THE PRECEPT PROHIBITING murder.

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and with all thy strength. This is the FIRST commandment. And the second is like, namely, this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." And to this Law the Apostle Paul had especial allusion in the following designation of its character. "Wherefore, The Law is holy; and the commandment holy, and just, and good." [Rom. vii 12.]

Such is the sum of the MORAL LAW, which was given to Moses about 1500 years before Christ, and was by Him, the Creator, and Lawgiver of the universe, in manhood, declared to be the perpetual rule of life to all men, till the visible heavens and earth shall pass away.

One precept of the Second Table of the Moral Law is," THOU SHALT NOT KILL." This is the express Law which prohibits murder. The precept is founded on the broad principle of loving our neighbor as ourselves. Every human being capable of understanding, loves himself so well, that his desire is, never to be murdered. By the same DIVINE RULE, then, every human being is bound by this law of love, to love his neighbor so well, as never to murder HIм. Based on this eternal rule of right between man and man, is this Divine prohibition, which was once uttered from the mouth of Jehovah, amid the fire; thick clouds of smoke; blazing lightnings; peals of tremendous thunder; the awful roar of the long-sounding trumpet; and by the audible voice of God on the top of quaking Sinai; proclaiming a precept never to be violated with impunity, "THOU SHALT NOT KILL!" The summary import of this precept was, is, and ever will be, while the world stands, As thou lovest thyself, and would not willingly be murdered, so love thou thy neighbor, thy fellow-man, and never enviously, mali

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THE DIVINE PENALTY FOR MURDER.

ciously, nor willingly kill him, for such killing is murder; and God will require the price of blood at the murderer's hand.

The Second proposition affirmed, is, That the transgressor of the aforesaid prohibitory law, is Divinely doomed to suffer the penalty of death by the hand of his fellow-man, in the execution of public justice.

The penalty of the Divine Law prohibiting murder, is in the following words of the Almighty: "Surely, your blood of your lives will I require: at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man." [Gen. ix. 5, 6.] On these verses the celebrated Dr. Scott remarks thus: "From this energetic declaration, it certainly follows, that wilful murder ought, invariably, in all communities to be punished with death.” [Vid. Scott's Notes.]

The reason assigned why the murderer should be put to death, is because the crime casts indignity on the Almighty, by a defacement of the Divine Image. The murderer takes the life which God gave to his most noble creature of earth, made in his own image, i. e. bearing in many respects the likeness of his Creator. This disfiguration of the Divine Image, is the most daring act of rebellion against God; an insult contemptuously cast upon his infinite Majesty, as the rightful Sovereign of the universe, and is, therefore, the commission of a crime adjudged by the Most High to be worthy of the punishment of death by the hand of the executioner of public justice. Hence Jehovah ordained, and requires the penalty of the law of murder to be enforced, in conformity with the express Divine injunction, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by

THE PENALTY MUST NOT BE CHANGED.

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man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man.”

The Third affirmative proposition, is, that by Divine authority, all mankind are expressly forbidden to change the penalty of death into any other mode of punishment, or mitigation, or satisfaction whatever for the offence committed by the murderer, against public justice.

The proof of this proposition may be found in the book of Numbers, 35th chapter. There, it will be seen, that six cities of refuge were divinely appointed for the security of the manslayer who, undesignedly, might be the means of destroying the life of his neighbor. This provision was expressly made, that the innocent should not suffer with the wilful, guilty murderer. Moreover, it was divinely required, that nothing short of two competent witnesses, should convict any person of the crime of murder. But, when convicted by competent witnesses, it was expressly ordained, that the wilful murderer should suffer the penalty of death. Thus God declared, repeatedly, in the chapter aforesaid, that the murderer shall surely be put to death. Verse 16th. "If he smite with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death." Verse 17th. "And if he smite him by throwing a stone wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death." Verse 18th. "Or if he smite him with a hand-weapon of wood, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death." Verse 30th. "Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die." Verse 31st. "Moreover, ye shall take no satis

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SATISFACTION DIVINELY FORBIDden.

faction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death." Verse 33d. "So shall ye not pollute the land wherein ye are, for blood it defileth the land: the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it."

Such are the positive enactments and declarations of the Supreme Lawgiver of the universe. Such is his law for the prohibition of murder, and the penalty annexed for the punishment of those who are guilty of the crime. No extenuation of their guilt, nor mitigation of their punishment, is provided for in the Divine Law. All commutation of the penalty of death to any mode of corporal punishment during life, is expressly forbidden. "Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of the murderer who is guilty of death," is the peremptory declaration of the God of heaven. No imprisonment for life; no bribery of justice with purses of gold and silver; no treasures of earth can compensate as a price, or satisfaction for the blood shed by the murderer. Nothing short of his life-blood, his death by the executioner of public justice, will answer the requirement of God's law, and cleanse a polluted land from the blood defilement brought upon it by the murderer's hand.

The Fourth proposition is submitted in a negative form, namely, that no evidence appears of the repeal of the law for the prohibition of murder by the Almighty; nor of His mitigation of its penalty.

Every body knows, that to repeal a law once enacted, is to annul it, so that it is no more a law; and, that the repeal of a law can be effected only by the same authority which first gave to it existence. Subjects can break the laws of a king; and citizens of every class of community, can violate the laws of a

THE LAW AND PRECEPT UNREPEALED.

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commonwealth at their peril. But it requires the authoritative act of a king, or the legislative act of a commonwealth, to repeal a law which has been once enacted by their respective authority.

Now, let this established principle of jurisprudence be applied to the subject under consideration. None can deny, that the everliving God made the law prohibiting murder, and annexed to it the penalty of death, to be inflicted on the perpetrators who should dare to violate the law, regardless of its penal consequences. These divine enactments were once made, and registered in God's book of records. That they are still there, and remain incontrovertible, is as certain, as it is, that the Bible exists on the earth.

Who then will undertake to prove that God has repealed the sixth precept of the Moral Law, which prohibits murder? If that could be done, then, it could also be shown, that murder, in its most hideous, aggravated form, is not now a violation of any existing Divine law! But, if GOD has not repealed the law of murder, (as it is positively averred that he has not done it,) then, the law prohibiting murder remains unrepealed, for none, but God, has legal power to repeal it. No human authority has any right to repeal a Divine law. This doctrine is incontrovertible. To reject it, and declare that man has the right, and power to repeal God's law by legislating it into oblivion, is downright Atheism. Hence the sixth precept of the Moral Law remains in full force and virtue at the present time, as it was on the day when it went forth from the mouth of Jehovah on Mount Sinai.

The same is true with regard to the penalty of the law against murder, as of the prohibitory precept itself. The celebrated Charles Buck gives the following definition of penal laws, in his "Theological