Augustine of Hippo on the folly of suicide examined in the light of scripture

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Reformed Covenanter

Cancelled Commissioner
When, recently, you jumped into a well in order to die there, you certainly did this of your own free will, but how cruel the servants of God would have been had they abandoned you to your evil will and had not delivered you from that death! Yet you threw yourself into the water deliberately in order to die there, and they pulled you out of the water against your will so that you might not die there; you acted according to your own evil will to your own destruction; they acted against your will to save you. If, then, that bodily welfare is to be so safeguarded that it is preserved even in those who do not want it by those who love them, how much more is that spiritual welfare to be preserved since by its loss eternal death is feared! Yet, you would have remained in that death which you wanted to inflict on yourself, not for time but for eternity, because even if you were being forced to some evil deed instead of to salvation, to the peace of the Church, to the unity of the body of Christ, to holy and indivisible charity, you had no right to try to kill yourself.

Examine the divine Scriptures and scrutinize them as closely as you can, and see whether this was ever done by any of the good and faithful souls, even though they suffered great trials at the hands of those who were trying to drive them to eternal destruction, not to eternal life, to which you are being forced. I have heard that you said the Apostle Paul meant that this was lawful when he said: ‘If I should deliver my body to be burned.’ Probably because he was listing all kinds of good things which are worth nothing without charity, such as tongues of men and angels, and all mysteries, and all knowledge, and all prophecy, and all faith so as to move mountains, and distribution of his goods to the poor, you thought he included among good things the taking of one’s own life.

But notice carefully and understand in what sense Scripture says that anyone should deliver his body to be burned: not, certainly, that he should jump into the fire when harassed by a pursuing enemy, but that, when a choice is offered him of either doing wrong or suffering wrong, he chooses not to do wrong rather than not to suffer wrong. In this case he delivers his body into the power of the slayer, as those three men did who were being forced to adore the golden statue, and who were threatened by the one who was forcing them with the furnace of burning fire if they did not do it. They refused to adore the idol, but they did not cast themselves into the fire, yet it is written of them: ‘They delivered up their bodies that they might not serve nor adore any god but their own God.’ This is what the Apostle means by ‘If I deliver my body to be burned.’

For the reference, see:

 
I have also started a new sub-category on the subject of suicide. Thus far, I have only found four posts that are relevant but I will add more if and when I come across them.
 
There are several treatises on suicide from the 17th century.

In 1637 the Puritan Anglican minister John Sym published, Lifes preservative against self-killing. Or, An useful treatise concerning life and self-murder. The Westminster divine William Gough wrote a preface to this work, in which he remarked,

I suppose, that scarce an age since the beginning of the world hath afforded more examples of this desperate inhumanity, than this our present age, and that in all sorts of people. Clergie, Laity, Learned, unlearned, Noble, Male, Female, young and old.​
In 1653, Sir William Denny published, Pelecanicidium, or, The Christian adviser against self-murder. This was written in response to a 1644 work by John Donne, which had been built on its titular premise: Biathanatos, a declaration of that paradoxe or thesis, that selfe-homicide is not so naturally sinne, that it may never be otherwise.

Donne's view seems similar to Luther's, who famously said,

I don’t share the opinion that suicides are certainly to be damned. My reason is that they do not wish to kill themselves but are overcome by the power of the devil. They are like a man who is murdered in the woods by a robber. However, this ought not be taught to the common people, lest Satan be given an opportunity to cause slaughter, and I recommend that the popular custom be strictly adhered to according to which it [the suicide’s corpse] is not carried over the threshold, etc. Such persons do not die by free choice or by law, but our Lord God will dispatch them as he executes a person through a robber. Magistrates should treat them quite strictly, although it is not plain that their souls are damned. [Table Talk, 1532; Luther's Works, (Concordia, 1955), 54:29]​
 
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Oddly enough they depicted that view of Luther's in the biopic film about him in which Joseph Fiennes plays Luther (surprisingly it was a decent enough film). I need to find a copy of Luther's table talk, I've come across several quotes of his that folks have pulled from that source lately, one of which speaks to the ridiculousness of Copernicus' assertion of heliocentrism (yes, very spicy stuff).
 
I need to find a copy of Luther's table talk,
Just be aware that there are several works in English with that title, but they are each selective in their content. The most definitive English version can be checked out on Archive. Also, Luther is probably the most misquoted and misattributed author in history.
 
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