Page:Sermons on the Ten Commandments.djvu/105

 murderer, in his dungeon, or on the scaffold, may loudly profess repentance, and even shed tears; but cast off his chains, and let him go free, and mark how soon the tears will be dried from his eyes, and the deadly fire of the destroyer be kindled there again.

These remarks are made, in connection with the subject of the text,—the nature of the crime of murder,—for the purpose of aiding us in forming correct views on an important subject; and to remove a false sympathy and mistaken charity, which tend to encourage crime. Pity, indeed, we may feel—for none are so much to be pitied as the wicked, for their state is wretched indeed: but we must not suffer feelings to blind our eyes to the truth. We must have pity, too, for the victims of the cruel murderer, and for those who are in danger of becoming such. I may add to this, that I consider the publication and circulation of murderers' confessions, as one of the most powerful instruments in the hands of the infernals, for increasing the number of their evil company: and such publications should be as far as possible suppressed and burnt by every lover of men's souls: they tend to familiarize the mind with crime.

There is another way, in which this Commandment is broken, which may be alluded to, in passing. I refer to the practice of duelling. How this criminal custom has been so long tolerated in a Christian community, it is hard to understand;—a custom, which stands up in defiance of one of the chief commands of the Most High God—"Thou shalt not kill." It shows, though men may profess a belief in the truth of God's