Page:A Dissertation on the Construction of Locks (1785).pdf/13

 with no other aſſurance of ſafety, but the hope that chance, among the multitude of objects may direct the invaders of the night to ſome other victim, is an evil which cannot be contemplated without horror. Yet it is not in humanity to behold the numberleſs ſacrifices which are made to juſtice, without lamenting the ineffectual ſeverity of the law; and earneſtly withing to reduce the number of executions, by oppoſing methods of prevention, to the enormities which lead to ſuch a dreadful end. It is a maxim in morals, that no man becomes at once completely wicked. The timidity which attends the firſt act of diſhoneſty, and the remorſe which it excites in the unpracticed offender, are a natural, and in general a ſufficient check to the commiſſion of very enormous crimes, till the mind is tainted by evil councils, or becomes hardened by the frequent repetition of petit offences. To remove all temptation to diſhoneſty, and to give as few