years before Christ. He founded the old academy on the opinions of Heraclitus, Pythagoras, and Socrates; and by adding the information he had acquired to their discoveries, he established a sect of philosophers, who were esteemed more perfect than those who had before appeared in the world.

The outlines of Plato's philosophical system were as follows: That there is one God, an eternal, immutable, and immaterial Being, perfect in wisdom and goodness, omniscient and omnipresent; that this allwise and perfect Being formed the universe from a mass of pre-existing matter to which he gave form and arrangement; that there is in matter a necessary, but blind and refractory force, which resists the will of the Supreme Artificer, so that he cannot perfectly execute his designs; and this is the cause of the mixture of good and evil, which is found in the material world; that the soul of man was derived by emanation from God; but this emanation was not immediate, but through the intervention of the soul of the world, which was itself debased by some material admixture; that the relation which the human soul, in its original constitution, bears to matter, is the source of moral evil; that when God formed the universe, he separated from the soul of the world inferior souls, equal in number to the stars, and assigned to each its proper celestial abode; that these souls were sent down to earth, to be imprisoned in mortal bodies; hence proceed the depravity and misery to which human nature is liable; that the soul is immortal, and by disengaging itself from all animal passions, and rising above sensible objects to the contemplation of the world of intelligence, it may be prepared to return to its original habitation; that matter never suffered annihilation, but that the world will remain for ever, but that the action of its animating principle accomplishes certain periods, within which every thing returns to its ancient place and state. This periodical revolution of nature is called the Platonic or great year.

3. CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST.

THE coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, his sufferings and death, are the greatest and most im portant events which have ever taken place in our world.

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, came into our world, took upon him our nature, and suffered the penalties of the divine law in our stead. By his sufferings, and death by crucifixion, he hath brought "life and immortality to light;" he hath opened a glorious way whereby fallen and depraved man can be reconciled and received into the favour of God.

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"In the hour of Christ's death," says an elegant writer, "the long series of prophecies, visions, types, and figures was accomplished. This was the centre in which they all met; this the point towards which they had tended and verged, throughout the course of so many generations. By that one sacrifice which he now offered, he abolished sacrifices for ever. Altars on which the fire had blazed for ages, were now to smoke no more. Victims were no more to bleed. 'Not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood, he now entered into the Holy Place, there to appear in the presence of God for us.'

"This was the hour of association and union to all the worshippers of God. When Christ said It is finished,' he threw down the wall of partition, which had so long divided the Gentile and Jew. He proclaimed the hour to be come, when the knowledge of the true God should be no longer confined to one nation, nor his worship to one temple; but over all the earth, the worshippers of the Father should serve him in spirit and in truth.' From that hour, they who dwelt in the uttermost ends of the earth, strangers to the covenant of promise, began to be brought nigh.' In that hour, the foundation of every pagan temple shook; the statue of every false god tottered on its base; the priest fled from his falling shrine; and the heathen oracles became dumb for ever.

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"In the hour when Christ expiated guilt, he disarmed death, by securing the resurrection of the just. When he said to his penitent fellow-sufferer, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise,' he announced to all his followers the certainty of heavenly bliss. From the hill of Calvary, the first clear and certain view was given to the world of the everlasting mansions."

The manner of crucifixion by which our Saviour suffered, was considered the most dreadful of all punishments, both for the shame and pain of it; and so scandalous, that it was inflicted as the last mark of detestation upon the vilest of people. The cross was made of two beams, one of which crossed the other at the top at right angles, thus, †, or in the middle of their length, thus, X, and the criminal's hands and feet were nailed thereon. The cross to which our Saviour was fastened, and on which he died, was of the former kind; being thus represented by old monuments, coins, and crosses.

4. MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLES.

AFTER the crucifixion of our Lord, the apostles were scattered abroad in various parts of the world. They preached the gospel wherever they went, and the most of them were called to seal their testimony with their blood.

St. James the Great was by trade a fisherman, and partner with Simon Peter, and related to our Lord, his mother and the Virgin Mary being kinswomen.

When Herod Agrippa was made governor of Judea by the emperor Caligula, he raised a persecution against the Christians, and particularly singled out James, as an object of his vengeance. This martyr, on being condemned to death, showed such an intrepidity of spirit, and constancy of mind, that even his accuser was struck with admiration, and became a convert to Christianity. This transaction so enraged the people in power, that they condemned him to death likewise; when James the Apostle, and his penitent accuser

were both beheaded on the same day, with the same sword. These events took place in the year of our

Lord 44.

St. Philip was employed in several important commissions by Christ, and being deputed to preach in Upper Asia, laboured very diligently in his apostleship. He then travelled into Phrygia, and arriving at Heliopolis, found the inhabitants so sunk in idolatry as to worship a large serpent. St. Philip, however, was the means of converting many of them to Christianity, and even procured the death of the serpent. This so enraged the magistrates, that they committed him to prison, had him severely scourged, and afterwards hanged him up against a pillar till he died, A. D. 52.

St. Matthew. This evangelist, apostle, and martyr, after our Saviour's ascension, travelled into Ethiopia and Parthia, where he preached the gospel with great success. He suffered martyrdom in the city of Nadabar, being slain by a halberd, about A. D. 60.

St. Mark. After writing his gospel, he went to Egypt and founded a church. When Mark was preaching in his church at Alexandria, some of the idolatrous inhabitants broke in upon him, and dragged him by his feet through the streets, till his flesh was torn off his bones, and he expired under their hands; they afterwards burned his body.

St. James the Less suffered martyrdom at Jerusalem, in the ninety-fourth year of his age. He was thrown headlong from the temple, stoned, and his brains dashed out by a fuller's club.

St. Matthias, the apostle, who was appointed to supply the vacant place of Judas Iscariot, suffered martyrdom at Jerusalem, being first stoned, and then beheaded.

St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter, preached the gospel to many Asiatic nations. On arriving at Edessa, the governor of the country ordered him to be crucified on a cross, two ends of which were transversely fixed in the ground; he lived two days after he was tied to the cross, preaching the most of the time to the people.

St. Peter was crucified at Rome, by order of the tyrant Nero; he was led up to the top of a mount, and was crucified with his head downwards (according to his request), thinking it too high an honour to die in the same posture with his Lord and Master. Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom on the same day. St. Paul, being a Roman citizen, was beheaded.

St. Jude went to Edessa, where many were converted to Christianity by his preaching, which, stirring up the resentment of the people in power, he was crucified, A. D. 72.

St. Bartholomew translated St. Matthew's gospel in the Indian tongue, and propagated it in that country; but at length the idolaters, growing impatient with his doctrines, severely beat, crucified, and slew him, and then cut off his head.

St. Thomas preached the gospel in Parthia and India, where, displeasing the pagan priests, he was martyred, by being thrust through with a spear.

St. Luke. This apostle and evangelist had the advantage of a liberal education, and was by profession a physician. He travelled with St. Paul to Rome, and preached to many barbarous nations, till the priests of Greece hanged him on an olive-tree.

St. Simon was distinguished for his zeal by the name of Zelotes. He preached with great success in Africa, and it is asserted that he came into the island of Great Britain. He was crucified, A. D. 74.

St. John is said to be the only apostle who escaped a violent death, and lived the longest of any of them, being nearly one hundred years of age at the time of his death.

5. SIGNS AND APPEARANCES PRECEDING THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.

AFTER Our Lord had foretold the ruin and desolation coming upon the Jewish people, their city and temple, his disciples came to him privately, saying, tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign