was also a Jew and already" instructed in the way ofthe Lord."* Secondly, attention is suggested to the phrases "disputing and persuading," (Comp. Act. xviii. 4.) in the Synagogue, and "disputing" (only) in the School of Tyrannus.

Of course in the latter place the Apostle did not dispute with "the disciples" whom he had separated from the Synagogue. It remains then that the resort to "the School of Tyrannus" was the turning to the Gentiles" which here, as elsewhere takes place only after his rejection by the Jews,† as indeed seems suggested by the result, stated in the next verse, "All they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the "Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks."

The text does not assert, as it is probably by most readers thought to do, that the school of Tyrannus was the place to which St. Paul withdrew the disciples, so as there to form a congregation of believers. That was his place of disputation. He separated these. And thus there comes out to view, as Apostolic in the very strictest sense, a practice for which although there is abundant sanction in early Church History, there is very little favour in modern practice, the exclusion of the gainsaying Heathen from attending the public worship of the congregation, and, therefore, the separation in the congregation of Catechumens from baptized persons.

As we are pointing out topics for consideration rather than discussing them, this paper may draw to its close with a brief observation on St. Paul's disputing "in the School of one Tyrannus." He not only "separated the disciples" from "the strife of tongues," but the place which he chose for further discussion with the unbelievers was a place of seclusion and quiet. Neither was it such a place as a Government College in India or in France, nor a huge boys' school.

It needs no very great amount of Greek learning to know, and to feel, as one reads the words,-that it was anything than even a modern Missionary Schoolroom, in which the poor few disciples are jostled and jumbled amid their unbelieving schoolfellows, not-" separated"*

* Recently in Calcutta, aid was withdrawn from a school of which the S. P. G. had undertaken the direction, because it was reduced to a small and exclusively Christian school, from being one of some 120 heathen and 20 Christian boys.

Is there not by the way, a remarkable absence from Missionary Report language in these times, of the expression "the way of God?" How may it be fitly accounted for? Is "the word of the Lord Jesus" Acts xix. 10. the equivalent of the way of God?

t Was "the multitude" before whom divers of the Synagogue "spake evil of the way," the heathen population of the city?

Whatever may be decided on the various critical Questions which have been raised concerning it, it was a yon, a place for quiet meditation, or orderly and grave discussion.

St. Chrysostom's remark is "he disputes, having sought out not merely a place for the purpose, but a place where there was quiet and seclusion."+

Michaelis' remark may serve to conclude with on this topic. He says "Such halls of audience were common in the larger "great cities, and were the places in which Philosophers "and other learned men gave Lectures, to which resorted "not merely young students but men of ripe age and in "office spacious apartments were necessary for this purpose "such as we now have in Universities.'

:

"The Greeks and Latins named them Schools, and Lu"ther has kept the word in this place. But I could not bring myself to do so, for in German [and in English too.] "School denotes something very inferior to what is here "meant. One could not enquire, for "the School" at the "house of a University Professor, without being either mis"understood or laughed at outright." (Michaelis Anmerkungen in loc.).

We have got, obviously, but a very little way into the period during which St. Paul abode at Ephesus. We are yet far perhaps from topics suggested by Bishop Jebb in his correspondence with A. Knox (Letter 58): very far from the consideration of the purpo, as the ruling topic of his Epistle. But that Epistle must have been written long after the date of the passage of the Book of Acts which has engaged our attention. Whoever may be disposed to investigate that topic will do well first to study the subject of the paptúpro contained in the Epistles to the Corinthians, which has been so well dealt with by a writer in the Benares Magazine for June 1849 (Vol. II. No. II.)

* Qui locus quis fuerit, et unde origo nomini, planè incertum est. Nonnulli suspicantur fuisse secessum Magnatis alicujus, in quo solitus fuerit otiari; quandoquidem oxon Graecis otium notat. A quo non valdè abludit versio Æthiopica, quae, (interprete Lodovico de Dieu) habet, coram praetorio et praesidibus" * * *. Calvino credibile est fuisse Gymnasium olim extructum sumptibus tyranni et urbi donatum &c. &c.

*

Witsii Meletemata Leidensia, Lect. viii. par. 8.

† οὐχ ἁπλῶς τὸν τόπον ζητησας, ἀλλ' ἔνθα σχολή —A remark, by the way hardly consistent with his first one on the same words: viz. ἔνθα πιστοὶ ἦσαν, καὶ σφόδρα πιστοί. But careful readers of St. Chrysostom will acknowledge that this is just his way, and that there is no doubt which was his deliberate judgment.

VI.

THE WORK OF AN HOUR.

"Raro antecedentem scelestum

Deseruit pede Poena claudo." Hor. III. Lib. 2 Carm.

"Seldom hath punishment, (though) lame of foot, failed to overtake a villain."

SMART.

