tions of her child. With this slight glance at what human nature has ever been prone to believe in, as one of the first and most enduring foundations of character and conduct, we turn to instances of authenticated fact, in which the mother's instrumentality may be distinctly recognized.

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III.

MOTHER OF ST. AUGUSTINE.

THE men who are most frequently called great, in the popular sense of the word, are those who, under the concurring circumstances of time, place, and individual character, rise up before their fellow-men to fill a position of distinction; thus appearing to human observation not only to stand prominently forward, but also to stand higher than other men.

There is, however, a nobler application of the word great. It is where, under the same concurring circumstances, a man rises into a position of usefulness, as well as prominence; where, by his energy, his bravery, his discretion, or by any other qualifications, either natural or acquired, he is able to do much for his fellow-men; where all eyes are directed towards him, and towards the functions he is thus enabled to fulfil better than other men; and where even his most private and lowly virtues stand forth as landmarks to encourage all who tread the ways of life. Such men are truly great, whatever their peculiar position or office in the world may be. But they are also rare, so rare that it will be necessary to accept the word great

in both these senses, in order to follow out the subject any definite purpose.

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When we speak of a great man, it is always necessary to take into account concurring circumstances. Indeed one of the attributes, or rather one of the elementary parts of greatness may be said to consist in a certain power to perceive and lay hold of circum-, stances, so as best to turn them to account. There may be every other requisite for greatness without this; and a person so endowed, yet so deficient, would be likely to pass from the cradle to the grave without ever attaining to anything which his fellowmen would recognize as great. Happily for some of the best of great men, this application of circumstances to their individual character, or rather their character to circumstances, has been done for them by the arrangements of a kind Providence, without any definite design on their part; only they have not been deficient in perception or appreciation of the fitness of circumstances to their own case, or they never could have been great.

In looking abroad upon the world, for the purpose of studying this plan of adaptation, we see sometimes that circumstances have been waiting for the mau, before the time of his appearance; and at others that the man has been long preparing and making ready for the circumstances, though it may have been unconsciously to himself. Luther was a remarkable instance of the former; of the latter we have our own Cromwell. The world has had many waiting seasons. Different countries, and even separate institutions, have occasionally their waiting times; when all things

are ready, except the one man who is to act for all. While, on the other hand, though far more seldom, we are struck with the spectacle of a being so endowed that, had he lived in some other time or place, or been surrounded by different circumstances, we think he might have accomplished wonders, both for himself and others. As it is, he seems like a star that has lost its sphere; he is out of harmony with surrounding things, and consequently his life is without utility, his character without beauty; and, in all probability, he is himself without happiness.

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In the history of the Christian Church, this preparation of circumstances for the man, and of the man for the circumstances, has seldom been more striking than in the case of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, in Africa. Milner, in describing the state of the Christian world at this time, speaks of it as one of culiar darkness and superstition: "Notwithstanding the spread of nominal Christianity, under Christian emperors, such were the evils and abuses which had crept into the Churches towards the end of the third century, and such the dissensions by which the different religious communities were separated, that it would scarcely have been unreasonable to apprehend a total relapse into Paganism, had not a holier life and a truer worship been restored by a fresh cffusion of the Spirit of God."

At this very time a man was preparing for the great work of upholding a purer standard of Christian faith and fellowship; and he was preparing in a somewhat remarkable manner. He was first to experience all the degradation, the bitterness, and the anguish of

sin. He was to endure all the struggles of a nature peculiarly sensuous and prone to indulgence; and he was to illustrate in his own person the mighty power of conversion from all which the heart and the eye delight in as sinful, or even dangerous, to the soul, to a state of obedient self-renunciation and true holiness.

Nor was the chief instrument employed in this preparation-humanly speaking-less remarkable than the condition of the man himself. A woman in the ordinary walks of life, boasting no superior intellectual qualifications, either natural or acquired, yet evidently endowed with that high moral dignity and sweetness, which, when allied, as in her case, to Christian humility and zeal, has more influence in leading and persuading others than the most splendid attainments of a mere intellectual order; this woman, by her prayers and her tears, perhaps more than all by her own most exemplary life, was so to work upon the heart and the affections of her son, that he should be scarcely less subdued by her gentleness, than by the terrors of his own awakened conscience.

The acquaintance which we enjoy the privilege of making with Monica, the mother of Augustine, is chiefly through his own well-known "Confessions," a work which is spoken of by Dr. Pusey as having been translated again and again into all European languages, and loved in all. It is true, we have no connected account of Monica's experience or character previous to her marriage with Patricius, who was a pagan; only here and there we find scattered allusions to events in her early life, which it is easy to understand how she might use to enforce her own lessons