A commentary on the prophet Obadiah, which he published, bore strong marks of juvenile indiscretion, as he afterward frankly owned. And here, by the assistance of a few, who visited him, Nicodemus-like, in the evenings, lest he should give umbrage to his brethren, he acquired the knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, and, with indefatigable labor, he studied also the Chaldee and the Syriac.

On his return to Rome, he became intimate with Paula, the illustrious descendant of the Pauls, so famous in Roman story, with Marcella, and other opulent ladies. The monastic life, which had long flourished in the east, was only beginning to be fashionable in the west. The renowned Athanasius, and his Egyptian friends, rendered respectable during their exile at Rome by their sufferings for the faith, contributed to throw a dignity on such a course of life; and the zeal of Jerome nursed the same spirit among serious persons. These ladies, with whom he was intimate, were hence induced to impart a celebrity to the monastic taste by their own example.

Spleen and calumny hastened the departure of Jerome from Rome. This great man had not learned to command his passions, and to disregard the breath of fame. Unjust aspersions on his character affected him with a very blameable acrimony. He retired again to the east; there several of his admirers followed him. He chose Bethlehem as the seat of his old age, where Paula erected four monasteries,— three for the women and one for the men, in which Jerome lived the rest of his life, enjoying at times the society of his learned friends.

He instructed the women in theology, and Paula died, after having lived twenty years in the monastery.

Jerome himself died in the ninety-first year of his age, in the year 422.

He was certainly serious, in the very best sense of the word; yet it is to be lamented that a man of so great sincerity, and of a mind so vigorous, should have been of so little service to mankind. The truth is, his knowledge was contracted and low. He confessed, that while he macerated his body in the deserts, he was thinking of the pleasures and

delights of Rome. He understood not the true gospel-mystery of mortifying sin, and, by his voluntary humility and neglect of the body, added to the fame and splendor of his voluminous but ill-digested learning, he contributed more than any other person of antiquity to the growth of superstition.

The works of such a writer, though sound in the essentials of christianity, are not considered worthy a particular review, and consequently receive only a brief notice. Here and there a vigorous and evangelical sentiment breaks out amidst the clouds.

His epistles discover him to have been sincere and heav enly-minded, though his temper was choleric.

In a letter to Nepotian, there are various rules worthy the attention of pastors, concerning the contempt of riches, the avoiding of secular familiarities, and the regulation of external conduct.

He wrote an epitaph upon this same Nepotian, some time after, eloquent, pious and pathetic.

In this he confesses the doctrine of original sin, and celebrates the victory of Christ over death.

He makes an excellent use of the public miseries of the times, by recommending more strongly a practical attention to piety. Hence, also, he makes the best apology which could be invented for his favorite solitude.

In his letter to Rusticus the monk, the learned reader who would see a practical comment on Paul's cautions against voluntary humility in the Epistle to the Colossians, may behold it in Jerome.

He abounds in self-devised ways of obtaining holiness, while the true way of humble faith in Jesus is not despised indeed, but little attended to.

A short letter to Florentius shows genuine humility, and acquiescence to Christ, as his sole hope, after all his austerities.

It was this humble faith in Christ, which checked the impetuosity and arrogance of his natural temper, repressed his vain-glory, and in some degree changed a lion into a lamb. For Jerome, though exactly formed by constitution and

T

habit, to sustain the character of a Pharasee, was too deeply conscious of internal pollution to be one in reality.

It can not be denied that he was humble before God, and truly pious; and of him it must be said, to the honor of christian godliness, how much worse a man he would have been, had he not known Christ Jesus, and how much better, if he had known him with more clearness and perspicuity.

CHAPTER XVI.

Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish.

MANNER OF HIS CONVERSION; SINGULAR DEVOTION TO PIOUS LABORS; EXTRACTS FROM HIS WRITINGS; MOTIVES OF ACTION.

HIS remarkable man was trained for his important calling by a very peculiar way of life; and in his example we see how that infinite wisdom which conducts the development of the kingdom of God on earth, knows how to produce great results

by what, in the eyes of men, appears little.

