Toab@kjette Reabourn Craftsman : D. Advertiser St James's Dening oft London Chans ing Poft General uen ing Pot London as #etteer With an accurate Map of the land of JAMAICA; its Forts and Harbours: Alfo an exact Plan of the City and Harbour of the HAVANNA, the most impregnable Fort in th Weft Indies. THE Gentleman's Magazine: For APRIL 1762. A Letter to a Friend, on SUICIDE and My dear Friend, HEN your fifter has fo excellent an advifer always near A her, I fhould not have ventured to fay any thing about the ftate of her health, but from a full conviction, that no evil that afflicts the human fpecies can exceed B nervous diforders, when they rife to any confiderable height. A man's virtue has never been tried, till he has felt fomething equal to the pungent mifery which they produce in their laft ftages: And, therefore, when I hear of any perfon diftinguifhed for the sweetness of his nature, goodness, or integrity, it is of no weight with me, unless thefe virtues have for their bafis the fincere love of God, to that degree, that a man can fay from the bottom of his foul, "O! my God, "thou knowest that my whole de"light is in thee; that my heart is D "continually adhering to, longing, " and thirsting after thee: Where"ever I go, and whatever I do, I "know that thou art intimately pre* fent in and to my foul; and that "thou art the fum and center of all "my thoughts, words, and actions." Till a man's virtues are built upon this folid rock, let them be ever fo fpecious, ever fo attracting, yet in the day of trial he will affuredly fink under them. C E This I have often deeply experienced in myfelf, and have as fre- F quently obferved it in others of great pretenfions. And it effectually demonftrates this great truth, that there is no inherent goodness in man, merely as of himself; but that it is the gift of God, and must be communi cated to the foul by the Deity, and received into it by the awakened hunger of that divine feed which is implanted in the depth of the heart of every fon of man, juft in the fame. manner, and from the fame ground, as the fun communicates, and the vegetable world receives, that prolific virtue, which is the caufe of all the beauty and perfection with which we fee the face of nature adorned. It is the groundless conception, that man, by his natural powers, is able to fuftain himself in the most trying circumftances, and even to work out his own falvation, that is the cause of vaft mifery to human creatures; and, amongst the learned and thinking part of mankind, I can affign no other reafon for the horrid act of Suicide. Cato and Brutus, two diftinguished names in the Heathen world, are univerfally acknowledged to have poffelfed as many great and excellent virtues as ever dwelt in the foul of any, whom the great Apoftle denominates only the mere natural Man; and yet history informs us of the tragical iffue of their lives, when the diforders of adverfe and contending interefts were brought to a crifis. Now, as we are perfectly acquainted with the natural innate firmness of their fouls, and the excellency of their natures, and how ftrong the love of life is implanted in the nature of all men; to what caufe can we afcribe their having recourfe to fuch defperate remedies for relief but to their relying upon their own natural powers, to bear them up under the severest trials? Standing upon this ground, the properties of their nature were, by many great and trying adversities, worked up into a ftate of extreme contrariety, anxiety, horror, and defpair; till at laft thefe raging, contending qualities grew intollerable; and, 152 On Suicide and Madness. Man's life becomes a burthen, when, by adverfity and diftrefs, the evil that is in him is violently excited. To fly from himself is impoffible; and finding all his own endeavours to remove his mifery ineffectual, he thinks that Happiness is for ever flown from his breaft; and, no longer able to bear the pungent reflections of his own mind, breaks the facred bonds of life, and rushes headlong into eternity. the fruits of the earth, which would perish, had they not their proper nourichment thus imparted to them, and derived into their natures. As this is an undeniable truth, which the face of nature demonftrates, fo it is no lefs undeniably true, that a fupernatural goodness, flowing from God, must be derived into the foul of man, in the fame manner as the virtues of the fun must be derived into the fruits of the earth, before he can poffibly arBrive to that state of goodnels and perfection which his nature wants. And as nothing lefs than an inward growth of the divine life can be our Saviour and Deliverer, fo it is the mistaken confideration, that God is only an outward good, who has no other than an outward relation to us, that leaves men uncured of all their natural diforders and corruptions: For a God merely outward, can do no more good to the foul, than an excellent medicine, which, though known to exist, is yet never inwardly applied, can do to the body. Ꭰ To a mind tenderly attected with C the diftreffes of human nature, how lamentable is this condition, which drives our fellow-creatures to fuch immediate deftruction! But, lamentable as it is, yet with refpect to every fon of fallen man, till he feels himfelf in fome measure in the ftate above defcribed; that is, till the properties of his natural life find the want of a higher good, he has no awakened fenfibility of himself, no juft conception of the depth of mifery and happinefs which lies hid in human nature. And would but men, upon thefe trying occafions, as their condition furely demands, give themselves up totally to God, they would infallibly find a remedy adequate to the depth and burthen of their mifery: The working, contending properties of their nature would foon be appeafed, by the entrance of the heavenly power into their afflicted fouls; and an inward joy and peace would gradually fucceed, proportionate to the dif treffes they have endured. If Cato and Brutus had had recourfe to this fovereign remedy, I am well aflured, from the nature of man, neither of them would have perifhed with the ruin of their country; nor yet under, the tumultuous ftruggles of their own nature, far more infupportable than all outward miferies. For th's heavenly remedy is always near a hand to every fon of man, and as foon as he feels the burthen and wretchedness of his own nature (as feel it he will, fooner or later) and in the earneft defire of his heart, cries out to God, the divine goodnefs will then communicate itfelf to the foul, as ficely as the fun does its virtues to G Now, what a wretched condition mult that intelligent creature be in, who feels himfelt in the ftate of inceffant mifery above described, and has no God that stands in a nearer relation to him than this outward good? And yet this is the only Ged which the fyitems of modern Infidelity, and nominal Christianity, set before us. It is true, they both reprefent Him as a being of infinite perfection, and require us to have magnificent conceptions of him; but when these two truths are established, all the effential relations, as he is our Redeemer, Purifier, and inward Holinefs, (which are the most important to his creatures) are left out of the question; and then, when these high ideal conceptions fail a man, and he fcels that his own natural stock of integrity and goodness is not of itself fufficient to fuftain him in the hour of home-felt diftrefs, he has recourse to Suicide, or else is driven into Madnefs: And all this is no fault of Na ture; for it unavoidably follows from its working in a ftate of blindness, void of God; in which state, with all its dreadful confequences, in a greater or lefs degree. Nature mult always work, till it is united to the fovereign Good,who can alone fatisfy the boundlefs defires of the heart of man. this cannot be done by any ideal conceptions of God, however great and just, but by fimply turning the work. But |