THE CASE OF THE MURDERER.

"Whosoever hateth his brother, is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."1 JOHN iii. 15.

Where does a man who commits murder, and is immediately killed himself, received his punishment? Where is the specific promise of his salvation? Is there any scriptural evidence that those dying in sin, in drunkenness, or with murder in their hearts, can be saved? As these queries are often propounded to us, we propose to give them a candid and thorough examination. The sacrificial theology teaches that those dying in sin, are eternally wretched. The Bible, however, does not sustain such a conclusion.

§ I. The punishment of the murderer.

That the subject may be thoroughly elucidated and understood, we will consider first the nature of the punishment of the man who commits murder and is immediately killed himself.

In this connection, we would call the attention of the reader to the teachings of revelation in regard to the certainty of punishment. The Scriptures are very explicit upon this point, assuring us

that God "will by no means clear the guilty." Ex. xxxiv. 7. "He that doeth wrong, shall receive for the wrong that he hath done; and there is no respect of persons." Col. iii. 25. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished." Prov. xi. 21. Such is the divine testimony in regard to the certainty of punishment. Man cannot sin with impunity. He cannot transgress the law of God and escape merited retribution, for God will by no means clear the guilty. The voice of revelation upon this point is in perfect harmony with the experience of the transgressor; for there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. (Isa. lvii. 20, 21.) "The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days." Job xv. 20. The theology of the sacrificial church denies this doctrine, and affirms that a man can sin and escape all punishment. It teaches the forgiveness of punishment, and that God remits the penalty due transgression, towards all who are saved. Those who repent and are forgiven do not suffer the just demerit of sin. They escape punishment; hence, if a man murders and repents sincerely immediately after the commission of the deed, and soon dies, he escapes all punishment, and is rewarded with heaven for his repentance. Under these circumstances, according to the teachings of orthodoxy, the murderer is not punished at all for his sin. And if we should ask, where does the repentant murderer get his punishment, according to the sacrificial theology, which teaches the remission of the penalty, the reply

would be "Nowhere; God forgives the punishment." But this sentiment contradicts the teachings of revelation upon this point, as we have already seen. Man must be punished all he deserves, and if he does not receive a merited retribution in this life, he must in the next, for God will by no means clear the guilty.

But there is no possible way for any imperfect, human being to determine precisely how much punishment a man deserves. God only, who

knoweth the heart, can determine this. To know how much punishment a sinner merits, we must first determine precisely how guilty he is, and this no mortal man can know. We have no scale to measure human guilt; no line and plummet with which we can sound the depths of the human heart, and consequently cannot determine the exact moral condition of any soul, and hence we cannot know how much punishment a man actually deserves. No mortal can tell how much a guilty man suffers in this world. He will suffer as long as he remains impenitent and guilty; but when he repents and is brought to the knowledge of the truth, and his sins are forgiven, then he is no longer a subject of retributive justice. All men shall be brought to repentance and to the knowledge of God, so that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. ii. 10, 11).

With this view of the subject, let us consider the case of the murderer. A man may take the life

of another, without committing murder. A good man may accidentally kill another man, and, of course, he commits no sin, and is not held amenable for the deod. We call the reader's attention to this point to show that the sin consists in the intention, and that a man commits murder in his heart, really in the sight of God who premeditates it, and intends it, though even he may be foiled in his purpose, and does not commit the overt act. Murders are generally committed in moments of passionate excitement, when a man is not himself, but when he is beside himself, or infatuated, or partially insane, and these inciting causes are taken into consideration when a man is on trial for murder, as extenuating circumstances, and frequently such are convicted of murder in the second degree, or manslaughter. But no human being can determine precisely how guilty such a man is, and how much punishment he actually deserves. God only can know this. Such men must be judged by the circumstances which have surrounded them, their early moral training, parental example, the neglect of moral and religious culture. To judge men correctly, we must take all these things into consideration. We often judge sinners too harshly. Children born and reared at the "Five Points," surrounded by bad influences, no good instruction at home, brought up in ignorance and sin, all seething together in their filth and shame, must be judged according to their position and circumstances. They are brought up in sin, and their

natures are perverted, but they are not as guilty before God, as those who have been better circumstanced and conditioned. They deserve to be punished according to their moral sense of right and wrong. Their guilt is guaged according to their measure of moral sense, and the punishment is in proportion to the measure of guilt, which comes through remorse of conscience-mental suffering. The punishment inflicted upon individual transgression, corresponds to the law violated. If a physical law is violated, physical suffering follows; if a moral law is broken, mental suffering follows. When a man thus morally conditioned commits murder, he experiences mental suffering, and remorse from the moment he contemplates the dark deed, just in proportion to this moral sense which measures and determines his guilt. But we will suppose that another man better conditioned commits murder. He is a man of culture and correct appreciation of moral obligations. Suppose in the commission of murder, he is killed himself; or, in accordance with a prior intention, after the dark and bloody deed, he commits suicide. Where does such a man receive his punishment?

We take this extreme case, to express our views frankly and plainly upon the point before us. Such a man acts in this case from motives which have their origin in the appetites and passions of his nature, in opposition to the higher faculties of the soul, and his moral sense which remonstrates against the deed, and pleads with him to desist,