Several promises were repeated to him, and portions of hymns; while his uplifted and beaming eyes bore testimony of the happiness which reigned within. His family, standing around his bed, sang, as well as their grief would permit them, one of his much-loved hymns to a favourite tune :

"There is a land of pure delight," &c.

He evidently entered fully into the spirit of the beautiful stanzas, and shortly afterwards whispered, "I cannot sing-I cannot pray with you: but the Lord knows my mind, my thoughts, my desires." Some passages of St. John's Gospel were repeated to him: "In my Father's house are many mansions," &c. ; and he rejoiced in the consolation. With a great effort, he gave expression to many delightful thoughts on the Person and work of Jesus; on His love to the scattered sheep of the house of Israel; and on the matter and manner of His preaching; until he was quite exhausted. One remarked, "Like John Hunt, the Missionary, you will enter heaven singing, Jesussalvation-glory!"" "O yes!" he replied, "singing salvation." As he grew perceptibly weaker, part of Doddridge's fine hymn, on page 646 of our Collection, was repeated :

"When death o'er nature shall prevail,

And all the powers of language fail,

Joy through my swimming eyes shall break,

And mean the thanks I cannot speak."

His countenance meanwhile beamed with happiness, and the chamber seemed filled with Divine glory. It was a memorable morning, and an unspeakable privilege to witness the unshaken confidence of the dying saint in the all-atoning Saviour.

The morning of Saturday wore away, and still he continued to breathe, though with more and more difficulty; his eyes frequently uplifted, and his lips moving as though in earnest prayer, or perhaps in ecstatic praise. In great suffering, "patience" had "her perfect work," as though his last hours were to be a practical comment on the last text from which he had preached, a fortnight before: "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."

At the close of the day, when life was fast ebbing out, he was reminded that heaven would be sweet indeed to him, as a state of perfect rest after all his sufferings; and that there he would soon enter on a Sabbath that would never end. Unable to speak, although perfectly conscious, (as, indeed, he was to the last,) with a slight inclination of the head, and a heavenward glance, he signified his response to what had been said. Soon after, while he gazed earnestly upward, his lips moved, his arms were slowly raised, and his hands clasped over his head, as if in token of finished victory. Then, without a murmur or a sigh, his sanctified spirit passed into the heavens, to join in the song of the redeemed.

Thus lived and died the venerable Joseph Wilson. Many have been distinguished by more varied learning, and more splendid gifts;

but for singleness of eye, genuineness of piety, and a constant effort to do good, he has rarely been surpassed. Though dead, he will long speak, not only in his own church, but in other churches that witnessed his exemplary life. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace."

MARTYRS OF PALESTINE.

(Concluded from page 7.)

PROCOPIUS has the honour of being the proto-martyr of Palestine in this persecution. He obtained the crown in the first year of the Dioclesian persecution, which, Eusebius says, was the nineteenth of the reign of that emperor, and the three hundred and third of the Christian era. He was, evidently, a man of extreme self-denial, and rigid in his habits as an anchoret of the severest order. His usual food consisted of bread and water, in which he indulged only every second or third day. In him, we are told, the flesh was mortified, and the spirit was adorned with meekness and piety. From early life he had been a devoted Christian. He was distinguished by vigour of mind, as well as by depth of piety; and the veneration in which he was held appeared in the offices he was called to sustain in the church of Baishan,* of which he was a member. Eusebius says: "First, he had been a reader; in the second order, he translated from Greek into Aramaic; and in the last, which is even more excellent than the preceding, he opposed the powers of the evil one, and the devils trembled before him." If we are to understand by the second clause of this sentence that he was a translator of the Scriptures into the Aramaic language, it furnishes the strongest proof of the confidence reposed in his piety, learning, and judgment, by the church of Baishan. Having been conveyed to Cæsarea in company with a band of confessors, he was immediately brought before the Governor, Flavianus, who commanded him to sacrifice to the gods. With a loud voice he calmly replied, "There is no God but one, the Maker and Creator of all things." Retiring from the more religious ground, the Governor assumed the political, and required him to do homage to the Emperors. A superiority to fear, which deadness to the world gave to these holy men, is conspicuous in the answer of Procopius. He exclaimed, with a smile of derision, "The rule of many is not good: let there be one Ruler, and one Sovereign." This quotation from Homer,† which had become a proverb among the

* In this name, and in several others, Dr. Cureton's spelling is followed.

