which had been placed to secure the door of his sealed sepulchre, (and which the Jews vainly supposed was immovably fixed there) can, with equal facility, roll away, from his persecuted people, the reproaches with which the ungodly assail them. Go on, then, in the strength of the Lord, and in the power of his might. Be of good comfort. Arise, lift up your dejected heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. Consider who it is that calleth thee. It is the mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the everlasting Father.

Here, too, is ample encouragement for the contrite but trembling believer. Do you entertain the slightest doubt of the willingness of your adorable Lord to look upon you with compassion? Think you that the most feeble cry for mercy, if it proceed from the heart, will not penetrate his ears through the angelic legions, and the seraphic hosts, who circle his throne rejoicing? Call to mind the deafening shouts, the loud acclamations, which accompanied the departure of the Redeemer out of Jericho, on his way to Jerusalem. The air would be rent by a noise resembling the sound of many waters, and yet a poor blind beggar's petition is listened to, and answered. What a sensation must have pervaded the astonished multitude, when they beheld Jesus standing still, and commanding the suppliant to be called. Oh! how widely different is generally the conduct of men! They feel grateful to any who will take the trouble of silencing their clamorous petitioners. Not so felt and acted the compassionate Saviour. Instead of marking with approbation these attempts to discourage the earnest entreaties of this benighted suppliant, he mildly and tenderly inquired of him, what it was that he wished him to do; the answer was soon given,-" Lord, that I may receive my sight." And Jesus said unto him, "Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole and immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way."

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From this subject, then, how many interesting and important lessons may be derived;-to how many different classes of persons can these words be addressed-" Be of good comfort, He calleth thee!""Arise, then, and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Yes, my Christian brethren, that light which was expressly manifested to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of the Israelitish church, has appeared in surpassing lustre in this our highly-favoured country. The Star of Bethlehem has long since risen on our land. British kings have come to the brightness of its rising. We, too, are the honoured instruments, in the hand of God, for diffusing the blessings of pure Christianity over the whole face of the habitable globe. But, my brethren, while we are thus employed, and thus honoured, let us take especial heed that our own souls are warmed by the light of Divine truth. It will nothing avail us that our friends, or our countrymen, or even that we ourselves, should have been engaged in the promotion of the Redeemer's kingdom upon earth, unless we are individually interested in its blessings. As it was no consolation to blind Bartimeus, that the passing multitude could trace the footsteps of Jesus, and be eye-witnesses of the miracles he performed, if he himself continued in darkness; so neither will it be of the least possible benefit to us, even that the whole world should

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be enlightened by divine grace, if our own hearts remain in a state of spiritual gloom. But, thanks be to God, this need not be the The Master calleth us to light and blessedness. Let us, then, supplicate him, in the earnest and imploring language of the individual whose case is now before us, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me." He well knows of what we are most in need. His ear is ever open to the prayer of the contrite. It is not heavy, that it cannot hear; neither is his arm shortened, that it cannot save. Come unto him, then, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. He will, according to his most gracious promise, refresh you with the dews of his mercy. Ye shall go in and out, and find pasture, and he will compass you about " with his favour as with a shield," both now and

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Another circumstance worthy of remark, as arising out of this discussion, is, the acknowledgment contained in the petition to Jesus, that he was the expected Messiah. While all men mused of John, the mere forerunner of our Lord, whether he were the Christ, this poor man expressed his firm and entire conviction, that a greater than John was passing by,-" Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me." Here was a direct avowal of his faith in the eternal Sonship of the Saviour of sinners. And we shall find, on a careful perusal of the New Testament, that our Lord invariably attended to the prayer of faith, and returned to it an answer of peace. When the Roman centurion said by his messenger, Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed; the event was immediately consequent on his acknowledgment of Divine power. When the poor woman, who had expended nearly all her living in seeking the removal of her disease by human aid, timidly approached the Son of God, in full assurance, that if she could but touch the hem of his garment, her cure would be effected; the result she had anticipated instantly followed, and she was made perfectly whole from that very hour. But, it is needless to adduce instances in proof of that, which no one, acquainted with the Scriptures, can for a moment doubt. And in the case before us, the expressed persuasion, that he was addressing the promised seed of the woman, who should bruise the serpent's head, secured to him the object of his fervent petition. Nay, so decided was the attention given to his prayer by our Lord, that the Evangelist describes him as being actually arrested by it in his progress towards Jerusalem "And Jesus stood still." "The cry of a believing penitent," remarks a celebrated writer, "is sufficient to stop the merciful Jesus, were he going to form a new heaven and a new earth." For, what is all the inanimate part of creation, compared with the value of an immortal soul? One more lesson is to be learned from the conduct of this poor suppliant for mercy, and it is an important one. It is related of him, that, "casting away his garment, he arose, and came to Jesus.' This was probably some loose outward covering, which protected him from the inclemency of the weather; and he cast it off, that he might have nothing to hinder his speedy approach to that gracious Being, who he believed was about to confer on him the greatest temporal blessing he could receive. If, my brethren, every penitent were as willing to throw aside his sinful incumbrances, and his self-righteousness, as

