The balance of justice seemed for a while likely to be restored; but no sooner did the Eusebians arrive, than the brief hope expired. They said no more about a broken chalice or a murdered bishop, but coolly declared that Athanasius had attempted to prevent the exportation of wheat from the granaries of Egypt, for the supply of Constantinople. Constantinople, we know, depended for bread on the Alexandrian corn-ships; and no offence could be greater than that of attempting to cut off the staff of life. Irritated at the mere mention of such a crime, the first Christian Prince paused not to consider the improbability that Athanasius could have either the will or the power to attempt it, but fell into a paroxysm of anger, and with a word banished him to Treves. Thither he went. There the chief confessor of the Christian faith remained an exile for about three years; silenced, separated from his country and his church, branded as a traitor, and published to the world, by those lying calumniators, as guilty of most shameful crimes. Yet God's gracious providence guarded his future path. The Arians endeavoured to place an enemy in the see of Alexandria, but failed. They strove hard to get Arius publicly restored to the communion of the church; but, as we have seen, the denier of our Lord's Divinity was called to stand before the bar of God, the moment before that restoration would have been accomplished.

Constantine, during this period, felt symptoms of bodily decay, fell sick, sought baptism in a set harangue, such as it was his wont to make on all opportunities, was baptized at Nicomedia, and died. His son, Constantine the younger, did his best to compensate for the injury done to Athanasius, by sending him back to Alexandria, with a flattering letter to the people of the Catholic Church of Alexandria, assuring them that his august father had sent their bishop to Treves, with the kind intention of keeping him safe from the violence of his enemies, and that he had been treated with the liberality and respect due to so good a man. The letter was valuable as an attestation of innocence, and as part of a great mass of evidence that the Arians did not at this time argue for the establishment of their heresy, but only endeavoured, by calumny and violence, to crush their chief opponent. We have not space to track the persecutors in their intrigues, nor to recount the sufferings of the illustrious persecuted. We can only say that on his return he found the nominal Christianity of Alexandria divided between the Catholics, properly so called, and the Arians; that tumults arose, most probably originating with the latter, who cast upon him the blame of disturbing the quiet of the city, where a pretended bishop was set up over the Arian sect; that Athanasius withdrew from the city and went to Rome, where he hoped to establish his innocence before unprejudiced judges; that in all the East persecution raged against the Catholic clergy and laity, who were in those parts few and feeble; that Councils, so called, were assembled both

in East and West; some being Catholic, and some Arian; giving their adverse decisions indeed, but raising the great question of faith into higher ground, and changing the quarrel of Eusebians and Athanasians into a controversy the most momentous that Christendom has ever known. Meanwhile, Athanasius followed the direction of the Saviour, fleeing from one city to another to save his life, and use it for the Saviour's sake. It is not possible to trace his wanderings; while, for about eleven years, he scarcely found a resting-place, was often in peril of death, and wondered often to find himself alive. Confusion and bitterness overspread the church. "Glory be to the Father," was the Arian cry. "Glory be to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Ghost," was the response of the less violent opponents of the Christian faith; but, these discordant mockeries of praise happily served to waken up, in the Catholic congregations, the imperishable Doxology, "GLORY BE TO THE FATHER, AND TO THE SON, AND TO THE HOLY GHOST." The empire was shared, for a time, between Constans and Constantius; the one adhering to Athanasius and the Catholics, the other to Eusebius of Nicomedia and the Arians.

Constantius, however, partly in disgust with the flagrant enormities of the Arians, whom he had patronized because they were dominant in his dominions, and whose notions he adopted, and partly through fear of losing the friendship of his brother, especially while at war with Sapor the Persian, suddenly resolved to espouse the cause of Athanasius, who must have been surprised on receiving, when at Aquileia, the following letter from the Emperor of the East:

"Constantius the Conqueror, Augustus, to Athanasius:

"Our humane clemency will not suffer thee any longer to be tossed and beaten on the cruel billows of the sea: seeing thee driven from thy country and thy home, despoiled of thy property, and wandering about in trackless wilds, (ev Onpiádeσi ávodíais,) our unwearied piety has not deserted thee. And even if I have for a long time deferred writing to thee as I intended, that was because I expected thou wouldest have come of thy own accord, to ask of us a remedy for thy troubles; yet since fear, perhaps, may have prevented thee from carrying this desire into effect, we therefore send to thy constancy this letter as most ample proof of our beneficence, that thou mayest hasten to present thyself before us as quickly as possible, in order to obtain thy own desire; and, having experienced our kindness, be restored to thy own people. For this purpose I have exhorted my lord and brother Constans the Conqueror, Augustus, to give thee authority to come, that by our mutual agreement thou mayest be restored to thy country, accepting this as an earnest of our favour."*

* Athanasii ad Imperat. Constant. Apologia.

Acting on this reference to Constans, Athanasius proceeded to his court, took advice, gave some time to consideration before trusting himself to the sudden goodness of an old enemy; and after some delay, and the receipt of two more letters, he obeyed the command of Constantius, appeared in his presence at Antioch, and, far from betraying any haste to taste the sweets of home, complained of the wrongs which had been done him, and challenged his enemies who were the courtiers of Constantius to meet him, and establish or withdraw their accusations. This they did not venture to desire, nor would their master allow; but commanded every public record made to his prejudice to be torn from the archives of the courts and destroyed. Moreover, he wrote two letters, one addressed to the bishops and presbyters of the Catholic Church in general, and the other to the people of the Catholic Church of Alexandria, lauding the innocence and sanctity of "the most reverend Athanasius," whose adherents, both clergy and people, were all to be taken under imperial protection.

