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him to death for the preservation of the lives of others," would be to anticipate crime ! In such case the capital punishment would be inflicted before the commission of the crime. I have always supposed that the crime ought to precede the punishment. But by the reasoning of the objector it appears, that he would have this order inverted; and would have his impartial judiciary court inflict a punishment on a man, not only for the crime he has committed, but also for a suspected, secondary, or future crime, which he has not committed; and by the effectual expedient of a capital punishment, exonerate the sufferer from the guilt of the unperpetrated murder, and take the guilt of his blood upon themselves!"

"If this doctrine of subjecting a member of the community to certain death by way of anticipation, lest peradven ture he might happen to kill another, was adopted as a general principle, it would embitter the enjoyments of social life, and might soon extend to the dispersion, if not the extermination of our whole race; but it requires only a small degree of attention to the subject to be satisfied that it cannot be supported.

Objection 3. "One who is sunk into such depths of depravity and hardness of heart, that he can deliberately, and maliciously destroy the life of a fellow being, has become a most dangerous enemy to the peace and happiness of mankind, and to the welfare of so

ciety: and no punishment short of taking away his life, can expiate his crime; ensure the safety of the community; or sufficiently deter others from the commission of the like horrid offence!"

"Answer. I agree that murder is a great crime against civil society; and a heinous sin against God. We only differ with respect to the civil punishment. I wish the experiment might be fairly tried, whether it be impossible to find some more beneficial alternative, than the shedding of human blood. In the preceding essays, I have mentioned confinement, corporal punishments, hard labour, or banishment. A late respectable writer says, "The successful experiments,made in England, and in Philadelphia, prove that jails may be easily converted from sinks of human depravity and wretchedness, into places of reformation. And surely it is much better to reform offenders, although a little more troublesome, than to butcher them under colour of law and justice." If only a small part of the expence which mankind are at, and of the ingenuity which they discover, in inventing and procuring the means for their mutual destruction; together with the expence of hanging our criminals; were duly applied towards the constructing and regulating of work-houses, and places of confinement, it would doubtless have a very happy effect on the state of society; and might soon relieve us from the awful spectacle of capital pun

ishments Systems of terror will better comport with a despotic monarchy exercised over ignorant vassals, than with a republican government of enlightened freemen."

Objection 4. "There is no divine command to punish men for shedding innocent blood, merely by imprisonment, hard labour or banishment."

"Answer. I shall briefly reply, that I have no knowledge of any divine command directing our civil magistrates what specific penalty to inflict for any crime. But it deserves special notice that there is a divine example for their imitation, in the punishment of Cain for murder, with hard labour and banishment. Would not our civil magistrates do well to imitate this divine example, by taking proper and effectual measures to preserve the life of the murderer (as the Lord did in the case of Cain) instead of destroying it. Gen. iv. 15.

Objection 5. "The moral precept, Thou shalt not kill, amounts to no more nor less than this, Thou shalt not commit murder."

"To say (as some do) that we have a right to take away the life of a human being, because he, or she, hath taken away the life of another, is a fallacious mode of reasoning. It appears like justifying one crime, by another. It is comparing ourselves, with ourselves, not with the law of God, which is the standard of moral rectitude. Let us apply this sophistical mode of reasoning to some of the other commandments, say the 8th, 9th, and 10th. Have we a right to steal from one, who hath been guilty of theft? Have we a right to bear false witness against one who hath been guilty of perjury? Or to covet the goods of one, who hath coveted the goods of his neighbour? In this way we might make void, not only the sixth commandment, but also all the rest, which respect the duty of man to man. By these commandments all theft, perjury, covetousness, and all shedding of human blood are expressly forbidden! If the sixth commandment had said, Thou shalt not kill, except it be one who hath killed another; or words to that effect; it would have given some colourable right to take away the life of the murderer. But as it now stands, and will forever stand, it gives no such right."

Objection. 6. "This moral precept, Thou shalt not kill, implies a penalty; as there can be no law without a penalty; and the penalty must be equal to the crime ; therefore the sixth commandment im

plies the penalty of death to the murderer."

