struggles of my life:-No, the idea summer seat? Shall I shade it from of corruption is not so terrible, as the the beams of the sun, that you may thought that Eve should see me die: sit and view your children coming? she, who was created with me,—who, of all the beings whom I love, stands the foremost in my affections,-will she die with me? Thou knowest it; and thou only who didst pronounce the curse.

Fifth Scene.

ADAM. SETH.

Adam. Thou returnest; hast thou prayed, my son ?

Seth. Oft, to Heaven, have my prayers been raised; but never did I pray as on this day.

Adam. But, my son, if Eve should come with her children, shall they see me die? Go, my son, and tell them that I will offer my sacrifice alone, and not to join me till the sun be set. Seth. I cannot leave you at this juncture, my father. During my life I have ever been obedient to your commands; but, on this day, forgive me if I transgress them. Selima is already gone, and has imparted her grief to Eve; for she implored me to explain the reason of my sorrow; I yielded to her intreaty, and informed her of the anxiety and dread with which you repaired to the altar.

Adam. Then let them come; my

heart will sooner break.

Seth. I hear the sound of steps: it is Selima.

Adam. They come already. O! my children, my children! among the father am I not the most miserable?

Selima. Be pot angry, my father, that I have deviated from your orders. Have compassion with your Selima! When I hastened to join my mother, my anxiety and fears were so great regarding you, that a sudden dimness came over my eyes, and I know not what since has happened. Be not angry with me, father, that I did not hasten to the bower. O my father, (she embraces his knees) be not sorrowfull dispel those clouds of grief which hover round your brow. Shall I strew some cooling leaves on your favorite

Adam. Rise, Selima, most beloved of my daughters: be not uneasy for thy father's sake. I have now to converse with Seth on serious subjects.— Thou hast not bound the vine so high to the elm as thou saidst thou wouldst : go, and be at peace: thou knowest L love that elm tree more than all other trees, for my Abel planted it.-Go, my Selima. R. H.

our right to take our leave when we prosecuting our own advantage, inmay, it is a right of which we shall deed, we indirectly prosecute that of seldom indeed be inclined to avail the community. So long then as we ourselves. Even when we are de- can live with advantage to ourselves, prived of all these pleasures and en- to those who are dependent on us, or joyments, in the dungeon of the cap- the community at large, our reason tive, and the sick man's apartment, will tell us that we ought to live; hope seldom fails to enter, and to and when we can no longer do so, whisper to us that our pains and de- that we ought not to live, but to reprivations are only for a season.— sign that which is prejudicial to ourThere is no occasion earnestly to im- selves and beneficial to none. Whatpress us with the merit of keeping our ever is in the power of man is subject post to the last. It is a post we keep to his reason, and he has power over with great good will, and a post which, his own life as well as the power of if we relinquish, there is no doubt will giving life to others. be immediately filled; for we all know that the entries into this world are only limited by the want of vacancies. It would appear, then, that there is no such great merit in keeping a post which can never be in want of Occupants.

I shall endeavour to show, in the first place, that Suicide may be jus

tifiable.

There are many situations in which a man finds that life is a burden to him, and not an advantage, and that he can be of no advantage but a burden to others. In such cases he is

bound in duty to consult his reason, and to obey its dictates. If it pronounce that he ought to take his leave, it is criminal in him not to take it.

He will consider whether his situation Our chief difference from the other is irretrievably bad, or the proportion animals consists in the enjoyment of that the chance of its amelioration a very superior reason. The degree bears to a contrary probability, or the of it which they possess seldom ex- importance of the result that might tends beyond the power of discerning follow an alteration in his situation, those means which are necessary for however improbable, and he will dethe preservation of life; and they ap- cide accordingly. He is not bound pear to us invariably to follow every to remain in life because all probapropensity of their natures, complete- bility of an alteration in his situation ly engrossed with the present, and is not extinguished; but, as in every careless of consequences. It is very other action of his life, he weighed different with our species. When the probabilities of advantages and pleasure, in her most bewitching disadvantages attending it, so, here, form, beckons to us, and keen desire he will determine his advantage, by urges us on, the future consequences considering on which side the proba of the action rush upon our mind, and serve to regulate our behaviour. We must often relinquish the enjoyment of the present for fear of the future; and submit to present evil for the sake of future good.

This reason is the guide to which we are bound at all times to listen, and to be regulated by in all our actions. What appears right or wrong to our own reason we are bound to adopt or reject; and no action of our life can be indifferent; it must either be right or wrong.

bility lies. Before a man brings a child into the world, it is not enough that it is not impossible he may afterwards be enabled to maintain it, he ought to see a probability that he will be enabled, otherwise he will be held reprehensible for all the misery to which he may have given occasion.

