in Adams first Homicide in Paradise Sect. 4. 7 Of Tolets first and second Species by Precept and by Advise or Option 8 We may wish Malum poenae to our selves as the Eremite prayed to be possessed 9 That we may wish death for wearines of this life 10 It is sin to wish the evill were not evill that then we might wish it 11 Of wishing the Princes Death 12 In many opinions by contrary Religion a true King becomes a Tyrant 13 Why an oath of fidelity to the Pope binds no man 14 Who is a Tyrant by the declaration of the learned men of France 15 How Death may be wished by Calvins opinion 16 How we may wish death to another for our own advantage 17 Phil. Nerius consented that one who wished his own death might have his wish Sect. 5. 1 Of Tolets third Species of Homicide by permission which is Mors Negativa 2 Of standing mute at the Barre 3 Three Rules from Scotus Navar and Maldonate to guide us in these desertions of our selves 4 That I may suffer a Theif to kill me rather then kill him 5 Of Se defendendo in our Law 6 That I am not bound to escape from prison if I can Nor to eate rather then starve 7 For ends better then this life we may neglect this 8 That I may give my life for another 9 Chrysostomes opinion of Sarahs lie and her consent to Adultery And S. Augustines opinion of this and of that wife who prostituted her selfe to pay her husbands debts 10 That to give my life for another is not to preferre another before my selfe as Bonaventure and August say But to prefer vertue before life which is lawfull 11 For spirituall good it is without question 12 That I may give another that without which I cannot live 13 That I may lawfully wear out my self with fasting 14 That this in S. Hier. opinion is selfe-homicide 15 Of the Fryer whom Cassianus calls a Self-homicide for refusing bread from a â—…heife upon an indiscreet Vow 16 Of Christs fast 17 Of Philosophers inordinate fasts 18 Of the Devils threatning S. Francis for fasting 19 Examples of long fasts 20 Reasons effects and obligations to rigorous fastings Corollary of this Section of Desertion Sect. 6. 1 Of another Species of homicide which is not in Tolets division by Mutilation 2 Of Delivering ones selfe into bondage 3. By divers Cannons homicide and mutilation is the same fault 4 Of Calvins argument against Divorce upon this ground of Mutilation 5 The example of S. Mark cutting off his thumbe to escape Priesthood 6 In what cases it is clear that a man may maiâ—… himself Sect. 7. 1 Of Tolets fourth Species of Homicide by actual helping 2 Ardoynus reckons a flea amongst poysons because it would destroy 3 David condemned the Amalekite who said he had helped Saul to kill himselfe 4 Mariana the Iesuite is of opinion that a King which may be removed by poyson may not be put to take it by his owne hands though ignorantly for he doth then kiâ—… himself 5 That a malefactor unaccused may accuse himself 6 Of Sansovins relation of our custome at executions and withdrawing the pillow in desperate cases 7 Of breaking the leggs of men at executions and of breaking the halter 8 Of the forme of purgations used by Moses Law in cases of Iealousy 9 Of formes of Purgation called Uulgares 10 Charlemaine brought in a new forme of purgation 11 And Britius a Bishop being acquitted before extorted another purgation upon himselfe 12 Both kindes of Ordalium by water and fire in use here till King Johns time 13 In all these purgations and in that by Battaile the party himself assisted 14 Exumples of actuall helpers to their owne destruction in S. Dorothaeus doctrine 15 Of Ioseph of Arimathaea his drinking of poyson 16 Of S. Andrew and S. Lawrence 17 Casuists not cleere whether a condemned man may doe the last act to his death 18 But in cases without condemnation it is sub praecepto to Priests Curats to goe to infected houses Sect. 8. 1 Of Tolets last species of Homi-cide which is the act it selfe 2 How farre an erring conscience may justify this act 3 Of Pythagoras philosophicall conscience to dy rather then hurt a Beane or suffer his schollers to speak 4 Of the apparition to Hero a most devout Eremite by which he killed himself out of Cassianus 5 That the Devill sometime sollicites to good 6 That by Uasques his opinion it is not Idolatry to worship God in the devil 7 Rules given to distinguish evil spirits from God are all fallible 8 Good Angels sometimes move to that which is evill being ordinarily and morally accepted 9 As in mis-adoration by Vasques invincible ignorance excuses so it may in our cases 10 Of S. Augustines first reason against Donatus that we may save a mans life against his will 11 Of his second reasons which is want of examples of the faithfull And of S. Augustines assured escape if Donatists had produced Examples 12 Divorce in Rome on either part And in Jury on the womans part long without example 13 Saint Augustines Schollers in this point of examples 〈◊〉 stâ—…bborne as Aristotles for the inalterablenesse of the Heavens though the reason of both be ceased 14 Of the Martyr Apollonia who killed her selfe 15 Of answers in her excuse 16 Of the Martyr Pelagia who killed her selfe 17 Though her History bee very uncertaine yet the Church seems glad of any occasion to celebrate such a fact 18 Saint Augustines testimony of her 19 Saint Ambroses Meditation upon her 20 Eusebius his Oration incitatory imagined in the person of the Mother 21 Saint Augustines first of any doubting of their fact sought such shifts to defend it as it needed not 22 S. Augustines example hath drawne Pedraca a Spanish Casuist and many others to that shift of speciall Divine inspiration in such cases 23 And so sayes Peter Martyr of the Midwives and of Rahabs lye 24 To preserve the Seale of Confession a man may in some case be bound to doe the intire act of killing himselfe The Third Part which is of the Law of God Distinct. 1 Sect. 1. 1 An introduction ' to the handling of these places of Scripture 2 Why I forbeare to name them who cite these places of Scripture 3 If any oppose an answer why I intreat him to avoide bitternes 4 Why Clergy men which by Canons may fish and hunt yet may not hunt with dogs 5 Of Bezas answer to Ochius Polygamy Distinction 2. Sect. 1. 1 No place against this Self-homicide is produced out of the Iudiciall or Ceremoniall Law Sect. 2 1 Of the place Gen. 9. 5. I will require your blood 2 We are not bound to accept the interpretation of the Rabbins 3 Of Lyra and of Emmanuel Sâ both abounding in Hebraisms yet making no such note upon this place Sect. 3 1 Of the place Deâ—… 33. 39. I kill and I give life 2 Iurisdiction of Parents
to himselfe denies necessarie things or exposes himselfe inordinatly to such dangers as men use not to escape kills himselfe He that is as sure that this Medicine will recover him as that this Poyson will destroy him is as guilty if he forbeare the Physicke as if he swallow the Poyson For what is this lesse then to attend the ruine of a house or inundation of a streame or incursion of mad beasts They which compare Omissions and Committings require no more to make them equall but that we omit something which we could and should doe SECT III. First therefore in all Lawes in such faults as are greatest either in their owne nature or in an irremediablenesse when they are done all approaches yea the very first step to them hath the same guiltinesse and is under the same punishment as the fault it selfe As in Treason and Heresie the first consent is the absolute fault And we have an example of a Woman bâ—…rnt for petie Tâ—…eason for compassing the death of her husband though it were not effected Homicide is one of those crying sins and hath ever beene reckoned in Atrocibus For though the Athenians removed all Dracoes Lawes by disuse for their extreame severity yet they retained those against Homicide And this Homicide saies Tolet may bee done five wayes by 1. Commandement by 2. Advise by 3. Permission by 4. Hâ—…lpe or by the fact it selfe And in the fiâ—…st and worst Homicide committed in Paradise in which were employed all the persons in the world which were able to 〈◊〉 to evill when though there was but one man all the Millions which have been and shall be were massacred at once and himselfe too as many of these kindes of Homiciâ—…es were found as was possible in so few persons For as one notes The Serpent counsailed the Woman helped and Adam perpetrated and wee â—…ay safely and reverently say God permitted If then every one of these be a kind of Homicide no approach towards it can be lawfull if any bee lawfull that is not Homicide Let us therefore consider how farre and in how many of these waies Selfe-homicide may bee allowable SECT IIII. First therefore though it be the common received opinion Mandatorem Manâ—…atarium eidem poenae subjici Yet by the way of Precâ—…pt we cannot properly work upon our selvâ—…s because in this act the same partie must be agent and patient and instrument Nor very properly by the second way of advise yet so neere we may come to the nature of it that after discourse we may adviseâ—…ly chuse one part anâ—… refuse the other for Cujus est velle ejus est nolle and so we may wâ—…sh to our selves that which is naturally evill I meane Malum poenae as the Eremite by earnest prayer obtained of God that he might be possessed of the Devill for certaine moneths because he found in himselfe an inclination to pride and securitie Thus certainely in some cases we may without sinne wish Death and that not onely for enjoying the sight of God for so sayes a holy man Pro visione Dei millies corpus nostrum morti dare optamus but even to be so delivered from the encumbrances of this life for so it hath rationem boni as Peter Martyr argues and then Nove meliorem est Corruptio pâ—…imae habitudinis This therefore we may wish and yet it is so farre from being lawfull to wish any thing which were evill that It is sinne to wish that any thing which is naturally evill were not so that so wee might then wish it when it were discharged of that naturall illnesse Death it selfe therefore is not evill nor is it evill to wish it is it evill to further that with more actuall helpe which we may lawfully wish to be done These two extreme Religions which seem to avile secular Magistrâ—…cie and subject Monarchs either to an Oâ—…dinarie or else to a Consistorie accept willingly this saying Curse not the King no not in thy heart That is wish not ill to him Nor have I observed that the Authors of either distemper have in their Books allowed that the Subject might wish the death of the Prince but in the same cases where he might contribute