+ The same form of expression was used by Aristotle, as we find in his "Metaphysics: "For several to command is not good; there should be but one Chief." The statement was made by him in opposition to polytheism, and in support of the most valuable principle of his philosophy;—namely, that God is Thought; the supreme Mind; the eternal Reason; Thought contemplating itself. See De Pressensé, pp. 131, 134.

Christians, was regarded as an expression of disloyalty, and of actual contempt of the united sovereign power; though it is probable the Christians employed it merely as an avowal of their faith in the one living and true God, whom they recognised as the sole Sovereign of that spiritual kingdom in which they gloried. Judgment was given against Procopius. "The head of this blessed man was struck off, and an easy transit afforded him along the way to heaven."

At a festival celebrated about the same time, in honour of the twentieth year of Diocletian's reign, several who had distinguished themselves by their zeal in the cause of Christ were added to the list of martyrs. It was customary, on such occasions, to extend mercy to a number who were in prison for their crimes; but "the martyrs of God were insulted with tortures, as though they were worse malefactors than thieves and murderers." Zacchæus, of Gadara,* “ was led like an innocent lamb from the flock," and was scourged, dreadfully lacerated, and fastened in the stocks. Though a man of proverbially gentle spirit, he endured his sufferings for Christ's sake with equal fortitude and resignation. Alphæus was of an "illustrious family in the city of Eleutheropolis;" "a reader, an exorcist, and a preacher of the word of God," in Cæsarea. He witnessed with sorrow the defection of many, who were intimidated into acquiescence with the demands of their persecutors, and thus dishonoured that Name which is above every name. Boldly appearing in public, he reproached them with their sin, and at the same time denounced the cruelty of their oppressors. By his courage, he arrested the downward course of some, but also exposed himself to the fury of the authorities. With words of power he answered the threatenings of his judge. He was literally torn to pieces with the instruments of torture, having been "stretched out a whole day and night upon the wooden rack." No agonies could shake his faith; and death was welcomed not only as a deliverer from the power of his tormentors, but especially as the seal of his devotion to the Saviour.

On the same day, in the city of Antioch, Romanus, "a deacon and exorcist" in one of the villages of Cæsarea, passed through the fiery ordeal to the repose of heaven. A jealousy for the honour of God, like that of Alphæus, led him to throw himself into the midst of the trembling multitude who were violating their consciences in order to escape the horrors with which they were threatened. "Whither," he exclaimed, "are ye being carried, O men? Are ye all stooping down to cast yourselves into the abyss? Lift up the eyes of your understanding on high; and, above all, ye shall recognise God and the Saviour of all the ends of the world; and do not abandon for error the commandment which has been given to you. Then shall the godless error of the worship of devils be apparent to you. Remember, also, the righteous judgment of God supreme." These are not the words of a weak enthusiast, but of a man of intelligence and culture, who apprehended the relation of Paganism to Christianity.

* A small town about eight miles east of the Sea of Galilee; the modern Um-keis.

Their power was manifest in the re-awakened conscience and confirmed faith of the Christians. At the command of the judge, Romanus was immediately arrested. His case appears to have drawn more than ordinary attention, and to have been submitted to Diocletian himself, then in the city of Antioch. Exasperated by the boldness of his testimony, the Emperor departed from his usual clemency, and bid his officers cut out the tongue of the courageous and eloquent speaker. "Then," continues the all-believing historian, "did great wonder seize upon all men; for he, whose tongue had been cut out, forthwith, by the gift of God, spake out valiantly, and heartily exulted in the faith, as though he were standing by the side of Him in whom he made his confession." No doubt Eusebius took these utterances of Romanus to be miraculous; and in that respect the narrative may be said to "savour strongly of the superstitious." It is probable, that, in the haste with which the frightful operation was attempted, it was imperfectly done, so as not entirely to destroy the power of speech; and intense excitement enabled the sufferer to utter articulate sounds which were regarded by Eusebius as the result of special Divine interposition. And this, no doubt, would be accepted by the Christians as a loud testimony from heaven against the injustice and cruelty of which they were the unresisting victims.

