BOOK XVII.

ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORMATION.

CHAPTER I.

Introduction--Work of the Sixteenth Century--Unity and

Diversity--Necessity of considering the entire Religious

History of England--Establishment of Christianity in Great

Britain--Formation of Ecclesiastical Catholicism in the

Roman Empire--Spiritual Christianity received by

Britain--Slavery and Conversion of Succat--His Mission to

Ireland--Anglo-Saxons re-establish Paganism in

England--Columba at Iona--Evangelical Teaching--Presbytery

and Episcopacy in Great Britain--Continental Missions of the

Britons--An Omission.

Those heavenly powers which had lain dormant in the Church since the

first ages of Christianity, awoke from their slumber in the sixteenth

century, and this awakening called the modern times into existence.

The Church was created anew, and from that regeneration have flowed

the great developments of literature and science, of morality,

liberty, and industry, which at present characterize the nations of

Christendom. None of these things would have existed without the

Reformation. Whenever society enters upon a new era, it requires the

baptism of faith. In the sixteenth century God gave to man this

consecration from on high by leading him back from mere outward

profession and the mechanism of works to an inward and lively faith.

[Sidenote: UNITY AND DIVERSITY.]

This transformation was not effected without struggles--struggles

which presented at first a remarkable unity. On the day of battle one

and the same feeling animated every bosom: after the victory they

became divided. Unity of faith indeed remained, but the difference of

nationalities brought into the Church a diversity of forms. Of this we

are about to witness a striking example. The Reformation, which had

begun its triumphal march in Germany, Switzerland, France, and several

other parts of the continent, was destined to receive new strength by

the conversion of a celebrated country, long known as the _Isle of

Saints_. This island was to add its banner to the trophy of

Protestantism, but that banner preserved its distinctive colours. When

England became reformed, a puissant individualism joined its might to

the great unity.

If we search for the characteristics of the British Reformation, we

shall find that, beyond any other, they were social, national, and

truly human. There is no people among whom the Reformation has

produced to the same degree that morality and order, that liberty,

public spirit, and activity, which are the very essence of a nation's

greatness. Just as the papacy has degraded the Spanish peninsula, has

the Gospel exalted the British islands. Hence the study upon which we

are entering possesses an interest peculiar to itself.

In order that this study may be useful, it should have a character of

universality. To confine the history of a people within the space of a

few years, or even of a century, would deprive that history of both

truth and life. We might indeed have traditions, chronicles, and

legends, but there would be no history. History is a wonderful

organization, no part of which can be retrenched. To understand the

present, we must know the past. Society, like man himself, has its

infancy, youth, maturity, and old age. Ancient or Pagan society, which

had spent its infancy in the East in the midst of the antihellenic

races, had its youth in the animated epoch of the Greeks, its manhood

in the stern period of Roman greatness, and its old age under the

decline of the empire. Modern society has passed through analogous

stages: at the time of the Reformation it attained that of the

full-grown man. We shall now proceed to trace the destinies of the

Church in England, from the earliest times of Christianity. These long

and distant preparations are one of the distinctive characteristics of

its reformation.

Before the sixteenth century this Church had passed through two great

phases.

The first was that of its formation--the second that of its

corruption.

In its formation it was oriento-apostolical.

In its corruption it was successively national-papistical and

royal-papistical.

After these two degrees of decline came the last and great phasis of

the Reformation.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: GOSPEL CARRIED TO BRITAIN.]

In the second century of the Christian era vessels were frequently

sailing to the savage shores of Britain from the ports of Asia Minor,

Greece, Alexandria, or the Greek colonies in Gaul. Among the merchants

busied in calculating the profits they could make upon the produce of

the East with which their ships were laden, would occasionally be

found a few pious men from the banks of the Meander or the Hermus,

conversing peacefully with one another about the birth, life, death,

and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and rejoicing at the prospect

of saving by these glad tidings the pagans towards whom they were

steering. It would appear that some British prisoners of war, having

learnt to know Christ during their captivity, bore also to their

fellow-countrymen the knowledge of this Saviour. It may be, too, that

some Christian soldiers, the Corneliuses of those imperial armies

whose advanced posts reached the southern parts of Scotland, desirous

of more lasting conquests, may have read to the people whom they had

subdued, the writings of Matthew, John, and Paul. It is of little

consequence to know whether one of these first converts was, according

to tradition, a prince named Lucius. It is certain that the tidings of

the Son of man, crucified and raised again, under Tiberius, spread

through these islands more rapidly than the dominion of the emperors,

and that before the end of the second century many churches worshipped

Christ beyond the walls of Adrian; in those mountains, forests, and

western isles, which for centuries past the Druids had filled with

their mysteries and their sacrifices, and on which even the Roman

eagles had never stooped.[6] These churches were formed after the

eastern type: the Britons would have refused to receive the type of

that Rome whose yoke they detested.

[6] Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca Christo vero subdita.

(Tertullian contra Judæos, lib. vii) Parts of Britain inaccessible to

the Romans were, however, subjected to Christ. This work, from its

bearing no traces of Montanism, seems to belong to the first part of

Tertullian's life. See also Origen in Lucam, cap. i. homil. 6.

[Sidenote: CULDEES.]

The first thing which the British Christians received from the capital

of the empire was persecution. But Diocletian, by striking the

disciples of Jesus Christ in Britain only increased their number.[7]

Many Christians from the southern part of the island took refuge in

Scotland, where they raised their humble roofs, and under the name of

_Culdees_ prayed for the salvation of their protectors. When the

surrounding pagans saw the holiness of these men of God, they

abandoned in great numbers their sacred oaks, their mysterious

caverns, and their blood-stained altars, and obeyed the gentle voice

of the Gospel. After the death of these pious refugees, their cells

were transformed into houses of prayer.[8] In 305, Constantius Chlorus

succeeded to the throne of the Cæsars, and put an end to the

persecution.

[7] Lactantius, de mortibus persecutorum, cap. xii.

[8] Multi ex Brittonibus Christiani sævitiam Diocletiani timentes ad

eos coufugerant........ut vita functorum cellæ in templa

commutarentur. (Buchanan, iv. c. xxxv.) Many Christians from Britain,

fearing the cruelty of Diocletian, took refuge among the

Scots......and the cells in which their holy lives were spent, were

changed into churches.

The Christianity which was brought to these people by merchants,

soldiers, or missionaries, although not the ecclesiastical catholicism

already creeping into life in the Roman empire, was not the primitive

evangelism of the apostles. The East and the South could only give to

the North of what they possessed. The mere human period had succeeded

to the creative and miraculous period of the church. After the

extraordinary manifestations of the Holy Ghost, which had produced the

apostolic age, the church had been left to the inward power of the

word and of the Comforter. But Christians did not generally comprehend

the spiritual life to which they were called. God had been pleased to

give them a divine religion; and this they gradually assimilated more

and more to the religions of human origin. Instead of saying, in the

spirit of the gospel, the word of God first, and through it the

doctrine and the life--the doctrine and the life, and through them the

forms; they said, forms first, and salvation by these forms. They

ascribed to bishops a power which belongs only to Holy Scripture.

Instead of ministers of the word, they desired to have priests;

instead of an inward sacrifice, a sacrifice offered on the altar; and

costly temples instead of a living church. They began to seek in men,

in ceremonies, and in holy places, what they could find only in the

Word and in the lively faith of the children of God. In this manner

evangelical religion gave place to catholicism, and by gradual

degeneration in after-years catholicism gave birth to popery.

This grievous transformation took place more particularly in the East,

in Africa, and in Italy. Britain was at first comparatively exempt. At

the very time that the savage Picts and Scots, rushing from their

heathen homes, were devastating the country, spreading terror on all

sides, and reducing the people to slavery, we discover here and there

some humble Christian receiving salvation not by a clerical

sacramentalism, but by the work of the Holy Ghost in the heart. At the

end of the fourth century we meet with an illustrious example of such

conversions.

[Sidenote: SUCCAT.]

On the picturesque banks of the Clyde, not far from Glasgow, in the

Christian village of Bonavern, now Kilpatrick, a little boy, of tender

heart, lively temperament, and indefatigable activity, passed the

earlier days of his life. He was born about the year 372 A.D., of a

British family, and was named Succat.[9] His father, Calpurnius,

deacon of the church of Bonavern, a simple-hearted pious man, and his

mother, Conchessa, sister to the celebrated Martin, archbishop of

Tours,[10] and a woman superior to the majority of her sex, had

endeavoured to instil into his heart the doctrines of Christianity;

but Succat did not understand them. He was fond of pleasure, and

delighted to be the leader of his youthful companions. In the midst of

his frivolities, he committed a serious fault.

[9] In baptismo haud Patricium sed Succat a parentibus fuisse dictum.

(Usser. Brit. Eccl. Antiq. p. 428.) At his baptism he was named by his

parents not Patrick but Succat.

[10] Martini Turonum archiepiscopi consanguineam. Ibid.

[Sidenote: EVANGELICAL FAITH.]