his actuall helpe For both Papists and Puritanes teaching that a lawfull King may become a tyrant which to my understanding cannot consist with the forme and right of an inheritable Monarchie Yet one who pretends to go the middle way and that is truely in this case Via Regia sayes That as well wee as the Romanists esteeme a King of another Religion a Tyrant And That it is impossible to make such a King but he must be a Tyrant in the opinion of one side And for his own opinion delivers That no man can be bound by oath of fidelity to the Pope upon this reason because he is not indeed Vicarius Dei as he presumed him and swore him to be And conformably to this that book whose title and scope is of the foundation of matter of State in France and as it pretends in all Christendome when after it hath enraged Subjects against Tyrants it comes to declare what a Tyrant is exemplifies in the King of Spaine and upon such reasons as any Malignitie equall to that Author may cast upon what Prince it will And lastly who ever shall well compare l Beccariaes booke with Bezaes if that other be Bezaes though they differ Diametrally in many things yet by their collision and beating together arise abundantly sparkes of this pestilent Doctrine That as Tranquillity was so now Religion is the reason why wee admit Kings and why they are none when they neglect Religion upon these Doctrines I say it is inferred That it is lawfull to wish the death of a Tyrant or of a favourer of Heretiques though he dye in mortall sinne To wish therefore and to doe are naturally the same fault and yet though it be a sinne to offer my selfe even to Martyrdome only for wearinesse of life Or to wish death simply for Impaciencie Anger Shame Povertie or Misfortune yea to wish heaven meerely for mine owne happinesse yet certainely S. Paul had some allowable reasons to desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. And Calvine by telling us upon what reason and to what end he wished this instructs us how we may wish the same He sayes Paul desired not death for deaths sake for that were against the sense of Nature but he wished it to be with Christ. Now besides that by his leave we desire many things which are against the sense of Nature to grant that we may wish death to be in heaven though Peter Martyr before alledged be of the same perswasion is a larger scope and somewhat more dangerous and slippery a graunt then wee urge towards
from me and my instruction that he will doe it without bitternesse He shall see the way the better and shew it the better and saile through it the better if he raise no stormes Such men as they are Fishers of men so may they also hunt us into their nets for our good But there is perchance some mystique interpretation belonging to that Canon which allowes Clergy men to hunt for they may doe it by Nets and Snares but not by Dogges foâ—… clamour and bitings are forbidden them And I have been sorry to see that even Beza himselfe writing against an Adversary and a cause equally and extreamely obnoxious onely by allowing too much fuell to his zeale enraged against the man and neglecting or but prescribing in the cause hath with lesse thoroughnesse and satisfaction then either became his learning and watchfulnesse or answered his use and custome given an answer to Ochiuâ—… booke of Polygamy Distinction II. SECT I. IN all the Iudiciall in all the Ceremoniall Law delivered by Moses who was the most particular in his Lawes of any other there is no abomination no mention of this Selfe-Homicide He teacheth what we shall and shall not eate and weare and speake and yet nothing against this SECT II. But the first place that I find offered against it is in Genesis I will require your bloud wherein your lives are at the hand of every beast will I requireit and at the hand of man even at the hand of a mans brother will I require the life of man who so sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed And this place a very learned man of the Reformed Church sayes the Jewes understand of Selfe-homicide But shâ—…ll wee put our selves under the Iewes yoake That if we finde in the Rabbins things contrary to Nature wee must dare to accuse nothing but our owne weakenesse because their word is Gods Word and if they contradict one another yet both are from God Lyra who seldome departs from the Iewes in matters not controverted between them and us toucheth upon no such exposition yet hee expounds it more then one way and with liberty enough and farre straying And Emanuel Sâ who in his notes is more curious and superstitious in restoring all the Hebraismes and oftentimes their interpretations then perchance that Church would desire at his hands offers at no other sense then the words present Nor â—…an Selfe homicide fall within the commination and 〈◊〉 of that Law for how can the Magistrate shed his bloud who hath killed himselfe SECT III. The next is in Deâ—…eronomie I kill and I give life Our of which is concluded that all authority of life and death is from God and none in our selves But shall we therefore dare to condemne utterly all those states and governments where Fathers Husbands and Masters had jurisdiction over Children wives and servants lives If we dare yet how shall we defend any Magistracy if this be so strictly accepted and if it admit exceptions why may not our case be within those Howsoever that this place is incongruously brought appears by the next words There is not any that can deliver from my hand or this being a Verse of that divine poem which God himselfe made and delivered Moses as a stronger and more slippery insinuation and impression into the Isrâ—…lites hearts then the language of any Law would make expresses onely that the mercies and judgements of God are safe and removed from any humane hinderance or interruption So in another gratulatory Song made by Samuels mother the same words are repeated The Lord killeth and maketh alive and this because God had given her a son when she was past hope That place also in Tobit is fitly paraleld with this He leadeth to hell and bringeth up noâ—… is there any that can avoid his hand And can these two places be detorted to their purpose That none but God may have jurisdiction over our temporall life Or that place of the book of Wisdome which is also ever joyned as of the same signification with these for thou hast the power of life and death which is spoken of his miraculous curing by the Brazen Serpent So that all these foure places have one respect and ayme and none of them look towards our question SECT IIII. In the order of the Divine books the next place is produced out of Job Militia est vita hominis super terram for though our translation give it thus Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth yet the Latine Text is thus cited to this purpose by some not addicted to the Vulgat Edition because it seems in Latine better to afford an argument against Self homicide For therupon they infer that we may not depart at our own pleasure from the battell But because onely the Metaphor and not the extending of it nor inference upon it is taken out of the Scripture it brings no strong obligation with it nor deserves much earnestnesse in the answer yet to follow him a little in his Allusion A Souldier may by Law be ignorant of the Law and is not much accusable if he transgresse it And by another Law 〈◊〉 oâ—… Souldier whose presence is necessary for the safeguard of the Army may be absent cauâ—… Reipub. and being absent his absence shall be interpreted to be so And even to those which killed themselvs in the Army we noted before in the second part That the lawes were not severe if they had any colour of just cause So that this figurative argument profits then nothing especially being taken from this place where the scope of Job was to prove that our felicity and end upon which our actions are bent is not in this liâ—…e but as wars work to peace so we labour here to death to that happines which we shall have after And therfore whosoever were author of that letter which hath Christs name to Abgarus doth not make Christ say that when he hath done that for which he was sent hither he will come to him and take his offer of halte his Kingdome but that when he hath done he will returne to him which sent him That is he will die so that if either side have advantage by this place of Job we have it SECT V. And by the other place of Job much more which is Therefore my soule chuseth rather to bee strangled and to die then to be in my bones Hereuupon they infer That if it might have been lawfull to die so Job would have done it But besides that the wretched poverty and feeblenesse of this manner of Negative arguments Iob did it not therefore he might not do it we may perceive by the whole frame of the History that God had chosen him for another use and an example of extream patience So that for any thing that appears in
Aug. de bono Conjugâ—… g Paulin. Severo esist 1. 7 How Paul calls Death Gods enemy h 1 Cor. 15. 20. i Marlorat in bunc locum k Calvin in hunc locum 8 Death since Christ is not so evill as before 1 Of Martyrs reason Vita donum 1 Of Lavaters reason of Judges 2 Where confession is not in use there is no exterior Judge of secret sinne a Humfred Iesui pa. 2. ad Ratio 3. Cam. 3 Of the Popes jurisdiction over himselfe b Câ—…d l. 3. tit 5. le Generati 4 Of such jurisdiction in other persons by civll lawes c Bald. F le 5. de jâ—…diciis d Filesacus de Episc. autorit Ca. 1. 〈◊〉 17. e Dig. l. 1. tiâ—… 7. le 3. si Cons. 5 Ioh. 22. elected hiâ—…selfe Pope f Uolâ—… 2. Genera 44. 6. Jurisdiction over our selves â—…s denyed us because we are presumed favourable to our selves Not in cases hurtfull to our selves g Heurnius de Philos. Barbar 7. Even in cases hurtfull we have such jurisdiction h Theod. a Nice l. 3. c. 3. 23. 8. Gregories oath in the great Scisme i Schlusselburgius Catul. Hereâ—…ico l. 13. 9. When a man becomes to be sui juris 10. Warre is just betweene Soveraigne Kings because they have no Judge k Accacius de privileg juris l. 1. cap. 7. 11. Princes give not themselves priviledges but declare that in that case they will exercise their inherent priviledge Josephus Reason of Deposi tum a De bell Iud. l. 3. ca. 13. b Regula juris 4. c Arist. Probl. Sect. 29. q. 2. 2. In these cases a depositarie cannot bee accused De culpa if he be sine Dolo. 3. A secret received Data fide is in Natura depositi d Tholos Syntag l 23. ca. 3. Nu. 17. e Soto de Teg. Secr. membr 1. q. 1. 1. Of similitudinary Reasons in Authors not Divine a De Bello Iuda l. 3. ca. 14. 