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PERSONAL DUTIES.

[Part IV.

scribed to us ; it is a race set before us, — it is our course, — itis a course to be finished, — to be finished with joy, — we haveneed of patience, that, after we have done the will of God, (thatis, discharged the duties of life so long as God is pleased to con-tinue us in it,) we may receive the promise.* This way of view-ing human life, commended to us by St. Paul, seems to me asinconsistent as possible with the doctrine, that we are at libertyto determine the duration of our lives for ourselves, f

Again, Christ and his Apostles inculcate no quality so often orso earnestly, as patience under affliction. Now this virtue wouldhave been, in a great measure, superseded, and the exhortationsto its practice might have been spared, if the disciples of ourSaviour had been at liberty to quit the world, as soon as theygrew weary of the ill usage which they received in it. Whenthe afflictions of life pressed severely upon them, they were ex-horted to look forward to a “ far more exceeding and eternalweight of glory,” — they were to receive them as “ chasteningsof the Lord,” —■ as intimations of his care and love ; — by theseand the like reflections and motives, they were to support andimprove themselves under their sufferings ; but not a hint hasescaped them, that they might seek relief in a voluntary death.One text, in particular, strongly combats all impatience under dis-tress, of which that may be supposed the greatest which prompts' to suicide, to wit, — “ Consider him that endured such contradic-tion of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint inyour minds.” | On this text, it may be inquired, 1. Whethera Christian convert, who had been impelled by the continuanceand severity of his sufferings to destroy his own life, would nothave been thought by the author “ to have been weary, to havefainted in his mind,” and to have disgraced the example, which ishere proposed for the meditation of Christians when in distress ?2. Whether such an act would not have been attended with allthe circumstances of mitigation, which can excuse or extenuatesuicide at this day ? §

Further, the conduct of the Apostles, and of the Christians of

* Hebrews xii. 1; 2 Timothy iv. 7; Acts xx. 24 ; Hebrews x. 36.t Paley’s Moral and Political Philosophy, p. 227. X Heb. xii. 3

§ Paley’s Moral and Political Philosophy, p. 227, 228.