Crowned martyr! wearing the wreath of victory even in the conflict! While we gaze on him as we gaze on some bright distant star, it seems wonderful to be called to speak of ourselves in connection with him; yet so it is; in the unity of the body the meanest member is linked to the noblest, so that if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, and if one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.' But what are 'our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of Christ's truth?' We must not invent them, or give to trifles the awful name of suffering or martyrdom; God knows how soon the fearful reality may burst upon us, to sift the wheat from the chaff. Meanwhile, let us imbibe the spirit of preparation for it, by enduring cheerfully whatever pain, or privation, or disappointment comes to us in the path of duty; by silently yielding our fondest wishes, even our most innocent inclinations, if their indulgence could bring reproach on the name whereby we are called; and above all, by cultivating such perfect forgiveness as will enable us to say without blasphemy, 'Forgive us as we forgive.' Forgiveness, arising from a sense of the forgiveness of Christ, extends from the outer world of wrong and cruelty, to the inner world of wounded sensibility, or grieved affection; we must leave off that 'wrath with those we love, which works like madness in the brain;' we must forgive the coldness of a friend, the inconstancy of a beloved

one, as fully as He forgives the coldness and fickleness of our hearts towards Him. We must learn to love and to bless,' not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth; to bless by returning good for evil; to bless by conveying the knowledge of God's truth to others; and this spirit is to be sought as a gift from above, 'that being filled with the Holy Ghost, we may learn to love and to bless.'

The example of St. Stephen is placed before us to teach us the firm testimony to the truth which God crowns with blessing; the steadfast look of faith up to heaven, whereby we may behold our Mediator and Advocate ere He is revealed to sight; forgiveness, shewing itself in love and blessing; and love and blessing finding their best expression in prayer: 'Father, forgive them;' 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.'

'And when he had said this he fell asleep.' Asleep! how quiet, how gentle is this idea in contrast with the storm that raged around; asleep in Jesus, to whom he commended his parting spirit, even while the stones were still showered on his quivering frame; his last prayer was addressed to the blessed Jesus who standeth at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for Him;' and thus authorizes us not only to present our petitions through Him as our Mediator, but directly to Him, as our God and Saviour.

ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST'S DAY.

Merciful Lord, we beseech Thee to cast Thy bright beams of light upon Thy Church, that it being enlightened by the doctrine of Thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, may so walk in the light of Thy truth, that it may at length attain to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

IT was given to 'the disciple whom Jesus loved' to reveal the Redeemer as 'the Light of the world;' he alone was permitted to declare the essential nature of God: 'God is Light;' 'God is Love' and both in his record of the Gospel history and in his Epistles there is a luminous transparency, as if through his human language we could look into the depth of that light which no man can approach unto.

'Words, like nature, half reveal

And half conceal the soul within.'

So in his writings there are gleams from within the sanctuary, veiled in the words of simple narrative or of human converse; yet his was only a derived light, and we come to its source, and beseech the Lord Himself to cast His bright beams upon the Church, so that the doctrine taught by the Apostle of Light and Love may truly shine into it; that His servants may so walk in the communicated light of truth, that

they may at length attain the light of life; where there is no need of the moon; no derived light; but 'God Himself doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.'

If the biographies of the Apostles had all been completed, like that of St. Stephen, within the infallible record of Scripture, they would seem to be enshrined in crystal, through which we could gaze, but in which they were parted from common life; but the Lord prolonged the threads of their lives, and wove them into the web of the Church's history, thus preserving the unity, and connecting the Christians of the New Testament with the Christians who followed them, as one brotherhood; the events of their after lives stand on the same level with other historical records of the early Church, to be judged according to evidence, and as fit subjects for critical research. The longest of these golden threads is the life of St. John, prolonged for seventy years after his Master had been taken away from him into Heaven; and from history, no more and no less trust-worthy than other records of the time, we learn that fifteen of those years were spent in Judea, in meek duty fulfilling the parting charge, 'Behold thy mother,' until Mary departed to be with God her Saviour; and not till this home duty was accomplished, did John commence the wide missionary labours in Asia Minor, which brought him under the condemnation of the Emperor Domitian. He was a martyr in will, but not

in deed; for it pleased God to bring him unhurt out of a caldron of boiling oil, as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were delivered from the furnace, and to give him the farther trial of lonely exile, and the experience of weakness and old age. After leaving Patmos, he took charge of the Church of Ephesus; Timothy, its Bishop, having suffered martyrdom. During his ministry, he found that a youth who had received the word gladly, had in time of temptation fallen away, and had become leader of a band of robbers. John followed him to the mountains, threw himself in the way of the banditti, and desired to be led to their captain, who in shame fled at his approach; but he cried, 'My son, why fliest thou from thy father, unarmed and old? there is yet hope of salvation; believe me Christ has sent me; and he left him not till the poor wandering sheep returned with him to the Good Shepherd. We all remember the brief sermon of his extreme old age, 'Little children, love one another,' and his apology for its frequent repetition, 'This is what our Lord commanded, and if we can do this we need do nothing else.' Irenæus and others affirm that his Gospel, supplemental to the other three, was written at Ephesus, at the earnest entreaty of the Asian Bishops and ambassadors from other Churches; and that he solemnized a general fast, to seek God's blessing previous to commencing the work.

His mighty eloquence procured him the title