The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1853-03-23

( men see that none render evil for evil to
any man." "Avcngc not yourselves, but ra-
tier give place unto wrath for it is written:
Vengeance is mine, | will repay saith the
! Lord,' &c. BE not overcome ofevil. but
overcome evil with good"
Scnnca says: "All punishment is either
for amendment or for example, or that 9TH
crs may live more secure" Admitting this
to he so, then, We proceed to state our oh.
Jcetlons to the present system. In the first
! place popular argument in favor of Capt.
tai punishment, we wish to remove. It's ar
| gucd, that as the old law of the Bible says,
that "hc that killcth any man, shall surely
be put to death, it is right and incum-
bent upon us to obey the law As we have
! stated, our present laws, although founded
upon the Mosaic law. have been amended
and modified. The law rs given to Moses.
IN the same connection with the preceding
Quototion, says :-"And he that smitcth his
father, or his mother, shall be surely pnt to
death, And again " And he that curscth
ms father or mother, shall surely lie put to
death In fact Exodus and Lrviticus abound
i'll these passages, that were it necessary to
prove an hypothesis, we could give Il num-
bcr, but these are given to show if we are
TO acknowledge one law, why should we not
the other also The law rs given TO Mo-
scs, WAS as scrupulously to be observed rs
" life for life" Is this not plain? We think
so. In the exercise of the present law, So
cIcty has imposed such acquisitions rs seem
cd fit
From time to time, as we progressed in
knowledge and observed the effect of our
laws, the most Objectionable features of the
law have been modified Our code of laws
approXimatcd nearer TO the old law when
first codificd, that at present. The old Mo-
sale Law was good in mat day, our laws at
first were good then. The habits and Gus
toms Of the lsracltcs rendered their laws
salutary and wholesome, and - it was ante
rior to the Christian end. the s,irinI Z effect
of the exercise Of ,tv. u.s e.. nl.,l..,. .. .,,,.
or no Importance. jar tN,s govern G.nrr-
cnt class of individuals" if vour brother
offend seventy times seven. still forgive him."
We arc to extend charity towards all men.
But more than ALL by condcmning man
to death, we are abrogating to ourselves, a
right which belongs TO Divinity In the old
! law 1t is distinctly stated "cvc for eve. tooth
for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. bum
ing for burning, wound for wound, stripe
/
for stripe" he light of christianity which
in our age dilluses itself over men. quc,linp
the storms of strife and discCrd. inculca-
! ting good for evil, did not diluse itself into
the spirit and actions of the men Of that dav
The law was strictly to be enforced as II CIV
IL law, spiritual morality @ was not contcm-
| plated. Since Savior has attoncd for
mems transgrcssions, all of our actions are
to be associated with fUrbcarancc. rood will
toward men. If we are correct in these
premises, we ask the intcrrogatOrv. Docs
1t lcgliImatcly belong to man to take the life
of another! We answer, No. For the
consideration Of the eternal destiny of man
kind, reflects dignity on the mcancst hu
man being, and attaches an importance to all
| our affections and actions in relation TO him.
unsPcakably greater than if his existence
were circumscribcd within the narrow Limits
of time, and throws completely into the
shade all the degrading circumstances with
which he is now surrounded" We pro-
cced now TO the consideration of a more im-
portant feature.
The punishment of death then, is for exam
pie to others. The idea of death, is SO re-
voting to man, and more especially when
hung by the neck until dead, dead, deud, that
the example will be restraint upon the ac
tlons of other vicious minds What reason
have we TO believe that this is So We are
more inclined to believe that it increases
crime. But let us see. Man is a creature
of imitation The little child who sits on
his mothers knee, scrutinousIy observes his
fathers actions, and then tries to do so too.
We see it stated, that so prone is man 10
immltate, that when dissipation RACES in ii
city for day or two, it Increases cntil every
body appears to be affected with the mania,
then suddenly it ceases until fresh out
break. 1t is strange but yet true, that this
is the case. The human mind is so consti.
tuted, that man is always inclined to im-
tate. Let there be dminution of crime in
a community, and suddenly murder is COM
mitted,; in multi iude of instances, one or
more murders succeed. We cannot account
for it, but we ask the intelligent reader if
this is not the case. On one occasion in
London, a woman committed suicide by as
cending the monument ut London bridge on
the Thames river, and precipitating herself
thcrcfrom. This was certainly a very novel
plan resorted to, in order to destroy ones
self, and no one had ever thought of such
an idea before. Strange as it may appear,
in day or two another woman did the same
thing this was followed by several more.
and in one week, fifteen persons had put AN
end to their lives in this manner: and the
police of London were compelled to station
aguard at the monument to prevent persons
| from killing themselves This was the re-