| Show ILItltl < AND 1 lit VIXIMV I I I To a person who will tale a common I nense and scriptural view of crlmo and religion and their relation lo each I i other hero I Is I something aluiml tu I use no Imrshcr term about the dolngtt of clergymen In the case of Durrani the Sin Francisco murderer lie had been a 1I0pllt and actively connected with a fitinday school of that denomination denom-ination and during the greater perlod 0Ve1I Iy hill Incarceration and the legal proceedings In his case he re erln1 ellglou cOlloolnlloO from Protestant ministern Hot hell the end ison drawing near Onrrnnl received III his cell a Catholic patent nnmed nther Lagan and on the morning of the execution tho pilfon chaplain Rev Mr Drnhlns nov Dr Win lladcr unit lle Dr Davis all Protestants met the prisoners parents par-ents In I the wardens ofllce when It was dec led thai tho Catholic priest shoull be the only clergymen who should bo allowed to Attend the condemned con-demned man In Ills last hours though the Protestant preachers had previously previous-ly ministered to him There wan much bitter feeling Pirating the gentlemen of the clefts The Jlov Hader felt marked resentment towards the other Irole lant divine Hev Davis and both were chagrined nt seeing the Catholic supersede super-sede them On the morning ot the execution Father Lagan baptized the condemned man Into the Catholic chinch and administered ad-ministered to him the last rites of that church Hut when tho execution was over there was no Catholic cemetery that would receive the dead body Durrani living was worthy to become n member of the Catholic1 church but Durrani dead was not worthy to be burled In a Catholic graveyard Apparently there were In walling about the prison a number ot ministers minis-ters of the flospel representing different differ-ent Christian denominations who Were onlou 10 tell the man that had been proied unfit lo mo In thin wicked world because of Ills crime that he was entirely nt tu enter the kingdom of heaven and to brace him for the ordeal or-deal of death the penalty of his acts with this comforting assurance while at the same tlmo the religious societies represented by these ministers were unwilling con to give sepulcher to the prisoners remains Durrani soul by n last hour profession of tnlth In re IIglon hd become the soul ot n saint worthy to lo received Into lumen but Durranis body was that ot a criminal whoso burial I In Chrlsllan ground would scandalize all consenting thereto First nr last there Is I here n glaring and sacrilegious sac-rilegious Inconsistency Durrnnl case wn for sit long n time subjected to such severe scrutiny that 10 assume that lie wn Innocent would be to discredit human methods of administering justice Besides the course of his spiritual advisers was not based upon mil presumption of his Innocence It would have been the same had thoy posllltely known that he was guilty as charged Such methods meth-ods ot dealing wllh murderers practiced prac-ticed by minister bring religion Into contempt because they make It appear tint the thickest criminal Is I eligible to I the same future state thai the most righteous can hope to attain It IN I hy nn means neary 10 abandon aban-don any despairing wretch no matter what his crimes It he derives religious Instruction or consolation lly all means let them be given him Hut let him be plainly told that restitution Is one of the principles of the plan of salvation sal-vation and that a mero profession of belle In Christ expressed In I his lost moments on earth will not rellve hills from the oncequnce of tits crime though It may bo r step In the right direction Let him bo made to understand under-stand that ho ought to enter the spirit world with nil unalterable determination determina-tion lo make ruch mutation aloof ristl lullon for the wrong he ban done here m mal be possible In thai stale of ex Islencc nnd to fully eoniply wllh all tile condlllons that I have been established estab-lished by the Almighty as the bauls of forgiveness |
