recourse, in order to oppose the progress of the religion of Christ. There was not a public calamity, and, indeed, scarcely a private misfortune of any illustrious individual, which was not directly or indirectly charged upon the Christians. During the reign of Marcus Antoninus, several opportunities of this nature presented themselves. In one year, a great part of the city was materially injured by an inundation of the Tiber, which. also produced the most disastrous effects in the adjoining villages. This misfortune was followed by a dreadful famine, by which the people were reduced to the greatest distress. In this state of affairs at home, the Carians and Lycians were visited with a severe earthquake; while a similar affliction had caused material damages at Rhodes; and a declaration of war by the Parthians, had thrown the whole nation into the greatest consternation and alarm. The priests, in conjunction with the philosophers, reviled the Christians as the causes of these accumulated calamities; and affirmed that they had brought down the vengeance of Heaven upon the nation by deserting the temples, and neglecting the worship of the gods. Notwithstanding his superior endowments, Antoninus yielded his most ready assent to the suggestions of those sages by whom his court was thronged, and opened a most relentless persecution against the Church.* Among other acts of outrage, countenanced no doubt by the emperor, Urbicus, prefect of the city, had put to death three persons, merely because they were Christians. Upon this occasion Justin drew up a most impressive defence of his fellow-sufferers, in which, as in his former Apology, he grounded their claims to justice upon the spotless purity of their lives.

It has been supposed by some, from a passage which occurs in Justin's Second Apology, that it was addressed, as well as the former, to Antoninus Pius. But although the appellation of εὐσεβὴς αὐτοκρατωρ may appear more immediately appropriate to the elder Antonine, that it was sometimes also applied to the son, is proved by the inscription on some ancient coins. We have the authority of Eusebius that Marcus Antoninus, the philosopher, is the emperor to whom it was addressed; and from Justin's expectation, expressed at p. 46. E., that he should shortly fall a victim to the malice of Crescens, it was, in all probability, composed only a short time before his death. The date most generally assigned to it is the year 162. However powerful were the arguments which Justin employed to awaken, if not the compassion, at least the equity, of the emperor, they were totally disregarded by Aurelius. He still persevered in inflicting the severest punishments upon unbelievers, many of whom endured the most exquisite tortures, and even died in defence of their faith. The heroism and firmness displayed by the sufferers upon these occasions, were interpreted by the emperor into an obstinate perseverance in error and delusion.* As Justin had foreseen, he was not long to escape the general massacre. According to the Acts of his martyrdom, given in Baronius, he was beheaded, at the instiga

* See Julii Capitolini Vit. Anton. Universal History, Vol. IV. (of Rome.) Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. cent. 2.

†M. Anton. Philos. de seipso, Lib. II. c. 3.

tion of Crescens, about A. D. 165, in the 76th year of his age. Other dates have been assigned to his martyrdom. Epiphanius (Hær. 46), by an unaccountable mistake, supposes that he suffered in the year 149, at the age of thirty; but the above computation, which is that of Grabe, seems to be correct. There is also a current tradition in the Greek Church that he died by poison, which rests upon no authority. He met his death with that composure which, exhibited in others, had excited his admiration before his conversion, and evinced the truth of a favourite saying of his own, that Persecution may kill, but it cannot harm.

CLERGY MUTUAL ASSURANCE..

