6. Watch against irritation, positiveness, unkind speaking, and anger; study and promote love. 7. Mortify lusts, sensuality, and sloth.

8. Never allow others to speak well of you; nor especially yourself, to say or think any thing of yourself but as poorly done. Keep down pride; let it not be indulged for a moment, but watch against it.

9. Shut out evil imaginations and angry thoughts. 10. Let it be your sole business here to prepare for eternity. Consider every moment of time in that view.

11. Remember that you have to contend with a legion of devils; a heart full of deceit and iniquity; and a world at enmity with God.

12. Pray that you may ever rejoice in the advancement of Christ's kingdom, and the salvation of sinners; and labour in every way to promote these objects.

Prayer is the only weapon which can subdue your corruptions, and keep your evidences bright. Cultivate prayer.

Biography.

THE LIFE OF JUSTIN MARTYR.

JUSTIN, surnamed the Martyr, was one of the earliest and most learned writers of the Christian Church. He was born at Flavia Neapolis, anciently called Sichem, a city of Samaria in Palestine, towards the close of the first century. His father's name was Priscus, a Gentile, and, in all probability, one of the Greeks belonging to the colony that had been transplanted to Neapolis. Being desirous that his son should be educated in philosophy, he first afforded him the advantages which the place of his birth could give; and afterwards sent him to Alexandria in Egypt, a place which abounded in opportunities of studying to advantage the favourite systems of paganism. He adopted, in its turn, each of the celebrated theories of Gentile philosophy. The Stoic scheme first engaged him; and he remained a disciple of it until he discovered that his preceptor could not enlighten his mind on the subject of the nature of God. He dismissed his pupil's inquiries on this subject by assuring him that any knowledge of this matter was unnecessary. He then tried the Peripatetic school; but was disgusted at the outset with his proposed tutor, who was very mercenary about the terms on which he was to teach his pupil, and so convinced Justin that the dignity of truth was not to be found deposited in a mind so sordid. He turned next to the Pythagorean system; but finding that he could not be admitted into the class of the professor to whom he applied until he had made himself a proficient in music, astronomy, and geometry, he was abandoned to a fresh search for a guide to truth. He finally became a Platonist, and commenced a course of abstracted study.* "As he was walking near the sea, he was met by an aged person of a venerable appearance, whom he beheld with much attention. Do you know me?' says he when Justin answered in the negative, he asked him why he surveyed him with such attention? 'I wondered,' says he, to find any person here.' The stranger observed that he was waiting for some domestics: but what brought you here?' says he. Justin professed his love of private meditation: the other hinted at the absurdity of mere speculation abstracted from practice; which gave occasion to Justin to express his ardent desire of knowing God, and to expatiate on the praises of philosophy. The stranger by degrees See Milner's Church History, from which I have quoted largely in this memoir.

endeavoured to cure him of his ignorant admiration of Plato and Pythagoras, and to point out to him the writings of the Hebrew prophets, as being much more ancient than any of those called philosophers; and led him to some view of Christianity in its nature and in its evidences, adding, above all things, pray that the gates of light may be opened unto thee; for they are not discernible, nor to be understood by all, except God and his Christ give a man to understand.' 'The man having spoken these things, and much more, left me,' says Justin, directing me to pursue these things, and I saw him no more. Immediately a fire was kindled in my soul, and I had a strong affection for the prophets, and those men who are the friends of Christ; and, weighing within myself his words, I found this to be the only sure philosophy.' We have no more particulars of the exercises of his soul in religion. His conversion took place from hence, some time in the reign of Adrian. But he has shewn us enough to make it evident that conversion was then looked on as an inward spiritual work on the soul, and that he had the substance of the same work of grace which the Spirit operates at this day on real Christians. There appears in his case an earnest thoughtfulness, attended with a strong desire to know God, and an experimental sense of his own ignorance, and of the insufficiency of human resources. Then the providential care of God, in bringing him under the means of Christian instruction-a direction to his soul to pray for spiritual illumination-the divine hunger created in his heart-and, in due time, the satisfactory comforts and privileges of real Christianity, which, with him, was not mere words and declarations; but he found it, he says, to have a formidable majesty in its nature, adapted to terrify those who are in the way of transgression, as well as a sweetness, peace, and serenity for those who are conversant in it. He owns, in another of his works, that the example of Christians suffering death so serenely for their faith, moved his mind not a little. This is an obvious consideration, and need not to be insisted on; it is not for the interest of those called philosophers in any age, that it should be insisted on. Justin, after his conversion, still wore the usual philosophic garb, which demonstrates that he retained, perhaps, too great an affection for the studies of his youth; and, if I mistake not, he always preserved a very strong tincture of the philosophic spirit, though not in such a manner as to prevent his sincere attachment to the Gospel."

