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sphere...a poor peasant, without education and without experience?' On every side persons surrounded him, who seemed to demand all his care, and to depend upon him alone for religious instruction. But,' continued he, the Lord is able to make use of weak things to confound the strong if he should see fit, he can make use of a poor miserable sinner like me, to bring the souls of men into captivity to the obedience of Christ. He can manifest his strength in my weakness.' It was in this manner that he felt his own insufficiency, and at the same time implored the aid of his Divine Master. He often said, 'I have done but little when I have conversed with sinners, when I have exhorted them, when I have entreated them to go to Jesus, to be converted to him, if I do not pray that the Author of all mercy will bless my words.' He who preaches,' said he, very often, and does not afterwards pray with earnestness for those to whom he has preached, has but half discharged his office.' He, indeed, preached the Gospel earnestly; but he also frequently prayed for the blessing of God on his labours; and I am persuaded that his prayers were granted. It is remarkable to what an extent he had gained the affection and confidence of his hearers. Even sceptics, in spite of their enmity to religion, were compelled to speak well of him. I have, since his death, heard among other instances, that a person seeing him approaching, said, There is the servant of the Lord coming to see us.'

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"It appears, then, that he was eminently useful in his neighbourhood, and we are almost tempted to ask, Why was he withdrawn from it? But the ways of the Lord are deep, past finding out. He shews us that he needs not the aid of his creatures. He proved this to us when he recalled his servant in the midst of labours which were so evidently blessed.

"He was ill, so far back as July, 1828; but we little thought that

his indisposition would have led to such a result. He continued to ex ert himself nearly as much as ever. He conducted public worship as usual on Sunday; but he became so weak as to be obliged to lie down between the services. About the end of August, his illness assumed a more serious character, although he did not suffer acute pain. His weakness daily increased, and his poor body became quite emaciated. I never observed, during his illness, that he had any fear of death. He often said, that if it should be the will of the Lord to restore him to health, he should be truly happy to be again able to labour in his service; but that if it were otherwise appointed, he acquiesced entirely in his holy will. And you, my dear wife,' said he to me, may trust in the Lord.' If I leave you, I shall leave you in his hands, and I am confident that he will not forsake you.

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Pray that his will may be done, even when it is opposed to your's.' When he saw me much distressed, he used to say, Go, my dear, cast yourself at the feet of your Saviour, and open your heart to him.' Some persons often said to him, 'We must still hope: the Lord can do every thing; he can restore you.' Yes,' he replied, ‘I know that he is able to do so; but his will be done.'

"On account of his chest, the physician had positively prohibited him from speaking; but he could not be silent when ignorant or thoughtless persons came to see him: he could not allow them to depart without taking occasion from his own illness to remind them of the frailty of human life, and the necessity of labouring for the salvation of their souls. He sometimes said, When I reflect upon my sins, when I consider the corruption of my heart, I am astonished... What Ferdinand Caulier saved! Wonderful! what a miracle! what an astonishing mercy! and yet it is a fact.'

"One day, as I was reading to him that passage,' If ye loved me,

ye would rejoice because I go to my Father,' he asked me what I thought of it, with a tone and manner which seemed to say, 'If you love me, you ought to rejoice that the Lord will soon take me to himself." "

The friend before-mentioned writes: "He has left deep regret among our dear friends: I have heard many persons say that his death is a severe trial to the neigh bourhood, and that his loss will with difficulty be supplied. I do not wish to exaggerate his powers; no, he knew himself well: he humbly confessed that he was a poor peasant without education; but this circumstance, notwithstanding his zeal and faithfulness, kept him humble, and enabled him to adapt himself to the state of the villagers to whom brilliant and eloquently composed discourses are but of little use. To preach to them the doctrines of the Gospel with simplicity and affection, is the way to reach their hearts, and to bring them to the obedience of the Gospel. And it is on this account that I venture to say, that the place of our dear deceased friend will be with difficulty supplied. How often has this faithful servant of God spoken of his Saviour in a cottage, an outhouse, or a stable, where often in winter five or six persons were gathered together. He read the word of God to them, he exhorted them, he prayed with them, and these occasions were often singularly blessed. It was seldom that he went to the house of any person without asking him the most important questions respecting the state of his soul, always speaking and acting with perfect gravity. The following remarks prove that he did not glory in himself:

"Another month has passed away! How rapidly does time pass away! As for me, I am sometimes terrified in considering how much I have lost, and how much I still lose every day, of this precious time. When my conscience thus reproaches me, and I am privileged

to enjoy communion with God, it seems to me that from that very moment I shall really redeem the time; but, alas! I soon perceive that I waste some of that which is yet granted to me. How much do I need that the Lord of his infinite mercy should support, pardon, and keep nigh unto me! Yes, Lord Jesus Christ, come, reign, and rule in my heart. Amen.'

