The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-03-26
"WHOSO SHEDDETH MANS
BLOOD"
Human Laws Cannot be an Improve.
ment Upon Gods Laws.
Statesvillc Landmark

Statesvillc Landmark
1t is gratifying to know that some
of the ministers of North Carolina
are giving their attention to the Sc
riOus condition OF affairs in this State
which has resulted from the lax en-
forcement OF the law. We are print
ing today and able and thoughtful
article on this subject from the pen
Of Rev II. NJ. Blair. editor of the
North Carolina Christian advocate,
to which we direct attentions; and at
least two ministers, Rev Dr. Black
well, Baptist, of Wilmington, and
Rev. DR.. Caldwell, Presbyterian, OF
Winston, have recently preached ser
mons on the same subject The peo-
pie OF the State must be aroused to
the terrible seriousness of the situa-
ton and q reformation must ensue
lest a worse thing come upon us-be-
fore the people rise in their might and
take the law into their own hands.
The Winston Journal made the fol-
lowing report of Dr. Caldwell's ser
mon:
He took his text from the ninth
chapter of Genesis, the fifth and sixth
verses.
"And surely your blood OF your
lives will ! require; at the hand OF
every beast will require it, and at
the hand OF every man; at the hand
OF every mans brother will require
the life of man. Whose sheddet h
mans blood, by man shall his blood
be shed; for i'll the image OF God
made he man
Seldom has this subject been han
died with more logical and judicial
accuracy and force; and DIR. Caldwell
spoke last night for the sanctity of
human life with the authority given
him by Scripture and the aggregated
wisdom and experience of ages past;
and he showed most plainly that the
only way in which human life can be
adequately guarded is to infict, as
the Bible teaches, the death penalty
upon the murderer OF course there
are those who dissent from him and
not few who believe that the death
penalty should be erased from the
statute book of the civilized world
but no one who heard him can fail to
acknowledge the Justice and cOgency
OF his reasoning and believe with him
that the laXity of the laws, as well as
the hardness and hall heartedneSs
with which they are administered, is
the fruitful cause of many murders.
The late Rev. DR.. Wood, of States
vile, land better man never lived
Ill the wOrld), once said to this writer
In discussing the abolition OF capital
punishment: MAN is not more lust
than God and he need not think he
Is. In that sentence is q sufficient
answer to all argument for the abol-
ition OF capital punishment. "Whoso
sheddeth mans blood by man shall
his blood be she'd" is the law of God
and man cannot improve upon it for
man Is not more just nor more mer-
clful than the Almighty.
Since the cutlery against the failure
OF the courts to enforce the law, SO
notably shown in the Bishop case in
Charlotte, there has been at least one
article published in a North Carolina
newspaper arguing for the abolition
VI thlitul punishment. W e nave so
little patience with such doctrine
that we cannot discuss it calmly; and
we have only referred to it to say
that such arguments may be expected
as a result of the sentiment which
has sprung up in the State in recent
years-that nobody ought to be pun
lshed for anything. To such teaching
Is due the numerous acquittals and
light sentences by the courts, and the
many pardons by the Governor; and
the gentry who turn criminals loose
or let them off with such light pun
lshment as to make the whole pro-
ceeding IL farce, are commended by
some people as ''merciful and humane
men God save the mark! and God
save the State if this so-called mercy
and humanity continues, for hui
man life is about as unsafe in North
Carolina rs it is in any half-civilized
country in the world.