His parents having then quitted Scotland and settled in Armorica

(Bretagne,) a terrible calamity befell them. One day as Succat was

playing near the seashore with two of his sisters, some Irish pirates,

commanded by O'Neal, carried them all three off to their boats, and

sold them in Ireland to the petty chieftain of some pagan clan. Succat

was sent into the fields to keep swine.[11] It was while alone in

these solitary pastures, without priest and without temple, that the

young slave called to mind the Divine lessons which his pious mother

had so often read to him. The fault which he had committed pressed

heavily night and day upon his soul: he groaned in heart, and wept. He

turned repenting towards that meek Saviour of whom Conchessa had so

often spoken; he fell at His knees in that heathen land; and imagined

he felt the arms of a father uplifting the prodigal son. Succat was

then born from on high, but by an agent so spiritual, so internal,

that he knew not "Whence it cometh or whither it goeth." The Gospel

was written with the finger of God on the tablets of his heart. "I was

sixteen years old," said he, "and knew not the true God; but in that

strange land the Lord opened my unbelieving eyes, and, although late,

I called my sins to mind, and was converted with my whole heart to the

Lord my God, who regarded my low estate, had pity on my youth and

ignorance, and consoled me as a father consoles his children."[12]

[11] Cujus porcorum, pastor erat. Usser. Brit. Eccl. Antiq. p. 431.

[12] Et ibi Dominus aperuit sensum incredulitatis meæ, ut vel sero

remorarem delicta mea, et ut converterer torto corde ad Dominum Deum

meum. Patr. Confess. Usser. 431.

Such words as these from the lips of a swineherd in the green pastures

of Ireland set clearly before us the Christianity which in the fourth

and fifth centuries converted many souls in the British isles. In

after-years, Rome established the dominion of the priest and salvation

by forms, independently of the dispositions of the heart; but the

primitive religion of these celebrated islands was that living

Christianity whose substance is the grace of Jesus Christ, and whose

power is the grace of the Holy Ghost. The herdsman from the banks of

the Clyde was then undergoing those experiences which so many

evangelical Christians in those countries have subsequently undergone.

"The love of God increased more and more in me," said he, "with faith

and the fear of His name. The Spirit urged me to such a degree that I

poured forth as many as a hundred prayers in one day. And even during

the night, in the forests and on the mountains where I kept my flock,

the rain, and snow, and frost, and sufferings which I endured, excited

me to seek after God. At that time, I felt not the indifference which

now I feel: the Spirit fermented in my heart."[13] Evangelical faith

even then existed in the British islands in the person of this slave,

and of some few Christians born again, like him, from on high.

[13] Ut etiam in sylvis et monte manebam, et ante lucem excitabar ad

orationem per nivem, per gelu, per pluviam...... quia tunc Spiritus in

me fervebat. Patr. Confess. Usser, 432.

Twice a captive, and twice rescued, Succat, after returning to his

family, felt an irresistible appeal in his heart. It was his duty to

carry the Gospel to those Irish pagans among whom he had found Jesus

Christ. His parents and his friends endeavoured in vain to detain him;

the same ardent desire pursued him in his dreams. During the silent

watches of the night he fancied he heard voices calling to him from

the dark forests of Erin: "Come, holy child, and walk once more among

us." He awoke in tears, his breast filled with the keenest

emotion.[14] He tore himself from the arms of his parents, and rushed

forth--not as heretofore with his playfellows, when he would climb the

summit of some lofty hill--but with a heart full of charity in Christ.

He departed: "It was not done of my own strength," said he; "it was

God who overcame all."

[14] Valde compunctus sum corde et sic expergefactus. (Patr. Confess.

Usser. 433.) I was vehemently pricked in my heart, and so awoke.

[Sidenote: PATRICK'S MISSION.]

Succat, afterwards known as Saint Patrick, and to which name, as to

that of St. Peter and other servants of God, many superstitions have

been attached, returned to Ireland, but without visiting Rome, as an

historian of the twelfth century has asserted.[15] Ever active,

prompt, and ingenious, he collected the pagan tribes in the fields by

beat of drum, and then narrated to them in their own tongue the

history of the Son of God. Erelong his simple recitals exercised a

divine power over their rude hearts, and many souls were converted,

not by external sacraments or by the worship of images, but by the

preaching of the word of God. The son of a chieftain, whom Patrick

calls Benignus, learnt from him to proclaim the Gospel, and was

destined to succeed him. The court bard, Dubrach Mac Valubair, no

longer sang druidical hymns, but canticles addressed to Jesus Christ.

Patrick was not entirely free from the errors of the time; perhaps he

believed in pious miracles; but generally speaking we meet with

nothing but the Gospel in the earlier days of the British Church. The

time no doubt will come when Ireland will again feel the power of the

Holy Ghost, which had once converted it by the ministrations of a

Scotchman.

[15] Jocelinus, Vita in Acta Sanctorum.

Shortly before the evangelization of Patrick in Ireland, a Briton

named Pelagius, having visited Italy, Africa, and Palestine, began to

teach a strange doctrine. Desirous of making head against the moral

indifference into which most of the Christians in those countries had

fallen, and which would appear to have been in strong contrast with

the British austerity, he denied the doctrine of original sin,

extolled free-will, and maintained that, if man made use of all the

powers of his nature, he would attain perfection. We do not find that

he taught these opinions in his own country; but from the continent,

where he disseminated them, they soon reached Britain. The British

churches refused to receive this "perverse doctrine," their historian

tells us, "and to blaspheme the grace of Jesus Christ."[16] They do

not appear to have held the strict doctrine of Saint Augustine: they

believed indeed that man has need of an inward change, and that this

the divine power alone can effect; but like the churches of Asia, from

which they had sprung, they seem to have conceded something to our

natural strength in the work of conversion; and Pelagius, with a good

intention it would appear, went still further. However that may be,

these churches, strangers to the controversy, were unacquainted with

all its subtleties. Two Gaulish bishops, Germanus and Lupus, came to

their aid, and those who had been perverted returned into the way of

truth.[17]

[16] Verum Britanni cum neque suscipere dogma perversum, gratiam

Christi blasphemando nullatenus vellent. Beda. Hist. Angl. lib. i,

cap. xvii, et xxi.

[17] Depravati viam correctionis agnoscerent. Beda, Hist. Angl. lib.

i. cap. xvii. et xxi.

[Sidenote: SAXON INVASION.]

Shortly after this, events of great importance took place in Great

Britain, and the light of faith disappeared in profound night. In 449,

Hengist and Horsa, with their Saxon followers, being invited by the

wretched inhabitants to aid them against the cruel ravages of the

Picts and Scots, soon turned their swords against the people they had

come to assist. Christianity was driven back with the Britons into the

mountains of Wales and the wild moors of Northumberland and Cornwall.

Many British families remained in the midst of the conquerors, but

without exercising any religious influence over them. While the

conquering races, settled at Paris, Ravenna, or Toledo, gradually laid

aside their paganism and savage manners, the barbarous customs of the

Saxons prevailed unmoderated throughout the kingdoms of the Heptarchy,

and in every quarter temples to Thor rose above the churches in which

Jesus Christ had been worshipped. Gaul and the south of Europe, which

still exhibited to the eyes of the barbarians the last vestiges of

Roman grandeur, alone had the power of inspiring some degree of

respect in the formidable Germans, and of transforming their faith.

From this period, the Greeks and Latins, and even the converted Goths,

looked at this island with unutterable dread. The soil, said they, is

covered with serpents; the air is thick with deadly exhalations; the

souls of the departed are transported thither at midnight from the

shores of Gaul. Ferrymen, sons of Erebus and Night, admit these

invisible shades into their boats, and listen, with a shudder, to

their mysterious whisperings. England, whence light was one day to be

shed over the habitable globe, was then the trysting-place of the

dead. And yet the Christianity of the British isles was not to be

annihilated by these barbarian invasions; it possessed a strength

which rendered it capable of energetic resistance.

[Sidenote: COLUMBA.]

In one of the churches formed by Succat's preaching, there arose about

two centuries after him a pious man named Columba, son of Feidlimyd,

the son of Fergus. Valuing the cross of Christ more highly than the

royal blood that flowed in his veins, he resolved to devote himself to

the King of heaven. Shall he not repay to the country of Succat what

Succat had imparted to his? "I will go," said he; "and preach

the word of God in Scotland;"[18] for the word of God and not an

ecclesiastical hierarchism was then the converting agency. The

grandson of Fergus communicated the zeal which animated him to the

hearts of several fellow-christians. They repaired to the seashore,

and cutting down the pliant branches of the osier, constructed a frail

bark, which they covered with the skins of beasts. In this rude boat

they embarked in the year 565, and after being driven to and fro on

the ocean, the little missionary band reached the waters of the

Hebrides. Columba landed near the barren rocks of Mull, to the south

of the basaltic caverns of Staffa, and fixed his abode in a small

island, afterwards known as Iona or Icolmkill, "the island of

Columba's cell." Some Christian Culdees, driven out by the dissensions

of the Picts and Scots, had already found a refuge in the same retired

spot. Here the missionaries erected a chapel, whose walls, it is said,

still exist among the stately ruins of a later age.[19] Some authors

have placed Columba in the first rank after the apostles.[20] True, we

do not find in him the faith of a Paul or a John; but he lived as in

the sight of God; he mortified the flesh, and slept on the ground with

a stone for his pillow. Amid this solemn scenery, and among customs so

rude, the form of the missionary, illumined by a light from heaven,

shone with love, and manifested the joy and serenity of his heart.[21]

Although subject to the same passions as ourselves, he wrestled

against his weakness, and would not have one moment lost for the glory

of God. He prayed and read, he wrote and taught, he preached and

redeemed the time. With indefatigable activity he went from house to

house, and from kingdom to kingdom. The king of the Picts was

converted, as were also many of his people; precious manuscripts were

conveyed to Iona; a school of theology was founded there, in which the

word was studied; and many received through faith the salvation which

is in Christ Jesus. Erelong a missionary spirit breathed over this

ocean rock, so justly named "the light of the western world."

