“Because people should not be punished for loving and hoping and holding their hearts open.”

“Anger should be especially kept down in punishing, because he who comes to punishment in wrath will never hold that middle course which lies between the too much and the too little. It is also true that it would be desirable that they who hold the office of Judges should be like the laws, which approach punishment not in a spirit of anger but in one of equity.”

“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.”

“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.”

“But the church, like a tender, loving mother holds aloof from active punishment herself, as the sinner is too severely punished already by the civil law, and there must be at least someone to have pity on him. The church holds aloof, above all, because its judgment alone contains the truth...”

“It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.”