CARTOON IV. THE DEATH OF ANANIAS. A STRIKING contrast to the Cartoon last under review! Nothing here is the same, but the power— power, both in the painter and the principal agent represented. In the scene at the "Beautiful Gate," however, the power of the apostle was exerted in an act of pure benevolence-here it is shown in the severity of punishment: of that composition a redundancy of beauty is the presiding characteristic— of the present, it is a studied plainness. The first glance at this composition conveys a vivid impression of a catastrophe, the result of a divine infliction. This idea is suggested by the general disposition of the groups. In the central background, the compact assemblage of the apostles frowning inflexible judgment on the unhappy criminal, reminds the awe-struck spectator of a thunder-cloud, from whence the destroying bolt has been just launched; while the scattered figures in the front exhibit the sudden but fearful effect of its fall, in the prostrate dying man, and the extreme terror and alarm of the beholders, gradually subsiding into indifference among the distant persons, who are yet ignorant of the terrible event. Or we may liken the general features of the composition to a rock in mid-ocean, against whose stately side a sudden storm has dashed the waves: flung foaming back, and broken into raging fragments at its base, they retire from the eye on either side, in masses more tranquil in proportion as they recede. It is needless to detail the particulars of an event so well known as the death of Ananias. As, however, it has been thought, that the punishment inflicted on this unhappy person and the partner of his guilt was of too relentless a character, we shall detain the reader by a few words on the nature of their crime. In the infant state of the church, its stability and growth would chiefly depend on two circumstances the unquestionable evidence of divine authority abiding with its ministers, and the perfect purity of motive which actuated those who joined themselves to its community. Now, the crime of Ananias and Sapphira involved the strongest possible violation of both these principles. They had witnessed the recent miraculous demonstrations of the Holy Spirit -perhaps had themselves received a portion of the divine influence. They had ostentatiously come forward among those members of the church, who relinquished all individual right in their possessions for the common advantage. On the public stock, therefore, they now claimed to be appointed pensioners. They were not required to make this sacrifice: it was, they pretended, voluntary-the spontaneous result of conviction and devotedness. sequently, their guilt included vain-glory, hypocrisy, falsehood, and fraud in holy things-in a word, impiety and sacrilege. Was it a time, when that Holy Spirit, who, by wonders palpable to all, was securing the radication of the "engrafted" church, could endure so flagrant an insult to himself, or permit a deadly plague-spot to spread its stain over her purity? As to the personal share of Peter and his coadjutors in this catastrophe, we have no right to condemn them. They were no more than Con |