Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1843-10-13
COMMUNICATIONS.
TO His Etcellency, Charles Paine, Governor of
the State of Vermont.
No ~.
CAPITAL PUNlSIIM ENT-THE LAW OF
GOD

i|tW iou llUlUh HtH NOT UllSluken Wn0n | |
affirm that all nations, civilized aud savage have
considered death as the only proper punishment
for the crime Of m1rder. The universally of
this sentiments so deeply grounded in the reason
and conscences Of men, can be accounted for
only by supposibg, that God has written it as n
law upon the hearts of men that he has for.
mally enacted and proclaimed it as an unaItera.
! BILE statute, aud that tradition has nu oduced it
among all nations, that the sentiment that "the
murderer ought 10 die has prevailed even more
extensively than the custom of sacrifices. W ich-
| ever hypothesis we embrace, either of this law
being engreven upon The human conscience or
| formally promulgated in the written CODE brings
| us 10 the same conclusion, viz,-that the law is
| from Gods an expression of his mind and will
| and nusl stand until it is erased from the con
science and annulled from the statute book by
| the same authority Tint enacted il.
The clear and strong conviction Of my own
mind is, that both the supposltions above nude
are the truth that God has written the law. re-
| qulrng the murderer to be pul to death both up-
on the conscience and in the statute book thatit
stands in both unrepea able, aud holds lis place at
the head Of the worlds criminal Jurisprudence,
just as the ten commandments hold their place
Al the head OF the science Of christian ethics. OF
rT-conrse, am equally persuaded that no human
legislature has any control over this ordinance of
| God and that the repeal of il would be offensive
| to God and unsafe to the community. | hold to
the divine enactment, and maintain its authority
rs supreme above all earthly legislation Some
oil my reasons for this conviction are the follow
ing
!. The universally of the sentiment that the
murderer ought to be pm TO death, is such as to
show that this is law OF God grduen upon the hu-
man conscience. Long before it wns given to
Nonli, we see it existing aud operating on the con-
scie of Cain and his contemporaries. When
he had committed murder, God said TO him, The
voice Of thy brothers. blood crieth unto me from The
ground voice loud and terrible came up from
The ueUths of his conscience and told him
that he ought die. lie felt that every other
conscience decided in the same manner, for he
said, behold every one that Gndeth me shaH Stay me.
This language clearly implies that it was, in
the view OF the race, crime against law which
forfeited his life. Even after God, for wise reas-
ons, had RENTED the penalty, the supreme
law glver had right TO do, there was forebod-
ing in his soul, that all mankind would seek to kill
| i'm, To prevent this mark was put upon him,
so that he might he known and seven fold VEN
geance he Inflicted Oh the man who should dis.
regard it,
Nor there he doubt, that Lnnech, when
he had committed murder, ieit and reasoned in
the same way; and supposed himself TO have
ceved a remission of the well known penalty
which conscience attached 10 this crime, together
with divine guarantee of his safely This may
be inferred from his language. :" If Cain shall be
drenged seven fold, truly Ldmtch serenity and Sep
enJoid." Thus, this deep horror AT the crime of
murder, and this deep, nwrought conviction that
llle murderer OuHnl 10 ule, nave DBGn developed
wherever men laye grown into communities.
We have another evidence that the law against
, the murderer is craven upon The conscience in
Tie feelings and conduct Of the barbarioas PEG.
ple,h who showed much kindness TO the
apostle Paul. after his shipwreck. Though their
impressions had been much in Paul's favor, vet
when they saw The vcnomous wiper iasten on
his hand, they said among shemseiyes No doubt
This man is murdere", tOhom, though he hath esca
pedhe sea, vengeance spfereh not 10 lire. This is
u striking case. THIS divine justice against the
! murderer, holds strong place in the convictions
of the barharous and The refined. II has been so
in AL time, among all people, The whole crea.
ton seems 10 array itself, by the appointment of
God, against the murderer. "The elements
scowl aud darken upon him. The air is with dread.
full faces thronged. Circumstances, us if instinct
f with spirit and intelligence combine against him. +,
: Hence the MAXIM known in all languages muir.
r | der tUHt out" 1t can not be concealed In The
/ language of Mr.. Webster, in the trial of Knapp,
g "'The whole creation of God has neither nook
e nor corner where the guilty can bestow such a
n secret and say is sale. The gully soul can
r not keep its secret. Ii is false TO ITSELF or
rather, it feels All irresistible impulse of conscience
to be true 10 ITSELF: 1t lahors under its guilty. nos
G session and knows not what to do with it. The
i human heart not made for the residence OF
IT such an inhabitant. il finds itself preyet Oh by
,, IA torment, which it daIes not acknowledge to God
j. or man. yulture is deyouring il, aud it can ask
d no sympathy or assistance either from heaven or
h earth. ] he secret which the murderer possesses
soon 10 possess HIM, and like the evil spirits
). of which we read, il overcolnes him, and leads
st him whittier soeyer it Will He feels it beating
If at his heart rising to his throat and demanding
If disclosure. lie thinks The whole world sees 4
1, in his lace reads it in his eyes, aud almost hears
y lis workings IN the very silence OF his thoughts
II must be confessed: it will be confessed there
is no refuge from confession but suicide and sui
" eide Is confession" Thus in respect TO murder
Z all men agree.
J. "Tho offence is rank it smells o heaven
l. 1t hath the primal, eldest curse unon it,"
We can not account for this strong and univer
o sal conviction that murder not be concealed
n and that the murderer ought 10 die, but by sup
D, posing that God has craven this sentiment upon
E the hearts of men us the expression of his own
g mind and will. But
|. 2dy, The argument from natural religion the
e moral sense of mankind, evinclng tile intention:
10 of God that malicious murder shall be punished
II with death is confirmed into absolute certainty by
5, the written law. Witness The statute given L
J. Noah as the bend aud governor of the human
race, after The flood. Hoso sHEDDETu MANS
e BLOOD, BY MAN SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED. Gen
- 81 6. This may he said to he the first or AZ least
y the second law on record in the Bible. The cir
~ cumslances connected with its enactment give
al great importance. 1t was al the lime when Coo
u gave TO our great progenitor new character TO
D. the world, which had Just been redeemed trou
OF The flood. The object OF Tins law was the pres
ut eryaton OF human life, 10y throwing around it TIT
e. highest penalty which man is capable OF bearing
H. on earth ; and the reason assigned for awadn;
such penalty, is Because, IN the image Of CO.
G. made he man. And IN The moral code given Il
le the Hebrews, this law is re-enaced with great so
" lemnty. Witness the following passage from the
IA 35h chapter OF Numbers, commencing with tht
~ 10th verse.
co l6. And if he smite him with an instrument o
l. iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the muir
derer shall surely be put to DEATH II. And it h
smte him with throwing stone, wherewith h
20 may die, and he die, he is a murderer: The muir
al derer shall surely be put to death. 10. Or u HI
nj sme him with hand.weapon of wood, where
CO with he may die, and he die, he is murderer
n The murderer shall surely be put TO death IS