New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1843-01-10
rs. Dtranenaw in resardso TakiHs Fife

or sAcszp H,srorY: with ps,es ss,.
Reference 70 the Authority of lhe o!e syLvEsTER
GsAass Aasbor Of JOIN % s1
Lie! No H., PIP. 5l2, lsg.o . :. vi.
deli, G5 C.Jall5eTs2,reet- Pfice ~ ee- =,
The profoundness Of research, the Phi'0soPa.'
and religious spirit manifested Throughout 'iA'
work. with The high Importance u the topics 1t
a;s..a.es will we cannot doubt, commend 1t TO
,he aonrosa,ioa and study of the thoughtful few
70, me though,less many it possesses few attraf-
,io,s Bot for the Investigating and earnest who
aes,,,y reverence the teachings of Divine Rereia-
lion without discarding or contemning that lofty
Reason which has enabled them to Distinguish IL
from the pretended and irrational revelations ny
which the world has for ages been distracted ms
work has enduring attractions, as 1t "ili ehasie
them to see clearly what they before conceived
dimiy casting light points presented IN the
Sacred Record which have aforeiime perPlexed
and troubled tEem.--As specimen OF the Work,
we ex,ract wha, is said upon the passage In Gen
tx. commonly deemed an immutable command to
shed the blood OF maaslsyers, which we think will
be read with interest and enlightenment by men of
diHeren, views on this much coatroverted Scrip
ture. II is as follows:
All the reasoning which have applied to the
revelation made 10 Noah and bis concerning
food, legitimate and strictly applies also 10 tee
revelation made them in relatios TO taking lite
70 man as Species-io Human Nature as a
whole, comprchendng all generations. God says
stTHoU SHALT NOT KILL" But TO Moan ana ms
SONS as particular portion OF the human iainils
in particular state or condition ana clrcunstao-
ces of human nature, God says Surely, your
blood of your lives viii / require at the hand of
every beast will / require it, and at the hand OF
man: at the hand of every mans brother will
require the life OF man. Whose sheddcth mans
blood, By man shall his blood be she'd for in the
imege of God made he man 1t is entirely GER
tain that the law Of penal requislton Is ottounded
in the direct relations which exist between God
and Man; for the taking of the life of the muir
derer can in no measure cancel nor extenuate bis
sin against God; in any measure atone FOR his
sin nor serve in any degree TO reconcile him to
God; nor in any manner affect the relation which
lie. as Il moral and religious being, sustans TO God
1t is therefore entirely certain that 1T is las
which is founded solely in the social relations ex-
listing between man and man, and which results
from the integrity and efficiency of the coastitu
,ional laws Diyinely established in the nature OF
things, and is necessarily developed by particu-
lar state or condition aud circumstances OF mans
complex nature and consequently it is CT Divine
validity and authority only when and where the
particular condition and circumstances OF man :
nature exist out of which it necessarily arises
And thi, is manifsstly the true import Of the por-
ton of the Mosaic Record under consideration,
and is explicitly confirmed by our Lord Jesus
Christ. Tho Hebrew word which our transla.
tors have rendered require radically and prima-
rily means 10 tree.@i to run after, or pursue;
and the idea which tho Original record clearly and
IA fhpfo NJ opa MAJ
or vindctivey pursuing another. We have sev-,
that "the earth was filed with violence before
the food and it is morally and philosophicaly
certain that among other acts Of violence TO which
the anteduvians were addicted, were those OF muir
der aud sanguinary revenge. And we know that,
from that time to the present, where the condition
and circumstances OF mans complex nature haze
been the same, " the avenger Of blood has pur-
sued tho homicide virdc,ively and implacably
as he did in the days of LamecA aud Moab And
we know also, with perfect certainty, that this
general fact has, In no measure, been a fortuity
bat a dcterminate, conditional result of the integ
ri,y and efficiency of laws which God has const
tutionally established in the nature of things
Hence, therefore, when God, according TO the Mo
sale Record, declares TO Noah and his sons, Z" gu,
blood of your lives will surely acenge; whose
sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be
shed, it is evidently rot revelation of what God
our moral and spiritual Judge and Father abso-
lutely prefers us in the natural fitness Of things
best, with reference tie mans true moral and spir-
i,ual relations to himself, nsr as adapted to, or
compatible with, the highest and best condition OF
human nature; but 1t Is a Divine annuuciation OF
what God knew would in particular state, OF
condition and circumstances of mans nature, ne
ccssatily result from the integrity and efficiency OF
the constitutional laws which he had, with infinite
,al n tbo
OF things: and therefore this Divine annunciation
Is equivalent to the human diom, Whose she'd
deth MANS blood, by ,cilL his blood surely bs
shed ''--"' The avcuger ofblood tciH pursue him. y
So Jesus says to Peter, All they that take the
sword shall perish with the sword" But this is
manifesty not an enuncaton of our Saviour
aoiA, nor the PRONUNCIATION of positive law oi
God; bat declaration of what from consti,u.
tional necessity, general thing ceriaioly takes
place. "Violencs hegets violence" g Blood in.
stgates to blood" So fur, therefore, is the re-
cogdcd language OF God to Noah and his sons. and
OF our Lord TO Peter, from being an expression oi
the Divine will and authority that man shall abso.
lutely she'd blood for blood or take lie for life
that on the contrary, it clearly and strongly i'm.
plies that it is the Divine will and pleasure tina,
man shall come into that slate of his nature, IN
which he will be sufficiently susceptible to the
moral and spiriteal power Of God to bc restrained
by them, in the consciousness Of entire moral free.
dom. not only from the act of taking life, bu, alss
from entertaining the murderous feeling and the
sangainary desire, And, accordingly, our Saviour
declares the law of retaliation to be utterly incofn-
pstible with the true moral aud spiritual relations
which man, in the highest and best condition OF
his nature, susaias to God and TO his fellow man,
and utterly Incompatible with the moral and spr,
itual kipgdem which he came to establish on
earth.
But, shall the manslayer shed the blood of his
fellow naawith imPunity' Shall the murderer be