Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-05-05

ViO olBh"u"iN " 2
enough to reply to our articl
against punishment-frst by quot
ing our definition, and then mar
ufacturing one which he thinks bel
ter. 1t is something like the TO-
lowing: "Punishment is er2 in
flicted by the Government upon
transgressor as an expression @
his guilt or ill desert" The def'l
ition does very well for his pur
pose, but it yet remains for frien
D. to tell and prove how the gov
ernment is to manufacture goo,
from evil. How can we expect t,
reap good when only eva is sown
We propose to say nothing NOR
at present upon this point of hi
argument; but with this hint W
will merely stand by, with GU
hands in our pockets, and see hin
extricate himself from his owl
trap.
"Punishment," he says, "has TO
its object the sustaining of thu
law and government, the upholdint
of the public good" This we ad
nit; so admitted before. We WOO
have it understood that it is no
tbs motiue which we are combat
ting, but the effect; and that We
further argued that capital punish
mentS are deleterious in their ef
feet, neither beneftting the indi
vidual nor the public, and implied
that mHder punishment could be
substituted which would be not SC
barbarous in its nature, and which
perhaps, would insure reformation
to both.
Again he merely stated (no'
proved) that we confounded pm,
iShment with discipline; and act
would state in answer that he con
founds discipline with punishment
Punishment should always be dis
cipline, but discipline is not al
toays punishment. A man holds
his life as a tenant at will-not o
society or the government, who
did not and cannot gire it or re
new it, and have therefore no righr
to say a mans life is at their dis
posal-but Of Almighty God, who
gave us life, and who alone has the
sole right to reclaim it as His own
whenever it seemeth good in His
sight. A man may not surrender
his life until it is called may he
then make a contract with his
neighbor that under such and such
circumstances his neighbor shall
kill him? If I cannot make such
an agreement with one ofmy neigh
bors, can ten of us make such an
agreement that would be any more
valtd or justifableH If it is NOR
ally wrong for one man to take hui
man life, (even though the victim
was a criminal and securely bound
is it not also morally wrong for fif-
ty men to do similar act? Yes
and why? Simply because in SC
doing man transfers to human
hands a power which he himself
does not possess. Can my worthy
friend prove that we may transfer
to another something we do moi
ourselves possess.
Again the death penalty is found
ed in the law of retaliation, which
inAicts evil for evil, and good only
for good, "eye for eye and tooth
for TOOTH" The very escence OF
retaliation! The spirit of ven
geancel 1t is rife with the prlnci-
pie that nailed our Savior to the
cross, and contains not one iota OF
that spirit that dictated the more
than mortal petition; q" Father
forgive them, they know not what
they do"
Can we, who profess to be g
Christian nation, the true .follo'0-
ers of Jesus, continue to do that
which he so utterly condemns in
every word and act of his earthly
life? We live under the influence
of the "new and better covenant. "
We are not heather, Hindoo nor
Hebrews, but Christians. Show
us single declaration or act oil
Christ or his apostles that sane
tions the gallows, or burning be-
heading, strangling, the rack, the
wheel, the guilotine, or the taking
of human life in any form or for
ann crime, and we will yield the
argument. But until then we hope
we will not be condemned if we
love the spirit and commands OF
our Master more than the inhu-
manity and barbarity Of a darker
ooa And if Our friend sd" has a