[18] Prædicaturus verbum Dei. Usser. Antiq p. 359.

[19] I visited Iona in 1845 with Dr. Patrick M'Farlan, and saw these

ruins. One portion of the building seems to be of primitive

architecture.

[20] Nulli post apostolos secundus. (Notker.) Second to none after the

apostles.

[21]

Qui de prosapia regali claruit,

Sed morum gratia magis emicuit.

Usser. Antiq. p. 360.

He was distinguished by his royal descent, but his character rendered

him still more illustrious.

[Sidenote: HIS TEACHING.]

The Judaical sacerdotalism which was beginning to extend in the

Christian Church found no support in Iona. They had forms, but not to

them did they look for life. It was the Holy Ghost, Columba

maintained, that made a servant of God. When the youth of Caledonia

assembled around the elders on these savage shores, or in their humble

chapel, these ministers of the Lord would say to them: "The Holy

Scriptures are the only rule of faith.[22] Throw aside all merit of

works, and look for salvation to the grace of God alone.[23] Beware of

a religion which consists of outward observances: it is better to keep

your heart pure before God than to abstain from meats.[24] One alone

is your head, Jesus Christ. Bishops and presbyters are equal;[25] they

should be the husbands of one wife, and have their children in

subjection."[26]

[22] Prolatis Sanctæ Scripturæ testimoniis. (Adomn. 1. i. c. 22.) The

testimony of the Holy Scriptures being exhibited.

[23] Bishop Munter, Altbritische Kirche. Stud. und Krit. vi. 745.

[24] Meliores sunt ergo qui non magno opere jejunant, cor intrinsecus

nitidum coram Deo sollicite servantes. (Gildas in ejusd. Synod.

Append.) Those are better who, though not fasting very particularly,

keep diligently before God a heart pure within.

[25] In Hibernia episcopi et presbyteri unum sunt. (Ekkehardi liber.

Arx. Geschichte von S. Gall. i. 267.) In Ireland bishops and

presbyters are equal.

[26] Patrem habui Calpornium diaconum filium quondam Potiti

Presbyteri. Patricii Confessio. Even as late as the twelfth century we

meet with married Irish bishops. (Bernard, Vita Malachiæ, cap. x.) My

father was Calpurnius son of Potitus once a presbyter.

The sages of Iona knew nothing of transubstantiation or of the

withdrawal of the cup in the Lord's Supper, or of auricular

confession, or of prayers to the dead, or tapers, or incense; they

celebrated Easter on a different day from Rome;[27] synodal assemblies

regulated the affairs of the church, and the papal supremacy was

unknown.[28] The sun of the Gospel shone upon these wild and distant

shores. In after-years, it was the privilege of Great Britain to

recover with a purer lustre the same sun and the same Gospel.

[27] In die quidem dominica alia tamen quam dicebat hebdomade

celebrabant. Beda, lib. iii. cap. iv.

[28] Augustinus novam religionem docet.....dum ad unius episcopi

romani dominatum omnia revocat. (Buchan. lib. v. cap. xxxvi.)

Augustine teaches a _new_ religion ... when he reduces all under the

dominion of the bishop of Rome alone.

Iona, governed by a simple elder,[29] had become a missionary college.

It has been sometimes called a monastery, but the dwelling of the

grandson of Fergus in nowise resembled the popish convents. When its

youthful inmates desired to spread the knowledge of Jesus Christ, they

thought not of going elsewhere in quest of episcopal ordination.

Kneeling in the chapel of Icolmkill, they were set apart by the laying

on of the hands of the elders: they were called _bishops_, but

remained obedient to the _elder_ or presbyter of Iona. They even

consecrated other bishops: thus Finan laid hands upon Diuma, bishop of

Middlesex. These British Christians attached great importance to the

ministry; but not to one form in preference to another. Presbytery and

episcopacy were with them, as with the primitive church, almost

identical.[30] Somewhat later we find that neither the venerable Bede,

nor Lanfranc, nor Anselm--the two last were archbishops of

Canterbury--made any objection to the ordination of British bishops by

plain presbyters.[31] The religious and moral element that belongs to

Christianity still predominated; the sacerdotal element, which

characterizes human religions, whether among the Brahmins or

elsewhere, was beginning to show itself, but in great Britain at least

it held a very subordinate station. Christianity was still a religion

and not a caste. They did not require of the servant of God, as a

warrant of his capacity, a long list of names succeeding one another

like the beads of a rosary; they entertained serious, noble, and holy

ideas of the ministry; its authority proceeded wholly from Jesus

Christ its head.

[29] Habere autem solet ipsa insula rectorem semper abbatem

_presbyterum_ cujus juri et omnis provincia et _ipsi etiam episcopi_,

ordine inusitato, debeant esse subjecti, juxta exemplum primi doctoris

illius qui non episcopus sed _presbyter_ exstitit et monachus. (Beda,

Hist. Eccl. iii. cap. iv.) Moreover it was always the custom to have

as governor in that island an abbot who is a presbyter, to whose

direction the entire province and also the bishops contrary to the

usual method are subject, according to the example of their first

teacher, who was not a bishop, but a presbyter and monk.

[30] Idem est ergo presbyter qui episcopus, et antequam diaboli

instinctu studia in religione fierent. ... communi presbyterorum

concilio Ecclesiæ gubernabantur. Indifferenter de episcopo quasi de

presbytero est loquntus (Paulus) .... sciant episcopi se, magis

consuetudine quam dispositionis dominicæ veritate, presbyteris esse

majores. (Hieronymus ad Titum, i. 5.) A presbyter accordingly is the

same as a bishop, and before that by a suggestion of the devil, party

strife entered into religion..... the churches were governed by a

common council of presbyters. Paul spake without any distinction

between bishops and presbyters..... the bishops know that it is to

custom rather than to any actual direction of the Lord that they owe

their superiority to presbyters.

[31] Bishop Munter makes this remark in his dissertation _On the

Ancient British Church_, about the primitive identity of bishops and

priests, and episcopal consecration. _Stud. und Krit._ an. 1833.

[Sidenote: CONTINENTAL MISSIONS.]

The missionary fire, which the grandson of Fergus had kindled in a

solitary island, soon spread over Great Britain. Not in Iona alone,

but at Bangor and other places, the spirit of evangelization burst

out. A fondness for travelling had already become a second nature in

this people.[32] Men of God, burning with zeal, resolved to carry the

evangelical torch to the continent--to the vast wildernesses sprinkled

here and there with barbarous and heathen tribes. They did not set

forth as antagonists of Rome, for at that epoch there was no place for

such antagonism; but Iona and Bangor, less illustrious than Rome in

the history of nations, possessed a more lively faith than the city of

the Cæsars; and that faith,--unerring sign of the presence of Jesus

Christ,--gave those whom it inspired a right to evangelize the world,

which Rome could not gainsay.

[32] Natio Scotorum quibus consuetudo peregrinandi jam pæne in naturam

conversa est. (Vita S. Galli, Sec. 47.) The nation of the Scots in

whom the habit of travelling abroad had already almost become a second

nature.

The missionary bishops[33] of Britain accordingly set forth and

traversed the Low Countries, Gaul, Switzerland, Germany, and even

Italy.[34] The free church of the Scots and Britons did more for the

conversion of central Europe than the half-enslaved church of the

Romans. These missionaries were not haughty and insolent like the

priests of Italy; but supported themselves by the work of their hands.

Columbanus (whom we must not confound with Columba),[35] "feeling in

his heart the burning of the fire which the Lord had kindled upon

earth,"[36] quitted Bangor in 590 with twelve other missionaries, and

carried the Gospel to the Burgundians, Franks, and Swiss. He continued

to preach it amidst frequent persecutions, left his disciple Gall in

Helvetia, and retired to Robbio, where he died, honouring Christian

Rome, but placing the church of Jerusalem above it,[37]--exhorting it

to beware of corruption, and declaring that the power would remain

with it so long only as it retained the true doctrine (_recta ratio_).

Thus was Britain faithful in planting the standard of Christ in the

heart of Europe. We might almost imagine this unknown people to be a

new Israel, and Icolmkill and Bangor to have inherited the virtues of

Zion.

