Augustine of Hippo on assisted suicide as murder

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Reformed Covenanter

Cancelled Commissioner
At least let him who thinks it advantageous and allowable to kill himself kill his neighbour also, since the Scripture says: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ But when no laws or lawful authorities give command, it is not lawful to kill another, even if he wishes and asks for it and has no longer the strength to live, as is clearly proved by the Scripture in the Book of Kings, where King David ordered the slayer of King Saul to be put to death, although he said that he had been importuned by the wounded and half-dead king to kill him with one blow and to free his soul struggling with the fetters of the body and longing to be released from those torments. Therefore, since everyone who kills a man without any authorization of lawful power is a murderer, anyone who kills himself will not be a murderer if he is not a man.

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