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"One Sunday, when he had conducted three services in a neighbouring village, and had but just returned home, exhausted with fatigue, a man came to request him to attend a funeral the next morn. ing, in a village fifteen miles from his house. What shall I do?' said he shall I have strength to go thither? Yet it is another opportunity of preaching the Gospel. I will go. The Lord will supply the strength which I need. I depend upon him.' He actually rose the next morning at three o'clock, quite exhausted with the fatigues of the preceding day, he scarcely took any nourishment before he set out. One may easily imagine in what state he arrived at the place of his destination. He was expected, and a hundred persons were assembled. He hastily took some food, and, sustained by the almighty power of God, exhorted these immortal souls to believe in the Saviour. When he returned from the burial ground, many Catholics came to ask him if he would not preach again, as there were many people who were waiting in the street. Weak as he was, he instantly resolved to address them. The house was filled in a moment, and he began again to announce the glad tidings of salvation to this people who seemed to be hungering for the word of God. He was so much assisted on this occasion that he no longer felt his fatigue.

"I have often heard him say during his illness, that he was aware that he had hurt himself by his perseverance in preaching; but he never repented of it."

The foregoing particulars are corroborated from many other quarters. The following is the substance of a short account written by a simple Christian; one, we believe, of the fruits of Caulier's labours, of the commune of G

"It is with mingled feelings of joy and sorrow that we wish to make known the edifying death of our beloved brother F. Caulier. The father of all mercies gave him to us in love, to teach us the way of salvation. He was truly an instrument in bringing many souls to the knowledge of the salvation which is in Christ Jesus. I shall only mention the last day of his life.

"His conversation was so truly interesting during his illness, that as soon as our occupations permitted us, we all went to visit him. I was with him the day of his death. I found part of his family around his bed. One of our friends was reading to him the fifty-first Psalm, making a pause after a few verses, on account of his great weakness. He then asked me to pray for a short time. We unitedly addressed ourselves to Him who has the power to save and to communicate true peace. After prayer he was still able to say, Amen, so be it.' We then thought that he was leaving this world. Calmness and serenity were stamped on his face. As I had gone away, he soon sent for me back again. When I returned, I found him occupied in prayer, and durst not interrupt him. I heard him, among other words, say as follows: Oh Jesus, have mercy upon me, upon me who have committed sins the most.' He then made his father-in-law come near him, and said to him, My father, if I have given you any uneasiness, forgive me, as God has forgiven us in Jesus Christ.' His father answered him, 'You have never given me any uneasiness.' Then, he said, Embrace me, father, while I am still sensible.' His father having embraced him, he repeated this question upon this his dear weeping

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wife said, 'And me, my dear friend?' I have already said every thing to thee,' replied he. The Lord united us like two children of God, but now he separates us. Take courage, my dear friend: thou wilt not be long in this world of misery, then thou with me shalt ever be with the Lord.' She asked him if the Lord were with him to which he made a sign in the affirmative. She asked him if he believed that he should soon die: to which he replied, I am sure of it' adding,

Oh how sharp, and yet how easy is death!' She said to him again, I will write to your father, and to M.P.' Yes; you will write to N. and to M. P.-You will write-You will tell them-' He could say no more; these were the last words of our dear brother."

Thus died at the age of thirty, Ferdinand Caulier, after a life of which the latter years had been entirely devoted to the service of God. The remembrance which he has left of his faith, of his humility, of his uninterrupted gentleness, will ever be cherished in the hearts of those who have known him, and the traces of his short sojourn upon earth will long be visible. Truly, it is profitable to be present at the last moments of the children of God. Oh! what serious reflections do they give rise to! "I may truly say for my own part," adds the respected pastor, to whom we are indebted for the above narrative, "after what I have witnessed of our dear brother Caulier, May I die the death of the righteous! and may my last end be like his !"

SCENE AND ERA OF THE APOCALYPTIC SEALS.

(Concluded from p. 285).

THE historical evidence which I have set before the reader will suffice, I trust, to convince him, as it has done me, that the prophetic visions, shewn to the Apostle on

the opening of the first four seals, were minutely fulfilled in the events which befel the Roman empire, from the succession of Nerva and Trajan, to the close of the ignominious and disastrous reign of Gallienus, if we may indeed consider the fourth seal as even then terminating; for the exact point, at which this fourth period should be closed, may admit of doubt. The cause of that desolation which overspread the empire through this gloomy period, might cease with the life of Gallienus, but the effects still remained, and could only be remedied by the healing hand of time; and moreover, the reigns of his immediate successors, though of a far more virtuous and energetic character, exhibit to us a continual struggle with the barbarians of the North, by whose incessant inroads the provinces along the Danube and the Rhine were incessantly harassed; and who, notwithstanding they were for the most part successfully repelled, yet in the course of the sixteen years which elapsed from the death of Gallienus to the accession of Diocletian, A.D. 284, effected a partial settlement within the boundaries of the empire: nor does its history present any new epoch deserving the attention of the spirit of prophecy; but under the administration of Diocletian, a new scene unfolds itself, of a different kind and character from those which preceded it, and accordingly the hieroglyphics exhibited under the fifth seal are entirely different. In the former is presented to the eye of the Apostle, the imperial warhorse, diversified only by difference of colour, and the quality of the rider; in the latter, he sees the altar of the temple of God, and under it the souls of the martyrs, who had attested the truth of the Gospel by their blood. "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice,

