for another is not to preferre another before my selfe as Bonaventure and August say But to prefer vertue before life which is lawfull 11 For spirituall good it is without question 12 That I may give another that without which I cannot live 13 That I may lawfully wear out my self with fasting 14 That this in S. Hier. opinion is selfe-homicide 15 Of the Fryer whom Cassianus calls a Self-homicide for refusing bread from a â—…heife upon an indiscreet Vow 16 Of Christs fast 17 Of Philosophers inordinate fasts 18 Of the Devils threatning S. Francis for fasting 19 Examples of long fasts 20 Reasons effects and obligations to rigorous fastings Corollary of this Section of Desertion Sect. 6. 1 Of another Species of homicide which is not in Tolets division by Mutilation 2 Of Delivering ones selfe into bondage 3. By divers Cannons homicide and mutilation is the same fault 4 Of Calvins argument against Divorce upon this ground of Mutilation 5 The example of S. Mark cutting off his thumbe to escape Priesthood 6 In what cases it is clear that a man may maiâ—… himself Sect. 7. 1 Of Tolets fourth Species of Homicide by actual helping 2 Ardoynus reckons a flea amongst poysons because it would destroy 3 David condemned the Amalekite who said he had helped Saul to kill himselfe 4 Mariana the Iesuite is of opinion that a King which may be removed by poyson may not be put to take it by his owne hands though ignorantly for he doth then kiâ—… himself 5 That a malefactor unaccused may accuse himself 6 Of Sansovins relation of our custome at executions and withdrawing the pillow in desperate cases 7 Of breaking the leggs of men at executions and of breaking the halter 8 Of the forme of purgations used by Moses Law in cases of Iealousy 9 Of formes of Purgation called Uulgares 10 Charlemaine brought in a new forme of purgation 11 And Britius a Bishop being acquitted before extorted another purgation upon himselfe 12 Both kindes of Ordalium by water and fire in use here till King Johns time 13 In all these purgations and in that by Battaile the party himself assisted 14 Exumples of actuall helpers to their owne destruction in S. Dorothaeus doctrine 15 Of Ioseph of Arimathaea his drinking of poyson 16 Of S. Andrew and S. Lawrence 17 Casuists not cleere whether a condemned man may doe the last act to his death 18 But in cases without condemnation it is sub praecepto to Priests Curats to goe to infected houses Sect. 8. 1 Of Tolets last species of Homi-cide which is the act it selfe 2 How farre an erring conscience may justify this act 3 Of Pythagoras philosophicall conscience to dy rather then hurt a Beane or suffer his schollers to speak 4 Of the apparition to Hero a most devout Eremite by which he killed himself out of Cassianus 5 That the Devill sometime sollicites to good 6 That by Uasques his opinion it is not Idolatry to worship God in the devil 7 Rules given to distinguish evil spirits from God are all fallible 8 Good Angels sometimes move to that which is evill being ordinarily and morally accepted 9 As in mis-adoration by Vasques invincible ignorance excuses so it may in our cases 10 Of S. Augustines first reason against Donatus that we may save a mans life against his will 11 Of his second reasons which is want of examples of the faithfull And of S. Augustines assured escape if Donatists had produced Examples 12 Divorce in Rome on either part And in Jury on the womans part long without example 13 Saint Augustines Schollers in this point of examples 〈◊〉 stâ—…bborne as Aristotles for the inalterablenesse of the Heavens though the reason of both be ceased 14 Of the Martyr Apollonia who killed her selfe 15 Of answers in her excuse 16 Of the Martyr Pelagia who killed her selfe 17 Though her History bee very uncertaine yet the Church seems glad of any occasion to celebrate such a fact 18 Saint Augustines testimony of her 19 Saint Ambroses Meditation upon her 20 Eusebius his Oration incitatory imagined in the person of the Mother 21 Saint Augustines first of any doubting of their fact sought such shifts to defend it as it needed not 22 S. Augustines example hath drawne Pedraca a Spanish Casuist and many others to that shift of speciall Divine inspiration in such cases 23 And so sayes Peter Martyr of the Midwives and of Rahabs lye 24 To preserve the Seale of Confession a man may in some case be bound to doe the intire act of killing himselfe The Third Part which is of the Law of God Distinct. 1 Sect. 1. 1 An introduction ' to the handling of these places of Scripture 2 Why I forbeare to name them who cite these places of Scripture 3 If any oppose an answer why I intreat him to avoide bitternes 4 Why Clergy men which by Canons may fish and hunt yet may not hunt with dogs 5 Of Bezas answer to Ochius Polygamy Distinction 2. Sect. 1. 1 No place against this Self-homicide is produced out of the Iudiciall or Ceremoniall Law Sect. 2 1 Of the place Gen. 9. 5. I will require your blood 2 We are not bound to accept the interpretation of the Rabbins 3 Of Lyra and of Emmanuel Sâ both abounding in Hebraisms yet making no such note upon this place Sect. 3 1 Of the place Deâ—… 33. 39. I kill and I give life 2 Iurisdiction of Parents