[33] They were called _episcopi regionarii_ because they had no

settled diocese.

[34] Antiquo tempore, doctissimi solebant magistri de Hibernia

Britanniam, Galliam, Italiam venire, et multos per ecclesias Christi

fecisse profectus. (Alcuin, Epp. ccxxi.) In ancient times the most

learned teachers were accustomed to come from Ireland to Britain,

Gaul, and Italy, and to make numerous journeys among the churches of

Christ.

[35] Thierry, in his _Hist. de la Conquete de l'Angleterre_, makes

Columba and Columbanus one personage. Columba preached the Gospel in

Scotland about 560, and died in 597; Columbanus preached among the

Burgundians in 600, and died in 615.

[36] Ignitum igne Domini desiderium. Mabillon, Acta, p. 9.

[37] Salva loci dominicæ resurrectionis _singulari prœrogativa_.

(Columb. Vita, section 10.) Excepting by its peculiar prerogative the

place of the Lord's resurrection.

Yet they should have done more: they should have preached--not only to

the continental heathens, to those in the north of Scotland and the

distant Ireland, but also to the still pagan Saxons of England. It is

true that they made several attempts; but while the Britons considered

their conquerors as the enemies of God and man, and shuddered while

they pronounced their name,[38] the Saxons refused to be converted by

the voice of their slaves. By neglecting this field, the Britons left

room for other workmen, and thus it was that England yielded to a

foreign power, beneath whose heavy yoke it long groaned in vain.

[38] Nefandi nominis Saxoni Deo hominibusque invisi. (Gildas, De

excidio Britanniæ.) The execrable name of Saxon, hateful to God and

men.

CHAPTER II.

Pope Gregory the Great--Desires to reduce Britain--Policy of

Gregory and Augustine--Arrival of the

Mission--Appreciation--Britain superior to Rome--Dionoth at

Bangor--First and Second Romish Aggressions--Anguish of the

Britons--Pride of Rome--Rome has recourse to the

Sword--Massacre--Saint Peter scourges an

Archbishop--Oswald--His Victory--Corman--Mission of Oswald

and Aidan--Death of Oswald.

[Sidenote: GREGORY THE GREAT.]

It is matter of fact that the spiritual life had waned in Italian

catholicism; and in proportion as the heavenly spirit had become weak,

the lust of dominion had grown strong. The Roman metropolitans and

their delegates soon became impatient to mould all Christendom to

their peculiar forms.

About the end of the sixth century an eminent man filled the see of

Rome. Gregory was born of senatorial family, and already on the high

road to honour, when he suddenly renounced the world, and transformed

the palace of his fathers into a convent. But his ambition had only

changed its object. In his views, the whole church should submit to

the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Rome. True, he rejected the title

of universal bishop assumed by the patriarch of Constantinople; but if

he desired not the name, he was not the less eager for the

substance.[39] On the borders of the West, in the island of Great

Britain, was a Christian church independent of Rome: this must be

conquered, and a favourable opportunity soon occurred.

[39] He says (Epp. lib. ix, ep. xii.): De Constantinopolitana ecclesia

quis eam dubitet apostolicæ sedi esse subjectam? Concerning the church

of Constantinople, who doubts that it is subject to the apostolical

see.

[Sidenote: POLICY OF GREGORY AND AUGUSTINE.]

Before his elevation to the primacy, and while he was as yet only the

monk Gregory, he chanced one day to cross a market in Rome where

certain foreign dealers were exposing their wares for sale. Among them

he perceived some fair-haired youthful slaves, whose noble bearing

attracted his attention. On drawing near them, he learned that the

Anglo-Saxon nation to which they belonged had refused to receive the

Gospel from the Britons. When he afterwards became bishop of Rome,

this crafty and energetic pontiff, "the last of the good and the first

of the bad," as he has been called, determined to convert these proud

conquerors, and make use of them in subduing the British church to

the papacy, as he had already made use of the Frank monarchs to reduce

the Gauls. Rome has often shown herself more eager to bring Christians

rather than idolaters to the pope.[40] Was it thus with Gregory? We

must leave the question unanswered.

[40] We know the history of Tahiti and of other modern missions of the

Romish church.

Ethelbert, king of Kent, having married a Christian princess of Frank

descent, the Roman bishop thought the conjuncture favourable for his

design, and despatched a mission under the direction of one of his

friends named Augustine, A.D. 596. At first the missionaries recoiled

from the task appointed them; but Gregory was firm. Desirous of

gaining the assistance of the Frank kings, Theodoric and Theodebert,

he affected to consider them as the lords paramount of England, and

commended to them the conversion of _their subjects_.[41] Nor was this

all. He claimed also the support of the powerful Brunchilda,

grandmother of these two kings, and equally notorious for her

treachery, her irregularities, and her crimes; and did not scruple to

extol the _good works_ and _godly fear_ of this modern Jezebel.[42]

Under such auspices the Romish mission arrived in England. The pope

had made a skilful choice of his delegate. Augustine possessed even to

a greater extent than Gregory himself a mixture of ambition and

devotedness, of superstition and piety, of cunning and zeal. He

thought that faith and holiness were less essential to the church than

authority and power; and that its prerogative was not so much to save

souls as to collect all the human race under the sceptre of Rome.[43]

Gregory himself was distressed at Augustine's spiritual pride, and

often exhorted him to humility.

[41] Subjectos vestros. (Opp. Gregorii, tom. iv. p 334.) Your

subjects.

[42] Prona in bonis operibus . . . in omnipotentis Dei timore. (Ibid.

tom. ii. p. 835.) Disposed to good works . . . in the fear of God

omnipotent.

[43] We find the same idea in Wiseman, Lect. ix, On the principal

doctrines and practices of the Catholic church. London, 1836.

Success of that kind which popery desires soon crowned the labours of

its servants. The forty-one missionaries having landed in the isle of

Thanet, in the year 597, the king of Kent consented to receive them,

but in the open air, for fear of magic. They drew up in such a manner

as to produce an effect on the rude islanders. The procession was

opened by a monk bearing a huge cross on which the figure of Christ

was represented: his colleagues followed chanting their Latin hymns,

and thus they approached the oak appointed for the place of

conference. They inspired sufficient confidence in Ethelbert to gain

permission to celebrate their worship in an old ruinous chapel at

Durovern (Canterbury), where British Christians had in former times

adored the Saviour Christ. The king and thousands of his subjects

received not long after, with certain forms, and certain Christian

doctrines, the errors of the Roman pontiffs--as purgatory, for

instance, which Gregory was advocating with the aid of the most absurd

fables.[44] Augustine baptized ten thousand pagans in one day. As yet

Rome had only set her foot in Great Britain, she did not fail erelong

to establish her kingdom there.

[44] Hoepfner, De origine dogmatis de purgatorio. Halle, 1792.

We should be unwilling to undervalue the religious element now placed

before the Anglo-Saxons, and we can readily believe that many of the

missionaries sent from Italy desired to work a Christian work. We

think, too, that the Middle Ages ought to be appreciated with more

equitable sentiments than have always been found in the persons who

have written on that period. Man's conscience lived, spoke, and

groaned during the long dominion of popery; and like a plant growing

among thorns, it often succeeded in forcing a passage through the

obstacles of traditionalism and hierarchy, to blossom in the

quickening sun of God's grace. The Christian element is even strongly

marked in some of the most eminent men of theocracy--in Anselm for

instance.

[Sidenote: BRITAIN SUPERIOR TO ROME.]

Yet as it is our task to relate the history of the struggles which

took place between primitive Christianity and Roman-catholicism, we

cannot forbear pointing out the superiority of the former in a

religious light, while we acknowledge the superiority of the latter in

a political point of view. We believe (and we shall presently have a

proof of it)[45] that a visit to Iona would have taught the

Anglo-Saxons much more than their frequent pilgrimages to the banks of

the Tiber. Doubtless, as has been remarked, these pilgrims

contemplated at Rome "the noble monuments of antiquity," but there

existed at that time in the British islands--and it has been too often

overlooked--a Christianity which, if not perfectly pure, was at least

better than that of popery. The British church, which at the beginning

of the seventh century carried faith and civilization into Burgundy,

the Vosges mountains, and Switzerland, might well have spread them

both over Britain. The influence of the arts, whose civilizing

influence we are far from depreciating, would have come later.

[45] In the history of Oswald, king of Northumberland.

But so far was the Christianity of the Britons from converting the

Saxon heptarchy, that it was, alas! the Romanism of the heptarchy

which was destined to conquer Britain. These struggles between the

Roman and British churches, which fill all the seventh century, are of

the highest importance to the English church, for they establish

clearly its primitive liberty. They possess also great interest for

the other churches of the West, as showing in the most striking

characters the usurping acts by which the papacy eventually reduced

them beneath its yoke.

[Sidenote: DIONOTH AT BANGOR.]

