Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-11 00:00:00

TO THE REV. CANNON STOWELL
CIIAPLI.IN TO TIIE EMU sinnurr OF CHESHIRE.

'-`RAv. Sir,—l have read part of your Assize Sermon,
preached at tte Cathedral in this city on Thursday last,
as published in the Chester Chronicle of Saturday last. I
am there informed that your text was " Horour all men."
You introduced your subject by pointing out that, through-
out the volume of Holy Writ were to be found sentiments
and sentences evidently originating from God himself. The
sentiment and sentence of the text was one of those eman-
ating from the Creator. The idea was beyond the mind
of men or angels. The sentiment of the text made it
incumbent on us to honour man as man, however morally
debased our fellow men might have become; st ill, like blood
with our own circulated in their veins, and their souls
had been formed after the image of Him who had also
created us. All men had naturally the same passions, and
the same means of redemption were open to all—the same
God had created all men, and would judge all men;
therefore, if God said, honour ail men, who dare despise
his fellow, be he ever iso degraded or debased, the
trembling culprit was not to be treated cruelly as though
ha were hopelessly lost; but it must be remembered, that
although the palace was ruined, still we must respect those
ruins, even as a fallen monarch commands our respect,
though he be a captive. So far, most excellent. I never
make foolish distinction between my fellow men, because
the Creator made no distinction in the material forming
the body of the only man ever created. All men who do
make foolish distinctions are unwise men, to say the least
of them. Am not I, therefore, justified in saying that
there are a vast number of unwise men in England ?
Pride is the curse of this country. Monster pride first
entered the human heart in Paradise. One of the fallen
ones, who kept not his first estate, told the mother of
mankind, if she would partake of the fruit of a certain free,
she would become as gods, to know good and evil. The
woman, too much like many of her daughters of our day,
anxious to become great, did as the fallen one requested
her to do, regardless of consequences. Rivers of human
blood have le en shed, from the blood of righteous Abel to
the last drop now shed in India,•in consequence of monster
p.ride. You say, " Whe dare despise his fellow, be he ever
so degraded or debased ?" I say, Thousands of professing
Christians do so in England; if I dare speak to some of
such they would think me mad, and perhaps would put
me under the protection of a police-officer. There are
thousands of hypocrites in this country who profess
Christianity for worldly advantages. I would much
rather have the Christianity of heathen Rome than I
',would have the Christianity of many of the people of
England. A late Emperor of Rome reflected every even-
ing on the use which he had made during the day of his
opportunities of doing good ; and being unable one evening
to remember any act of kindness performed during the past
day, he exclaimed to those about him—Friends, I have lost
a day. Now, I ask you, how many Christians (falsely so
called) are put to shame by this exclamation of the
heathen Emperor. During his short reign, this man
showed the most remarkable sense of the value of human
life. When he accepted the office of Chief Pontiff, he
declared that he took it in order to keep his hands free
from human blood, and often said that he would rather
die himself than cause the death of others. Here is a
pattern for despots, tyrants, and falsely called Christians
of Europe, who are always thirsting for human blood.
Again, whe❑ Paul, the greatest apostle of the Gentiles,
was brought before Agrippa, he was permitted to speak
for himself. Hear him. " I think myself happy, King
Agrippa, because Isbell answer ter myself this day before
thee, touching all the things whereof I am accused of the
Jews." Hear with what confidence Paul spoke before the
King. "King Agrippa, believest thou the Prophets ; I
know that thou believest." Then Agrippa said unto Paul,
" Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Now,
suppose a poor man like myself, if placed in the same
position as Paul, attempted to speak as he did before
some of the judges or magistrates of Eagland, who call
themselves Christians, I believe I should be thrust into
prison for contempt of court. I believe in my soul that
it will bo more tolerable for heathen Rome at the great day
of account than it will be for the present nations cf Europe.
I now come to the second part of your sermon. You say
you have no sympathy with that mawkish sentimentality
of the latter day, which would abolish the punishment of
death. It was going against that statute-book of Heaven,
which was as binding now as when God uttered it, and
which would last as long as the principle on which it was
founded, and that would be for ever. " Whose sheddeth
man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Now,
permit me to say, I always speak and write as I think—
as every man ought to do—regardless of consequences.
Every man who does not do so is a hypocrite and a
coward. I am at a loss to know how a Christian man
can advocate capital punishment. All advocates of
capital punishment quote the 6th verse of the 9th chap.
of Genesis. lam not aware that thay ever attempt any
other verse. Well, this verse was written by Moses.
This man also wrote—" Let the adulterer, and the sab-
bath breaker, be put to death." No doubt you think that
all Moses wrote must be obeyed to the letter. If so, why
not hang the adulterer and the sabbath-breaker ? We
have disobeyed many of the commands of Moses.• You
know very well if the whole law of Moses had been kept
in its integrity in this country, three-fourths of the people
of England would have been hanged long ago. Singular
enough, Moses himself was a murderer. I believe he
committed as foul a murder as ever was committed. I
ask you, why was he not hanged ? It is true Pharaoh
sought to slay Moses for this murder, but he did not
attempt to upset the very heavens to do so, as the people
of England would have done. The sweet Psalmist of
Israel was an adulterer and a murderer. I ask again,
why was he not hanged ? • God help some law-makers in
this country if the whole low of Moses was kept in its
Integrity in our days. The first murderer said—" My
punishment is greater than I can boar. Behold thou haet
driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and
Irons thy face shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitive and
a vagebond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that
every one that findeth me shall slay me." And the Lord
said unto him—" Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain,
vengeance shall be taken on him seven-fold." Think you
was this command given to the few individuals who were
on the earth at this particular time, or who might have
been on the earth during the lifetime of Cain. According
to my judgment it ought to stand as perfect in these our
days as in the days of Cain ; therefore, I say, whosoever
drags the immortal part of roan from the mortal, vengeance
shall be taken on him either in this world or in that which
is to come. I do do not say that the murderer should
go unpunished, give him his life, it is a sacred
thing between him and his God. We will now see what
the Redeemer said about the law of Moses. The Scribes
and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in
adultery, and said, " Master, this woman was taken in
adultery, in the very act. Now, Moses, in the law, com-
manded us that such should be stoned—that is, put to
death with s' ones, but what sayest thou ?" Jesus
answered and said, "He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her." The wretched hypo-
crites were convicted by tficir own conscience, and went
out one by one. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and
saw none but the woman, he:said unto her, " Woman,
where are those thine accusers ; hath no man condemned
thee ?" The woman sail, "No man, Lord.". The corn

passionate Jesus said unto her, " Neither do I condemn

-
'thee ; go, and sin no more." Again, James and John, the
immediate Ellowers of Jesus, would have hanged all the
people in the Samaritan village if they had the power
We are informed that the people of' the village did not
receive them, that is, they refused to entertain them,
because the Samaritans had no wish to have dealings
with Jess. W 9 are not informed that the people used
any violence towards them, but respectfully refused to
entertain them. James and John were so exasperated at
this, and said, " Lord, wilt thou that we command fire
to come down from Heaven, and consume them, even as
Elias The Redeemer said, "Ye know not what
manner of spirit ye are of, for the Son of man is not
c ;me to destroy men's lives, but to save them," There
is only one solid remedy for murders, and that is a proper
education. Ido not mean an education according to the

fashion of the world. The people must be educated

believe th:tt there is a Goad who will judge the world, and
mast be educated to believe that there never was but one

At LEWIS Rz COMPANY'S, Ranelagh-street.
BOYS aro CLOMED from the Ages of Six to Twenty Years.