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"The change effected in Britain by the Saxon invasion was much greater than that produced in any other part of western Europe by the irruption of northern conquerors. In every other place they soon conformed to the religion, and intermingled with the population, of the vanquished provinces; so that a mixed speech presently grew up, retaining more traces of its Roman than of its Barbaric origin. In Britain it was otherwise. The Roman language, customs, and manners, with all the Pa ganism that remained, as well as all the Christianity that existed, were at once swept away from the largest and finest portion of Britain in which the several Saxon tribes had established themselves. Here their language, with scarcely any alteration, obtained general currency; their superstition, in all its native darkness and immorality, prevailed.

they did in some cases intermix with the native Britons, there can be no reasonable doubt; but this certainly did not take place to such an extent as to exercise any perceptible influence. This remarkable and singular fact is to be explained by the condition in which they found the island. During the decline of the Roman empire, then in the last stage of its decay, the Britons had shaken off an authority which, easy and beneficial as it had proved upon the whole, was insufferable to their national

feeling, a stubborn and haughty feeling, but of a noble kind. They succeeded to their own undoing. A deplorable state of anarchy and intestine war ensued; during which, the greater part of those persons who considered the Latin as their mother tongue, either fled the country or were cut off. The Britons were divided into a great number of petty kingdoms, and their Princes animated with as much hostility against each other as against the invaders.

But

they were generally too high-minded to brook that forced and ignominious incorporation to which the Gauls, and Spaniards, and Italians had submitted; and gradually retiring to the western peninsula, to the land of lakes, and to the Highlands of Scotland, their language ceased to be spoken in that great division of the island which now obtained the name of England from its Anglian conquerors." (Pages 222, 223.)

"It is, however, to Wales and Corn.

wall that we are to look for the progress of Christianity in Britain during this period. Fuller says, The entire body

of the British church at this time was in Wales, where Bangor on the north, and Caer-leon (on Usk, in Monmouthshire) on the south, were the two eyes thereof, for learning and religion. The latter had in it the court of King Arthur, the see of an Archbishop, a college of two hundred philosophers, who therein studied astronomy; and was a populous place of great extent.' There is reason to believe that Bangor, near Chester, was of equal eminence with Caer-leon for men of learning and piety. It is said that the monastery at this place contained two thousand one hundred Monks, divided into seven courses, of three hundred each." (Pages 276, 277.)

The ninth and tenth form two valuable and instructive chapters on the progress of error in the Church of Rome, anterior to the mission of Augustine. Religious celibacy, the invocation of saints, superstitious reverence for the sacraments, and the establishment of priestly des potism, are treated in a manner highly creditable to our author, and to the cause which he so ably advocates; whilst it exhibits to our view the nature and character of that faith which Rome was anxious to publish to the Saxon rulers of Britain, and with which they intended to supplant that purer system of religion which, by violence and opmountains and fastnesses of Campression, had been driven into the

bria and Cornwall.

"Gregory the Great, some time before his elevation to the See of Rome, passing one day through the market of that city, observed in the place where slaves were sold, three beautiful boys, with white skins and fine flowing locks, exposed for sale. Their interesting appearance exciting Gregory's sympathy, he inquired, from what country they had been brought; and was answered, that they were from Britain, whose inhabitants were all of that fair complexion. He then asked whether they were Christians or Pagans. On being told that they were idolaters, he exclaimed, with a deep sigh, What a pity that such a beauteous form should cover a mind so void of internal graces!' On hearing fur

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ther that they were called Angles, Gregory observed, that they were rightly called; for they were beautiful as angels, and therefore it was fit they should become the companions of angels in heaven. He then demanded the name of the province from which they had been brought; and was informed that it was designated Deira (the southern part of Northumbria). Gregory said that it was rightly so called, because they were to be delivered de irá Dei, 'from the wrath of God.' Inquiring, in addition, what was the name of their King, and being told it was Ella, Then,' said he, it is fit that Hallelujah should be sung in that land.'

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"The deep sympathy thus excited in the mind of Gregory did not pass away with this playful verbal iteration. His mind pondered over the dark and miserable condition of the Saxon inhabitants of Britain; and he shortly afterward applied to Benedict, then Bishop of Rome, for leave to attempt the establishment of a Mission among them. was granted, and he actually departed on his journey. But at the pressing instance of the people of Rome, the Bishop was induced to recall him; and the benevolent scheme was consequently delayed several years. As Ella died A. D. 589, these circumstances must have taken place prior to that year.