"Answer. This is a curious and singular mode of syllogising a man out of his life. But as it must be a matter of serious consequence to him; I hope that I may be permitted to say a few words in his behalf, before the awful séntence of death shall be pronounced against him! In the first place it ought to be remembered, that the question here discussed is conversant only with penalties to be inflicted by the civil magistrate. And, secondly, that God hath not annexed any such penalties to any of his moral laws, whether engraven on the heart, or on the tables of stone. He

hath been pleased to reserve to himself, the sole and sovereign right of inflicting the penalties for all violations of his laws or of graciously remitting them !"

"As the objector professes to have found out the implied penalty to the sixth commandment, I would ask him, What is the implied penalty to he inflicted by the civil magistrate for a violation of the tenth commandment, Thou shalt not covet? Or, what is the civil penalty for not loving God supremely? This doc. trine of implication of penalties, would be a dangerous principle to be adopted in our courts of law; and especially in the trials of capital causes! In whatever light the subject is viewed, to me it appears evident, that this doctrine of the implication of penalties, cannot be maintained, Vol. VI. No. 7,

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Objection 7. "If our civil magistrates punish the crime of murder at all, that penalty must be executed which God hath annexed to his law, which is death. The law of God says explicitly, The murderer shall surely be put to death.

Answer. The Mosaic penal code, confined to the Jewish nation, and long since abolished, is here brought into view, and called by way of pre-eminence, The Law of God: I therefore find it necessary to make some further explanations. The ten commandments, engraven on the two tables of stone, and published from mount Sinai with peculiar solemnities, are often referred to in the New Testament, and are eminently styled, The law, The law from mount Sinai, The moral law, The law of God, The word of God, The commandments of God, &c. These laws were magnified by our Saviour, and represented as being of unlimited extent, and of endless duration! But the national laws given to the Israelites,respecting penalties, ceremonies, &c. were temporary. They may be seen from the twenty-first chapter of Exodus to the end of the pentateuch. These, are likewise often quoted in the New Testament, and are called, The laws of Moses, The commands of Moses, The sayings of Moses, Carnal ordinances, Carnal Commandments, Types, Shadows, &c. But I believe they are never styled in the New Testament, The Laws of God.

It merits particular attention, that although my oppo

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Dents quote one of those national laws, and urge it against me in the present question, as being of divine authority, yet it is evident, that they are not fully established in their own doctrine, because they do not adopt the whole of them.

Whenever a system of laws is ordained for a nation by proper authority, they have no right to single out one of them, and to urge that authority for the execution of it, and at the same time to discard all the rest. All those

penal laws were dictated to Moses, by the same high authority. They were all of equal force, extent, and duration. If our magistrates are bound by those laws to punish murder with death, they are equally bound to inflict the same punishment for, every breach of Sabbath. If my opponents have a predilection for that old constitution, in order to be consistent, they ought to be circumcised and keep the whole law of Moses.

Dear Sir,

The following extract of a letter from a friend at Rome last winter, displaying the true catholicism of the head of the Romish church, is at your service, if you consider it desirable for insertion in the Christian Disciple.

Yours with high respect,
J. S.

After relating that the writer and another friend had that morning been presented to the Pope, he proceeds: "He is the only Sovereign in Europe I have ever felt any curiosity to see, and him I desired to very much, on account of the firmness and dignity with which he always behaved in

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the most difficult and distressing circumstances, when kings and governments of force incomparably greater shrunk and yielded. We were presented by Abbè Taylor, an Irish Catholic, who is ap pointed by the Pope to present the English; but as we were Americans, we had a kind of national privilege to have a private audience at a time when it is not commonly given, and nobody went with us, except Professor Bell of Edinburgh, the famous anatomist. There was very little. ceremony or parade about it, and in all respects it pleased me extremely. On entering the room, we knelt and kissed his hand. He is, you know, very old, but he received us standing, and was dressed with characteristic simplicity and humility, as a Friar, without the slightest ornament to distinguish his rank. Bell spoke no Italian, and therefore the conversation was chiefly with