MR. EDITOR,-In your Number for July, 1829, you gave publicity to the Rules of a Society which had then been lately formed, and which is calculated to be of eminent benefit to the great body of your readers-I refer to the CLERGY MUTUAL ASSURANCE SOCIETY. As this institution does not appear even now to be sufficiently known, permit me, Sir, through your pages, to call the attention of the Clergy to some of its advantages. Upon the doctrine of life insurances generally, little need be said after the admirable pamphlet written by Mr. Babbage, to which those may be confidently referred who wish for information upon so important a point. This pamphlet fully establishes the position, that where an income for the support of a family is small, and limited to the life of an individual, there the advantages resulting from a well-established mutual life assurance company are very great. Admitting the correctness of Mr. Babbage's argument, the only question that seems to arise is, in what office may the scanty pittance which the majority of the Clergy can devote to this purpose be deposited, in order to secure to their families the greatest possible benefits? Taking the clerical body in the aggregate, it is impossible for them to be charitable to the poor, to maintain and educate their children, and to secure a provision for their widows and orphans, without mutual assistance; and without disparagement to existing associations, it may be asserted that these desirable objects were but imperfectly attained, before the formation of the institution whose paramount claims to our support it is my wish to enforce. It is true that the University Life Assurance Company was in existence before this Society; but by admitting the legal and medical profession to a share of its benefits, it is evidently excluded from any invidious comparison with the Clergy Mutual Assurance Society, whose whole and sole object is the advantage and comfort of the Clergy. But, independently of this, its features are of so peculiar a character, and its present advantages of so novel a description, that a bare enumeration of its objects might be sufficient to insure for it a liberal proportion of public patronage. In the different classes of assurances in this society, provision is made for meeting the expenses attendant upon a long illness-for the payment of a certain sum after death to the assurer's surviving family-for annuities at various ages, but particularly after the age of sixty-five and seventy-for payments to

apprentice or settle in life children, and to defray their college or other expenses; and, by a reference to the tables of the Society, it will be found that these assurances may be effected at premiums suited to the different incomes of the Clergy.

Until the establishment of the Clergy Mutual Assurance Society, no provision was offered for the relief of the clergy during sickness. That such relief offers a most admirable and acceptable provision cannot for a moment be doubted. A clergyman when burdened with the fees of his medical attendants, and the incidental expenses which unavoidably accompany sickness, can ill afford out of his income to remunerate an assistant for his parish duties; and, after an illness of six weeks, the time when the benefits to be derived from the assurance commences, it cannot reasonably be expected that neighbouring friends will continue to inconvenience themselves by prolonging, gratuitously, their assistance. What then can be done? Is the invalid to be curtailed of his necessary comforts? Is he to be deprived of medical aid? or is his mind to be wounded by the thought that his parochial duties must be neglected, or, at least, that he must continue to encroach on the friendly aid of those who are perhaps making sacrifices for his accommodation?

How thankfully, then, ought the Clergy to hail the establishment of an institution which, for a small annual payment during health, renders them independent of these casualties, by securing the weekly payment of two guineas, to provide, either for the regular discharge of their clerical duties, or for their personal comforts; thus, in a very great measure, leaving for the ordinary exigencies of their families, their annual income unimpaired.

The annuities payable after sixty-five, or seventy, are also admirably calculated for the benefit of the Clergy. At those periods of life they often require assistance for a part, if not the whole, of their duty. These annuities, therefore, enable them to provide the aid they may require, without either diminishing their incomes or their comforts. With regard to the assurances for the payment of a certain sum after death, to the surviving families of the Clergy, or for enabling them to meet the expenses of their children at school, or subsequently, I would only put it to the feelings of every husband and parent to say, whether he be not bound, let his income be what it may, to use every effort in his power to provide for the respectability of his widow, and the proper education and maintenance of his children? Through the liberal donations of the laity, and the richer body of the clergy, these provisions are within the reach even of the unbeneficed clergyman, and it really does expose his memory to a censure if he fails to embrace the opportunities now afforded him for accomplishing these desirable objects. I feel persuaded, Sir, you cannot render a greater benefit to your clerical readers than by laying before them the intentions of a Society so little at present understood. For the information of your numerous lay readers, permit me also to observe, that the Clergy Mutual Assurance Society has strong claims upon their liberality. Attached to this institution is " a Fund in Aid," out of which assistance is granted to the most necessitous of the Clergy, to enable them to continue their assurances should circumstances, over which they could

have no control, occur to prevent their making good their annual payments. In other associations of this kind, the non-payment of premiums would disqualify the assurers, or their families, from any intended benefit. The expediency of such a fund must then be apparent to every layman; and I beg to suggest, whether the charitable bequests or donations of the laity can be better bestowed than towards supporting a fund which is calculated to sooth, in their dying moments, the hearts of many of the poorer Clergy.

