Al. (Changing the discourse.) Dost thou not know that our masters, the invincible emperors, have decreed that those who will not deny that they are Christians are punished, and those who deny it are acquitted?

Ce. How deceived are your emperors and your excellency also! The laws of which you speak only prove your cruelty and our innocence. For, if the name of Christian is a crime, then it would be our place to deny it, and you should oblige us by tortures to confess it.

Al. Nay, it is in their clemency that the emperors have so decreed; wishing, by this means, to assure you of a means of saving your life.

Ce. Could there be more impious conduct, or acts more fatal to the innocent, than yours? You employ tortures to force criminals to confess their guilt-the place, the time, and their accomplices; now, with respect to us, all our crime consists in the name of Christian. And you are satisfied if we deny that name! But we know too well all the beauty of that sacred name, and we cannot deny it. Better die and be happy, than live to be miserable. You wish us to utter a falsehood; and in proclaiming the truth, we inflict a greater torment on you than you can possibly make us suffer.

Al. Let us end this discussion. I give you two chances for your life-sacrifice to the gods, or simply deny that you are a Christian, and you may retire in peace.

Ce. (Smiling.) What a humiliating situation for a magistrate-to persuade me to deny the title by which my innocence is proved, and to become guilty of a falsehood! He consents to spare me, in order to show more clearly his cruelty. If you admit the accusation, why make these efforts to force me to deny that with which I am accused? If you wish to pardon me, why not at least order means to be taken for it?

Al. Behold your accusers. They testify that you are a Christian. I repeat, then-deny this, and the accusation shall immediately be dismissed; but, if you persist in your denial,

you will recognize your folly when called to undergo the

sentence.

Ce. The accusation is my triumph, and the torture will be my victory. Do not tax me with folly-rather apply this reproach to yourself, for having thought for an instant that you could make me deny Christ.

Al. Unhappy woman, knowest thou not that the power of life and death is placed in my hands by our invincible princes? How, then, darest thou speak to me with such pride?

Ce. Pride is different from firmness. I speak not with pride, but with firmness-for this vice we hold in horror. If you fear not to hear me again speak truth to you, I will show you wherein thou hast just spoken falsely.

Al. Let us hear, then, in what I have spoken falsely.

Ce. You pronounced a falsehood when you said that your princes had conferred on you the power of life and death.

Al. (With astonishment.) I lied in saying that!

Ce. Yes; and if you will permit me, I can prove to you that you lied against the evidence itself.

Al. (With confusion.) Explain-explain yourself.

Ce. Did you not say that your princes had conferred on you the power of life and death? And you well know that you only have the power of death. You can, I admit, take life from those who enjoy it. But can you restore it to those who are dead? Say, then, that your emperors have made you the minister of death, but nothing more; if you add any thing to it, you lie without any advantage.

Al. (Concealing the shame of his affront with assumed calmness.) Lay aside this audacity and sacrifice to the gods. (pointing to the statues which filled the prætorium).

Ce. It seems that you have lost the use of your eyes. I, and all those who can see clearly, find nothing here but stones, brass, and lead.

Al. My philosophy makes me despise thy insults when directed against myself; but I cannot support thy insults against the gods.

Ce. You have not uttered one word but I have shown you either its injustice or its folly. Now, that nothing may be wanting, you are convicted of having lost your sight. You call gods these objects which we see are stones-and the most useless stones; touch them, and you will feel what they are. Why do you so ridiculously expose yourself to the people? Every one knows that God is in heaven. These statues of stone might be of some service if you would throw them into a furnace and convert them into lime; they are wearing out in their idleness, and are incapable of defending themselves from the flames. Christ alone can save from death, and deliver guilty man from the punishment of fire.

These were Cecilia's last words before the judge. But Almechius, fearing to brave the murmurs of the patricians of Rome by condemning so illustrious a person to public execu tion, ordered her to be reconducted to her own home, where she could be put to death quietly. By his orders she was to be confined in the vapor-bath, and a hot fire kindled, by which she would be suffocated to death.

But this cowardly expedient was not successful. Cecilia entered the place of her martyrdom with the most lively joy, and passed the day and night without being in the slightest affected by the burning atmosphere. In vain did the cruel ministers of Almechius heat the furnace to its utmost power. In vain did the burning steam fill the close, air-tight bath. Cecilia was invulnerable, calmly waiting until her celestial spouse would open another route for her to ascend to him. This wonder frustrated the hope Almechius entertained of causing death without being forced to the extremity of shedding the blood of this high-born Roman lady.

