Theism Doctrinal and Practical, or, Didactic Religious Utterances. By Francis W. Newman |
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Retribution.
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Retribution.
Retribution plays undoubtedly a large part upon earth,
And guilt punishes itself through the divine ordination.
Some sins more than others entail their own penalty,
Balking the sinner of his prize and of hoped-for enjoyment.
In which result we oftentime feel stern joy,
As, when the spoiler of the innocent is in turn despoiled,
And man's Conscience applauds, and says, “It is deserved.”
If this come about by the force of normal causes,
All Theists must ascribe it to a supreme Providence.
And guilt punishes itself through the divine ordination.
Some sins more than others entail their own penalty,
Balking the sinner of his prize and of hoped-for enjoyment.
In which result we oftentime feel stern joy,
As, when the spoiler of the innocent is in turn despoiled,
And man's Conscience applauds, and says, “It is deserved.”
If this come about by the force of normal causes,
All Theists must ascribe it to a supreme Providence.
But others go beyond, and lay down an abstract principle,
That Justice demands Suffering as a retribution to Sin,
Not to deter or to remedy, but even as compensatory.
But herein are wrapt inextricable tangles.
For Suffering and Sin have no common measure,
Nor in abstract thought is “equivalence” imaginable.
And as none could say that a Mile is equal to Ten Ounces,
Or that a Year is equivalent to Fifty-Horse-Power,
(When Space, Weight, Time, Force differ in kind,)
So neither can a Tooth Ache be an equivalent for a Lie,
Nor can any abstract law of Justice decide the Pains,
Which shall weigh even in the balance with a certain Sin.
Pain and Sin differ in kind, just as Time and Space.
Also we see in God's world a denial of equivalences.
Some faults punish themselves with distressful rigour:
Other guilt, coarser and viler, scarcely earns penalty at all,
Save that of being hardened into a fouler state,
Without pain to the guilty, or conscious degradation:
So various is the amount of Retribution incurred.
Thus the doctrine of abstract relation is proved futile,
Alike by theory and by practical evidence.
That Justice demands Suffering as a retribution to Sin,
Not to deter or to remedy, but even as compensatory.
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For Suffering and Sin have no common measure,
Nor in abstract thought is “equivalence” imaginable.
And as none could say that a Mile is equal to Ten Ounces,
Or that a Year is equivalent to Fifty-Horse-Power,
(When Space, Weight, Time, Force differ in kind,)
So neither can a Tooth Ache be an equivalent for a Lie,
Nor can any abstract law of Justice decide the Pains,
Which shall weigh even in the balance with a certain Sin.
Pain and Sin differ in kind, just as Time and Space.
Also we see in God's world a denial of equivalences.
Some faults punish themselves with distressful rigour:
Other guilt, coarser and viler, scarcely earns penalty at all,
Save that of being hardened into a fouler state,
Without pain to the guilty, or conscious degradation:
So various is the amount of Retribution incurred.
Thus the doctrine of abstract relation is proved futile,
Alike by theory and by practical evidence.
But again, it is assumed, contrary to fact and truth,
That Suffering is, in itself, remedial of Sin.
Contrariwise oftener Suffering is a cause of Sin:
It hardens the heart, and is not normally remedial.
Constraint, not Suffering, is the great means of training;
But as in the treatment of maniacs, so is it with the guilty,
That Constraint, to be effective, must not be too painful.
Let a criminal be so atrocious, as to deserve death and torture,
Yet life with torture will only harden him the more:
Kindness and Constraint combined, alone give hope of remedy.
Never then can Justice claim pains and torture
Growing in intensity proportioned to guilt,
When the punishment can but exasperate the evil,
And, if continued, make sin eternal.
Justice may require the removal, the destruction of the sinner,
For Justice abounds with hatred of guilt and with zeal:
Hatred seeks destruction of that which it hates,
Only Anger and Malignity demand pain and suffering.
God's Government undoubtedly is at war with Sin,
And his battle must prevail, to extirpate and banish it.
Why is not this a Divine Government as glorious,
Without futile vengeance which is fierce too late?
That Suffering is, in itself, remedial of Sin.
Contrariwise oftener Suffering is a cause of Sin:
It hardens the heart, and is not normally remedial.
Constraint, not Suffering, is the great means of training;
But as in the treatment of maniacs, so is it with the guilty,
That Constraint, to be effective, must not be too painful.
Let a criminal be so atrocious, as to deserve death and torture,
Yet life with torture will only harden him the more:
Kindness and Constraint combined, alone give hope of remedy.
Never then can Justice claim pains and torture
Growing in intensity proportioned to guilt,
When the punishment can but exasperate the evil,
And, if continued, make sin eternal.
Justice may require the removal, the destruction of the sinner,
For Justice abounds with hatred of guilt and with zeal:
Hatred seeks destruction of that which it hates,
Only Anger and Malignity demand pain and suffering.
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And his battle must prevail, to extirpate and banish it.
Why is not this a Divine Government as glorious,
Without futile vengeance which is fierce too late?
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