most generally-received opinion. St. Peter's of the same month. Rufinus and Pope immediate successor was Linus; Linus was succeeded by Anaclet, and Anaclet by Clement, in the year of Christ 91, which was the tenth of the reign of Domitian. During his government over the church of Rome, that of Corinth was disturbed by a spirit of division, upon which Clement wrote a letter to the Corinthians, which is still extant, and was so much esteemed by the ancients that they read it publicly in many churches, and some have been inclined to range it among the canonical writings. Zozimus give him the title of martyr; and the Roman church, in its canon, places him among the saints who have sacrificed their lives in the cause of Christ. Thus have we given the most ample account of the followers of the blessed Jesus; the persons who spread, and caused to be spread, the light of the gospel over the whole world, removed the veil of ignorance and superstition drawn over the kingdoms of the earth, and taught us the method of attaining eternal happiness in the courts of the New Jerusalem. May we all follow their glorious examples ! May we imitate their faith, their piety, their charity, and their love! Then shall we In what manner Clement conducted himself, and how he escaped the general persecution under the emperor Domitian, we have not any certain accounts; but we are very well assured that he lived to the third year pass through things temporal in such a of the emperor Trajan, which is the hun- manner that we shall finally gain the things dredth of the Christian era. His festival eternal," and, through the merits of an is set down by Bede, and all the Latin all-perfect Redeemer, be admitted as wormartyrologists, on the 23d of November, and thy guests at the marriage-supper of the the Greeks honor him on the 24th and 25th | Lamb. CHAPTER XIII. NOTICE OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. be THE sure word of prophecy has unfolded unto God while space for repentance may many a desolation which has come upon the found, ere, as death leaves him, judgment earth; but while it thus reveals the operation, shall find him. And may not the desolations in some of its bearings, of the "mystery of which God has wrought upon the earth, and iniquity," it forms itself a part of the " mys-that accredit his word, wherein life and tery of godliness:" and it is no less the testi- immortality are brought to light, teach the mony of Jesus, because it shows, as far as man whose God is the world, to cease to earthly ruins can reveal, the progress and account it worthy of his worship and of his the issue of the dominion of “other lords "love, and to abjure that "covetousness which over the hearts of the children of men. The is idolatry," till the idol of mammon in the sins of men have caused, and the cruelty of temple within shall fall, as fell the image of men has effected, the dire desolations which Dagon before the ark of the Lord in which the word of God foretold. Signs and tokens" the testimony was kept? of his judgments there indeed have been, yet they are never to be found but where iniquity first prevailed. And though all other warnings were to fail, the sight of his past judgments and the sounding of those that are to come, might teach the unrepenting and unconverted sinner to give heed to the threatenings of his word, and to the terrors of the Lord, and to try his ways and turn But naming, as millions do, the name of Christ without departing from iniquity, there is another warning voice that may come more closely to them all. And it is not only from the desolate regions where heathen dwelt, which show how holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; but also from the ruins of some of the cities where churches were formed by apostles, and where the religion of Jesus once existed in its purity, that all may learn to know that God is no respecter of persons, and that he will by no means clear the guilty. "He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." What church could rightfully claim or ever seek a higher title than that which is given in Scripture to the seven churches of Asia, the angels of which were the seven stars in the right hand of Him who is the first and the last of Him that liveth and was dead, and is alive forevermore, and that hath the keys of hell and of death; and which themselves were the seven golden candlesticks in the midst of which he walked? And who that hath an ear to hear may not humbly hear and greatly profit by what the Spirit said unto them? (Rev. ii. and iii.) of as "rich," and no judgment was de- The CHURCH OF PERGAMOSs is commended for holding fast the name of the Lord, and not denying his faith, during a time of persecution, and in the midst of a wicked city. The CHURCH OF EPHESUS, after a com- But there were some in it who held docmendation of their first works, to which they trines and did deeds which the Lord hated were commanded to return, were accused of Against them he was to fight with the sword having left their first love, and threatened of his mouth; and all were called to repent. with the removal of their candlestick out of But it is not said, as of Ephesus, that their its place, except they should repent. (Ch. candlestick would be removed out of its ii. 5.) Ephesus is situated nearly fifty place. (Ch. ii. 12-16.) This city, the miles south of Smyrna. It was the metrop-capital of Hellespontic Mysia, was situated olis of Lydia, and a great and opulent city, on the right bank of the river Caicus, nearly and (according to Strabo) the greatest sixty-four miles to the north of Smyrna. emporium of Asia Minor. It was chiefly Its ancient consideration may be inferred famous for the temple of Diana, "whom all from its possessing a library of two hundred Asia worshipped," which was adorned with thousand volumes, which Anthony and Cle127 columns of Parian marble, each of a opatra transferred to Alexandria. It is single shaft, and sixty feet high, and which also noted as the birthplace of the physician formed one of the seven wonders of the Galen. It still, in its decline, retains some world. The remains of its magnificent part of its ancient importance; and, under theatre, in which it is said that twenty the name of Bergamo, contains a population thousand people could easily have been which Mr. Macfarlane estimates at fourteen seated, are yet to be seen. (Acts xix. 29.) thousand, of which there are about three thouBut a few heaps of stones, and some sand Greeks, three hundred Armenians, miserable mud cottages, occasionally tenant- and not quite three hundred Jews; the rest ed by