There are some cases of such extreme misery, that no doubt can be. entertained of the advantage which the removal of the objects would prove to themselves and the community. Suppose a man deprived of, We are brought into this world for the use of all his faculties by a palsy, the purpose of taking a share in the and thrown a burden on the combusiness of this world. Every action munity: with the food that supports of our life, then, should either be di- him, another member might be suprected to our own advantage or the ported usefully to the world and adadvantage of the community. In vantageously to himself. Let us

UNIVERSAL MAG. VOL. XIV.

D

suppose an individual mutilated in such a manner as to render him for ever useless to the world, and racked with pain which will only cease with his existence; why should such a being be forced to prolong his life? It is meritorious to suffer when beneficial consequences are to result from it; but where is the merit of suffering without advantage to any one?-Numerous cases can be figured where existence is painful and burdensome to ourselves and useless to others, and where every known law of physics forbids us to indulge any hopes of amendment.

How far we may be called on to support the evils of life, when our existence can be beneficial to others, though painful to ourselves, is a question which will be determined according to the nature of these claims, and the magnitude of the evils. Now, considering this world as not our ultimate destination, but that we are to be rewarded and punished in another according to our deserts in this;-How will the case stand? As far as I can see it still remains the same. The only rule, I can conceive, by which my actions here are to be tried in another state of existence, is the degree in which I have aided or neglected my own good and the good of the community, which I am sup. posing to be the same. Now, how could it aid my own good to suffer pain and misery without relief, or aid the good of the community when this existence was not only protracted without advantage to them, but hung as a dead weight upon them? When my reason told me that I could no longer be of use, and that I was a burden, would not my further stay be, in fact, robbing others of their share? Instead, then, of furthering the business of the world, I should be impeding it. My reason then tells me that my situation in another world will be better or worse as I deserve well in this; and that I can only deserve well in this by doing all the good I can. When I cap no longer do good but evil, or when more advantage to society will result from my death than my life, the path I ought to pursue cannot be mistaken., When the affairs of the great Frederick were at the worst, he carried

continually upon him a phial of poison, which he might use in falling into the enemy's hands, from a persuasion that his relations would sacrifice the in-. terests of his country for the sake of again possessing him. Was this not valorous?-Was he to put his own life in competition with the interests of his country? This is a strong case, but admit its justice and you admit the principle, that the disposal of a man's life is to be regulated by the distates of his reason.

It has been said, that this world is a wilderness, through which we must toil, with here and there a few oazes to preserve and refresh us when overcome with fatigue,to enable us to reach the end of our journey; that our life was intended to be beset with troubles and toils; that our great merit is in properly supporting these; and that we have no right to shake ourselves free of them. I do not believe that the great Creator of the universe could delight in the misery of his creatures, however short. I do not believe, therefore, that this world was intended to be a scene of misery. I see, on the contrary, that it abounds with every degree of enjoyment, and that we have most extensive capabilities of enjoyment. I see that the majority of men really enjoy a great degree of happiness, and, comparatively, a small degree of misery; and, of that misery that they owe the most to their own vices. I cannot bring myself to think that those individuals who may fall into extreme misery, without their own fault, could be selected as the objects of divine severity; no more than I can bring myself to think that that being would be displeased at their freeing themselves from their wretchedness by the means which he has put in their power. I conceive that it must be displeasing to the Deity to see any of his creatures wretched; and I look upon the liberty of death to be the means which he has put in their power to escape from their misery. He regulated the universe by general laws; the general happiness of man is one of them, and his misery an accident, but an accident not without a remedy.

It may be said, that, in subjecting us to those trials, purposes may be served which are hid from our sight.

But we are not entitled to presume any such purposes. We can only see with the measure of sight which we have received; and according as things appear to us, so are we to conduct ourselves. My reason tells me that if I injure another, I am criminal; and that I am praiseworthy in proportion as I am productive of good. But it does not tell me that to live in pain and sorrow, and useless to the community and myself, can be productive of good, or that to cease to live can be considered as an injury. Mr. Smith says, that the opinion of the ancient philosophers on this subject do not seem agreeable to nature, and are merely to be considered as the refinements of philosophy; and that we never hear of an American Indian putting himself to death to escape from pain.

Philosophy must have been won derfully diffused at Rome when the spectacle of Perseus, led in triumph through the streets, inspired the crowd, who beheld him, with a universal feeling of contempt for the man who could live to such a degradation.

They find themselves in the world and continue to vegetate, anxious only for the gratification of their animal propensities. Luckily, as their enjoyments are few, their distresses are equally few: their misery therefore is seldom such as to suggest the idea of putting an end to it with their life. Ignorant of the nature of the human frame, and of the laws of diseases, it is impossible for them to know when their situation does or does not admit of remedy. The hope of recovery must influence them to the last.