Thus armed, but yet more strongly defended with "the panoply of God," this truly venerable man returned to Alexandria, taking back with him a train of bishops and presbyters who, after his retreat from Egypt, had been banished. The news of his approach wakened universal surprise, and nearly equal gladness; for it seemed that peace and charity were to be now established under the authority of Cæsar. Gregory, the rival prelate, was dead. Catholic bishops, clergy, people, from all parts of Egypt and Libya, crowded into the city to await the landing of their prelate, countryman, and friend. There was no ready writer there to describe the spectacle, but it must have been a grand one. Best of all, the Catholic faith revived. Athanasius became from that moment acknowledged all over the world as its representative and champion. More than four hundred bishops in Italy, France, Britain, Spain, Africa, and the East, sent him letters of congratulation. and adherence. In Alexandria and Egypt there was a great revival of religious observances, and apparently of true religion also. Monasticism then suddenly advanced; and here we must acknowledge, with regret, that it received the most zealous support of Athanasius. But of this something must be said in our fourth and last paper.

Constans was murdered by conspirators in the year 350, leaving the Arian Constantius to protect the Catholic Church. That, of course, he never meant to do. How Athanasius fared under his reign, and that of Julian the Apostate, we shall see, as we pursue the history through another period of banishment and labour, soon to be closed with a peaceful death, and crowned with an immortal memory.

MEMOIR OF MR. THOMAS COX,

OF TIPTON:

BY HIS SON, THE REV. J. G. COX.

To preserve from oblivion the memory of departed excellence, is a duty enjoined alike by veneration for the dead, by desire to promote the improvement of the living, and by zeal for the glory of Him by whose grace such excellence was originated, and by whose providence it has been employed and honoured.

Those who knew my father will gladly concede to him a place in the biographical records of our church. His history exhibits an instance of the successful combination of energy in secular pursuits, with entire consecration to the cause of God, well worthy of the imitation of every young man about to enter upon the business of life. He was born July 24th, 1793, at Much-Wenlock, in the county of Salop, being the youngest but one of fourteen children. His forefathers had long dwelt, and had maintained a good position, in that town; but at the period of his birth his parents had become straitened in their circumstances. His education was in consequence neglected. In the year 1802, Mr. and Mrs. Cox removed to the town of Bilston, Staffordshire, the period when the coal and iron trades were beginning to develop into the vast proportions they have since assumed. This change of residence was providential, and was followed by salutary consequences. At Bilston a flourishing Wesleyan Society and Sunday school existed. The family became worshippers at the chapel; and the younger children were sent to the Sunday-school. My father's first remembered religious impressions were created at this school. One Lord's day the superintendent was led to pray with unusual earnestness for the conversion of the children. The prayer sunk into the soul of the child: he thought "conversion must be a great thing, or the superintendent would not pray so earnestly about it;" and he hoped that some day he should be converted." Little did the good man who offered that prayer suppose that the Divine Spirit had lodged it in the heart of this boy,-a germ destined to mature into all the graces of a holy life, and to flourish for ever in the paradise of God. Some years elapsed, however, before my father experienced a change of heart. During this period, God graciously visited other members of the family. Stephen, an older brother, under the ministry of the Rev. W. Bird, was led to the "knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins." Fired with holy zeal, his "heart's desire and prayer to God" for his relatives was, "that they might be saved." He pleaded mightily with God, sometimes breaking into loud supplications in their behalf. At such times, Thomas has been known to rise in bed with clenched fist, and threaten to knock him down if he

did not desist from his pleadings. Domestic worship was not observed in the family. This was a grief to Stephen, and he resolved to endeavour to remedy so great a defect. Returning one Sabbath evening from a walk he had taken for meditation and prayer, he thus addressed his father: "Father, what sinners, what ungrateful creatures we are! We live by the permission of God; we receive our food, our clothing, our all from God; and we never acknowledge our obligations to Him. You, father, never pray with us. We never have family prayer; but live like heathen, unmindful of God and eternity." He reiterated the appeal, "Do pray, father." The old gentleman replied, “Well, lad, if you like to make us a prayer, do." They all knelt down, and Stephen, with a trembling heart, and in broken sentences, offered their first united prayer. "This," says my father, "was the beginning of good days in our family." Erelong, father, mother, brother, sister, were made "partakers of like precious faith" with Stephen. The blessing of God henceforth manifestly rested upon them; peace, love, and joy, crowned their modest board. Like Lydia, they "constrained" the ministers and people of God to accept their cordial hospitalities; and now, re-united in a better world, they doubtless remember these scenes of early faith and love with holy joy. Blessed indeed would it be, if in every house the morning and evening oblation of praise and prayer were devoutly presented to "the God of the families of the whole earth."

Of the outward circumstances, or the inward process, of my father's conversion to God no record exists; but of its reality and results there can be no doubt. Two venerable ministers have furnished recollections of this period of his life. The Rev. James Brooke, at that time resident at Bilston, states: "It is now more than fifty years since I first knew the late Mr. Thomas Cox. He then resided with his parents at Bilston, and was a fine, tall, and comely-looking youth, of a remarkably open and amiable disposition. He was at that time a regular attendant, along with his brother Stephen, at the old Methodist chapel and Sunday-school; and I well remember his noble form, ruddy countenance, and fixed attention, while sitting there. I do not recollect the particular time and circumstances of his conversion, but I believe his mind became gradually enlightened and informed, and his heart influenced and renewed by the Holy Spirit, whilst diligently attending the means of grace with which we were favoured at that old and beloved place." The Rev. Josiah Goodwin, his esteemed brother-in-law, observes, "My acquaintance with Mr. Cox commenced in the year 1812. He was then rapidly advancing toward manhood; and the elements of his future character were in process of formation. It was, I believe, not long after the beginning of his religious career; but, though I have no distinct remembrance of the circumstances of his conversion, yet I well know that he was then in his life bringing forth satisfactory evidences of its