absence of two years from Carthage, a cessation of persecution allowed him to return. I wish I could say that this cessation was caused by a change in the emperor's heart, but it was circumstances only that caused it; the Goths having invaded his territories, Decius was forced to leave Rome in order to resist them; and plunged in calamity, fear, and distraction, the Romans forgot to persecute the Christians, and they were in peace while their persecutors were troubled.

Had Decius lived long enough, it is generally thought that he would have been satisfied with nothing less than the utter extermination of Christianity. But vain are the efforts of man, as long as the words of our Lord are truth. "On this rock" meaning Himself "will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The fury of persecution has often passed over his church, and swept it almost from the sight and the knowledge of man: yet it existed in privacy, in loneliness, and probably will for the most part so exist, till its great Head shall come to take it to himself, eternally purified, and everlastingly saved.

The proud and the wicked designs of Decius were frustrated; and God, who lent him life so long as it answered his purposes, took it away when he saw the right time was come. Decius died on the field of battle, A. D. 251. In the same year died a far different character, Origen, of whom I told you so much. He had suffered most dreadfully in this persecution, almost all that humanity

could endure and live; but he bore all with a Christian fortitude; and perhaps these trials served to spiritualize his mind, and awaken his love; perhaps in them he saw the vanity of many things that he loved before, and drew nearer to his Saviour in the hours of imprisonment, torture, and pain, than he had done in all those self-inflicted mortifications and pharisaical austerities, which were more calculated to encourage a spirit of pride and self-righteousness, than a spirit of humility and love.

Origen lived to be seventy years of age, and is universally admired as a scholar, a philosopher, and a man of genius.

I have now endeavoured to fulfil my promise of showing the effects of the long calm enjoyed by the church, and of the persecution sent to do away those effects. That calm of thirty years, you have seen, introduced many corruptions; for many would call themselves Christians, when no danger attended the profession. The thirty months of persecution discovered those dead branches, and shook them from the tree whose loveliness they defaced : it roused those who were living carelessly and at ease; and it stirred up all the energies of those who yet remained holy and undefiled.

There is yet another thing relating to the time of this persecution, of which I wished to tell you, and had well nigh forgotten: and this is, that we hear, during these troubles, of the first hermit who existed in the church of Christ.

E

This was a

young man, named Paul, who, having been accused by one of his own family of being a Christian, retired to the desert mountains in Egypt, in order, I suppose, to wait there till the danger was passed. But when he might have left his retreat he did not; it was lonely, but pleasant; he had grown accustomed to it, and found it suit his temper of mind: thus he lived on, a lonely hermit, to the age of fourscore and ten years. He was but twenty-three when he retired from the world. Paul little thought, I dare say, that superstition would gain him so many followers in the afterages and darker periods of Christianity.

Gallus, who succeeded the persecutor Decius, was at first disposed to give the church some rest, but this friendly disposition did not continue long : some more Christians were called to martyrdom; and Cyprian, finding the short period of repose, which he had devoted to the reforming and establishing of the churches, again disturbed, imagined that the Antichrist spoken of in Scripture had appeared, and that the end of the world and the day of judgment was at hand. In this belief, and with these prospects, he comforts the suffering Christians, reminding them in his epistles, of the glories of that day, and exhorting them to bear their light afflictions, which indeed are but for a moment. But Cyprian lived to see the persecutor taken away to that place, "where the wicked cease from troubling," after a distracted reign of one year and a half. Gallus died A. D. 253.

CENTURY III.

CONTINUED.

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH UNDER VALERIAN-
MARTYRDOM OF CYPRIAN.

VALERIAN ascended the Roman throne at the advanced age of sixty years. Though raised gradually from a humble station in the army of Decius to be the master of the Roman world, Valerian did not Iwalk in the steps of crime and blood to gain the proud ascendancy. In his gradual ascent through the honours of the state, he deserved the favours of the most virtuous princes, and declared himself the enemy of tyrants. His noble birth, his mild but unblemished manners, his learning, prudence, and experience were revered by the senate and people.' Thus far goes the Roman historian, who praises or blames each successive emperor, without any reference to their conduct towards the church of Christ. It is my office, however, to take the contrary part; to deem of importance, what so eminent an historian has despised, or overlooked; and to speak of men, not as under the covering of false glory, which the applause of ages has cast over them, but as they appear in the annals of the church's history.

When Valerian obtained the empire, no circumstance could seem more favourable to Christians. He was their friend and their protector; and during the first three years of his reign he treated them with greater kindness than had been ever shown them even by Philip. Christians filled his palace, were admitted about his person, and enjoyed his favours. This interval of peace was needed by the church : the dreadful persecution of Decius, and its continuation under Gallus, had done its work in purifying and correcting it, and now that it had rest, many affairs were to be settled, heresies were to be examined and condemned, and various questions to be decided. In these things Cyprian was the ruling star, the spring, and the centre. During these three years, he was unwearied in his labours among the churches. Among other questions submitted to his judgment, was one respecting the amusements of the theatre, which I think you may find it useful to call to mind, when you hear any one foolishly speak of the theatre as a school for morals.' Your love and esteem, dear brother,' said Cyprian in answer, induce you to consult me as to what I think of the case of a player among you, who still continues to instruct men in that infamous and miserable art, which he hath himself learnt. I think it very inconsistent with the majesty of God, and the rules of the Gospel, that the modesty and honour of the Church should be defiled by so base and infamous a contagion.' 'If possible,' he adds, 'recover him from this depravity