The guilt, folly, and sources of suicide : two discourses, preached in the city of New-York, February, 1805 / by Samuel Miller.

  • Miller, Samuel, 1769-1850.
Date:
1805
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The guilt, folly, and sources of suicide : two discourses, preached in the city of New-York, February, 1805 / by Samuel Miller. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    guilty man! stay thy murderous hand! Extinguish not the happiness and the hopes of a family, it may be, of many families! Forbear, O forbear to inflict wounds which no time can heal, and which may tempt survivors to wish that thou hadst never been born! Let no one say, that he is useless in the world; that his life is of no value, either to his relatives, or to mankind; and, therefore, that he does no injury by taking it away. If any man be really useless, it is his disgrace and his sin; and to think of justi- fying one crime by pleading that he has committed a previous one, is as wretched logic, as it is detest- able morality. But the degree of our usefulness in society is a question concerning which, as we are not competent to judge, so we are not at liberty to decide for ourselves. The victim of depression and melancholy may sometimes think himself an un- profitable member of the community, a mere cum- berer of the ground, when his services are really substantial and important. And even admitting that he is, at present, so afflicted, so infirm, so vi- cious, so degraded, or so unfavourably situated in any respect, as to be entirely useless, has he lost every capacity of being otherwise in time to come? Or, if this capacity be now lost, is every possibility of recovering it certainly precluded ? May not his infirmities be hereafter removed? the clouds which hang over him be dissipated? his vices be repented of and abandoned ? his reputation be restored ? and his means of usefulness become, if not great and D