alone is accepted of God; and that He permits no flesh to "glory in His presence."

The conversation of two pious men -Simplician and Pontitian-was also instrumental in the conversion of Augustine. On that memorable evening which he has so graphically described in the "Confessions," the latter had been speaking to him on religious subjects, and particularly of the Solitaries in Egypt. This night decided the conflict; he gave himself to God. Hearing a voice that seemed to say to him, "Take and read, take and read," in the midst of his agonized pleadings with God, in the solitary place to which he had retreated, he opened the Bible and read these words: "Live not in rioting and drunkenness; not in chambering and wantonness; not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." "I read no further; it was unnecessary; for, in fact, no sooner had I finished those words, than the light of security seemed to spread itself over my heart, and the clouds of uncertainty to disappear." The whole relation is most interesting.

We have been thus particular in giving these details of Augustine's conversion, that it may be noticed what, as we have reason to think, was the part of Monica in it. It was not accomplished in the way she had expected ;-otherwise she might not have been sufficiently humble in her rejoicing; yet she viewed it, as we do, as a certain answer to her prayers. But without doubt there are many cases in which the answer to prayer comes in such a manner that we, not having Monica's lowliness of mind, are as much surprised and disquieted at the unexpected way in which it comes, as we are gratified at the bestowment of the blessing. We do not always "count the cost" of our prayers; we know not how, possibly, a sword may pierce through our own soul," as a necessary part of the fulfilment of them. We do well, when we entreat for any specific blessing to include in our petitions an entreaty that we may have grace to recognise and welcome the answer in whatever form it may come. Monica was doubtless expecting some more direct share in the work of her son's conversion ;-God answered in a way that was farthest from her thoughts,but He answered, and that was enough for her, as it should be for us, for the

efficacy of her prayers was not less manifested, than if she had been the sole instrument of Augustine's conversion.

Monica's joy was unbounded,-her dearest earthly wish fulfilled, when she saw Augustine received into the communion of the Church, and united with her in a common faith. Perhaps her joy reacted too strongly on her frame exhausted by the long tension of hope and fear. We do not know, but the end drew nigh, and "Nunc dimittis" was already on her lips.

The mother and son resolved to return to Africa. Staying some days at Ostia, to make preparations for their voyage, a most delightful conversation took place between them, which Augustine has recorded, and which seemed her last legacy to him of instruction and comfort. "They were sitting alone together, and conversing with inexpressible sweetness" on the joys of Paradise. As to me, my son," said Monica, at length, "there is nothing more that I desire in this world. What should I do here, since there is nothing more to look forward to? There has been only one thing which has made me wish to stay a little longer: it was to see you a Christian before I should depart. God has granted me my desire; and beyond my hopes, for He has allowed me to see you resign all worldly good for Him, and become his devoted servant. What, then, do I here any longer!"

Five or six days after this conversation Monica was attacked with illness, which she was convinced would be fatal. "You will bury your mother here," said she to Augustine. "Bury my body anywhere, that may seem most convenient," added she; "give yourself no trouble about it; all I ask of you is that wherever you may be, you will remember me before the Lord." And when her children could not bear the thought of depositing her remains so far from her native land, she comforted them by saying, "We are never far from God; and I am not afraid that at the last day He will be slow to find me for the resurrection."

So died Monica, in the fifty-sixth year of her age, and the thirty-third of Augustine's, leaving him almost inconsolable at the loss of the parent whom he had just begun to understand and appreciate. We cannot follow him further. But we know that his whole life was sanctified by the memory of that

mother, and the hope of their reunion in heaven-that the great things which he did for the Church, and for all timein fact, all that he became, were traceable, under God, in great measure to her faithfulness in prayer; and we see how the last effort of his pen was to erect for her a more enduring monument than any worldly pomp can boast, in the affectionate recital of her virtues.

SKETCH OF JUSTUS JONAS.

