New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-06-21
THE DEATH PENALTY.

To The Editor Of The ~ L. Tribune.
SIR: VIII you permit who believes the punishment
Of death be proper in the Of the wul murderer
to say a few words in your columns in its deiensel
According to the Bible, tho punishment of death for
murder was unauhorzedp TO the Flood There are
strong reasons for saying it prohibited CAIN the first
murderer received his first sentence from God himself
II was sentence short Of death. The strength Of the
ground was not Yielded to his toll and he was doomed to
be ga fugitive and yagabond in the earth" And lest he
should be slain as an outlaw God set special mark upon
him for his protection against killing, and denounced
seyen-sod vengeance lin who should STAY him. IDS
conspicuous example undoubtedly followed and &C.
ccped as the law declared by the expressed will OF God
Accordingly we find that Lamech one Of Gains descend
ants was guilty o. cruel murder; but the death penalty
was not Indicted Lamech cited the case OF Cam as
precedent and insisted on like impuniy lSce Gen.
The result Of this uonnGction of the death penalty
that the earth corrupt" and was hed Win
violence and that "evcry imagination of the thoughts OF
the hearts of men only evil continually 80 utterly
depraved did society become and hopeessy rrepaabe
was the moral condition OF mankind that GOD sent HOOD
of waters destroy al mankind except one righteous man
and his family. Sec GEN., chap. VII
1t would SEEM therefore that the absence OF the death
penalty has been pretty thoroughly tired Inc ek-
permcnt continued for about 100 years and universally
prevailed The deporable result was apparent 10 GOD,
and should afford solemn warning TO man-Hlore
especially TO philosophical philanthropsIs
csab.bd II entered into and formed part Of the
covenant which God made with Noah ana his Postery
The law for the future laid down. very explicitly as
follows: "And surely your blood Of your lives WI r.
auc; at the hand Of every beast will require It, ana az
The hand of At the hand every mans brother ~"
require the life Of man. whose shedGeih man DIoou
by man shall his blood be shed" On this and other con-
dtons God blessed them, confirmed his covenant with
excellent promises ana babe them be fruitful ana mul-
tinly in the earth abundantly" see GEN. chap TX.
While men and nations continued rude ana uhcultl-
waited this law Of death for death was mPeTecu
At the time Moses gave the law TO he israehteo " was
the general practice those near of kin to the murdered
man to ay the murderer If they could by way oireFehge
or retaliation This custom was attended with obvious
inconvenience Tho great and powerful escaped punish,
ment and those were slain in retaliation who had Killed
their folOw-man by misadyenture. Inc custom was,
therefore regulated by the law OF Moses IN important par
cuars Six cities Of refuge appointed to which the
slayer might fee and, while d"enng III one Oh isl, ne
was protected from the ayenger OF blood III ne dd not
fec to one of he cities Of refuge, or if he did not remain
there he might lawfully be slain At the proper time inc
SLAYER was 10 be brought before tho congregation for
Judgment If it appeared that the killing was wilinTand
unlawful he be executed and no satisfaction for
his life was TO be taken. If shown that he killed
his victim by misadventure and not OF malice afore-
thought acquitted and after remaining in the city
of refuge until the death of him who was high priest when
he first fed there he permitted TO 20 home and ave IN
peaoe But the wful murderer was surely to be put TO
DEATH and by public authority; and II was declared that
blood deded the land which could not De cealsed except
by the blood OF him who shed It. See Nunb chap xXxyi
JOSH chap. Xxx
In the New Testament there is nothing whatever to in
dictate that the will OF God had changed as 10 requiring
the death penalty for murder but much to indicate the
contrary In the first place. Christianity did not profess
to interfere with forms Of government with municipal
regulations. Ii sought to reform the lyes OF men Oy I'M
uarpg the true knowlcd Of God, and by cutyang the
love of him in their hearts. While the Messiah tun!ed
the law and all its types and shadows were removed as
having performed their Office, yet the moral law ~ de-
fined by Moses was not repealed. Even It had been,
the law iuficug death for murder was not Of Moses but
was IN force among all mankind ever since the Flood An
apostle eujons upon Christians not 10 areHge Themselves,
because vengeance belongs God And this vengeance,
or yndcaton of His law He executes by the hand of the
civil magistrates who " his ministers attending
tinually upon this very thing" and who "bear the
sword for this very purpose Civil government IS de-
cared be the ordinance of God and is not to be re-
sisted aud the civil magistrate is expressly recognized as
rghuly armed with the swordhe power to execute the
penalty Of DEATH lSee ROM, chaps. xii. aRd kill
1t sometimes urged that the spirit ncueaed by Jesus
and his Apostles is too gentle and orgiying 10 allow OF tho
death penalty among Christians. To this answer brehy
Ist Jesus and His Apostles did fobd private revenge,
and the naieton of death by private persons But 2dy
thew never infatuated that the law given Noah aud his
sons was repealed they only turned over It's execution TO
the civil magistrate They recognized tho law inforce
STILL for righteous men, but for the wicked and for
murlerors in express terms. Tim. /. g. 3dly In the
parable of the wicked husbandnen, the punishment OF
death is recognized proper in the case OF those who
had maicously slain the heir Of their landlord 4hly, In
many cases violent DEATH by the hands of in public
authority is recognized punishment FROM God, and
justly inflicted. See Luke Kill To- xxi 2O- xiii 4Olli
Acts XIV. Ill -
respectfully suggest that nothing exceed the child
ishness OF late fppant item in TIE TRIBUNE, IN which
IL is asked Can anything bemoe coWardy or more Dloou
thirsty than that million OF men should seize an unarmed
fellow creature and slowly strangle him to death You
might as wei ask Can anything be unworthy than
for a God of infinite power, TO take away the life OF
finite helpless being merely because he can " Gods
Judgment is that the wul murderer is unfit 10 live lie
has impaired this Judgment TO men. He has enjoned
them 10 uAct death upon the wifu murderer And the
power 10 do this and the duty, by His will deyoyed
upon the civil magistrate who represents the majesty
aud power of the whole community The magistrate acts
according to law the embodied viii Of the whole commu
nifty; and the community in enforcing such law
acting in accordance with law OF God, enacted IN His
great mercy and for our race.
After all the sentimentalty which be INDUCED in il
is and always has been, at least since Noahs day. pre-
vang feeling Of the human heart that the wul muir
derer should not be suffered live. In such that
of Probs the murderer would be slain by the mob if the
law did not infct the punishment OF DEATH insist that
it is letter for the community that public law should niot
death tho punishment of MURDER than that the people
should inc IL by irregular violence. And the good the
community the only consideration which properly be
taken into the account The law of God inhictng death
for murder is founded the consideration Its Wis
DOM and its necessity 70 those who might otherwise be 80
shed by woful experience of 500 years IN which
capital punishment was not inflicted
Respectfully, NJ B.
Carthasa Wy
Remarks-"M b." by his own showing, is pre-
cluded from impartay judging whether the legal in
Fiction Of death exerts benefcent pernicous in
Auence. His gratutous assumption that there was
no death penalty prior to the Flood-his narrow in
terpretation Of tho text, "Whoso sheddeth" &c, AM
his Scriptural exegesis generally, constrain him 10
close hjs eyes and ears to all evidence Of the baeia