Augustine, appointed archbishop not only of the Saxons, but of the

free Britons, was settled by papal ordinance, first at London and

afterwards at Canterbury. Being at the head of a hierarchy composed of

twelve bishops, he soon attempted to bring all the Christians of

Britain under the Roman jurisdiction. At that time there existed at

Bangor,[46] in North Wales, a large Christian society, amounting to

nearly three thousand individuals, collected together to work with

their own hands,[47] to study, and to pray, and from whose bosom

numerous missionaries (Columbanus was among the number) had from time

to time gone forth. The president of this church was Dionoth, a

faithful teacher, ready to serve all men in charity, yet firmly

convinced that no one should have supremacy in the Lord's vineyard.

Although one of the most influential men in the British church, he was

somewhat timid and hesitating; he would yield to a certain point for

the love of peace; but would never flinch from his duty. He was

another apostle John, full of mildness, and yet condemning the

Diotrephes, _who love to have pre-eminence among the brethren_.

Augustine thus addressed him: "Acknowledge the authority of the Bishop

of Rome." These are the first words of the papacy to the ancient

Christians of Britain. "We desire to love all men," meekly replied the

venerable Briton; "and what we do for you, we will do for him also

whom you call the pope. But he is not entitled to call himself the

_father of fathers_, and the only submission we can render him is that

which we owe to every Christian."[48] This was not what Augustine

asked.

[46] Bann-cor, the choir on the steep hill. Carlisle. Top. Dict.

Wales.

[47] Ars unicuique dabatur, ut ex opero manuum quotidiano se posset in

victu necessario continere. (Preuves de l'hist de Bretagne, ii, 25.)

An art was given to each, that by the daily labour of their hands,

each might be able to supply himself with the necessities of life.

[48] Istam obedientiam nos multius parati dare et solvere ei et cuique

Christiano continuo Wilkins, Conc, M. Brit. i. 26.

[Sidenote: SECOND ROMISH AGGRESSION.]

He was not discouraged by this first check. Proud of the pallium

which Rome had sent him, and relying on the swords of the

Anglo-Saxons, he convoked in 601 a general assembly of British and

Saxon bishops. The meeting took place in the open air, beneath a

venerable oak near Wigornia (Worcester or Hereford), and here occurred

the second Romish aggression. Dionoth resisted with firmness the

extravagant pretensions of Augustine, who again summoned him to

recognize the authority of Rome.[49] Another Briton protested against

the presumption of the Romans, who ascribed to their consecration a

virtue which they refused to that of Iona or of the Asiatic

churches.[50] "The Britons," exclaimed a third, "cannot submit either

to the haughtiness of the Romans or the tyranny of the Saxons."[51] To

no purpose did the archbishop lavish his arguments, prayers, censures,

and miracles even; the Britons were firm. Some of them who had eaten

with the Saxons while they were as yet heathens, refused to do so now

that they had submitted to the pope.[52] The Scotch were particularly

inflexible; for one of their number, by name Dagam, would not only

take no food at the same table with the Romans, but not even under the

same roof.[53] Thus did Augustine fail a second time, and the

independence of Britain appeared secure.

[49] Dionothus de non approbanda apud eos Romanorum auctoritate

disputabat. Wilkins, Conc. M. Brit. 24.

[50] Ordinationesque more asiatico eisdem contulisse. Ibid. 24.

[51] In communionem admittere vel Romanorum fastum vel Saxonum

tyrannidem. Ibid. i, 26.

[52] According to the apostolic precept, 1 Cor. 5, 9. 1.

[53] Dagamus ad nos veniens, non solum cibum nobiscum, sed nec in

eodem hospitio quo vescebamur, sumere, noluit. (Beda, lib. ii, cap.

iv.) Dagam coming to us, not only refused to eat with us, but even to

take his food in the same house where we were entertained.

[Sidenote: PRIDE OF ROME.]

And yet the formidable power of the popes, aided by the sword of the

conquerors, alarmed the Britons. They imagined they saw a mysterious

decree once more yoking the nations of the earth to the triumphal car

of Rome, and many left Wigornia uneasy and sad at heart. How is it

possible to save a cause, when even its defenders begin to despair? It

was not long before they were summoned to a new council. "What is to

be done?" they exclaimed with sorrowful forebodings. Popery was not

yet thoroughly known: it was hardly formed. The half-enlightened

consciences of these believers were a prey to the most violent

agitation. They asked themselves whether, in rejecting this new power,

they might not be rejecting God himself. A pious Christian, who led a

solitary life, had acquired a great reputation in the surrounding

district. Some of the Britons visited him, and inquired whether they

should resist Augustine or follow him.[54] "If he is a man of God,

follow him," replied the hermit.--"And how shall we know that?"--"If

he is meek and humble of heart, he bears Christ's yoke; but if he is

violent and proud, he is not of God."--"What sign shall we have of his

humility?"--"If he rises from his seat when you enter the room." Thus

spoke the oracle of Britain: it would have been better to have

consulted the Holy Scriptures.

[54] Ad quendam virum sanctum et prudentam qui apud eos anachoreticam

ducere vitam solebat, consulentes an ad prædicationem Augustini suas

deserere traditiones deberent. (Beda, Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. cap. ii.)

They took counsel of a certain holy and wise man who led among them

the life of a hermit, whether at the preaching of Augustine they ought

to abandon their own traditions.

But humility is not a virtue that flourishes among Romish pontiffs and

legates: they love to remain seated while others court and worship

them. The British bishops entered the council-hall, and the

archbishop, desirous of indicating his superiority, proudly kept his

seat.[55] Astonished at this sight, the Britons would hear no more of

the authority of Rome. For the third time they said No--they knew _no

other master but Christ_. Augustine, who expected to see these bishops

prostrate their churches at his feet, was surprised and indignant. He

had reckoned on the immediate submission of Britain, and the pope had

now to learn that his missionary had deceived him.... Animated by that

insolent spirit which is found too often in the ministers of the

Romish church, Augustine exclaimed: "If you will not receive brethren

who bring you peace, you shall receive enemies who will bring you war.

If you will not unite with us in showing the Saxons the way of life,

you shall receive from them the stroke of death."[56] Having thus

spoken, the haughty archbishop withdrew, and occupied his last days in

preparing the accomplishment of his ill-omened prophecy.[57] Argument

had failed: now for the sword!

[55] Factumque est ut venientibus illis sederet Augustinus in sella.

Ibid.

[56] Si pacem cum fructibus accipere nollent, bellum ab hostibus

forent accepturi ... Ibid.

[57] Ipsum Augustinum hujus belli non modo conscium sed et

_impulsorem_ exstitisse. Wilkins adds, that the expression found in

Bede, concerning the death of Augustine, is a parenthesis foisted in

by Romanist writers, and not found in the Saxon manuscripts. (Conc.

Brit. p. 26.) Augustine himself was not only accessory to that war,

but he was even its instigator.

[Sidenote: MASSACRE.]

Shortly after the death of Augustine, Edelfrid, one of the Anglo-Saxon

kings, and who was still a heathen, collected a numerous army, and

advanced towards Bangor, the centre of British Christianity. Alarm

spread through those feeble churches. They wept and prayed. The sword

of Edelfrid drew nearer. To whom can they apply, or where shall they

find help? The magnitude of the danger seemed to recall the Britons to

their pristine piety: not to men, but to the Lord himself will they

turn their thoughts. Twelve hundred and fifty servants of the living

God, calling to mind what are the arms of Christian warfare, after

preparing themselves by fasting, met together in a retired spot to

send up their prayers to God.[58] A British chief, named Brocmail,

moved by tender compassion, stationed himself near them with a few

soldiers; but the cruel Edelfrid, observing from a distance this band

of kneeling Christians, demanded: "Who are these people, and what are

they doing?" On being informed, he added: "They are fighting then

against us, although unarmed;" and immediately he ordered his soldiers

to fall upon the prostrate crowd. Twelve hundred of them were

slain.[59] They prayed and they died. The Saxons forthwith proceeded

to Bangor, the chief seat of Christian learning, and razed it to the

ground. Romanism was triumphant in England. The news of these

massacres filled the country _with weeping and great mourning_; but

the priests of Romish consecration (and the venerable Bede shared

their sentiments) beheld in this cruel slaughter the accomplishment of

the prophecy of the _holy pontiff_ Augustine;[60] and a national

tradition among the Welsh for many ages pointed to him as the

instigator of this cowardly butchery. Thus did Rome loose the savage

Pagan against the primitive church of Britain, and fastened it all

dripping with blood to her triumphal car. A great mystery of iniquity

was accomplishing.

[58] Ad memoratam aciem, peracto jejunio triduano, cum aliis orandi

causa convenerant. (Beda, ii, cap. ii.) At the aforesaid engagement,

after three days had been spent in fasting, they met together with

others for prayer.

[59] Extinctos in ea pugna ferunt de his qui ad orandum venerunt viros

circiter mille ducentos. Beda, lib. ii, cap. ii.

[60] Sic completum est presagium sancti pontificis Augustini. Ibid.

But while the Saxon sword appeared to have swept every thing from

before the papacy, the ground trembled under its feet, and seemed

about to swallow it up. The hierarchical rather than Christian

conversions effected by the priests of Rome were so unreal that a vast

number of neophytes suddenly returned to the worship of their idols.

