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    Untitled Article

    O . Yes , I must say very extraordinary application . A . Not , however , unprecedented ; but that you should call in question the principles on which it may be founded , I own to you excites in torn my ulter astonishment . O . How so ?

    A . Because they are principles not only of ordinary , but of universal operation—principles in accordance with the sentiments and usages of mankind in all ages and countries—principles in conformity to tha analogy of nature , and which constitute the very spirit and foundation of the Christian faith .

    O . You take an extensive range of argument , though I am at a loss ti discover how it bears upon your suit . You wish to be received as the substitute of the unfortunate Fauntleroy : now I tell you plainly , what you yourself must know , that the law allows of no such substitution ; neither is it conformable to the usages of mankind , nor consistent with the dispensation of justice .

    A . My substitution may not , indeed , be strictly conformable to the usages of mankind , because few persons will be found so disinterested as to lay down their lives to save those of their guilty fellow-creatures , consequently the law takes its usual course . But if a case should occur , as in the present instance , that a person should present himself , whose most earnest wish it is , from the regard which he bears to the guilty , to take upon himself his crime , and suffer in his room , may not the law be satisfied , and all the ends of justice amply secured ?

    O . I do not see how this is possible . The law neither requires , nor can accept , of any satisfaction from you : for in no respect have you been known to infringe it . Were you , therefore , to suffer death under the sanction of the law , the ends of justice , so far from being served , would only be most grossly perverted : for justice demands that the innocent be protected , and that the guilty alone should suffer .

    A . But can no substitution be allowed ?—May I not relieve a person groaning under a burden and take it upon myself , and even cany it for him to the place of its destination ? If I be a person of known wealth , would I ever be rejected as unfit for becoming surety for another who had incurred some trifling pecuniary obligation ? Had Fauntleroy been incarcerated for debts instead of forgery , do you imagine that his creditors , if I should step forward and advance to the whole of their claims against

    him , would still detain him , and refuse the payment , because it was made by me ? Or , supposing that they should be so perverse and so blind to their own interests , could any law or justice prevent me from suppl ying him with all the funds requisite to answer their demands ? If , therefore , you allow of no substitution , you put an end , not only to the kindly offices , but even to common intercourse in society ; but so long as the principles of our nature continue the same , this you cannot effect * If , then , in the

    ordinary transactions of men , there be nothing more commonly required or received than substitution , why may it not be accepted in the matter of fife and death , as in the case of Damon and Pythias ?—But substitution is the very principle which holds and binds society together . What , I pray you , are our gallant soldiers and sailors but so many substitutes for the rest of their countrymen , ready , for their sakes , to encounter danger and death ? Instead of being treated with scorn , they are hailed as the defenders and heroes of their country ; even their death is regarded as glorious , and costly monuments are erected to perpetuate their memory and their feme *

    Untitled Article

    Vicarious Punishment . 487

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1827, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1798/page/15/