1. Of his reason of Hoslis a lib. 7. c. 28. 1. Of his reason of Servus Bosquier Conc. 7. Of his reason of a Pilot. 1. Of Aquin. two reasons from Justice and Charity a 22. q. 64. ar 5. Of stealing away himselfe from the State 3. Monastique retiring is in genere rei the same offence 4. The better opinion that herein is no sinne against Justice 5. I usurpe not upon his servant but am his servant herein b Sayr Thesau Cas. Consc. l 7. ca. 9. Nu. 19. 6. Though we have not Dominium wee have Vsum of this life and we leave that when we will 7. The State is not Lord of our life yet takes it away c Sayr l. 9. c. 7. Nu. 2. 8. If injurie were herein done to the State then by a license from the State it might be lawfull 9. And the State might recompence her domage upon the goods or hâ—…i e 10. In a man necessâ—…y there may be some injustice in this act d 22. q. 59. ar 4. ad 3â—… 11. No man can doe injurie to himselfe 12. The question whether it be against Charity 〈◊〉 ted to the third part Of Aristotles two reasons Of Misery Pusilanimity a Arist. Eth. l. 3. c. 6. b Cap. 7. Infra fol. 249. 1. Of Reasons to be made on the other part 2. Of the Law of Rome of asking the Sâ—…nate leave to kill himselfe a Declâ—…m 4. 3. Of the case in Quintilian 1. Comparison of Desertion and Destruction 2. Of Omissions equall to Committings a In admonitorio b Dist. 86. pasceâ—… c Tabula Paris censuraruâ—… 1. In great sinnes the first step imprints a guiltinesse yet many steps to Self-homicide are lawfull a Stanf. Plees de Corâ—…n cap. Petie treason b Elian. l. 8. cap. 10. 2. Draâ—…s laws against Homicide were retained c Precepto 5. 3. Tolets five Homicides 4. Foure of thâ—…se were to be found in Adams first Homicide in Paradise c Reuchlin de verbo Mirisico lib. 2. cap. 14. 1. Of Tolets first second way by Precept and Adviâ—…e or option a Bartol le Non solum F. de injuriis Si mandato b Reg. Jur. 3. 2. We may wish Malum poenae to our selves as the Eremite did to be possessed c Sulpit. in vita Martini Dialo 1. 3. Wee may wish death for wearinesse of this life d Martialis ad Tholosanos e Coment in Sam. l. 1. c. vlt. f Heptap Pici. l. 7. Proem 4. It is sin to wish that evill were not so that then wee might wish it g Adrian quodlib 10. ar 2. 5. What wee may lawfully with we may lawfully further 6. Of wishing the Princes death h Saxavia de Imp. Author Epistola 7. In some opinions false ReligioÌ„ makes a Tirant i Lib. 2. ca. 36. 8. Why an oth of fidelity to the Pope binds no man k Declaration Protestation des Doctes de France Anno 1605. 9. Who is a Tyrant in these mens opinions Beccar cont lib. De. jure Magistrat m Carbo Cas. Conc. Summa Summarum Tom. 3. lib. 3. cap. 9. n Sylvest verb. Martyr o Navar. Manual Ca. 15. Nu. 11. p Phil. 1. 23. 10 How death may be wished by Calvine q In 2 Cor. 5. 1 Marlorate Supra 9 Eman. Sâ Aphor. Confes. ver Charitas 11 How we may with death to another for our owne advantage 12 Ph. Nerius consented to the death of one who wished his own death s Vita Phil. Ner. fol. 284. t Liber Conformi Fran. Christi u Sedulius Minor advers Alcor Francis 1 Of Tolets 3. species by permission which is Mors Negativa 2 Of standing mute at the Barre 3 Three rules from Sotus Navar and Mald. to guide us in these Desertions of our selves a Soto de teg saeret membr 1. q. 3. b Nava Manual c Sum. Maldo q. 14. ar 6. d Acacius de privilegiis l. 1. cap. 9. e Gerson f Acacius de privile l. 1. c. 8. 4 I may suffer a thiefe to kill me g Sayr Thesau Cas. Cons. l. 7. cap. 9. nu 17. h Alcor Azoar 52. 5 Of se desendendo in our law 6 I am not bound to escape from prison if I can nor to eate rather then starve i Eman. Sa. Aphor. Conses ver Charitas k Aquin. 22. q. 69. ar 4. ad 2. l Sayr Thesau Cas. Cons. l. 7. cap. 9. 7 For ends better then this life we may neglect this 8 I may give my life for another m Chris. Hom. 32. in Genes n Aug. l. 22. adver faustum cap. 33. 9 Chrisostomes opinion of Sarahs ly and Adultery And St. Aug. of that wife who prostituted her selfe to pay her husbands debt o Ca. 27. primo Deserm Dom. in monte p Bonavent 3. Dist. 29. q. 3. q Aug. de mendacio c. 6. 10 That to give my life for another is not to prefer another as Bonaventure and Aug. say but to prefer vertue before life 11 For spirituall good is without question r Sayr Thesau Cas. Cons. l. 7. c. 9. nu 17. s Eman Sa. Aphor.
The largenes of the subject and object thereof 3 Of Codex Canonum or the body of the Canon Law in use in the primitive Church Of the Additions to this Code since 4 Canon Law apter to condemn then the Civil and why Sect. 2. 1 That this proposition is not haereticall by the Canon Law 2 Simancha his large Definition of Haeresy 3 No dâ—…cision of the church in the point 4 Nor Canon nor Bull. 5 Of the common opinion of Fathers and that that varies by times and by places by Azoriâ—… 7 Gratian cites but two Fathers whereof one is on our side 8 That that part of Canon Law to which Canonists will stand condemns not this 9 A Catholique Bpaâ—…censure of Gratian and his decret Sect. 3. 1 What any Councells have done in this point 2 Of the Councell of Antisidore under Greg. 1. 590. 3 That it only refusd their oblations 4 That it was only a Diocesan Councell 5 The Councell of Braccar inflicts two punishments 6 The first of not praying for them is meant of them who did it when they were excommunicate 7 The second which is denying of buriall is not always inflicted as a punishment to an offendor as appeares in a punishment to an offendor as appears in a locall interdict 8 Romans buried such offendors as had satisfied the law within the Towne as they did Vestalls and Emperours Dist. 3 Sect. 1 1 Of the Laws of particular Nations 2 Of our Law of Felo de se. 3 That this is by our Law Murder and what reasons entitle the King to his good 4 That our naturall desire to such dying probably induced this customary Law 5 As in States abounding with slaves Law-makers quenched this desire lest there should have beene no use of them 6 Forbid lest it should draw too many as hunting and vsury and as wine by Mahomet 7 Upon reason of generall inclinations we have severe Laws against theft 8 When a man is bound to steale 9 Sotus his opinion of Day-theeues 10 Of a like law against Self-homicide in the Earldome of Flaunders Sect. 2. 1 Severe Laws are arguments of a generall inclination not of a hainousnes in the fact 2 Fasting upon Sundays extremely condemned upon that reason 3 So Duells in France 4 So Bull-baitings in Spaine 5 The hainousnes of Rape or Witch-craft are not diminished where the Laws against them were but easie 6 Publike benefit is the rule of extending odious Laws and restraining favourable 7 If other nations concurre in like Laws it sheweth the inclination to be generall Sect. 3. 1 The Custome of the Iews not burying till Sunn-set and of the Athenians cutting off the dead hand evict not Sect 4. 1 The reasons drawne from remedies used upon some occasions to prevent it prove as little Dist. 4. Sect. 1. 1 Of the reasons used by particular men being divines 2 Of S. Aug. and of his argument against Donatus 3 Of S. Augustine comparatively with other Fathers 4 Comparison of Navar and Sotus 5 Iesuits often beholding to Calvin for his expositions 6 In this place we differ not from S. Augustine 7 Nor in the second cited by Gratian. 8 That there may be Causa puniendi sine culpa 9 As Valens the Emperor did misse Theodosius So S. Augustine praetermitted the right case 10 Of Cordubensis rule how we must behave our selves in perplexities 11 How temporall reward may be taken for spirituall offices 12 Of Pindarus death praying for he knew not what 13 In one place we depart from S. Augustine upon the same reason as the Jesuite Thyraeus doth depart from him in another Sect. 2. 1 The place cited by Gratian out of S. Hierome is on our side Sect. 3. 1 Lavaters confession that Augustine Hierome Chrysostome Lactantius are of this opinion Sect. 4. 1 Of Peter Martyrs reason Mors malum 2 Clement hath long since destroyed that reason 3 Of Malum poenae how farre it may bee wished and how farre it condemnes 4 Possessed men are not alwaies so afflict for sinne 5 Damnation hath not so much rationem mali as the least sinne 6 If Death were of the worst sort of evill yet there might be good use of it as of Concupiscence 7 In what fense S. Paul calles Death Gods enemy 8 Death since Christ is not so evill as before Sect. 5. 1 Of Peter Martyrs reason Vita donum Dei Sect. 6. 1 Of Lavaters reason of Iudges in all causes 2 Where Confession is not in use there is no Iudge of secret sinne 3 Of the Popes Iurisdiction over himselfe 4 Of such Iurisdiction in other persons by Civil lawes 5 10 22. elected himselfe Pope 6 Iurisdiction over our selves is therefore denyed us 7 because we are presumed favourable to our selves not in cases esteemed hurtfull 8 In cases hurtfull we have such Iurisdiction 9 Oath of Gregory in the great Schisme 10 When a man becomes to be sui Juris 11 Warre is just betweene Soveraigne Kings because they have no Iudge 12 Princes give not themselves priviledges but declare that in that case they will exercise their inherent generall Priviledge Sect. 7. 1 Josephus reason of Depositum 2 A Depositarie cannot be accused De Culpa but De Dolo. 3 A secret received Data fide is In natura Depositi Sect. 8. 1 Of similitudinary reasons in Authors not Divine Sect. 9. 1 Of Josephus his reason of Hostis. Sect. 10. 1 Of Josephus reason of Servus Sect. 11. 1 Of Josephus reason of a Pilot. Distinct. 5. Sect. 1. 1 Of Saint Thomas two reasons from Iustice and Charitie 2 Of that part of injustice which is stealing himselfe from the State 3 Monastike retyring is in genere rei the same fault 4 The better opinion is that there is herein no injustice 5 Of the other Injustice of usurping upon anothers Servant 6 Though we have not Dominium we have Usum of this life And we may relinquish it when we will 7 The State is not Lord of our life yet may take it away 8 If injustice were herein done to the State then by a licence from the State it may be lawfull 9 And the State might recompence her Domage upon the goods or Heirs of the Delinquent 10 In a man necessary to the State there may bee some Injustice herein 11 No man can doe injurie to himselfe 12 The question whether it be against Charity respited to the third part Sect. 2. 1 Of Aristotles two reasons of Misery and Pusillanimitie Distinct. 6. Sect. 1. 1 Of reasons on the other side 2 Of the Law of Rome of asking the Senate leave to kill himselfe 3 Of the case upon that Law in Quintillian Sect. 2. 1 Comparisons of desertion and destruction 2 Of Omissions equall to committings Sect. 3. 3 In great faults the first step imprints a guiltines yet many steps to self-homicide are allowable 4 Dracoes lawes against homicide were retained for the hainousnes of the fault 5 Tolets five Species of Homicide 6 Foure of those were to be found
