while on the rack, and he finished his glorious course in prison,
either by famine, or, according to St. Chrysostom, by the sword. His
acts relate many of his miracles, with other particulars; as that, when
bound and chained down on his back in prison, he consecrated the divine
mysteries upon his own breast, and communicated the faithful that were
present: this we also read in Philostorgius,[5] the Arian historian. St.
Lucian suffered at Nicomedia, where Maximinus II. resided.

His body was interred at Drepanum, in Bithynia, which, in honor of him,
Constantine the Great soon after made a large city, which he exempted
from all taxes, and honored with the name of Helenopolis, from his
mother. St. Lucian was crowned in 312, on the 7th of January, on which
day his festival was kept at Antioch immediately after his death, as
appears from St. Chrysostom.[6] It is the tradition of the church of
Arles, that the body of St. {103} Lucian was sent out of the East to
Charlemagne, who built a church under his invocation at Arles, in which
his relics are preserved.[7]

* * * * *

The first thing that is necessary in the service of God, is earnestly to
search his holy will, by devoutly reading, listening to, and meditating
on his eternal truths. This will set the divine law in a clear and full
light, and conduct us, by unerring rules, to discover and accomplish
every duty. It will awake and continually increase a necessary
tenderness of conscience, which will add light and life to its
convictions, oblige us to a more careful trial and examination of all
our actions, keep us not only from evil, but from every appearance of
it, render us steadfast and immoveable in every virtuous practice, and
always preserve a quick and nice sense of good and evil. For this
reason, the word of God is called in holy scripture, _Light_, because it
distinguisheth between good and evil, and, like a lamp, manifesteth the
path which we are to choose, and disperseth that mist with which the
subtilty of our enemy and the lusts of our heart have covered it. At the
same time, a daily repetition of contrition and compunction washes off
the stains which we discover in our souls, and strongly incites us, by
the fervor and fruitfulness of our following life, to repair the sloth
and barrenness of the past. Prayer must be made our main assistant in
every step of this spiritual progress. We must pray that God would
enable us to search o