"In A. D. 592, Gregory became Bishop of Rome, and about four years afterwards again turned his attention to the evangelization of the Saxons of Britain. For the accomplishment of this purpose, he selected Augustine, with other Monks; who, after making the necessary provisions for their journey, set out toward the scene of their Missionary operations. They appear, however, to have had much less of zealous determination than their Bishop; for they had only journeyed a few days, when they became quite appalled at the difficulty and danger of their enterprise. They therefore halted, and sent Augustine back to Rome to represent to the Bishop the barbarous character of the people to whom they were sent, the various perils and disadvantages connected with the attempt, and to entreat that they might have leave to

return.

"Contrary to their expectations, Gregory was firm. Instead of being dispirited by difficulties, he laboured to overcome them by enlarged means and increased energy. He wrote letters to Theoderic and Theodebert, Kings of France, and several epistles to French Bishops, urging them to accommodate

and assist Augustine and his companions in their pious design.

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"Augustine, on landing, sent some of his interpreters to the King, to acquaint him, that they had come from Rome, and brought a joyful message, which most undoubtedly assured, to all that took advantage of it, everlasting joys in heaven, and a kingdom that would never end with the living and true God.' King, in reply, directed them to remain where they had landed; and assured them that they should be supplied with all necessaries, and that he would soon make further arrangements respecting them. Some days after, the King went over to the island of Thanet, and, sitting in the open air, commanded Augustine and his companions to be brought into his presence. Bede (from whom we have this account) informs us that the King took this precaution of being in the open air, lest, if the meeting were in a house, the Missionaries might impose on him by some magical arts. At the King's command, the Missionaries drew near, 'bearing a silver cross for their banner, and the image of our Lord and Saviour painted on a board; and singing the Litany, they offered up their prayers to the Lord for the eternal salvation both of themselves and of those to whom they were come.' The King having signified his wish that they should sit down, they preached unto him and all his attendants the blessed Gospel. When they had finished speaking, the King answered them in these terms: "Your words and promises are very fair; but as they are new to us and of uncertain import, I cannot approve of them, forsaking that which I have so long followed, with the whole English nation. But because you are come from far into my kingdom, and, as I conceive, are desirous to impart to us those things which you believe to be true and most beneficial, we will not molest you, but give you favourable entertainment, and take care to supply you with your necessary sustenance; nor do we forbid you, by preaching, to gain as many as you can to your religion.'

"Encouraged by this reception, Augustine and his companions fixed their residence at Canterbury, the metropolis of the kingdom of Kent. Here they commenced their regular labours, holding meetings for singing, prayer, preaching, and the administration of the sacraments. These means, recommended by the spotless life of the Missionaries, and the pious efforts of the Queen, were crowned with success. The King and many of his people, having believed, were baptized; and great numbers began

to flock together to hear the word. Gregory, on hearing of this auspicious progress, sent a pall to Augustine. This was a peculiar sort of cloak, or robe, by which the latter Ecclesiastic received the dignity of an Archbishop, and the former claimed the exercise of a Patriarch's authority over the infant Anglo-Saxon church." (Pages 356-361.)

The measures adopted by Augustine to accomplish his mission were, to say the least of them, sinfully objectionable, although he was acting under the direction of the Pontiff, at whose command he had undertaken it. Hence,

"Soon after its introduction, we find Gregory advising Augustine to aim at its further extension among the people by means which, to say the least, appear to be very questionable. At the first, Gregory had directed that the idol-temples should be destroyed. This advice he afterward withdrew, thinking it better that they should be appropriated to the purposes of Christian worship. Accordingly, he says in a subsequent letter, Therefore let these places of heathen worship be sprinkled with holy water; let altars be built, and relics placed under them; for, if these temples are well built, it is fit that the property of them should be altered, that the worship of devils be abolished, and the solemnity changed to the service of the true God; in order that, when the natives perceive those religious structures remain standing, they may keep to the place, without retaining the error; and be less shocked at their first entrance upon Christianity, by frequenting the temples which they have been used to esteem. And since it has been

their custom to sacrifice oxen to the devils they adored, their usage ought to be refined on, and altered to an innocent practice.' He further advises, that, upon the anniversary of the saints whose relics are lodged there, or upon the return of the day on which the church was consecrated, the people should make them booths about those churches lately rescued from idolatry, provide an entertainment, and keep a Christian holiday; not sacrificing their cattle to the devil, but killing them for their own refreshment, and praising God for the blessing. And thus, by allowing them some satisfactions of sense, they may relish Christianity the better, and be raised by degrees to the more noble pleasures of the mind; for unpolished, igno

rant people are not to be cured all at once. He that intends to reach the top of an eminence, must rise by gradual advances, and not think to mount at a single leap.' This letter is dated June, A. D. 601." (Pages 361, 362.)