He subsequently went to Rome, in the beginning of the reign of Antoninus Pius, and entered upon a confutation of the heretics; and especially of one notorious heretic, named Marcion. This man was a native of Sinope, a city of Paphlagonia, in Asia Minor, of which city his father was bishop. He is called by Tertullian, Ponticus Nauclerus. It appears that he

was excommunicated from the Church for some immorality; and his father refusing to re-admit him, he went to Rome; but meeting there with the like repulse, he became so irritated, that he embraced the opinions of the heretic Cerdo, and began to propagate them publicly about the year 130. The doctrines of Marcion were much the same as those afterwards professed by Manes,-that of two co-eternal and independent principles, one is the author of all good, the other of all evil; also, that the God of the Old Testament was the evil principle, and that, having unjustly forbidden Adam's eating of the best tree in Paradise, the serpent was the nobler being for encouraging him

to eat the fruit: on which account the Marcionites are said to have worshipped a brazen serpent. He rejected the Old Testament, and all the Gospels, except that of St. Luke, out of which and some of St. Paul's epistles he composed two books, entitled "Evangelium," and "Apostolicon," which he persuaded his * See Gorton's Biographical Dictionary: title "Marcion."

followers were of divine origin. This was the man whose bold and formidable errors roused the zeal of Justin; and he, accordingly, wrote and published a work to confute them. The Christians having been much traduced, and most cruelly treated, Justin wrote a book in their behalf, known by the name of his Apology," addressing it to Antoninus Pius the emperor, wherein he challenged the strictest inquiry into the conduct of the Christians, as the best proof of their principles. Happy would it be for Christ's cause now, in these latter days of the Church, if the "enemies of the Lord" could be triumphantly met in the same way; if, when the finger of infidel derision is pointed at those who "profess and call themselves Christians," we could shew that the principles and practice of men were consistent with each other. The date of Justin's first Apology is not decidedly known; but it is probable, from internal evidence, that it was written about the year 140, which is the time given by Cave, in his life of Justin.

Soon after this, he left Rome to go into the provincial districts. Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, tells us that at Ephesus he met with a Jew named Trypho, and conversed with him on the claims of Judaism and Christianity. He has related what passed between them in his "Dialogue with Trypho." Some critics have been of opinion that no such dialogue ever actually took place; but that Justin, wishing to state the merits of the question between Jews and Christians, placed the respective sentiments in this conversational form; a mode frequently adopted in our own times. But if this be not the account of a real conversation, it is a most clever fiction; for it states that night overtook them in their conference; and that the next day Justin recapitulated the subjects of the previous day's interview, for the sake of some Jews who were absent when the dialogue began. All this, of course, might be an ingenious contrivance to give the subject a dramatic interest; but it looks also very much like a natural transaction. This "Dialogue" occurred, and was written probably, about the same year in which the first "Apology" was composed, A.D. 140. It appears that the Christians of that time were persecuted with every species of obloquy. They were accused of eating men, of putting out the public lights to practise iniquity beneath the screen of darkness, and of the most sensual habits. Justin alludes in his "Dialogue" to these imputations, as carrying with them, to reasonable men, their own confutation: but the simple fact, that such charges were, without hesitation, brought against the Christians of that day, so irreproachable as we know them to have been-this shews that the "carnal mind" ever has been "enmity against God;" and it ought at once to convince us of, and reconcile us to, the truth of that declaration of the Scripture, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."

