The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-02-16

Cuwat"s' were ne living To-Day, would Wleiu
upon this generation. Edwards was one of
the greatest minds produced in American
some respects, as logician and theologian,
perhaps the greatest Even as he lived in the
early days. when these States were sparsely
settled colonies and his home was quiet,
inland town, his influence was dominant. 1t
still remains with us. What power for good
would it have could it reach every Monday
morning the hundreds of thousands who read
the HERALD
This leads us to higher thought. What is
the Gospel? The word of God, spoken to
every human creature. What does Christ
teach us as to preaching the Gospel That
it should be spoken to every human creature,
even to the ends of the world, that sinners
may be saved. Surely. then, if the Gospel is
brought home to the hundreds of thousands
Of souls who read newspaper like the HERALD,
is not that an observance of Christ's precepts
worthy of commendation? It is not for us
to say what is the true reading of the Gospel.
That would, indeed, be a departure from
our mission. Whether it comes from Rome
or Canterbury, or Edinburgh or Jerusalem
whether it is truly expounded by Calvin or
Cranmer, or Jerome OF Knox, or Wesley, or
Loyola whether it is written in the Old or
the New Testament, and in NO other form, we
do not say. Our opinions belong to our con-
science. We recognize that there are eminent
and learned and holy men who represent all
phases of religious thought, and we permit
them to speak for themselves. We believe
that from this conflict and exchange of opinions
good will come. In religion, as in politics,
dissension nearly always springs from ignor-
ance. AS light falls upon mems minds, as
science enables us to read the rocks and the
mountains and the deep caverns of the sea |;
as we come to decipher the strange legends of
Babylon and Assyria, and seek for the walls of
Solomons Temple under the soil of desolate
and unhappy Jerusalem as the forgotten and
darkened eras of ancient history come nearer
and nearer, contested questions in theology are
determined, and denominations see point after
point of difference fade away. We have seen
the union of the great Presbyterian bodies in
this country after generation Of discomfort
and strife and division on some minor point
of doctrine We have seen an effort to unite
the Roman and Greek Churches, whose differ
ences are mainly on matters of church dis
cipline and not of faith. All religious people,
whatever they believe, pray for this union
Men differ about truth only as long as the
truth is hidden. When the light falls there is
no more contention, and we are profoundly
convinced that we can do nothing better calcu-
lated to throw light upon religion and lead the
way to union of religious sentiment than to
pursue our policy in regard to the publication
of the sermons Of our eminent divines We
are, furthermore. confident that the more
carefully the reasons leading to this policy are
considered by our critics the more gladly
and promptly will they approve of our course
The Murder Penalty Postponed.
Judge Davis yesterday granted a stay of
execution in the case of Edward s. Stokes,
convicted Of the murder Of James Fisk, Jr.,
and sentenced to be hung on the last day of
this month. This stay allows case to be
made on bill of exceptions for argument be-
fore the Supreme Court in General Term.
Should that tribunal sustain the rulings and
proceedings in the Court below the prisoner
will still have the right to carry the case for
review to the Court of Appeals, the highest
judicial authority of the State which is COM
petent to confirm the action of the inferior
Courts or to order new trial. Thus the man
who deliberately slew his enemy without any
extenuation Of sudden passion or of loss of
self-control from intoxication or other cause
is granted an unlimited lease of the life 80
justly forfeited to that vindictive law by which
alone society can protect itself. He has all
along built confident hopes of evading the
penalty provided for the murderer upon what
he is pleased to term his Responsibility.
For a whole year the expedients for delay
available to well-fecd lawyers sufhced to with
hold sentence which should have been pro-
nounced within q month after his victim
death His conduct in Court on the announce
ment of the awful verdict, Guilty of murder
in the first degree" and in the CONDEMNED
cell at the Tombs since his sentence, as well
as his whole bearing in relation to the terrible
crime for which he is confined, shows that his
claims to ''respectabilty' are not founded on
stringent moral sentiments or special scru-
pies as to what is due to social order. To
question the propriety of the decision made
by Judge Davis is beyond the province of q
newspaper. He is q sound lawyer and pru-
dent Judge. No doubt he has founded his
opinion upon such legal grounds as at least pre-
sent question to whose benefit the prisoner
is entitled. Still, it cannot be disputed that,
except in relation to the criminal himself,
long delays of penalty lose that wholesome
effect which is their chief virtue While
Stokes, about whose guilt no one has doubt,
can avoid punishment through the devotion of
wealthy friends whom his loose life had dis
graced before murder followed in the track of
vice, other reckless men whose inclinations