results from thence no discord or disorder in the creation; on the
contrary, from the mixture, union, and contrast of all the various
powers of inanimate bodies and living creatures, arises that
sympathy, harmony, {7} and proportion, which affords the surest
argument of supreme wisdom. The providence of the Deity appears not
immediately in any operation, but governs every thing by those
general and immutable laws, which have been established from the
beginning of time. All events, in one sense, may be pronounced the
action of the Almighty, they all proceed from those powers with
which he has endowed his creatures. A house which falls by its own
weight, is not brought to ruin by his providence, more than one
destroyed by the hands of men; nor are the human faculties less his
workmanship, than the laws of motion and gravitation. When the
passions play, when the judgment dictates, when the limbs obey; this
is all the operation of God, and upon these animate principles, as
well as upon the inanimate, has he established the government of the
universe. Every event is alike important in the eyes of that
infinite being, who takes in at one glance the most distant regions
of space, and {8} remotest periods of time. There is no event,
however important to us, which he has exempted from the general laws
that govern the universe, or which he has peculiarly reserved for
his own immediate action and operation. The revolution of states and
empires depends upon the smallest caprice or passion of single men;
and the lives of men are shortened or extended by the smallest
accident of air or dies, sunshine or tempest. Nature still continues
her progress and operation; and if general laws be ever broke by
particular volitions of the Deity, 'tis after a manner which
entirely escapes human observation. As on the one hand, the elements
and other inanimate parts of the creation carry on their action
without regard to the particular interest and situation of men; so
men are entrusted to their own judgment and discretion in the
various shocks of matter, and may employ every faculty with which
they are endowed, in order to provide for their ease, happiness, or
{9} preservation. What is the meaning then of that principle, that a
man who tired of life, and hunted by pain and misery, bravely
overcomes all the natural terrors of death, and makes his escape
from this cruel scene: that such a man I say, has incurred the
indignation of his Creator by encroaching on the office of divine
providence, and disturbing the order of the universe? Shall we
assert that the Almighty has reserved to himself in any peculiar
manner the disposal of the lives of men, and has not submitted that
event, in common with others, to the general laws by which the
universe is governed? This is plainly false; the lives of men depend
upon the same laws as the lives of all other animals; and these are
subjected to the general laws of matter and motion. The fall of a
tower, or the infusion of a poison, will destroy a man equally with
the meanest creature; an inundation sweeps away every thing without
distinction that comes within the reach of its fury. Since therefore
the lives of men {10} are for ever dependant on the general laws of
matter and motion, is a man's disposing of his life criminal,
because in every case it is criminal to encroach upon these laws, or
disturb their operation? But this seems absurd; all animals are
entrusted to their own prudence and skill for their conduct in the
world, and have full authority as far as their power extends, to
alter all the operations of nature. Without the excercise of this
authority they could not subsist a moment; every action, every
motion of a man, innovates on the order of some parts of matter, and
diverts from their ordinary course the general laws of motion.
Putting together, therefore, these conclusion, we find that human
life depends upon the general laws of matter and motion, and that it
is no encroachment on the office of providence to disturb or alter
these general laws: Has not every one, of consequence, the free
disposal of his own life? And may he not lawfully employ that power
with which nature has endowed him? In order {11} to destroy the
evidence of this conclusion, we must shew a reason why this
particular case is excepted; is it because human life is of such
great importance, that 'tis a presumption for human prudence to
dispose of it? But the life of a man is of no greater importance to
the universe than that of an oyster. And were it of ever so great
importance, the order of human nature has actually submitted it to
human prudence, and reduced us to a necessity, in every incident, of
determining concerning it. -- Were the disposal of human life so
much reserved as the peculiar province of the Almighty, that it were
an encroachment on his right, for men to dispose of their own lives;
it would be equally criminal to act for the preservation of life as
for its destruction. If I turn aside a stone which is falling upon
my head, I disturb the course of nature, and I invade the peculiar
province of the Almighty, by lengthening out my life beyond the
period which by the general laws of matter and motion he had
assigned it. ([editor's note] 3) {12}

     A hair, a fly, an insect is able to destroy this mighty being
whose life is of such importance. Is it an absurdity to suppose that
human prudence may lawfully dispose of what depends on such
insignificant causes? It would be no crime in me to divert the
Nile or Danube from its course, were I able to effect such
purposes. Where then is the crime of turning a few ounces of blood
from their natural channel? -- Do you imagine that I repine at
Providence or curse my creation, because I go out of life, and put a
period to a being, which, were it to continue, would render me
miserable? Far be such sentiments from me; I am only convinced of a
matter of fact, which you yourself acknowledge possible, that human
life may be unhappy, and that my existence, if further prolonged,
would become ineligible; but I thank Providence, both for the good
which I have already enjoyed, and for the power with which I am
endowed of escaping the ill that {13} threatens me.[3] To you it
belongs to repine at providence, who foolishly imagine that you have
no such power, and who must still prolong a hated life, tho' loaded
with pain and sickness, with shame and poverty -- Do not you teach,
that when any ill befals me, tho' by the malice of my enemies, I