Husbands Masters Magistrates must consist with this place 3 This place must be interpreted as the other places of Scripture which have the same words And from them being three no such sence can be extorted Sect. 4. 1 Of the place Iob 7. 1. vita militia 2 Why they cite this place according to the vulgate copy 3 Of Soldiers priviledges of absence by Law 4 Iobs scope is That as warre works to peace so heere we labour to death 5 Of Christs letter to King Abgarus Sect. 5. 1 Of another place in Iob 7. 15. Anima elegit suspendium 2 Why it was not lawfull to Iob to kill himself 3 His words seeme to shew some steps toward a purpose of Self-homicide 4 Of Sextus Sâ—…nensis and of Gregories exposition therof 5 How I differ from the Anabaptists who say that Iob despaired 6 S. Hierome and the Trent Councell incurre this errour of condemning all which a condemned man says 7 Uery holy and learned men impute a more dangerous despaire to Christ then I doe to Iob. Sect. 6. 1 Of the place Io. 2. 4. Skin for Skin c. Sect. 7. 1 Of the place Eccles. 30. 16. There is no riches above a sound body 2 This place is not of safety but of health Sect. 8. 1 Of the place Exod. 20. Thou shalt not kill 2 S. Augustine thinks this Law to concerne ones self more directly then another 3 This Law hath many exceptions 4 Laws of the first table are strictioris vinculi then of the second 5 A case wherein it is probable that a man must kill himself if the person be exemplar 6 As Laws against Day-theeves may be deduced from the Law of God authorizing Princes So may this from the commandement of preferring Gods glory 7 Whatsoever might have been done before this Law this Law forbids not Sect. 9. 1 Of the place Wisd. 1. 12. Seek not death Distinct. 3. Sect. 1. 1 Of the place Mat. 4. 6. Cast thy self downe 2 That Christ when it conduced to his owne onds did as much as the devill tempted him to in this place Sect. 2. 1. Of the place Acts 16. 17. Do thy self no harme 2 S. Paul knew Gods purpose of baptizing the Iaylour 3 For else saith Calvin he had frustrated Gods way of giving him an escape by the faylours death Sect. 3. 1 Of the place Rom. 3. 8. Do not evill for good 2 In what sence Paul forbids this 3 God always inflicts malum poenae by instruments 4 Induration it selfe is sometimes medicinall 5 We may inflict upon our selves one disease to remove another 6. In things evill in that sense as S. Paul takes the word bere Popes daily dispence 7 So doe the Civill Lawes 8 So doe the Cannons 9 So doth God occasion lesse sint to avoid greater 10 What any other may dispence withall in us in cases of extremity we may dispence with it our selves 11 Yet no dispensation changes the nature of the thing and therefore that particular thing was never evill 12 The Law it self which measures actions is neither good nor evill 13 Which Picus notes well comparing it to the firmament 14 What evill S. Paul forbids here and why 15 Nothing which is once evil can ever recover of that 16 These Acts were in Gods decree preserved from those stains of circumstances which make things evill So as Miracles were written in his book of Nature though not in our copy thereof and so as our Lady is said to be preserved from Originall sinne 17 Of that kind was Moses killing of the Egyptian 18 If this place of Paul be understood of all evill 19 Yet it must admit exceptions as well as the Decalogue it selfe 20 Otherwise that application which Bellarmine and others doe make of it will be intollerable Sect. 4. 1. Of divers places which call us Temples of God 2 The dead are still his Temples and Images 3 Heathâ—… Temples might be demolished yet the Soyle remained Sacred 4 S. Pauls reason holds in cases where we avile our bodies here we advance them 5 How we must understand that our body is not our own Sect. 5. 1. Of the place Eph. 4. 15. One body with Christ. 2 This place gives Arguments to all which spare not themselves for releif of others and therefore cannot serve the contrary purpose Sect. 6. 1. Of the place Eph. 5. No man hates his own fâ—…esh 2 How Marlorate expounds this Hate Distinct. 4. Sect. 1. 1 Of the places of scripture on the other part 2 We may but our Adversaries may not make use of Examples To which the answer of Martyr and Lavatâ—…r is weake 3 The Nature Degrees and Effects of Charity 4 S. Augustines description of Her Of her highest perfection beyond that which Lombard observed out of Aug. 5 He wholoves God with all his heart may love him more 6 Any suffering in Charity hath infallibly the grace of God by Aquin. Sect. 2. 1. Of the place 1 Cor. 13. 4. Though I give my Body 2. By this it was in common reputation a high degree of perfection to die so and Charity made it acceptable 3 S. Paul speaks of a thing which might lawfully be done for such are all his gradations in this Argument 4 Tongues of Angels in what sense in this place 5 Speech in the Asse understandings of prophesies in Iudas or miraculous faith make not the possessour the better 6 How I differ from the Donatists arguing from this place that in charity there Self-Homicides were alwayes lawfull 7 To give my body is more then to let it be taken 8 How Niccphorus the Martyr gave his Body in Sapritius his roome who recanted 9 There may be some case that a man who is bound to give his body cannot doe it otherwise then by self-homicide Sect. 3. 1. Of the place Joh. 10. 11. Joh. 15. 13. The good Shepheard 2 That a man is not bound to purge himself if anothers crime be imputed to him Sect. 4. 1 Of the place Ioh. 13. 37. I will lay down my life 2 Peters readines was naturall Pauls deliborate Sect. 5. 1. Of the place Ioh. 10. 15. Of Christs example 2 Why Christ spoke this in the present time 3 Of the abundant charity of Christ. 4 Of his speech going to Emmaus 5 Of his Apparition to S. Charles 6 Of the Revelation to S. Brigid 7 Of his mothers charity 8 That none could take away Christs soule 9 His owne will the onely cause of his dying so soon by S. Augustine 10 And by Aquinas because he had still all his strength 11 And by Marlorate because he bowed his head and it fell not as ours do in death 12 In what sense it is true that the Iewes put him to Death 13 Of Aquinas opinion and of Silvesters opinion of Aquinas 14 Christ was so the cause of his death as he is of his wetting which might and doth not shut the window when it rains 15 Who imitated Christ in this actuall emission of the soul.
16 Upon what Reasons this manner of dying in Christ is called Heroique and by like Epithets 17 Christ is said to have done herein as Saul and Appollonia and such Sect. 6. 1 Of the places Ioh. 12. 25. Luc. 14. 26. Of Hating this life 2. Iesuits apply particularly this Hate 3. If the place in the Ephes. No man hateth his flesh be against self-homicide this place must by the same reason be for it 4 S. Augustine denying that this place justifies the Donatists excludes not all cases Sect. 7. Of the place 1 Ioh. 3. 16. We ought to lay down our lives c. 2 All these places direct us to doe it so as Christ did it unconstrained Sect. 8. 1. Of the place Phil. 1. 23. Cupio dissolvi 2. Of S. Pauls gradations to this wish and of his correcting of it Sect. 9. 1 Of the place Gal. 4. 15. You would have plucked out your own eyes 2 This was more then vitam profundere by Calvin Sect. 10. 1. Of the place Rom. 9. 3. Anathema 2 That he wished herein Damnation 3 That he considered not his Election at that time Sect. 11. Of the place Exod. 32. 32. Dele me de libro 2 That this imprecation was not onely to be blotted out of the History of the Scripture as some say 3 It was stranger that Christ should admit that which might seeme a slip downward when he wisht an escape from death then that Moses should have such an exaltation upward as to save his Nation by perishing yet both without inordinatenesse 4 How by Paulinus a just man may safely say to God Dele me Distinct. 5. Sect. 1. 1 Of Examples in Scripture 2 The phrase of Scripture never imputes this Act to any as a sinne when it relates the History 3 Irenaeus forbids man to accuse where God doth not 4 Beza his answer to Ochius reason that some Patriarchs lived in Polygamy reaches not home to our case 5 For it is not evident by any other place of Scripture that this is sinne and here many examples conâ—…ur Sect. 2. 1 Examples of Acts which were not fully selfe-homicides but approaches 2 Of the Prophet who punished him that would not strike him 3. That when God doth especially invite men to such violence he says so plainly And therefore such particular invitations may not be presumed where they are not expressed Sect. 3. 1 Of Jonas 2 Why S. Hierome calls only Jonas of all the Prophets holy Sect. 4. 