512 



GLEAi^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



There are, however, certain moral principles under- 

 lying the subject of self-defense that are not gener- 

 ally understood: hence the frequency of man- 

 slaughter in defense of person and p'-operty. 



Life is the most inestimable boon the Creator has 

 bestowed on man. No amount of property can 

 equal it. "All that a man hath will he give for his 

 life." It is, then, too precious to be taken in de- 

 fense of private property. There is only one case 

 that the law of God will sanction, in which it is 

 right for a j)' irafe individual to take the life of an- 

 other. That case is, when one individual assails an- 

 other with hostile attempt, the individual assailed 

 has the right, in self-defense, to shed the blood of 

 the assailant. But before he possesses this right, he 

 must be convinced of the deadly intent of his antag- 

 onist, and be driven to the necessity of either losing 

 his own life, or of taking the life of his would-be as- 

 sassin. The right of taking away life in any case, 

 properly lielongs to society in its organized capacity 

 —civil government; but in the above case, always a 

 case of emergency, the person assailed has no alter- 

 native. He can not wait lor law. He must act, and 

 act promptly, or else lose his own life: hence he be- 

 comes, for the moment, judge, jury, and sheriff. 



The case referred to by Mr. Baird, recorded in Ex- 

 odus 22:2, on which he has given us Bishop Hop- 

 kins's comment,* is to be understood on the above 

 principle of defense, not of property, but of life. 

 Indeed, the quotation from the excellent author, 

 whose work we highly prize, as given by Mr. Baird, 

 expressly recognizes our view. But my own opin- 

 ion of the passage is somewhat different from that 

 of Bishop Hopkins. We do not think the passage 

 sanctions intentional manslaughter at all. The pas- 

 sage is as follows: "If a thief be found breaking 

 up, and he be smitten that he die, there shall no 

 blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon 

 him, there shall be blood shed for him." The 

 manifest import of this language, which is a cor- 

 rect translation of the original, is, that the 

 death of the thief was ■icrUkntaU and not int'tttiinial. 

 It being in the night, as is evident from the succeed- 

 ing context, the owner, in endeavoring to repel the 

 assailant, might accidentally denl him a blow in the 

 dark that might terminate fatally, though not so in- 

 tended by him. He would then be only guilty of ac- 

 cidental manslaughter, and therefore guiltless. This 

 view finds a corroboration in what immediately fol- 

 lows. " If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be 

 blood shed for him." This clearly teaches that an 

 individual, in taking the life of another in defense 

 of property, in the daytime, is guilty of murder. 

 Why? Because he has every opportunity of seeing 

 the thief, and of guarding his blows. 



I have thus come to the conclusion, that the life 

 of another should never be taken intentionally in 

 defense of property, however valuable. The image 

 of our Maker should ever render the life of our 

 neighbor so sacred, that we would never attempt to 

 take it away in defense of any earthly considera- 

 tion. 



In connection with this subject I will relate an 

 occurrence that took place some three years ago in 

 Washington County, Pa. I was intimately acquaint- 

 ed with the parties, and deeply interested in the 

 case, for they were both old scholars. One of the 

 parties, in company with some other lads, ileter- 

 mined to pilfer an orchard of a neighbor who had 



*See February number, page 97. 



some excellent peaches. Whether the other party 

 was aware of the attack f)r not, I will not say. It 

 turned out, however, that the pilfering party were 

 discovered in the orchard and tired at with a shot- 

 gun. It was a fatal shot. One of the young men 

 fell mortally wounded, and expired in a few mo- 

 ments. That shot cost the parson who fired it thou- 

 sands of dollars and a term in prison. But the loss 

 of money, and physical punishment, are nothing 

 when contrasted with the mental anguish resulting 

 from reflection on our rashness, and the tho\ight of 

 having shed a fellow-creature's blood. Better 

 breathe the spirit of Christ, and carry out the senti- 

 ment expressed in the passagj of Scripture at the 

 head of this letter. Far better to suffer ourselves 

 to be defrauded— robbed of a few peaches, of a few 

 pounds of honey, of a few pounds of grapes, etc., 

 than to resort to the pistol, the bowie-knife, or poi- 

 son. Let me illustrate the conduct of the Christian 

 by the case of an aged minister with whom I was 

 personally acquaiated. S ime of the readers of 

 Gleanings may have heard of him, if they did not 

 know him. I refer to the Rev. Samuel Hindiaan, 

 late of Washington, Iowa. In returning from the 

 eastern part of our country a few months before his 

 death, he was robbed of several hundred dollars, 

 while asleep on the train. Awaking, and discover- 

 ing his loss, for he was without a penny, he prayed 

 for the poor thief that had stolen his money. This 

 was Christlike. " Father, forgive them, for they 

 know not what they do." Let the readers of Glean- 

 ings, who have sustained a loss by others, go and do 

 likewise. Wm. Ball-^ntine. 



Sago, Muskingum Co., O., Feb. 4, 1881. 



I am very glad, friend H . vou have brought 

 out this point, especially the one involved 

 in your last incident. The ide.i is altogether 

 too common, that it is right and proper to 

 shoot one who is stealing "our fruit, or our 

 honey, if you clioose ; and right in the same 

 line, there are many, even professors of re- 

 ligion. I fear, who think aman is justihedin 

 knocking another down, simply because he 

 has been called a liar, or insulted in some 

 way. In our own neighborhood, one neigh- 

 bor killed another for just such a trilling 

 matter. Am I not correct in saying that no 

 words that can be uttered should ever induce 

 a Christian, or even a gentleman, to strike 

 the one who speaks them V And is not this 

 wav of settling difficulties a relic of a sort of 

 barbarism of which the pjesent age should 

 be ashamed V I want to tell you a little 

 story of my boyhood days. 



You know I used to travel around to the 

 schoolhouses, showing people experiments 

 in electricity and chemistry, when I was 

 eighteen years old ; it was the time when I 

 thought I must put professor on my hand- 

 bills, or people would not come out. Well, 

 I did not make very much money at it, or at 

 least I didn't save Very much. In fact, to 

 tell the truth. I never saved very much at 

 any thing. AVell, I wandered out near 

 wliere my brother-in-law, Mr. Gray, lived, 

 in a rather newly settled region, tiien com- 

 monlv called the Black Swamp. And after 

 I had given lectures all about at the school- 

 houses round there, :SIr. Gray one day very 

 kindly suggested that I should stop travel- 

 ing for awhile and settle down at some more 

 1 permanent employment. 