Having returned to Rome, he encountered a bitter enemy of the Christians, a man named Crescens, a philosopher, of the sect of the Cynics, who was as profligate in his own life and conduct as he was a deadly foe to Christianity. How serious and fatal an enemy he proved to Justin, remains to be told. Justin, finding that the mind of the emperor, Marcus Antoninus Philosophus, had been poisoned against the Christians, both from other sources and especially by this Crescens, wrote a second "Apology," and presented it to the emperor. We have from himself the following account of the occasion which led to the writing of this second Apology: "A certain woman at Rome," he says, "had, together with her husband, lived in extreme profligacy and licentiousness. But on her conversion to Christianity, being changed herself, she endeavoured to persuade her husband also to imitate her example, representing to him the unishment of eternal fire, which in a future state

He,

would be inflicted on the disobedient. But he persisting in his wickedness, she was induced to wish for a separation. By the advice of her friends, she continued, however, to live with him, hoping in time he might be brought to repentance. Upon his coming to Alexandria, he proceeded to greater lengths of wickedness; so that, finding the connexion now no longer tolerable, she procured a divorce from him. He, not impressed with the happy change which had taken place in her dispositions, and unmoved with her compassionate attempts to rescue him from ruin, accused her of being a Christian. Upon which she presented a petition to you, O emperor, that she might have time to dispose and regulate her household affairs; and after that, promised to answer to the charge; which petition you granted. The husband, finding his wife to have gained a respite from his malice, diverted it to another object, to one Ptolemy, who had instructed her in Christianity, and who had been punished by Urbicius, the prefect of Rome. He persuaded a centurion, his friend, to imprison Ptolemy, and ask him whether he was a Christian. no flatterer or dissembler, ingenuously confessed, and was a long time punished with imprisonment. At last, when he was brought before Urbicius, and asked only this question, whether he was a Christian, he confessed himself a teacher of the divine truth: for no true Christian can act otherwise. Urbicius ordering him to be led to execution, one Lucius, himself a Christian, observing the absurdity of these proceedings, expostulated with Urbicius on the iniquity of putting men to death merely for a name, abstracted from any one specific charge of guilt,- -a conduct unworthy of emperors such as Pius the last, or Philosophus the present, or the sacred senate. 'You, too, seem to me to be of the same sect,' was all that the prefect deigned to reply. Lucius confessed that he was, and was himself led also to execution; which he bore with triumphant serenity, declaring that he was now going from unrighteous governors to God, his gracious Father and King. A third person was sentenced also to death on the same occasion. And I also," continues Justin, "expect, by persons of this sort, to be murdered, perhaps by Crescens, the pretended philosopher; for the name really belongs not to a man who publicly accuses Christians of atheism and impiety, to please many deceived persons, though he is totally ignorant of their real character. I myself have interrogated him, and proved that he is quite unacquainted with the subject. I am willing to undergo an examination before you, in company with him. And if my questions and his answers were known, it would appear evident to yourself that he knows nothing of our affairs, or, at least, conceals what he does know."

Arguments such as these, however just and touching, were powerless with the Emperor Marcus. The affection which Justin bore towards the Christians was too great a crime to be pardoned. He was accordingly destined to suffer death, under the following circumstances. "He and six of his companions, having been apprehended, were brought before Rusticus the prefect, who, I suppose, had succeeded Urbicius, a man famous for his attachment to Stoicism, and a person of considerable eminence.. He had been tutor to the emperor, who acknowledges, in the first book of his Meditations, his obligations to him on seve ral accounts, and particularly for his teaching him to be of a placable and forgiving temper; an instance, one among many thousands, that it is possible for a man to be strongly impressed with many beautiful ideas of morality, and still to remain an inflexible enemy to the Gospel. Rusticus undertook to persuade Justin to obey the gods, and comply with the emperor's edicts. He defended the reasonableness of his religion. Upon which the governor inquired in what kind of learning and discipline he had been educated. He told him

that he had endeavoured to understand all kinds of discipline, and tried all methods of learning; but finding satisfaction in none of them, he at last had found rest in the Christian doctrine, however fashionable it had been to despise it. Wretch!' replies the indignant magistrate, 'art thou captivated, then, by that religion?' 'I am,' says Justin; I follow the Christians, and their doctrine is right.' 'What is their doctrine?' 'It is this: we believe the one only God to be the Creator of all things visible and invisible; and confess our Lord Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, foretold by the prophets of old, and who shall hereafter appear the Judge of mankind, a Saviour, Teacher, and Master to all those who are duly instructed by him. As for myself, I am too mean to be able to say any thing becoming his infinite Deity : this was the business of the prophets, who, many ages ago, had foretold the coming of the Son of God into the world.' Where do the Christians usually assemble?' The God of the Christians is not confined to any particular place.' 'In what place do you instruct your scholars?' Justin mentioned the place in which he dwelt, and told him that there he explained Christianity to all who resorted to him: The prefect, having severally examined his companions, again addressed Justin. Hear, thou who hast the character of an orator, and imaginest thyself to be in the possession of truth. If I scourge thee from head to foot, thinkest thou that thou shalt go to heaven?' 'Although I suffer what you threaten, yet I expect to enjoy the portion of all true Christians, as I know that the Divine grace and favour is laid up for all such, and shall be so while the world endures.' 'Do you think that you shall go to heaven, and receive a reward?'

