own case.

cians in this country, bearing the same testimony, and suffering the same fate. Still, however, we have only the story as told by their murderers; for in those dark times no means were possessed by the persecuted people of God for making known their The art of printing, you know, was not then invented; and the countries in which they sojourned, strangers and pilgrims in every sense, were so completely under the rule, and in the power of their adversaries, that they could not lay up a record anywhere. Whatever they wrote was sure to be sought out and destroyed; and any person who favored them was not less sure of being speedily put out of the way. What was written was never expected to fall into the hands of men who would so search and examine and compare the stories of the persecutors that, by the overruling Providence of God, they are enabled to condemn the church of Rome out of her own mouth, and out of the mouths of her chosen advocates; and by the same authority to vindicate the characters of those whom she massacred. It would be interesting and instructive to have some of the writings of these believers; and to learn their history from themselves,or from such as knew and loved them: but it is more interesting, more instructive, to trace them in the narratives of their pitiless tormentors, and to find how truly it was with them as with Daniel of old, when the presidents and princes sought to find

occasion against him concerning the kingdom: "But they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God."

Had the Paulicians no faults? Mamma,' said Fanny.

Faults, errors, and sins innumerable, my child, as we all have: but they committed no offence against those who persecuted them; they were perfectly innocent of the things laid to their charge; and the real ground of all the hatred that pursued them even unto death, was enmity against the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, which they proclaimed with their lips, and through the grace of the Holy Spirit, were enabled to adorn by their lives, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.'

CHAPTER VI.

A WITNESSING CHURCH-THE PUBLICANS.

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Now, Fanny,' said Mrs. Willis, when again her little party met around the accustomed table, now you may expect a short, but bright and clear view of a cluster of the stars to which you have compared the visible church. Very dark, dreary, and stormy were the clouds from among which they were permitted to shine forth; and very brief the space ere those black clouds again closed upon them, shutting them out forever from the sight of man; but unable to throw a shadow upon the bright heaven where they glow and sparkle in the hand of Him who calleth them all by their names.'

It is a delightful thought,' observed Robert, that these same clouds of error and darkness can only affect our earth, and such as are of the earth, earthy. The true children of God, like the stars, are raised far above them. No such influence can affect their real and everlasting condition: the clouds may obscure their brightness, and even quench their light, as regards men, but between them and God they can

not come.'

"Mamma,' said Frank, I don't like to hear you say that they, the faithful servants of the Lord, can be shut out forever from the sight of man. When Jesus appears on the throne of his glory, will they not also come with Him? Having openly suffered for his name's sake, will they not be openly owned, and honored in the sight of their enemies?'

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They will, they will indeed, my beloved boy. Not one, not the least, the poorest, the youngest, the most despised among them, but shall be seen and known as a king and a priest unto their God in that triumphant kingdom.'

The church will be visible enough, then,' observed Fanny.

'And holy, and Catholic enough,' added Thomas. 'Go on, dear mother, with your history,' said Robert; you cannot think how my heart opens to the evidence that you bring.'

'I will proceed, then. What was the date of the martyrdom at Orleans?'

The year 1017,' answered the children.

'Well, it may be supposed that so cruel a butchery committed on ten learned and eminent ecclesiastics, would be much noised abroad, and strike great terror into the breasts of all who heard it. Indeed, it was a bold act, considering how careful Popery is to exalt as much as possible the persons of its priesthood in the sight of the laity; and proves how very danger

ous the simple truth of the gospel was found to be, when once it obtained an entrance. At that time, there was not a country more devoted to Rome than was our own England. It had been brought into complete subjection to the papal see, and Henry II., in whose reign the event that I am about to relate took place, though he maintained his own kingly authority against the insolent traitor, à Becket, backed by the pope, was a devoted upholder of the spiritual tyranny of Popery.'

'O yes, Mamma,' said Frank; I remember well how he got a grant of Ireland from Pope Adrian, that he might conquer it, and reduce it to obedience to the Holy See, as they call it.'

It was just twelve years before that invasion of Ireland that the poor Publicans were discovered at Oxford.'

Were they Jews, Mamma, like the Publicans mentioned in the gospels?' asked Fanny.

No, my love: the word is no doubt a corruption of Paulician. Their doctrine and practice were the same as those of the martyrs already enumerated; the same charges were laid against them, and proved to be false by the very evidence brought to establish their truth. As in the former cases, we have no other statement than that furnished by their bitter adversaries. A monkish historian, William of Newbury, has related it; and from his account