In some instances God ordained that children, for the transgression of a parent, should be involved with him in the punishment; and it is inquired, how this can be just? But as well may it be asked how is it just that a whole family should be cut off by hereditary disease, when there is no special transgression in the parent? The true answer is, that God is sovereign, and the lives of men are at His disposal. It may be asked how it was just that Uzzah should be struck dead for touching the ark when the oxen shook it? There was a plain transgression of the divine law. The ark was not to be drawn by cattle, but to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites. But if Uzzah had been killed by lightning when he had committed no such transaction, would it have been unjust? Was it then unjust, merely because his death was ordered in a time and manner to testify God's displeasure against the neglect of His institutions? 3. And finally, this history which we have been contemplating teaches us that it is the wickedness of nations that is the cause of their destruction. The land of Canaan was promised to Abraham and his seed four hundred years before they took possession of it; but this promise was made upon a divine foresight that the nations which then possessed the land, and which were already in a corrupt state, would so fill up the measure of their wickedness as to be no longer subjects of the divine forbearance. Abraham now sojourned in that land, and God says to him, "Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land which is not theirs,"-i. e. in Egypt-" and shall be afflicted four hundred years; but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." The language imports that God would exercise His patience towards these nations, till their sins were so great as to make their extirpation necessary. And they were finally destroyed because their iniquities were full. God threatens His own people that if they practise the iniquities of the nations which were in the land before them, they must expect similar marks of His holy displeasure. By degrees they actually did fall into the same corruptions; and after long forbearance God executed His threatening upon them; first by sending them into a long captivity in Babylon; and afterwards, when they had filled up the measure of their guilt in a rejection of the Gospel, by giving them up to a general dispersion among the nations of the earth. Is there not something in this part of the Divine administration which ought to be regarded as of monitory import to Christian nations, especially our own? Is it, indeed, so that a nation may incur such a degree of depravity as to be abandoned by God to utter ruin? Who then can fail to tremble for our own beloved country? God has dealt with us so as He has not with any nation; but amidst all His merciful dispensations towards us, we have done little else than rebel against Him; and He only who holds in His hands the destinies of nations, can tell how long He will withhold from us the fiercer visitations of His wrath. Meanwhile, let every one, especially let every Christian, realize that our safety as a people depends upon our virtue; and that every one has some responsibility resting upon him in averting from us national ruin. As we desire that our country may be saved from being desolated by the judgments of God, it becomes each one to set an example of virtue and piety, and do his utmost to sustain and cherish all those institutions with which the religious interests of our nation are immediately connected. If the day should ever come when this goodly inheritance shall be given up of God, and the eye shall be unable to discover a trace of its former glory, it will be irreligion, infidelity, that will have done the dreadful work. Yes, these are the great enemies which are lying in wait for our country's ruin; and he who meets these enemies with the most vigorous opposition, best deserves the name of patriot. PATRISTIC GLEANINGS. THE EPISTLE TO DIOGNETUS. AMONG the literary remains of Christian antiquity, there is a Tractate bearing the title of "Epistle to Diognetus," which is really a remarkable production. Who was its author is not known. Some ascribe it to Justin Martyr, but it is more generally regarded as the work of an earlier Christian writer, whose name has been unfortunately lost. Hefele incorporates it with his beautiful edition. of the Apostolic Fathers, as "Anonymi Viri Apostolici Epistola.' * The object of the author of this Epistle was to acquaint his friend Diognetus with the nature and grounds of the Christian religion, as distinguished from Judaism on the one hand, and Gentilism on the other; and in his exposition of the subject, he evinces a more than ordinary share of logical power and literary culture. After a suitable salutation, and a general statement of his designs, the writer thus sets forth THE VANITY OF IDOLS.-"Come, then, purge yourself from those thoughts that have pre-occupied your mind; throw off old habits; become, so to speak, a new man, ab initio, and then listen to the doctrine which you yourself confess is new. Examine not with the eyes only, but the understanding, the substance and the forms of those whom you regard as gods. Is not this stone exactly similar to those on which we tread? Is this brass in any respect better than that of which our common utensils are made? Here is one of wood; do you not find it already decaying? Here is another of silver; are you not obliged to guard it, lest a thief should steal it? Or this one of iron; is it not soon covered with rust? Are not all these images made of corruptible materials? It is also found in Otto's late edition of Justin. Otto maintains that Justin wrote it. Are they not all fabricated by means of iron and fire? Are they not fashioned by the stonecutter, or the brazier, or the silversmith, or the potter? Could not the common utensils that have been made by these same workmen out of the same material, be converted by them, if they pleased, into images of the gods? Could not those very objects which you worship, be changed into vessels like those in common use? Are they not all of them deaf? Are they not all blind? Are they not all void of sense? Are they not all without souls? Are they not all liable to corruption and decay? Yet you call these things gods: these you serve; these you adore. Hence you hate Christians, because they do not regard such things as divine. Surely, ye who worship such objects, have much more reason to contemn yourselves than Christians; ye have much more reason to deride yourselves, who can pay divine honour to images made of stone or silver-images which you must carefully watch, day and night, lest the robber should carry them off?" The author next exhibits some of the more prominent features of Jewish superstition, and then proceeds to draw the following beautiful picture of THE COMMON LIFE OF CHRISTIANS.