So saying, Coelius moved away from Victoria, and approached Blandina and her brother, Pontiacus, to, both of these he was known as a favourer of the Christians, and they smiled at his approach.

"Blandina," said the old philosopher, "I have been talking with your mistress, and she tells me that you and your brother are Christians."

"Thank GOD we are," said both at once.

"But do you not know that you incur great danger by thus following a new religion, opposed to the laws of Cæsar, and that, as slaves, you are liable to be put to horrible tortures and a painful death for your faith ?"

"We know it, noble Cœlius, and are ready to die when God calls us," answered Pontiacus, proudly, but Blandina cast down her eyes, and did not reply.

"You should have been a soldier, youth," said Cœlius, admiringly. "I am one, sir."

"Yes, of the Crucified; and you, Blandina, what are you? Would you, young and delicate as you are, bear torture and face the wild beasts in the arena ?"

"I too am a Christian, Cœlius," answered the maiden, with meek firmness, "and when I call myself by that name, I pledge myself to be torn in pieces rather than deny CHRIST: if I am weak, He will make me strong," she added, putting her hands together, and raising her eyes to heaven, as if beseeching for the might she needed; and history tells us how well and nobly S. Blandina kept her vow in those three long days of torture in the blood-stained amphitheatre: surely if man may presume to measure the rewards laid up for those who endure to the end, few crowns will shine brighter than that placed on the brow of Blandina, the virgin martyr of Lyons.

A stir in the congregation warned Cœlius that the Bishop was approaching, so, quitting Blandina and Pontiacus, he took up his position in the foremost rank by his friend Uldras and the deacon Victor. Leaning on the youthful priest Irenæus, and followed by Sanctus and Tertius, two of the deacons, the venerable Bishop Pothinus drew near to his flock, who, almost without exception, fell on their knees, while more than one voice exclaimed, "Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini ! Hosanna in excelsis !"

'Peace be unto you, my children," said the old man, pausing in the midst of the kneeling crowd, and looking round him as he made the

sign of the Cross; then, noticing Cœlius standing by Uldras, who knelt in the first rank, he beckoned to him to approach. "Noble Cœlius, Uldras, our brother, hath informed me that you are desirous of witnessing our burial rites, you are welcome to all save that most august feast which none but Catholics may approach."

"Most reverend," answered Cœlius, "I should grieve if for my sake you were to break the rules of your sect, but alas! this rigid custom of yours increases the suspicions of the magistrates."

Pothinus smiled.

"They say, I suppose, why such mystery, if no evil be committed among you? yet have not the heathen also their secret rites to which none but the initiated may come? We, however, make no secret, we are willing to tell all men how we meet constantly to break bread and pour out mingled wine and water in the presence of the Eternal FATHER, which bread and wine are by the operation of the HOLY GHOST, and the spoken Word of CHRIST, the Body and Blood of our GOD and SAVIOUR. Such, Cœlius, is the rite we purpose to celebrate to-night."

Pothinus then turned towards the congregation, while Cœlius withdrew to a quiet place among the trees, whence unobserved he could listen to the Bishop's address.

"Brethren and sisters, my little children in CHRIST,' '" said the Bishop, a heavy time is before us, the rage of the heathen has broken out against the Church, one of our number has been seized, and under the pressure of cruel torture, has betrayed her SAVIOUR, and confirmed the foul charges brought against us, yet I would not have you bitter against the poor sufferer, for the flesh is weak; and the rack, the scourge, the glowing irons, are things that the bravest might fear to face unsupported; rather I ask you all to pray that she, who hath thus wounded the body of CHRIST, may be forgiven, and yet wear the crown of martyrdom; and, O, my children, pray earnestly for yourselves, for those who have spiritual rule over you, who watch for your souls as those who must give account, and for me, that we fail not in the hour of trial; and to the weak and fearful I say, flee, for CHRIST hath bidden us when persecuted in one city, to flee into another, and yet, if seized, (as some of you will doubtless be,) remember, that your SAVIOUR will not leave you orphaned, though the lions roar, though the cross be raised, though the scourges quiver in the tormentors' hands, though the furnaces glow, heated seven times, for the torment of your bodies, the Chief of Sufferers in that hour will stand by you, with those nail-prints

in His hands and feet, and the spear-wound in His side, which saved us on the mountain far away, and point you to the hills of gold and the fair river of life beyond the waves of death."

The venerable Saint paused, and covered his face with his robe, there was silence for awhile, and Cœlius noticed that many of the Christians, following the Bishop's example, engaged in mental prayer; at last, Pothinus, summoning Irenæus and the deacons, moved forward, and entered the cave, which was dimly lit up by torches. On a rude bier before the Altar, covered by a violet pall adorned with a snowwhite cross, lay the body of the dead priest, dressed in his sacerdotal garments, while underneath the holy table, or rather slab of stone, was an opening or sort of pit which was destined to serve as the martyr's tomb, according to the beautiful custom of the Church of those days, which laid the dead to rest under the sacred table. Above the holy table was a roughly hewn cross, and near it, a somewhat clumsily drawn figure of a female kneeling in prayer, with her hands lifted up, or orante," as the Christians called it, and evidently meant as a representation of the bride praying by the Cross.

