old age of the great philosophical Emperor, and will for ever plead mightily against the adulation of history.

Justin's writings against Marcion and the Gnostic heresies were composed in the spirit of apologies for the Christian faith; but not a vestige of these writings remains.

The "Dialogue with Trypho," however, has been preserved, as a specimen of the manner in which he maintained the defence of Christianity against the Jews. This third class of the church's enemies was, perhaps, the most malignant. The persecutions of the Heathens were intermitting; the heretical sects were in a great measure on the defensive; but the Jewish opponents of the faith were constant in their virulent animosity. They daily cursed the name of Jesus in their synagogues; and, in Palestine, their enmity was not limited to curses. The sufferings of the Christians through the instigation of Bar-Cochab and his adherents were but the culmination of an incessant series of tribulations which the Jews brought upon these apostates from Judaism in their own land.

The war sent multitudes of Jews to the west; and among the rest Trypho, a philosophical Jew of some eminence. He fell in with Justin at Ephesus: they accosted each other as philosophers; but the discourse soon deepened into a contest between the Christian and the Jew. The Dialogue, as preserved by Justin, bears every mark of being a free report of a real conversation; though it is evident that it was also intended to be a general exposition of the relation between Judaism and Christianity.

The Dialogue has all the merits, and all the defects, of Justin's other writings. There are in it occasional gleams of genius. "It was foretold of you," he says to Trypho, "that you should be as the sand of the sea-shore; and so indeed you are: if as numerous, as barren likewise, and as unfruitful of all that is good; ever ready to receive the refreshing dew and rain of heaven, and never willing to make any return." Its clear statement of the Divinity of Christ has made this Dialogue a stumblingblock to Unitarians from the beginning; but sometimes, as in the attempt to illustrate the procession of the Word, the philosopher exposes himself to needless danger. There is much sound interpretation of the Old Testament, but much also that is unsound and fanciful. Trypho does not seem to have been a very bigoted Jew; and the disputants parted on very good terms.

Upon this one Dialogue, and the two Apologies, Justin's literary character rests. In the earlier ages, they were, perhaps, rated too highly; but that has not been the tendency of modern criticism. To estimate them aright, it should be remembered-and the remark applies to many of the early Fathers-that his Christian studies were a second education of mature life. He was not trained to a sound understanding of the ancient and modern sacred writings. His credulity might be extenuated, as a necessary accident of the time and circumstances of his life; but, if we take away those proofs of credulity which we should be inclined rather to regard as marks of an unsophisticated faith, and those which (like Simon's statue) simply

involve error of information, there will remain little, besides his quotation of the Sibylline oracles, to sustain the charge. Even if it be admitted that his works are wanting in the highest qualities necessary for aggression and demonstration, it cannot be denied that as apology and defence they are as nearly as possible perfect.

It would not, however, be doing full justice to our subject, were we not to regard Justin in his representative character among the Fathers generally. Had all that he indisputably wrote been preserved, and preserved unmutilated, this would have been an easier task. The body of his works would, in that case, have been increased fourfold; and, if we may rely upon the testimonies of his immediate successors, its value also would have been greatly increased. He himself refers to a large treatise, unhappily lost, which was no less than a "Digest and Confutation of all Heresies." A fragment is still preserved of a treatise on the Resurrection of the Body, which in the eighth century was attributed to Justin; nor is there any valid reason for denying his authorship. An elaborate work against Marcion, which he undoubtedly wrote, has been lost; and its loss is always regretted by those who study the Gnosticism of the second century. He also brought an immense amount of classical learning to bear upon some other topics; though only the names of his essays remain, to excite our regret. These embraced a wide range of subjects :-including Psaltery; the Nature of the Soul; the Unity of God; an Oration, and also an Appeal, to the Greeks; a treatise de Universo; and even an Exposition of the Apocalypse. Had all these been preserved, Justin's name as a dogmatic theologian would rank much higher than it does; and the little company of writers who derived their secondary inspiration from the Apostles themselves would scarcely have disputed his claim to be the first of the Fathers. As it is, his title to it is very fairly established.

