upon some who had embraced their religion. He also states, that, during a season of fierce persecution in Asia, all the Christians of the district vo luntarily presented themselves in a body before the tribunal of Antonius the proconsul. Their object in this apparently rash act cannot now be ascertained. It is not improbable that they hoped the view of their numbers and constancy would excite the pity or respect of their persecutor. He, however, either unable to comprehend their motives, or despising them, ordered a few of them to be put to death, and dismissed the rest with these words: "Unhappy men, if you are weary of your lives, is it so difficult to find precipices and halters ?"

At length the emperor himself, being alarmed, as some suppose, by the increasing numbers of the Christians, dismissed all his former prediliction for them, and issued edicts to suppress the propagation of the Gospel. The effect may easily be conceived. The persecution, which was before partial, and chiefly in places remote from the residence of the emperor, now became more violent and universal. How Tertullian escaped we have no information. He was still, however, aetively employed in the cause of Christ and his people. Having on a former occasion been their undaunted advocate in the presence of their enemies, he now wrote a tract for the consolation of such of them as were imprisoned for their religion, wherein he represents them rather as objects of congratulation than of pity." They were, indeed, in prison, the house in which the devil confines his own family; but they were now no longer in danger of witnessing the Heathen solemnities, smelling their impure sacrifices, hearing the clamours of the people, or beholding their public debaucheries."

This passage of Tertullian may afford us no inadequate idea of the very peculiar situation and conduct of the primitive Christians. In every direction, and in every shape, the impure superstition of their Heathen neighbours presented itself to their view, whilst they scrupulously avoided showing the most trifling mark of re

spect, lest they should indirectly be paying homage to the Pagan mytho logy, or derogating from the majesty of the true God. "The religion of the nations," observes an historian of great celebrity, "was not merely a speculative doctrine professed in the schools, or preached in the temples. The innumerable deities and rites of polytheism were closely interwoven with every circumstance of business or pleasure, of public or private life; and it seemed impossible to escape the observance of them, without at the same time renouncing the commerce of mankind, and all the offices and amusements of society. The important transactions of peace and war were prepared or concluded by solemn sacrifices, in which the magistrate, the senator, and the soldier, were obliged to preside or participate. The public spectacles were an essential part of the cheerful devotion of the Pagans; and the gods were supposed to accept, as the most grateful, offering, the games that the prince and people celebrated in honour of their peculiar fes tivals. The Christian, who with pious horror avoided the abomination of the circus, or the theatre, found himself encompassed with infernal snares in every convivial entertainment, as often as his friends, invoking the hospitable deities, poured out libations to each other's happiness. When the bride, struggling with well-affected reluctance, was forced in hymenial pomp over the threshold of her new habitation, or when the sad procession of the dead slowly moved towards the funeral pile; the Christian, on these interesting occasions, was compelled to desert the persons who were the dearest to him, rather than contract the guilt inherent to those impious ceremonies. Every art and every trade that was in the least concerned in the framing or adorning of idols was polluted by the stain of idolatry. Even the common language of Greece and Rome abounded with familiar and impious expressions, which the imprudent Christian might too carelessly utter, or too patiently hear. Such was the anxious diligence which was required to guard the chastity of the

Gospel from the infectious breath of idolatry."*

But the most extensive, and, as some suppose, the most valuable, of Tertul lian's writings, were those of a polemic nature. With respect to these, M. Balsac remarks, "Though we should grant that his style is of iron, yet the nicest critics must likewise own that from this iron he has forged most excellent weapons; has defended the honour and purity of Christianity; quite routed the Valentinians; and struck Marcion to the very heart."

These tracts are now, indeed, less interesting to us than some of his other works, as the greater part of the heresies he combats are happily forgotten; although they were, doubtless, of great importance at the time they were written. For such a kind of composition this author appears to have been admirably calculated. We may say of him, in the language of Dr. Johnson, "He was formed for a controvertist; with sufficient learning; with diction vehement and pointed; with unconquerable pertinacity; with wit in the highest degree keen and sarcastic; and with all those powers exalted and invigorated by just confidence in his cause." Thus qualified by nature and education, and clad in the armoury of heaven, he went forth to combat the various errors with which the Church was then infested.

