wise. We hope the magazine will float buoyantly on its own merits; but a regard for the high interests which it represents has impelled us to drop the hint we have given above,-the only hint on such a point we ever intend to give, and a hint which we flatter ourselves will be received in the same spirit in which it is given. The impression sometimes finds utterance that the day of magazines is past. There can be no doubt that there are serious difficulties in the management of such periodicals in the present day. There was a time when in religious circles they served the purpose of furnishing the intelligence which is now more rapidly distributed to the public through the medium of the daily or weekly press. On the other hand, the mature, and lengthened, and elaborate productions, which grace our quarterly reviews, supply intellectual food to the cultivated minds of the community, and the humbler magazine is ignored. In the special circumstances of our Church, however, a magazine is the only suitable medium by which its principles can be publicly advocated, its interests promoted, and the events of its history duly chronicled. The office of such a periodical seems fourfold: to register ecclesiastical proceedings, to supply at times full and effective vindication of our peculiar views, -to promote the life of faith and the interests of godliness throughout our community by articles, brief, but pointed and vigorous, and to keep our readers in some measure of acquaintance with the current religious literature of the day. We would not indulge in large promises. We content ourselves with indicating what we conceive to be our duty. Entertaining no mean conception of its importance, we look upward for the grace to fulfil it. There is an egotism inseparable from such announcements as we are now under the necessity of making, and the briefer they are the better. We cannot but press, however, on the attention of our readers the need of a firm, temperate, and enlightened advocacy of our distinctive position as a Church. Public affairs are bringing out more forcibly than ever how indispensable is Christian principle as the helm by which civil rulers must steer if a nation is to be guided past the rock of despotism, or over the ominous ground-swell of anarchy. Our Church has not lived in vain if it has lived only for the advocacy of this conviction. Drop our separate position, merge into another denomination in number and influence more imposing, and whither could we go? Which one of all the Churches could we enter in which our conscience would be exonerated by a protest explicitly directed against civil Antichristianism? Why sink our own testimony, if no other meet the extent, and range, and grandeur of our distinctive views? With an eye ready to glisten eagerly on the least recognition between us and other Christian churches of such common ground as would make amalgamation safe and honourable, we return like the dove to the ark ere the subsiding waters disclosed to it the olive of peace. A vehicle for the dissemination of our views is a simple corollary and inference from the continued obligation to hold by our separate position, to use the good old phrase, as "a witnessing remnant.' Not that we cherish hostility to any other Church of Christ. The peculiar elevation of our principles should raise us far above miserable jealousies. Our motto is,-truth without compromise, and love without dissimulation. It was a dove that soared in long and lingering gyrations from the ark. It was an olive leaf, the symbol of peace, she brought with her ultimately on her return, the token of a subsiding deluge, and judgment withdrawn. We would go forth to pluck from brethren of other communions the leaf of peace, rather than to wrest from their grasp the weapons of hostile violence. While there may be a craving for enrolment in a large church because of its size and influence, on the other hand, members of a small community are apt to become the victims of prejudices, in the very consciousness of their own weakness, and the fear lest the influence of a larger denomination absorb and engulph them. If their principles are wellfounded, there is no ground for such prejudices. Truth is mightier than armies. It is time that all mutual jealousies among the churches holding the Head, and keeping the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience, should cease, and that points of difference should be canvassed, not with a view to triumph or to further estrangement and division, but to a calm adjustment of old diversities in opinion or practice. There is at present a cry for union; none can exceed us in the desire for it; but it must be real union, the only union worth the name, because the free homage of enlightened reason to common truth, -union not on the principle of elbow to elbow, but of mind to mind and heart to heart,-union as the diapason harmony of the universal church in praise of Him whose work it is to gather all things into one, and whose prayer is that all his redeemed be one as the Father and He are one,-union of such a kind, and on such a basis, as will yet glorify the earth, and forestall even the glory of heaven itself. The earth-made and painted vizor of external uniformity, the mere incorporation of jarring and antagonistic elements,-would be a mockery of Christian hope, and would soon turn the Church into a chaos. Union leaving men as far apart in conviction as when they belonged to different churches is but a piebald and patch-work thing, the poorest of all poor achievements, fit only to gratify