His character as a writer, however, does not depend upon the imputation of lost works: those which remain claim for him a high order of excellence, while they prove him to have been far below the highest. He was thoroughly acquainted with the ancient philosophical systems; but he does not display a profound insight into their relations to Christianity. This theme runs through his writings, but his treatment of it is superficial. Sometimes it might appear that his views laid too much stress upon the development of philosophy in Christianity, too little upon its Divine facts as a redemption. His doctrine of the Logos, as he applies it to the solution of all the mysteries of man's past history, and to the reconciliation of ancient philosophy with the revelation of Christ, has in it a certain grandeur; but its indistinctuess made it dangerous. It did not retard, if it did not encourage, that progress of opinion which issued in Neo-Platonism. He displays an astonishing familiarity with the ancient Scriptures, but in many places betrays a deep ignorance of the Hebrew, the language of the country in which he was born. With his generally faithful exposition of the Old Testament there is mingled much that is fauciful and forced; showing that, though St. Paul undoubtedly was his

main teacher in Christian theology, he was not thoroughly imbued with the Apostle's spirit of interpretation. His tendency is everywhere practical, and faithful to the loftiest standard of Christian holiness. Asceticism in morals may sometimes give a too severe impress to his teaching; but this is combined with a gentleness sometimes too gentle toward errors in doctrine. As a writer, finally, his language is plain, forcible, and altogether in harmony with his own honest, truth-loving, unrhetorical spirit: it seldom displays a high genius in composition, though there are some passages in the first Apology, and in the Dialogue, of consummate keenness and skill.

But the writings of the first author in the second century of Christianity possess an immeasurable value, independent altogether of their genius and style: namely, as representative of the earliest postapostolical faith, discipline, and usages of the church. As such, the genuine works of Justin Martyr have a priceless value. The subjects which he treated required of him a very general exhibition of the doctrines and practices of the disciples of Christ; while the undogmatical character of the writings themselves would allow him a certain latitude in the exhibition. Keeping this last qualification in view, we find in the three treatises of Justin an exact continuation in the second century of the inspired doctrines of the first. Heretics have done their best to impair his testimony; but with no one of the Fathers have they been less successful. We need not appeal to the triumphant vindications of learned men: the uncorrupted writings speak for themselves to all who are wise enough to read them.

To epitomize Justin's testimony would, unfortunately, exceed our limits. We find incidental references to the Four Gospels, and the writings of the Apostles, as inspired men, gifted with miraculous powers. The Trinity appears most conspicuously; though the philosopher's attempts to explain the hypostatical relations lay him open to misapprehension. His Logos is the eternal Son of God, who manifested God sporadically to the ancients, but became incarnate as His revelation to all. Angels, and fallen angels, and Satan, appear, though with a certain investiture of speculation, yet truly as in the New Testament. Justin's doctrine of sin is St. Paul's. Though the term “original sin" does not occur, the doctrine of universal corruption does; while a slight oriental exaggeration of man's liberty may be detected by those whose theology inclines them to look for it. He is the first writer after the New Testament who directly lays down the satisfaction of the death of Christ. He gloriously defends the Divinity, and the real humanity, of our Lord. A universal redemption he holds fast, with the early Christians at large, as a necessary inference from all the facts in the Gospel. The tone in which he speaks of the sense of forgiveness, of all that may be termed Christian experience, and of the privileges of believers, is such, generally speaking, as to fall harmoniously on the ear familiarized with the Epistles of St. Paul and St. John.

In the great controversies which have agitated the church of later

times, the writings of Justin have been most diligently sifted by all parties. It has, however, been too generally forgotten, that the evidence of an author quite unconscious of the controversial purposes to which his words would be applied must be received with much care and many qualifications. There is no sentence in Justin's writings which, fairly understood, gives any countenance to the errors of Romanism; though, on the other hand, many of them are witnesses to the extensive prevalence of high views of the church and sacraments. Concerning baptismal regeneration, he speaks with reference only to the baptism of genuine adult converts. The Eucharist is the sustenance of the spiritual life; but the dogma of transubstantiation is found in his words only by a violent perversion. Justin was a millenarian; but he was very far removed from the sensuous Chiliasm of his own and later times; and, moreover, he admits that many of the orthodox differed from him on this subject. On the whole, the theology of the second century, as represented by Justin Martyr, will be accepted by all whose opinions neither rise nor fall to an extreme point. On many important questions he is silent, at least in the works which are preserved; but there is no article of the Apostles' Creed which may not be illustrated from his genuine writings.

