was done once in the case of a similar exhibition by a preacher of modern times, "What is the man crying at?" nor could the answer have been returned which was then given: "If you were up there yourself, and had as little to say, perhaps you would cry too."

The last years of Augustine's long and active life were chiefly occupied with his theological works, which the controversies of the day had called forth. To give him time for revising and completing them, he procured the services of Eraclius, a proselyte of his own training, to aid him in his pastoral duties. One of the works to which he devoted the evening of his life is a rare monument of candour, and undoubtedly a curiosity in literature-a critique on all his own works, which he called "Retractationes." It had become, to some extent, necessary, as his views had changed so much in the course of his life, that his adversaries could often produce from his earlier writings flat contradictions of his more mature opinions. One of the most important and best known of his works, "The City of God," belongs to the later part of his life, and occupied him for several years. Death came upon him while working at a treatise written against the Pelagian Julian, Bishop of Eclanum.

His life closed amid political troubles and disasters. The Vandals, whom the Count Boniface

AUGUSTINE PENNING HIS CRITIQUE.

"The last years of Augustine's long and active life were chiefly occupied with his One theological works, which the controversies of the day had called forth.

of the works to which he devoted the evening of his life is a rare monument of candour, and undoubtedly a curiosity in literature-a critique on all his own works which he called Retractationes."" (Page 138.)

had invited over from Spain to aid him in maintaining himself against the Imperial government, against which he had rebelled, turned his enemies, and set about taking possession of the country. Boniface was one of Augustine's friends, and at his instance, instead of retiring to a monastery, as he had intended, grasped the sword to aid in beating back the hordes of barbarians that were then pouring in on the decayed Roman Empire. To Augustine's great sorrow, he was led into rebellion, and became the means of bringing calamity and ruin on Africa. Hippo was besieged by the Vandals; and the old bishop, whose daily prayer was, either that God would give deliverance to the city or enable it to hold out, or take him out of the world, died in the third month of the siege, in his seventy-sixth year.

His works are too many to be here enumerated. The best known of them are, his "City of God," and his "Confessions,"-the latter of which has

been translated into many languages. It is a book quite unique in many respects. It is a delineation of his own character, and a history of his mind, addressed to the Deity, containing here and there, interwoven with the main subject, interesting speculations on points of psychology, philosophy, and theology. While there is a full and penitential disclosure of his sins, yet Augustine maintains a delicate and dignified reserve where

the only purpose served by disclosure would be the gratification of curiosity. The "Confessions" blend, to some extent, the varied interest of Pascal's

Thoughts," "Thomas à Kempis," and the "Pilgrim's Progress," and exhibit, although in somewhat sombre light, one of the noblest and most gifted of the sons of the Church-showing much in him to admire and love, and also a trace of morbidity, acquired from his own errors and those of his times, which somewhat checks the flow of our sympathy towards him. Sure enough we are that, were he allowed to use his pen in the light of the nineteenth century, the first thing he would do would be to write a second critique on his own works, somewhat more sweeping than the first, and make them look somewhat foolish who, at this time of day, admire him and other ancient fathers chiefly for the darkness and confusion which are in them.