The Poole Telegram. — 1882-07-21 (Poole, Dorset, England)

THE CRIME OF ROEDER.  The preacher took for his text the 9th chapter Genesis, 6th verse—" Whom sheddeth man's blond by man shall his blood be shed, for in the Image of God created he man." We know that murder bad not taken place before the flood—in fact the first recordel crime we read et is the While wag the murder of Abel by his own brother: and up to that time God had reserved the power of life and death to himself ; for even Cain the murderer was not put to death, but God diatinetly declared he should not he pet to death, and set s mark up-in him that none might hurt hint. But w ter this a womb rful change t ikcs place, and Almighty God delivers to man the sw rd of public joelcP, giVrs him the power of life and death, and makes him responeible for the general we'fare and security of the general community and society. But we must not Rupp( se for a moment that because Almighty God allowed Cain to go so far unpuniaLed aLd was not  put to death. therefore C iin had nothing ti remember in the way of punishment. His punishment must have been very srvere, for ho said himself "My punishment is greater than I can bear." He was sent forth • vagabond • and a fugitive, and we may truly say Cain, the first murderer, was gibbeted in the sight of all mankind. 'I hare are persons who argue that this commandment applies only to the Jews. hut let us remember, at the particular time at which this command was given, the Jews were not in existence, and did not come into existence till about a thousand yeare after ; and besides are the Jews the only nation in the world who were created in Go Is own image I Therefore we here see it is the revealed will ef God that all over the world, in every nation under heaven, murder, wilful violence, and bloodshed should be punished by one uniform penalty— the death of the murderer. It has been much disputed whether capital punishment has a wholesome effect upon mankind. Seine say it leads to the very crime, while others say it frightens and deters those who are witnesses of it. It is an interesting and important question, but God's command does not look at it from that point of view at all, for in the fifth verse it is distinctly said the same penalty should be inflicted whenever man's blood be shed —whether by beast or by man. Therefore we come to this point—there must be some d. ep principle underlying the command which God gave. It w s not given to deter and frighten p.ople from the commission of murder, but for some other reason. As far as we can see, God did net reveal the principle on which it was founded to Noah; but in the Book of Numbers we find God there declares emphaticaly that murder stains and defiles a hand, and there is no way by which the stain can be washed out except by the bh oil of the murderer. Let us not listen to mm's voice, for there is no reason why poor weak man should at empt to enlarge on the subject. Before I conclude, I should like to make one single ex dselation. The text I have taken has long been in my mind—l may Pay for years, lone and 1 ng b. fore it was possible to expect that the soil if this county (which, thank God, is generally so very free from violence, atrocity, and crime) should be stained by human blood, and that, alas I the inquisition for this shedding of human blood should take place at these Assizee.  The bu4deBs commenced on Wednesday, when the following gentlemen were sworn on the Grand Jury :  Sir John Michel, K.C.B. (Fareman.) Sir C. W. D'Oyley, Bart. H. B. Middleton, Eq. J. C. Hansel - Pleydell, H. S. Bower, Esq. E ci. W. A. Bankes, Esq. Maj.T-General Henning, T. Hussey, Esq. C.B. G. 0. Churchill, Esq. C. J. Parke, E, q. 0. C. Farrer, Esq. J. W. T. Eyler, Esq. G. W. Flover. Esq. R. H. Bingham, Esq. F. S. W. Webber, Esq. R. 0. F. S eward, Esq. C. E. Parke. Esq. E. Pearce, Esq. A. Martin, Esq. G. Bond, Ben. C. Powlett-Lane, Esq. C. Stewart Glyn, Esq. E. Pinney, Esq.