The whole of this affair is highly monitory. England had once more become the land of Paganism; and here we have the first example of converting a nation by means of foreign Missionaries. The process was precisely the reverse of that by which the Roman empire had been brought under the influence of the Christian faith. There it had begun with the poor, and had made its way up, unassisted by any human power, or any worldly and interested motives. But the Missionaries came with the imposing rank of Ambassadors on a religious errand; they addressed themselves to the Kings of those petty states into which England was divided; and having succeeded with them, the conversion of the subjects followed as a matter of obedience. The Kings had an obvious political motive for professing a religion which enabled them to connect themselves, by intermarriages, with the Princes of the Continent; prepared a refuge for them in case of expulsion from their own dominions; and placed them in communication with the more civilized parts of the world.

As the minds of many of these royal converts were influenced by politic motives, as well as by those religious impressions which might really be made on them; so the Missionaries made no scruple of resorting to pious frauds, for the purpose of facilitating and securing their suc cess. That they laid claim to the power of working miracles, we know; for Gregory, in a letter to Augustine, exhorts him not to be elated with pride on that account. The historian Fuller says, "This admonition of Gregory is with me (and ought to be with unprejudiced persons) an argument beyond exception, that, though no discreet man will believe Augustine's miracles in the latitude of monkish relations, he is ignorantly and uncharitably pee

vish and morose who utterly denies some miracles to have been really effected by him :" he, nevertheless, himself gives a reason for denying them all. "" Augustine," he says, "safely wafted over the sea, lands with the rest at Thanet, in Kent; taking, as it seems, deep footing, if it be true what one writes, that the print of his steps, where he first landed, left as perfect a mark in a main rock, as if it had been wax; and the Romanists will cry shame on our hard hearts, if our obdurate belief, more stubborn than stone, will not as pliably receive the impression of this miracle. But it is worthy our consideration, that, though Augustine all his way might be tracked by the wonders he left behind him; (when thirsty, miraculously fetching a fountain; when cold, a fire; restoring to the blind and lame their eyes and limbs ;) yet, for all this, he was fain to bring interpreters out of France with him, by whose help he might understand the English, and be understood by them. Whereas in holy writ, when the Apostles (and Papists commonly call Augustine the English Apostle) went to a foreign nation, God gave them the language thereof, lest otherwise their preaching should have the vigour thereof abated, taken at the second-hand, or rather at the second-mouth, as Augustine's was, who used an interpreter, not as Joseph to his brethren, out of state and policy, but out of mere necessity. This, I say, well thought

on, will make our belief to demur to the truth of his so frequent miracles, being so redundant in working them on trivial occasions, and so defective in a matter of most moment."

The mission of Augustine, no matter by what motive it was undertaken, was the point of the Papal wedge which, first insinuated into the ecclesiastical hierarchy of England by Gregory I., was speedily driven deeper and deeper, until, by the authority of Innocent III., it completely destroyed the independence of the British Church, and laid her prostrate at the feet of the Pope. It was therefore the policy of Augustine to undermine the sim

plicity of religious worship among the Britons, and to operate upon the imagination and superstition of the Saxons by means of sensual doctrines, and a gaudy ritual, which he had imported from Italy. Imageworship, purgatorial inflictions, the efficacy of good works, and the virtue of old bones, yclept relics, were all ready and at hand. "The wily Monk," says a modern writer, "assumed such austerity of manner, and sanctity of deportment, that he effectually secured the veneration of the deluded multitude; and by his pretended miracles, which any juggler of the present day could surpass, very easily imposed on their credulity. Gregory was transported with joy on hearing the continued prosperity of the mission; and, in a letter to Ethelbert, exhorted him to assist Augustine in the good work, by all the expedients of exhortation, TERROR, and CORRECTION."

No myrmidon of the Romish Inquisition of a later period could be more ready to second the views of his imperious master, than the bloodthirsty Monk. He determined to compel the British Church to submit to his authority; and for this purpose he convened a Synod of British Bishops at Augustine's Ac, or Oak, which is supposed to have been situated on the banks of the Severn, in some part of the county of Worcester or Gloucester.

