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174 untimely death. Self preservation is a law of Nature & religion. No man, hateth his own flesh but nourisheth & cherisheth it. Every man, is entrusted by his creator with the preservation of his own life. He is in a sense his own keeper. There are many dangers of life, in which the interference of others can afford him no aid, & in the use of the supports of life, of meats & drinks & the like, he cannot make use of the aid of others. But there are certain exempt cases in which it is a duty to hazard life & even to lay down our lives. These are necessary self defence against those who seek our life, __ lawful war & for the cause of religion. When one is attached & life aimed at, if a person cannot escape from the danger, he is obliged to hazard his life in his own defense. The christian law teaches us that it is a duty by a prudent means to preserve our life from the hands of cruel & bloody men as Robbers & Murderers, as we see in the instance of St Paul, when his enemies had combined to take away his life he used prudent means to preserve his life, complain.g to proper authority & seek.g that protection which is the end of all governments to afford the subject.

 In lawful war, persons are obliged to hazard life. Men are not passively to yield to others their rights & liberties. They may lawfully resist the power of those who could take them away & stand fast in the liberty in which God has made them free & resist as they would resist the  power & rage of wild beasts, but in so doing they hazard their own lives.