CHAPTER XII. Tendency of the common reasonings against Capital Punishment, to weaken the Sanctions of the Divine Government.-Retributive Justice a reality.-Prophetic aspect of the penalty of death for Murder.— Power and solemnity of the argument from analogy. -Conclusion. THE argument from Expediency is one that some men love to dwell upon too exclusively; but in such exclusiveness we are not fond of it. Not because we distrust it; it is powerful, and in its legitimate place, correct; but because, by a sort of Popish tendency, it is so often hoisted out of its legitimate place, to lord it over the word of God, the reason and the conscience. In the present instance, taken alone, it tends to lower the subject. There are higher grounds to rest upon, than any that mere expediency understands or notices. Even in the penal inflictions of this world we see an image of the Divine Jus tice, which, though inadequate, is awful and grand. Some men in their reasonings seem unwilling to admit of such a reality as Justice apart from Expediency. They do not even include it as in any way an end in their philosophy of penal inflictions. They would have no such thing as Justice, retributive Justice, if it were not to deter men from crime. This mistake lies at the foundation of all false reasonings on this subject it would exclude Capital Punishment from the universe, from the government of God. There is such a thing as Justice, retributive Justice, besides and apart from the purpose of security against crime, or the necessity of the guardianship of society and the universe. The idea is in our souls; the prophecy is in our consciences; the revelation is in God's word; the REALITY is in Eternity! There is a just penalty, just in itself, though we never rise to it here and no man will probably say, when a murderer is hung for his crime, that this was all he deserved, though all that society could inflict. The common proverb, Hanging is too good for him, shows a deep under-current of conviction in some cases as to the nature of Justice. What a man deserves he never receives here; if he did, this would be the place of final judgment, this the scene of final retribution. The utmost that can be done here is but a shadowing forth of the nature of Justice, an approximation to reality. There is an Image, a Miniature, a Prophecy, of that which is to come; and as such we should regard human justice; not a creature of expediency merely, but an image and a humble imitator of Eternal Truth. "Though to give timely warning and deter," remarks Mr. Wordsworth, Though to give timely warning and deter To which her judgments reverently defer. As such, she speaks powerfully to the conscience; her voice is glorious; nor would we have that voice hushed or weakened. It is one of the strongest objections which a believer in Christianity must feel to the whole reasonings of some men on this subject, that they tend to weaken and destroy the sanctions not only of the human government, but of the Divine. The same false ideas of benevolence, the same sickly and ill-placed tenderness, the same false sentimentality and compassion, that lead men to exercise a deeper sympathy with the murderer, brought to his trial, than with the murdered man, stricken down and thrust into an untimely grave; the same habits of thought and feeling, that lead them to dwell with more of pity and complacency upon the guilty man, than of hatred and abhorrence upon the guilt; are transferred to the case of criminals under the Divine government, and lead men to argue that it is impossible that a God of Mercy can ever execute the penalty of Eternal Death upon any offender. All this leads men to pity the sinner and forget the sin; to take the part of the sinner against God, and to forget God's insulted holiness, his abused goodness, the violated majesty of his Law, the injury against the universe. The incal culable evil of sin is but little noted, and instead of a spontaneous defence of the Law against the contemner of its majesty and goodness, the goodness of God itself is challenged and questioned, in reference to the very provisions, by which the holiness and happiness of the universe are secured. Doubtless, such reasoning would have been far more familiar, more universal than it is, if God had never promulgated the enactment connecting the penalty of death with the crime of murder. In establishing this statute, he has done much to render the judgment of the natural conscience of mankind consentaneous with the voice of his word, in regard to the punishment of sin in Eternity. If this sanction had never been annexed to hu |