"It is agreed on all hands, that it was required of the British Christians

that they should consent to three parti

culars to observe the Roman time of

holding Easter; to adopt the Roman form of baptism, and other ceremonies; and to co-operate with the Roman Clergy in converting the Saxons. Bishop Stillingfleet has clearly proved that these terms were not put as terms of agree

ment, but demanded as evidences of submission; and insists that the language of Augustine ought to be rendered, Would they, or would they not, own To this the Britons answered most perhis authority in those three things?' would do none of these things, nor retinently, when they replied, that they ceive him as their Archbishop." As this is the rejoinder which Bede (who was strongly prejudiced in favour of the Roman party) assures us our country.

men did give; and as it is most improbable that they would have at all adverted to the accepting of Augustine as their Archbishop, if it had never been actually or virtually required; it is plain that, however difficult it may be now to obtain the exact terms of the debate, the supremacy of the Roman Prelates must have been in some way stipulated, and therefore that the refusal was a manly and proper assertion of independence on the part of the British Christians.

"Argument having failed, Augustine had recourse to one of his miracles. The Britons are said to have unwillingly consented' to this mode of settling the dispute. A blind man, a Saxon, was then produced, whom the British Bishops could not cure, but who, it is said, was immediately restored to sight by Augustine. This miracle, although insufficient to convince the Britons, produced considerable effect on the bystanders. The result of this debate was a promise of the Britons, that they would consult the great body of their brethren, and attend another and larger assembly, when it should be convened.

"At this second conference, seven British Bishops attended, and many learned men from the famous monastery of Bangor, with Dinoth, the Abbot, at their head. Before proceeding to the place of meeting, they consulted an aged anchorite, of great repute for his sanctity and wisdom; asking him, if it would be proper for them to give up their traditions at the persuasion of Augustine.

If he be a man of God,' said the anchorite, follow him.' 'But how,' they inquired, can we be assured of this?' The Lord hath said,' rejoined he, Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart. If this Augustine be meek and lowly in heart, you may be lieve, that as he bears the yoke of Christ himself, he will impose no other upon you; but if he show himself haughty and proud, that affords you proof that he is not of God, nor are we to regard his words.' 'But how,' they asked again, shall we be able to discern even this ? ' 'Do you contrive,' said the anchorite, that he may first arrive with his company at the place where the Synod is to be held; and if at your approach he shall rise up to you, hear him submissively, being assured that he is the servant of Christ; but if he shall despise you, and not rise up to you, seeing you are the greater number, then let him be despised by you.'

"The British Christians resolved to

act according to this advice. When they had arrived at the appointed place, Augustine, who was already seated, instead of rising up to greet them, kept his place; which conduct, agreeably to the advice they had received, and the impressions they had formed, was attributed to pride, and consequently they rejected every proposal that he made.

"The account which Bede has preserved of this conference scarcely extends beyond the information already given; but the ancient British annals state, that Dinoth, the learned Abbot of Bangor, entered with great acuteness and erudition into the dispute concerning supremacy, maintaining that the Archbishop of St. David's had just and true authority over the British churches, and that it would not be for their interest to acknowledge either Roman pride or Saxon tyranny. He found fault with Gregory for not admonishing the Saxons of their gross usurpations, against their solemn oaths; adding, that if they would be thought good Christians, they should restore the power to those from whom they had so unjustly and tyrannically wrested it. For, as Stillingfleet observes, 'Dinoth could not but know that the Pope, under a pretence of bringing in the true faith, could not confirm them in their unjust usurpation; and no doubt the British Bishops looked upon this attempt of Augustine upon them to be the adding of one usurpation to another; which made them so adverse to any communication with the Missionaries.'

"This appears to be the great secret of the disagreement: the Britons always regarded the Saxons as having unjustly and violently taken possession of the country; and when they began to profess the religion of Christ, without giving up or making compensation for their ill-gotten property, the inveterate opposition of the despoiled and persecuted Britons was rather increased than diminished by the circumstance. This result appears to have been greatly strength. ened by the harsh and haughty conduct of Augustine, who, seeing that his proposals were rejected, 'is said in a threatening manner to have foretold, that in case they would not join in unity with their brethren, they should be warred upon by their enemies; and if they would not preach the way of life to the English nation, they should at their hands undergo the vengeance of death."

"Thus terminated this conference; and thus firmly did the heads of the ancient British church resist the inroads of Romish authority, and maintain their

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