c1400 Bk. to Mother (Bodl.) 77 (MED) I knowe wel þat suche obstinat men þei ben, þat wollen not haue þe world ruled bi stabilite of uertues but bi unpunschinge of uices.

a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xciii. §11. 339 Thai hete til thaim selfe vnpunyssynge of syn.

1643 H. Killigrew Serm. sig. B4^v But the unpunishing of Achan, (though his crime was unknown) was so hurtfull to the host of Israell, that the hearts of the people melted away like water.

a1662 P. Heylyn Cyprianus Anglicus (1668) 354 The unpunishing of the first Tumult.

1644 J. Milton Doctr. Divorce (ed. 2) 40 Nay this is..to incarnat sin into the unpunishing and well pleas'd will of God.

1741 W. Guthrie tr. Cicero Orations I. 239 Shall then..the Monuments of your unpunishing Clemency, by their Language, exasperate you into Cruelty?

1753 N. Torriano Let. from Gentleman 154 God has (through his continued Mercy, and kind unpunishing Delays) set over us one of the best of Kings.

1891 M. Oliphant Jerusalem iv. i. 429 That austere calm of mercy, unpunishing but all-convicting, which affords us so wonderful a view of eternal purity yet compassion.

1960 Hudson Rev. 13 444 We can see how such ‘realism’ in fiction..soon gives the effect of living in a kind of casual and unpunishing hell.

1998 Philadelphia Inquirer (Nexis) 6 Feb. f17 The ride is a European union of the firm and the comfortable, and remains unpunishing on bumpy pavement.