Heinous and highly Provoking. But God hath exprefly forbid the fhewing any Mercy or Compaffion to a Murtherer, and the taking any Satisfaction for his Life. * If any Man hate his Neighbour, and lie in Wait for him, and rife up against him, and smite him Mortally that he Diethe Elders fhall deliver him into the Hand of the Avenger of Blood that he may die: Thine Eye fhall not Pity him. + Moreover, ye shall take no Satisfaction for the Life of a Murtherer, but he shall be furely put to Death. Not the Cities of Refuge, not the Holy Altar of God, (a Sanctuary of all others the moft Sacred and Inviolable) was Privileged to exempt from Punishment Such an Unpardonable Offender: ‡ If a Man come prefumptuofly upon his Neighbour, to flay him with Guile, thou shalt take him from mine Altar that he may die. And when the Irreverfible Sentence of Death is pronounced upon him, this Remarkable Reafon of it is fubjoyned, ++ For in the Image of God made he Man. Contempt of God is the

*Deut. xix. 11. † Numb. xxxv. 31. Exod. xxi. 14. Gen. ix. 6.

Great

Great Aggravation of Sin; and Murtherers carry up this Aggravation to a Height Peculiar to themfelves. Not Satisfied with trampling upon his Laws, or affum ing his Dominion, they offer, as much as in them lies, an Outrage to his very Being, by Defacing and Destroying the Only Image of Himself which he hath Impreffed upon the Visible World. And there are Peculiarities of Aggravation in the Injury done to Man, as well as in the Indignity hereby offer'd to God. Other Injuries may be Repair'd, or admit of fome Compensation; But This is utterly Irreparable. Other Injuries may rob a Man of his Eftate, or Reputation, or of fome Particular Temporal Satisfactions and Advantages; But This is the Summary of Mischief, and Deprives him, once for all, of Every Temporal Benefit and Satisfaction whatfoever. And who can tell, but that this Injury may prove Fatal to the Sufferer's Soul, as well as his Body, and at once involve him in the First and Second Death, by depriving him of that Space to Repent, which may be Neceffary, and might have been SufB b ficient

ficient to the Accomplishment of his Salvation? Or, if the Injury fhould not follow the Sufferer into a Future State, if it should not fall upon him under a State of Impenitence, or press him down into Everlasting Destruction, yet must the Weight of it, even in Relation to his View of that Eternal State, into which he is paffing, fall heavily upon him.

For who can bear the Thoughts of being thrown Haftily and Headlong into the other World, instead of moving thither through the Common Course of Nature and Providence? Who is not exceedingly defirous of going down to the Grave in Peace and Quiet? The Wife Virgins themselves, though they had their Oyl ready, found it Neceffary, upon the Approach of the Bridegroom, to Trim their Lamps. Even the Best of Men would be glad of a few Leisure Minutes at the Laft, Deliberately to Review and mourn over their Miscarriages and Defects; would be glad of a little Calm and Undisturbed Space of Time in the Conclufion of their Lives, to Adorn their Souls, and prepare them for their

Immediate Appearance before the Glorious and Unfpotted Prefence of God. And if thefe Circumftances be fo highly Advantagious and Defireable; how Grievous and Grating muft That Injury be, which Deprives Men of Them?

Such is the Guilt, and Such the Danger attending the Tranfgreffion of the Commandment in the Text, in the first Inftance of it, as it fignifies Willful Murther, in the common Acceptation of it, or, the Offering Unlawful Violence to our Neighbour's Life.

Secondly, Let us Confider the Special Reasons of the Guilt and Danger of Those Persons who Deftroy their own Lives. It hath been prov'd above, that they are Tranfgreffours against this Commandment, and it would therefore be needless to shew, that they are involved in the Guilt, and confequently obnoxious to the Punishment of Murther, in General. But they expose themselves, in a Particular Manner, to the Greater Condemnation, by fome Particular Sentiments and Difpofitions, which are commonly the Root and Foundation of this Bb z Unna

Unnatural Crime. For, when Men deftroy themselves, to avoid or throw off prefent Sufferings, do they not Tacitly declare, that God fhall not difpofe of Them, as he pleaseth; that they will refolutely break through that State of Things which he hath determined and Established; that they will not be tied down to fuch Circumftances as he hath allotted to them; and that they will wreft their Lives out of his Hands, and not suffer him to prolong or protract them beyond the Limits of their Own Good Pleasure. And if this be the Secret Language of their Hearts, what can be expected, but that God fhould execute the Fierceft of his Vengeance upon them? Or, if Pride and Envy and Ambition have fo much Power over their Minds, that they will not bear the Thoughts of that Distance which is betwixt themselves, and those who are placed in a higher Sphere, and they will, in the Abundance of their Arrogance and Refentment, violently remove themselves out of the World, because they are not advanced to a more advantagious Situation in it, what

can