PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

398 Of Crime! and PUillS!)JJ};'Jiu.
: the crime: for if this be the end proposed, the sever ..
\' ity of the pUIlishment __ mus~e increa.:ed in proportion
to the expediency a~ the-difficulty of attaining
this end; that is, Ire a proportion compounded of
the mischief of the crime, and of the e~ with which
it is exeCUted. The difficulty of discovery is a circumstance
to be inciuded in the same consideration.
It constitlltes ip.deed, with respect to the crime, the
facility of which we speak. By how much, therefore,
the detection of an offender is more rare and
uncertain, by so much the more severe must be the
puni~hment when he is detected. Thus the writing
of incendiary letters, though in itself a pernicious and
alarming injury, calls for a more condign and exem·
plary punishment, by the very o1}scurity with which
. the crime i~ committed.
\, From the justice of God we are taught to look for
j a gradation of punishment, exactly proportioned to
l the guilt of the offender; when, ther~fore, in as~igniug
the degrees of human punishment, we introduce
· considerations di::,tinct from that guilt, and a propor,
tion so varied by external circumstances, that equal
crimes frequently undergo unequal punishments, or
the less crilne the greater; it is natural to demand the
reason why a different 111easure of punishnlent should
be e\pected from God, and observed by man; why
that rule1 which befits the absolute and perfect jus"
tice of the Deity, !'hDuld not be the rule which ought
to be pursued and inlitated by human la\vs? The SO~
lution of this difficulty must be sought for in those
peculiar 3.ttributes of" the divine nature, \vhich dis ..
tingui ..,h the dispensations of supreme wisdom from
the proceedings of human judicature. A Being;
'~TI10se knJ)wledge pellctrates every concealnlent;
froin the operation of \vhor,e \vill no art or flight can
e~caI)e:, and in \,~hose hand:; pUllishtnent ~.~ sure ;.­
such a being' may conduct the moral government of
lli~ crearion, in tile best and \\,isesr lllariller, by !)fOnouncing
a law, that every crime shall tlnaHy rei"eh'e
a 11ullishnlellt pl\)porti()ncll to tIlt: gui 11. \\'Ilictl It Ct)n ..
tains, ~lbstractcd fronl anv fUft,j';..rll C(Jlj.,:Jcrati0Il wllat-
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