a weak and narrow-minded sentimentalism, and soon to issue in schisms tenfold more disastrous to the cause of truth. With the staunchest adherence to all that is of permanent value in our testimony, and bears the seal of heaven, it shall be our study to speak the truth in love, and to disarm prejudice rather than to produce irritation in the advocacy of our views, and so obtain for them that fair hearing which may, under the divine blessing, result in union on the basis of principle. There are men whom it is sufficient to offend, if you but indicate a difference of view from them. The good opinion of such is not worth the having. They would lend no weight to our cause, as they reflect no credit on their own. The union of steadfast principle with forbearance and love towards all who as yet do not see eye to eye with us in " things touching the King," should be no novelty in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. We echo the sentiment of the boy-martyr Renwick, "O when shall those be agreed on earth that shall be agreed in heaven! Methinks if my blood were a means to procure that end, I could willingly offer it." 66 CONSOLATION DERIVED FROM A REVIEW OF CHRISTIAN MARTYRDOM. [We take this article from an admirable volume, which has not been reprinted in this country, by Dr J. W. Alexander of New York, We fear the Scots Worthies and the Cloud of Witnesses are not so much read amongst us as they once were, and as they ought to be still. If it is possible to make too much of the Martyrs, it is another extreme to make, and think, too little of them. The article shows to what fine account the perusal of their sufferings may be turned.] THE sufferings of Christ's faithful martyrs not only furnish an attestation to the truth of Christianity, but evince its power to support the soul under the greatest sufferings. And herein the study is one eminently promotive of consolation. One of the great evils which have been wrought by Popery is, that it has cast suspicion and rebuke on many good things which belong as much to us as to them, but which we can scarcely use with liberty for fear of superstition. This has remarkably been the case in regard to the sufferings of the saints. At a very early age, unsuspecting the evil which should follow, surviving friends began to honour the remains and frequent the tombs of the martyrs; hence followed, in irresistible progress, the consecration of set days, the doctrine of supererogatory merit, the canonization of saints, and the worship of relics. Notwithstanding all this, we, my brethren, have an interest in the heroic work of the martyrs: they are ours as well as Rome's; and we are not to be cheated out of our right to the example, proof, and incitement afforded by them, because a corrupt church has made their names the watchword of error. This has been beautifully expressed by one of the brightest luminaries of the modern Anglican church, who sufficiently proved himself the foe of Popery and its imitations. "It is likely enough," says the late Dr Arnold, "that Gibbon has truly accused the general statements of exaggeration. But this is a thankless labour, such as Lingard and others have undertaken with respect to the St Bartholomew massacre, and the Irish massacre of 1642. Divide the sum total of reputed martyrs by twenty-by fifty, if you will-but, after all, you have a number of persons, of all ages and sexes, suffering cruel torments, and a death for conscience' sake and for Christ's, and by their sufferings manifestly, with God's blessing, insuring the triumph of Christ's gospel. Neither, do I think, do we consider the existence of this martyr-spirit half enough. I do not think that pleasure is a sin. The Stoics of old, and the ascetic Christians since, who have said so, have in saying so overstepped the simplicity and the wisdom of Christian truth. But though pleasure is not a sin, yet surely the contemplation of suffering for Christ's sake is a thing most needful for us in our days, from whom in our daily life suffering seems so far removed. And as God's grace enabled rich and delicate persons, women, and even children, to endure all extremities of pain and reproach in times past, so there is the same grace no less mighty now; and if we do not close ourselves against it, it might in us be no less glorified in a time of trial. And that such time of trial will come, my children, in your days, if not in mine, I do believe fully, both from the teaching of man's wisdom and of God's." When our Lord, in predicting the arrest and trial of his disciples, says to them, "And it shall turn to you for a testimony," the meaning is, Your persecutions, when foes shall lay their hands on you, this shall turn to you for a testimony: it shall afford you an opportunity to testify for Christ in the most striking circumstances, and with the greatest effect. The word rendered "testimony" is kindred to our word martyr, which is only the Greek for witness, one who bears testimony. Ye shall, by means of your faith and endurance, be witnesses for my gospel. Let me, then, call your attention to the lessons to be drawn from the testimony of the martyrs. But, first, we must consider who and what the martyrs were. I I. A martyr, it has already been said, is a witness, but, in the language of the church, one who bears witness to Christianity by his death; while the term confessor was applied to those who, before persecuting magistrates, firmly hazarded punishment for confessing Christ. The confessor became a martyr by shedding his blood. In this sense we constantly speak