Consecrastis manâ—… vestras Domino When I come to consider their words who are of the second opinion and which allow an impenitiblenesse in this life of which Calvin is a strong Authorizer if not an Authour who sayes that actuall impenitence is not the sinne intimated in Matth. 12. 30 31. But it is a willing resisting of the holy Ghost into which whosoever falls Tenendum est saith he we must hold that he never riseth again because these hard and mis-interpretable words fall from them when they are perplexed and intricated with that heavy question of sinne against the holy Ghost and because I presume them to speak proportionally and analogally to their other Doctrine I rather incline to afford them this construction that they place this impenitiblenesse onely in the knowledge of God or that I understand them not then either beleeve them literally or beleeve that they have clearly expressed their own meanings For I see not why we should be lother to allow that God hath made some impeccable then impenitible Neither do I perceive that if they had their purpose and this were granted to them that therfore such an impenitiblenesse must of necessity be concluded to have been in this person by reason of this act SECT IIII. But the third sort is the tamest of all the three and gives greatest hope of being reduced and rectifyed For though they pronounce severely upon the fact yet it is onely upon one reason that the fact precludes all entrance to repentance Wherein I wonder why they should refuse to apply their opinions to the milder rules of the Casuifts which ever in doubtfull cases teach an inclination to the safer side And though it be saâ—…er to thinke a thing to be fin then not yet that rule serves for your own information and for a bridle to you not for anothers condemnation They use to interpret that rule of taking the safer side that in things necessary necessitate finis as repentance is to salvation wee must follow any probable opinion though another bee more probable and that directly that opinion is to be followed Quae favet animae which they exemplifie thus That though all Doctors hold that baptisme of a childe not yet throughly born in the hand or foot to be ineffectuall yet all Doctors counsell to baptize in that case to beleeve of good effect And the example of the good theife informes us that repentance works immediately and from that history Calvin collects That such paine in articulo mortis is naturally apt to be get repentance Since the Church is so indulgent and liberall to her children that at the point of death shee will afford her treasure of baptisme to one which hath been mad from his birth by the same reason us to a child yea to one fallen lately into madnesse though it appeare he were in mortall sinne if he have but attrition which is but a feare of hell no tast of Gods glory And â—…uch attrition shall be presum'd to be in him if nothing appeare evidently to the contrary If she be content to extend and interpret this point of death of every danger by sea or travell If she will interpret any mortall sinne in a man provoked by sodain passion and proceeding from indeliberation to be no worse nor of greater malignity then the act of a childe If being unable to succour one before she will deliver him from excommunication after he is dead If she bee content that both the penitent and confessor bee but diligentes not diligentissimi If rather then she will be frustrate of her desire to dispense her treasure she yeelds that mad and possessed men shall be bound till they may receive extreame unction If lastly she absolve some whether they will or no why should we abhorre our mothers example and being brethren be severer than the Parent Not to pray for them which dye without faith is a precept so obvious to every Religion that even Mahomet hath inhibited it But to presume impenitence because you were not by and heard it is an usurpation This is true repentance saith Clement To doe no more and to speake no more those things whereof you repent and not to be ever sinning and ever asking pardon Of such a repentance as this our case is capable enough And of one who died before he had repented gooâ—… Paulinus would charitably interpret his haste That he chose rather to go to God debitor quam liber and so to die in his debt rather than to carry his acquittance As therefore in matters of fact the delinquent is so much favor'd that a Lay-man shall sooner be beleeved which acquits him then a Clork which accuseth though in other cases there be much disproportion betweene the value of these two testimonies So if any will of necessitie proceede to judgement in our case those reasons which are most benigne and which as I sayd favent anima ought to have the best acceptation and entertainment SECT V. Of all those definitions of sinne which the first Rhapsoder Pet. Lombard hath presented out of ancient learning as well the Summists as Casuists doe most insist upon that which he brings from S. Augustine as commonly where that Father serves their turnes they never goe further This definition is that sinne is dictum factum concupitum contra aternam legem Dei This they stick too because this definition if it be one best bâ—…ares their descant and is the easiest conveyance and cariage and vent for their conceptions and applying rules of Divinitie to particular cases by which they have made all our actions perplex'd and litigious in foro interiori which is their tribunall by which torture they have brought mens consciences to the same reasons of complaint which Pliny attributes to Rome till Trajans time that Civitâ—… fâ—…-aata legibus legibus evertebatur For as Informers vext them with continuall delations upon penall Lawes so doth this act of sinning entangle wretched consciences in manifold and despâ—…ate anxi eties But for this use this definition cannot be thought to be applyable to sinne onely since it limits it to the externall Law of God which word though Lombard have not Saâ—… and all the rest râ—…tain for this eternall Law is ratio gubâ—…rnativa Dei which is no other then his eternall decree for the government of the whole world and that is Providence And certainly against this because it is not alwayes revealed a man may without sinne both think and speak and doe as I may resist a disease of which God hath decreed I shall die Yea though he seeme to reveale his will we may resist it with prayers against it because it is often conditioned and accompanied with limitations and exceptions Yea though God dealt plainly by Nathan The child shall surely die David resisted Gods decree
as neither the watchfulnesse of Parliaments nor the descents and indulgences of Princes which have consented to lawes derogatory to themselves have beene able to prejudice the Princes non obstantes because prerogative is incomprehensible and over-flowes and transcends all law And as those Canons which boldly and as some School-men say blasphemously say Non licebit Papae diminish not his fulnesse of power nor impeach his motus propriores as they call them nor his non obstante jure divino because they are understood ever to whisper some just reservation sine justa causa or rebus sic stantibus so what law soever is cast upon the conscience or liberty of man of which the reason is mutable is naturally condition'd with this that it binds so long as the reason lives Besides Selfe-preservation which wee confesse to be the foundation of generall naturall Law is no other thing then a naturall affection and appetition of good whether true or seeming For certainly the desire of Martyrdome though the body perish is a Selfe-preservation because thereby out of our election our best part is advanc'd For heaven which we gaine so is certainly good Life but probably and possibly For here it holds well which Athenagoras sayes Earthly things and Heavenly differ so as Veri-simile Verum And this is the best description of felicitie that I have found That it is reditus uniuscujusque rei ad suum principium Now since this law of Selfe-preservation is accomplish'd in attaining that which conduces to our ends and is good to us for libertv which is a faculty of doing that which I would is as much of the law of nature as preservation is yet if for reasons seeming good to me as to preserve my life when I am justly taken prisoner I will become a slave I may doe it without violating the law of nature If I propose to my selfe in this SELF-HOMICIDE a greater good though I mistake it I perceive not wherein I transgresse the generall law of nature which is an affection of good true or seeming and if that which I affect by death bee truely a greater good wherein is the other stricter law of nature which is rectified reason violated SECT III. Another reason which prevailes much with me and delivers it from being against the Law of nature is this that in all ages in all places upon all occasions men of all conditions have affected it and inclin'd to doe it And as Gardan sayes it Mettall is planta sepulta and that a Mole is Animal sepultum So man as though he were Angelus sepultus labours to be discharged of his earthly Sepulchre his body And though this may be said of all other sinnes that men are propense to them and yet for all that frequency they are against nature that is rectifyed reason yet if this sinne were against particular Law of nature as they must hold which aggravate it by that circumstance and that so it wrought to the destruction of our species any otherwise then intemperate lust or surfer or incurring penall Lawes and such like doe it could not be so generall since being contrary to our sensitive nature it hath not the advantage of pleasure and delight to allure us withall which other sinnes have And when I frame to my selfe a Martyrologe of all which have perished by their own meanes for Religion Countrey Fame Love Ease Feare Shame I blush to see how naked of followers all vertues are in respect of this fortitude and that all Histories afford not so many examples either of cunning and subtile devises or of forcible and violent actions for the safeguard of life as for destroying Petronius Arbiter who served Nero a man of pleasure in the office of Master of his pleasures upon the first frowne went home and cut his Veines So