Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1836-02-04


minister of God, acting with divine COM
mission.
1t is urged against capital punishment,
that the murderer needs repentance, and to
take away his life is TO send him unprepared
to the retribution of eternity. Is this plea
more valid now than II might have been in
the DAYS of Moses? No doubt the murderer
should have space for repentance; but some
questions require careful consideration
Would the murderer be more likely to repent
if left to die natural death, than If allowed
only short space before his execution? A
sense of the magnitude of a crime is very
much influenced by the degree Of severity
with which it is punished. Would not
law, therefore, abohshing capital punish
ment, and chasing murder with crimes OF
| lower order, have a tendency to hard
en- the heart of the criminal, and lessen the
probability of his repentance And would
not such law tend to lower In the minds
Of community their adherence of murder,
and thus occasion greater frequency OF the
crime, and a greater number of those who
are sent, without warning and without pre-
paration, to eternity? If there be any data
| from which an answer to these questions can
be made out, they ought to be brought for
ward. Should we abolish capital punish
ment, 1t becomes US to proceed with our eyes
open, and nor take leap in the dark.
Some plead for the abolition Of capital
punishment on the ground that innocent peo-
pie have frequently fallen victims to the law
which requires its inhiction. Why do they
not condemn the use of horses, carriages,
steamboats,, edge-tools, medicine, &c, be-
cause innocent people are daily falling sacri-
fees to them? Are not our lives exposed
from almost every thing? 1t is true am IL
able to fall an innocent sacrifice to the law,
which Furnishes the murderer with death !;
but this hazard is a tax which pay for the
greater security of my life and if it answers
the end, as believe it does, am on the
whole gamer.
My essay is already too long, and must
omit much which wished to write.
VINDEX.
| REMARKS.
The subject now approached, is one Of no
inferior magnitude. From the days Of Mo-
ses down to the present time, the public o.
pinion of the world. with little exception,
has called for the blood of the wilful man
slayer. If respect for the opinions of man
kind justly demanded reasons of our fathers
| for the steps they took in rs, the same de-
mand may now be valid against as many as
would set aside this ancient practice-espe,
cially as, without doubt ii has been very
generally held to, as a moral and religious
duty, owed to our species and to God Blu,
it is not enoug that the usage has been
Of long standing-that it has been very gen
eral, and that men have been sincere in its
support. All this did not satisfy Finder
| No, in settling other important questions he
has already discovered the necessity of set.
ting up higher standard of duty-of throw
ing himself on to higher ground On that
ground we rejoice to meet him. If the Claw
and the Testimony" are against US, we are
anxious to know it. If it be otherwise, the
public ought to know it, as one great motive
! to the saving of human life.
In approaching Revelation, with this dis.
cussion, distinction presents itself, which
to US, so far as we have examined the sub
]ect, now seems obvious and necessary, al,
though we do not recollect having seen i,
noticed. 1t stands between lars and penal
t ties, and is 20 greater or less extent prdc-
ttcdlly observed throughout Christendom.-
, Especially does the enlightened legislation
of NewEngland, and, to great extent, of the
United States generally, manifest that oul
, Legislators, so far as they have any regard tc
! the codes of the Bible, do, in respect to near.
r ly all these codes, treat the ld1csas one thing
and the penalties as another. Take an il
Illustration: The penalty Of the law as given
to Moses against adultery, Levticus k 1O7
5 was capital punishment: adulterers should
7 surely be put to death. Now while our le-
glslators adopt the law, "Thou shalt no,
commit adultery" they reject the penalty
D required under the former dispensation. A.
D gam: Levitlcus xiv. 10, 2O1 "If man
=. cause blemish in his neighbor; as he hath
! done, so shall it be done to him; breach fol
: breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth as he
f hath caused blemish in man, 50 shall i
De done to him again" Our legislators en-
! act laws against doing violence to neighbors
Out "nlcnsot them think Of annexing tn,
4 penalties here required? Which of them re
n quHe an eye for an eye, or a blemish for ;
olemlSh The important questions then
' now to be settled between US who 90 to III,
: Law and the Testimony, are ,hese:-I. Ar
v all the temporal penalties annexed to trans
gresslons Of Gods righteous laws under tn,
:. old dlspensation, obligatory under the new
o 1t Is taken for granted that this question i
: no sooner asked than answered by all; an.
: the universal answer is, no.-2. If anu O
> these penalties are obligatory, which ar
they7 has ourSavior specified one? 1.-The ha
s not, why is one obligatory more than anoth