PROFESSOR WILLIAMS AND FRIENDS. To the EDITORS of THE BRITISH FRIEND. ESTEEMED FRIENDS,-The inclosed testimony to our Society, from a distinguished Welsh clergyman, I thought worthy of your attention. I may briefly state its origin. A short time since Rowland Williams published a volume of sermons, which contained sentiments opposed to the views of some of his brethren, and a sharp controversy arose in the Carmarthen Journal on the subject. It is from one of his letters that I copied the extract, viz. :— "The Quakers who, of all sects, have laid least stress on the letter of the Bible, and most on its spirit, have most of all justified the gospel by their works; whereas the Judaizing worshippers of the letter, who make the Bible a polemic banner, and value the casket more than the heart, have shown least of Christianity in their life and manners. This verdict of experience should convey its lesson." ROWLAND WILLIAMS, Professor of Hebrew, Lampeter College, South Wales. The views expressed respecting Friends much surprised some of his clerical brethren, especially emanating from such a distinguished member of the "college." If those who are without are thus constrained to speak of the precious principle of Truth, surely it behoves Friends not lightly to esteem their privilege, in being thus led into the reception of its important doc trines.-Your friend sincerely, 2d Month 7th, 1856. REVELATION VII. To the EDITORS of THE BRITISH FRIEND. G. P. and frugality would equalize the provision, and keep want from the door. The working-classes must not encourage the erroneous idea that any of the evils which afflict their condition are beyond their own control. The first thing necessary is to inquire into the nature and the sources of the evil which afflicts them, and that inquiry, if earnestly conducted, would suggest the remedy. But it is not to them alone that the appeal must be made; the whole bulk of the people are labouring under a great delusion as to the nature of intoxicating drinks, and, in fact, as to the influence of the drinking system. I feel that this is the great question of the day, and therefore I am here. There are many things in the aspect of the times which look threatening and portentous. Five years ago I was exceedingly hopeful. I met with unmistakeable evidence that pauperism and crime were decreasing-our social condition was one of rapid improvement-and there were many cheering signs of intellectual progress and moral advancement. I must say I have lost a portion of the hope which strengthened me-I see many indications of weakness, many things that inspire dismay, not the least of which is the absence of high talent and high motive in the men to whom the destinies of this country are committed, but am willing to hope that there is a moral stamina in the people that will redeem the faults and demerits of their rulers. I must confess that I am sometimes disposed to share the melancholy feelings with which Tacitus described the decay of patriotism and the degeneracy of morals among the Roman people. Is it possible, I am induced to ask, that our mission is accomplished, and that the age of decrepitude is coming upon us? If so, the desire of luxury will grow stronger, and corruption and vice, its constant attendants, will increase. The pomp and glitter of idle display will supersede the useful and the truly heroic, and these are sufficient in the present, as they have been in the past, to sap the strength of empires, and convert them into deserts. If we consult the history of the past, we shall find that the men who fostered institutions, encouraged art, and who opened the paths to trade and commerce, were men of hardy minds and simple habits; the men who have destroyed states gave themselves up to effeminate indulgence. If we can subdue intemperance, I despair not. It will redeem the wealth that is now wasted-but it will do more. We seek to diffuse knowledge and spread education among our people-to cultivate a hardy spirit of inquiry, in order that they may not be led away by delusion after delusion, to their infinite cost and inconvenience. But I see that the traffic in intoxicating drink keeps open a number of seminaries for training the people in vicious habits, far more numerous and influential than all our schools for teaching the opposite. This intemperance is a fearful disease, affecting every ramification of the body politic, DEAR BREAD AND WASTED GRAIN. A Lecture, delivered at Bristol, by THOMAS BEGGs, Fellow of the Statistical Society. London: WILLIAM TWEEDIE, 337, Strand. Tais able, highly interesting, and informatory lecture, is admirably adapted for circulation among the working-classes. The statistical tables with which the author illustrates his subject, are, in our opinion, of ZAPHNATII-PAANEAH; or, The History of Joseph. By great value, and cannot fail to produce a telling effect upon working-men. Hence we are led earnestly to desire its extensive diffusion among that useful class of the community. Did our space permit, we might extract largely from the pamphlet; but we can only afford room