present and immediate a step was it to him from full pleasure to such a death How subtilly and curiously Attilius Regulus destroyed himselfe Wo being of such integritie that he would never have lyed to save his life lyed to lose it falsely pleading that the Carthaginians had given him poyson and that within few dayes he should dye though he stayed at Rome Yet Codrus forcing of his death exceeded this because in that base disguise he was likely to perish without fame Herennius the Sicilian could endure to beat out his own braines against a post and as though he had owed thanks to that braine which had given him this devise of killing himselfe would not leave beating till he could see and salute it Comas who had been a Captaine of theeves when he came to the to ture of examination scorning all forraigne and accessorie helps to dye made his owne breath the instrument of his death by stopping and recluding it Annibal because if hee should be overtaken with extreame necessitie he would be beholden to none for life nor death dyed with poyson which he alwaies carryed in a ring As Demosthenes did with poyson carryed in a penne Aristarchus when he saw that 72 yeares nor the corrupt and malignant disease of being a severe Critique could weare him out sterved himselfe then Homer which had written a thousand things which no man else understood is said to have hanged himselfe because he understood not the Fishermens riddle Othryades who onely survived of 300 Champions appointed to end a quarrell between the Lacedemonians and Athenians when now the lives of all the 300 were in him as though it had been a new victory to kill them over again kill'd himselfe Democles whom a Greeke Tyrant would have forced to show that he could suffer any other heat scalded himselfe to death Pâ—…rtia Cato's daughter and Catulus Luctatius sought new conclusions and as Quintilian calls them Nova Sacramenta pereundi and dyed by swallowing burning coales Poore Terence because he lost his 108 translated Comedies drown'd himselfe And the Poet Labienus because his Satyricall Bookes were burned by Edict burnt himselfe too And Zeno before whom scarce any is preferr'd because he stumbled and hurt his finger against the ground interpreted that as a Summons from the earth and hang'd himselfe being then almost â—…oo yeares old For which act Diogenes Laertius proclaimes him to have been Mira falicitate vir qui incolumis integer sine Morbo excessit To cure himselfe of a quartane Portius Latro killed himselfe And Festus Domicians Minion onely to hide the deformity of a Ringworme in his face Hippionas the Poet rimed Bubalus the Painter to death with his Iambiques Macer bore well enough his being called into question for great faults but hanged himselfe when hee heard that Cicero would plead against him though the Roman condemnations at that time inflicted not so deep punishments And so Cessius Licinius to escape Cicero's judgement by choaking himselfe with a napkin had as
Tacitus calls it precium festinandi You can scarce immagine any person so happy or miserable so repos'd or so vaine or any occasion either of true losse or of shamefastnesse or frowardnesse but that there is some example of it Yet no man to me seemes to have made harder shift to dy then Charondas who first having made a new law that it should be death to enter the Counsell Chamber armed not onely offended that Law but punished it presently by falling upon his sword But the generall houre of such death is abundantly expressed in those swarmes of the Roman Gladiatory Champions which as Lipsius collects in some one month cost Europe 30000 men and to which exercise and profusion of life till expresse Lawes forbade it not onely men of great birth and place in the State but also women coveted to be admitted By Eleazars Oration recorded in Josephus we may see how small perswasions moved men to this Hee onely told them that the Philosophers among the Indians did so And that we and our children â—…ere borne to dy but neither borne to serve And we may well collect that in Caesars time in France for one who dyed naturally there dyed many by this devout violence For hee sayes there were some whom he calls Devotos and Clientes the latter Lawes call them Soldurios which enjoying many benefits and commodities from men of higher ranke alwaies when the Lord dyed celebrated his Funerall with their owne And Caesar adds that in the memorie of man no one was found that ever refused it Which devotion I have read some where continues yet in all the wives in the Kingdome of Bengala in the Indies And there not onely such persons as doe it in testimony of an entire dependency and of a gratitude but the Samanaei which did not inherite Religion and Priesthood and wisedome as Levites did amongst the Jewes and the Gymnosophists amongst them but were admitted by election upon notice taken of their sanctity are sayd to have studied wayes how to dye and especially then when they were in best state of health And yet these Priests whose care was to dye thus did ever summe up and abridge all their precepts into this one Let a pious death determine a good life Such an estimation had they of this manner of dying How pathetically Latinus Pacatus expresses the sweetnesse of dying when we will Others sayth he after the conquest making a braver bargaine with Destiny prevented uncertaine death by certaine and the slaves scaped whipping by strangling For who ever fear'd after there was no hopeâ—… Or who would therefore for beare to kill himselfe that another might Is anothers hand easier then thine own Or a private death fouler then a publique Or is it more painâ—… to fall upon thy sword and to oppresse the wound with thy body and so receive death at once then to divide the torment bend the knee stretch out the necke perchance to more then one blow And then wondring why Maximus who had before murdered Gratiaâ—… and was now suppressed by Theodosius had not enjoyed the common benefit of killing himselfe he turnes upon Gratian and sayes Thou Reverend Gratian hast chased thinâ—… Executioner and would'st not allow him leasure for so honest a death least he should staine the sacred Imperiall robe with so iâ—…pious bloud or that a Tyrants hand should performe thy revenge or thou bee beholden to him for his owne death And with like passion speakes another Panegyrique to Constantine who after a victorie tooke their swords from the conquered Ne quis incumberet dolori By which language one may see how naturall it was to those times to affect such dispatch And in our age when the Spaniards extended that Law which was made onely against the Canibals that they who would not accept Christian Religion should incurre bondage the Indians in infinite numbers escaped this by killing themselves and never ceased till the Spaniards by some counterfeitings made them thinke that they also would kill themselves and follow them with the same severity into the next life And thus much seeming to me sufficient to defeate that argument which is drawen from Selfe-preservation and to prove that it is not so of particular law of Nature but that it is often transgressed naturally wee will here end this second Distinction Distinction III. SECT I. AFter this when men by civâ—…litic and mutuall use one of another became more thrifty of themselves and sparing of their lives this solemnity of killing themselves at funeralls wore out and vanish'd yet leysurely and by unsensible dimunitions For first in shew of it the men wounded themselves and the women scratch'd and defaced their cheekes and sacrific'd so by that aspersion of bloâ—…d After that by their friends graves they made graves for themselves and entred into them alive as Nunnes doe when they renounce the world And after in show of this show they onely tooke some of the earth and were it upon their heads and so for the publique benefit were content to forfeit their custome of dying And after Christianitie which besides the many advantages above all other Phylosophies that it hath made us clearely to understand the state of the next life which Moses and his followers though they understood it disguis'd ever under earthly rewards and punishments either because humane nature after the first fall till the restituti on and dignification thereof by Christ was generally incapable of such mysteries or because it was reserved to our blessed Saviour to interpret and comment upon his owne Law and that great successive Trinity of humane wisedome Socrates Plato and Aristotle saw but glimmeringly and variously as also for matters of this life the most Stoick and severe Sect that ever Cast bridle upon mankind I say after Christianity had quench'd those respects of fame ease shame and such how quickly naturally man snatch'd and embraced a new way of profusing his life by Martyrdome SECT II. For whil'st the famous acts or famous suffrings of the Jewes for defence even of Ceremonies many thousands of them being slaine onely because they would not defend themselves upon the Saboth And whil'st the custome of that Nation ever embrued in sacrifices of blood and all most of all other Nations devout and carnest even in the immolation of men And whil'st the example of our blessed Saviour who chose that way for our Redemption to sacrifice his life and profuse his blood was now fresh in them and govern'd all their affections it was not hard for their Doctors even by naturall reasons and by examples to invite or to cherish their propensnesse to Martyrdome Clement therefore when hâ—… handles this point scarce presents to them any other argument then naturall men were capable of and such food and such fuell as would serve the tast and fervour of such an one as
