The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-06-27
A sSafrela Christian.

Cc"SUSe7'CSH mas the following we'll
timed remarks:
The Philadelphia papers of the 9Th
inst. were filled with the details of the
execution of the murderer Probst,
and garnished with wood cuts that
profess to be nkenesses of the horri-
BILE villain. It is a brutal face, and
should be preserved as exhibiting all
the prominent physiological charac-
teristics of the p1ug-ugly species in
all its types and under all its nomen-
clatures. There is the square, stout,
full neck, the heavy jaws, the dull,
lowering eye, and the coarse, wiry
halr-the portrait of man who con
fesses to have murdered eight per-
sons, and those, too, from whom he
had received nothing but kindness,
for the sake of money. In a letter to
his parents, he speaks of this awful
butchery with coolness that argues
more than british insensibiity. He
says: 81 have now got so far in Ame-
rica that, with companion from the
Canton affhausen, I deprived of
life an entire family, consisting of
eight persons" He processes re-
morse for his crime, but it is a re-
morse that springs rather from the
punishment incurred than the crime
committed.
Probst, while in jail was provided
with a spiritual adviser, who, he
writes, instructed him well, heard his
confession, and administered the holy
communion. He ascended the scat
fold crucifix in hand, kissing and
clasping it to his breast repeatedly,
while reciting the Lords PRAYER, tie
Apostles Greed, &C., and now that
he is dead, the father confessor makes
a statement that is assuring in its
conclusiors to the vilest wretch that
crawls along the earth. He saws OF
Proost and his last days:
''He is very cheerful, and realizes
his last hour in truly Christian
spirit. He never said he was sorry
he murdered everybody but MI.
Deering. If he could undo it, he
would do so. He is truly penitent.
He trusts in the mercy of Jesus
Christ, his Saviour. He told me, to-
day, If God will only accept what
little sacrifice 1 can make meaning
his life, the hardships of prison, and
the anxiety, 'as an atonement for nv
awful crime, this would make me eX-
ceedingly happy OF course, I Of
ficiany assured him of that-the inf
mite mercy of God. He reads religious
books all the day allowed to himself
He says he never did anything wrong
ut home, and that is borne out bv his
friends who knew him from child
hood. He is naturally kind. In re-
gard to the murder, he got the one
idea in his mind, and it proved on
him. Eight murders were all one
act to him. He experiences the
power of prayer He says he can
pray now three or four hours without
the least distraction. The officers of
the prison could not refuse their re-
spects to him. On account of his be-
hayior in prison, they respect him."
1t Is entirely orthodox to religion
that
''While the lamp holds out to burn.
The vllest sinner may return"
And if Antoine Probst died a Christ
IAN, having received full remission of
sins, and was waited by an angelic
convoy to the regions of the blest, we
| are sure no one will find it in his
heart to regret his good fortune.
How fares it with Christopher
Deering, who was cut off with all his
sins upon his head, ''unhouseled, un-
anealed?" A -professor-though
an honest, upright, industrious farm
er and good citizen-has he gone
to join the angelic choir of which the
redeemed Probst is q member? We
pause in doubt, because the logic of
the doctrine makes it very uncertain
whether he is not assigned a less de-
sirable future.
1t may be that Probst is saved and
Deering lost. We can neither affirm
nor deny. The question arises whe-
ther this disposition of the disembo-
died spirits, abhorrent to our feelings
and to our inner sense of justice, is
not doing the cause of Christianity
positive injury. This effort to make
It appear that bloody-handed MUIR
derers have been converted and made
acceptable to the Most Highland
scarcely one ascends the scaffold
who does not make profession of
that sort, which is fully certified to
by his spiritual advisers been
carried to an extreme, but in no in
stance more conspicuously than the
one under consideration. We would
by no means have it understood that
Christian ministers should leave the