friendly Beings that will in the least offer to close and comply with them Observe the Brutal conduct though it wants the contrivance of a more substantial judgment yet it has so much of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which a Philosopher renders Virtutum Simulachra some imperfect draughts of the Moral Nature whereby they are well enough furnished in their Wilder Politicks to be very tender of their own safety Shew me a Being if you can that would not fain be centering it self in the bosom of happiness and doing all that is possible to continue and amplifie its existence And though we can't suppose these Irrationals so unblemished amidst their conversation of sense as if they dressed themselves by the Glass of a Law yet they are so faithful to their Inclinations and careful to preserve the Seal of their Nature unbroken that they rarely miscarry upon this account If you regard Inanimates take a stone that is artificially lodged upon the top of a Tower and you sha'nt find it inclined to dismount it self though indeed there is a great deal of reason for it till it be loosened by some external violence and then it must of necessity drop towards the Center This is a thing methings as improper to conceive as for a Brute to become a felo de se So that every Being is kind and courteous to it self to this degree as not to abandon what is essential to its own conservation but takes all the care and delight imaginable to carry on its own welfare and complacency SECT II. Some account of the Natural Law with respect to the present Case IN every Rational mind then there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they call it a Sacred kind of Manuscript Engraven by the finger of the Deity 'T was the Suprem'st Opifex that gave right Reason in Man its first Imprimatur and an Eternal Contriver that carved it on the fair Table of an Immortal mind Now for what end shall we imagin there was so much care taken about it we can't suppose it to be fixed there as an empty Cypher but rather as some hidden Monitor which now and then steps up in the name of Authority and warns men to shun such irregular and undue courses as bear an implacable enmity towards their Natures and to advise them to embrace such comely Objects as shall enable the more exalted Power In a word 't is all for advancing the Rational make to the just perfection of its Being 'T was by virtue of this that the great Philosopher came to discern the Immortal Seal that was stamped on his very Being and at last throughly understood by the right trimming and improvement of his Intellectual Lamp that he must once as himself confest be accountable for his Being and all its operations to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he called him This is but a fair and judicious construction of things for we can't otherwise imagin but that as this engraved Law was dispensed to every man according to the Oeconomy of Infinite Wisdom so every violation of this Law is not only prejudicial to the Being of man but a virtual contempt of the Supreme Legislator who having all Wisdom Love and Goodness contempered in his nature was moved hereby to oblige mankind to be studious and provident of its own happiness So much then as a man revolts from the dictates of right Reason and is inobsequious to this implanted Law to so much misery and animadversion does he justly expose himself And the very rays of Light within will reflect on him such a discovery that a Being essentially depending on another must certainly by responsible to it and without all question censured for the breach of so clear and excellent a constitution And as for the Supreme Judge the measure of his proceedings may be collected from the harmony of his temper who is so just that he cannot and so good that he will not inflict his censures beyond the merits of the Crime Now all this being so far granted we are yet farther to suppose that this Natural Light which all hold to be the glitterings of some uncreated â—ay on the Immortal Mind is still making fresh discoveries but especially recommends that which mostly tends to the safety and conservation of the Rational compound for this grand affair the first Author designed Right Reason when he took the primest and most select part of it and Enacted it into a Law And this is so much the aim and tendency of it that no Created Power can dispense or divert it to any other end For a Law thus founded remains irreversible and none can annul it but that very Legislative power who first framed it into Being A Law that has so Divine an Original can by no means be dispensed withal unless by a power equal to the same or superior to that which made the Sanction Indeed this Supreme Power we confess may as he thinks fit alter but will never totally extinguish the Natural Law For why as Divines hold 't is that Constitution by which the Heathen world shall be arraigned and censured at the General Audit Now this Natural Law of which we are speaking is of that Universal extent both in respect of time and place that no person could or ever can plead an exemption from the strict obligation of it I desire no better Author than Cicero to confirm the truth of this Assertition Legi naturali nec propagari nec derogari fas est Nec veró aut per Senatum aut per populum solvi hâc Lege possumus Non erat alia Roma alia Athenis alia nunc alia post hac sed omnes gentes omni tempore una lex sempiterna immutabilis continebit Cui qui non parebit ipse se fugiet naturam hominis aspernabitur Here is a clear and forcible intimation that no person living can be excused from the dictates of this Law unless he will suffer