friends) against the man to whose elaborate baseness I owe my worldly
ruin.

For, ought an innocent man to run an equal risque with a guilty one?--
A more than equal risque, as the guilty one has been long inured to acts
of violence, and is skilled in the arts of offence?

You would not arrogate to yourself God's province, who has said,
Vengeance is mine, and I will repay it. If you would, I tremble for the
consequence: For will it not be suitable to the divine justice to punish
the presumptuous innocent (as you would be in this case) in the very
error, and that by the hand of the self-defending guilty--reserving him
for a future day of vengeance for his accumulated crimes?

Leave then the poor wretch to the divine justice. Let your sister's
fault die with her. At least, let it not be revived in blood. Life is a
short stage where longest. A little time hence, the now-green head will
be grey, if it lives this little time: and if Heaven will afford him time
for repentance, why should not you?

Then think, my Brother, what will be the consequence to your dear
parents, if the guilty wretch, who has occasioned to them the loss of a
daughter, should likewise deprive them of their best hope, and only son,
more worth in the family account than several daughters?

Would you add, my Brother, to those distresses which you hold your sister
so inexcusable for having (although from involuntary and undersigned
causes) given?

Seek not then, I beseech you, to extend the evil consequences of your