The congregation having followed the Bishop and Clergy into the Church, and ranged themselves on either side of the cave according to sex, the service commenced. As the Eucharist was to be celebrated, the usual liturgy of the Church of Lyons was used, and Cœlius was told that he might remain until the offertory. But just as the Bishop, who of course was celebrant, had finished his secret prayer after the Stichos or Anthem, and had pronounced aloud the closing words, "through Whom and with Whom be to Thee the glory and the might in Thine all-holy, and good, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and to ages of ages, a heavy tramp of feet was heard outside the cave, as of a large body of men approaching. Pothinus turned calmly towards the startled congregation.

"Save yourselves, my children, the soldiers are upon us. Tertius and Victor, bear hence the sacred vessels."

"But you, our father, must flee also," burst from the congregation as with one voice, while the deacons sprang forward to save the holy vessels from the sacrilegious hands of the soldiers.

"Nay," said Pothinus, "I am too weak; flee, I command you, they are even now searching for the entrance."

1 These words are taken from the liturgy of S. Mark, introduced by S. Irenæus about this time into the Church at Lyons.

Thus adjured, the deacons bore off the sacred vessels, and made for the entrance of a secret staircase which, cut in the rock behind the Altar, emerged at the top of the hill, where the thick underwood would serve as a shelter, followed by the congregation; but as the opening was small, and admitted but one at a time, ere more than two or three had entered, the steps of the soldiers were heard on the threshold of the cave, and the light of their torches flashing into the Church, showed the eagle crest of the centurion, and the gleaming helmets of his soldiers, as they pushed their way through the brushwood screen. Uldras sprang forward and confronted the party, his long broadsword glittering in his hand.

"Back, soldiers," he shouted sternly, "what seek you here ?"

The centurion hesitated on finding himself confronted by the stalwart Norwegian, clad in the arms of the foreign legion.

"Noble officer," he said, we have orders from the Governor, to search for certain traitors here assembled."

“Traitors!" said Uldras, “you have mistaken your instructions, worthy centurion, there are no traitors here; back, men, you know me, Uldras, Tribune of the foreign legion."

The soldiers, of whom barely two or three could see into the cavern, recoiled for the moment at the command of Uldras, but the centurion held his ground, and advanced his short sword.

"Noble Uldras, I must search the place," then, getting a clearer view of the Church, and also of the escaping Christians, he shouted, "Forward, men, you are deceived, the Christian swine are escaping: back, Uldras, in the name of Cæsar, let the soldiers do his will."

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'Advance at your peril," cried Uldras, crossing swords with the Centurion, beating that worthy's blade from his grasp, and then dealing him a blow which stretched him senseless on the pavement, but the soldiers rushed on him, three stalwart warriors closed with him, and by main force disarmed him, while the rest rushed past into the dimly lit Church.

Most of the Christians had by this time reached the wood at the top of the hill, but Blandina and Pontiacus were seized on the steps; Attalus, Sanctus, the deacon, Alexander, Alcibiades, and other Christians, including of course the Bishop Pothinus, were captured ere they had time to gain the entrance which led to the secret stairs, and were with the exception of Attalus, who was a Roman citizen, bound with cords by the soldiers. Uldras was simply disarmed and guarded with

Attalus by four soldiers; the rest of the prisoners, including the delicate maiden Blandina, and the aged and feeble Pothinus, were driven along like slaves or malefactors, with their hands bound, and goaded by the sword points of their escort. Uldras and Attalus indignantly protested against the brutality of the soldiers, which the victims bore with mute courageous submission, but without avail, and their remonstrances seemed only to increase the brutality of the guards towards the bound and helpless Bishop, who reached Lyons more dead than alive. Arrived at the city, the whole party of Christians were thrown into the common prison to await their trial, and the approaching games.

CELIUS was seated alone, in the twilight, in one of the rooms of his villa, near the city of Lyons, deep in thought. On a small marble table near him wine had been placed by his slaves, but his cup stood untasted. Outside, in the garden, the fountains played and showered their spray on the green sward, while from the round fish-pond the frogs croaked loudly, and the grasshoppers chirped amid the cool blades of grass, and the short-eared owl as he flitted past the windows uttered his peculiar cry, but of all the sights and sounds around him, Cœlius seemed unconscious, and sat on until the twilight faded into dusk, and the lights of the distant city became visible, then he rose and began to pace up and down, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground, and his brow knit as if revolving some weighty consideration in his mind, and when the reader hears that he was debating with himself as to whether or not he should become a Christian, he will admit that the question was one of no ordinary interest, and deserved some consideration.

Cœlius had long known the beauty of the faith to which he now