Ir is a welcome sight to see such a pleasing personage as Justus Jonas moving about with the two great Reformers, Luther and Melanchthon. His bright, clear intellect, his genial temper and spirit, his pure and untarnished character, his legal knowledge and great skill in practical affairs, his firmness united with a spirit of toleration, his flowing eloquence in the pulpit, and his easy and clear style as a writer and translator of Luther's works, combine to render him an attractive figure in the group of Reformers. He is a sort of

Mercury by the side of Jupiter and Apollo, and other lesser divinities, While at Erfurt, a few years after Luther had gone to Wittenberg, first as student, and afterwards as professor of law, and as rector, he was an active an influential member of the society of poets or humorists, of which Mucianus was the head, and the poet Eoban Hess the chief ornament. Rarely, if ever, had a young man risen so rapidly to distinction in the university. When Göde, the last professor of the canonical law at Wittenberg, who resisted Luther and the Reformation, died, the Elector applied to Mucianus to recommend an eminent scholar as his successor. The latter had an interview with Jonas on the subject, with a satisfactory result, and replied: "We have secured Jonas. He is just such a person as ought to be the successor of Göde. He is so at home in theology, so skilled in the law, so faultless in character, that he cannot be sufficiently praised. His preaching is so attractive that the churches are crowded with hearers; his lectures are so prised that the students throng to listen to them. He is well known to the venerable Staupitz, and is highly esteemed by Luther. I thought of Erasmus; but he can only write; Jonas has the gift of speech. I recommend him as the best man for the place." During these negotiations, Luther ar

rived at Erfurt, April 6, 1521, on his way to the celebrated Diet of Worms, and Jonas joined him, and remained with him all the time he was at Worms. Notwithstanding the attempt of Erasmus, who had been his particular friend and correspondent, to dissuade him from going to Wittenberg, where "Luther's bold course was producing a tumult and drawing the attention of scholars away from classical studies to controversial theology," Jonas, who had, by daily intercourse, become warmly attached to Luther during those memorable days at Worms, accompanied him back to Eisenach, where he parted with him, he himself going to Wittenberg, while the hero of the day went round by Mora, to be captured in a friendly way and conveyed to Wartburg. Jonas was pleased with everything at Wittenberg, except that his professorship required him to teach the canon law. Melanchthon, to aid him in his difficulty, wrote to Spalatin, the Elector's minister: "Yesterday our Jonas was installed. There is, however, one obstacle remaining, and it is our business, in every possible way, to retain this pious and learned man. But this will be impossible, if he must teach the papal law. You must see that we do not lose such a man for so trivial a cause. If for any reason we allow him to be drawn away from us, we shall act as if we had neither our reason nor our eyes. The university could not obtain an abler man." Two days after, Luther showed how highly he valued him by writing to him and dedicating to him his reply to Latomus. He exhorted Jonas, in teaching the canon law, to help the students "to unlearn what it taught." The new professor was allowed to teach theology, and was honoured with the degrees of Licentiate and Doctor of Divinity the same year, to the great gratification of Luther and his old friend Mucianus, of Gotha.

Jonas remained at Wittenberg twenty years, as an efficient labourer and faithful associate of Luther and Melanchthon, himself holding the third rank among the Reformers in that place. He was then sent to Halle, the residence of Albert, Archbishop of Mainz, to conduct the Reformation which had appeared there in spite of the Archbishop's authority, and remained there eight years, till after the victory of Charles V. over the Protestants. The last few years of his life he was somewhat of a wanderer.

Instead of giving any account of his life and labours at Wittenberg, we will give Melanchthon's summary of the talents characteristic of the different men then prominent in that university. "Pomeranus is a grammaticus, who lays himself out on the words of the text; I am a dialecticus, looking at the connection of the text, and seeing what Christian truth may be drawn out of it and inferred from it; Jonas is an orator, who can clearly and splendidly pronounce and unfold the text; Luther is omnia in omnibus."

Jonas was not less distinguished as a writer than as a speaker. He wrote the Latin and German with equal ease and elegance. Melanchthon acknowledged that he was far surpassed by Jonas in the graces of German style. Luther alone excelled him in the vernacular tongue. This talent he employed more in translating the writings of the two great Reformers, from the Latin into the German, or from the German into Latin, than in original composition. The translations of Luther's "Theses," of his treatise of the Free Will against Erasmus," of Melanchthon's Loci, and the " Augsburg Confession" are from his pen.

Of his call to Halle, in 1541, he says, in a letter to his friend Myconius, informing him of the change: "A wonderful providence of God!' Three days before my departure from Wittenberg, I had no thought of such a thing." No other man that could be spared from the University, even temporally, was deemed competent by Luther to undertake the management of the Reformation in the city where the primate of Germany resided. On his unexpected arrival the people were overjoyed, the City Council alarmed, and the Cardinal enraged. The people, under his wise and skilful control, prevailed; the Council yielded; and the first ecclesiastic of Germany found it more agreeable to leave the town and take up his residence in Mainz, the proper seat of his power.