1 Of Samson 2 The Church celebrates him as a Martyr 3 Paulinus wishes such a death as Samsons 4 They which deny that he meant to kill himself are confuted by the text 5 They which say he intended not his owne death principally say the same as we doe 6 That S. Augustines answer to this fact that it was by speciall instinct hath no ground in the history 7 Of Sayr his reason in confirmation of Augustine That Samson prayed 8 Of Pedraca his reason that it was therefore the work of God because God effected it so as it was desired 9 That he had as much reason and as much authority to kill himselfe as to kill the Philistims And that was only the glory of God 10 That in this manner of dying beâ—… was a type of Christ. Sect. 5. 1 Of Saul 2 Whether the Amalekite did helpe to kill Saul Whether Saul be saved or no. 3 In what cases the Iewes and Lyra confesse that a man may kill himselfe 4 Lyra's reasons why Saul is to be presumed to have dyed well 5 Burgensis reason to the contrary That if Saul were excusable the Amalekite was so too is of no force 5 Of Sauls Armour-bearer Sect. 6. 1 Of Achitophel 2 He set his house in order and he was buried Sect. 7. 1 Of Judas 2 He dyed not by hanging in the opinion of Euthymius Occumenius Papias S. Johns disciple and Theophilact 3 By what meanes many places of Scripture have been generally otherwise accepted then the text enforceth 4 Judas not accused of this in the story nor in the two Propheticall Psalmes of him 5 Origens opinion of his repentance 6 Calvin acknowledgeth all degrees of Repentance which the Romane Church requires to Salvation to have been in Judas 7 Petilians opinion that Judas was a Martyr 8 His Act had some degrees of Iustice by S. August Sect. 8. 1 Of Eleazar 2 All confesse that it was an Act of vertue 3 His destruction was certaine to him 4 He did as much to his owne death as Samson 5 The reasons of thus Act alleadged in the Text are Morall 6 Saint Ambrose extols this by many concurrences 7. Cajetans reason for justification thereof is appâ—…able to very many other cases of Selfe-homicide Sect. 9. 1 Of Rasis 2 His reasons in the Text Morall 3 Whether it be Pusillanimity as Aristotle August and Aquinas urge 4 Saint Augustine confesseth that in Cleombrotus it was greatnesse of minde 5 How much great Examples governe 6 That it was reputed Cowardlinesse in Antisthenes being extremely sicke not to kill himselfe 7 Vpon what reasons Lyra excuses this and like actions 8 Burgensis his reason confesseth that there might have beene just causes for this act Conclusion 1 Why Jrefrained discourse of destiny herein 2 Man made of shadow and the Devill of fire by the Alcoran 3 Our adversaries reasons contradict one another 4 No precapt given of loving our selves 5 Encouragemens to contempt of death 6 Why I abstaine from particular directions 7 Laws forbid ordinary men to oure by extraordinary meanes yet Kings oâ—… England Fra. and Spaine doe it 8 As Hierom Origen Chrysost. and Cassianus are excused for following Plato in toleration of a ly because the church had not then pronounced so may it be in this THE PREFACE Declaring the Reasons the Purpose the way and the end of the AVIHOR BEZA A man as eminent and illustrious in the full glory and Noone of Learning as others were in the dawning and Morning when any the least sparkle was notorious confesseth of himself that only for the anguish of a Scurffe which over-ranne his head he had once drown'd himselfe from the Millers bridge in Paris if his Uncle by chance had not then come that way I have often such a sickely inclination And whether it be because I had my first breeding and conversation with men of a suppressed and afflicted Religion accustomed to the despite of death and hungry of an imagin'd Martyrdome Or that the common Enemie â—…nd that doore worst locked against him in mee Or that there bee a perplexitie and flexibility in the doctrine it selfe Or because my Conscience ever assures me that no rebellious grudging at Gods gifts nor other sinfull concurrence accompanies these thoughts in me or that a brave scorn or that a faint cowardlinesse beget it whensoever any affliction assailes me mee thinks I have the keyes of my prison in mine owne hand and no remedy presents it selfe so soone to my heart as mine own sword
