Wherein lies the difference which leaves the one a man of
honour, and almost necessitates the other to be taken from
the rank of reprobates, or else gradually to become such ?
Simply the difference of public opinion — public scorn. Once
there was no shame in tiie office of the executioner, and the
Judge of Israel, with his own hands, hewed Agag to pieces
before the Lord in Gilgal. Fhinehas executed summary
and sanguinary vengeance, and his name has been preserved
in a hymn by his country's gratitude. The whole congrega-
tion became executioners in the case of blasphemy, and
no abandonment was the result But the voice of public
opinion pronouncing an office or a man scandalous, either
finds or else makes Stem what it has pronounced them. The
executioner is or becomes an outcast, because reckoned such.