were not curious above Nature As that Death was not naturally evill That Martyrdome was the beginning of another life That the Heathen endured greater paines for lesse reward That a Barbarous people immolated every yeare a principall Philosoper to Xamolxis an Idol and they upon whom the lot fell not mourn'd for that And with most earnestnesse that Martyrdome is in our owne power which be arguments better proportioned to Nature then to Divinity and therefore Clement presumed them men inclined or inclinable by nature to this affection Tertullians Reasons are somewhat more sublime yet rather fine and delightfull then sollid and weighty As That God knowing man would sin after Baptisme provided him Secunda solatia lavacrum Sanguinis That the death of Saints which is said to be precious in Gods sight cannot bee understood of the naturall death common to all And that from the beginning in Abel righteousnesse was afflicted And these reasons were not such as would have entred any in whom a naturall inclination had not set open the gates before Cyprian also takes the same way and insists upon application of Prophecies of these two sorts That they should bee despised in this world and that they should be rewarded in the next To these were added externall Honours Annuall celebrating their Memories and entitling their deaths Natalitia And that early instituting of the office of Notaries to regulate their passions even iâ—… Clemens time And the proposing their Salita capita to bee worshipped which word though Eunapius speake it prophanely was not undeserved by the generall misuse of such devotion And after the Monopoly of appropriating Martyrdome and establishing the benefit thereof upon them onely which held the integritie of faith and were in the unity of the Church of which persuasion Augustine and Hierom and most of the Ancients are cited to be and then by continuall increasing the dignity and merit of it as that ex opere operato it purged actuall sinne as Baptisme did originall And that without Charitie and in Schisme though it merited not salvation yet it diminished the intensnesse of Damnation And by these they incited mans nature to it which also might be a little corruptly warmed towards it by seeing them ever punisht who afflicted them for so Tertullian saies that no City escaped punishment which had shed Christian bloud After this they descended to admit more into their fellowship and communicate and extend these pâ—…iviledges for by such indulgence are Herods Infants Martyrs So is John Baptist though he dyed not for a matter of Christian faith So is he which suffers for any vertue and he which dyes in his mothers womb if she be a Martyr And so is he which being for Christian profession wounded deadly recovers and hee which being not deadly wounded dyes after of sicknesse contracted by his owne negligence if that negligence amounted not to mortall sinne So not onely the sickly and infirme succeeding Ages but even the purest-times did cherrish in men this desire of death even by contrary reasons both which notwithstanding by change of circumstances had apparance of good For as fire is made more intense sometimes by sprinkling water sometimes by adding fuell So when their teachers found any coolenesse or remissenesse in them and an inclination to flight or composition with the State then Cyprian noted such with the ignominy of Libellatici because they had taken an acquittance of the State and sayes of them Culpa minor sacrificatorum sed non innocens consâ—…entis And then Terrullian equally infames flying away and such marchandizing when hee sayes Persecution must not be redeemed for running away is a buying of your peace for nothing and a buying of your peace for money is a running away And then we shall finde that even against the nature of the word Martyre it became the common opinion that death was requisite and necessarie to make one a Martyr So in Eusebius the Christians though afflicted modestly refuse the name of Martyrs and professe that they have not deserved it except they may be kill'd Contrary wise in other times when the disease of head-long dying at once seemed both to weare out their numbers and to lay some scandall upon the cause which wrought such a desire in men which understood not why they did it but uninstructed uncatechized yea unbaptized but that the charity of the Supervivers imputed to them Baptisma fluminis as they hope or at least Sanguinis for that they saw did onely as they saw others doe Then I say as a Learned Writer of our time sayes That the Church abstaines from easie Canonizing Ne vilesceret Sanctit as which is not here Holinesse but Saintship least the dignity of Martyrdome should be aviled by such promiscuous admittance to it they were often contented to allow them the comfort of Martydome without dying which was but a returning to the natuturall sense of the word So Ignatius stiles himselfe in his Epistles Martyr Yea more then the rest he brought down the value thereof and the deare purchase for he sayes That as he which honors a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall have a Prophets reward So hee shall have a Martyrs reward which honors vinctum Christi And so our most blessed Saviour proceeding in his mercifull purpose of encreasing his Kingdome upon earth yet permitting the Heathen Princes to continue theirs as yet the Christian Religion was dilated and oppressed and the professors thereof so dejected and worne with confiscations and imprisonments thought that as in the Passeover from Egypt every doore was sprinkled with blood So Heaven had no doore from this world but by fires crosses and bloody persecutions and presuming Heaven to be at the next step they would often stubbornly or stupidly winke and so make that one step God forbid any should be so malignant so to mis-interpret mee as though I thought not the blood of Martyrs to be the seed of the Church or diminished the dignity thereof yet it becomes any ingenuity to confesse that those times were affected with a disease of this naturall desire of such a death and that to such may fruitfully be applyed those words of the good B Paulinus Athleta non vincit statim quia eruitur nec ideo transnatant quia sespoliant Alas we may fall drown at the last stroke for to say le to heaven it is not enough to cast away the burdenous superfluities which we have long carried about us but we must also take in a good frayte It is not lightnesse but an even-reposed stedfastnesse which carries us thither But Cyprian was forced to finde out an answer to this lamentation which he then found to be common to men on their death beds Wee mâ—…urne because with all our strength we had vowed our selves to Martyrdome
remitting our selves to the learned which are our fathers instruction what ever defect be in us yet Saluamur in fide parentum And in this sort e Pindarus making an implicite prayer to God that he would give him that which he knew to be best for him died in that very petition Except therefore Saint Augustine have that moderation in his resolution That a better life never receives a man after a death whereof himselfe was guilty we will be as bould with him as one who is more obliged to him then we who repeating Augustines opinion That the Devill could possesse no body except he entred into him by sinne rejects the opinions and saies The holy Father speaks not of what must of necessity be but what for the most part uses to bee SECT II. And in our case we ought as I thinke rather to follow Saint Hieromes temper who in his exposicion upon Jonas which I wonder why Gratian cited being so farre from his end and advantage sayes In persecution I may not kill my selfe absque eo ubi cassitas periclitatur where I am so â—…arre from agreeing with Gratian that Absque eo is inclusivoly spoken and amounts to this phrase no not though as I thinke that good learned father included in that word Castitas all purity of Religion and manners for to a man so rectified death comes ever and every way seasonably and welcome For qualem mors invenit hominem ita homo inveniâ—… mortem SECT III. From this place of Saint Hierome I beleeve and some other which perchance I have not reaâ—… and some other places in others of like charitable dâ—…scent to this opinion Lavater having made his profit of all Peters Martyrs reasons almost against this act and adding some of his owne when they both handle the duties of Saul confesseth that in this case of preserving Chastity Augustine Chrysostome and Lactant us and Hierome departed from their opinion who condemned this Act. SECT IIII. Peter Martyr also presents one other reason of which he seemes glad and well contented in it which is That we may not hasten death because Mors malum But it is not worthy of his gravity especially so long after Clemens Alex. had so throughly defeated that opinion But if it be Malum it is but Malum poena And that is an evill of which God is Authour and is not that Malum quo mali suinus neither doth it alwayes prove the patient to be evill though God for all that be alwaies iust for himselfe said of the man borne blinde Neither he nor his parents have sinned And of that Malum poenae which is esteemed the greatest in this life of temporall affictions because of the neere danger of empairing our soule which is to be possessed Thyraeus from Saint Hierome and Chrysostome sayes that it is not alwayes inflicted for sinne but to manifest the glory of God And therefore the greatest evill which can be imagined of this kinde of evill which is Damnation hath not so much Rationem mali as the least sinne that drawes Damnation Death therefore is an act of Gods justice and when he is pleased to inflict it he may chuse his Officer and constitute my selfe as well as any other And if it were of the worst sort oâ—… evill â—…et as Saint Augustine sayes that in the Act of Marriage there is Bonus usus mali id est concupiscentiae quo malo male utuntur adulteri And as good Paulinus prayses Severus that he having in Conjugio peccandi licentiam departed not from his accustomed austerity so may the same be said of death in some cases as in Martyrdome For though Martyr urge farther that death is called Gods enemy and is therefore evil yea Musculus sayes upon that place It is often commended in Scriptures because towards the faithfull God useth it to good ends and makes it Cooperari ad salutem And by what authority can they so assuredly pronounce that it falls out never in our case Besides this death hath lost much of her naturall malignity already and is not now so ill as at first she was naturally for as Calvin notes here she is already so destroyed that she is not lethalis but molesta SECT V. One reason more Martyr offers of his owne which is Vita Donum life because it is the gift of God may not be profused but when we have agreed to him that it may not be unthriftily and prodigally cast away how will he conclude from thence such an ingratitude as that I shall forfake Gods glory and may in no case ponere animam How will it follow from I must not alwaies to I may never SECT VI. Lavater after many other urges this reason That because Judges are established therefore no man should take Dominion over himselfe But in the Church of England where auricular confession is not under precept nor much in practise for that we admit it not at all or refuse it so as the Waldenses did though a reverend man say it is more then