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  • Jan. 1, 1797
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The Freemasons' Magazine, Jan. 1, 1797: Page 15

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    Article ON SUICIDE AND MADNESS. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Page 15

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

On Suicide And Madness.

such desperate remedies for relief , but to their relying upon their own natural powers , to bear them up under the severest trials ? Standing upon this ground , the properties of their nature were , by many great and trying adversities , worked up into a state of extreme contrariety , anxiety ; horror , and despair ; till at last these raging , contending qualities grew intolerable ; and , as the only relief from the anguish they feltboth had recourse to suicide . And as human nature is invariably

, the same in all ages , so the very self-same cause must be assigned for the many deplorable instances of the same act of desperation , even in these days of more enlig htened knowledge . Man ' s life becomes a burthen , when , by adversity and distress , the evil that is in him is violently excited . To fly from himself is impossible ; and finding all his own endeavours to remove his misery ineffrom his breastand

fectual , he thinks that happiness is for ever flown ; , ' no lonvrer able to bear the pungent reflections of his own mind , he breakslhe sacred bonds of life , and rushes headlong into eternity . To a mind tenderly affected with the distresses of human nature , how lamentable is this condition , which drives our fellow-creatures to suck immediate destruction ! Butlamentable as it isyet with respect to

, , every son of fallen man , till he feels himself in some measure in the state " above described , that is , till the properties of his natural life find the want of a higher good , he has no awakened sensibility of himself , no just conception of the depth of misery and happiness which lies hid in human nature . And would but men , upon these hying

occasions , - as their condition surely demands , give themselves up totally to God , they would infallibly find a remedy adequate to the depth and burthen of their misery : the working , contending properties of their nature would soon be appeased , by the eritrahce-ofthe heavenly power into their afflicted souls ; and an inward joy and peace would o-radually succeed , proportionate to the distresses they have endured .

° if Cato and Brutus had had recourse to this sovereign remedy , I am well assured , from the nature of man , neither of them would have perished with tlie ruin of their country ; nor yet under the tumultuous struggles of their own nature , far more insupportable than all outward miseries . For this heavenly remedy is always near at hand to every of and as soon as lie feels the burthen and wretchedness of

son man ; his own nature ( as feel it he will , sooner or later ) and in the earnest desire of his heart , cries out to God , the divine goodness will then communicate itself to the soul , as freely as the sun does its virtues to the fruits of the earth , which would perish , had they not their proper nourishment thus imparted to them , and derived into their natures . As this is an undeniable truth , which the face of nature demonstrates ,

so it is no less undeniably true , that a supernatural goodness , flowing from God , must be derived into the soul of man , in the same manner as the virtues of the sun must be derived into the fruits of the earth , before he can possibly arrive to that state of goodness and perfection which his nature wants . And as nothing less than an inward growth of the'divine life can be our Saviour and Deliverer , so it is the mis' tt & emcvim-idsration , that God is only an outyvard good , who has no

“The Freemasons' Magazine: 1797-01-01, Page 15” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 11 June 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fmm/issues/fmm_01011797/page/15/.
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
Untitled Article 2
Untitled Article 3
LONDON: Article 3
THE PROPRIETOR TO THE SUBSCRIBERS. Article 4
TO READERS, CORRESPONDENTS, &c. Article 5
THE SCIENTIFIC MAGAZINE, AND FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY, FOR JANUARY 1797. Article 6
ON SUICIDE AND MADNESS. Article 14
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SCIENTIFIC MAGAZINE. Article 16
THE GHOST OF STERNE IN LONDON. Article 20
ESSAYS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH HISTORY AND CLASSICAL LEARNING. Article 24
LETTERS FROM LORD ESSEX TO QUEEN ELIZABETH. Article 31
THE DYING MIRA, A FRAGMENT. Article 32
ANECDOTES. Article 33
REMARKABLE RESEMBLANCE IN TWO TWIN BROTHERS. Article 35
SINGULAR INSTANCE OF A CAPACITY TO ENDURE ABSTINENCE AND HUNGER IN A SPIDER. Article 36
ABSENCE OF MIND. Article 37
FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY. Article 38
MASONRY FOUNDED ON SCRIPTURE. Article 38
ROYAL CUMBERLAND SCHOOL. Article 43
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY. Article 45
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE. Article 45
REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Article 46
POETRY. Article 54
THE AFFLICTED PARENTS, AN ELEGY Article 54
TO THE MEMORY OF LAURA. Article 55
ODE ON CLASSIC DISCIPLINE. Article 55
LINES Article 56
IMITATION OF SHAKSPEAR, Article 56
SONNET. Article 57
TO THE GLOW-WORM. Article 57
SONG. Article 57
EPITAPH ON A BEAUTIFUL BOY. Article 57
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Article 58
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT. Article 60
HOUSE OF COMMONS. Article 60
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. Article 66
OBITUARY. Article 75
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Page 15

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

On Suicide And Madness.

such desperate remedies for relief , but to their relying upon their own natural powers , to bear them up under the severest trials ? Standing upon this ground , the properties of their nature were , by many great and trying adversities , worked up into a state of extreme contrariety , anxiety ; horror , and despair ; till at last these raging , contending qualities grew intolerable ; and , as the only relief from the anguish they feltboth had recourse to suicide . And as human nature is invariably

, the same in all ages , so the very self-same cause must be assigned for the many deplorable instances of the same act of desperation , even in these days of more enlig htened knowledge . Man ' s life becomes a burthen , when , by adversity and distress , the evil that is in him is violently excited . To fly from himself is impossible ; and finding all his own endeavours to remove his misery ineffrom his breastand

fectual , he thinks that happiness is for ever flown ; , ' no lonvrer able to bear the pungent reflections of his own mind , he breakslhe sacred bonds of life , and rushes headlong into eternity . To a mind tenderly affected with the distresses of human nature , how lamentable is this condition , which drives our fellow-creatures to suck immediate destruction ! Butlamentable as it isyet with respect to

, , every son of fallen man , till he feels himself in some measure in the state " above described , that is , till the properties of his natural life find the want of a higher good , he has no awakened sensibility of himself , no just conception of the depth of misery and happiness which lies hid in human nature . And would but men , upon these hying

occasions , - as their condition surely demands , give themselves up totally to God , they would infallibly find a remedy adequate to the depth and burthen of their misery : the working , contending properties of their nature would soon be appeased , by the eritrahce-ofthe heavenly power into their afflicted souls ; and an inward joy and peace would o-radually succeed , proportionate to the distresses they have endured .

° if Cato and Brutus had had recourse to this sovereign remedy , I am well assured , from the nature of man , neither of them would have perished with tlie ruin of their country ; nor yet under the tumultuous struggles of their own nature , far more insupportable than all outward miseries . For this heavenly remedy is always near at hand to every of and as soon as lie feels the burthen and wretchedness of

son man ; his own nature ( as feel it he will , sooner or later ) and in the earnest desire of his heart , cries out to God , the divine goodness will then communicate itself to the soul , as freely as the sun does its virtues to the fruits of the earth , which would perish , had they not their proper nourishment thus imparted to them , and derived into their natures . As this is an undeniable truth , which the face of nature demonstrates ,

so it is no less undeniably true , that a supernatural goodness , flowing from God , must be derived into the soul of man , in the same manner as the virtues of the sun must be derived into the fruits of the earth , before he can possibly arrive to that state of goodness and perfection which his nature wants . And as nothing less than an inward growth of the'divine life can be our Saviour and Deliverer , so it is the mis' tt & emcvim-idsration , that God is only an outyvard good , who has no

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