[ 250 ] [March, 



on capital punishment. 



The frequent recurrence of those horrible exhibitions which, under 

 the character of law and justice, disgrace our country and its code, 

 must awaken the most painful considerations in the mind of every 

 reflecting and feeling member of the community. Our attention is the 

 more particularly called to this subject, since the establishment of the 

 winter assize in the metropolis and the home circuit. It was at this 

 joyful anniversary of our creed, that we were wont to relieve the mis- 

 fortunes of our fellow-creatures ; and forgetting, in our ecstacy at our 

 own redemption, the distinction which man had drawn between vice and 

 virtue, we did not omit the cell of the criminal in those equal practices 

 of beneficence and charity which we were accustomed to exercise at this 

 season, as a small token of the love and gratitude we feel towards our 

 Saviour for the grace he has bestowed upon us in this world, and the 

 salvation we hope, through his blood, to enjoy in the next. The sword of 

 the avenger was sheathed, and all the kindlier impulses of our hearts 

 were set in motion, to encourage us in acts of brotherly affection one 

 towards another, so that mankind might be united in the bond of peace and 

 in righteousness of life. It is however an awful reflection, that this festi- 

 val of our Lord can no longer be kept holy, and that the lightnings of 

 the law must flash forth, even during this period of repose, which had 

 for so many ages been devoted to purposes of love and good-will towards 

 men. Under these afflicting circumstances, it naturally suggests itself 

 to our thoughts ; first, whether this punishment of death, which has so 

 multiplied itself in our land, be any punishment to the criminal or not, 

 rather conveying a stigma on his relations than any material chastise- 

 ment upon himself? and, secondly, if held to be punishment to the 

 guilty, it is not too severe, partaking more of the sanguinary character 

 of Paganism than the merciful precepts of Christianity ? 



That capital punishment has no effect in preventing crime, its fre- 

 quency too palpably declares ; and if any judgment can be formed from 

 the general conduct of those who suffer, we must, I fear, conclude, that 

 the greater number regard death with the same indifference they had 

 regarded life ; and, indeed, there is too much reason to believe, that 

 those who enjoy none of the benefits and blessings and luxuries of the 

 world, but whose life has been one continued round of misery and mis- 

 fortune, consider any change which gives a termination to their present 

 sufferings rather as a haven of rest, than a point whence they are to 

 proceed to the dread reckoning of their stewardship. I am not confining 

 myself, in this remark, to the vicious alone, or to those who, having no 

 belief in a future state, blindly rush into eternity as the speediest relief 

 to the soiTOws and calamities of the world. There are many, very 

 many, with the liveliest faith in Christ's blood, who would willingly and 

 unprepared lay down their lives, and meet death as the happy issue of 

 their afflictions, trusting to the mercy of God for the full and free pardon 

 of their sins, rather than prolong their existence to expiate their offences 

 by prayer and penitence ; if this be the case, can we be surprised, that 

 men who have forft ited the esteem of man, and have no faith in a 

 Redeemer's blood — no hope in a Creator's mercy — should carelessly rush 

 upon their fate ? The punishment of death, rendered less terrific by the 

 chances of escape, offers nothing to check the criminal in his career— 

 the crime which may lead him to the scaffold, gives temporary relief to 