for the following: "I cannot see that the miseries which surround us have any other origin than our own follies and vices. The table of nature is spread by a liberal hand, and is free, like all the gifts of God, for acceptance or rejection. If there is dearth in one season it is compensated by abundance in another, so that forethought THORNLEY SMITH, Minister; and Author of South Africa THIS is another of those really good and valuable works "It was once thought," says the author in his preface, "that the study of the history of the ancient nations of the earth would tend to invalidate the truth of some of the narratives of the Old Testament Scriptures, and from this quiver infidelity furnished herself with many of the arrows which she aimed at Christianity, thinking that she could thus give it a mortal wound. But modern research proves, on the contrary, that profane and sacred history are perfectly harmonious; witness, for example, the recent discoveries on the sites of Nineveh and Babylon. And Egypt's testimony to the truth of the Bible is by no means of a doubtful character; but, as Hengstenberg, Havernick, Osburn, and other writers have shown, clear and unequivocal." having for ten years maintained his fidelity, the time was come when he should be raised from the dungeon to a position next the throne. "Strange must have been the emotions of Joseph at this time, raised to honour as he was so suddenly. But it is remarkable how genius can adapt itself to the varied circumstances of life. There is a true nobility about it, so that, without embarrassment, it can pass at once from the lowliest to the most exalted state. It can sustain the trials of a prison: it can be at home amidst the splendours of a court. In harmony with these observations, Thornley Smith has brought out, in the present work, an amount of "To these events the martyr Stephen referred in his celebrated address to the Jews, when he said, ‘And proof on this subject, replete with interest, and withal, the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into to the Christian reader, instructive and confirmatory. Egypt; but God was with him, and delivered him out To the attention of young men, especially, who already of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom love the Bible, the author commends the volume, and in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made herein we cordially unite. While from this we would him governor over Egypt, and all his house.' Stephen not have it inferred that we approve of every senti-Christ, who, though rejected by his own people, was saw in the history of Joseph a type of the history of ment or opinion advanced by the writer, we must say accepted and honoured by the Gentiles; and, dwelling that we esteem very highly this effort of his pen for on these facts, and others similar to them, the noble the benefit of the young, and trust he will be encou- martyr intimated that the disposition manifested by raged to proceed with his intention to prepare a similar the Jews of his own age had been displayed by their volume on the history of Moses, "a narrative," he fathers from the earliest times. It is in this light only that his memorable speech can be understood, and, justly remarks, "still more important, in some respects, viewed in this light, it illustrates the connection which than that of Joseph." subsists between the Old Testament and the New, and, at the same time, corroborates the opinion which has already been advanced, of the typical character of Joseph's history. From the volume before us we would gladly extract at some length. In the present number, however, we can only afford space for what follows: pro "Pharaoh and his courtiers acknowledged the priety of the Hebrew's counsel (in reference to the famine), and now the moment is at hand when Joseph is to step into that exalted station for which Providence had destined him from his early youth. Can we find such a one as this is,' said the monarch to his servants, ‘a man in whom the Spirit of God is?' But what meant the king by this expression? Did he know God? Was he not a worshipper of Ra, Kneph, and Phtah? Yes; but it is possible that his confidence in his own gods had been somewhat shaken, and that, having heard Joseph speak of Elohim, he recognized him as the inspirer of his servant. And now he resolves that this man-this stranger-this Hebrewshall be ruler in the land of Egypt. 