A certain harshness of disposition was too prominent a feature in the character of Tertullian. It was, indeed, his principal defect. It cast a gloom over his religion; and, whilst it added an undue severity to his censures, greatly diminished their efficacy. "There is a hard, dry, and repelling mode of reproof, which tends rather to shut up the heart than open it. The tempest may roar, and point its hail-shot at the traveller; but he will rather wrap himself closer in his cloak than quit it, till the sun breaks out again."

This constitutional severity of character unhappily increasing with his years, led Tertullian to impute a laxity of discipline to the general Church;

* Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Ro man Empire.

a charge which few moderns would have brought against it. At length he became acquainted with the Montanists, a sect who claimed extraordi nary gifts of the Holy Ghost, and were especially noted for the austerity of their manners, and the rigidness of their discipline. Their sentiments, and the apparent sanctity of their lives, seduced our unwary African. He became incorporated with them, wrote in their defence, and stigmatized the general Church as natural or carnal.* After some time, however, Tertullian separated from the Montanists also, so that what was remarked of Erasmus seems equally applicable to him:-"He had determined rather what to condemn, than what to approve." He was not of the general Church, he was not of the Montanist Church.

Dr. Johnson, after referring to a somewhat similar circumstance in the life of our great epic poet, concludes with this important observation: "To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degress out of

* Montanus, the founder of this sect, was an obscure man, and a native of Pepuza, a village in Phrygia. He made no alterations in what may be termed the esfessed that he had a Divine commission sential doctrines of Christianity, but proto give the finishing touch to the precepts delivered by Christ and his Apostles. For this purpose he enjoined the necessity of multiplying fasts; prohibited second marriages, and the re-admission of persons into the Church who had fallen into gross

sins; condemned any attention to ornaments of dress, or philosophical attainments; and objected to Christians attempting to save their lives during seasons of persecution either by flight or money. After some time he was publicly excluded from communion with the general Church; but was still greatly esteemed by numbers of Christians, who professed themselves his followers. Such is the account generally given of Montanus. It should, however, be received with caution, as almost the whole of our information respecting him is derived from his enemies. We may add, that the account itself bears the appearance of a caricature of religion, symptoms of enthusiasm and extravagance though there must have been evident

in Montanus, or he would not have been -excluded from the Church.

the mind, unless it be invigorated and re-impressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example. Milton, who appears to have had full conviction of the truth of Christianity, and to have regarded the Holy Scriptures with the profoundest veneration, to have been untainted by any here tical peculiarity of opinion, and to have lived in a confirmed belief of the immediate and occasional agency of Providence, yet grew old without any visible worship."

We do not mean to suggest that Tertullian ran into the excess here attributed to Milton, and still less that in the distribution of his time there was no hour set apart for private or family prayer. His proceedings, nevertheless, had a tendency to lead him ultimately to adopt these errors. Disgusted with the laxity of the general Church, and afterwards with the enthusiasm of the Montanists, it is highly probable, if he had been a layman, that he would not only have departed from those communities, but have discontinued the public exercises of religion. He continued, indeed, as a presbyter, to teach and officiate in a separate congregation, with a small number of followers. But this very circumstance occasioned only another unhappy division among the Christians. Thus Tertullian, who had been so tenacious of the purity and discipline of the Church, became an instrument of creating farther schism ;-a schism which was not even palliated by the plea of zeal for any important doc trine, but occasioned by an unhappy attachment to certain uncommanded austerities and bodily mortifications.

But though Tertullian's intercourse with the Montanists did not materially deteriorate the soundness of his creed, it appears to have increased the natural harshness of his character. No longer contented with extolling a life of celibacy, or monogamy, he now branded second marriages with the opprobium of adultery, and seemed to exclude the unchaste from the possibility of repentance. At the same time, acting according to the literal

sense of the apostle's words, that "they that have wives be as though, they have none," he separated from his own wife by mutual consent, under the plea of leading a life of greater purity and devotion.

