vidual, but expressly conceded to the State. St. Paul counsels obedience to civil authority as to God's ordinance for (Rom. xiii. 4) " he [the king] beareth not the sword in vain, but is God's avenging minister to execute wrath upon the evil," and St. John (Apoc. xiii. 10) reiterates the law that " he that shall kill by the sword, shall be killed by the sword." Such testimony, though brief, is clear and convincing, for the Scriptures are as little likely to contradict themselves as they are to countenance a " relic of barbarity."
Brethren, another objection to capital punishment aims at the right of the State to inflict it. The powers of government, it is argued, are derived from or through the people, and so cannot exceed those the people themselves enjoy. Certainly the exercise by a private individual of retributive justice to the extent of taking human life is never lawful, and it is doubtful if the presence of even seventy millions of Americans would legalize a lynching. Few will deny the soldier's right to kill his country's enemies, or the citizen's to slay his assailant, provided each observe a moderation consistent with a blameless self-defence, but apart from such like exceptions the right to punish with death does not reside with the people. Does this, then, prove that no such right exists? By no means. What it does prove is the falsity of our theory regarding the origin of civil authority, and the truth of St. Paul's teaching (Rom. xiii. 1) that " there is no power but from God, and those that are, are ordained of God." Disgusted with Old World absolutism and the doctrine of the divine
