interest to the Pagan world: and to gain him to the side of Polytheism excited the energies and the arts of all the distinguished men it could boast. And Julian, through pre-conceived ideas, a wrong education, a corrupt heart, and ignorance of the true God and Saviour of men, fell easily into the snare the enemy of mankind laid for him, and was secretly admitted into the initiatory ceremonies of the Pagan religion. Some of these ceremonies, conducted as they would seem to have been, by the influence of the prince of darkness, were calculated to make a deep and lasting impression on the mind of the deluded votary; and Julian, young and enthusiastic as he was, received in those deep gloomy caverns such powerful impressions of superstition as never were effaced. From that time he is said solemnly to have consecrated his life to the service of the gods: but the secret was entrusted only to a few faithful friends whose interest it was to keep it concealed.

On the death of Gallus, Julian became presumptive heir to the Roman monarchy, and the hopes and expectations of the Pagan part of the world were fixed on him with the same anxiety, as were the fears and aversion of the Christian. Constantius, nominally a Christian, though perhaps more guilty than he who threw off the sacred name, was alarmed at the rumour of his young successor's predilection for the ancient religion, and Julian's life only depended on the caprice of his will devoted as he was to his religion,

Julian did not think it beneath the honour he owed to Jupiter to dissimulate in his service, and therefore to please the emperor, and quiet the fears of the Christians, he continued to frequent their assemblies and to join in the worship of God, while in his heart he still retained the images of his idols, and hastened from the altars of the living God to burn incense before the vile gods of the heathen.

For ten years he thus continued in a course of dissimulation, speaking of which a Latin orator has said, 66 Very different from the ass in Æsop, who disguised himself in a lion's skin, our lion was obliged to conceal himself under the skin of an ass." Compare this with the conduct of the Apostles, the disciples, and martyrs, and you will perceive how widely different is the spirit of true and false religion.

At the end of that time, during which perhaps his devotion to paganism was increased by the restraint under which he was obliged to maintain it, Julian was declared Emperor by the troops in Gaul. Whether his opposition to their tumultuary act which raised him to the highest rank in the empire was sincere or not, it is not my business to decide, but at all events it was useless, and Julian was obliged, if he would preserve his life, to lose no time in assuming the empire thus bestowed on him.

Julian joined to the character of a philosopher that of a hero; and though, when first called to the

profession of arms, he is said to have exclaimed, while repeating a martial exercise, "Oh Plato, Plato, what a task for a philosopher!" he soon won more glory on the field than he had done in the study; and perhaps he might illustrate a maxim which I believe to be true, that to whatever pursuit an ardent mind turns itself with diligence, in it will it be successful.

In morals, Julian was, I believe as exact, as in religion he was superstitious; a contempt for the luxuries and elegancies of life degenerated into a neglect of its decencies; and as a proof how the same mind that can sometimes almost soar to greatness, at others can descend to the veriest littleness, the Roman Emperor, the wit and genius of some of whose writings have delighted mankind, in one of them, mentions with self-satisfaction the length of his nails and the blackness of his hands.

Mr. Gibbon, who never omits an occasion of introducing a sarcasm on religion, affects surprise at the idea of finding the character of philosopher and theologian united. But however that elegant historian might mock the truth, the man taught of God knows, that in the volume of the sincere theologian's study is contained the principles and the doctrines of the only true and sound philosophy.

Julian united philosophy and the basest superstition; this was a union I cannot understand; nor can I comprehend how the arts of magic and

divination could engage the same mind that delighted in philosophical studies. How would the enthusiasm he displayed in the worship of heathen deities be sneered at by the opposer of Christianity, if exhibited in the worship of Jehovah! No office was too mean that was performed in the service of the gods, and the master of the Roman world would esteem it an honour to bring the wood, to blow the fire, and to slay the beasts for sacrifice.

I have now given you a rapid sketch of this pagan Emperor's character; in my next story I shall tell you the effects of his government upon the church: but I cannot conclude without mentioning a thought that has occurred to me while writing the last sentence: the apostate Julian, as he is termed, may give in his conduct a useful example to Christians. For what a different world would this be, did every one feel it an honour to fill the very lowest station, as a labourer of the Most High-did they show the same zeal for the honour of their Redeemer that the Emperor of Rome testified for the gods of the heathen.

CENTURY IV.

CONTINUED.

STATE OF THE CHURCH UNDER JULIAN, NAMED THE APOSTATE.

You have seen that the persecutions which the church endured, instead of effecting the destruction the persecutors intended, rather operated to strengthen, purify, and extend it. Trajan, Decius, and Dioclesian, failed in their efforts; and though Julian bore a deeper and a deadlier hate to the name and religion of Christ, yet, with examples such as these before him, he had too much prudence to tread in their steps.

Gibbon says, that at the beginning of the civil war which terminated by the death of Constantius and the accession of Julian, the latter declared himself the enemy, at once, of Constantius and of Christ! How awful,-how shocking to Christian feeling do such words sound! Yet how many throughout their lives are enemies to Christ, through wicked works! how many are enemies to Christ by rejecting his salvation! Such,

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