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this blind man was to cast away his garment, we should have fewer delays in turning to God than now occur: and those who were once convinced of sin, would instantly flee to Jesus for its pardon, and trust to him for the salvation of their souls. Happy, my brethren, are the people, once spiritually blind, to whom Christ has given eyes that they may know him; feet, that they may follow him; tongues, that they may praise him; and hearts, that they may love him.

In conclusion, let me implore you, my Christian brethren, to act in the same earnest manner in the important work of your salvation, as did this poor blind man, that he might receive his bodily sight; and, I have the highest authority for assuring you, that your prayer for mercy will be answered. Apply, then, to the Son of David; lose not a moment. Remember, he is passing by, and that you are passing into eternity, and may never have another opportunity of making your calling and election sure. Let the solemn warning of the Apostle sink deep into your hearts:-" Behold, now is the accepted time; This is the day of salvation." J. T.

Κλήμηντος, τοῦ ἀληθοῦς κλήματος τοῦ ἀμπέλου Χριστοῦ, δι ̓ οὗ ἡμῖν ὁ τῆς διδασκαλίας βότρυς περκάσας, γλεύκος εὐσεβείας καὶ σωτηρίας ἐστάλαξεν.—Clem. Mart. Mirac. ap. Sim. Metaph. §. 2.

WE come now to one in the list of Apostolical Fathers, who has an undoubted and almost an undisputed claim to the title, from the acknowledged genuineness of a portion of his writings which is still extant. CLEMENT, some time Bishop of Rome, is generally supposed to have been the same person whom St. Paul mentions as one of his fellow-labourers, whose name is written in the book of life, (Phil. iv. 3.) It is indeed the opinion of Grotius, that the Apostle is speaking of some priest in the Church of Philippi; but Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. II. 12.), Epiphanius (adv. Carpocr. I. 6.), and Jerome (Comment. in loc.), have given their positive testimony in favour of the Bishop: nor is there any extant record of any other Clement to whom the eulogy in question could be so appropriately applied. Such a character we might well expect of one who "had seen and conversed with the blessed Apostles, and had their preaching sounding in his ears, and their traditions before his eyes." (Iren. Hær. III. 3.)

Tradition is not altogether silent respecting the life of Clement; but the few particulars which are related of him do not rest on very credible authority. His father's name was Faustinus; his mother's Mattidia: and he was, in all probability, a native of Rome; though not, as some have ventured to affirm, a descendant of the imperial family. This mistake seems to have originated with some who confounded him with the consul

Flavius Clemens, a cousin of the emperor Domitian, by whom he was put to death for refusing to sacrifice to the heathen gods. When a young man, he is said to have prosecuted his studies at Athens; and it was there perhaps that he sought, among the schools of the philosophers, for a solution of his doubts respecting the immortality of the soul. On this important point he was at length satisfied by Barnabas, whom he casually met, with St. Peter, at Cæsarea; and by the united efforts of these Apostles his conversion to christianity was brought about. From this period he probably maintained a constant intercourse, not only with St. Peter, but with Paul also, when at Rome, and acted under their guidance in promoting the welfare of the christian community in that imperial city. In the mean time the most relentless persecution broke out, and raged with unabated fury for four years under the savage dominion of Nero; during the progress of which his two patrons obtained the crown of martyrdom. By what means Clement escaped a similar fate is uncertain: but he was preserved, by an all-wise Providence, to superintend the reviving interests of the Church at Rome, to the bishoprick of which he had been recently appointed.

