was thoroughly furnished unto every good work; they could rely upon him, they could trust him under all circumstances, in any emergency. An old Christian in the congregation, who had been a Roman officer for many years before his conversion, and had faced every form of death upon the battlefield, whispered to the friend next to him: "What a splendid commander he would have made! He is the bravest man I ever saw, for, if there had been a streak of weakness, or cowardice, or selfishness in his nature, he could not have buried his own grief out of sight, and put his whole heart into his work as he hath done." It was so through all the services of that first day. Quiet, grave, courteous, he discharged every duty of his position without the slightest reference to his own feelings or trials. For, during that night of awful sorrow, he had fully settled all his earthly life. Henceforth the church at Baucalis was to be his home; the community that might worship there, his family; he was, henceforth, to have no griefs, ambitions, trials of his own; no hopes, no fears; he was to bear the burdens of others; to love, guide, counsel, and strengthen the souls intrusted to his care; to do a minister’s work, that is, a spiritual servant’s work, so long as life might last, and to wait patiently, uncomplainingly, without disquietude or bitterness of spirit, if possible with gladness, until the end might come. Such was the destiny he had mapped out for himself during that night of bitter anguish in the beautiful church; such was the destiny that upon the next morning, with grand, simple, unselfish faith and courage, he arose to meet. The thoroughness of this profound self-abnegation was exhibited on the night succeeding that first day’s labors, when, in the solitude of his own apartment, he took from out its cedar casket the beautiful manuscript which Theckla’s hand had lovingly prepared for him, and made an indorsement thereon, in the Arabic tongue, that it had been transcribed by Theckla, a noble Egyptian lady, who also was a martyr in Alexandria. But he did not write that it was transcribed for him; his name nowhere appears on any part of the manuscript; there is not a word or sign that can by any possibility connect his name or fate with hers. Arius seemed to him to have been slain and buried long ago; only God’s presbyter survived the ruin of his life, and stood up in the place of Arius, calm, strong, fearless, unselfish, and devout. And this great manuscript, which was the offering of Theckla’s love unto him, hath survived the lapse of ages, bearing yet upon its priceless pages the indorsement of Arius. It is known throughout Christendom as the "CODEX ALEXANDRINUS"--"A" of the British Museum, although some later writings have been blended therewith, and some of the manuscripts prepared by Theckla have been lost. BOOK II. CHAPTER I.