In consequence of the edict against the Christians, which required them all to sacrifice to the gods, severer measures were adopted by the newly-appointed Governor of Palestine. Urbanus had succeeded Flavianus; and he appears to have surpassed him in barbarity. During a visit to Gaza, he indulged his ferocious temper in his treatment of one who had already endured much from the enmity of his fellow-citizens. When all the usual torture failed to overcome the constancy of the faithful Timotheus, his mangled body was committed. to a slow fire," so that his soul could not easily make its escape from the body, and be at rest." But "patience" had "her perfect work;" and the lingering agony served but to develop the power of grace. About the same time, in Cæsarea, a noble band of sufferers won the martyr's crown. On occasion of a general festival, it was rumoured that a number of Christians would be presented by the Governor "to be devoured by the wild beasts." This announcement fired the ambition of several young disciples, who hastened to the city, and besought the Governor that they also might be devoted to this cruel death. This fanatical exposure of their lives was one of the results of persecution. A brave sufferer was admired and applauded by his brethren. The presence of danger led some teachers of the church, with a view to sustain the faith of their people, to dwell upon the honours of martyrdom; while the slaughter so commonly perpetrated tended to diminish the general estimate of the value of life. To the heated imagination of the more enthusiastic, death for the sake of Him who had died for them appeared of all things the most desirable. We are not, therefore, to be astonished out of measure, if some imprudently volunteered in the self-sacrificing service. Six of these young men, in company with two other persons, were immolated at the

shrine of the old idolatry; and we shall not venture to deny them the honour they so earnestly coveted.

The advent of Maximinus to power was the signal for a new onslaught in the eastern part of the empire. Many were now scattered abroad. In the midst of this confusion, an act of self-sacrifice was performed, which, while it illustrates the confidence of those who entered more deeply into the spirit of their profession, must yet be regarded as an exhibition of human weakness. Epiphanius (Greek, Apphianus) no doubt deemed it right to act as he did; to make an attempt which we cannot but feel to have been heroic, though hopeless. It may seem to us that the effort of this noble-minded youth was against the Saviour's instruction, that we do not "cast our pearls before swine," lest they should "turn again and rend" us. Such was, indeed, the result in this case. Those whom Epiphanius desired to benefit, in his misguided zeal, verified the prophetic warning. "He was sprung from one of the most illustrious families in Syria, famous also for their extensive worldly wealth." Together with his brother Alosis, whose case will erelong demand our attention, he was educated in Beyrout under the care of the distinguished Pamphilus, with whom they studied philosophy and civil law, and were afterwards instructed in Christianity. He was then in his twentieth year, remarkable for ability and attainments, but especially for purity of conduct, godliness, and self-denial. On his return from Beyrout, he was utterly dissatisfied with the religious condition of his family, and speedily took his departure without making any provision for his wants, casting himself upon the providence of God. He was generously received by the Christians of Cæsarea, and resided in the same house with the historian of his virtues and his martyrdom. When the persecution was at its height, and blood was poured out like water, Epiphanius conceived the purpose of publicly remonstrating with the enemies of the faith on the glaring folly of their idolatrous rites. Without disclosing his intention, even to his most intimate friends, (who would, no doubt, have tried to repress his youthful ardour,) he made his way through the band of attendants, fearlessly approached Urbanus, when he was in the very act of offering libations, and declared "that it was not right to turn away from the one only God of truth, and offer sacrifice to lifeless idols." This startling intrusion was immediately resented by a most furious assault. "They struck him on the face; and, when they had thrown him down upon the ground, they kicked him with their feet, and tore his mouth and lips with a bridle." His sides were lacerated until his bones became visible. He was beaten and bruised in such manner "that even his friends could not recognise him." It was evident that he was a youth of considerable rank and culture; and when the governor questioned him concerning his family, and on many other particulars, his only reply was, "I am a Christian.” This answer, reiterated, increased the fury of the baffled tyrant, who "gave command that his feet should be wrapped in cotton that had been dipped in oil, and then be set on fire." In this state he was suspended, a spectacle to