Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1859-12-16
For the journal
Capital Punishment.
Does the Bible sanction the hanging of John
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Does the bible sanction the hanging of John
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The interesting and important question OF
capital punishment we may expect will be asi
tated and discussed by earnest men, when.
ever the lite Of fellow creature has been
taken by violent means, varying in intensity
by the varying circumstances by which the
subject may be surrounded. In the discus
siof there will be, without doubt. consicen
tious as well as earnest men found on each
side, and some OF them may apprehend
themselves warranted in view of the ilnpor.
lance of the question, to lay aside the
browning vrtue-Charity. To such espec.
tally would appeal.
Foremost among the arguments in favor
of capital punishment stands the instruc-
tons given to Noah - "Whoso sheddeth
mans blood, by man shall his blood b
,hed,' (Gen: 9. g. Was this prediction
or a precept?
Ii we snould, for a moment, admit it was
| a precept given to NOAH, before we can be
assurel rs also binding on US, we must be
assured our circumstances are similar to il
not identical with his. AT the time it was
given, there We're no magistrates to explain
or enforce a law, no penltentiares, as NE ms
of reforming criminal, and no other la y
than that common to all animals-the law
Of self-preservation, by brute force. These
primitive instructions given to Noah were
very much sottened by the teachings of
Abraham aid his successors, and still more
so by Moses when the commandment in
scribed uponsssthe tables" reads thus -
"7Aou shall not KILL" The instructions
given in the 9th verse were no more imper-
alive than those in the 4tll and 9th verses.
Do the advocates of the literal Interpretation
of the 9th verse-lnaking it command
do they maintain by precept and example
that it is unlawful to eat flesh that has
"any blood thereof remaining in it p Are
thew prepared to ''requre at the hand of
every beasto s'the lite Of man. that rOay
have been taken by the instrunentality of
that beast, be it by accident Or self defense?
If the circumstances in which We find our
selves warrant us in modifying the law of
the 4th and 5th, surely our being surroun-
ded by such reformatory agencies as were
unknown to Noah will also warrant US in
putting such construction up the 9th
verse as shall agree with our circumstances
if we agree with the apostle when he says
"the law made nuthing perfect, but the
But the or nal will bear closer scru-
tiny The He rev words translated ''by
man shall his blood be shed" are of course
in the future tense, and had the pronoun
been in the first instead of the third person
the reading would have been strictly pre-
dction, but whatever force 'shaU' &C.
quires as q precept in connection with the
third person, it is modified by the sense of |
the preceding verses. Let Us take as an IL
lustraiion the Specification of the Hebrew
word dderesh, which is here translated "re-
quire," as upon it seems to depend the force
Of the whole verse-in several other in
stances it is translated ''inquire"-its sgni-
fcation is-to inquire atter--to be concerned
tor-and some annotators have attached the
sen of punishment to it but on what au-
thority does not appear only by implication.
The advocates of capital punishment APP
pear to find support from the New Tesla
ment, where the Lord Jesus in recounting and
the commands that had "been
given atoretime," it is recorded of him that
he said "Thou shald do no murder" and
ibis translation Of the Greek sou phoneuseis'
mas been preferred by some as it appears to
tx murder as crime as distinguished from
tiHing which they would have sometimes
awful. But uuhappily for such reasoning
he verb ''p6onuo'' with the negative on or
nee is, out OF the six times in which it oc.
;urs in the New Testament once only
"Thou shalt do no MURDER" and
i've times Thou shalt not kill"
With these things before US it seems the
most in accordance with our obligations az
Christians to accept OF the passage as
as it would more readily agree
Nth the teachings of our Lord, especially
Fhen he said ssResist not evil"
CHRISTIOLA.
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