which he returned and presented the papal decree to the king. Egfrid called a council of his clergy and nobles, by whose advice Wilfrid was imprisoned; but after a year he was released from confinement at the intercession of Ebba, aunt of the king, and abbess of Coldingham. Egfrid, again provoked by the insolence of Wilfrid, banished him from his kingdom, A. D. 680. Some suppose the difference was aggravated by Wilfrid supporting the queen Adelfleda, in her determination to quit the court, and retire to the nunnery of which Ebba was the abbess.

Wilfrid found shelter with Adelwalch, king of Sussex, and introduced Christianity into that kingdom. Adelwalch and his queen were favourably disposed to the faith of the gospel; and they had built a monastery, in which Dicul, a Scotchman, and five or six monks, lived; but their attempts had failed to convert the South Saxons. Wilfrid arrived at a time of grievous distress, arising from a three years' drought. He taught the ignorant people the art of fishing in the sea; by which their necessities were relieved; and thus he gained their confidence. Seasonable showers descending, plenty was restored; yet Wilfrid appeared an extraordinary person, and many of the nobles were prevailed on to embrace Christianity. The king granted him a large tract of land in the peninsula of Selsey, with all the cattle and slaves upon it, that he might build a monastery. Wilfrid visited the Isle of Wight, of whose inhabitants also he and his nephew effected the " conversion, if," as Rapin adds, "the bare declaration of people threatened with death in case of refusal, may be called by that name * " 'In this manner,” remarks Dr. Henry, “was the last of the seven Saxon states in England brought into the Christian church, about ninety years after the arrival of Augustin, and a little before the end of the seventh century."

Theodore, hearing of the success of Wilfrid, and touched with remorse for what he had done to him, as he drew near his end, became reconciled to him; and Egfrid falling in

* History of England, vol. i, p. 61.

battle, A. D. 685, was succeeded by his brother Alfred, who was prevailed on to restore his old tutor to his dignity at York. Wilfrid returned; but his intolerable haughtiness led to his deposition again, and banishment from the kingdom, though countenanced by the pope.

Theodore maintained his archiepiscopal authority at Canterbury during a period of twenty-one years, governing the bishops as primate of all England. He died, A. D. 690, aged eighty-nine, and his death was considered a serious loss to the English; for though he was attached to the pope, he was an able defender of what were considered the rights of the church in England, against the increasing power of the Roman usurpations. Fox remarks, "Theodore set up here, in England, Latin service, masses, ceremonies, litanies, with such other Romish ware, &c. This Theodore, being made archbishop and metropolitan of Canterbury, began to play the REX, placing and displacing the bishops at his plea. sure." Some of his services, however, were truly beneficial: for he laboured to promote learning among the clergy; and for this purpose he established a seminary at Creekdale, in Wiltshire, where himself, assisted by Adrian, taught Latin, Greek, and divinity; and gave lectures on church-music, astronomy, and arithmetic. Bede declares, that several of the students of this college were living in his time, who could express themselves in Greek and Latin as readily as in their own language.

How far the labours of Theodore and his colleagues were the means of diffusing the saving doctrines of Christ among the people, and of leading them in the way everlasting, eternity only will reveal. Being mostly Italians, or other foreigners, they were but indifferently qualified to give popular instruction; but still we may hope, that many were led to seek salvation and eternal glory in the name of the Divine Redeemer.

* Acts and Monuments, vol. i, p. 161.

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BOOK III.

FROM THE CONVERSION OF THE SAXONS, A. D. 700, to THE DEATH OF BRADWARDINE, A. D. 1349.

CHAPTER I.

REVIEW OF THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE CONVERSION OF THE

SAXONS.

Italian and Protestant Missions compared - Missionaries to Britain superior Men Some of Integrity and Piety-The example of Kings followed - Christianity beneficial to the lowest classes - Missionaries introduce Letters and favour the Arts-Latin the professional Language of the Clergy- Monastic Institutions Popery in England.