He found it impossible to do so. A lictor was accordingly dispatched to behead Cecilia in the place where she seemed to be sporting with death. Cecilia saw him enter, and joyfully knelt to receive the martyr's crown.

The lictor brandished his sword, and, after three strokes, left the virgin extended on the ground, bathed in blood; yet, wonderful to relate, she remained three days in this state.

94. THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST.

[ST. EPIIREM holds the same relation to the Church of Syria as St. John Chry sostom does to the Greek and St. Augustine to the African Church. Among those men of lofty genius whom God has given to his Church on earth, orresponding to the archangels and seraphs who lead the choirs of lessed spirits surrounding his throne in heaven, St. Ephrem will ever hold distinguished rank. His sublime writings present to our admiration the most persuasive and profound pathos, united with an unfailing unction which charms and penetrates at every line. No one can compare with him in combining pomp of expression and depth of sentiment. Even the weakness of translation does not deprive his thoughts of the grandeur, his images of the vivacity, which animates them. He writes as he spoke, in the presence of God and his angels, in the presence of the tombs, sad witnesses of our mortality. These aspects, which his mind so powerfully conceives, impress on the abounding flow of his language an elevation and a fire unequalled by any other writer, leaving you overpowered by the weight of a sombre and terrible majesty, enveloping the soul as it were in a cloud seamed with the lightning and the thunder. He depicts with as much energy as variety the fragility of life, the nothingness of terrestrial goods, the terrors of death and of judgment. "You already behold," says St. Gregory of Nyssa, "the last scene which will accompany the consummation of the world. You see Jesus Christ appear, borne upon the clouds of heaven. You arouse from your supineness, even as the dead arise from their tombs at the sound of the trumpet; nothing is wanting to the picture but the actual presence of Him who is to judge the living and the dead." It is in these descriptions that his style is elevated to all the sublimity of poetry. The writers of his nation call St. Ephrem, with truth, the prophet of the last judgment.]

LEND an attentive ear to what I am going to tell you of

the formidable coming of our Lord. In thinking of it I am paralyzd with fear! Ah, who can relate without shuddering the dreadful events connected with this coming? What human language, what tongue can describe this mournful scene?

2. The King of kings, seated on a throne brilliant with light, descends from the highest heavens. In the face of all the universe, as Judge, he calls mankind to the foot of his tribunal !

3. At the thought of this scene my strength fails me; the most violent agitation overwhelms my poor body; my limbs

refuse to support me, my eyes fill with tears, my tongue is paralyzed, my lips tremble, my voice, interrupted by sobs, stops, and there remains nothing in my ideas but disorder and confusion.

4. If a clap of thunder which breaks suddenly upon the ear excites terror in the heart, what will then be the effect of the sound of that trumpet, a thousand times more powerful than the noise of the thunder? It will be heard even in the depths of the tombs, awakening all men, the just and the sinner, who have existed since the creation of the world.

5. The entire human race, reunited at the same time, will appear before the bar of the Sovereign Judge! He speaks, and the trembling earth sends forth the dead whom she had entombed. The ocean restores those it had ingulfed in its abyss, and those who had been a prey of ferocious beasts appear in their proper forms.

6. A torrent of fire, flowing from the Source which gave birth to the sun, with the impetuosity of a sea in fury, pours itself upon the earth, covering mountain and valley, and con- ' suming the entire universe.

7. No more smiling landscapes, no more refreshing fountains, no more streams nor rivers, bearing afar the abundance of their waters; the air is burning, the stars fall from the heavens, the sun is destroyed and the moon changed into blood.

8. A short time and all has disappeared; the heavens rolled back as a scroll; the angels have received the order to assemble the faithful servants of God from one extremity to the other, and they execute it in a moment. A new heaven and a new earth replace the destroyed heaven and earth.

9. Suddenly the majestic throne advances, the sign of the Son of Man appears resplendent as the sun, and its brilliancy fills an immense horizon. All mankind have recognized the royal sceptre of the terrible Monarch. How can they present themselves before Jesus Christ and enter into judgment with him?