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    heretics , believing that he is doing . God service , and benefiting the souls of those whose bodies fye is mangling and consuming . Hence the . Indian , has laughed at his tormentor in the midst of his agonies and sufferings , and chlded him with the want of skill in his art . Hence the martyr , bound to the stake , from the midst of faggots and names has exult&i in his sufferings ,

    encouraged his fellows , and praised his God . In the same manner our feelings are -formed with respect to vindictive punishment . We are born and brought up under terrestrial parents , fathers of our flesh , who for a time chastened us ,

    not entirely like our Father in heaven , the Father of spirits , for our profit , but for their pleasure . We are edii'C . ated under the influence of the laws of our country . These in all countries ,

    with respect to the penal part , too much partake of a vindictive quality . They proceed upon the principle of terror , rather than on that of reformation . It is not till mankind become

    more enlightened , till they have better understood the nature of the human mind , that the latter principle is acted upon in the regulation of private families , or in enacting the laws tff the state which shall protect the worthy and shall correct or punish the delinquent . Most countries and most families have

    been more or less under the dominion and regulation of arbitrary governors , tyrannical rulers , and oppressive chiefs , who , in the punishments they inflicted , consulted more , were influenced rather by , their vindictive feelings than by the consideration of what would most

    conduce to the general benefit . Especially was this the case in ages past , when the nature of the human mind and the effects of sanguinary statutes or of penal codes was little regarded . Vengeance was wreaked on the poor wretch

    who had offended his sovereign , in the same manner as passion dictates the punishment that shall be inflicted on the offending child of the ignorant parents of the present day in the unlnstructed or ill-informed classes of

    ^ society * And to justify all this , the , ill desert of the culprit was enlarged , emblazoned , set forth in the most ivivid colours ; and all that passion dictates , all that vengeance decrees , is represented as being only condign . punishment / as nothing more than the offender hswi deserved . And even in

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    those cases in which benefit was really intended by the governors , wete not their minds too much guided by the influence of the preceding sanguinary customs , manners ^ nd laws ? They were not yet sufficiently enlightened , society had . not yet attained that degree of intelligence which would lead them

    to distinguish between correction , setting right or reformation , and condign punishment or vindictive infliction . Are not many dr the still existing penal laws in all countries , residues of the former barbarous state of society when vengeance was the order of the day ? 1

    Living , then , as we do , in a state of society that has derived several of its institutions , many of its customs , principles and manners from such a preceding state of things—in a state of society in which , from the imperfections of our nature and cpnditioo ,

    something like vengeance may be necessary to restrain the violent , is it to be wondered at that the idea of vindictive punishment should be so connected with all that we deem ill-desert , vice or sin ? These are the habitual associations which we form in our minds from

    our infancy , throughout our childhood , and even in our manhood . From such associations arise our feelings . These feelings lead us to judge that vengeance , direct , absolute punishment , abstracted from the consequence of actions , is fit , is right , is necessary for actions , is ni , is ngnz , is necessary ror

    the well-being of the whole ; and that therefore it must , it ought to take place under the superintendence of the Great Supreme . Now suppose any human government to have instituted such a code of penal laws as would render it the plain , undisputed interest

    oi every member of the country to obey those laws , and that every one felt that by disregarding and breaking those laws , he entailed on himself misery , wretchedness and woe , as the natural consequence of his actions , from which he found that he could not escape but

    by altering his conduct , and that that alteration would quickly change his condition from wretchedness to liappiness , —should we not admire sudh a code as the .: poiifeciioii of wisdom ^ Do -we not , injfetct , admire any penal law in proportion as it approximates to such a standard , and condemn it as it recedes firom 4 tf ? May * : < w&-ilcttj ¦ - > tWii , rest satisfied in such a , 'government

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    730 Mr . Freeman on the Doctrine of Necessity *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1820, page 730, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2495/page/42/