of "martyrs and confessors." The ancient historians reckon exactly ten persecutions; but it is scarcely possible to confine the number to this. They arose from the iron determination of the heathen powers to suppress the true religion; for I pass over the earlier persecutions under the Jews, from Stephen onward. desire to afford some glimpses of the scenes of martyrdom, confining myself to ancient authorities and uncontradicted narratives. The name of Nero has a black celebrity. "Examine your records," said Tertullian, in his Apology; "there you will find that Nero was the first that persecuted this [Christian] doctrine. . . . He that knows who he was, may also know that Nero could condemn only what was great and good." It is believed that Paul was a martyr under Nero. I will not enter into the question as to the number of the martyrs. Though superstition has exaggerated on this point, we cannot deny the concurrent testimony of all ancient records, that thousands on thousands were slain for Christ's sake. Those who were lowest, such as paupers and slaves, escaped most easily; the ministers, the learned, and men of wealth, were sure to be summoned to this ordeal. The persecution which closed by the death of Nero broke out afresh under his imitator, Domitian. Their names have come down to posterity besprinkled with the same blood. "Nero," says Tertullian, "was content to have executions ordered at a distance; Domitian chose to have them under his own eyes." The mild and gentle Trajan was a persecutor. Happily there remains to us a portion of his correspondence with Pliny the Younger, who was, under him, governor of Bithynia. This gives us the assurance derived from Gentile testimony. Pliny writes to his sovereign to know what is to be done, when so many Christians are willing to go to the stake. Hear the account given by this heathen magistrate; it forms part of a state paper, or official report: "I have taken this course with those who are brought before me. I asked them if they were Christians; if they confessed, I asked them again, threatening punishment; if they persisted, I commanded them to be executed. The case demands your orders, from the vast numbers who are in danger; for many of all ranks and ages, both men and women, will be arrested, as the pestilence of this superstition has overspread, not only cities, but towns and country villages." During this reign suffered Clement of Rome, Simon of Jerusalem, and Ignatius of Antioch. The last is memorable. He was condemned by Trajan himself, who ordered him to be sent from Asia to Rome, and there to be thrown to wild beasts. But his journey was a missionary tour, in which he probably did more than in all his life toward the strengthening of the brethren. "From Syria even to Rome," says he, “I fight with beasts, by land and sea, day and night; bound with ten leopards (that is, a guard of soldiers), who are worse for the favours I do them. I pray that the beasts may despatch me quickly; but I know what is best for me. Now I begin to be a disciple, desiring nothing of things seen or unseen, that so I may gain Christ. Let fire, cross, droves of ravenous beasts, wounds, and convulsions come upon me, so only that I may enjoy Jesus Christ." Under Adrian, the successor of Trajan, an incident occurred in proconsular Asia which is instructive. Tertullian relates, that when Arrius Antoninus was beginning to persecute in a certain city, the whole of the population beset his tribunal, and openly avowed themselves to be Christians. He could only order a few to be executed as examples. As, however, a far more distinct impression is made on our minds by a few particular incidents than by general enumeration, I will dwell a little on the famous instance of the churches of Vienne and Lyons on the Rhone, in the second century. This persecution raged under the philosophic emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus, and we are better acquainted with the details, because the historian Eusebius has preserved letters written on the subject by these churches to their brethren in Asia Minor. There is something very affecting in the letters of these simple-hearted people, penned amidst the very horrors of which they tell. The populace had been inflamed by the calumnies of the age, which accused the Christian assemblies of licentious and bloody crimes. "The Christians," say the letters, "nobly sustained all the evils that were heaped upon them by the mob-outeries, blows, plunder, stoning, imprisonment. Then they were hurried to the Forum, and when examined by the tribune and magistrates, in presence of the multitude, they were shut up in prison till the arrival of the governor." "They seemed unprepared, indeed, and inexperienced, and too weak for the mighty conflict. About ten fell away, causing excessive sorrow to the brethren. We were filled with suspense and anguish lest the remainder should apostatise." There were arrests every day, till all the more zealous members of the two churches were collected. Particular mention is made of poor servant-woman named Blandina. "For whilst we were all trembling, and her earthly mistress, who was herself one of the contending martyrs, was apprehensive lest by the weakness of the flesh she should not make a bold profession, Blandina was filled with such power, that her ingenious tormentors, who relieved and succeeded one another from morning till night, confessed that they were overcome, and had nothing more that they could inflict on her." "Wrestling nobly in the fight, this blessed saint, from time to time, |