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saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled (Rev. vi. 9—11). The subject is therefore no longer the political state of the Roman empire, but the condition of the Christian church under that empire; and the persecutions which it had undergone, and had still to undergo, are so plainly symbolized, or expressly announced, that it is impossible not to refer the vision, so far as it describes the complaints and prayers of the souls under the altar, to the bloody persecutions to which the Christians had been exposed before the date of the vision, and, so far as it is prophetic, to the last and most bitter persecution, which they were afterwards to endure under the reign of Diocletian, or rather of Galerius. The testimony of history is abundant, as to the fulfilment of this prediction; and even that of Gibbon, partial as he is to Paganism, and hostile to the Christian church, is sufficiently explicit; and as it may be considered as the involuntary testimony of an enemy, it has peculiar weight, and may suffice to satisfy the reader. The commencement of the Diocletian persecution, and the publication of the first edict, are thus recorded by him: "The twenty-third of February, which coincided with the Roman festival of the Terminalia, was appointed (whether from accident or design) to set bounds to the progress of Christianity. At the earliest dawn of day, the Prætorian præfect, accompanied by several generals, tribunes, and officers of the revenue, repaired to the principal church of Nicomedia....The doors were instantly broke open; they rushed into the sanctuary,...committed to the flames the volumes of Holy

Scripture. A body of pioneers, by incessant labour, in a few hours levelled the sacred edifice with the ground. The next day the general edict of persecution was published; and though Diocletian, still averse to the effusion of blood, had moderated the fury of Galerius, who proposed, that every one refusing to offer sacrifice should immediately be burnt alive, the penalties inflicted on the obstinacy of the Christians might be deemed sufficiently rigorous and effectual. It was enacted, that their churches, in all the provinces of the empire, should be demolished to their foundations; and the punishment of death was denounced against all who should presume to hold any secret assemblies for the purpose of religious worship....The bishops and presbyters were ordered to deliver all their sacred books into the hands of the magistrates; who were commanded, under the severest penalties, to burn them in a public and solemn manner; and by the same edict the property of the church was confiscated,...and the whole body of the people were put out of the protection of the law."-This edict being torn down from the wall to which it was affixed, by a Christian zealot, "he was burnt, or rather roasted, by a slow fire;" and the palace of Nicomedia, and even the bedchamber of Diocletian, being twice in flames a few days after, the Christians were charged with the treasonable design of destroying the emperors, though without proof," and the court, as well as city, was polluted with many bloody executions." Felix, an African bishop, having refused obedience to this edict, was beheaded; "and this precedent appeared to authorise the governor of provinces, in punishing with death the refusal of the Christians to deliver up their sacred books." Some slight disturbances also, which took place in the East, being ascribed to the intrigues of the bishops, "the resentment, or the fears of Diocletian, at length transported him be

yond the bounds of moderation, which he had hitherto preserved ; and he declared, in a series of cruel edicts, his intention of abolishing the Christian name. By the first of these edicts, the governors of the provinces were directed to apprehend all persons of the ecclesiastical order; and the prisons destined for the vilest criminals, were soon filled with a multitude of bishops, presbyters, deacons, readers, and exorcists. By a second edict, the magistrates were commanded to employ every method of severity, which might reclaim them from their odious superstition, and oblige them to return to the established worship of the gods. This rigorous order was extended by a subsequent edict, to the whole body of Christians, who were exposed to a violent and general persecution." This furious persecution, which lasted for ten years, was insufficient, however, to extirpate the church; the inexhaustible patience and fortitude of the Christians excited the pity and admiration even of the pagans themselves, "and the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church;" so that Galerius himself being at length convinced by experience, that the most violent efforts of despotism are insufficient to extirpate a whole people, or to subdue their religious prejudices; desirous of repairing the mischief that he had occasioned, published an edict of toleration, A.D. 311; and though this persecution was partially rekindled in the East, by Maximin, the permanent security and peace of the church were two years afterwards established by the decree of Constantine, published at Milan, after the defeat and death of Maxentius. This triumph of Christian faith is plainly alluded to in the words of the prophecy, "and white robes were given to every one of them," and verifies the truth of it.

The complete triumph, however, of Christianity over Paganism, and the final establishment of the Christian church on the ruins of the

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