Condemns Retribution

From the spirit of the Gospel it does not appear, either, that the Crown has the right to act as an avenging moralizing Justice. We read in the Bible about the absolute command of love of one's neighbours and that God maketh His sun to rise upon the good and the bad. We must remember the Sermon on the Mount with its rejection of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We come across the assurance that there shall be joy in Heaven over one sinner that doth pennance more than over ninety-nine just who need not pennace. We should not forget that the woman taken in adultery was not reviled but sent away with the command not to sin any more. The bystanders were admonished that only he who was without sin was allowed to cast a stone at her. He, who has understood all this, would be quite justified in saying that the Gospel does not teach a blow for a blow, or to repay evil with evil. On the contrary the Bible teaches us to consider smallness and weakness, to guide the man who has gone astray, to practise mercy.