to himselfe denies necessarie things or exposes himselfe inordinatly to such dangers as men use not to escape kills himselfe He that is as sure that this Medicine will recover him as that this Poyson will destroy him is as guilty if he forbeare the Physicke as if he swallow the Poyson For what is this lesse then to attend the ruine of a house or inundation of a streame or incursion of mad beasts They which compare Omissions and Committings require no more to make them equall but that we omit something which we could and should doe SECT III. First therefore in all Lawes in such faults as are greatest either in their owne nature or in an irremediablenesse when they are done all approaches yea the very first step to them hath the same guiltinesse and is under the same punishment as the fault it selfe As in Treason and Heresie the first consent is the absolute fault And we have an example of a Woman bâ—…rnt for petie Tâ—…eason for compassing the death of her husband though it were not effected Homicide is one of those crying sins and hath ever beene reckoned in Atrocibus For though the Athenians removed all Dracoes Lawes by disuse for their extreame severity yet they retained those against Homicide And this Homicide saies Tolet may bee done five wayes by 1. Commandement by 2. Advise by 3. Permission by 4. Hâ—…lpe or by the fact it selfe And in the fiâ—…st and worst Homicide committed in Paradise in which were employed all the persons in the world which were able to 〈◊〉 to evill when though there was but one man all the Millions which have been and shall be were massacred at once and himselfe too as many of these kindes of Homiciâ—…es were found as was possible in so few persons For as one notes The Serpent counsailed the Woman helped and Adam perpetrated and wee â—…ay safely and reverently say God permitted If then every one of these be a kind of Homicide no approach towards it can be lawfull if any bee lawfull that is not Homicide Let us therefore consider how farre and in how many of these waies Selfe-homicide may bee allowable SECT IIII. First therefore though it be the common received opinion Mandatorem Manâ—…atarium eidem poenae subjici Yet by the way of Precâ—…pt we cannot properly work upon our selvâ—…s because in this act the same partie must be agent and patient and instrument Nor very properly by the second way of advise yet so neere we may come to the nature of it that after discourse we may adviseâ—…ly chuse one part anâ—… refuse the other for Cujus est velle ejus est nolle and so we may wâ—…sh to our selves that which is naturally evill I meane Malum poenae as the Eremite by earnest prayer obtained of God that he might be possessed of the Devill for certaine moneths because he found in himselfe an inclination to pride and securitie Thus certainely in some cases we may without sinne wish Death and that not onely for enjoying the sight of God for so sayes a holy man Pro visione Dei millies corpus nostrum morti dare optamus but even to be so delivered from the encumbrances of this life for so it hath rationem boni as Peter Martyr argues and then Nove meliorem est Corruptio pâ—…imae habitudinis This therefore we may wish and yet it is so farre from being lawfull to wish any thing which were evill that It is sinne to wish that any thing which is naturally evill were not so that so wee might then wish it when it were discharged of that naturall illnesse Death it selfe therefore is not evill nor is it evill to wish it is it evill to further that with more actuall helpe which we may lawfully wish to be done These two extreme Religions which seem to avile secular Magistrâ—…cie and subject Monarchs either to an Oâ—…dinarie or else to a Consistorie accept willingly this saying Curse not the King no not in thy heart That is wish not ill to him Nor have I observed that the Authors of either distemper have in their Books allowed that the Subject might wish the death of the Prince but in the same cases where he might contribute his actuall helpe For both Papists and Puritanes teaching that a lawfull King may become a tyrant which to my understanding cannot consist with the forme and right of an inheritable Monarchie Yet one who pretends to go the middle way and that is truely in this case Via Regia sayes That as well wee as the Romanists esteeme a King of another Religion a Tyrant And That it is impossible to make such a King but he must be a Tyrant in the opinion of one side And for his own opinion delivers That no man can be bound by oath of fidelity to the Pope upon this reason because he is not indeed Vicarius Dei as he presumed him and swore him to be And conformably to this that book whose title and scope is of the foundation of matter of State in France and as it pretends in all Christendome when after it hath enraged Subjects against Tyrants it comes to declare what a Tyrant is exemplifies in the King of Spaine and upon such reasons as any Malignitie equall to that Author may cast upon what Prince it will And lastly who ever shall well compare l Beccariaes booke with Bezaes if that other be Bezaes though they differ Diametrally in