Patrick, in his native language, called Sukkath, was born about the year 372, in the village of Bonaven, between the Scottish towns of Dumbarton and Glasgow. He was the son of a poor, unlearned deacon belonging to the village church. No particular care was taken of his education, and he led a thoughtless life, without laying to heart the religious instructions of his parents, till toward his seventeenth year.

It then came to pass, that a severe chastisement by his heavenly Father woke him from his sleep of death to a higher life.

Pirates, of the savage tribe of the Scots, who then inhabited Ireland, landed at Patrick's residence, and carried him and others away as prisoners. He was sold into the service of a Scottish chief, who committed to him the care of his cattle. Trouble led his heart to God, whom, during the days of quiet, in his parents' house, he had not thought of.

Forsaken by men, he found in Him consolation and happiness, and now first learnt to know and enjoy the treasure which the christian has in heaven.

As he wandered about with the cattle in the ice and snow, he enjoyed intercourse with God in prayer and calm meditation. Let us hear him speak for himself, as he describes the change that now came over him, in a narrative written by him at a later period.

"I was," he says, "about sixteen years old, and knew nothing of the true God, when I and many thousand persons were carried away into captivity, according to our deserts, since we had departed from God, and had not observed His commands.

"There God opened my unbelieving mind, so that, although late, I thought of my sins, and turned with my whole heart to the Lord my God, to Him who looked down on my low condition, had pity on my youth and ignorance, and before I knew Him, before I could distinguish between good and evil, guarded, protected, and cherished me, as a father his son. This I certainly know, that before God humbled me, I was like a stone sunk in the mire; but when He came who had power to do it, He raised me in His mercy, and put me on a very high place.

"Wherefore I must testify aloud, in order to make some return to the Lord for such great blessings in time and eternity, which no human reason is able to estimate.

"When I came to Ireland, and had daily charge of the cattle, I prayed many times a day; the fear of God and love to Him was increasingly kindled in me; faith grew in me, so that in one day I offered a hundred prayers, and at night almost as many; and when I passed the night in the woods. or on the mountains, I rose up to pray in the snow, ice, and rain, before day-break.

"Yet I felt no pain; there was no sluggishness in me, such as I now find in myself, for then the spirit glowed within me."

After spending six years in the service of this chief, he believed that he heard a voice in his sleep which promised

him a speedy return to his native land, and soon announced to him that a vessel was ready for him.

In dependence on this call he set out, and after a journey of several days he met with a vessel which was on the point of sailing. But the captain at first would not receive the poor, unknown youth. Patrick fell on his knees and prayed. He had not finished his prayer when one of the ship's com pany called him back, and summoned him to go with them. After undergoing many sufferings, and experiencing, by the mercy that guarded him, many a deliverance from great dangers, he reached his home once more.

Several years after, he was again taken prisoner by pirates. But after sixty days he regained his liberty by a special interposition of Providence, and returned home after many fresh dangers and toils. Great was the joy of his parents to see their son again who had endured so much, and they entreated him now to remain constantly with them. But he felt an irresistible call to carry the message of salvation to the people among whom he had passed his youth, and had been born again to the life of heaven.

As the apostle Paul was called by the Lord, in a night-vis ion, to carry the first news of salvation to the people of Macedonia, so a man appeared to Patrick in a night-vision, with many letters. He gave him one, and he read the words, "words of the Irish," and as he was reading he thought he heard the united voices of many Irish, who dwell near the sca, exclaiming, “we beseech thee, child of God, come and again walk among us!" His feelings would not allow him to read any further, and he awoke. Another night he believed that he heard a voice from heaven, in a dream, the last words of which were intelligible to him, "He who gave his life for thee, He speaks in thee." He awoke full of joy. One night it was as if there was something in him, and yet above him, that was not himself, praying with deep sighs, and at the close of the prayer it spake as if it was no other than the spirit of God. He awoke and recollected the transcendent expressions of Paul, respecting the intimate inter course of God's children with his own Spirit.