It is confessed with regret, that some, whose claim to the christian character their general habits establish, must too frequently plead guilty to the charges implied in the above extracts. "How many consciences are kept quiet," observes the author in another part of his work, "upon no other foundation but because they sin under the authority of the christian world. Christians had nothing to fear from the heathen world but the loss of their lives; but the world becoming a friend, makes it difficult for them to save their religion."

H. I.

THE METHODIST AND THE DINNER PARTY.

"In the district which I once travelled," says a writer in the Christian Advocate, " on Easter Monday, 1825, a gentleman invited a number of his neighbors to dine with him; and among the rest a good Methodist lady was invited. She accepted the invitation, and attended, without the most distant thought that any thing contrary to her profession would be introduced. In this, however, she was disappointed. For, after dinner, the fiddle was brought in the company rose to play and amuse themselves by dancing. At length one, with a spirit more daring than the rest, approached her, and asked her to dance. Without a verbal reply, she rose from her seat, and accompanied him on the floor. The company was arranged, the fiddler sitting with lifted heel and elbow sprung, and, no doubt, the devil laughing in his sleeve, and saying, 'Another Methodist caught in my trap.' But the good angel whispered, 'Not yet, Sir.' She paused, and then said, 'It is my custom to sing some first;' and, standing there, she gave out some verse, and sang. She then said, 'It is my custom to pray some first,' and dropped upon her knees, and prayed; and no doubt her prayer was the legitimate offspring of a warm heart.— Some of the company remained, some ran away, and some trembled and wept. The dance was broken up, the fiddler disappointed, the devil defeated, and the good Methodist lady victorious.

PERSECUTIONS.-No. VII.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.

As we recede from those bright days when Jesus Christ and his apostles taught in simplicity the doctrines of the cross, we find that christian philosophers and learned schools, as well as dangerous heresies are multiplied, and much of that unassuming, ardent piety, which flourished so remarkably in earlier times, seems to have been lost amid unholy disputations and a desire for ecclesiastical aggrandizement among the teachers of religion.

In the latter part of the second century, the name of Athenagoras appears in the records of the church. He was a christian philosopher residing at Athens, distinguished for learning, being an elegant and voluminous writer. He is said to have been converted to christianity by means of reading the scriptures for the purpose of refuting them. His writings which are extant are usually subjoined to those of Justin Martyr.

Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch in Syria, A. D. 168, was a converted pagan, a man of extensive reading and a decided and faithful pastor. Some of his writings have reached us, which are rather allegorical. The word Trinity is said to have first occurred in his writings. He says that the three days preceding the creation of the sun and moon, are typical of the Trinity of God and his Word and his Wisdom. He died about A. D. 182 or 183.

Eusebius mentions several, who suffered the most ignomineous tortures of martyrdom, about this time; but in their agonies they were sustained by the presence of their blessed Master.

Clement of Alexandria is the next prominent christian Father. Titus Flavius Clemens was, in early life, a pagan, and it is uncertain whether Athens or Alexandria was the place of his nativity. He travelled in Greece, the South of Italy, Colosyria, Palestine and Egypt. In the latter place he was the pupil of the learned Pantænus, master of the christian School of divinity at Alexandria.— Clement became a christian, was made a presbyter of the Alexandrian church, and finally succeeded his preceptor as master of that famous school. From A. D. 193 to 211 he taught with great distinction, and had Origen and other celebrated men as pupils. On account of a severe persecution of christians about A. D. 202, he went into Palestine and Syria, and is supposed to have died about

220, though the exact time and circumstances of his death are not known. He doubtless endured many sufferings from the malice of enemies to God, as he held so prominent a place in the christian world. Clement had good and natural talents, was bold in his speculations, had a lively imagination, and great learning for those times. He has been much censured by modern divines, still it is generally believed that he was truly pious and maintained the essential doctrines of the gospel.

He wrote several works on various topics, most of which are extant. There is a passage in his writings, which has been thought by Dr. Wall and some other Pædobaptists, to favor infant baptism; but Clement's writings are seldom brought forward now as favoring that unscriptural rite. The passage is contained in a work called Pedagogue (naidaɣwɣos), in which, throughout the whole, he considers christians as children. The disputed clause is "Children raised from the water."

Being raised from the water, implies that the children were first put into the water, and if any mode of baptism is indicated, it is certainly immersion. But those children were as certainly disciples. Clement considers Christ as the overseer of children, and maintains that all christians are children of the overseer. "We are the children," says he, "but the scripture mentions us by various names," &c. Again he says: "In being baptized we are enlightened, in being enlightened we are made children, in being made children we are made perfect. This is called grace, illumination, perfection and bathing." " **** "both catechetical instruction leads to faith, and faith is taught by the Holy Spirit in connection with baptism."†

Being enlightened, made perfect, and bathing, indicate, surely, immersed believers, and not a word is said about the baptism of unconscious infants in the whole book. We agree with Henke in saying that, "When baptism was called an illumination, new-born infants could not well have been the subjects of it.‡ The same Father observes (Mystagog. 2.) "You were led to a bath, as Christ was conveyed to the sepulchre and were thrice immersed to signify Christ's three days burial." This does not sound like sprinkling or pouring. We cheerfully set down Clement of Alexandria as an eminent Baptist Father.

* Paedag. 3. 11. The original is rwv s údaros dvaoπwμcvwv raidiwv,
† Paedag. L. 1. c. 6.

EDITOR.

Kirch. Gesch. v. 1. p. 142.

STANZAS.

BY WILLIAM B. TAPPAN.

I.

When morning breaks upon the night
That wrapt the slave of sin,
And, guided by its searching light,
The rebel sees within,

How Guilt upon the inner walls
Its images portrays,

To which the heart in worship falls ---
Which every lust obeys:

If sad conviction of his loss

Is deepened to despair,

Till, yielding at the blessed Cross,
He falls, a weeper there-

He dies to sin; and only then

Is certified of rest;

For, in the storms that trouble men,

He sleeps on Jesus' breast.

How sweet, within the arms of Love,
To sigh away the breath,

And taste, in presence of the Dove,
Eternal Life in Death!

II.

And yet 'tis not enough to die
To follies he had done :-

The waiting seats of bliss on high
Are not so idly won.

'Tis not enough that Grace may lift
The sunken from his woe:

The saint, redeemed, of Grace bereft,
Will find his place below.

He yet must die if he would live;

Die daily, hourly, still;

Die to the blessings Heaven may give ;

In sorrow, die to Will:

Die-in the secret peace of God,

To buffetings, malign;

To meet half-way, and take the rod,
Is more than to resign.

Die to his selfishness and pride;
In life and failing breath
To all with Christ be crucified,
And triumph in the Death.

THE MINISTER'S WIFE AND THE MONUMENT.

A minister in Illinois, on receiving the sad news that the Ceylon missionaries had been obliged, in consequence of the curtailment of funds, to dismiss five thousand scholars from their schools, and that twenty-five dollars would resuscitate a school, resolved to try and raise that sum in his society. They were a little band, and had already done what they thought they could for Foreign Missions.

He went before his people, related the melancholy intelligence, and told them that he would give five dollars, if they could raise the remaining twenty. The sum was contributed in a few minutes. He then went home and informed his partner of the result. He found that she, too, had been revolving in her mind how she could raise a similar sum. "Well," said her husband, "if you will give up one gratification, you may." It seems they had recently lost a child, and had sent on an order to New-York for a tombstone, which would cost twenty-five dollars. He proposed to dispense with it. Trying though this was to her maternal feelings, she immediately consented, saying that the living children demanded her money more than the one that was dead. The order was countermanded, and a school in Ceylon was, of course, resuscitated.

"THIS IS WHAT I WANT."

A certain man, on the Malabar coast, had inquired of various devotees and priests, how he might make atonement for his sins; and he was directed to drive iron spikes, sufficiently blunted, through his sandals; and on these spikes, he was directed to place his naked feet, and to walk about four hundred and eighty miles. If through loss of blood, or weakness of body, he was obliged to halt, he might wait for healing and strength. He undertook the journey, and while he halted under a large shady tree, where the gospel was sometimes preached, one of the missionaries came and preached in his hearing from these words, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." While he was preaching, the man rose up, threw off his torturing sandals, and cried out aloud, "This is what I want;" and he became a lively witness, that the blood of Jesus Christ does cleanse from all sin indeed.