With respect to the date of Clement's appointment to the Roman See, there is considerable diversity of opinion among the learned. While most of the Latin Fathers affirm that he was ordained by St. Peter, and, upon their authority, Pearson, Dodwell, and others antedate his episcopacy to the destruction of Jerusalem; Du Pin, Tillemont, and Lardner, on the other hand, following the concurrent testimony of the whole Greek Church, place it between the years 91 and 100 of the Christian æra. Irenæus (ubi supra) makes Clement the third in succession at Rome after the Apostles, Linus and Anencletus having preceded him in the bishoprick. So, also, Eusebius: (Hist. Eccl. III. 13, 15, 22.) “In the second year of the reign of Titus (A. D. 79), Linus, bishop of the church of the Romans, after presiding over it twelve years, delivered it to Anencletus. In the twelfth year of Domitian (A. D. 92), having been bishop twelve years, he was succeeded by Clement, whom the Apostle mentions in Phil. iv. 3. Clement died in the third year of Trajan (A. D. 100) having been bishop nine years." With this account Jerome, though a Latin, agrees (de Vir. Ill. 15). In order, therefore to reconcile this clear statement of the order and dates of the succession with the declaration of Tertullian (de Præscr. § 32) that Clement was ordained by Peter, Epiphanius (Hær. XXVII. 6.) conjectures that although he was so ordained, he declined to exercise the office till after the death of Linus and Anencletus. Lardner supposes that Tertullian may have been mistaken; or that, in common with the Latin Church generally, he referred to an ordination to some inferior office in the Roman Church. Neither explanation, however, is very satisfactory. It may, perhaps, be admitted, as a more probable conjecture, that Linus, who is mentioned in 2 Tim. iv. 21, was consecrated bishop by St. Paul, over the Jewish converts at Rome; and Clement, by St. Peter, over the gentile converts, prior to the destruction of Jerusalem; and that, after the death of Anencletus, when the inveterate prejudices between

Jews and Gentiles had considerably abated, the two appointments were united in the person of Clement.

During the episcopacy of Clement, records were kept of all those who suffered martyrdom within his district, and missionaries were appointed to carry the glad tidings of the gospel into those countries where it had not yet been preached. What other means he adopted for the well-being and the extension of Christianity, we have now no means of ascertaining; but there is every reason to believe that the peculiar exigencies of the times were duly provided for by his counsels and his exertions. Some have supposed that he resigned his bishoprick in the year 77, and died a martyr in the year 100; but such a supposition is highly improbable, and altogether at variance with the testimonies of the early ecclesiastical writers. That he suffered martyrdom at all may very fairly be questioned; and at all events, the account which Simeon Metaphrastes has given of his condemnation to the mines, and subsequent death by drowning, is so evidently fabulous, that no credit whatever can be attached to it. It is, in fact, quite as incredible as the preposterous tale, related by the same writer, of the miracle performed at the watery grave of Clement on the anniversary of his decease.* From a passage in his Epistle to the Corinthians, his readiness to lay down his life for the faith, and to run in the same lists with his martyred predecessors, is sufficiently manifest; and it may even be inferred that he anticipated such a consummation of his ministry. But the silence of Irenæus and Eusebius, and indeed of all the early Fathers on the subject of his martyrdom, is almost decisive against the fact; and the tradition respecting it, which is of comparatively recent date, is very likely to have originated in the murder of Flavius Clemens, by order of Domitian. Suffice it to be assured, that, if not enlisted in the noble army of martyrs, he has joined the blessed society of the spirits of just men made perfect," in the mansions of eternal bliss. In the early christian writings there is frequent and honourable mention of an epistle, which was written by Clement, in the name of the Church of Rome, to the Church of Corinth. Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. III. 16.) calls it a "wonderful" epistle, and speaks of it (III. 12.) as being read in churches together with the Scriptures. In some of the ancient catalogues it is placed in the Canon of Inspiration: and it was universally regarded as a document of the highest interest and importance to the Church. It was not, however, till the commencement of the seventeenth century that the Epistle was known to be still in existence. In the reign of Charles the First, a valuable MS. of the Septuagint and New Testament, written in the fourth century, was presented to the Royal Library by Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria. At the end of this MS. Mr. Patrick Young, the King's Librarian, discovered the Epistle in question, together with a fragment of another, said to have been written subsequently by Clement to the same Church. Both the epistle and the fragment were published by Mr. Young, in

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Both these narratives will be found at the end of the first volume of the Patrés Apostolici of Cotelerius.