Eadbald, king of Kent, was himself among the number of apostates. Such

reversions to paganism are not unfrequent in the history of the Romish

missions. The bishops fled into Gaul: Mellitus and Justus had already

reached the continent in safety, and Lawrence, Augustine's successor,

was about to follow them. While lying in the church where he had

desired to pass the night before leaving England, he groaned in spirit

as he saw the work founded by Augustine perishing in his hands. He

saved it by a miracle. The next morning he presented himself before

the king with his clothes all disordered and his body covered with

wounds. "Saint Peter," he said, "appeared to me during the night and

scourged me severely because I was about to forsake his flock."[61]

The _scourge_ was a means of moral persuasion which Peter had

forgotten in his epistles. Did Lawrence cause these blows to be

inflicted by others--or did he inflict them himself--or is the whole

account an idle dream? We should prefer adopting the latter

hypothesis. The superstitious prince, excited at the news of this

supernatural intervention, eagerly acknowledged the authority of the

pope, the vicar of an apostle who so mercilessly scourged those who

had the misfortune to displease him. If the dominion of Rome had then

disappeared from England, it is probable that the Britons, regaining

their courage, and favoured in other respects by the wants which would

have been felt by the Saxons, would have recovered from their defeat,

and would have imparted their free Christianity to their conquerors.

But now the Roman bishop seemed to remain master of England, and the

faith of the Britons to be crushed for ever. But it was not so. A

young man, sprung from the energetic race of the conquerors, was about

to become the champion of truth and liberty, and almost the whole

island to be freed from the Roman yoke.

[61] Apparuit ei beatissimus apostolorum princeps, et multo illum

tempore secretæ noctis flagellis acrioribus afficiens. Beda, ii. cap.

vi.

[Sidenote: OSWALD.]

[Sidenote: OSWALD'S VICTORY--CORMAN.]

Oswald, an Anglo-Saxon prince, son of the heathen and cruel Edelfrid,

had been compelled by family reverses to take refuge in Scotland, when

very young, accompanied by his brother Oswy and several other youthful

chiefs. He had acquired the language of the country, been instructed

in the truths of Holy Writ, converted by the grace of God, and

baptized into the Scottish church.[62] He loved to sit at the feet of

the elders of Iona and listen to their words. They showed him Jesus

Christ going from place to place doing good, and he desired to do so

likewise; they told him that Christ was the only head of the church,

and he promised never to acknowledge any other. Being a single-hearted

generous man, he was especially animated with tender compassion

towards the poor, and would take off his own cloak to cover the

nakedness of one of his brethren. Often, while mingling in the quiet

assemblies of the Scottish Christians, he had desired to go as a

missionary to the Anglo-Saxons. It was not long before he conceived

the bold design of leading the people of Northumberland to the

Saviour; but being a prince as well as a Christian, he determined to

begin by reconquering the throne of his fathers. There was in this

young Englishman the love of a disciple and the courage of a hero. At

the head of an army, small indeed, but strong by faith in Christ,[63]

he entered Northumberland, knelt with his troops in prayer on the

field of battle, and gained a signal victory over a powerful enemy,

634 A. D. To recover the kingdom of his ancestors was only a part of

his task. Oswald desired to give his people the benefits of the true

faith.[64] The Christianity taught in 625 to King Edwin and the

Northumbrians by Pendin of York had disappeared amidst the ravages of

the pagan armies. Oswald requested a missionary from the Scots who had

given him an asylum, and they accordingly sent one of the brethren

named Corman, a pious but uncultivated and austere man. He soon

returned dispirited to Iona: "The people to whom you sent me," he told

the elders of that island, "are so obstinate that we must renounce all

idea of changing their manners." As Aidan, one of their number,

listened to this report, he said to himself: "If thy love had been

offered to this people, oh, my Saviour, many hearts would have been

touched!... I will go and make Thee known--Thee who breaketh not the

bruised reed!" Then, turning to the missionary with a look of mild

reproach, he added: "Brother, you have been too severe towards hearers

so dull of heart. You should have given them spiritual milk to drink

until they were able to receive more solid food." All eyes were fixed

on the man who spoke so wisely. "Aidan is worthy of the episcopate,"

exclaimed the brethren of Iona: and, like Timothy, he was consecrated

by the laying on of the hands of the company of elders.[65]

[62] Cum magna nobilium juventute apud Scotos sive Pictos exulabant,

ibique ad doctrinam Scottorum cathechisati et baptismatis gratia sunt

recreati. (Beda, iii. cap. i.) They were exiled among the Scots or

Picts with many youths of noble rank, and there they were instructed

in the doctrine of the Scots and were converted by the grace of

baptism.

[63] Superveniente cum parvo exercitu, sed fide Christi munito. Beda,

lib. iii, cap. i.

[64] Desiderans totam cui præesse cœpit gentem fidei Christianæ gratia

imbui. (Ibid. cap. iii.) Desiring that the whole nation over which he

ruled might be imbued with the grace of the Christian faith.

[65] Aydanus accepto gradu episcopatus, quo tempore eodem monasterio

Segenius abbas et _presbyter_ præfuit. (Beda, lib. iii, cap. v.) Aidan

having received the dignity of a bishop at the time when Segenius,

abbot and presbyter, presided over that monastery. When Bede tells us

that a plain priest was president, he excludes the idea that there

were bishops in the assembly. See 1 Timothy, iv, 14.

[Sidenote: DEATH OF OSWALD.]

Oswald received Aidan as an angel from heaven, and as the missionary

was ignorant of the Saxon language, the king accompanied him every

where, standing by his side, and interpreting his gentle

discourses.[66] The people crowded joyfully around Oswald, Aidan, and

other missionaries from Scotland and Ireland, listening eagerly to

the _Word of God_.[67] The king preached by his works still more than

by his words. One day during Easter, as he was about to take his seat

at table, he was informed that a crowd of his subjects, driven by

hunger, had collected before his palace gates. Instantly he ordered

the food prepared for himself to be carried out and distributed among

them; and taking the silver vessels which stood before him, he broke

them in pieces and commanded his servants to divide them among the

poor. He also introduced the knowledge of the Saviour to the people of

Wessex, whither he had gone to marry the king's daughter; and after a

reign of nine years, he died at the head of his army while repelling

an invasion of the idolatrous Mercians, headed by the cruel Penda (5th

August, 642 A. D.) As he fell he exclaimed: "Lord, have mercy on the

souls of my people!" This youthful prince has left a name dear to the

churches of Great Britain.

[66] Evangelisante antistite, ipse Rex suis ducibus ac ministris

interpres verbi existeret cœlestis. (Beda, lib. iii, cap. iii.) When

the bishop was preaching, the king himself interpreted the heavenly

message to his officers and servants.

[67] Confluebant _ad audiendum verbum Dei_ populi gaudentes. (Beda,

lib. iii, cap. iii.) The people eagerly flocked together to hear the

word of God.

His death did not interrupt the labours of the missionaries. Their

meekness and the recollection of Oswald endeared them to all. As soon

as the villagers caught sight of one on the high-road, they would

throng round him, begging him to teach them the _Word of life_.[68]

The faith which the terrible Edelfrid thought he had washed away in

the blood of the worshippers of God, was re-appearing in every

direction; and Rome, which once already in the days of Honorius had

been forced to leave Britain, might be perhaps a second time compelled

to flee to its ships from before the face of a people who asserted

their liberty.

[68] Mox congregati in unum vicani, _verbum vitæ_ ab illo expetere

curabant. (Beda, lib. iii, cap. xxvi.) Presently the villagers flocked

together earnestly desiring to hear from him the word of life.

CHAPTER III.

Character of Oswy--Death of Aidan--Wilfrid at Rome--At

Oswald's Court--Finan and Colman--Independence of the Church

attacked--Oswy's Conquests and Troubles--_Synodus

Pharensis_--Cedda--Degeneration--The Disputation--Peter, the

Gatekeeper--Triumph of Rome--Grief of the Britons--Popedom

organized in England--Papal Exultation--Archbishop

Theodore--Cedda re-ordained--Discord in the Church--Disgrace

and Treachery of Wilfrid--His end--Scotland

attacked--Adamnan--Iona resists--A King converted by

Architects--The Monk Egbert at Iona--His History--Monkish

Visions--Fall of Iona.

[Sidenote: CHARACTER OF OSWY.]

Then up rose the papacy. If victory remained with the Britons, their

church, becoming entirely free, might even in these early times head a

strong opposition against the papal monarchy. If, on the contrary, the

last champions of liberty are defeated, centuries of slavery awaited

the Christian church. We shall have to witness the struggle that took

place erelong in the very palace of the Northumbrian kings.