I knew who is judge of sin against which no civill law provides or of which there is no evidence May not I accuse and condemne my selfe to my selfe and inflict what penance I will for punishing the past and avoiding like occasion of sinne Upon this reason depends that perplexâ—…d case whether the Pope may not give himselfe aâ—…olution from Acts and Vowes and partake his owne 〈◊〉 although by the best opinion it is agrâ—…ed that to do so is an act oâ—… jurisdiction which by Lavaters rule no man may 〈◊〉 upon himselfe The Emperiall lawes forbid iâ—… a generality any to be judge in his ownâ—… cause but all Expositors except Soveraignes And in ordinary Judges all agree with Baldus That in facto notorio if the dignity of the Iudge be concerned he is the proper Iudge of it And he sayes that it belongs to the Pretor to judge whether such a cause belong to his judgement or no And with a Non obstante even upon Naturall law as the words of the priviledge are Theodorius allowed Bishops to be Judges in their owne cause So if a sonne which had not beene Sui juris had beene made â—…onsul 〈◊〉 he have emancipated himselfe or authorized another to have adopted him And besides thâ—… it appeares that the Popes have exercised juâ—…sdiction upon themselves even before they were Popes for Ioha 22 having permission to chuâ—…e oâ—…e Pope chose himselfe which deed Naucler relates and justâ—…fies by Canonicall rules it is plaine that he may exercise jurisdiction upon himselfe in anâ—… case where there is not a distinction of persons enjoyned Iure Divine as in Baptisme which will not be stretched to our case And certainly the reason of the Law why none
because herein onely the interest and good of the party seeme to be considered And yet a Emanuel Sâ extends it farther That wee may wish sicknesse to one for his correction and death for the good of the State yea to our Enemie which is like to doe us much harme for avoiding this our particular damage and we may rejoyce at his death even for that respect of our owne dâ—…livery All which will hold as well if we be urged with like reasons to wish it to our selves To conclude therefore this point That it may become lawfull to wish our owne death I will onely relate an History which though it be but matter of fact if it be so much yet it is of such a person as his acts governe and perswade with very many as farre as Rules In the life of Philip Nerius who in our age instituted the last Religion approved and established in the Church of Rome we read that he being entreated as he was ordinarily in like desperate cases to come to one Paulus Maximus a youth of 14. who was then ready to expire his soule by sickenesse before he could perfit his Sacrifice and the office which hee had begunne before the message came to him the young man dyed When hee had been dead about halfe an houre Nerius came and after he had used some lowd exclamations the youth revived againe looked up and talked in secret with Nerius a quarter of an houre The discourse â—…nded Nerius gave him his choise whether he would live or dye and when the boy wished death he gave him leave to dy againe Now though it were a greater miracle then any in that book if any man should beleeve all that are in it for in it are attributed to Nerius stranger things then the book of Conformities imagined in Saint Francis for I beleeve that Authuor purposed onely like Xenophon or Plato or Sir Thomas Moore to ideate and forme then to write a credible History though Sedulius have defended it with so much earnestnesse of late yet thus much is established out of this whether Fable or History that their opinion who authorised this book is that it was lawfull in Maximus to wish his own death since a man of so much sanctity as Nerius did approve and second and accomplish that opinion of his SECT V. The next species of Homicide in Tolets division is Permission which when it is toward our selves is by the Schoole-men usually called Desertion or Dereliction and Mors negativa Of which I perceive not any kinde to be more obnoxious or indefensible then that which is so common with our Delinquents to stand mute at the Barre And though Civill Lawes which are often enfoâ—…ced to chuse of two evills the least that is to say the least hurtfull to civility and society and must admit sometimes particular mischiefe rather then aâ—… generall inconvenience may excuse this yet since out of the law of Conscience which can in no case come to be so entangled and perplexed that it can be forced to châ—…se any thing naturally evill no man hath as yet to my knowledge impugned this custome of ours it seemes to me that aswell our Church as our State justifies this Desertion of our selves and this for so low and worldly a respect as the saving of our temporall estate or escaping the ignominy of another death But that we may the better discerne the limits how farre these Omissions and Desertions and Exposings of our selves are allowed us first I must interpret one rule That charity begins with it selfe to bee understood onely in spirituall things For I may not doe a sinne to save in the language of Schoole-men the goods or honour or liâ—…e of the Pope but for temporall things I must prefer others before my selfe if a publique profit recompence my private Domage I must also lay down another rule That as for my selfe So for my neighbour whom I am bound to love as my selfe I may expose goods to safegard honour and honour for life and life for 〈◊〉 profit And to these I must joyn a third rule That no man is at any time enforced to exercise his priviledge For the written Law every man is bound to knâ—…w but prâ—…viledges and exemptions from that Law he may be excâ—…sably ignorant of and in such ignorance transgresse them Hereupon iâ—… is saâ—…ely infer'd that though every man have naturally this priviledge to resist force with force and be authorised by that to lay violent hands even upon the Popes life as Gerson exemplifies or upon the Emperours as Acacius when either of them exceeds the limits of their Magistracy for then the party becomes the Depuâ—…y and Lieutenant to Nature which is a common and equall Soveraigne to them all Yet I may wayve this benefit if I will and even by a theefe I may suffer my selfe to be killed rather then kill him in that mortall sinne Which our Countryman Sayr holds as the common opinion from Sâ—…tus Navar Cajetan and many others And none that I have seen excepts to it in any other person then a Souldier or such as hath the lives and dignities of others so enwrapped in theirs as they cannot give away themselves but by betrayinâ—… others And this Desertion seems to bee of Naturall reason because it is to be found in all lawes for even in the Alcorum we read Vindicans non est reus Patiens tamen optime facit And our law which if a man kill another in his own necessary defence punishes him with losse of goods and delivers him from death not by acquitall but by way of pardon seemes to me to pronounce plainly that it is not lawfull to defend my life by killing another which is farther then any of the others went And when I câ—…mpare our two lawes That if I defend my seâ—…fe I am punished and the other before mentioned That if I kill my selfe I am punished in the same manner and measure they seeme to me to be somewhat perplexed and captious And as I may depart from my naturall priviledge of defending my selfe so I may obtain from any extrinsique or accessory helpe which is casually or by providence if God reveale not his will therein presented unto me for a man condemned to death is not bound in conscience to redeeme his life with money though by the law of the place he might doe it And though Saint Thomas say That he which is condemned to dy kills himselfe if he apprehend not an opportunity to escape by flight when it is presented and likewise if he refuse meate when he is condemned to be famished yet the whole streame is against him Sotus Navar Cajetan and Sayr And Navar adds that in these dayes and yet now it is not so likely to be Symbolum Idolotricae pravitatis a man is bound rather to famish then to eat meat
appeare that flesh would save the Patients life hee may not eate it And by the Apostolicall constitutions which Turrianus extols so much that by them he confutes much of the Reformed Churches doctrine A man must fast to death rather then receive any meat from an Excommunicate person And in another Chapter If any thing be in a case of extreame necessity accepted from such a person it may bee bestowed in full that so their Almes may be burnt and consumed to ashes but not in meate to nourish our selves withall So to determine this Section of Desertion since we may wayve our defence which Law gives by putting our selves upon a Jurie and which Nature gives to repell force with force since I may without slying or eating when I have meanes attend an Executioner or Famine since I may offer my life even for anothers temporall good since I must doe it for his Spirituall since I may give another my board in a Shipwracke and so drowne since I may hasten my arrivall to heaven by consuming penances it is a wayward and unnoble stubbornesse in argument to say still I must not kill my selfe but I may let my selfe dye since of Affirmations and Denyals of Omissions and Committings of Enjoyâ—…ing and Prohâ—…bitory Commands ever the one implies and enwraps the other And if the matter shall bee resolved and governed only by an outward act and ever by that if I forbeare to swimme in a river and so perish because there is no act I shall not be guilty and I shall bee guilty if I discharge a Pistoll upon my selfe which I knew not to be charged nor intended harme because there is an act Of which latter opinion Mariana the Jesuite seemes to be as we shall have occasion to note in the next Member and species of Homitide which is Assistance SECT VI. But before we come to that we must though it be not nor naturally could be delivered in Tolets Division consider another species of Homicide which is Mutilation or Mayming For though in Civill Courts it be not subject to like penaltie yet if it bee accompanied with the same Malignitie it is in conscience the same sinne especially towards our selves because it violates the same reason which is that none may usurpe upon the bodie over which he hath no Dominion Upon which reason it is also unlawfull for us to deliver our selves into bondage which I mention here because it ariseth from the same ground and I am loath to afford it a particular Section Yet holy Paulinus a Confessor and Bishop of Nola then