faith that resulted from it therefore, stood rather in the wisdom of men than in the power of God. Origen is a distinguished name in the third century. Very early in life he manifested a boldness of character which shrunk from no danger, and an energy of soul which was equal to any enterprise. He had an acute mind, but unfortunately his taste for allegory and metaphysical subtleties, led him astray from the purity of truth; and it is doubted whether he, on the whole, did not rather injure than benefit the church by his writings. He possessed an adventurous spirit which could not be restrained within proper limits: he sought to explore regions on which the light of the sun of righteousness had not shone. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, preciare et venerabile nomen!" flourished in the middle of the third century. In consequence of the spread of error and the prevalence of a taste for philosophy, falsely so called, vital religion began to decline; and the special influences of the Holy Spirit very sensibly were withheld. He was a professor of oratory, a man of wealth, and unquestionable talents. His conversion took place as he was reaching the high noon of life. He lived but about thirteen years after that. "How Cyprian conducted himself in his ministry, who is sufficient to relate ?" says Pontius, his deacon and biographer. He distributed his wealth to the poor; the love of Christ was the ascendant principle of all his actions. "In him," says a histori Jesus." "Cyprian's spirit in interpreting scripture was more simple and more accommodated to receive its plain and obvious sense, than that of men who had learned to refine and subtilize." He revolutioned the whole of Africa ecclesiastically. His energy, simplicity, and influence were such, that during his ministry, he gave a new aspect to the visible church. "Before Cyprian's time, Africa appears to have been in no very flourishing state, with respect to Christianity. Within twelve years, he was the instrument of most material service in recovering many apostates, in reforming discipline, and in reviving the essence of godliness." The character of his preaching is easily ascertained; it was plain, original, and highly evangelical. The truth came warm from his heart, and it possessed the potency of a two edged sword. His success was unrivalled in that age. We cannot forbear to mention Gregory of Neo-Cæsarea, the metropolis of Cappadocia. He studied under the direction of Origen. He settled in his native city, which was large and populous and such was his zeal, and so untiring were his efforts to promote the salvation of sinners, and such the favour he obtained in the sight of God, that he was enabled to say at the close of his ministry, "when he came here, he found only seventeen Christians, and that he left only seventeen idolaters. "The wonderful success that attended his ministry," says the historian, "was owing to a marvelous outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In no particular instance was the divine influence ever more apparent since the apostolic age." Athanasius of Alexandria stands pre-eminent in the fourth century. He was a man of sound mind, and of great discernment. As he was the constant object of persecution by the Arians, his writings throughout have a bearing against that here, sy. His exposition of the doctrines was clear, but he seemed not sufficiently imbued with the Spirit of truth. He possessed great influence, his firmness was unshaken, his piety unquestionable. As a preacher, he was nervous, sensible, and convincing. He was wanting in the unction which is indispensible to the highest kind of pulpit eloquence. An able and successful opposer of the prevailing heresy, was raised up by Providence in the west, the illustrious Ambrose, of Milan. He was a distinguished civilian, and sustained a high character as Judge. He was chosen Bishop much against his will; such was his modesty that he took every method to avoid an acceptance of the office. He was at length prevailed upon to yield to the strong solicitations of his friends. By his labours Arianism was expelled from Italy. "It pleased God to convey to Ambrose that fire of divine love and genuine simplicity in religion, which had very much decayed since the days of Cyprian he was instrumental of preparing the way for another great effusion of the Holy Spirit. The character of Ambrose is above all praise. He was noble and affectionate; he possessed so much of the spirit of the first Elijah who reproved Ahab, and of the second who reproved Herod, that he shrunk not from the ungracious duty of withstanding and reproving even emperors who offended. He was an eloquent and powerful preacher. His mind was tinged with superstition; and his simplicity was corrupted by his attachment to the fanciful writings of Origen. Augustin speaks in the most honourable terms of Ambrose, as a pious and eloquent man. To him, under God, he was indebted for deliverance from dangerous errors. Hilary and Basil surnamed the great, are venerable names. The latter particularly, was distinguished for indefatiga From the latter end of the third century to the former part of the fifth, there was a gradual declension of godliness. The great cause is to be sought in the character and preaching of the clergy; they became carnal and inefficient. Forms and not Christ was the subject of their discourses. Towards the close of the fourth century, God raised up several powerful advocates of the truth. Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, was the great luminary of the fifth century. He wrote with uncommon plainness and vigour in support of the doctrines of grace. As a preacher, he has perhaps never been excelled. His hearers were wont to say, they had rather it should not rain, than that Chrysostom should not preach. He was an able divine, he possessed a profound understanding, a chaste and vigorous imagination, a fertile genius, popular talents, and extensive erudition. To these were added a boldness and manliness of character, which gave him a decided advantage over any of his cotemporaries. He was a man of great breadth. His doctrines and method of preaching rendered him obnoxious to the vicious and great, and he fell the victim of persecution and tyranny. Augustine, whose wonderful conversion and deep religious experience gave great interest to his preaching and writings, flourished in the fifth century. "Perhaps from the day that John the divine died," says Dr. Lawson, "there has not been a greater man in the church than Augustino." His previous habits of teaching were of great use to him after his introduction into the church. He possessed an intellect of the first order. His understanding was fully subdued. He was evidently raised up as an eminent instrument in divine providence, to elevate the standard of piety, and to bring back the church to the knowledge of the fundamental doctrines of grace. His zeal to preach the gospel was invincible. His great force lay in his humility. The success of his labours is to be ascribed to his prayers and the plain truths he taught. He studied profoundly the writings of Paul. If he did not understand so clearly the doctrine of justification, he seems to have exhibited fully the doctrine of depravity, the necessity and entireness of the change effected in the heart by the Holy Spirit. Predes tination, in his view, was a doctrine which followed experimental religion as a shadow follows the substance. By the irruption of the Vandals, the Roman Empire was on all sides dissolving, at the time of Augustine's death; and its fairest provinces in Africa, fell into the hands of barbarians. But the light which, through his means, had been kindled, was not extinct; for, as it depended not on the grandeur of the Roman Empire, so neither was it extinguished by its decline. For more than a thousand years the light of divine truth, which here and there shone in individuals, during the dreary night of superstition, was nourished by the writings of Augustine, which, next to the sacred scriptures, were the guides of men who feared God." 66 Gregory the First, Bishop of Rome who died 604, was a distinguished man and exerted a wide influence. Though somewhat infected with the errors of the Roman Church, he was in the main correct in sentiment and of most exemplary piety. No man in any We mention with peculiar satisfaction, Bernard, who lived in the 12th century. Though at first devoted to the severe austerity of the monastic life, he gradually learned to correct the harshness and asperity of his sentiments. Such was his character for piety and talents that his word became a law to nobles and princes. He possessed an a tonishing power. His eloquence was most commanding, his sincerity and humility were eminent, 'No potentate," says the historian, "either civil or ecclesiastical possessed such real power, in the Chris tian world." He acknowledged that he was wholly indebted to divine grace for his success. "The talents of Bernard in preaching, were doubtless of the first order. He possessed that variety of gifts, which fitted him to address either the great or the vulgar.” * We shall close this brief view of the character and preaching of the Christian Fathers, with an extract from Fenelon. "I cannot finish this article" he says "without saying a word of the eloquence of the Fathers. Certain enlightened persons do not do them exact justice. They judge of them by some hard metaphor of Tertullian, by some inflated period of St. Cyprian, by some obscure figure of St. Ambrose, by some subtle chiming antithesis of St. Augustine, by some quibble of St. Chrysologue. But we must have regard to the depraved taste of the times in which the Fathers lived. The spoiling of the taste began at Rome a little after the time of Augustus. Even the studies of Athens were discarded when St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzen went there. Intellectual refinements had prevailed. The Fathers, instructed by the bad orators of their times, were led away by the influence of public opinion and the prevailing taste: even the wise seldom had independence nough to resist. They did not think they were permitted to speak in a simple and natural manner. A taste as vitiated in relation to speaking as to manners and dress prevailed. Follow ing this mode, it was not necessary to speak, it was necessary to declaim. But if one will have patience to examine the writings of the Fathers, he will see in them things of great value. St. Cyprian has a magnanimity and a vehemence which resembles that of Demosthenes. We find in St. Chrysostom an exquisite judgment, noble images, a sensible and admirable morality. St. Augustine is altogether sublime and popular. He discusses the deepest subjects in familiar language. He is bold and impressive--he interrogates, he causes himself to be interrogated, he replies it is a conversation between himself and his hearers. Comparisons come apropos to dissipate every doubt. He sometimes descends to the plainest language of the populace in order to address them. St. Bernard was a prodigy in a barbarous age. We find in him delicacy, elevation, sense, tenderness and vehemence. We are astonished at the great beauty and grandeur shown in the Fathers, when we think of the age in which they wrote. We pardon Montague for some boasting expressions, and Marot for using an ancient tongue, why will not one overlook faults in the Fathers, the pride of their times, especially when there is found in their writings such pre cious truths expressed in the strongest language?" We come now to the period of the Reformation. A revolution so extensive and so truly wonderful as that must be traced to a mighty cause. It was none other than the truth of God, made effectual by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Men qualified for their great work were raised up-Wickliffe, John Huss and Jerome of Prague, did not live in vain.