But even these rude savages, when they see a certainty of extreme misery before them, instinctively act as the most enlightened Philosophers would perhaps in their situation. Whenever the slaves, who were brought from Africa, had an opportunity, they leaped overboard. Even after they were landed in the West Indies, and pains were taken to reconcile them to their situation, suicide was exceed ingly common among them. Mr. Edwards mentions a great many tribes who were more disposed to suicide than others: those were most disposed who had been most free and happy in their own country, as was naturally to be concluded. It was no uncommon thing to see a whole plantation depopulated in this manner.They who left the world in this way were by no means blamed by the survivors. On the contrary, they were considered to have done what was laudable, and to have entered upon the enjoyment of such a state of happiness as fell in with their conceptions. The native Americans, too, when reduced to slavery, are still more disposed to suicide than the Africans. Every attempt to make the Carribs work, according to my information, has ended in their suicide.

But why are we always to judge of the nature of man from the appearance he exhibits in a rude state of society? Is it not more liberal to form our opinion of him from the appearance he assumes in those stages of society where his moral qualities have attained a perfection as well as his physical. These moral qualities require exertion for their development as well as the physical; and, in some states of society, we know that many of them have little or no exercise. Hence the stupidity in which many regions of the world are plunged. In several nations the dawning of reason is hardly perceptible. Of the prudential restraint upon conduct, the But, Mr. Smith says, that the North distinguishing feature of civilized and American Indians never commit suienlightened man, they have literally cide. They have no occasion: those not the smallest conception. Every who are taken prisoners are either propensity of their nature they gratify killed or adopted as fellow warriors. when the occasion offers, in the man- If they are to be killed, it is hardly ner of the animals around them, without anxiety for the consequence. Such a people are urged by no liberal views to give life to others, or restrained from giving it; and they will, in like manner, be urged by no liberal views to put an end to their own,

worth their while to do themselves what will be so soon done for them. They might indeed save the horrible torments which attend their execution; but it is a point of honour with them to support their torments, which they know cannot be long, in the

same manner as it is a point of honour the other was equally bound to supwith the women of India to submit port his. Rude nations are always themselves voluntarily to a most horrible death. Every country has its

Customs.

The Indians keep no prisoners, for the best of all reasons, because they are unable to maintain them. Perhaps were they to preserve their prisoners, and expose them to a life of misery, we should soon see how far their patience would support it. In the century before last, a foreigner was taken up in Scotland on pretence of being a Popish spy. He underwent every kind of torture at Edinburgh firmly, without being prevailed on to confess. At last, it was suggested by a cunning old judge that he should be kept in prison, and constantly pricked with pins, to prevent him from sleeping. At the end of fourteen days he confessed, for the privilege of being hanged.

How far suicide prevails in the different countries of the world, and in what light it is viewed, I am uninformed. I remember to have read, that it is exceedingly common in Japan, and that a man there will kill himself on receiving the slightest affront or injury.

unfeeling and illiberal, because they are ignorant. Occupied entirely with their own existence, their thoughts seldom wander beyond their physical needs. The inferences they draw, and the comparisons they make, are only such as are unavoidably forced on them. There is no wonder, then, that in the few exercises they make of their reason, they should almost always err. Hence the multitude of absurd laws in every rude state, and the universal belief in spectres, demons, magicians, and witches, and every thing incongruous and unnatural,and the curious devices fallen upon to insure security from their power.

But yet it is only in some of these countries where they have stumbled upon the idea of considering suicide as a crime. There are several people, that I have read of, who never troubled their heads about the matter.

Be it as it may, it would be as unfair to conclude unfavourably to suicide, because some rude nations condemned it, as it would be to conclude in favour of child-murder, which is almost universally prevalent among them.

greatest men of the two most enlightened nations the world has yet seen; of the nations who have displayed a perfection which the human race, if it ever equal, seems doomed never to surpass. I speak

The laws against suicide, in some If we are to be influenced by precountries, though certainly very un- judices on the subject, by examples, necessary, may, however, be easily and not by reasonings, I confess accounted for. All those laws origi- that I would decide for the practice nated in the infancy of society, when which was sanctioned with the apthe views of its members are always probation of a succession of the confined, and often erroneous. Te one of these beings, in good health, who felt the instinctive love of life strong within him, it would appear unaccountable that another should be duced to part with it: and, because it was unaccountable, it would appear not of the mass of the people, but of annatural. He had, perhaps, himself the men whose situation enabled them had a share of distress, but he never to think with advantage; and cerfelt such a degree of it as to inspire tainly whenever a comparison is him with the resolution, and, in its most violent access, had cheered himself with his recovery. He would be unable to conceive how every other man should not feel and act as he did. When a case of such accumulated misery occurred as to inspire the object of it with a wish for death, unable to estimate the difference of this case from any thing he had experienced himself, he would conclude, that, as he supported his own distress,

drawn between the mental powers displayed by those men, deprived of the aids which accident and experience have since conferred on the world, and the degree of mind displayed by the most enlightened of our contemporaries, the comparison will hardly be to our advantage. These men might be mistaken, but they never shut their eyes on truth. They might not be aware of a reasoning, but when they were aware, they boldly and de