my hands the relics of martyrs, from which darted forth a splendour like that of a burnished mirror, held against the sun; so that my eyes were dazzled by the brilliancy of the light. Three times that night did this vision come before me." Unable to divine its meaning, he looked forward to events to expound it. As he approached the monastery, he inquired about his sister, and heard for the first time that she was somewhat indisposed. His coming had, in the meantime, been made known, and a large concourse of persons went out to meet him. But the holy virgins modestly awaited him in the church, and after he had prayed, and had given them his blessing (they bending lowly to receive it), they retired. On entering the convent, he found his sister very ill in her cell; but instead of a bed, she lay upon a plank on the ground, with another for her pillow. We will not detain our readers with the edifying account of her words and prayers in her last hours; how she dismissed her brother when the sound of the vesper's chaunt reached her cell, that he might not omit this duty; how, when she closed her own sublime prayer, she signed herself with the cross on her eyes, her mouth, and her breast; and how her last act was to raise her hand again to do so. These things may serve to help the reader in his judgment, as to the religion of the holy persons engaged, but are not what we are seeking. The pious virgin thus expires, and a religious matron, the friend of the deceased, undertakes, as she had promised, to prepare her holy remains for interment. We will now give the words of the bishop her brother. "Vestiana arranging with her own hands that sacred head, and having her hand under the neck, exclaimed, looking towards me,See what sort of a necklace this saint wore; and at the same time loosening a string from behind the neck, stretched out her hand and shewed us an iron cross and a ring of the same metal, which both hung, by a thin cord, over her heart.' Upon this I said: 'Let us share this inheritance. You keep the cross as a memorial; I will be content with this ring as my legacy, for this likewise has the cross carved upon its boss.' Whereupon she, looking more closely at it, said to me: You have not made a bad choice; for the ring is hollow under the boss, and in it is inserted a portion of the wood of life, (the true Cross,) and thus the cross engraved above rightly indicates that which lies underneath.'"c

e S. Greg. Nyss. in Vita S. Maçrinæ, Oper. tom. ii. p. 198.

b P. 195.

Will any reader hesitate in deciding of what religion were all the persons here engaged? Were they Anglicans? We should be indeed glad to know, how many crosses-not golden ones, worn as vain ornaments outside but of inferior metals, concealed, and lying over the heart, and how many reliquaries similarly placed, could be collected in the households of English bishops? But look at the neck of any swarthy peasant who open-breasted digs the fields or plucks the vines of Italy, and you will find the "thin cord" around it, that sustains some similar memorial of Christ's passion. Nay, in either of our islands, we hesitate not to say, that the poor Catholic might be distinguished from the Protestant by these very badges-the cross, or the relic, or the medal, or even the ring with a cross for its posey, suspended round the neck, and lying on the breast, in life and after death. We have known the body of a shipwrecked Catholic so recognised at once. How tightly and closely does a "little thin cord" like this bind together the belief and feelings of the old and modern Church, and prove them still the same! How home to the Catholic heart does such a trifling incident casually recorded come! Come, how full of convictions, of encouragements, of consolation! How joyfully even can one bear to be taxed with superstition in company with the holy Macrina, the sister of St. Basil, and her biographer St. Gregory of Nyssa! For these are the persons of whom we have been writing.

But if those who had chosen such complete poverty as this holy nun, wore but a reliquary of iron, it must not be fancied that this argued any light estimation of so precious a relic as a portion of the holy Cross for they that could, or might without violation of a religious engagement, would wear it enshrined in gold. We have a beautiful letter of St. Paulinus upon this subject. Severus had asked him for relics of martyrs, for the consecration of a church which he was building. He replies, that if he had but " a scruple of their sacred ashes to spare, he would send it." But as he required all that he had for his own new church, he sends him another present to add to the relics which he must get elsewhere; this was a particle of the "divine Cross." "Invenimus quod digne, et ad basilicæ sanctificationem vobis, et ad sanctorum cinerum cumulandam benedictionem mitteremus, partem particulæ de ligno divinæ Crucis." The portion which he sends is, he informs him, almost invisible, but he must believe it to possess all the power and

virtue of the entire Cross a present safeguard, and a pledge of eternal life. 66 Accipite magnum in modico munus ; et in segmento penè atomo astula brevis sumite munimentum præsentis, et pignus æternæ salutis. Non angustietur fides vestra carnalibus oculis parva cernentibus, sed internâ acie totam in hoc minimo vim Crucis videat." The relic was enclosed in a small gold tube, "tubello aureolo rem tantæ benedictionis inclusimus."d When afterwards he sends Severus verses for the inscriptions in his church, he sends two copies for the altar; one in case he puts this particle of the holy Cross with the other relics, the other should he prefer to keep it to wear himself. The reasons which he gives in favour of the latter alternative are perfectly Catholic. If, however, you would rather keep this blessed portion of the Cross at hand, for your daily protection and care, lest once shut up in the altar, it may not be ready for you and at hand, when wanted for use," &c'.'

