The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1898-02-16
THOU SHALT NOT KILL.
The Ten Talks Get Down to
Murder in the First Degree.

tt1t aQOROtlNt dtOtC Va hNCHAnA t1AC s1dD-
bath afternoons in Morgantown for
the time being. The usual large au-
dience was present Sunday, though
not quite so numerous as the preced-
\ ing Sunday. The sixth command
ment was the topic of the '.Talk. y
Mr.. Paul Mccoy opened with q very
| fine solo, most artistically rendered,
with piano accompaniment by Mrs.
Keene. Mr.. Fast handled the topic
in his usual logical and lucid style.
Following is an outline OF his talk:
/. OF the government of all things
by law.
| 1t is often quite difficult to render a
reason for some OF the things that are
most familiar to US. We have &C
cepted the idea that the taking OF
human life with malice aforethought
is a crime, without question and with.
out thought. In seeking the reason
for this universal Judgment we are
led to inquire to what extent
are things animate and inanimate,
rational and irrational, governed by
law? We speak OF the laws of mo-
ton, Of gravitation, of optics, of acou-
sites, of nations, of man, of nature,
etc. What then is law in its highest
sense? Whence does it derive its
sanction? The well recognized defini
tion is, claw is a rule of action,
prescribed by some superior, and which
the inferior is bound to obey
II. or the government of human
action by law.
But how far is the action of human
beings rational beings = possessing
both reason and will, subject to pri
mordial law? Did the command Civ
en- by Moses to the lsraelites at the
foot Of Mt. Sinai, amid 1.-THE thun-
behring's and lightnings, and the noise
of trumpets, and the mountain smok-
ing,n and the terrors of the people
create the offense known as murder?
Was it no transgression of any fixed
and invariable law, prior to this com
mand, for any one, wantonly, to take
the life of another? Or did the Mo-
sale desperation merely reduce TO a
written state a law that from the
creation of man had been indelibly
impressed in the minds and upon the
hearts of the children of men? These
questions lead us to inquire:
l. or the punishment of murder.
In all ages, In all countries, under
all conditions Of civilization or sava-
gerry, murder has been recognized as
an offense against the law of nature
1t is a crime that startles the human
conscience. In some degree of the
offense, almost universally, the pun
ishment is death.
2. OF the universal antipathy to
murder.
Whence comes this universal antip.
athy to murder? The answer is no
where to be found unless we concede
that it is one Of the forces existing
from the beginning for the control of
the actions of men.
3. OF human reason and will.
But, some may inquire, have you
lost sight of human reason and will?
Do they exercise no control over the
actions of men? II so, to what ex-
tent? An investigation OF these
questions leads us into some consider
ations respecting the origin of law,
society and government. He who
would study these questions intelli-
gently must not lose sight of the fact
that society, law, religion, and the
state, are, in primitive conditions, al
most inseparable. Law was religion:
religion was Jaw.
Ill. OF the origin Of law.
There are three principal theories
as to the origin of law;
/. The social-compact theory. To
this many learned men have lent the
sanction of their great names. Among
Others that of John Locke is conspic-
uous. This theory is purely specu-
lative. 1t rests upon no historical
foundation whatever.
1. The traditions of Oriental law
givers.
The traditions of almost every ma
tion of antiquity go back to some sim
gle law-giyer, who lowered above
other men in wisdom and authority,
possibly inspired by divine suggestion,
under whose direction their laws took
form If not beginning. "There was a
Moses in the background of many a
history besides that of the Jews. "
3. OF the notion of the institu-
tion Of all human law and govern
ment by God himself-by the direct
mandate of the creator. In the light
Of the best thought, as developed by
modern research into the primitive
conditions of society, we are enabled
to reconstruct that society in some of
its essential features:
(a) Status was the basis of primi-
tive society.
(b) Society first the family, sec
ond the tribe, third the state-count-
ed for everything.
(c) The individual counted for
nothing in primitive society; govern
ment and law came to be recognized
before the individual was recxoned as
a unit of government.
Under these conditions there was
no room for the 'ssocial compact. :"
AS to the other tn eories of the origin
OF law, Q) the individual law-giyer,
and (2) law by divine dictate, cit is
sufficient to say that the one exager-
ates the part played by human choice,
and the other the part played by
mans implanted instincts ~"
Back of all these theories, however,
there exists evidently some grain of
truth. A distinguished writer has
summed it up as follows:
Although government did not
originate in deliberate contract, and
although no system of law or of social
order was ever made out of hand
by any one man, government is not
all a spontaneous growth. Deliberate
choice has always played part of its
1t was not on the one
hand given to man ready-made by
God, nor was it on the other hand
human continuance. In its origin it
was spontaneous, natural, twin-born
with man and the family ~"
But, once having arisen, government
was affected and profoundly affected
by mans choice; only the choice en-
tered, not to originate, but to modify
government.
This then is the extent to which
reason and will may control human
actions; they must modify but not
adapt, but not create; they
must work in accordance with law
naturally fixed in human character,
nd xr,;<l,:, +ho .wIo~o a.