I not only think so, but I know it, and have a certainty of it which excludes all doubt.' Rusticus insisted that they should all go together, and sacrifice to the gods. No man whose understanding is sound,' replies Justin, will desert true religion for the sake of error and impiety.' Unless you comply, you shall be tormented without mercy.' We desire nothing more sincerely than to endure tortures for our Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved. Hence our happiness is promoted, and we shall have confidence before the awful tribunal of our Lord and Saviour, before which, by the Divine appointment, the whole world must appear.' The rest assented: Despatch quickly your purpose; we are Christians, and cannot sacrifice to idols.' The governor then pronounced sentence,' as to those who refuse to sacrifice to the gods, and to obey the imperial edicts, let them be first scourged, and then beheaded, according to the laws.' The martyrs rejoiced and blessed God; and being led back to prison, were whipped and afterwards beheaded. Their dead bodies were taken by Christian friends, and decently interred."*

And thus it appears that Justin was but too true a prophet when he foretold that he should perish through the malice of Crescens. His death, the nature of which justly entitled him to the name of martyr," took place about the year of our Lord 165, and in the seventy-sixth year of his age.

"He is the

first Christian," says Milner," since the apostles' days, who added to an unquestionable zeal and love for the Gospel the character of a man of learning and philosophy. His early habits were retained, and yet were consecrated to the service of God. He, at least, should not be suspected of unreasonable impulses and fancies. His religion was doubtless the effect of serious and long deliberation; and the very best and most important use which a gentleman and a scholar can make of his rational faculties to determine his choice in religion was made by Justin. He examined the various philosophic sects, not merely for the purpose of amusement or ostentation, but to find out God, and

Cave's Life of Justin.

in God true happiness. He tried, and found them all wanting; he sought him in the Gospel-he found him there-confessed him-gave up every thing for him-was satisfied with his choice, and died in serenity."

The following works of Justin Martyr are mentioned by Eusebius :- The two Apologies for Christianity; the Dialogue with Trypho (both of which works have already been alluded to); an Address to the Greeks; another, entitled Elenchus; a Treatise on the Monarchy of God; a work called Psaltes; another, On the Soul; the books against Marcion, and against Heresies. The last four are not now extant. Besides the above works, Justin is said to have been the author of several other books; but the authority on which they stand is weak; indeed most of them are considered as spurious. Jerome gives all the works named by Eusebius; and adds an Exposition of the Apocalypse, which is lost. The most valuable of his works are his Apologies and the Dialogue with Trypho. D.

THE INQUISITION.

No. II.-The Persecutions which took place at its

institution.

REFERENCE has been already made to some of the sufferings to which those devoted men were exposed, who deemed it their duty to part with life itself rather than submit to the spiritual tyranny of the see of Rome, and whose bold and intrepid conduct called forth the fury of the pope, and led to the institution of the diabolical tribunal of the inquisition. The subject is far too important to be hastily passed over; and it will therefore be the purpose of this paper to enter more into detail, by stating some of the cruelties to which the inhabitants of Beziers and Carcassone were exposed. It is only necessary to bear in mind, that popery, as to its spirit, remains unchanged, the same from generation to generation. That spirit may be, and, blessed be God! has been curbed in many countries, even where the church of Rome is legally established; but this is owing to the external circumstances in which she has been placed; and it is the paramount duty of every one interested for the welfare of his country, and for the souls of his fellow-creatures, boldly and unceasingly to proclaim the fact, that the spirit of popery is unaltered and unalterable.

