for some two years in his own hired dwelling, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness.

The three years between A.D. 58 and 61, Paul had been in Jerusalem and Cæsarea, a great part of which time he had been in prison. Thus distant from the scenes of his mission toils, and shut out from the stirring influences of Judea, these years had restricted his influence among the people at large, but at the same time been highly productive to his own heart. These years of comparative quiet and meditation had been for the solidifying of the Gospel faith in his own mind. He had not met the influences which went forth from other leaders of thought, as a kind of secondary influence from the earlier Apostolic and the great Master's preaching. The fresher thoughts quickened by the thoughts of Jesus during this season he had not met. Paul's imprisonment hindered him in keeping abreast of the times. But his journey to Rome, and there meeting with the influences from the several parts of the realm, was for the calling from him statements both old and new, to meet these new teachings gathering in Asia Minor and the West. The writings of the Apostle to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon and the Philippians, show unmistakably, and especially the epistle to the believers in Colosse, that there was the dawn of a new philosophy particularly taking with the common folk. It may be a fancy, but it is worthy of consideration, whether the visit of Epaphras, the pastor of Colosse, did not open to the mind of Paul the dangers entering into the life of the churches of Asia Minor. Gnosticism, an eclectic philosophy, gathered from the teachings of the four quarters, was arising in the minds of those away from the busy marts of the world. The heart of a nation is in its rugged and strong characters of its country folk. Gnosticism came from the country and not the seaboard. Its appearance was first noted by Paul at Co losse. It was prevalent there and had a stronger grip upon the people. Paul wrote more fervent and appealing words to

7 Col. i. 7, 8.

those of this place, than to the believers in Ephesus. Colosse was on the caravan route. Merchants, philosophers, and religious pilgrims here met, and as at the inns of early New England the questions of the schools, politics and the oracles were discussed. The citizens of Colosse hearing these debates, most naturally were influenced by them. To be sure there was a mixture of sentiment. Such is characteristic of this ism. It is only in the smaller towns, and in avenues where people of various social life are thrown together, that a mixed doctrine is engendered. Rome and other cities gathered people from every section, but people from each part and school here found many of similar habit and taste, and so did not mix, in company or discussion, with those of dissimilar social life. Paul was acquainted with these various doctrines, and saw a goodly portion of his thoughtful company endeavoring to utilize them to prove the stability of their own rich faith. Paul's thoughtful mind must have met this doctrine, and upon the words of Epaphras these epistles, Ephesians and Colossians, were penned, with much strengthening vigor and highmindedness. They rise in clearness of thought and closeness of application above any other of his words. His Epistle to the congregation in Rome may have been more intellectual, but in spiritual mindedness these tower to the heights of Apostolic literature. If the writings of Paul given the Christian companies in A.D. 68 are any indication, may we not discern in them the utterance which drove a wicked and corrupted man, though an Emperor, to renew his fiery onslaughts upon the believers? If Paul's words were written in calm and dispassionate moments, what must have been the accent of those words given the assembled companies of this imperial city? Applied Christianity is a terrible thing to the man who sins.

The conditions of the Roman realm were fitting for the advent of new things. The plebians were fretting under the reign of a Nero, and were reaching after new conquests. Intellectual, moral and social life was being stirred to the depths. Nero could not appreciate the undercurrent of feel

ing, and he must often have thought, if consideration was a part of his nature, how he could hold his waning power over the people. Thoughtfulness for the large welfare of the people was foreign to him, and rather than take any blame to himself for the vacillating and declining interests, he sought to arouse the loyal blood of Rome by persecuting the Jews, and Christians with them, for both were despised and he was unable to know the distinction between them. The fearful fire and the merry-making Emperor was a sad spectacle. Tradition and scant hints tell us that some of the more thoughtful of the royal house had been drawn towards the religion of Jesus. This did not cool the avaricious ambition of Nero in the least, but served to nerve him on in the cruel butcherings of his own citizens. Those were fearful times. It drove the objects of his fury into a closeness, a secresy and a loyalty to each other not felt before. The Catacombs, which could not long have been in use, were made places of refuge. The underground galleries of the dead, entered through some private way in the garden of a friend, were made places of safety for those who in heart and conduct were faithful to the instructions of the Lord and Master. High heat cannot long be retained. Nero's fury spent its force, and two or three years of comparative quiet rested over the nation.