many things yet by their collision and beating together arise abundantly sparkes of this pestilent Doctrine That as Tranquillity was so now Religion is the reason why wee admit Kings and why they are none when they neglect Religion upon these Doctrines I say it is inferred That it is lawfull to wish the death of a Tyrant or of a favourer of Heretiques though he dye in mortall sinne To wish therefore and to doe are naturally the same fault and yet though it be a sinne to offer my selfe even to Martyrdome only for wearinesse of life Or to wish death simply for Impaciencie Anger Shame Povertie or Misfortune yea to wish heaven meerely for mine owne happinesse yet certainely S. Paul had some allowable reasons to desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. And Calvine by telling us upon what reason and to what end he wished this instructs us how we may wish the same He sayes Paul desired not death for deaths sake for that were against the sense of Nature but he wished it to be with Christ. Now besides that by his leave we desire many things which are against the sense of Nature to grant that we may wish death to be in heaven though Peter Martyr before alledged be of the same perswasion is a larger scope and somewhat more dangerous and slippery a graunt then wee urge towards
appeare that flesh would save the Patients life hee may not eate it And by the Apostolicall constitutions which Turrianus extols so much that by them he confutes much of the Reformed Churches doctrine A man must fast to death rather then receive any meat from an Excommunicate person And in another Chapter If any thing be in a case of extreame necessity accepted from such a person it may bee bestowed in full that so their Almes may be burnt and consumed to ashes but not in meate to nourish our selves withall So to determine this Section of Desertion since we may wayve our defence which Law gives by putting our selves upon a Jurie and which Nature gives to repell force with force since I may without slying or eating when I have meanes attend an Executioner or Famine since I may offer my life even for anothers temporall good since I must doe it for his Spirituall since I may give another my board in a Shipwracke and so drowne since I may hasten my arrivall to heaven by consuming penances it is a wayward and unnoble stubbornesse in argument to say still I must not kill my selfe but I may let my selfe dye since of Affirmations and Denyals of Omissions and Committings of Enjoyâ—…ing and Prohâ—…bitory Commands ever the one implies and enwraps the other And if the matter shall bee resolved and governed only by an outward act and ever by that if I forbeare to swimme in a river and so perish because there is no act I shall not be guilty and I shall bee guilty if I discharge a Pistoll upon my selfe which I knew not to be charged nor intended harme because there is an act Of which latter opinion Mariana the Jesuite seemes to be as we shall have occasion to note in the next Member and species of Homitide which is Assistance SECT VI. But before we come to that we must though it be not nor naturally could be delivered in Tolets Division consider another species of Homicide which is Mutilation or Mayming For though in Civill Courts it be not subject to like penaltie yet if it bee accompanied with the same Malignitie it is in conscience the same sinne especially towards our selves because it violates the same reason which is that none may usurpe upon the bodie over which he hath no Dominion Upon which reason it is also unlawfull for us to deliver our selves into bondage which I mention here because it ariseth from the same ground and I am loath to afford it a particular Section Yet holy Paulinus a Confessor and Bishop of Nola then whom I find no man celebrated with more fame of sanctitie and integrity to redeeme a Widowes Sonne delivered himselfe as a a slave to the Vandals and was exported from Italy to Afrique and this as I thinke when hee was necessary to that place being then there Bishop for that was but five yeares before his death But to returne to Mutilation it is cleare by the Canons that towards irregularity it works as much and amounts as farre to have maymed as to have killed And in a Councell at London Anno 1075 one Canon forbids a Clergy man to bee present at judgement of death or of Mutilation And amongst the Apostles Canons this is one He that gelds himselfe cannot be a Clerke because he is an Homicide of himselfe and an enemy to Gods creature And to geld is to maime in our Law So in the next Canon it is said A Clerk which gelds himselfe must be deposed Quia homicida sui And a Lay-man