Litchfield enquirer., 1832-09-06
[aT sEaUEsr.l


Bv, iftEe ~ were wont 10 peal Nth his horn line
past and Il hath been .esGed 70 his owner, AsA ke
a.h 20. ksEs h..n !" ~ , .ooe es nd f hs owe
80 shall be put 70 Death. ---E1Oals XXX. % y
The principle Of this law is all thai we
knre concerned with at present. And II Is
very plain one, and q very broad one
brought ont here in specific case, but ex~
tending TO ten thousand Others 80
tits this. Every man is responsible TO
God for the evils which result from his
selfshness, or his indifference to the wel-
fare Of Others This law viii help us'to IL
lGstrate the principle. .
e. If an OK gore man or D woman, that
they die then the Ok shall surely be
stoned, but the owner of the OK shall be
quiet. The design il stoning the OK. was
to produce an effect upon men---to show
them how highly the law-giyer valued lu-
man lifes The very beast that destroyed
IL, should be cast forth as an abomination.
Saws God to Noah: the blood Of your
lives will I require atthe hand Of every
beast will require i, and at the hand ct
man. A stigma shall be fixed upon man
or beast that shall destroy him, who Is
made after the similitude- Of God. But
WHY is the owner in this case omit, or guiIl~a
lest Simply because the death is not in
any way the result Of his, carelessness, or
Of his selfishness. From any thing within
his knowledge, he Ind no reason to expect
such result. But u The OK had been wont
to push viii, his horns, and he knew i, he
shall be responsible for the consequences,
whatever they may be. For he had ese-
ry reason to expect, that mischief would be
done, and took no measures to prevent i.
And If the OK kill man or woman, the
owner hath done the murder, he shall be
put 70 death. Why? The death was the
result ofhis selishness, or Of his indiffer-
ence to the lives Of others. And accord
ing to the law Of God, his life shall 60 for
il. The principle ofthis law, isa principle
of common sense. s;s
You see a fellow creature struggling in
the water. You know that I've can never
deliver himself. And you know that a
very little assistance, such as you can rem
der, will rescue him from watery grave.
You look on. and pass by. True. you did
not trust in him. But he dies by your
neglect. His blood will be upon your
head. AT the bar Of God, and at the bar
of conscience, you are his murderer
Why Z? You did not kill him. Neither did
the owner of the OK lift hand. But ye
shall surely Be put to death. You had no
malice, neither had he. You did not in
tend his death-at the very worst, you did
not care. 81 This is just his crime. He did
not care. He turned loose wild, fiery, i'll
tempered, ungovernable animal, knowing
him TO be such; and what mischief that, am
imal might do, or what suffering he might
cause, he did not care. But God held
him responsible. :.
.Take another case on the same princi-
pie. And it is concerning this which has
caused fear and trembling 70 most Of us.--
Your dog has gone mad. You hate 20 kill
him, for ne has or had some good qualities.
You hate to tie him up. for it is too much
trouble and you hate, worst Of all, to be-
lieve that he is mad. 1t has been testified
to YOU that many have died Of his bite, al
ready raving mad and that many more in
different stages Of the disease. are coming
10 the same miserable death. But still you
will neither shoot nor shut up the cause OF
this wretchedness. You affect to doubt
whether any ofthem had the real hyiropho-
bia, or whether the bite will produce tho
same effects again; and 50 you leave him
loose among your neighbors, and your
neighbors' children. .Isit not, dictate Of
common sense, that you ought to be re-
sponsible for the result Z and you ares
All'that perish by means ofthis animal, are
slain by your hand. They owe
their death to your carelessness Or selfsh-s
ness, and it is in vain for you 70 say--I had
no malice, i did not set the dog en--they
might have kept out ofihe way and If he
was mad il was none of my concern let
every one look ont for himself Would
not this be adding insult to injury; and i'm
stead of proving yonr Innocence. prove
yoHga wretch past feeling? But what has
all this to do With the object Of this meet
ing. Much every way. We wish to act
upon established principles. We have
endeavored 10 establish one principle, viz
that every man is responsible for evils
which result from his own selflshnss, or in
difference 10 the lives Of men.
In other words; to make man re-
sponsible for results, II IS mot necessary 10
prove that he has malice. or that he intend
ed tho results. The highwayman has no
malice against him he robs and murder,
nor does he desire his death, bat his mo-
ney ; and If he can get the money, he does
mot care. And he robs and murders boz
<a,s.as 10 Hose. h;rnaalf and does n0f caro-