guage, & with what excellent rea soning he answered his adversaries. Nor was I less struck with the gracefulness of his manner, the dignity of his action, and the firmness and constancy of his whole behavior. It grieved me to think so great a man was laboring under so atrocious an ac

cusation

"Here, said he, 'standing in the midst of the assembly, 'here is justice, here is equity! Beset by my enemies, I am already pronounced a heretic, I am condemned before I am examined. Were you God's omniscient instead of an assembly of fallible men, you could not act with more sufficiency. Error is the lot of mortals; and you, exalted as you are, are subjects to it. But consider, the higher you are exalted, of the more dangerous consequence are your errors. for me, I know I am a wretch beneath your notice: but at least consider, that an unjust action in such an assembly will be of dangerous example.

As

"All the articles alleged against him were publickly read, and then proved. After which he was asked, whether he had aught to object? It is incredible with what acuteness he answered; and with what dexterity he warded off every stroke of his adversaries. Nothing escaped him. His whole behavior was truly great and pious. If he were indeed the man his defence spoke him, he was so far from meriting death, that in my judgment, he was not in any degree culpable.

"Every one expected that he would either retract his errors, or at least apologize for them;

but nothing of the kind was heard from him-The perjured witnesses," said he, "who have appeared against me, have won their cause; but let them remember that they have their evidence once more to give before a tribunal where falsehood can be no disguise.'

"It was impossible to hear this pathetic speaker without emotion. Every ear was captivated, and every heart was touched. But wishes in his favor were vain. He threw himself beyond a possibility of mercy. If that holy martyr,' said he, speaking of Huss, used the clergy with disrespect, his censures were not levelled against them as priests, but as wicked men.'

"The greatest character in ancient story could not possibly go beyond him. If there is any justice in history, this man will be admired by all posterity. I speak not of his errors-let these rest with him. What I admired was his learning, his eloquence, and amazing acuteness.-Two days were allowed him for reflexionmany persons endeavoured to bring him to a better mind. But persisting obstinately in his errors, he was condemned as a heretic.

"With a cheerful countenance and more than stoical constancy, he met his fate, fearing neither death itself, nor the horrible form in which it appeared. When he came to the place, he pulled off his upper garment and made a short prayer at the stake; to which he was soon after bound with wet cords and an iron chain; and inclosed as high as his breast with faggots.

"Observing the executioner about to set fire to the wood behind his back, he cried out, 'Bring thy torch hither. Perform thy office before my face. Had I feared death I might have avoided it.-As the wood began to blaze, he sang an hymn, which the violence of the flame scarce interrupted.

"Thus died this prodigious man. The epithet is not extravagant, I was myself an eye witness of his whole behavior. Whatever his life may have been, his death without doubt is a noble lesson of philosophy.-This will, I hope, convince you, that greatness is not wholly confined to antiquity. You will think me perhaps tedious; but I could have been more prolix on a subject so copious. Farewell, my dear Leonard."-Constance, May 20, 1416.* We have given but an abridgment of this eloquent letter. The whole is much to the honor of the martyr. It bears date the very day on which Jerome suffered, and was written while his wonderful defence on trial, and his heroie conduct at the

stake, were strongly impressed on the mind of the writer, and the feelings of sympathy were warm in his breast. Pogge was an eminent writer of his time, and had been secretary to two of the Roman Pontiffs. With his eulogium on the character of Jerome, every protestant may rest contented. We have no disposition to give him a more exalted character.

That Jerome was without faults we shall not pretend. He was a man of an ardent mind, and sometimes deficient in self government. The lamented event of his recantation is not to be justified. It is, however, due to him to remember, that bodily disease, the gloom of the dungeon, and the severities which he endured from his unrelenting enemies, were calculated to weaken his nerves, depress his spirits, and deprive him of fortitude and self command. Under circumstances less afflicting than these "Peter denied his Lord." But "when he thought thereon he wept;" and so did Jerome.

importance, and I shall be happy if my strictures find their way to those, whose error they are designed to expose. It is my unhappiness frequently to hear remarks on sermons, prayers, and preachers, which give me great pain. I should be glad to believe that these were limited to the particular circle, in which I move.

But the observations which fall occasionally from strangers, persuade me that my associates are not the only offenders, and that the evil is diffused through a very large class of society. I often hear the question, "How did you like this or another preacher?" and the answer is "I admired him exceedingly; he gave us an elegant sermon, and made one of the finest prayers I ever heard"——__ or else "I never was so tired in my life, there was nothing new or brilliant from the beginning to the end." I find hearers coming from church, disgusted with the commonplace truths they have heard, or charmed with the ingenuity of this preacher, transported with the eloquent flights of another, and quite delighted with the fluency with which a third of fered his prayer to God.