'Forasmuch,' said he to Joseph, 'as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art; thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled; only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee this day over all the land of Egypt' (Gen. xli. 39, 41). "We are not, however, to look either here or elsewhere for minute resemblances between Joseph and Christ; for if we do, we shall be led into the extravagances of some of the ancient allegorists. Typical theology is undoubtedly one of the most difficult parts of the science, and requires to be handled with the greatest care. Whilst the student of the Bible should be anxious to discover the real connection that subsists between one portion of Scripture and another, he should, at the same time, be on his guard against cultivate that sobriety of mind which is essential to a being led away by mere fanciful analogies, and should right apprehension of the truth." We may add, in conclusion, that the work is well got up, and is embellished with a beautiful representation of "One of the Gateways of the Great Temple of Carnac." BRIEF NOTICE OF RICHARD CLARIDGE. To which is added, a Letter, Exhorting to Faithfulness and Obedience to the Lord's Requirings. By R. C. Manchester: JAMES BRYCE, Oldham Street. THIS is a valuable and interesting tract, and its extensive circulation among Friends at the present time would, in our opinion, be attended with benefit; and when we inform our readers that it can be had for 6d. per dozen, we doubt not many will avail themselves of this opportunity of serving the cause of Truth at a small expense. It is well adapted for inclosing in letters to correspondents everywhere. "Thou hast granted me life and favour," said the patriarch Job, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit. With equal propriety might Joseph, at this moment, have given utterance to the sentiment, for now he saw the cloud breaking, and the light beginning to shine upon his path. And that his spirit glowed with gratitude to his deliverer who can doubt? In the presence of Pharaoh he would conceal his feelings, but when he found himself alone, and not a prisoner, but a ruler and a prince, they would burst forth in thanksgiving to the Lord God of his fathers, who had honoured him so greatly in the sight of the Égyp- AN EXAMINATION OF THE MEMOIRS AND WRIT tians. "And now 'Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck.' "Them that honour me I will honour,' is the promise of the Lord Jehovah. How greatly did he honour Joseph Joseph had honoured him, and now, INGS OF JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY. By WILLIAM WE believe the author of this pamphlet to have been Varieties. How salutary and sweet is the correction of the Almighty, when accompanied with the infinitely precious teaching of that Spirit of truth, whose title, "The Comforter," is justified by the joyful issue in which his sharpest issues and rebukes in due time terminate! But how long shall our pernicious and poisonous dross cleave to us! Terrestrial air will be too gross for us to breathe when we cease to need God's instructing rod and refining furnace. We, who stand up to convey salvation to others, need, for their sakes, à double portion of purification, and consequently of chastisement. However, the work of awakening sinners, of drawing them to Christ, and building them up in him, with all its painful appendages, will by and by abundantly commend itself to all who have been uprightly engaged in it, though they should learn ever so much by experience of the meaning of those apostolical words, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed," &c.-Letters of Dr. Love. IN divine condescension, and with fatherly care God leads men. There is not the pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night, as there was in the case of the wilderness wanderers; but the absence of a visible symbol of the Divine leader's presence does not involve the absence of the invisible Guide. Strangely, mysteriously, but safely, are Christian men conducted. Their personal experience is a record of, and a commentary upon, the fidelity of Him who is bringing "many sons unto glory."-Struggles for Life. THE number of languages spoken in the world amounts to three thousand and sixty-four. The inhabitants of the globe profess more than one thousand different religions. WHAT exonerates the church called Christian, at the present day, from obedience to the laws of Christ? Have they procured a new dispensation to resist, to retaliate, to kill, to mingle in all the bloody contests, the wild projects of ambition, which agitate the elements of society? Alas! Christianity assuredly presents to the world a far different exterior from what it did in the primitive church, when Christians did not resist injury by violence, nor engage in war. Births. FIRST MONTH, 1856. 30th. At Huddersfield, HANNAH JANE, wife of Arthur Thomas Palmer, a son; who was named Joseph Edward. SECOND MONTH, 1856. 7th. At Summer Hill, near Bakewell, MARY, wife of Henry Bowman, jun., a daughter; who was named Sophia. 10th. At Hackney, near London, ANNA, wife of William Nainby, a son. 12th. At Great Britain Street, Dublin, ELIZABETH, wife of William Malone, a daughter; named Ellen. 29th. At Woodside, near Darlington, MARY, wife of John Harris, a daughter; who was named Bertha, THIRD MONTH, 1856. 2d. CAROLINE, wife of William Lloyd, Castle-Donnington, a son. 6th. ELIZABETH, wife of Joseph Webster, of Darlington, a son; who was named Joseph Brady. 18th. At 25, Sommerford Grove, Stoke-Newington Road, London, JANE WYNNE, wife of John Bellis, a daughter; who was named Emily Jane. 20th. At Warrington, LOUISA, wife of William B. Heath, a son; who was named Wilfred Hargrave. At Ipswich, MARIA, wife of George Horsnaill, a daughter; who was named Henrietta. 