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Article THE USE AND ABUSE OF SPEECH. ← Page 4 of 4 Article ON SUICIDE . Page 1 of 2 →
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The Use And Abuse Of Speech.
of this kind , ' very frequent in the mouths of great men , I shall enumerate no more out of the many instances which might be brought of our using sounds without ideas ; but , from what has beeo . said , I anj persuaded the use of speech appears of no such universal advantage as some may think it , and that we may not consider the distinction which speech has set . between us and the brute creation ( if it hath set any )
so much to our honour , nor make so ill a use of it , as to upbraid them with what , if Nature hath granted to us , we have so barbarously and scandalously abused . '
On Suicide .
ON SUICIDE .
IT is a melancholy consideration that onr news-papers should every day present us with accounts of those who haverthought fit to offer impious violence to the first and leading law of Self-Preservation , as well as the laws of reli gion and their country . I know not how to account for the great increase of Self-Murderers amongst us . Is it that there is more calamity in our nation than formerly ? Are the means of comfort more difficult to be arrived at ? Are men become
less merciful to the indigent of their species ; or are our passions become less governable than they were ? It is difficult to say how far either of these causes prevail ; one thing is certain , that no distress , even the bitterest that man can . suffer , is sufficient to warrant a violation of his life . It is true , indeed , when a man groans under the heavy pressures of poverty ; when his days are clouded with disease ;
when he is obliged to taste the bitter cup of the world's cruelty , and bear , as Shakespear says , " the proud man ' s contumely and the insolence of office , " he is apt to cry out , in the words of that great poet , " O that the Almighty had not placed his canon against self-murder . " But however he may be excited to wish himself stript of a being that
is miserable , it by no means follows that he has a ri g ht to lay down a . life he did not give himself , and which he is commanded to bear till the Author of his nature calls for it . —To what purpose are we sent into this world , but to act a part in it suitable to the sphere assigned us by the Ruler of human affairs ; and if we send ourselves put of being before our task is finished , we behave as ridiculously as that actor would dowho should quit the stage in the first actwhen
, , he knew that his part was cast to continue till the last . —Should it sq fall out that his part is grievous to him , if he imagines he could perform another better ; and if he has just reason to believe that his talents might be employed to a hi gher advantage , yet a man of honour even in this case will not relinquish his post ; but after using all na tural and lawful efforts to rise in the dramawill wait with patience
, till an opportunity occurs of distinguishing himself , and moving in a more eminent sphere . But abstracted from these considerations of expediency , which perhaps are not powerful enough to work upon sullen natures , Id it be
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Use And Abuse Of Speech.
of this kind , ' very frequent in the mouths of great men , I shall enumerate no more out of the many instances which might be brought of our using sounds without ideas ; but , from what has beeo . said , I anj persuaded the use of speech appears of no such universal advantage as some may think it , and that we may not consider the distinction which speech has set . between us and the brute creation ( if it hath set any )
so much to our honour , nor make so ill a use of it , as to upbraid them with what , if Nature hath granted to us , we have so barbarously and scandalously abused . '
On Suicide .
ON SUICIDE .
IT is a melancholy consideration that onr news-papers should every day present us with accounts of those who haverthought fit to offer impious violence to the first and leading law of Self-Preservation , as well as the laws of reli gion and their country . I know not how to account for the great increase of Self-Murderers amongst us . Is it that there is more calamity in our nation than formerly ? Are the means of comfort more difficult to be arrived at ? Are men become
less merciful to the indigent of their species ; or are our passions become less governable than they were ? It is difficult to say how far either of these causes prevail ; one thing is certain , that no distress , even the bitterest that man can . suffer , is sufficient to warrant a violation of his life . It is true , indeed , when a man groans under the heavy pressures of poverty ; when his days are clouded with disease ;
when he is obliged to taste the bitter cup of the world's cruelty , and bear , as Shakespear says , " the proud man ' s contumely and the insolence of office , " he is apt to cry out , in the words of that great poet , " O that the Almighty had not placed his canon against self-murder . " But however he may be excited to wish himself stript of a being that
is miserable , it by no means follows that he has a ri g ht to lay down a . life he did not give himself , and which he is commanded to bear till the Author of his nature calls for it . —To what purpose are we sent into this world , but to act a part in it suitable to the sphere assigned us by the Ruler of human affairs ; and if we send ourselves put of being before our task is finished , we behave as ridiculously as that actor would dowho should quit the stage in the first actwhen
, , he knew that his part was cast to continue till the last . —Should it sq fall out that his part is grievous to him , if he imagines he could perform another better ; and if he has just reason to believe that his talents might be employed to a hi gher advantage , yet a man of honour even in this case will not relinquish his post ; but after using all na tural and lawful efforts to rise in the dramawill wait with patience
, till an opportunity occurs of distinguishing himself , and moving in a more eminent sphere . But abstracted from these considerations of expediency , which perhaps are not powerful enough to work upon sullen natures , Id it be