We cannot but regret that this sensible and pious father should have thus tarnished the simplicity of his religion by adopting, in so great a degree, the gloomy notions of the ascetic; and thereby have countenanced, by his example, those absurd and forbidding habits and superstitions which afterwards overspread, the Christian world. «The virtue enjoined by the precepts, and recommended by the example, of our Lord, is a human virtue, growing out of the constitution of our nature, and the relations of society; not extinguishing the passions, but regulating them; not a speculative metaphysical theory, but practicable in the daily intercourse of life; not affecting extremes which, from their ostentation, captivate the unthinking multitude, but moderate, consistent, begun in sincerity, and completed with steadiness."*

But whilst truth obliges us to acknowledge the defects of Tertullian, the same principle requires that we should do full justice to his various and indubitable excellencies. The superficial or prejudiced observer may be disgusted with the ruggedness of the soil; but the attentive inquirer searches out the rich ore beneath it.

If this African father possessed not that sympathy with the weak, which forms so beautiful a part of the Christian character, it must be acknowledged, that he was the very reverse of the timid professor, who shrinks at every appearance of opposition; or the heartless one, who requires a thousand reasons to induce him to take a useful step. If he was not a Barnabas, a son of consolation, he was eminently a Boanerges, a son of thunder. If he was not a skilful ca suist, he was a faithful herald. From the time of his conversion to his death, neither reproach, nor persecu

•Collinson's Bampton Lectures.

tion, nor the infirmities of old age itself, could impede his steadily pursuing what he deemed the path of duty. Let who would be cold, worldly, or heretical, he always appeared serious, and in earnest; ever ready to defend the essential doctrines of

Christianity; one who undoubtedly honoured and loved the Saviour; and who daily hazarded his life for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We learn from Jerome that Tertullian lived to a very advanced and decrepit age, though he records not the time of his death. It is probable that he was gradually worn out by the decays of nature, and expired about the middle of the third century; "So he gave up the ghost, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people."

Thus died Tertullian, about the ninetieth year of his age; justly censured for the severity and harshness of his manners; and as deservedly praised for the variety of his talents, the extent of his learning, and the sincerity and steadfastness of his piety.

(Concluded from page 112.)

Resolved, on motion of the Rev. Mr. Tschudy, as it was a standing rule of the Convention during the Episcopate of our late beloved diocesan, whenever it finally adjourned, to conclude with prayers and the Episcopal benediction, that the President be respectfully requested, whenever this Convention do adjourn, to conclude with prayers and the blessing.

Resolved, on motion of the Rev. Mr. Muller, that this Convention derive much satisfaction from the information, that the late General Convention have deemed it expedient to establish, for the better education of the candidates for holy orders in this church, a general Theological Seminary; and that the persons appointed to visit the several parts of the United States, and solicit contributions towards funds for founding and endowing such an institution, have entered on the duty with much zeal, and already had considerable

success; and they feel persuaded, that, as this measure was strenuously advocated by our late honoured diocesan, and was often recommended by this Convention to the attention of the church in general, so it will meet with a generous patronage in this diocess.

Resolved, on motion of the Rev. Dr.

Dalcho, that the Convention view, with great satisfaction, the increasing prosperity of the "Protestant Episcopal Society for the Advancement of Christianity in South-Carolina," and contemplate with delight, the prospect of its extensive useful, ness. The Convention, therefore, feel it to be a duty they owe to the church of the Redeemer, earnestly to recommend this Society to the patronage of the members and friends of the church throughout the diocess; believing that it will, under the good providence of God, be the happy instrument of extending the borders of our Zion, and of making the desert to become a green pasture for the fold of the living God.

The Hon. Theodore Gailard, as chairman of the committee appointed to inquire into the expediency of establishing a fund for the support of a Bishop,—and to suggest such plans as they may deem advisable for the benefit of the church, presented a report, which was immediately read:

The report, as amended, was unanimously accepted and confirmed, and is as follows:

"The Committee, consisting of laydelegates, one from each church now represented in the Convention, to whom was referred the resolution to inquire into the expediency of establishing a fund for the support of a Bishop, and to suggest such plans as they may deem advisable for the benefit of the church, report, that it is expedient to raise a fund for the support of a Bishop; and they recommend the following resolutions:

1st. That it is expedient to raise a fund by subscription, to be called the Bishop's Permanent Fund, for the support of a Bishop of the diocess of the State of South-Carolina ;

"And they recommend, that one or more persons be appointed in each parish of the diocess by the President of the Con vention, whose duty it shall be to call upon the Episcopalians of his parish, and to transmit such monies as he shall collect to the Treasurer of the Protestant Episcopal Society for the Advancement of Christianity in South-Carolina, to be by him invested in bank stock, government security, or otherwise, as the Board of Trustees of that Society shall deem expedient,

"That the certificates of stock, or evidences of property purchased, shall be in

the incorporated name of the Society, in trust for the Bishop's permanent fund,"That not more than three-fourths of the annual income of the said fund shall be applicable to the support of a Bishop, and that the remainder shall go toward the accumulation of the fund.