24th. At Warrington, ANN, wife of Edmund Robinson, a daughter; who was named Emily. 28th. At Warrington, HANNAU, wife of Edward West, a son; who was named Edward. Braths. EIGHTH MONTH, 1855. 6th. Near Melbourne, Australia, aged 31, ANNa Maria SeaMAN, wife of Joseph John Wells. TWELFTH MONTH, 1855. 19th. At Isleworth, RICHARD KIDD, aged about 73. SECOND MONTH, 1856. 6th. At her residence, Mount Radford, Exeter, aged 71, SARAH SPARKES, widow of the late Joseph Sparkes. 9th. At Bradley, near Skipton, ELIAS TOWNEND, aged 72 years, a quiet, unassuming Friend, whose end was peace. 14th At Ilensingham, near Whitehaven, aged 13 months and 14 days, MARGARET JANE, daughter of Isaac and Jane Bragg. 27th. At Bishop-Auckland, ANN IANSON, aged about 69, widow of Joshua Ianson. 28th. Aged 96, AGNES HADWEN, of Kendal, widow of Isaac Hadwen. 29th. At Liverpool, aged 81, MARY GILLAN, widow of the late Samuel Gillan, of Dublin. THIRD MONTH, 1856. 4th. At Audley Place, Blackburn, aged 7 years and 4 months, SARAH MARTHA, daughter of Richard and Ellen Shackleton. 9th. At the residence of her son, at Otterburn, ANN SHACKLETON, aged 56, late of Airton, near Settle. 13th. At Shelton, Staffordshire, CAROLINE EDITI, infant daughter of George and Sarah Randall. 21st. At Redford, near Moy, in her 83d year, SARAH BARCROFT, widow of John Barcroft, of Lisburn. Her surviving relations have the comfortable hope that, through redeeming love and mercy, she was prepared for the solemn change. 22d. At Manchester, NATHANIEL CARD, The following circular and minute were issued by the United Kingdom Alliance for the Total and Immediate Legislative Suppression of the Liquor Traffic. Offices, 41, John Dalton Street, Manchester:-"My Dear Sir,It is with great regret that I fulfil the instructions laid upon me by our Executive Committee, by forwarding to you a notification of the loss we have sustained in the decease of our treasurer, Nathaniel Card, Esq. "He had been for some time in bad health, and on Saturday last passed away from among us, peaceably and with great composure. His last wishes were associated with the success of our great cause.-Most truly yours. "SAMUEL POPE." MINUTE OF SPECIAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. Adopted unanimously, March 24, 1856. "That this Committee, having heard with profound sorrow of the decease of Nathaniel Card, the treasurer of the Alliance, desire at once to express their sympathy with his mourning family, and to record their own sense of bereavement, in the loss of a beloved fellow-labourer. "Owing its origin to his philanthropy, and much of its progress to his devoted and self-denying zeal, the ALLIANCE is itself a monument to Nathaniel Card. "His name will be historically associated with the great cause which he loved, while his true goodness and privato worth have embalmed his memory among his friends." 27th. At Warrington, EMILY, infant daughter of Edmund and Ann Robinson. CHIEFLY DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. No. V. GLASGOW, 5TH MONTH, 1st, 1856. CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS. For THE BRITISH FRIEND. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT is a very nice, and, at the same time, a very difficult subject for legislators to legislate upon. Much debatable ground can be gone over on both sides of this delicate question, and, as far as argument goes, the sides are nearly equal. I would, however, entertain my adhesion to the opinion of not a few, that capital punishment or the punishment of death for crimes committed, ought in no case to be resorted to; and, with all respect to the apprehensions of others, I will state my convictions thereon, and beg leave to submit them to their consideration, that Truth, which is eternal, may guide us both, and conquer over mind, and bring every thought into subjection to her mild and gentle sway. case, I. Capital punishments are objectionable in any because man deprives his fellow of the life he cannot give. To take away life is the most responsible act of the creature, and ought never to be endured. The act supposes Divine omniscience. It assumes judgment without mercy. Death is made the last appeal, and against which there is no rising up. Crimes of various degrees should have various degrees of punishment; but death is not, and seldom can be considered a punishment. Death is the certain lot of all men, and to deprive a criminal of life is only shortening his mortal existence-not punishing him for his crimes. It is sometimes an easy matter with a prejudiced person, "clad in a little brief authority," to sum up a case, and adjudge it, and then, in a grave and solemn tone, doom the hapless culprit to the penalty of the gibbet. It may be the delinquent at the bar is a felon of the lowest grade, and who has lost the respect due to himself and to society-has broken all law, and ran loose upon his fellow-mortals with a dagger in his hand, and acted the part of the midnight assassin. It may be he is a fiend in human shape, bloated with