ness, and forbids you to thwart His designs. If the
sufferer be virtuous, God has an eternity to reward his patient
endurance; if guilty, the Lord often punishes in this world that He may
spare in the next. Let Him have His way, if you are wise; His command to
all is clear, "Thou shalt not kill."

One rash utterance, like that of Dr. Bach, can do an incalculable amount
of harm. Why, gentlemen, just think what consequences must follow if his
principle were, admitted! For the only reason that could give it any
plausibility would be that the patient's life is become useless and
insupportable. If that were a reason for taking human life away, then it
would follow that, whenever a man considers his life as useless and no
longer supportable, he could end it, he could commit suicide. That
reasoning would practically justify almost all suicides. For, when
people kill themselves, it is, in almost all cases, because they
consider their lives useless and insupportable. Whether it results from
physical or from moral causes that they consider their life a burden,
cannot, it seems to me, make any material difference; grief, shame,
despair are as terrible sufferings as bodily pains. If, then, we accept
Dr. Bach's principle, we must be prepared for all its baneful
consequences.

IV. But are there no exceptions to the general law, "Thou shalt not
kill"? Are there no cases in which it is allowed to take another's life?
What about justifiable homicide? There are three cases of this nature,
gentlemen; namely, self-defence, capital punishment inflicted by the
state, and active warfare. With only one of these can a physician, as
such be concerned or think himself concerned. He is not a public hangman
executing a sentence of a criminal court; nor is he acting as a soldier
proceeding by public authority against a public foe. As to the plea of
self-defence, it must be correctly understood, lest he usurp a power
which neither human nor divine law has conferred upon him.

1. _Self-defence._ It is a dictate of common-sense, already quoted by
Cicero as a universally received maxim of Jurisprudence in his day, that
it is justifiable to repel violence by violence, even if the death of
our unjust assailant should result. In such a case, let us consider what
really takes place. A ruffian attempts to take away my life; I have a
right to my life. I may, therefore, protect it against him; and, for
that purpose, I may use all lawful means. A lawful means