must for that fault be excommunicated three yeares quia vitae suae posuit insidias It was therefore esteemed equivalent to killing And Calvine esteemed it so hainous that he builds his Argument against Divorce upon this ground God made them one Body and it is in no case lawfull for a man to teare his owne body But if this be so lawfull as Divorces are lawfull certainly this peremptorie sentence against it must admit some modification Without doubt besides the examples of holy men who have done it to disable themselves from taking the burden of Priesthood of which Saint Marke the Evangelist was one who to that end cut off his thombe And besides that as our Saviour said Many should geld themselves for the Kingdome of heaven So Athenagoras 50 yeares after Christ saies that many did practise it It is doubted by none But that a man unjustly detained to a certaine execution may cut off that limbe by which he is tyed if he have no other way to escape or being encompassed with doggs he may cut off a hand and cast it to them to entertaine them while he escape SECT VII The last species of Homicide on this side the last act is an actuall helping and concurrence to it And every step and degree conducing purposely to that end is as justly by Judges of Consciences called Homicide as Ardoinus recknoning up all poysons which have a naturall malignity and affection to destroy mans body forbeares not a Flea though it never kill because it endeavours it and doth all the hurt it can and he is diligent in assigning preservatives and restoratives against it And so to that Amalekite which told David he helped Saul to dy when hee found him too weake to pierce himselfe David pronounced judgement of death for saith hee thine owne mouth hath confessed That thou hast kill'd the Lords Anointed Certainely Mariana the Jesuite whom I named before esteemes this actuall concurrence to ones death as heavy as the act it selfe yea as it seemes though the party bee ignorant thereof For after hee concluded how an Hereticall King may be poisoned he is diligent in this prescription That the King bee not constrained to take the poyson himselfe but that some other may administer it to him And that therefore it be prepared and conveied in some other way then meate or drinke because else saith he either willingly or ignorantly he shall kill himselfe So that hee provides that that King who must dye under the sinnes of Tyranny and Heresie must yet be defended from concurring to his owne death though ignorantly as though this were a greater sinne Since therefore this hastning of our death by such an act is the same as the intire Selfe-homicide let us consider how farâ—…e irreproved Custome and example and Law doth either allow or command it For that it is allowable it seemes to me some proofe That before any man accuses him a Malefactor may go and declare his fault to the Iudge Though amongst Italian relations that in Sansovine concerning England have many marks and impressions of malice yet of that custome which hee falsely sayes to bee observed here That men condemned to be hanged are ever accompanied to their Executions by all their kinred who then hang at their feet
memb 3. q 4. 1 An induction to the handlinge of these places of scripture a Prov. 6. b Plin l. 2 cap 31. c 2. Pet. 1 20. d Artemidorus de somâ—… Intâ—…rp l 1. cap 2. 2. Why I forbeare to name them who cite these places of Scripture 3. If any oppose an answer what I intreat of him e Marâ—… 1. 17. 4. Why Clergy men may fish or hunt but not with doggs f Ex Dist. 86. Esau. 5. Of Beza's answer to Ochius Polygamy 1. No place offered out of Iudiciall nor Ceremoniall law Of the place in Gen. 9. 5. 2. We are not bound to accept the interpretations of the Rabbins a Buxdorfius Synag Iudaica ex Rahbi Isaac cap 1. fol. 62. b Lyra in hunc locum 3. Of Lyra and of Sâ his Hebraismes c Ema Sâ Not in univers Script Of the place in Deuter. 33. 39. 4. Iurisdiction of Parents Husbands Masters and Magistrates must consist with this place 5. This place must be interpreted as the other places of Scripture which have the same word from which no conclusion can be wrested against this fact a 1. Sam 2. 6. b Tob 13. 2. c Sap 16. 13. 1. Of the place of Iob 7. 1. 2. Why they cite this place In Latine a Digest li 22. tit 6. le 9. b L. 4. tit 6. leg 44. 3. Of souldiers priviledges of absence by law c Supra 4 Iobs scope is that as war works to peace So here we only labour to Death d Euseb. l. 1. cap. 13. 5. Of Christs letter to King Abgarus 1. Of the place Iob 7. 15. 2. Why this was not lawfull to Job 3 His words seeme to sâ—…ew some steps toward a purpose of Selfe-homicide a Sex Sen Bibliot Sâ—…nst lib 8. Heres 10. 