Indeed, the very light of nature, or tradition from ancient revelation, taught the heathen to conceive of death as an evidence of the divine anger. When Paul and his companions were shipwrecked on the island Melita, it is said, “The barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the rain, and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly; but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god." The life of man was shortened, and brought within the limit of one hundred and twenty years; and afterwards it was still further reduced to the narrow term of threescore and ten, in consequence of the rapid increase of human depravity, and the alarming sum of human guilt. So long as wicked men were continued in existence, to a prolonged age; and so long as their bodily powers and mental faculties retained, for centuries, their full force and vigour; they were enabled to study every refinement in vice, and to practise every species of impiety. The hope, too, of a long life seemed only to weaken their sense of moral obligation to their Creator, and embolden them in rebellion and crime. The history of the Old Testament contains many instances of the span of human life being yet further contracted, either in consequence of the general sinfulness of individuals, or as the result of particular acts of transgression. It is impossible to read the instructive history of the Jewish nation, and especially that of the kings of Israel and Judah, without being frequently presented with the fact, that the wicked live not half their days. The ravages which Death makes on infants, is another proof that it is the offspring of original sin. Who, that has been the mother of a helpless babe, has not often had her heart wrung with anguish to hear its pitiful cries, unable to tell the cause of its sufferings, and consequently unable to administer relief? To what innumerable diseases are these innocent little creatures subject, attended with the most excruciating pains? For many months they seem to live a kind of dying life; the fond parents, all the while, exercised by alternate fears and hopes. Notwithstanding the unremitting attentions of truly affectionate friends to their health and comfort, many are snatched away by the hand of Death, and their ashes are mingled with the silent dust. They spring up like summer flowers, that open to us their beautiful tints for a few suns, and then droop and wither. : There is a mystery thrown around the death of infants which, in vain, we attempt to penetrate. That so large a proportion of the human race should be brought into the world, to suffer, to weep, and to die, is a difficulty in the plan of the divine government, of which we can obtain no solution. It is, however, a standing proof of the doctrine of human depravity, and reads to us a practical comment on the exceeding sinfulness of sin and while we see its sad effects in the sweet form of our babes, we are taught to anticipate our own dissolution, and seek an interest in the righteousness of the Saviour, through which even they must be delivered from the consequences of sin, and ransomed from the prison of the grave. Some parents, indeed, know the design of the painful dispensation; and in the death of the child that has been born unto them, they have been admonished of sin, and deeply humbled on account of it. It has awakened in their bosoms a sense of past transgression; led them with weeping and supplication to the cross of the Redeemer; and constrained them to look for that happiness in the infinite Creator, of which they have been deprived in the creature. The bereavement has not been less pointedly felt than that which excited the strong emotions of the parental heart of David, when accompanied with the touching parable of Nathan, and its wise and pertinent application. And thus they have been made to suffer more, relatively, than if they themselves had been the victims of disease and death. "The thorn it was poignant, but precious to me,— It is allowed, that children in the years of infancy are incapable of moral action, and cannot therefore suffer death as the result of their own actual sins. It is rather the consequence of that depraved nature with which they come into the world; the effect of our first father's apostacy and guilt. To this the Apostle attributes it when he says, "For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression." If it be objected that God has a right to inflict a positive evil to procure a greater good, we should feel disposed strongly to question the correctness of the assumption, especially as he could, with equal ease, take those helpless babes to heaven, without suffering the calamities of pain and death. It cannot be supposed that God would create so much misery, merely to compensate it by a higher and future enjoyment. And who would not deem it unequitable to be arraigned and punished as a criminal, although afterwards he might be rewarded as an honest man? "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" "Whoever perished being innocent? or when were the righteous cut off ?” There is one death which, on account of the peculiarity of its nature, and the importance of its results, continues to be the astonishment of heaven, and the wonder of earth the death of JESUS CHRIST. Although a pattern of perfect innocence, and clear of all imputation of actual guilt, he was arraigned at the bar of Pilate, condemned as a common malefactor, agonized and expired on the accursed tree. He submitted to pain and suffering, ignominy and death, and was interred in the dark and solitary chambers of the grave; that he might illustrate the infinite evil and awful demerit of sin, make atonement for its guilt, repair the ruins, and restore the harmony, of the moral universe. Nor is there one station we can occupy, from which we may have such a view of the effects of the first offence, and the turpitude of every succeeding act of transgression, as the hill of Calvary. |