-"The Christians are not distinguished from other men, neither by the region in which they reside nor by the language they use. They do not dwell in cities of their own; they do not speak a peculiar dialect, nor is there anything strange or peculiar in their mode of life. Their system of faith and morals was not invented by human ingenuity, nor is it the result of human study. You will find them resident in the cities of the Greeks and in those of the barbarians; and in such matters as clothing, food, &c., you will discover nothing to distinguish them from their neighbours; and yet in their demeanor and course of life, there is a something that will strike you as wonderful and almost incredible. Even in their own native land, they sojourn as strangers. They participate in all things as citizens; they endure all things as aliens. If in a foreign country they feel as if it were their own, in their fatherland they feel as if it were a foreign one. Like all others, they marry and beget children, but they never expose their infant offspring. They exist in the flesh, but they do not live according to the flesh; they dwell on earth, but have their citizenship in heaven. They obey the laws of the State, while yet they conquer them by their own peculiar life. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are not known; they are condemned, they are put to death; yet they cause many to live. They are poor, yet make many rich. They are deprived of all things, yet they possess all things. They are dishonoured, yet do they derive glory from disgrace; they are calumniated, and yet are thereby justified; they are reproached, yet they bless; they are injured, yet they honour those who inflict the evil. Doers of good, they are punished as if they were bad men; in the midst of sufferings, they rejoice as those who cause others to live. The Jews wage war against them as if they were foreign enemies; the Greeks bitterly persecute them, yet neither of them could explain the cause of their hatred and hostility." THE CHRISTIAN'S RELATION to the world is next described."To sum up all in one word; what the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world. As the soul is diffused through all the members of the body, so Christians are scattered through all the cities of the earth. The soul dwells in the body, but is not of it; so Christians dwell in the world, but are not of it. The soul, though invisible itself, is kept as in a garrison in a visible body; and so Christians are seen and known by the world around them, but the source and object of their religion remain all the while unseen. The flesh hates and wars against the soul; so the world hates Christians, not for any injury it has received from them, but because they oppose worldly pleasures. The soul, though encompassed by the body, sustains it in life; and so Christians, though kept in the world as in a prison, preserve it in being. An immortal Soul resides in a mortal tabernacle; and so Christians dwell among corruptible things, though the heirs of an incorruptible inheritance in heaven. The soul becomes all the better, the less it receives of such things as meat and drink; and so Christians, though perpetually persecuted, grow every day in numbers. Such is the position in which it has pleased God to place his people, nor is it lawful for any of them to fly from it." This last sentence, and indeed the whole tone of the passage shows, that the author was in no degree infected with those monastic notions which began so early to develop themselves. How distinct and clear his views were of the scheme of redemption, will be seen in the following extract from his answer to the question, WHY THE SON WAS SENT?" When it was seen that we could never earn eternal life by our own works, the Divine benignity made us worthy of it; and when it was plain that we could never, of ourselves, enter the kingdom of God, the Divine power brought us into it. At length, when our wickedness had reached its height, and we had manifestly earned the wages of sin, which is death, then the time came which God had ordained to declare his mercy and his power. Through His own abounding and self-moved love for us, he did not cast us off, nor show himself mindful of our guilt, but patiently bore with it, and himself took our sins. He gave His own Son as the price of our redemption—the holy for the unholy, the sinless for the guilty, the just for the unjust, the incorruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for the mortal. What other covering could possibly hide our sins, but His righteousness? By whom else could we guilty sinners be justified, but by God's Only Son? O! sweet exchange. O! ineffable economy. O! what kindness, surpassing all expectation! In the One Just Person the iniquities of many are hidden-the righteousness of One justifies many sinners. Having shown us how impossible it is for us to obtain life by our own natural powers, He reveals to us now a JESUS SITTING OVER AGAINST THE TREASURY.* THE Treasury in the temple at Jerusalem was in the "new court," sometimes called the "outer court," and the "court of the women." It consisted of a number of chests for receiving the voluntary gifts of the worshippers, in behalf of various objectssuch as the support of the poor, the repairs of the temple, the providing of its furniture from time to time, and the maintenance of its ordinances from day to day. It was placed where both men and women might have access to it, as all who came up to worship were to begin their service at the treasury, according to the invitation, "Bring an offering, and come into His courts." Why is it so specially mentioned that Jesus was there? Not merely for the sake of the beautiful narrative that follows, but, probably, also, to teach us that everything connected with His house He keeps His eye upon, is interested in, and regards with jealous concern. We are more accustomed to think of Jesus as having his eye upon us when we are praying or praising, preaching the Gospel or hearing it, than as sitting over against the treasury when we enter the House of God. And the reason is, probably, that we like to think of His sacrifice, rather than ours-of what He gave for us, rather than of what we should give for Him. Too frequently we forget that the treasury part of the service is an ordinance of Christ. If it be not a part of the service of God's house, it should not be there; and if it be a part of appointed service, it should be performed as in the sight of Jesus. He "beheld how the people cast money into the treasury." Many, in giving, would have no thought that the eye of Jesus was upon them; but He beheld them every one. He knew from what motives they acted in casting in their money, whether from the force of custom, a desire to be like their neighbours, a wish to avoid singularity, a fear of losing the reputation of piety; or whether from a sense of gratitude, a love for religious ordinances, a desire to honour God; and they who were actuated by the latter class of motives would not be long in the temple without learning that "It is more blessed to give than to receive." He "beheld,' also, in what spirit they gave-whether imagining they made the minister of the altar and the God of the temple their debtors by the gift, or esteeming it their duty and their privilege to bestow it; whether they gave it grudgingly or of good will. He beheld, * From the United Presbyterian Magazine, of Scotland. |