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Justin's cognomen in the annals of the church, after fluctuating between "Philosopher," "Philosopher and Martyr," and "Martyr," finally settled into this last. There is a peculiar distinction in this title, thus finally ratified. He was a man who through life bore his testimony against the manifold enemies of the Gospel this was his vocation, and not the peaceful instruction of his fellow-Christians in the doctrines of their holy religion. His regenerate life was, from beginning to end, a confession before men; and to him we need not scruple to apply that glorious testimony of our Lord Himself-MY FAITHFUL MARTYR. There is scarcely another name in the church's history of whom it may be said, as of him, that he was always, and only, and to the end, a confessor, and witness, and martyr. Hence, probably, his permanent and distinctive denomination.

In his second Apology Justin anticipates martyrdom, and even points to one notorious enemy of righteousness-the Cynic, Crescens -as the probable instrument in bringing him to his fate. There is no reason to doubt the truth of the unanimous testimony of ecclesiastical writers, beginning in his own generation, that his presentiment was to the letter verified. This account states that he was brought, with six others, before the Prefect Rusticus, on the charge of being a Christian and refusing homage to the gods. As the spokesman of the seven, he answered boldly but meekly every question; avowed the articles of their common faith; declared their resolution to die rather than deny the Great Name, and their assurance of passing through death to a blessed immortality. Each one of the seven then uttered the fatal words,--fatal for this life, but the passport to a better,—“I AM A CHRISTIAN!" They were then hurried from the tribunal, scourged, and beheaded.

Thus did Justin finally seal the testimony of about thirty years. He was buried by the faithful, and the city of Rome still reckons his dust among her precious possessions. Justin was always quoted and spoken of by the ancients with most affectionate veneration. More than most of the earlier Fathers he inspired personal affection. This loving appreciation extended to his writings: no author of the first three centuries was so universally and so highly praised. Even at this distance of time all who study his life and writings are conscious of the same fascination. We love the honest philosopher, who feared no man, went up and down the world doing good, rebuked Kings for the truth's sake, lived a life of perfect self-renunciation, and met his death for his Master's sake with a truly sublime composure. As to the value of his writings, it may be sufficient to say that nothing but authenticity is necessary to give to every document coming from the second century an indestructible importance. The works are not voluminous (Edit. of Otto, Jena, 1842); and the young student of the Greek Fathers should decide their intrinsic worth for himself.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN RIGG:

BY HIS SON, THE REV. JAMES H. RIGG.

SEVERAL memoirs have recently appeared in this publication, distinguished by more than ordinary interest. The history of a venerable pioneer in the eastern Mission-field, like the late Rev. Benjamin Clough,-or the striking and affecting incidents in the chequered course of an energetic and eminent modern Missionary, like the late Rev. Richard D. Griffith,-cannot but afford materials for a biographic sketch, of a more exciting character than the ordinary course of a Minister at home, however faithful and exemplary, can be expected to furnish. Nevertheless, the name of John Rigg must not be allowed to pass from before the view of his contemporaries without some memento of his worth put on record in the honoured and hallowed pages of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine. Long may the first place in the successive Numbers of this chief of our denominational serials, and "oldest of religious periodicals," be occupied by some monument to a departed Christian worthy! The access to its various and valuable contents cannot be more fitly adorned, or more happily consecrated, than by a tablet inscribed to the memory of the sainted dead.

There are good and pleasing faces of which painters find it very hard to copy the lineaments, or to render the expression. No stronglymarked purpose or passion rules the countenance; but underneath a general aspect of repose, which scarcely at any time varies greatly, there may be traced, by the well-accustomed eye, shifting lights and subtile changes which betoken the movements of the inner life. Of all the features of such a face the eye alone-the clear, calm, pensive, yet searching, grey eye-gives any obvious evidence of the character