Definition and origin of punishment--In what manner punishment relates to strict justice--The right of punishing allowed by the law of nature, to none, except to those, who are innocent of the crimes and misdemeanours to be punished--Difference of motive between human and divine punishment--In what sense revenge is naturally unlawful--The advantages of punishment, threefold--The law of nature allows any one to inflict punishment upon an offender, yet with a distinction--The regard which the law of nations pays to the benefit of the injured party, in the infliction of punishment--General utility of punishments--What is determined by the law of the Gospel, in this respect--Answer to the objections founded upon the mercy of God, as displayed in the Gospel--Capital punishments objected to as cutting off all possibility of repentance--Not safe for private Christians to inflict punishments, even when allowed to do so, by the law of nations--Prosecutions, for certain offences, to be carried on in the name of the public and not of individuals--Internal acts not punishable by man--Open acts, when inevitable through human infirmity not punishable--Actions, neither directly nor indirectly injurious to society, not punishable by human laws--The reasons of that exemption--The opinion, that pardon can never be granted, refuted--Pardon shewn to be allowable before the establishment of penal law--But not in all cases--Allowable also subsequently to the establishment of penalties--Internal and external reasons--Opinion, that there can be no just reason for dispensing with laws, except where such dispensation can be implied as authorised by the law, examined and refuted--Punishment estimated by the desert of the offender--Different motives compared--Motives which ought to restrain men from sin--Scale of offences according to the precepts of the Decalogue--Capacity of the offender--Punishment mitigated from motives of charity, except where there are stronger motives of an opposite kind--Facility or familiarity of crimes aggravates their nature--Clemency, proper exercise of--Views of the Jews and Romans in inflicting punishment--War considered as a punishment--Whether hostilities can justly be commenced for intended aggressions--Whether Kings and Nations are justified in making war to punish offences against the law of nature, not immediately affecting themselves or their subjects--The opinion, that jurisdiction is naturally necessary to authorise punishment, refuted--Distinction between the law of nature, and civil customs, and the divine voluntary law--The question, whether war can be undertaken to punish acts of impiety--considered--The being of God, whence known--Refusal to embrace the Christian religion not a sufficient cause of war--Cruel treatment of Christians, justifiable