WHENEVER my Frigate was at anchor in the Harbour of **** my amusement on shore consisted in walking in the burial ground; and although I did not consider myself as having any thing in common with the melancholy philosophical hero of the most perfect Tragedy ever written by the greatest of English poets:-yet, like him, I enjoyed holding fanciful conversations with the departed among their graves. Old Shovel, (as I had nicknamed the Sexton,) was in the habit of holding forth to me, concerning the tombs, as to whether ostentation, mistaken gratitude, or consideration, for the world's opinion, was the cause that posterity had thus marked the resting places of the dead. His funeral orations however were entirely at variance with the inscriptions on the different tombstones.

Passing by the costliest monument in the cemetery, old Shovel would shake his head and say "Under that tomb lies the richest landowner of the grave-yard! Pity that he himself knows nothing of it !" I smiled and went away; after giving him the advice to lay out his graves in such a manner as to please the eye.

After a time, he must needs dig up a portion of the old graves, to make room for new ones.

The sight of this shocked me. "Out upon us, for civilized nations!" I cried, "the Savage Tribes in the New World when they move their settlement from one prairie to another, take the bones of their dead with them; but we throw ours to the winds."

It caused this reflection :-Is it not sacrilegious to treat the dwellings of the dead, as one would those of the living ;letting them to a second tenant after expelling the first therefrom? These thoughts I could not rid myself of, they moved through my brain, as if I were turning over the leaves of

VOL. III.

I

"What do you read?" I

a book, and had I been asked
should have answered like Hamlet,-

66

Words, Words, Words."

My faculties were obscured. I could regain no clear perception of what was going on before me; for my glance roamed restlessly, from the syllables in my ideal book, to the chaotic mass of bones and skulls which the sexton had disturbed, and was casting out of their cool resting place in the bosom of mother Earth. In the words of the Danish prince I said "This skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once. How the Knave jowls it to the ground as if it were Cain's jawbone that did the first murder! *** Did these bones cost no more the breeding but to play at loggats with them? Mine ache to think on't."

Where are the ideas which formerly had their birth in these skulls and chased each other in rapid succession?

At that moment, my glance fell on a skull just thrown out, still covered with hair. Though not a surprising fact, considering the circumstances, yet, just at that time, its aspect caused me to shudder. An inexplicable desire seized me to pick it up, nevertheless I dared not touch it. As length I mustered courage to do so. I examined it carefully-my blood ran cold-my fingers became cramped.Under the thick hair I had discovered a large nail which reached from the temple to the back of the head.

"Shovel," I cried, as if with a leaden tongue; though I endeavoured to assume an indifferent tone: whom this skull belonged to ?"

66 Do you know

"Yes, of course! It is Counsellor P-'s. Before I opened his grave I would have wagered that I should find the skull covered with hair, as Nature had gifted Mr. P. with a wig such as few hairdressers could make; nevertheless he was sixty years old at the time of his death."

Of what did he die ?-Do you know?" I asked in a more collected manner than before.

ago.

"Of Apoplexy-suddenly-one night-about five years. His death plunged his wife into the deepest grief; for six months she so mourned and lamented his loss,-it would have caused pity in a stone.".

"And now

"Now she is married again-The way of the world, Captain."

Married again-murmured I, my blood running icy cold through my veins.

"Her present husband, Major R-is said to have been in love with her before her marriage with the Counsellor," continued the garrulous old man,-" and her first marriage was a forced one.-Every day occurrences, Captain!" "Enough, enough," I cried, and strode off.

"Hallo! are you going to carry my skull off with you," called out Shovel from the trench.

"All right" I said "the skull belongs properly to you". and I threw it towards him after having extracted the nail from it, and ran off.

What do I want, what shall I do with this nail? I asked myself, trembling. I locked it up in my sea chest, with more care than I would a valuable jewel. I fancied that every one who should see it would immediately become aware of the dreadful secret connected with it. Oh! what shall I do with this nail? I repeated over and over again. I am not constituted guardian of the rights of society! No, no, I will never be instrumental in handing over the guilty to a worldly tribunal.

This train of ideas was disturbed by a voice within me uttering, "But repentance, yes, fearful remorse, can you, must you awaken in the bosoms of the guilty, should their conscience even not have stung them yet! You have it in your power, and without doubt it is the will of the Most High. You can force them to repentance by suspending the sword of the avenger over their heads"-and in a small still whisper the voice added: "It must produce a curious scene, a dramatic scene, worthy of Hamlet, to gaze on the countenance of a woman at the moment that a crime like this, is brought home to her.”

The horrible nail would not out of my mind. By day and by night the phantasies of my brain chased me. At last it became unbearable; and I determined to proceed to the dwelling of the late Counsellor P. (now of Major R.) the way to which I had previously inquired.

Arrived before the house, I stood still-I had to ascend some steps-with severe exertion I accomplished this; for my knees shook so, they would barely support me. On reaching the door a bell had to be pulled to obtain entrance. I had not the courage to seize the handle, and was obliged to support myself by the railing at the side of the steps to prevent my falling. The door opened and a servant came out who asked Where do you wish to go?"

At sea I should have compared this question to a nightattack by pirates, it took me so by surprise; and without time for reflection I answering, stammered out, "To Mrs. R."