Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-07-06
JUSTICE TO GUITEAU.
What a Minister Says About 1t

The Cincinnati Gazette gives the
following remarks of Rev. Joseph
Emerp, of the Union Baptist church
in that city last Sabbath:
Whose sheddeth mans blood, by
man shall his blood be shed.
Shall not the Judge of all the
earth do right9
The command is older than Moses
1t was given to Noah. and followed
as a consequence of the disorders
that prevailed in the antedeluvian
world. 1t ID objected that this is a
law of the Old Testament, but so are
all the laws of the decalogue, which
all the world has adopted: "Thou
shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal;
thou shalt not commit adultery, ETC.
"Whoso sheddeth blood, by man shall
his blood be she'd" is Gods
law, and one that ought to
be enforced. If com mnunity
fails to do so the consequence will
be bad. In our community of States
we have an example. Michigan,
moved by morbid sympathy, dlsre
garded Gods law and abolished cap
ital punishment. The natural result
followed of murders increased ten
fold. There are many people who
express sympathy for murderers, and
want them imprisoned for life. But
God does not say anything about
Imprisonment, but that he shall die,
and that by man shall his blood be
shed. Some are honest enough when
they say they don't believe in capital
punishment, but God does. 1t is
wonderful how stoutly the Old Tests
ament supports capital punishment;
and the New Testament says: mo
murderer hath eternal life abiding in
him" Some of them may escape
damnation; but the reverend gentle
mans experience with them is that
they die as they have lived.
Gulteau was a most vile
wretch, utterly reckless full of bias
phemy, and unrepentant to the last.
There are many found to make
apology for murder-the Bible makes
none. It is mans duty to punish it
in Gods way, and thereby honor
God. The people that fails to do so
God will visit with a penalty. The
common apology for murder is in
sanity, and under the influence of
opinions colored by morbid sympae
thy, the man who is afflicted with an
utterly vicious and corrupt nature is
insane 1t is only aIy, sXEorIafn9hg 5X ths Eiggidf 81
shSSSss'HS : a.-,- ILL., -->~..ae-a and crimes
of all kinds are to be checked. You
are perhaps aware of the tricks of
criminal lawyers to gain time and
effect delay. Witnesses are sent off
to obtain continuance, that memo-
ries may become clouded or witnesses
die, and so way of escape be effect
ed. This laws delay is cause Of
crime 1t is the hope which
it holds out to the vicious.
Guiteau had this hope when he shot
the only Christian President ever
elected in the United States. He
clung to that hope throughout his
long trial and Imprisonment. Had
the execution of Gods law been GER
tain, Guiteau would not have fred.
Crime of every kind is rife in the
country. It will be less only when
the execution of the law is certain
If the saloon men who have been
tried had each been fined 500 and
sent to the work house their places
of vice would be closed to day. In
the Netherlands William the Silent,
a good king, was shot by an assas-
sin. The law was enforced. The
assassin was tortured and cut into
fragments. 1t seemed terrible, but
assassination ceased. With us law
is not enforced, SO that murders and
all other crimes increase, and lynch
law prevails. We have got o be
right on this matter, and, as on all
others, the Bible is the guide.