crime, and thus rendered obnoxious to civilized man, who is in dread and danger from his unrestrained and ungovernable passions. But is he not, on this very account, more an object of pity and of commiseration? He is loathsome in his own sight, degraded and debased in the sight of others. What a sad spectacle is VOL. XIV. and indispensable, but to annihilate by the rope or the guillotine, is bad in principle and conducive to no good in practice. It is like legislative revenge-the lofty power of the good over the bad-the vengeance of authority-and the delegated pride of the free over the bonded slave of corrupt and vicious passions. II. Capital punishments are objectionable in any case, because men are utterly at fault who adduce the practice of the Old Testament church.-Under the Jewish theocracy the rule or law was universal against every deviator from the Divine mind-against the witch-against the Sabbath-breaker-against the covetous man-against the rebel to parental authority equally as against the murderer. The announcement was imperative, and admitted of no discretionary power in the deputed judge. The violator of Divine law was instantly consigned to death No advocate could plead his release, and if any such were found, he was immediately classed with the condemned. What an imposing proof we have presented to us of the absolute nature of Divine law, and of the direful consequences of breaking it, in Joshua vii.-A certain man named Achan coveted a goodly Babylonian garment, and 200 shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight among the spoils of Jericho. He, his sons and his daughters, his oxen, his asses, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, along with the silver, the gold, and the goodly Babylonian garment, were consigned to one common fire, and burned to ashes. The execution of this sentence was on the moment of conviction. Repentance was too late. They were stoned with stones, and then consumed by the flame. There is no doubt that the just Judge of human actions acted in uprightness, in truth, and in mercy. The offender was self-condemned. He knew his duty to God and to his fellow-sojourner to the land of promise, but he did it not. He became an object of Divine displeasure. He had brought a sad calamity upon the tribes. They were, in consequence of his sin, stopped in their progress. They fell before their enemies. Mourning and disappointment seized every one of them; and when the man who had been the cause was discovered, the sin could not be removed without the death of the sinner. But what part had the sons, or the daughters, or the oxen, or the asses, or the sheep of Achan in the act of covetousness? No one can tell. Yet they were consigned to one common pile. The guilt of the head of the family descended to every member. The passive and unoffending cattle were placed in the same category, and treated as equally guilty. They were his, and that was enough. Sin was brought home to their master, and the whole household suffer. | From these considerations, where is the man, or the class of men, who could, for a moment, presume to be invested with the high prerogative claimed and maintained by the Hebrew judge? Who would adjudge condemnation equally to the son as to the father, for the sin of the latter? or who would cast the oxen, the sheep, and the asses into the same scale? None would, and none could. Now and for ever every man is judged for his own sin, and the inapplicability to our code of laws of this painful history is at once apparent and conclusive. The nature and design of the Jewish economy, in its legislative enactments, in its rulers-whether as priests, or prophets, or kings, or princes-were all typical of a spiritual kingdom, altogether different in its spirit and tendency, in its application and injunction. The moral remains, but the practice is inimical. "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee, and if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee," convey to us the amount of the rigorous and severe law under the old dispensation-death to the evil passions, instead of death to the sinnerarraigning the mind before the judge, and listening to the condemnation pronounced, and cutting off the sin, in lieu of cutting off the head. III. Capital punishments are objectionable in any case, because they do not deter the wicked from a renewal of their wickedness.