Having, then, generally explained the objects of the Clergy Mutual Assurance Society, it may be asked, what guarantee is offered to the assurers that these benefits, great as they confessedly are, which I have pointed out, shall be held in perpetuity? Now it is evident that the success of every public company must depend, in a great degree, upon the respectability and general character of its directors-that it is not enough its managers be men of wealth, or good abstract calculators; but that, added to these requisites, they must possess a certain method in business. Upon all these points I can safely assert, that there is no company regulated by a body of directors more competent to conduct the general affairs of insurance than those gentlemen who have gratuitously undertaken the directorship to the Clergy Mutual Assurance Society; and, as a proof of their zeal in the welfare of the institution, I need only add that several of them have most handsomely come forward and rendered themselves responsible with the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of London, Durham, &c., in the sum of Ten Thousand Pounds, to meet any demands that may be made upon the funds of the Society before they are sufficiently established to meet them.

The utility and permanency of the institution are therefore, I trust, rendered sufficiently certain; and my object in addressing your readers will be fully answered if my letter excites in their minds a spirit of inquiry as to the merits of the admirable though newly-formed institution, known, under the name of the CLERGY MUTUAL ASSURANCE SOCIETY. I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

A SUBSCRIBER TO THE FUND IN AID.

ON THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

*

THE incident related in Acts ix. 3-5, together with its consequent effects, is termed, and properly so, "the Conversion of St. Paul;" for it was, as the meaning of the word conversion has been justly defined, a turning of the will co-existent with the conviction of the understanding.* Commonly, however, there is no word used amongst religious people, which, professing to be a scriptural term, has been employed in senses more foreign from its scriptural sense, than this word conversion. It has come, I know not by what perverse misapplication, to stand, not only

* See Coleridge's Aids to Reflection, p. 25, Note; "a book of which," as Mr. Rose rightly observes," without assenting to all which it contains, I may truly say, as of other of Mr. Coleridge's works, that it deserves far more attention than it has gained."— ROSE on the Commission and Duties of the Clergy, Note.

for every other Christian grace, but even for salvation itself; for, in a modern sense, he that has once been truly converted to God, is thus made incapable of any subsequent lapse, and assured of his final salvation.

It is most unfortunate, when scripture words are wrested from their original significations, and scripture cases are forced into precedents, where they do not afford the slightest authority. It is in this way, that the cause of genuine and vital religion sustains the greatest injury; when, on the one hand, mankind are deceived as to what their religion does actually require from them; and, on the other, the errors of the professors of Christianity are set down, by the enemies of our religion, as the delusions of the religion itself.

It is, doubtless, from the carnal corruption of our nature, an indolent disinclination to engage in a struggle which seems so irksome and difficult, so contrary to those worldly interests and gratifications, in which we find ourselves intimately concerned,—that men are willing to be persuaded, that the obligations of religion are by no means so strict as they have sometimes been taught to regard them; and are ready to trust to any impulses, however imaginary, and to rely on any assurances, however deceitful, which promise them a victory, without the toil and the uncertainty of the conflict, and bring them at once to the goal of their Christian course, without having to undergo the hardships and the hazards of the intervening race. Salvation appears to them indeed desirable; but they would be spared the cost at which it is to be purchased: they would be free from the doubt and the anxiety which must hang over their labours in obtaining it.

With tempers such as this, (and every man must feel what a proneness there is within him to be thus easy-minded and credulous, where a contrary disposition must bring him under a sense of duties so manifold, so strict, and so indispensable, as those required in the Gospel,) the doctrine of an instantaneous and a sensible conversion, as it is now commonly understood, will find a ready reception: -a conversion, as it is called, brought about at the instant of God's good pleasure, and effected by the force of his irresistible operation; a conversion which, at once, and without any trouble on his part, is supposed to place a man above all the severe, and painful, and mortifying conditions of repentance, and to give him an assurance of forgiveness of his sins, of acceptance with God, and of an unfailing continuance in grace; a conversion of which no man, who has really partaken of it, can entertain any doubts and misgivings, inasmuch as it is said to be ascertained to him,-not indeed by the outward evidence of its subsequent fruits, which is our Lord's test of the reality of every Christian grace, but, by some simultaneous, inward, and sensible token, communicated to the person himself.

To those who have never taken the trouble to examine the fact for themselves, and who have been accustomed to hear this word, conversion, so frequently and so confidently made use of, with a special and individual application, it may perhaps be surprising, to be told how rarely, if ever, it is employed in Scripture, in any sense affording the remotest countenance to the use which is made of it in these days.