Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/416

 criminal always  counts  on  preserving  his  own  life  as a  condition  sine  qua  rum  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  revenge. Death to  him  is  an  unmitigated  misfortune, and the  thought  of  the  lonely  death-watch,  the ghostly scaffold,  and  the  black  cap,  is  a  powerful  factor in  staying  his  hand. Death, then,  is  the  one grand deterrent  which  the  State  may  and  must  employ, both  to  preserve  and  restore  social  order  and  to counteract  the  fatal  fascination  by  which  crime  sometimes tends  to  run  riot  in  the  community. Death, too, has  been  recognized  since  the  world  began  as the  only  just  retribution  for  certain  atrocious  crimes. Foul murder  is  committed,  and,  by  a  certain  natural instinct, men  immediately  demand  that  the  murderer pay the  penalty. Examples of  this  are  to  be  seen  in the  necessity  in  olden  times  for  the  cities  of  refuge, in the  later  right  of  sanctuary,  in  the  Italian  vendetta and  the  modern  lynching. Now, who  will  dare assert that  man's  natural  impulse  to  wreak  just vengeance is  essentially  evil? Nothing in  Nature  is essentially  evil. The methods  suggested  by  passion or an  exasperating  paralysis  of  justice  may  be  unlawful, but  the  impulse  that  gave  rise  to  the  movement is natural  and  as  such  is  good. The necessity  of  the right to  inflict  capital  punishment,  therefore,  is founded  on  Nature  itself,  and  the  exercise  thereof  by the  State,  far  from  being  a  usurpation  of  God's  exclusive prerogative,  is  entirely  in  accord  with  the  designs of  the  Author  of  man  and  of  society.

Brethren, though  a  right  may  exist,  yet  its  exercise may be  inexpedient. This, we  are  told,  is  the  case