Turks, without one Christian residing are Turks. The town consists of small and there, * are all the remains of ancient mean wooden houses, among which appear Ephesus." It is, as described by different the remains of early Christian churches, travellers, a solemn and most forlorn spot. showing, "like vast fortresses amid barracks The Epistle to the Ephesians is read through- of wood." out the world; but there is none in Ephesus to read it now. They left their first love, they returned not to their first works. Their candlestick has been removed out of its place, and the great city of Ephesus is no more. The CHURCH OF SMYRNA was approved In the CHURCH OF THYATIRA, like that of Pergamos, some tares were soon mingled with the wheat. He who hath eyes like unto a flame of fire discerneth both. Yet, happily for the souls of the people, more than for the safety of the city, the general character of that church, as it then existed, is * Arundel's Visit to the Seven Churches of Churches, as recorded in Bond's Memoir of this Asia, p. 27. Rev. Pliny Fisk's Visit to the Seven American Missionary. thus described: "I know thy works, and works. These, thus warned while on earth charity, and service, and faith, and thy in vain, have long since passed, where all patience, and thy works; and the last to are daily hastening, to the place where no be more than the first." (Ch. ii 19.) But repentance can be found and no work be against those, for such there were among done. “But unto the rest in Thyatira (as them, who had committed fornication and many as have not known the depths of eaten things sacrificed unto idols, to whom Satan) I will put upon you, saith the Lord, the Lord gave space to repent of their forni- none other burden." (Ver. 24.) There cation, and they repented not, great tribula- were those in Thyatira who could save a tion was denounced; and to every one of city. It still exists, while greater cities them was to be given according to their have fallen. Mr. Hartley, who visited it in 1826, describes it as "embosomed in | and founded though the church had been by cypresses and poplars. The Greeks are an apostle, there were only a few names said to occupy three hundred houses, and which had not defiled their garments. And the Armenians thirty. Each of them has a to that church the Spirit said, "I know thy church." works, that thou hast a name that thou The CHURCH OF SARDIS differed from livest, and art dead." But the Lord is those of Pergamos and Thyatira. They long-suffering, not willing that any should had not denied the faith, but the Lord had perish, but that all should come to repenta few things against them, for there were ance. And the church of Sardis was thus some evil doers among them, and on those, warned : “Be watchful and strengthen the if they repented not, judgment was to rest things which remain, that are ready to die e; But in Sardis, great though the city was, for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." (Ch. iii. 2, 3.) of the kingdom of Lydia, whose monarch, Croesus, when defeated in the plain before this city of Cyrus, was master of all the nations within the River Halys. This dominion then passed to the Persians, and Sardis became the residence of the satrap to whom Sardis, whose ruins now bear the modified the government was committed; and being name of Sart, is situated about sixty miles at this time one of the most splendid and north-north-west from Ephesus, at the foot of opulent cities of the East, was the chosen Mount Timolus, and on the River Pactolus, resort of the Persian kings when in this so renowned for its fabled golden sands. part of their empire. It surrendered quietly This great and ancient city was the capital to Alexander, after he had defeated the Persians in the battle of the Granicus. I made it an utter desolation, reducing it to Sardis continued a great city under the Ro- little better than a heap of ruins, in which, mans, until the terrible earthquake which nevertheless, some remains of its ancient happened in the time of Tiberius. It was, splendor may be detected. however, rebuilt by order of that emperor: "And to the angel of the CHURCH IN but subsequent calamities of the same de- PHILADELPHIA write,* These things saith scription, with the ravages and spoliations He that is holy, He that is true, He that of the Goths, Saracens, and Turks, have * Allah-Shehr, the ancient Philadelphia, was founded two hundred years B.C., by Attalus Philadelphus, a walled city of Asia Minor, at the N.E. base of Mount Timolus, eighty-three miles E. of hath the key of David, He that openeth Smyrna. Population estimated 15,000. It is a Greek archbishop's see, has numerous remains of antiquity, five Christian churches, and an active trade. Lippincott's Gaz. A. B. and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no alone long withstood the power of the Turks, man openeth :- I know thy works: behold, and in the words of Gibbon, "at length I have set before thee an open door, and no capitulated with the proudest of the Ottoman can shut it; for thou hast a little mans. Among the Greek colonies and strength, and hast kept my word, and hast churches of Asia," he adds, "Philadelphia not denied my name. Because thou hast is still erect: a column in a scene of ruins." kept the word of my patience, I also will (Ch. 64.) "It is indeed an interesting keep thee from the hour of temptation, circumstance," says Mr. Hartley, "to find which shall come upon all the world." (Ch. Christianity more flourishing here than in iii. 9, 10.) The promises of the Lord are many other parts of the Turkish empire: as sure as his threatenings. Philadelphia there is still a numerous Christian popula tion; they occupy 300 houses. Divine | may well be added, as stated by Mr. Hartservice is performed every Sunday in five ley, "The circumstance that Philadelphia churches." Nor is it less interesting in is now called Allah-Shehr, the city of God, these eventful times, and notwithstanding when viewed in connection with the promises the general degeneracy of the Greek church, made to that church, and especially with to learn that the present bishop of Phila- that of writing the name of the city of God delphia accounts "the Bible the only foun- upon its faithful members, is, to say the dation of all religious belief;" and that he least, a singular concurrence.' "" From admits that “abuses have entered into the the prevailing iniquities of men many a church, which former ages might endure, sign has been given how terrible are the but the present must put them down." It judgments of God. It judgments of God. But from the fidelity |