* The light of truth shone through them, and the surrounding and succeeding darkness could not wholly extinguish it. Though these orbs set on the same side of the horizon on which they rose, other minds were illumined by them; and a day dawned, which, though often obscured by storms, still gathers brightness, and will end in millenial glory. Luther, like the word he preached, was a fire and hammer to break the rock in pieces. The character of Luther as a preacher we may learn from authentic sources. While he was bold, and energetic, he was evangelical. The great doctrine on which he expatiated was that of justification by faith, nor was he deficient in exhibiting all the great truths of the gospel. To his labours as a preacher and a defender of the Reformation, were added the duties of a Professor of Divinity in the university of Wittenberg. Zuinglius was a preacher of distinguished excellence. He was more correct than Luther in his theological views, nor was he less decided and persevering. He has been *Referring to the first of these, says the elegant Author of " a Ramble in Germany" in connection with the honourable mention of the two last, "The Englishman reflects, with no less gratitude, on the memory of the great Wickliffe, his countryman, and regards the immense power of human influence with delighted awe." How solemn is a residence in this world,' when we can trace through five centuries, and of what one conscientious priest thought, uttered and wrote, during a brief human life!" among countless millions, the effects called "the brightest ornament of the Protestant cause. Melancthon had more learning than either, but was timid and unbelieving as to many measures adopted. His life, by Cox, presents him in an amiable light. He wrote with great elegance, but the feebleness of his constitution left him but little energy to combat the errors and enemies of his time. Calvin, a host in himself, is a man who has been, perhaps, more praised and more stigmatized than almost any other. That he was a great man and a profound scholar, no one with any justice, can pretend to deny. His "institutes" are an imperishable monument of his talents and theological knowledge. They are characterized by purity of style and force of argument. His commentary" is one of the best extant, and considering the age in which it was written, the lumber of useless learning and false glosses that obscured the scriptures --we are surprised at the clearness of his views and the correctness of his interpretations. He studied the Bible upon his knees. He was an eloquent and powerful preacher. Nor must we omit "the intrepid Knox, rude as the bleak climate which gave him birth. Having formed with Calvin, at Genoa, the strictest friendship, and adopted all his opinions respecting church government, he returned to his native land; and with his rough eloquence, and hardihood that knew no fear, he bore down all opposition, overturned the whole popish hierarshy, and established the Presbyterian government in its stead, to which the church of Scotland still adheres." Knox always preached with the fear of God before his eyes. He observed of himself that "he never entered the pulpit without trembling." He trembled under a sense of the office he sustained and the weight of the message he was to deliver. There was one period in which the French pulpit was filled with men of the highest grade of excellence. "The subjects," says Le Harpe, "in which eloquence was carried to the highest degree of perfection, in the age of Louis XIV. were without doubt, those of sermons and funeral orations." "It has been said," observes a French critic, "that Bossuet was the only truly cloquent man in the age of Louis XIV. This without doubt appears extraordinary; but if eloquence consists in seizing strongly upon a subject, in knowing all its resources, in measuring its extent, in connecting all its parts, in causing idea to follow idea with impetuosity, and feeling to succeed feeling, in being hurried away by an irresistible power and in communicating this rapid and involuntary movement to others; if it consists in painting with sprightly images, in enlarging and astonishing the soul, in spreading through a discourse a feeling which mingles with each idea, and which gives to it life: if it consists in creating vast and deep expressions which enrich the language, in pleasing the ear by a majestic harmony, in having neither a fixed tone nor manner, but in always adapting both to the occasion-sometimes going along in a calm and imposing grandeur-then suddenly shooting forward and raising himself yet higher, imitating nature irregular and grand, which sometimes embelishes the order of the universe even by disorder itself, if such is the character of sublime eloquence, who among us, has ever been as eloquent as Bossuet? Who has ever spoken better of life, of death, of eternity, of the times?-But what distinguishes him most is the ardour of his feelings; the girding up of his whole soul to the object before him. His style being but the representation of the movement of his soul, his elocution is rapid |