Peter's relation to Rome, to our mind can be briefly stated. Internal criticism, from a historic basis, disproves the tradition of the Vatican. Peter could not have been in Rome very early, or until within a few months of his martyrdom. If so, how could we account for his presence in Antioch, in Jerusalem, or doing the work of a missionary? Or further, how account for the silence of Paul in A.D. 58 when he wrote the Epistle to the Romans; or later, when Paul was in the same city, in the midst of a small company of Christians at best, and yet no mention of Peter, in greeting or salutation, or reference to his labors? The six epistles which Paul wrote in Rome would somewhere have mentioned the apostle who lived and labored with Jesus, and who after many a trial in the fires of life's experience proved valiant in uplifting the

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banner of the Cross. Full well we recognize their differences. Paul had his mind and could vigorously express it. James, whose every fibre was Judaistic, did not fail in his strivings to hinder the progress of the Apostle to the Gentiles. Paul and James were strong men. Differences they may have had, and their diferences may have been to the detriment of the Church. But Peter was a man between them. The equal of neither in breadth of thought or sharpness of expression, but since the vision of the thrice descended net, in larger sympathy with the Apostle Paul. He, Peter, came to Rome about the year 67 or 68, after the writing of the Epistles of Paul. The Epistles bearing Peter's name were written in Rome. The first is, quite confidently, his. The well known impetuousness, softened by experie ce, is here pictured forth. The second Epistle differs much, and most too much from the first, for letters written under so many similar circumstances. There are points in it, however, near to his style of expression. Peter was in Rome in these months, and was doubtless exerting an influence in bringing, or trying to bring together, the Judaistic followers of James and the followers of Paul. There are many things left in mystery regarding the incidents of those years; but may we not, judging from the few hints we have, say that there were two congregations of Christians in the city, each having its own presbyters or overseers, and that though they agreed in many points, yet the Jewish convert, unable to forget that he was a Jew, and that the Gentile, unwilling to know of the fervor and rites descending from priest and prophet, failed to come together and to learn of the richer wisdom, as their Master would have them?

Peter did a work in Rome, however, not to be overlooked. In his busy life with the sore pressed people, they, the people, were eager to learn the events in the life of Jesus. Paul knew of them, but could not relate them as a believing eyewitness. And so Peter told once more the story of the great Teacher; and the Evangelist Mark, to preserve this account, for he knew that these men who were active participants in the work with Jesus would soon be called to enter upon im

mortal labors, acted as the amanuensis of Peter. As Paul imparted unto the people of Rome the teachings of Jesus, so Peter taught them the chief events of his life. The Gospel as recorded by Mark may well be called the Gospel according to Peter. In this service both Apostle and Evangelist were eminent in moulding the thought of the Roman church.

In spite of many crudities the tradition is strong that Paul and Peter were held in equal estimate. The testimonies of the images of the Catacombs often bring their names together. However much we may cast reflection upon specific tradition, its trend is towards a union of their labors. Peter and Paul were together in Rome only during the last months of their lives, when their writings were through, and they were zealous in strengthening their followers' hearts in meeting the fresh outbreaks of the furics of a cruel Nero. Each may have had his followers, and have suffered martyrdom with them; but that they were men who delighted in faithfulness, in zeal and in knowledge of spiritual things, one cannot doubt. Peter and Paul will ever live together in the hearts of the disciples of Jesus. Rev. Anson Titus.

ARTICLE XV.

About the Indians.

WE will not ask nnanswerable questions respecting the ori. gin of the American Indians or their languages. Such questions may be exceedingly interesting to many learned men, but in the present phase of the Indian problem we do not consider them very important. Nor need we attempt to give a very accurate description of the Indian race. There are but few Americans who have not seen an Indian, and such is the close similarity of the race that one is a type of all. And though they are divided into numerous tribes, yet the general disposition and habit are as closely allied as their appearance.