4 Sex Senâ—… and Gregories exposition thereof b Greg. Mor l 4. cap. 6. Gal 2. 〈◊〉 Wherin I differ from the Anabapt who affirme that Iob despaired 6. S. Hierome and the Trent Councell erre in condemning all which a condemned man saith 7. Of them which impute despayre unto Christ. 1. Of the place Iob. 2. 4. 1. Of the place Eccl. 20. 16. 2. This place is not of safety but of health 1. Of the place Exodus 20. a 23. q 5. Si non licet 2. S. August thinks this law to concerne ones self more directly then another 3. This law hath many exceptions 〈◊〉 Lawes of the first Table are stricâ—…ioris vincull then of the latoâ—… 5. A case wherin it is probable that a man must kill himself a Acatius de privil l. c. 3. b Navr Manuâ—…l cap. 15. n. 2. c Supra 6 As Lawes against Day-theeves may be deduced from the Law of God authorizing Princes so may this from the Commandement of preferring Gods glory 7 Whatsoever might have been done before the Law this Law forbids not 1 Of the place Sap. 1. 12. Dâ—…ut 4. 24. 1. Of the place Matt. 4. 6. 2. Christ where it conduced to his owne ends did as much as the Devill did tempt him to in this place 1. Of the place Acts 16. 17. 2. S. Paul knew Gods purpose of baptising the keeper 3. Els saith Caluin he had frustrated Gods way to give him an escape by the keepers death 1. Of the place Rom. 3. 8. 2. How Paul forbids evil to be done for good 3. God always inflicteth Malum poenae by Instruments 4. Induration it self is sometime medicinall a Aqui. 12. q. 79. ar 4. con b Hippocrat Aâ—…bor l. 2. 38. 5. Wee may correct in our selves one disease by another 6. In things evill in such sence as Paul taketh them here Popes dayly doe dispence c Dist. 34. lector gloss d Bodinâ—… Daemon l. c5 e Windek de consens et dissens leg et Can. ca. 11. f Cod. tit de malef l. 4. §. â—…rum 7. So doe the Civill Laws g Paracel l. de morb ca l. h Dist. 14. cap. Duo mala Dist. ead cap. Nerui k Nav. Man c. 17. num 263. 8 So do Canons l Bellar. de Amis grat stat peccat l. 2 c. 3. ex Hâ—… de vict Tho. 9 So doth God occasion lesse sin to avoid greater 9. What any other may dispence withall in us in extremity we may dispence within our selves Supra 10. Yet noe such dispensation changeth the nature of things therefore that particular was never naturally evill 11. The Law it self is neither good nor evill 12. As Picus notes comparing it to the firmament m Heptapl l. 7. proem n Ezech. 20. 25. 13. What evill Paâ—…l forbids and why Supra 14. Nothing which is once evill can ever recover of that Supra 15. Three acts were in God's decree preserued from those staines which make things evill so as miracles were written in his book of nature though not in our copy and so as our Lady is said to be preseru'd from originall sinne o Exod. 1. 12. 16. Such was Moses killing the Egyptian 17. If this place be taken of all kind of evill it must admit exception as well as the Decalogu 18. Otherwise the application which Bellarm. and others make of it will be intollerable p De eul sanct l. 4. cap. 7. Of the places 2 Cor. 6. 16. 1 Cor. 〈◊〉 16. 6. 16. 19 The dead are still his Temples and Images Silvius Com ad leges 20 Heathens teâ—…ples might be demolished yet the soile remain sacred 21 Pauls reason is in Cases where we avile our selves here wee advance our selves 22 That our body is not our own how it is to be understood here in Paul a Vers. 19. b Vers. 20. Of the place Ephes. 4. 15. 16 a Cap. 5. v. 〈◊〉 2 This place gives arguments to all which spare not themselves for reliefe of others 1. Of the place Epb. 5. a Marlor in hunc locum 2. How Marlor expounds this hate 1. Of places of scriptures on the other part 2. We may but our adversaries may not make use of examples to which the answer of Martyr and Lavater is weake 3. The Nature degrees and effects of Charity 4. S. August pourtraite of her a De natura et gratia cap. ult 5. Of her highest perfection beyond that which P. Lombard obsorved out of Aug. b Lomb. l. 3. Dist. 3. c Iâ—… epist. â—…tract 5. d Phil. 1. 23 e Serarius triheresi l. 1. ca. 8. f Deut. 6. 5. g Mat. 5. 6. He who loves God with all his heart may love him more h Aqui. 22. q. 124. ar 3. i Aqui. 22. q. 136. ar 3. 7. Any suffering in charity hath Infalibly the grace of God By Aquin. 1. Of the place 1 Cor. 13. 4. 2. By this in common reputation that was a degree of perfection to dye so And charity made it acceptable 3. Paul speaks of a thing which might lawfully be done for such are all his gradations in this argument 4. Tongues of Angels in what sence in this place Calvin 5. Speech in the Asse understanding of mysteries in Iudas miraculous faith make not