himself to be as 't were banished from his own essence and live disjointed from humanity it self He further says which is a most convincing thing to all that will contemplate That this Law is sufficient to carry on great Exploits were there no other Nec si regnante Tarquinio nulla erat scripta Lex de stupris c. Suppose there were no positive Law for the present to check the unruly Violence of a Tarquin yet let him consider that Virgin-law of Nature which he hath ravished and deflower'd what beamings of the Eternal Light enough to revive a modest Lucretia he hath quenched and so strike a terror into the heart of so licentious a Prince Now with respect to the present Instance were there no such Regal Order as this erected in the Empire of Man did you spring into being like one of Natures productions or like some artificial Automaton had been the principle of your own Motion Or had you come hither in that manner for maintaining of
a covetous Wretch for a Company of them to march about each with his Basket in his hand acting the part of Beggers and withal mentioning the Person whom they were minded to deride as in the Case of Gessius Florus Jos Bell. Jud. l. 2. whereby they signified to the World that such a Person was as miserable as the Beggar that had nothing And if I add ten times more I think I may have have those of my side to say I do not err in the Computation But not to run too far into this most necessary Digression Suppose Mens circustances were something narrow and their present Fortunes were circumscribed with a closer pressure then ordinary Poverty they say is like a Girdle who tho it may for a time pinch the Body with an uneasy Tincture yet 't will keep the Garments from falling into loosness and disorder There is a sort of Generosity that is capable of being heightened and improved by Calamity which by a patient Toleration will in time pass into an invincible fortitude Look into the humble Cell where you may see noble Poverty and Content stand hand in hand and joyfully saluting all that will enter where lives one as gay and cheary as free and unconfin'd as the very Air in which he breathes Here is one that retires into the sweetness of himself and scorns what can threaten his Content He can smile at yonder Cloud that 's ready to launch in Thunder and Storm He can deride the sullen Attacks of a viler State Look how unbroken is his Sleep how serene his Breast how bright his Day and glorious as the breaking East But to proceed If Discontent be the common Incentive why Men are provoked to commit that Barbarity on themselves which even Nature abhors then there can be no Apology for it For 't is a Deformity of our own making 't is a Brat of our own hellish Darkness and so cruel an Off-spring that 't will devour the very Parent that nurs'd it For I am apt to think that the greatest Hell is of our own creating and that this dark State cannot so well be defind by any thing without as by something within us And 't is as great a Torment as can be thought on to be stung by those fiery Snakes that are bred within the Caverns of a foul Mind And further I make no question those streams of Brimstone ordered for the damned hereafter are rather the Exudations of their own corrupt Nature than any thing else and they may suffer a greater Torture from themselves than from any thing that can be externally offered Hence 't is that many are so loath in sese descendere Nemo the Poet concludes only for fear of being poysoned with those impure Steams that do reak from the black Gulf of themselves Out of this fuming fit ariseth all manner of trembling and despair and like those clammy Vapours springing from the earthy Globe whose weight not permitting them to rise to any considerable height do spread themselves about the Circumference of that Body where they were first generated and do continually pester it with Thunder and Tempest Now 't is only when we strive to cleanse and garnish those Caves 't is only when we do our best to ascend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to rise as 't were out of the Dungeon of the Body that we feel our selves in a clear Air in a Region every way calm and serene And then will those black Affections of despair and anguish vanish away and those clear and bright ones of Love Joy and Tranquility break forth in their full strength and shine in the Glories of their own native Lustre He that has an ill Conscience needs no angry Cherub with a flaming Lance. He has an armed Giant already that stands raging and ready to devour And tho we could suppose never so mild a Season without us things never so sweet and pacate yet all would avail nothing when there is a burning Vesuvius continually vomiting out Flames and Horror within A Man that is of a quiet and even Disposition and has all things so well shaped within him as not to be startled at the Limnings of darker Fancy 't is he certainly that lives nobly and happily and constantly enjoys a clear Heaven in the compass of his own mind When the Sea of this World is most rough and tempestuous about him he can ride safely at Anchor within the calm Haven of himself he can look about him and with an indifferent glance behold either the Smiles or the Frowns of Fortune Now that this might not be supposed to be a needless step from the present purpose all that I contend for is that no Man of a calm regular frame can be driven on so absurd a thing as Self-Murder an injury to Life and Nature a thing as loathsom in the thought as 't is dreadful in the Execution If he be I can allow it no better Title than that of a sober Studied-madness And as for that Studious Youngster whom