Oswald was succeeded by his brother Oswy, a prince instructed in the

free doctrine of the Britons, but whose religion was all external. His

heart overflowed with ambition, and he shrank from no crime that might

increase his power. The throne of Deira was filled by his relative

Oswin, an amiable king, much beloved by his people. Oswy, conceiving a

deadly jealousy towards him, marched against him at the head of an

army, and Oswin, desirous of avoiding bloodshed, took shelter with a

chief whom he had loaded with favours. But the latter offered to lead

Oswy's soldiers to his hiding-place; and at dead of night the fugitive

king was basely assassinated, one only of his servants fighting in his

defence. The gentle Aidan died of sorrow at his cruel fate.[69] Such

was the first exploit of that monarch who surrendered England to the

papacy. Various circumstances tended to draw Oswy nearer Rome. He

looked upon the Christian religion as a means of combining the

Christian princes against the heathen Penda, and such a religion, in

which expediency predominated, was not very unlike popery. And

further, Oswy's wife, the proud Eanfeld, was of the Romish communion.

The private chaplain of this bigoted princess was a priest named

Romanus, a man worthy of the name. He zealously maintained the rites

of the Latin church, and accordingly the festival of Easter was

celebrated at court twice in the year; for while the king, following

the eastern rule, was joyfully commemorating the resurrection of our

Lord, the queen, who adopted the Roman ritual, was keeping Palm Sunday

with fasting and humiliation.[70] Eanfeld and Romanus would often

converse together on the means of winning over Northumberland to the

papacy. But the first step was to increase the number of its

partizans, and the opportunity soon occurred.

[69] Aydanus duodecimo post occisionem regis quem amabat die, de

seculo ablatus. (Beda, lib. iii, cap. xiv.) Aidan on his twelfth day

after the death of the king whom he loved, was taken out of the world.

[70] Cum rex pascha dominicum solutis jejuniis faceret, tunc regina

cum suis persistens adhuc in jejunio diem l'almarum celebraret. (Beda,

lib. iii, cap. xxv.) When the king having ended the time of fasting,

was keeping Easter, the queen with her attendants still fasting, was

celebrating Palm Sunday.

[Sidenote: WILFRID AT ROME.]

A young Northumbrian, named Wilfrid, was one day admitted to an

audience of the queen. He was a comely man, of extensive knowledge,

keen wit, and enterprising character, of indefatigible activity, and

insatiable ambition.[71] In this interview he remarked to Eanfeld:

"The way which the Scotch teach us is not perfect; I will go to Rome

and learn in the very temples of the apostles." She approved of his

project, and with her assistance and directions he set out for Italy.

Alas! he was destined at no very distant day to chain the whole

British church to the Roman see. After a short stay at Lyons, where

the bishop, delighted at his talents, would have desired to keep him,

he arrived at Rome, and immediately became on the most friendly

footing with archdeacon Boniface, the pope's favourite councillor. He

soon discovered that the priests of France and Italy possessed more

power both in ecclesiastical and secular matters than the humble

missionaries of Iona; and his thirst for honours was inflamed at the

court of the pontiffs. If he should succeed in making England submit

to the papacy, there was no dignity to which he might not aspire.

Henceforward this was his only thought, and he had hardly returned to

Northumberland before Eanfeld eagerly summoned him to court. A

fanatical queen, from whom he might hope every thing--a king with no

religious convictions, and enslaved by political interests--a pious

and zealous prince, Alfred, the king's son, who was desirous of

imitating his noble uncle Oswald, and converting the pagans, but who

had neither the discernment nor the piety of the illustrious disciple

of Iona: such were the materials Wilfrid had to work upon. He saw

clearly that if Rome had gained her first victory by the sword of

Edelfrid, she could only expect to gain a second by craft and

management. He came to an understanding on the subject with the queen

and Romanus, and having been placed about the person of the young

prince, by adroit flattery he soon gained over Alfred's mind. Then

finding himself secure of two members of the royal family, he turned

all his attention to Oswy.

[71] Acris erat ingenii.....gratia venusti vultus, alacritate

actionis. Beda, lib. v, p. 135.

[Sidenote: AND AT OSWY'S COURT.]

The elders of Iona could not shut their eyes to the dangers which

threatened Northumberland. They had sent Finan to supply Aidan's

place, and this bishop, consecrated by the presbyters of Iona, had

witnessed the progress of popery at the court; at first humble and

inoffensive, and then increasing year by year in ambition and

audacity. He had openly opposed the pontiff's agents, and his frequent

contests had confirmed him in the truth.[72] He was dead, and the

presbyters of the Western Isles, seeing more clearly than ever the

wants of Northumbria, had sent thither bishop Colman, a simple-minded,

but stout-hearted man,--one determined to oppose a front of adamant to

the wiles of the seducers.

[72] Apertum veritatis adversarium reddidit, says the Romanist Bede,

lib. v. p. 135. Had rendered him an open enemy of the truth.

Yet Eanfeld, Wilfrid, and Romanus were skilfully digging the mine that

was to destroy the apostolic church of Britain. At first Wilfrid

prepared his attack by adroit insinuations; and next declared himself

openly in the king's presence. If Oswy withdrew into his domestic

circle, he there found the bigoted Eanfeld, who zealously continued

the work of the Roman missionary. No opportunities were neglected: in

the midst of the diversions of the court, at table, and even during

the chase, discussions were perpetually raised on the controverted

doctrines. Men's minds became excited: the Romanists already assumed

the air of conquerors; and the Britons often withdrew full of anxiety

and fear. The king, placed between his wife and his faith, and wearied

by these disputes, inclined first to one side, and then to the other,

as if he would soon fall altogether.

[Sidenote: SYNODUS PHARENSIS.]

The papacy had more powerful motives than ever for coveting

Northumberland. Oswy had not only usurped the throne of Deira, but

after the death of the cruel Penda, who fell in battle in 654, he had

conquered his states with the exception of a portion governed by his

son-in-law Peada, the son of Penda. But Peada himself having fallen in

a conspiracy said to have been got up by his wife, the daughter of

Oswy, the latter completed the conquest of Mercia, and thus united the

greatest part of England under his sceptre. Kent alone at that time

acknowledged the jurisdiction of Rome: in every other province, free

ministers, protected by the kings of Northumberland, preached the

Gospel. This wonderfully simplified the question. If Rome gained over

Oswy, she would gain England: if she failed, she must sooner or later

leave that island altogether.

This was not all. The blood of Oswyn, the premature death of Aidan,

and other things besides, troubled the king's breast. He desired to

appease the Deity he had offended, and not knowing that _Christ is the

door_, as holy Scripture tells us, he sought among men for a

_doorkeeper_ who would open to him the kingdom of heaven. He was far

from being the last of those kings whom the necessity of expiating

their crimes impelled towards Romish practices. The crafty Wilfrid,

keeping alive both the hopes and fears of the prince, often spoke to

him of Rome, and of the grace to be found there. He thought that the

fruit was ripe, and that now he had only to shake the tree. "We must

have a public disputation, in which the question may be settled once

for all," said the queen and her advisers; "but Rome must take her

part in it with as much pomp as her adversaries. Let us oppose bishop

to bishop." A Saxon bishop named Agilbert, a friend of Wilfrid's, who

had won the affection of the young prince Alfred, was invited by

Eanfeld to the conference, and he arrived in Northumberland attended

by a priest named Agathon. Alas! poor British church, the earthen

vessel is about to be dashed against the vase of iron. Britain must

yield before the invading march of Rome.

On the coast of Yorkshire, at the farther extremity of a quiet bay,

was situated the monastery of Strenæshalh, or Whitby, of which Hilda,

the pious daughter of king Edwin, was abbess. She, too, was desirous

of seeing a termination of the violent disputes which had agitated the

church since Wilfrid's return. On the shores of the North Sea[73] the

struggle was to be decided between Britain and Rome, between the East

and the West, or, as they said then, between Saint John and Saint

Peter. It was not a mere question about Easter, or certain rules of

discipline, but of the great doctrine of the freedom of the church

under Jesus Christ, or its enslavement under the papacy. Rome, ever

domineering, desired for the second time to hold England in its

grasp, not by means of the sword, but by her dogmas. With her usual

cunning she concealed her enormous pretensions under secondary

questions, and many superficial thinkers were deceived by this

manœuvre.

[73] This conference is generally known as the _Synodus Pharensis_

(from _Strenæshalh_, sinus Phari). "Hodie Whitbie dicitur (White bay),

et est villa in Eboracensi littore satis nota" Wilkius, Concii. p. 37,

note.

[Sidenote: CEDDA.]

The meeting took place in the convent of Whitby. The king and his son

entered first; then, on the one side, Colman, with the bishops and

elders of the Britons; and on the other bishop Agilbert, Agathon,

Wilfrid, Romanus, a deacon named James, and several other priests of

the Latin confession. Last of all came Hilda with her attendants,

among whom was an English bishop named Cedda, one of the most active

missionaries of the age.[74] He had at first preached the Gospel in

the midland districts, whence he turned his footsteps towards the

Anglo-Saxons of the East, and after converting a great number of these

pagans, he had returned to Finan, and, although an Englishman, had

received Episcopal consecration from a bishop, who had been himself

ordained by the elders of Iona. Then proceeding westwards, the

indefatigable evangelist founded churches, and appointed elders and

deacons wherever he went.[75] By birth an Englishman, by ordination a

Scotchman, everywhere treated with respect and consideration, he

appeared to be set apart as mediator in this solemn conference. His

intervention could not however, retard the victory of Rome. Alas! the

primitive evangelism had gradually given way to an ecclesiasticism,

coarse and rude in one place, subtle and insinuating in another.