-No sooner is a public execution announced, than thousands of thousands flock to the spot to witness the deed. The vicious principle of revenge is fully satiated, and a thrill of horrid satisfaction vibrates through the ignorant crowd. To disappoint this satisfaction, and to destroy the desire of such low, degrading, and brutal feeling, should be the aim of the executive of our country. Among the many others who cluster around the erected gibbet, to witness the fatal drop which ushers the condemned into eternity-sad and strange to tellthe noted thief is of the number. His eye greedily fixes upon his prey, and, while the revolting scene is progressing, he is adding to his store of ill-gotten gains. Man, in many respects, though civilized and improved by education, is savage in his nature and ferocious in his character, and needs all the power of restraint and the persuasion of principle to surmount them; and nothing should be said or done to induce their latent operation; and as there can be no doubt the exciting scene of a public execution fosters the worst of passions, and, like seed sown on a rocky soil, bears thorns and briars in abundance, so the prevention of such sights might lead to a cure, or at least to a modification of the mental hallucination and mistaken practice of any good coming to society from them. and more especially the young; and to some the power of imitation is so strong, that to present any object, either of a good or bad quality, the imitative faculty will almost immediately produce a duplicate. This is equally true mentally, morally, and physically; and one of the saddest and most distressing consequences of public executions, is that the young have been found to imitate in their own persons what they have seen done to others. "Let us play at hanging," say little sportive urchins; and not a few innocents have died in the game. Besides the young, the old and the middle aged have been no less affected after the ghastly show of a public death. Private suicides are too notorious to escape observation. The supreme dignity of man is lost sight of-his mangled remains consigned to a felon's grave few or none to shed a tear of sympathy over his fate; and the despairing, the drooping, the distressed, and the forlorn, foolishly, wickedly, and irretrievably plunge into the ocean of eternity, and do to themselves what they have witnessed as done to others. Hence the indispensable necessity of abrogating altogether the cause which produces such humbling effects, and resorting to an act of retributive justice, which will bring conviction to the mind of the guilty, and which will serve as an effectual preventive in others. IV. Capital punishments are objectionable in any case, because man in his primeval state, without judge or jury either to try or condemn the assailant upon innocent life, was not consigned to death.- God himself was then Judge supreme. Man was then amenable to Him alone for all his actions. There was then no other witness to human deeds than the omniscient One. And yet we find the murderer of a brother, when accused, condemned, and consciously made guilty, dismissed from the bar. He had a mark put upon him. He was known by that mark wherever he went. It was indelible. No human power could obliterate it. He was recognized by all with whom he came in contact as the murderer of a brother; and yet, notwithstanding of his proved guiltiness and known character, a woe is pronounced against the man who may lift up his avenging hand against Cain. The words are peculiar:-" And the Lord said, Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." The mark put upon Cain, while it designated his murder, protected his person. No man was allowed to take vengeance upon him. He walked abroad under the shield of his mark. Though known as a murderer, he was spared his life, but destined to be a fugitive and a vagabond. He was not even punished with solitary confinement. He suffered haunted remorse under the eye of his fellow-men; and when the finger of scorn was pointed at him, he inwardly felt how justly he deserved it; and his roaming from country to country was a public intimation of the fugitive state of such. His presence served as an admonition to all onlookers, and warned them of his condign and noted punishment. I would not presume, in the most distant manner, Our penal code is at the present day happily un- to descant upon the very many and complicated texts dergoing revision. The principles of the far-famed of Scripture that insist upon retributive justice, and Draco are now disputed and denied. He, in his wis-assign the manslayer to instant death. The summary dom, judged every crime as alike heinous, and awarded the same punishment. With him every crime was capital, and the defaulter suffered death. But now few or none of the many crimes which men commit are so judged; yea, even manslaughter is banishment, and none but aggravated cases of murder have the sentence of death. And why is all this? Because the public feeling is against the gallows, and desires to divert the mind from it to a better and more rational mode of punishment. We are in a great measure creatures of imitation, and unalterable law contained in these Divine words, "WHOSO SHEDDETH MAN'S BLOOD, BY MAN SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED," embody within them a truth of the greatest possible interest and importance. The law is imperative, and admits of no delay. "By man shall his blood be shed," intimates witness-bearing, trial, and condemnation. "Blood for blood," "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," was the invariable procedure under the Mosaic dispensation. While the sublimity, the weight, and the truthfulness of the text remain in full force, it is not only questionable to |