The heroic courage of Jonas excited universal admiration in the Evangelical party. Among the many letters of encouragement which he received, must be mentioned that of his intimate friend Myconius, written upon a bed of severe illness, in which he said: "I shall not die, but live to proclaim the works of the Lord, and among others, that you, my learned and very dear Doctor Jonas, have been sent into the very midst of

the camp of our fiercest enemies, to drive off the plunderer and to restore to Christ his captives. Go on,

Lord Jesus, triumphing over the proud old foe; and you, my dear Jonas, go on fighting the battles of the Lord." The latter replied: "After I had, by invitation of the whole Council and the people of Halle, preached the gospel two weeks in that place, the coadjutor, John Albert, sent me a message, commanding me to leave the city in all haste. I replied, with due respect, that I and the people of Halle would be obedient in all civil matters; but in matters of conscience, affecting so many thousand souls, we must obey God rather than man."

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At first, Jonas was sent to Halle to perform a temporary service; but it soon became apparent to him and to the people that the state of affairs there was so complicated and delicate that it would be unsafe to leave them in any less skilful hands. He, therefore, obtained permission of the Elector to remain there three years, retaining his place in Wittenberg. He acted as preacher and superintendent at Halle, supported by his friends Poach, from Wittenberg, as archdeacon, and Schumann, of Naumburg, as deacon. His first work was to introduce the Reformation into the principal churches of Halle, which was effected not without much opposition; his next task was to reform and elevate the schools, which had sunk very low. He succeeded in placing over them E. Sylvius, a man of decided ability and learning. Meanwhile the three years' leave of absence expired, and in 1544 his return to Wittenberg was desired. But the city of Halle was very desirous of retaining permanently the man to whom it owed so much, and Jonas himself was reluctant to leave a field of action in which he had been so highly blessed. And yet, so attached was he to his friends and old home in Wittenberg, that it was hard for him to entertain the thought of separating himself entirely from them. At the instance of Luther, the Elector granted him permission to remain at Halle without giving up his connection with Wittenberg. With what pleasure Luther contemplated the course of events is evident from a letter addressed to the people of Halle, May 7, 1545: "I have conferred with my dear friend, Dr. Jonas, very freely, especially on the state of the church among you. I learned that it prospers under the blessing of God, that

its members live in a Christian manner, and that its teachers are of one heart and of one mind, and that the City Council also favours the gospel."

Cardinal Albert, archbishop of Mainz, died in 1545. His coadjutor, John Albert, was elected as his successor in the sees of Magdeburg and Halberstadt. But the city of Halle would not acknowledge his authority. After a long controversy, the parties agreed to refer the matter in dispute to the Elector of Saxony for decision, and the decision was given in favour of the city. Before the full benefits of this decision were realised, however, Halle for a time fell into the hands of the Catholics, by the defeat of the Protestants at Mühlberg.

It was with Jonas that Luther and his three sons remained as guests the three days of his last visit to Halle, on his way to Eisleben, where he died three weeks after his arrival. Jonas was his companion all this time, not leaving him for an hour, and receiving the last word (ja, yes) from his dying lips, in reply to the question whether he died in the faith which he had preached. He delivered the funeral discourse the next day in Eisleben, and was appointed by the Elector to follow the body to Wittenberg. In the troubles that were afterwards experienced by all the Protestants, Jonas was twice driven from Halle, and twice restored, and finally left it for good in the year 1551, and accepted a call as superintendent and court preacher to Coburg. Here he remained in honour and usefulnes for two years, when, on the death of his friend, the old Duke, he resigned, spent a short time in Jena, and then settled as superintendent at Eisfeld, where he continued to his death, in 1555.

CHARACTER OF LORD BACON. DR. WHATELY, late Archbishop of Dublin, recently departed, in a lecture he delivered on Lord Bacon, to the "Dublin Young Men's Christian Association," closes with the following admirable observations:-I wish I could feel justified in concluding without saying anything of Bacon's own character ;-without holding him up as himself a lamentable example of practice at variance with good sentiments and sound judgment, and right precepts. He thought well, and he spoke well; but he had accustomed himself to act very far from well. And justice requires that he should be

held up as a warning beacon to teach all men an important lesson; to afford them a sad proof that no intellectual power, no extent of learning,-not even the most pure and exalted moral sentiments confined to theory, will supply the want of a diligent and watchful conformity in practice to Christian principle. All the attempts that have been made to vindicate or palliate Bacon's moral conduct, tend only to lower, and to lower very much, the standard of virtue. He appears but too plainly to have been worldly, ambitious, covetous, base, selfish, and unscrupulous. And it is remarkable that the Mammon which he served proved but a faithless master in the end. He reached the highest pinnacle, indeed, to which his ambition had aimed; but he died impoverished, degraded, despised, and broken-hearted. His example, therefore, is far from being at all seductive.