As I was brought up in the old fashioned way of regarding the ministers of religion with respect, and of attaching a sanctity to the public worship of God, I confess, I am shocked with this unbecoming, and may I not add, indecent style of criticism. I am sensible that the language which I have described is not always the mark of a light and irreverent mind; that, from the force of habit and general example, it sometimes proceeds from the lips of those, whose hearts are deeply impressed by religious instruction. But in general it indicates a melancholy insensibility to the design and importance of the christian ministry; and tends to beget in the community, and especially in the young, a fastidiousness of taste and a censoriousness of judgment, most unfriendly to the

influence of public teachers. The christian ministry is undoubtedly one of the most important and useful institutions of God. It is appointed to aid us in our weightiest concerns, to teach us our duties, dangers, and hopes, to awaken our minds from that slumber which worldly cares so often induce, to plead with us the cause of God and eternity, to reprove our sins, to console our sorrows, to prepare the trembling spirit for the hour of dissolution. Surely men, who are consecrated to such solemn services, who are appointed to bear our homage and supplications to the throne of divine mercy, and who dispense to us that religion which the Son of God has sealed with his bloodsurely such men, if they perform their sacred functions with sincerity, seriousness, and understanding, are entitled to respectful attention. We should strive to accompany with our hearts the prayers they offer, and should listen with candor and earnestness to their instructions. But instead of this, how is the minister of Christ regarded by many?

-as an actor on the stage, an exhibiter for public amusement, as hired to please them, and hardly worthy of his hire, unless he gratify their faney. They go to church, not because it is God's house; not because it becomes dependent creatures to bow before the infinite Majesty of the Universe; not because they have sins to be pardoned, sins to be reformed, darkened minds to be enlightened, insensible hearts to be softened and warmed. They go, not because they are dying creatures, trembling on the brink of eterni

ty, approaching the judgment seat of God. No; these are inferior motives. They go to hear a frail fellow creature, like themselves, speak with elegance, show his powers, and send them away amused. They think the gospel of Christ, the revelation of God's mercy to sinners, the doctrine of immortal life, not worth a hear ing, unless it come to them in a polished style. The day of judgment, heaven, and hell are in their view fine topics for eloquence, and they refuse to attend to them unless portrayed in the colors of a warm imagination. They hear their duties, not that they may sit in judgment on themselves, but that they may criticise the preacher. The sanctity of his office, the purity of his intentions, the soundness of his understand ing, and the excellence of his character, are often no shelter from severity of censure, and unfeeling ridicule. Perhaps he has grown grey in his Master's service; and, instead of venerating the aged servant of God, who speaks to them as it were from the borders of a better world, they are offended because he wants the fire and energy of earlier

musement to his awful threatenings and merciful promises, and admiring the elegance with which their sins are confessed and deplored. Were this practice injurious only to the minister, it might be easily pardoned; but I fear the insult falls on an infinitely higher Being. Did the persons of whom I speak indeed reverence God and his word, they could not enter into the services of religion with this light and frivolous mind. A conviction of their own infinite interest in his gospel, a conviction that the salvation of their souls depends on the fidelity with which they receive and apply his revealed will, would awaken them to seriousness and devotion. What, let me ask, is the language of their present conduct? It is this, that the great design of the gospel is to gratify their taste-as if Jesus endured the agony of Gethsemane, and shed his blood on the cross, only to amuse them. They ought to look forward to the time, when this august deliverer will be revealed from heaven in glory, when raised from death by his power, they will stand before his judg ment seat to receive from his lips the sentence of eternity. Do they intend, at that solemn hour, to offer this plea to their Judge, that his gospel was not preached in flowing periods, and with a striking eloquence, and therefore they would not hear?-Let us beware lest a fastidious taste destroy our souls.

39.

Luke iv. 33-36. "In the synagogue was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil, which cried with a loud voice," &c.

VENERATING, as we do, the translators of the common version of the New Testament, and desirous, as we are, that every new translation should be made upon the basis of the old, we may be permitted to remark, that a few changes of translation might be adopted, in which we believe that all christians, who can examine the originals of the evangelists and apostles, could, without much discussion, unamiously agree. In the text, for example, and in many other passages, no hesitation, we think, could be felt, in substituting the term demon, for devil. A substantial reason for such a change, we believe will be obvious to all our readers, who will reflect upon the fact, that although possessed persons are so very frequently mentioned in the gospels, they are not there in any instance said to have, or to be possessed by, the devil. They are without exception described as having, or being possessed by, a demon, or demons.

But what is a demon?

The Jews borrowed this word from the Gentiles, or heathens, with whom it signified a divine being; though not one in the highest order of divinities. They thought that the spirits of departed men became demons; and were, according to Plato, an intermediate order between God and mortals. Says the dialogist in Lu

cian, "what are men?" The answer is "mortal gods." "What are gods? Immortal men." An idea of what the heathens thought of demons, may be obtained from the expressions of the Athenians concerning Paul. "He seemeth," said they, "to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached to them Jesus, and the resurrection." (Acts xvii. 18.) They supposed the former, that is, Jesus, to be a male, and the latter, that is the ressurrection, to be a female divinity; for it was customary with them to deify even abstract qualities, making them either gods or goddesses, as suited the gender of the name.-The ancient heathens attributed diseases in general to the anger of the immortal gods, and advised with their priests and prophets, as we do with the physicians; and Hippocrates wrote his treatise on epilepsy, to show that this disorder, which was usually ascribed to the agency of demons, was not more divine, or more sacred, than other disorders; and that like other disorders, it was to be cured, not by charms, but by medicine. They believed both in good, and in evil demons; and to good demons, pagan priests and priestesses attributed their inspiration. Demons were also called Pythons, from Apollo Pythius, the chief of all the propheeying demons, whose priestess, at the famous temple at Delphi, was from him called Pythia.

But though pagans generally used the word demon in a good sense, it was never so used by the