whom I find no man celebrated with more fame of sanctitie and integrity to redeeme a Widowes Sonne delivered himselfe as a a slave to the Vandals and was exported from Italy to Afrique and this as I thinke when hee was necessary to that place being then there Bishop for that was but five yeares before his death But to returne to Mutilation it is cleare by the Canons that towards irregularity it works as much and amounts as farre to have maymed as to have killed And in a Councell at London Anno 1075 one Canon forbids a Clergy man to bee present at judgement of death or of Mutilation And amongst the Apostles Canons this is one He that gelds himselfe cannot be a Clerke because he is an Homicide of himselfe and an enemy to Gods creature And to geld is to maime in our Law So in the next Canon it is said A Clerk which gelds himselfe must be deposed Quia homicida sui And a Lay-man must for that fault be excommunicated three yeares quia vitae suae posuit insidias It was therefore esteemed equivalent to killing And Calvine esteemed it so hainous that he builds his Argument against Divorce upon this ground God made them one Body and it is in no case lawfull for a man to teare his owne body But if this be so lawfull as Divorces are lawfull certainly this peremptorie sentence against it must admit some modification Without doubt besides the examples of holy men who have done it to disable themselves from taking the burden of Priesthood of which Saint Marke the Evangelist was one who to that end cut off his thombe And besides that as our Saviour said Many should geld themselves for the Kingdome of heaven So Athenagoras 50 yeares after Christ saies that many did practise it It is doubted by none But that a man unjustly detained to a certaine execution may cut off that limbe by which he is tyed if he have no other way to escape or being encompassed with doggs he may cut off a hand and cast it to them to entertaine them while he escape SECT VII The last species of Homicide on this side the last act is an actuall helping and concurrence to it And every step and degree conducing purposely to that end is as justly by Judges of Consciences called Homicide as Ardoinus recknoning up all poysons which have a naturall malignity and affection to destroy mans body forbeares not a Flea though it never kill because it endeavours it and doth all the hurt it can and he is diligent in assigning preservatives and restoratives against it And so to that Amalekite which told David he helped Saul to dy when hee found him too weake to pierce himselfe David pronounced judgement of death for saith hee thine owne mouth hath confessed That thou hast kill'd the Lords Anointed Certainely Mariana the Jesuite whom I named before esteemes this actuall concurrence to ones death as heavy as the act it selfe yea as it seemes though the party bee ignorant thereof For after hee concluded how an Hereticall King may be poisoned he is diligent in this prescription That the King bee not constrained to take the poyson himselfe but that some other may administer it to him And that therefore it be prepared and conveied in some other way then meate or drinke because else saith he either willingly or ignorantly he shall kill himselfe So that hee provides that that King who must dye under the sinnes of Tyranny and Heresie must yet be defended from concurring to his owne death though ignorantly as though this were a greater sinne Since therefore this hastning of our death by such an act is the same as the intire Selfe-homicide let us consider how farâ—…e irreproved Custome and example and Law doth either allow or command it For that it is allowable it seemes to me some proofe That before any man accuses him a Malefactor may go and declare his fault to the Iudge Though amongst Italian relations that in Sansovine concerning England have many marks and impressions of malice yet of that custome which hee falsely sayes to bee observed here That men condemned to be hanged are ever accompanied to their Executions by all their kinred who then hang at their feet
may in causa versanti interpret the Law that Interpretation makes not Law SECT II. As therfore in the former Distinctions wee spoke of some approaches to the act of self-killing so will wee in this pause a very little upon two such steps The first shal be of the prophet in the book of Kings who bad a stranger strike him and because he would not pronounc'd a heavy judgement upon him which was presently excecuted And then he importuned another to doe it who did it throughly for he wounded him with the stroake This was to common understanding an unnaturall thing that so holy a man should make such meanes to have his body violated and so it seems the first apprehended it however it pleased God to enlighten the second This I produce not as though the prophet inclind to it of his owne disposition for it is expressely in the text that God commanded him to doe it But because this is the only place in all the scriptures where those which offer or desirously admit violence to their owne bodies are said to have done it by the expresse motion of God I collect from it that it is not without some boldness if others affirme without authority of the text that the death of Samson and others had the same foundation when it appeares by this that God when he would have it understood so is pleased to deliver it plainly and expressely SECT III. The next before we come to those who entirely killed themselves is Ioâ—…as who by often wishing his own death and moving the maâ—…ers to cast him out into the sea made many steps towards the very act I know that it is everie where said that those words Take meâ—… and cast me into the Sea proceeded from a prophetique spirit And St. Hierome saith that in this prophetique spirit he foresaw that the Ninivites would repent and so his preaching would be discredited But if this be so must he not also in the same Prophetique Spirit see that their repentance must be occasioned by his going thither and preaching there And if this perswading to his destruction being now innocent in their understanding for they prayed Lay not innocent bloud upon us were from Divine motion shall wee dare to impute also to like motions and spirit his angry importuning of death Take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to dye then to live And after he wished from his heart to dye and said I doe well to be angry unto the death St. Hierome calles him Sanctum Ionam and when Lyra observes that he had not done so to any of the other Prophets he concludes that this testimony needed most in Ionas who by his many reluctations against Gods will might else fall into some suspition of eternall perishing Which since we must be fâ—…r from fearing in so eminent and exemplary a type of Christ and yet have no ground to admit any such particular impulsion of Gods Spirit as Hierome and Lyra pronounce him holy for all these reluctations so may we esteeme him advised and ordinate and rectified for all these approches which in wishing and consenting he made to his owne death SECT IV. Of those which in the Scriptures are registred to have killed themselves Samson is the first A man so exemplar that not onely the times before him had him in Prophecy for of him it is said Dan shall judge his people and the times after him more consummately in Christ of whom he was a Figure but even in his own time other nations may seeme to have had some Type or Copy of him in Hercules His fact of selfe-killing is celebrated by the Church to everlasting memory as the act of a Martyr and as very many others in their Homilies and expositions So that renowned Paulinus sayes God send me the death of Sampson and Sampsons blindnesse that I may live to God and looke to God And this generall applause and concurrence in the praise of the fact hath made many think or at least write that he purposed not to kill himselfe being loath either to depart from their opinion who extoll him or to admit any thing which may countenance that manner of dying Of which perswasion two very learned men labour to seeme to be But besides that such an exposing of himselfe to unevitable danger is the same fault as Selfe-homicide when there is any fault in it the very Text is against them for Samson dyed with these words in his mouth Let mee lose my life with the philistims And though sometimes these Authors adde That hee intended not his owne death principally but accidentally as Calvine also sayes that Saint Paul did not desire death for deaths sake but to be with Christ this can remove no man from our side for wee say the same that this may be done onely when the honour of God may bee promoved by that way and no other Therefore to justifie this fact in Samson Saint Augustine equally zealous of Samsons honour and his own conscience builds still upon his old foundation That this was by the speciall inspiration from God Which because it appeares not in the History nor lyes in proofe may with the same easinesse be refused as it is presented To give strength to this opinion of Augustine our Countreyman Sayr presents one reason preceding the fact and Pedraca the Spaniard another subsequent The first is that hee prepared himselfe to it by Prayer But in this prayer you may observe much humanity and weakenesse and selfe-respect O Lord saith he I beseech thee Strenghthen me at this time onely that I may be aveâ—…d of the Philistims for my two eyes The second reason is that because hee effected that which he desired it is to be presumed that God restored him his strength to that end which he asked it But besides that in the text it appeares that his haire before that time was begunne to be growne out againe and so his strength somewhat renewed doth this prove any impulsion and incitement and prevention of the holy Ghost to that particular act or rather only an habituall accompanying and awaking him to such actions by which God might be honoured and glorified whensoever any occasion should be presented When therefore he felt his strength in part refreshed and had by Prayer intreated the perfecting thereof seeing they tooke continuall occasion from his dejection to â—…orne and reproach his God burning with an equall fervour to revenge their double fault and to remove the wretched occasion thereof he had as a very subtile Author sayes the same reason to kill himselfe which hee had to kill them and the same authoritie and the same priviledge and safeguard from sinne And he dyed as the same man sayes with the same zeale as Christ unconstrained for In this manner