We stand aghast at the scene; and as the corpses of gentle childrenand sweet infants float by, we exclaim, Hath God forgotten to te gracious?Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? No; assuredly not. Where, then, is his mercy?Look here; behold this Ark, as, steered by an invisible hand, she comes dimly through the gloom.Lonely ship on a shoreless ocean, she carries mercy on board.She holds the costliest freight that ever sailed the sea.The germs of the Church are there―the children of the old world, and the fathers of the new.Suddenly, amid the awful gloom, as she drifts over that dead and silent sea,a grating noise is heard. Her keel has grounded on the top of Ararat.The door is opened; and, beneath the sign of the olive branch,her tenants come forth from their baptismal burial, like life from the dead,or like souls which have passed from a state of nature into the light and the liberty of grace,or like the saints when they shall rise at the summons of the trumpetto behold a new heaven and a new earth, and see the sign whichthese "gray fathers" hailed encircling a head that was crowned with thorns.
看到这场景，我们吓呆了。柔软甜美的婴儿的尸体飘过，我们惊呼：难道上帝忘记了他的谦和？难道是他的怒气阻隔了他的温柔怜悯？不，当然不是。那，他的仁慈呢？看看这儿，看这方舟，被一只无形的大手操控，她穿过黑暗隐隐而来，载着仁慈，孤独地飘荡在无边的海洋之上。她的船票昂贵无比，史无前例。那里有教会的萌芽――他们是旧世界的孩子、新世界的父亲。突然间，在可怕的黑暗中，当她在死寂的海面上漂流时，一阵刺耳的声音传来，是她的龙骨在阿拉瑞特顶部搁浅了。门开了，在橄榄枝的标志下，她的船客们从洗礼葬礼中走了出来，就像死而复生之人，就像从自然状态进入光明和恩典的自由的灵魂，就像听到号角声起来观看新天地的圣徒，观看这些敬重地围绕着一个戴着荆冠的头的“苍白的神父”。
暂无注释
