168 CHARGE AGAINST THE LORD SANQUHAR. 



that part of aggravation I leave. Nay, more, this 

 Christian and penitent course of yours draws me 

 thus far. that I will agree, in some sort extenuates 

 it: for certainly, as even in extreme evils there 

 are degrees ; so this particular of your offence is 

 such, as though it be foul spilling of blood, yet there 

 are more foul : for if you had sought to take awa y a 

 man s life for his vineyard, as Ahab did ; or for envy, as 

 Cain did; or to possess his bed, as David did ; surely 

 the murder had been more odious. 



Your temptation was revenge, which the more 

 natural it is to man, the more have laws both divine 

 and human sought to repress it ; &quot; Mihi vindicta.&quot; 

 But in one thing you and I shall never agree, that 

 generous spirits, you say, are hard to forgive : no, 

 contrariwise, generous and magnanimous minds are 

 readiest to forgive ; and it is a weakness and im- 

 potency of mind to be unable to forgive ; 



&quot; Corpora magnanimo satis est prostrasse leoni.&quot; 



But howsoever murders may arise from several 

 motives, less or more odious, yet the law both of 

 God and man involves them in one degree, and 

 therefore you may read that in Joab s case, which 

 was a murder upon revenge, and matcheth with 

 your case ; he for a dear brother, and you for a dear 

 part of your own body ; yet there was a severe 

 charge given, it should not be unpunished. 



And certainly the circumstance of time is heavy 

 upon you : it is now five years ince this unfor 

 tunate man Turner, be it upon accident, or .be it 