Surely such views on the subject of our present duties, as I sketched in the last chapter, are immensely more considerate to humble and obedient members of our Church than is the bidding them to follow Antiquity, if this be Antiquity. With a few words on two more subjects I shall conclude the present chapter.

Another friend of mine, also a clergyman of our Church, has furnished me with the following quotations for publication, in proof of the belief, entertained by the respective writers, of some intermediate suffering to be endured by the soul, between the moment of death and of final bliss. He has himself devoted his whole life to a study of the Fathers; and has been led by that study, without any knowledge of later writers, to entertain a similar belief. He also is ready to give his name, should his statement be questioned.

In regard to intermediate suffering between death and final bliss, it will be found that on the whole there certainly was a strong tendency towards a belief in it, in those ages which our Church commends to our study and admiration. In his Commentary on the Romans, viii. §. 11, Origen speaks thus:

Ep. xxxi. col. 189. Dec. 1843.

e

Ep. xxxii. col. 201.

f⚫ Dublin Review,'

"The end of all things is at hand, and in regard to such as are blessed, whether they come from Israel or even from the Gentiles, it is the word of Gospel doctrine in this life present which purifieth them, to make them such as they were to whom the Lord said, Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. But he that hath despised the purifying by the word of God and the Gospel doctrine, reserveth himself unto sad and penal purifications; so that the fire of Gehennah may purge him whom neither the doctrine of the Apostles nor the word of the Gospel hath purged, according to that which is written, I will purge thee with fire unto purity.' (Is. i. 25. LXX. but the Heb. implies a purgation by fire.) But in this same purgation, which is applied by the penalty of fire, in what long times and during how many ages the torment will be exacted of sinners, He only can know, to whom the Father hath delivered all judgment; who so loved His creatures as to have emptied Himself for them from the form of God, and to have taken the form of a servant, humbling himself even unto death, as willing that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. Still we ought always to bear in mind, that the Apostle would have the present passage (Rom. xi. 25—27,) reckoned a mystery, so that the faithful and perfect should hide within themselves such meanings as these, as a mystery of God, and not offer them indiscriminately to the imperfect and less capable."

'Here we see he contemplates a doctrine of intermediate suffering, as held in the hearts of men whether or no his statement of it tallies with the subsequently expressed development of it. It is true that St. Jerome, c. Pelag. i. 28, speaks against some such passage as this; yet Vallarsi has shewn upon the place that St. Jerome himself held a similar doctrine. He refers to the closing words of his commentary on Isaiah.

"This ought we to leave to the knowledge of God alone, seeing that it is not His mercies only, but His torments also, which are justly balanced; and that He knoweth whom to judge, and how to do so, and for how long. Let us only say what it befits man's frailty to say; Lord, correct me not in Thine anger, neither chasten me in Thy displeasure. And like as we believe that the torments of devils and all the ungodly, that say in their heart, • There is no

God,' are everlasting; so in regard to such sinners and ungodly as are Christians, whose works are to be tried in the fire and purged, we suppose that the sentence of the Judge will be bounded and mingled with clemency."

'When Jerome and Origen agree, we may be pretty sure that the doctrine is one generally received, even if there be no explicit statement of it sanctioned by the Church. The notion of repentance, repentance continuing after death, is found in St. Clement, Origen's master, Strom. iv. §, 37, p. 580, Potter. After quoting Plato's speculations on the subject, he adds:

"There are two sorts of penitence; the commoner one is fear, ensuing on what has been done, but the more proper one is a disgust of the soul with itself from conscience, whether in this world or elsewhere; for in no place is God's gracious dealing inert."

Again, Strom. vi. §. 46, p. 764:

"If the Saviour preached to all that were in prison, then all that believed will be saved, though they be of the Gentiles, if there at least they have confessed Him, since the punishments of God are salutary and corrective, (Taide VTIKOì,) leading to a conversion and repentance of the sinner, rather than choosing his death; and this [the rather], as the souls when freed from the body, darkened though they may be by passions, are able to see more clearly from their being no longer attached to the flesh."

And soon after:

"I think it is thus shewn that the gracious God and the mighty Lord saveth the justice and equity towards such as repent, whether in this world or elsewhere; for it is not here only that the energetic Power of God reacheth, but it is every where and always energizing."

So too, vii. §. 78, p. 879, of the perfect man he says,

"He being drawn along by his own hope, tasteth not of the good things that be in the world, feeling a high-minded dislike for all herein, and pitying those who after death by the correction of punishment are brought to an unwilling confession," &c.