"2d. That whenever the annual income of the fund liable to appropriation shall amount to more than the sum of $4000, the excess shall be at the disposal of the Convention of this State; and the Bishop shall then immediately cease to be the Rector of any particular church, unless the restriction be removed by the Conven. tion;

"And that it be recommended to address a circular letter to each person who may be appointed as above-mentioned, stating the views and designs of the Con vention, as regards the Bishop's permanent fund; and that this letter be signed by the members of the committee.

"3d. That within five months from this time in the present year, and that in every year hereafter, a sermon shall be preached in every church in this diocess, in aid of the support of a Bishop, until the Bishop's fund shall be adequate thereto; and that the sums collected be transmitted to the Treasurer of the Protestant Episcopal Society, and be applicable to the immediate support of the Bishop.

"4th. That the Protestant Episcopal Society for the Advancement of Christianity in South-Carolina, and the Society for the Relief of the Widows and Orphans of the Clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of South-Carolina, be requested to contribute to this object.

5th. That the Rev. Mr. Muller be requested to deliver to the Treasurer of the Protestant Episcopal Society the money, notes, and orders, received by him on ac count of the Bishop's fund; and that the thanks of the Convention be given to Mr. Muller for his exertions and zeal in behalf of the church, in obtaining contributions for this fund.

"6th. That it be recommended to every parish in which there is an Episcopal congregation, and in which no funds, or insufficient funds have been provided for a minister, to agree to pay, each member of the congregation, a certain per centage on the amount of his general tax, or to adopt any other mode which may be deemed most advisable to raise a perma nent fund for the decent support of a minister; the said fund to be allowed to accumulate until there shall be an income therefrom sufficient for the object proposed; and that the monies received on this account be transmitted to the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Society, to be invested by the Trustees of the said Board in bank stock, government securi

ties, or other property, in trust for the ministers of the parishes from which the said sums shall be received respectively;

and that the funds received as aforesaid shall be appropriated to the support of the ministers aforesaid, who shall always be obliged to comply with the rubics and canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South-Carolina, as authorized and sanctioned by the authority of the Convention of the same.

"7th. That the Treasurer be allowed such compensation as the Board of Trustees shall deem proper."

*

Resolved, on motion of the Rev. Mr. Gervais, that the.thanks of the Convention be given to the Secretary for the faithful discharge of his duties.

Resolved, on motion of the Rev. Dr. Dalcho, that the thanks of the Convention be tendered to the Rev. Dr. Gadsden for his able and impartial discharge of the duties of President of this Convention, during a highly interesting and important session.

Whereupon the Rev. President rose and addressed the Convention: which address was, on motion of the Rev. Mr. Muller, respectfully requested of the President, by an unanimous vote, in order to be inserted on the journals, and is nearly as follows:

"Gentlemen,-I thank you for your ap probation; and I hope I may be permitted to indulge my feelings in expressing to you my thanks for the support you have given to the chair, and, what is of more consequence, and still more gratifying to me, the support you have given to the church. At no Convention has your time been so long and so constantly employed. At no Convention has more talent, learning and eloquence, been exhibited. It is pleasant, and a cause for gratitude to God, to behold those powers of the mind, which have adorned and blessed our country in private and public life, in a civil and military capacity, in congress, in the legisla ture, and on the bench, here brought into the service of the church. In the days of primitive christianity it was said, not many mighty, not many noble are called; but may we not hope, that we have arrived at the dawn of that brighter period, of that predicted period, when the rich and the wise, and the honourable, shall embrace the gospel, and the banner of the cross shall wave triumphantly over the world?

"At no Convention has there appeared more zeal and unanimity, attachment to the true principles of the church, and liberality of sentiment, and so strong a disposition to contribute generously to the support of religious institutions. This temper may be expected to draw down the blessing of Almighty God on his church. Under its influence the church of your fathers and your affections cannot