The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-07-10
THE WEEKS SERMON


0AucE restraint again, eDuC IN Treating
criminals in this way, all vindictive-
ness and malice would be eliminated,
evil wouldv be overcome by good; by
the law Of compensation and by the
law that like begets like, we should
ind that in time goodness and kind
ness would beget goodness and kind
ness, and the feeling of enmity would
be destroyed and the true and normal
feeling of brotherly love would grad
ually be established.
But so long as punishment Is dealt
out in vindictive spirit, IN the sense
OF getting even for the wrong done,
that same spirit viii be increased in
those whom we have under restric-
tlon,. hate viii beget hate, and the
criminal instead of being reformed is
likely to be often more hardened, |
hence the wisdom of our Lord and
Master who says, RESIST that is
antagonize not evil" and of st. PAUL.
who adds, 'Fbut overeomes evil with |
good" There is no other way and
until the world learns and practices
the way of the Master, evil will not |
rapidly decrease, if at all, let us who !
call ourselves christians follow the
Master IN this as well as in other
things which he has taught US. Every
true christian should look upon capital
punishment as a stain upon a chris
tan community or state, it is well
known and has been stated by those
who have made a special study of
this particular branch Of penal codes,
that 1t does not help to diminish
crime, in an able magazine article we
read some time ago and from which
we take the liberty to quote in one
or two places in what follows; it
states that during the reign of Henry
VIII it is claimed that over 72,0G0I
persons were put to death in England
for various offences, and that in one
year 1000 were hanged for poverty
alone-while crime stalked every
where. But it is needless to say that
with the exception of the 1000 thus
| put to death it did not diminish pow
erty, nor the other crimes it was
meant to suppress. Again in our own
land during the last hundred years it
is claimed that five hundred innocent
lives have been sacrificed in the carry
, ing out of the death penalty. Again
it is stated shat in those states or
sections of this country where capital
punishment prevails murders have
been most frequent and diabolicaI
while in those states where it has
! hnor, aLnIfsbaI Az 49,. L -. - -
respondingly less frequent md less
hideous in character" The great
authority on law the famous Black
stone says, Capital crimes increase
the number of offenders" It has al
ways been very hard for us to see
why the state in cold blood should
, sanction that done, what it so strong
! " prohibits the individual to do, no
+ matter under what provocation.
'Thou shalt not kill" surely applies
as much to the state as to the in
( dividual, for is not the state com
) posed of individuals.
i The great argument used by so.
J, called christians in favor of the death
] penalty is to be found in Genesis:lx.6
"Who sheddeth the blood of man by
d man shall his blood be shed, for II
: the image Of God made he man." But
some eminent scholars claim this t.
f be a misinterpretation and that i
, should read, Whatsoever beast shed
e deth mans blood, by man shall hi
n blood be also she'd"
d A few years ago we had an in
It teresting conversation with an assist
d ant district attorney of New York
n who prosecuted on behalf of the stat
e in two well known murder cases, Ii
h which he stated to US that it wa
e getting very hard to convict muir
h derer when the penalty was capita
!, punishment as some one on the iur,
Il was nearly always opposed to th
= death sentence, at heart, he said tina
D if the punishment was more reason
able one the conviction would be as
" sured more as now it often is not
J. this coupled to the fact that certaint
q of punishment accomplishes far NOR
i than severity of penalty in the prose
he cutlon OF crime, should 90 long wa
ic towards finally aboEshing the ur
IF christian penalty of the death sent
s. ence. Moreover the penalty of deaf
II has far less terror for the averag
til law breaker than many other form
Of of punishment especially the lii
al sentence, moreover in the death pei
e. atty there is no way Of undoing tn
&c injury if mistake has been mad
re which is well known has often bee
he the case.
in Our blessed Lord distinctly set asid
IN the eye for an eye and tooth fl
es a tooth doctrine when He said 81 sa
n unto you resist not evil"
ve Let US dear brethren learn to hat
nd evil and evil in the evil doer, but ais
PC let us remember that back Of Il
nd evil is a divine person made in Il
I'd image and likeness Of God, and Ehi
or all souls are Gods, and that it is OF
l." duty as long as we live to try an
n rise that soul to a true realization