FOREIGN missionaries from Italy, and home missionaries from Scotland and Ireland, suceeeded, as we have seen, in establishing Christianity in all the Anglo-Saxon states. Our reflecting readers will naturally review their labours, and inquire the cause of their success; especially as missionaries are now being sent from Britain to every quarter of the globe, to promulgate the doctrines of our holy religion. Ours, however, have not been attended with the same success in their efforts in converting the heathen. But are the cases equal? Are the same means adopted? Are we to attribute the success contemplated to divine or human agency? A brief review cannot fail to be profitable, and it will aid us in comprehending various events in the subsequent history of the church in England.

The Paganism of our Saxon ancestors was not rooted in their history, nor intimately connected with their institutions and manners: it had no hold upon the reason, the imagination, or the natural feelings of the people. It appealed to no records, it recognized no inspired founders: in its form it was poor and unimpressive; there was nothing useful or consolatory in its tenets; and the strength derived from its local

K

superstitions was lost by transplantation: for the conquerors, settling in Britain, were cut off from those sacred places in their native land which had been regarded with hereditary reverence. Such a religion, without pomp and rational pretensions, had nothing plausible to oppose against Christianity. On the contrary, the Christian missionaries urged the loftiest claims, with no mean display of worldly dignity. They appeared, not as unprotected and indigent adventurers, relying upon the compassion of those whom they offered to instruct, but as members of that body exclusively possessing arts and learning—a body enjoying the highest consideration and influence through every Christian kingdom: they came as accredited messengers from that city, which, though no longer the seat of empire, was still the heart of the European world. For Rome was already a more sacred name in every nation professing the Christian religion, than while in the height of its imperial power.

The missionaries, therefore, appeared with a character of superiority, their claim to which was not disputed. They appealed to their sacred books for the history of the religion which they taught; and for the truth of its doctrines, they appealed to the evidence which the heart of man bears in the inward sense of its own frailties, infirmities, and wants. They offered a universal, instead of a local religion; a clear and coherent system, instead of a mass of unconnected fancies; an assured and unquestionable faith, for contemptible notions, which had no foundation in reason. The errors and fables with which the Romish Christianity was debased, in no degree impeded its effects. Gross as they were, it is even probable that they rendered it more acceptable to that ignorant and superstitious people. Besides, the missionaries were some of the prime spirits of the age, trained in the most perfeet school of discipline, steady in purpose, politic in contrivance, little scrupulous concerning the measures which they employed, because they were persuaded that any means were justifiable, if they conduced to accomplish the good end which was proposed. This shocking principle led to abomi ́nable consequences among their successors; bringing most

enormous evils upon the whole country, with which it was afflicted for many generations *.

Doubtless some of the missionaries were men of the loftiest minds, and influenced by the purest and noblest motives men, whose supreme object was to extend the kingdom of their Saviour, and increase the number of his willing subjects, by preaching the doctrines of salvation and eternal life, and diffusing the knowledge of the Scriptures. Elevated as they were above all worldly hopes and fears, they were ready to lay down their lives in the discharge of their duty; assured that even by such a sacrifice they should glorify their Redeemer, and through his atonement and intercession obtain crowns of righteousness in heaven. Divine influence would attend the ministry of such devoted men of God; and the Spirit of Christ was manifestly shed forth on the labours of Aidan, Finan, Colman, and Chad, and those of a kindred mind.

Popish policy evidently influenced in a great degree many of those professed servants of Christ. They commenced their work upon a well-concerted system, addressing themselves first to the king, who perceived not only the excellency of the new doctrines, but the advantages to be derived from their conversion to Christianity; as that would qualify them for the desired matrimonial alliances with the princes of France and Germany. The nobles readily followed the example of their kings, and felt themselves elevated by professing a religion which distinguished the civilized from the barbarous nations of Europe. The Christian teachers alone were seen to possess the means of ameliorating the condition of the people by knowledge and the arts; and therefore kings readily encouraged their labours, that their subjects might be improved, and their courts and capitals embellished. The humbler classes partook largely of the common blessings of Christianity, the warlike lords of the soil being made far more humane in the treatment of their dependents; and if slavery were not altogether abolished, its rigours were moderated, works of beneficence and mercy being esteemed me. ritorious of felicity in heaven.

*Southey's Book of the Church, vol. i, p. 51–54.

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