But let no one, thereupon, undervalue or neglect the lessons of wisdom which his writings may supply, and which we may, through divine grace, turn to better account than he did himself. It would be absurd to infer, that because Bacon was a great philosopher, and far from a good man, therefore you will be the better man for keeping clear of his philosophy. His intellectual superiority was no more the cause of his moral failures, than Solomon's wisdom was of his. You may be as faulty a character as either of them was, without possessing a particle of their wisdom, and without seeking to gain instruction from it. The intellectual light which they enjoyed did not, indeed, keep them in the right path; but you will not be the more likely to walk in it, if you quench any light that is afforded you.

The Canaanites of old, you should remember, dwelt in "a good land, flowing with milk and honey," though they worshipped not the true God, but served abominable demons, with sacrifices of the produce of their soil, and even with the blood of their children. But the Israelites were invited to go in, and take possession of "well-stored houses that they builded not, and wells which they digged not;" and they "took the labours of the people in possession;" only, they were warned to beware lest, in their prosperity and wealth, they should "forget the Lord their God," and to offer to Him the first-fruits of the land.

Neglect not, then, any of the advantages of intellectual cultivation which

God's providence has placed within your reach; nor "think scorn of that pleasant land;" and prefer wandering by choice in the barren wilderness of ignorance; but let the intellect which God

has endowed you with be cultivated as a servant to Him, and then it will be, not a master, but a useful servant, to you.

Late Professor at

To introduce, without specific reason, the doctrine of man's inability in addressing the Gospel message to sinners, the writer conceives to be clearly objectionable. Even when most correctly stated, it is not one of the motives adapted to persuade to the reception of the Gospel. We have not a single example in the apostolic preaching of any reference to the doctrine in addresses to the unconverted. The topics insisted on are the message itself, its truth and evidence, and the obligations to receive it as worthy of all acceptation. Even in the well-known words, "No man can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him," our Lord introduces the truth under a special reference. He addresses it to perverse and captious adversaries, who murmured against his doctrine as incredible, charging their opposition on its alleged incredibility, and not on their own carnal prejudices. He tells them most appropriately, that the cause of their unbelief is in themselves; that their reasoning about His doctrine will never set them right; that they must humbly look to the Father for the guidance of His inward influence, and for a heart willing to follow it while leading them to himself. When we have to deal with persons in a similar frame of mind, we shall wisely follow the same example.

Even the doctrine of Divine influence, correlative to that of man's moral inability, may be preached in a manner inconsistent with the direct application of the Gospel message to the mind. It is so when it is made to divert the sinner from the message itself, or from his immediate obligation to accept it. It is when the sinner has been awakened to seek salvation, and in his sense of blindness and helplessness looks for the aid he needs to enable him to break the

Blackburn College.

chains of sin, that we may fitly address assurances of heavenly help and all-sufficient grace.

While such principles apply to the ordinary course of preaching, it would be to err in the opposite direction, in dealing with the unconverted, to ignore the doctrines of which we have been speaking. Those under ordinary pulpit instruction are familiar with them; and others mentally advert to them, sometimes as difficulties by which their minds are really perplexed, or else as grounds of perverse cavilling; or it may be, as affording an excuse for religious inactivity by removing the initiative of conversion from themselves to God. While the subject must be treated, of course, on principles which will be doctrinally sound for all objectors, there is required also such a variation of moral treatment with reference to the objectors themselves, as will meet the specific cases of each class. It would be a false assumption that there are none sincerely perplexed by the apparent antagonism to be found in this region of truth, and cruel to treat them with neglect. It would be as unwise to address elaborate reasoning to the mere caviller, who needs to be told of the aversion of heart in which his objections have their root, without the cure of which his difficulties will never cease, nor his soul be safe in the only refuge. It seems, therefore, as if this discrimination of the moral position of our hearers ought to precede and direct our doctrinal elucidations, in order that these may fall into the specific forms which the several classes of minds will feel adapted to them.

We cannot here enter into the general doctrinal principles on which the objections under consideration must be met: we can but briefly suggest heads of replies, to which a dissertation only could