Now the text, which is the ancient
covenant of God with man, speaks very clearly on this point. "Whosoever
sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Man is made in
the likeness of God. That is the ground of our law about murder, as it
is the ground of all just and merciful law; that gives man his right to
slay the murderer; that makes it his duty to slay the murderer. He has
to be jealous of God's likeness, and to slay, in the name of God, the man
who, by murder, outrages the likeness of God in himself and in his
victim.
You all know that there is now-a-days a strong feeling among some persons
about capital punishment; that there are those who will move heaven and
earth to interfere with the course of justice, and beg off the worst of
murderers, on any grounds, however unreasonable, fanciful, even unfair;
simply because they have a dislike to human beings being hanged. I
believe, from long consideration, that these persons' strange dislike
proceeds from their not believing sufficiently that man is made in the
image of God.
Pages:
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87