Maia started her senses grew dizzy-she had not thought the old feeling was so strong, but the presence of death, and of God, soon restored her calmness.

Cleon came forward to the bedside. Maia saw the scar in his forehead, and she held out her hand. He took it in both his. They could neither of them speak.

At length the old man gathered up his remaining strength, and said, "Maia, will you shrink from sharing his reproach?"

She could not answer, but she laid her other hand on Cleon's.

"Cleon," said the dying man, "I have sinned grievously, but I trust God will receive me, even as I welcome you. Forgive me, and guard her well."

They knelt silently beside him and joined their hands in his ;-he laid them on his breast, and whispered, "Our Father." And so saying, he fell asleep.

Cleon took her to his sister's house. There, too, death had been busy, carrying the youngest and the eldest to their rest. Isidore had finished his fight, dying at his post; and little Alce had been bidden up higher, to the feast of the blessed Jesus" above.

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At length the pestilence subsided-and once more the church of Alexandria was gathered together in the hall of the house of Isidore.

There were many widows and orphans there;

H

but still, amidst their tears, the little assembly raised their voices in heartfelt thanksgiving, praising God for those whom He had taken to Himself, and also for those whom He had yet left in the world, to serve him a little longer amongst men. They chanted the 107th Psalm

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good:

For his mercy endureth for ever.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,

Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy."

On that day two lives were to be joined together before the church of God; Cleon and Maia were to be married.

Maia was led forth by the deaconesses, in a long white linen veil-they then plighted their faith to each other; and the bishops and the presbyters blessed them, the whole assembly responding with supplications of blessing on their union. Then, together, they laid a gift on the table of the Lord, and, with the whole church, they partook of the sacred memorials of His love in Whom they were one.

Henceforth all their lives were to flow together in one holy stream of blessing-their table was to be their Lord's table-their house His temple; so, with a subdued yet trustful joy, they went on their journey of life together.

What the ideal of a Christian union was in those early days, we may learn from one who lived in them:

"What an union," says Tertullian, "is that

between two believers, who have one hope, one desire, one rule of life, one service of one Lord, in common ! Both, as brother and sister, one in body and spirit, yea, in the true sense, two in one flesh, kneel together-together fast and pray; they teach, exhort, and bear with one another; they sit together in the church of God, together at the table of the Lord. They share distresses, persecutions, joys, hiding nothing from one another; freely do they visit the sick and assist the needy; psalms and hymns resound in their home; and they emulate one another which shall sing the praises of their God the best. Christ rejoices, seeing and hearing such things; to such he sends his peace; where two is, there is he; and where he is, there the evil one is not."

Thus did our brethren, in those days, understand the distinction between the labours of the ascetic and the free service of thanksgiving,-what it means to be like Him who is perfect man as well as perfect God,

Thus holy, and blessed, and blessing, was the home life of Cleon and Maia.

The two families were to take a final leave of Alexandria in a few days after the marriage of Cleon and Maia, to settle together amongst the Indian churches, where Cleon had laboured successfully.

On the day before their departure, the widowed Alce and her children, with Cleon and Maia, met at a quiet place, without the city, where many

bodies of the saints of Alexandria slept, to take a last farewell of the resting-place of their beloved. They were not clad in mourning, for the early Christians feared this might seem like murmuring against Him who they knew does all things well.

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They knelt on the graves, and Cleon prayed. Insensibly his prayer took the form of thanksgiving. When they rose, they all felt-even Cleon and Maia, to whom so much had been given on earth— that much of their treasure was already laid up heaven-that they had much "precious seed" laid in the ground, until the time when He who "sowed in tears" shall doubtless "come again with joy, bearing his sheaves with Him."

Alce," said Cleon, "it is but a little while for all of us."

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She bowed her head, and murmured, "It is well." "For we," he added, sorrow not without hope.''

"No," said Maia, smiling brightly through her tears, 'He will bring them with Him."

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We on earth, and they in the better place "for ever with the Lord," we wait alike for the day when He with whom our life is hid shall appear, and we with him."

And so, patiently labouring from day to day, before God; sent into the world as their Master was sent, ministering to all, even as Heministered, doing their Father's will, and resting on His grace, they looked on through the night to the cloudless morning of the resurrection,

EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY

BROTHER

OF

BARTHOLOMEW,

A MONK OF THE ABBEY OF MARIENTHAL, IN THE
ODENWALD, IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.

"They be not all faithless that are either weak in assenting to the truth, or stiff in maintaining things any way opposite to the truth of Christian doctrine. But as many as hold the foundation which is precious, though they hold it but weakly, and as it were by a slender thread, although they may frame many base and unsuitable things upon it, things that cannot abide the trial of the fire; yet shall they pass the fiery trial and be saved, which, indeed, have builded themselves upon the rock, which is the foundation of the Church. But how many millions of them are known so to have ended their mortal lives, that the drawing of their breath hath ceased with the uttering of this faith, 'Christ my Saviour, my Redeemer Jesus!' And shall we say that such did not hold the foundation of the Christian faith?"-A learned Discourse by Mr. Richard Hooker.