Scultetus remembers in his Annals from good Authority to be found hang'd in his Study supposed by the direction of his Finger on the sacred Text to be driven thereto by the terror of the Predestinarian Opinion were it his own desperate act the proper Causes of Despair in this case are to be sifted such as weakness of Spirit violence of Passion c. And 't is Dr. Taylor 's Observation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where there is a littleness of Heart there is also a defect of Hope and an extreme forwardness to Sorrow and Suspicion Certainly they were no other than Heathens that were so far from thinking it unlawful that in some Cases as that of Country Friends bodily Pressure c. they held it to be their Duty to kill themselves And how they could be justified in the attempt tho they had no other Philosophy but that of Nature to direct them we can't find for in that the Wiser among them did oppose all Violence of this kind and were often disputing that 't was but a poor Specimen of Valour if they could not encounter a little trouble and that we were placed in this world as Soldiers by their General each man at his Post and none to move without order and that self-violence was a breach not only to our own persons but the Kingdom or Commonwealth of which we were members In that the Sagest amongst them pleaded in this manner 't was enough to baffle all their pretences to silence all that ever had a mind to plead for it and to argue them of extreme weakness and inconsideration in the fact And now we are to imagine that such deficiencies as these will be so far from being justifiable that right Reason will never be put to father all those pitiful abortions that do spring from the womb of passion and mistake And think if a man has the judgment to determine about the Contingencies of this present life he need not
hand was as 't were a stranger to both Joseph de Bell. Jud. Lib. 3. Cap. 14. The shame and ignominy then to which they generally exposed such a one does sufficiently testifie their judgment of so notorious a fact And indeed considering the Obligations the Self-murderer breaks through the quality of the fact c. how can we suppose them to be less rigorous in making their resentment of it as Exemplary as may be Here is an irreparable breach made in humane Society here is an unnatural violation of the Law of Self-charity when we can't otherwise suppose but that this is a thing which ought first to begin at our selves and that we are under higher obligations to preserve our own lives than the lives of others and more obliged not to deface that Divine Image upon our selves than upon any other of mankind Here is an abuse of that Right of Nature which is defined to be a liberty that each man hath to use his power not in order to his destruction but the contrary For this were really to infringe the Law of Nature and Reason to the breach of which no Rational man will ever pretend to any right And if once broken whether out of error passion or surprise nothing can be pleaded in justification or excuse for this seems a very plausible determination that seeing Self-preservation is the great Law of Nature and Reason as we have intimated above to act that which is really and truly contrary to this Law must needs be a breach thereof though the man so acting may be so far in an error as not to think the action to be so destructive to the end he aims at as 't is for as in Civil Government ignorance of the Law is no good Plea to excuse and justifie though it may extenuate a crime in some cases so in Statu Naturae error ignorance or passion cannot excuse and justifie those actions which are really contrary to right Reason or that Grand principle of Self-preservation And now Lindâmor I am afraid that in disswading others from doing violence to themselves I have offered some to your patience in the tediousness of so large a Letter I have only at present to add the readiness I am in to serve you and to put you in mind of the Obligation that you need not doubt of having that respect shewn you which you might at all times so freely command from Your Obliged Friend and Servant EZRA PIERCE FINIS Animum scribendo lenire Erasm Bishop Hopkins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle 〈…〉 Dr. Tillotson Multos da Jupiter annos Pers Massagetae omnes 70 An. egresses interficiunt Et Tybareni ut tradit Euseb L. 1. Viros suos seniores praecipitant Ad incerta fortunae venenum sub eustede promptum Liv. Joseph Antiq l. 14. c. 25. â—â—cum Joseph Ant l. 15. c. 3. Joseph de Jud. l. 1. c. 12. Joseph Ant l. 15. Jeseph de Bell. Jud. l. 7. c. 28. Plut. Vi. Progn of Mel. 〈◊〉 non invenere Tyranni tormentum majus Dr. Tillot Vol. 2. St. Aug. Plaut Lactant. and Cypr. Vid. Dr. Donn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ap. Can. vid. Ham. Annot. p. 95. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sym's Life 's Preservative Cantabrigiae in Coll. Trin. Adolescens studiosus suspensus suomet singulo repertus est intramusaeâ—lum suum eo quidem modo ut faciem haberet in Sacrum Bibliorum codicem obversam ac digitum porectim locum Sacrae Scripturae designantem ult de praedestinatione tractabatur Scult An. Dec. 2. p. 87. Dr. Tillot Bell. Jud. L. 3. C. 14. Also L. 7. C. 28. in the Siege of Massada 〈…〉 Tob. 3. 10. Intellectus humanus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dr. Hall Athenienses abscissant manum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inhumatam relinquebant Tarquin Priscus cadavera crucibus figebat civibus spectanda feris volucribus laceranda See Shafto's Great Law of Nature against Hobbs See more of this in Shaf to