who should be infinitely wiser than the wisest man and
infinitely better than the best.

The crime of our first parents was indeed pregnant with the direst
consequences. It not only induced the seeds of original sin, but it also
brought death into the world. Milton sings--

"Of man's first disobedience,
And the fruit Of that forbidden tree,
Whose mortal taste
_Brought death into the world_."

And Saint Paul (Romans v., 12) writes "As by one man sin came into the
world, and death by sin."

Now this theory implies that before the Fall the inhabited portion
of the world was the scene of perfect peace. Birds lived on seeds and
eschewed worms, and the fierce carniverous animals grazed like oxen. The
lion laid down with the lamb. "Waal," said the Yankee, "I don't doubt
that, but I rayther guess the lamb was _inside_." The fact is that
most of the carnivorous animals could not live on a vegetable drat;
and therefore they must either have subsisted on flesh before the Fall,
which of course involves _death_, or their natures must have undergone
a radical change. The first supposition contradicts scripture, and the
second contradicts science.

Geology shows us that in the very earliest times living creatures died
from the same causes which kill them now. Many were overwhelmed by
floods and volcanoes, or engulphed by earthquakes; many died of old age
or disease, for their bones are found distorted or carious, and their
limbs twisted with pain; while the greater number were devoured,
according to the general law of the struggle for existence. Death ruled
universally before the human race made its appearance on the earth, and
has absolutely nothing to do with Eve and her apple.

Adam and Eve were warned by God that in the day they ate of the fruit of
the Tree of Knowledge they should surely die. The serpent declared this
to be rank nonsense, and the event proved his veracity. What age Eve
attained to the Holy Bible saith not, for it never considers women of
sufficient importance to have their longevities chronicled. But Adam
lived to the remarkably good old age of nine hundred and thirty years.
Like our Charles the Second he took "an unconscionable time a-dying."
One of his descendants, the famous Methusaleh, lived thirty-nine years
longer; while the more famous Melchizedek is not even dead yet, if any
credence is to be placed in the words of holy Saint Paul.

But all these are mere lambs, infants, or c