Great Aggravation of Sin; and Murtherers carry up this Aggravation to a Height Peculiar to themselves. Not Satisfied with trampling upon his Laws, or affuming 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 Vifible 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 Compenfation; 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 whatsoever. 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 Firft and Second Death, by depriving him of that Space to Repent, which may be Neceffary, and might have been SufБЬ 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 Last, 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

I

Imme

Immediate Appearance before the Glorious and Unfpotted Prefence of God. And if these Circumftances be so 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 firft 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 Perfons 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 them felves, 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 dispose 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 fuffer 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

can they reasonably expect or imagine, but that they fhould feel the Weight of Solomon's Obfervation, in the fulleft and moft Extenfive Sense of it; Prov. xvi. 18. Pride goeth before Destruction, and an haughty Spirit before a Fall? A Fall into Eternal as well as Temporal Destruction; a Fall by fo much the Deeper and more Dreadful, as the Crimes which give Occafion to it, do more nearly resemble thofe of that Murtherer from the beginning, the Devil, whofe Infolence and Ambition threw him headlong out of Heaven into the Lake of Everlafting. Fire.

For what Foundation can there be of Hope, that God will forgive a Flagrant Sin, without the Sinner's Repentance? Or, how is it to be conceiv'd, that a Man fhould Truly Repent of a Sin, which he dies in the very. Commission of? The Arguments which have been advanced in Oppofition to this Plain Truth are Infignificant and unworthy of Regard. They prove that the Authors of them carried the Notions of Charity beyond all Juft Bounds; and That Bb 3

is