The army of the pope, consisting of hundreds of thousands of men, devoted to the service of the holy see, as it is termed, and willing to sacrifice all for the extension of its dominion, was let loose upon those provinces in which those suspected of heresy were residing. It is beyond the limits of this work to recount one-hundredth part of the enormities that were committed. But some of the circumstances referring to the sieges of Beziers and Carcassone, cannot fail to be interesting. The army proceeded, after repeated acts of cruelty, to the city of Beziers; the earl of which, who was likewise the governor and a papist, thinking the attempt to defend it would be utterly vain, came out and presented himself to the pope's legate, imploring mercy for the inhabitants, stating, at the same time, that there were as many stanch adherents to the see of Rome within the walls as of those who were branded with heresy. To this the legate answered, that all excuses availed nothing; that the city must be surrendered, or the most dreadful consequences would be the result. The governor, returning into the city, informed the inhabitants that there could be no mercy shewn, unless those accused of heresy would express their willingness to conform to the Romish worship. This was urged upon them by their Romish fellow-citizens; but they nobly answered, that they dared not, to save the body, destroy the soul. The infuriated legate would listen to no prayer for mercy; like a wolf determined upon his prey, he rushed into th

liveth for ever and ever, they will celebrate the praises of his grace and mercy, who gave them the faith whereby they were enabled to stand in an evil day, and the courage whereby they were enabled not to count their lives dear, and who then brought them to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.

THE WORKING OF DIVINE GRACE IN THE SOUL:

A Sermon,

BY THE REV. CHARLES PORTER, B.D.

Saviour himself at one time rebukes the Jews, "Ye will not come unto me, that ye may have life" (John, v. 40). At another time he says, "No man can come to me, except the Father which sent me draw him" (John, vi. 44). As believers in the divine authority of the Bible, we take all these statements to be true: one Spirit dictated these several passages. The two leading ideas contained in them are, therefore, consistent. We are to regard ourselves as the

now Vicar of St. Martin's, Stamford Baron.

PHIL. ii. 12, 13.

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

THE doctrine of Divine grace working in the human soul presents many difficulties. We cannot explain nor understand how the Almighty Spirit can influence the moral powers of a man, and yet leave that man free and accountable. But the obscurity belongs to the subject, not to this particular doctrine. The whole subject of man's accountability is one upon which we have no data to argue from, no facts to guide us; it is not matter of reason, but of instinctive feeling and conscience. However curious such inquiries may be, they are not a proper part of religious feeling or duty; we are not bound to believe any thing concerning our moral constitution. The Scriptures present the two great truths (1. that we are accountable; 2. that the Divine Spirit influences us) separately. Thus (Is. i. 16, 17), "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes" and, on the other hand (Jer. xxxiii. 8), God says, "I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me." At one time the prophet is commissioned to cry, "Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit" (Ezek. xviii. 31). At another time, the Lord by the same prophet declares (xxxvi. 26), "Å "A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." David, in one place, says, "I will wash my hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord" (Ps. xxvi. 6). In another Psalm (li. 2, 7), he prays, "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Jeremiah (xxv. 5) exhorts sinners to turn again, every one from his evil way;" while, knowing this can only be done by God's power, he asks, "Turn thou us, O Lord, and we shall be turned" (Lam. v. 21). And our

communicated from God, by virtue of the covenant which he hath made with us in Christ Jesus; and we are also to engage in the work of our moral renovation with the same feelings, and in the same way (excepting as to prayer), as if all depended upon ourselves.

In the text the doctrine of grace is laid down—" It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure:" the improvement is also stated-"work out your own salvation with fear and trembling :" the two being connected-" work out.... for it is God. . . ."

I. Before we enter upon the explanation of the words in which the apostle broaches the doctrine, I would notice two objections against it.

The first is, that it is a doctrine which leads to licentiousness; the second is, that they who hold the doctrine differ in their views of it.

1. Some persons hesitate to admit this doctrine, because it seems to lead to licentiousness.

We admit that it has been so perverted. There have been ungodly persons who have received the doctrine and abused it; but I think it is a full answer to this objection, that others, by the reception of this doctrine, have been turned from sin to holiness. If the truth, that the grace of God is given to the soul that seeks it, has ever brought peace to a troubled conscience, and reclaimed a wandering sinner; if any one, who is worthy of credit, can say that he had experienced its soothing and converting power, then, I contend that this is a holy doctrine and they who have received the grace of God in vain have opposed its workings, and done despite to the Spirit of grace; and their evidence only goes to prove the natural wickedness of the human heart; and that the grace of God, if it acted at all in them, did not act irresistibly.

But, further, having admitted that grace has been turned into licentiousness, we draw from this fact an argument for the truth of the doctrine itself. St. Paul, the great preacher of this doctrine, was charged with