Whenever the priests were called upon to justify certain doctrines or

ceremonies, instead of referring solely to the word of God, that

fountain of all light, they maintained that thus St. James did at

Jerusalem, St. Mark at Alexandria, St. John at Ephesus, or St. Peter

at Rome. They gave the name of _apostolical canons_, to rules which

the apostles had never known. They even went further than this: at

Rome and in the East, ecclesiasticism represented itself to be a law

of God, and from a state of weakness, it thus became a state of sin.

Some marks of this error were already beginning to appear in the

Christianity of the Britons.

[74] Presbyteri Cedda et Adda et Berti Duina, quorum ultimus natione

Scotus, cæteri fuere Angli. (Beda, lib. iii, cap. xxi) These

presbyters were Cedda and Adda and Berti and Dinna, of whom the last

was by nation a Scot, the rest were English.

[75] Qui accepto gradu episcopatus et majore auctoritate cœptum opus

explens, fecit per loca ecclesias, presbyteros et diaconos ordinavit.

(Beda, lib. iii, cap. xxii.) Who having received the episcopal dignity

and pursuing the work he had begun with more ample authority, built

churches in various places, and ordained presbyters and deacons.

[Sidenote: THE DISPUTATION.]

King Oswy was the first to speak: "As servants of one and the same

God, we hope all to enjoy the same inheritance in heaven; why then

should we not have the same rule of life here below? Let us inquire

which is the true one, and follow it."... "Those who sent me hither as

bishop," said Colman, "and who gave me the rule which I observe, are

the beloved of God. Let us beware how we despise their teaching, for

it is the teaching of Columba, of the blessed evangelist John,[76] and

of the churches over which that apostle presided."

[76] Ipsum est quod beatus evangelista Johannes, discipulus

specialiter Domino dilectus. Beda, lib. iii. cap. xxv.

"As for us," boldly rejoined Wilfrid, for to him as to the most

skilful had bishop Agilbert intrusted the defence of their cause, "our

custom is that of Rome, where the holy apostles Peter and Paul taught;

we found it in Italy and Gaul, nay, it is spread over every nation.

Shall the Picts and Britons, cast on these two islands, on the very

confines of the ocean, dare to contend against the whole world?[77]

However holy your Columba may have been, will you prefer him to the

prince of the apostles, to whom Christ said, _Thou art Peter, and I

will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven_?"

[77] Pictos dico ac Brittones, cum quibus de duabus ultimis oceani

insulis, contra totum orbem stulto labore pugnant. Ibid.

[Sidenote: SORROW OF THE BRITONS.]

Wilfrid spoke with animation, and his words being skilfully adapted to

his audience, began to make them waver. He had artfully substituted

Columba for the apostle John, from whom the British church claimed

descent, and opposed to Saint Peter a plain elder of Iona. Oswy, whose

idol was power, could not hesitate between paltry bishops and that

pope of Rome who commanded the whole world. Already imagining he saw

Peter at the gates of paradise, with the keys in his hand, he

exclaimed with emotion: "Is it true, Colman, that these words were

addressed by our Lord to Saint Peter?" "It is true." "Can you prove

that similar powers were given to your Columba?" The bishop replied

"We cannot;" but he might have told the king: "John, whose doctrine we

follow, and indeed every disciple, has received in the same sense as

St. Peter the power to remit sins, to bind and to loose on earth and

in heaven."[78] But the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures was fading

away in Iona, and the unsuspecting Colman had not observed Wilfrid's

stratagem in substituting Columba for Saint John. Upon this Oswy,

delighted to yield to the continual solicitations of the queen, and

above all, to find some one who would admit him into the kingdom of

heaven, exclaimed: "Peter is the doorkeeper, I will obey him, lest

when I appear at the gate there should be no one to open it to

me."[79] The spectators, carried away by this royal confession,

hastened to give in their submission to the vicar of St. Peter.

[78] John xx 23; Matth. xviii. 18.

[79] Ne forte me adveniente ad fores regni cœlorum, non sit qui

reserat. Beda. lib. ii. cap. xxv.

Thus did Rome Triumph at the Whitby conference. Oswy forgot that the

Lord had said: _I am he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and

shutteth, and no man openeth_.[80] It was by ascribing to Peter the

servant, what belongs to Jesus Christ the master, that the papacy

reduced Britain. Oswy stretched out his hands, Rome riveted the

chains, and the liberty which Oswald had given his church seemed at

the last gasp.

[80] John x, 9; Rev. iii, 7.

Colman saw with grief and consternation Oswy and his subjects bending

their knees before the foreign priests. He did not, however, despair

of the ultimate triumph of the truth. The apostolic faith could still

find shelter in the old sanctuaries of the British church in Scotland

and Ireland. Immovable in the doctrine he had received, and resolute

to uphold Christian liberty, Colman withdrew with those who would not

bend beneath the yoke of Rome, and returned to Scotland. Thirty

Anglo-Saxons, and a great number of Britons, shook off the dust of

their feet against the tents of the Romish priests. The hatred of

popery became more intense day by day among the remainder of the

Britons. Determined to repel its erroneous dogmas and its illegitimate

dominion, they maintained their communion with the Eastern Church,

which was more ancient than that of Rome. They shuddered as they saw

the red dragon of the Celts gradually retiring towards the western sea

from before the white dragon of the Saxons. They ascribed their

misfortunes to a horrible conspiracy planned by the iniquitous

ambition of the foreign monks, and the bards in their chants cursed

the negligent ministers who defended not the flock of the Lord against

the wolves of Rome.[81] But vain were the lamentations!

[81] Horæ Britannicæ, b. ii, p. 277.

[Sidenote: PAPACY ORGANIZED IN BRITAIN.]

The Romish priests, aided by the queen, lost no time. Wilfrid, whom

Oswy desired to reward for his triumph, was named bishop of

Northumberland, and he immediately visited Paris to receive episcopal

consecration in due form. He soon returned, and proceeded with

singular activity to establish the Romish doctrine in all the

churches.[82] Bishop of a diocese extending from Edinburgh to

Northampton, enriched with the goods which had belonged to divers

monasteries, surrounded by a numerous train, served upon gold and

silver plate, Wilfrid congratulated himself on having espoused the

cause of the papacy; he offended every one who approached him by his

insolence, and taught England how wide was the difference between the

humble ministers of Iona and a Romish priest. At the same time Oswy,

coming to an understanding with the king of Kent, sent another priest

named Wighard to Rome to learn the pope's intentions respecting the

church in England, and to receive consecration as archbishop of

Canterbury. There was no episcopal ordination in England worthy of a

priest! In the meanwhile Oswy, with all the zeal of a new convert,

ceased not to repeat that "the Roman Church was the Catholic and

apostolic church," and thought night and day on the means of

converting his subjects, hoping thus (says a pope) to redeem his own

soul.[83]

[82] Ipse perplura catholicæ observationis moderamina ecclesiis

Anglorum sua doctrina contulit. (Beda, lib. iii, cap. xxvlii) He by

his doctrine brought into the churches of England many rules of

catholic observance.

[83] Omnes subjectos suos meditatur die ac nocte ad fidem catholicam

atque apostolicam pro suæ animæ redemptione converti. (Beda, lib. iii,

cap. xxix.) He studies day and night that all his subjects may be

converted to the catholic and apostolic faith, for the salvation of

his own soul.

The arrival of this news at Rome created a great sensation. Vitalian,

who then filled the episcopal chair, and was as insolent to his

bishops as he was fawning and servile to the emperor, exclaimed with

transport: "Who would not be overjoyed![84] a king converted to the

true apostolic faith, a people that believes at last in Christ the

Almighty God!" For many long years this people had believed in Christ,

but they were now beginning to believe in the pope, and the pope will

soon make them forget Jesus the Saviour. Vitalian wrote to Oswy, and

sent him--not copies of the Holy Scriptures (which were already

becoming scarce at Rome), but--relics of the Saints Peter, John,

Lawrence, Gregory, and Pancratius; and being in an especial manner

desirous of rewarding Queen Eanfeld, to whom with Wilfrid belonged the

glory of this work, he offered her a cross, made, as he assured her,

out of the chains of St. Peter and St. Paul.[85] "Delay not," said the

pope in conclusion, "to reduce all your island under Jesus Christ," or

in other words, under the bishop of Rome.

[84] Quis enim audiens hæc suavia non lætetur? Ibid.

[85] Conjugi, nostræ spirituali filiæ, crucem...... (Beda, lib. iii.

cap. xxix.) To your consort, our spiritual daughter, a cross.....

The essential thing, however, was to send an archbishop from Rome to

Britain; but Wighard was dead, and no one seemed willing to undertake

so long a journey.[86]

[86] Minime voluimus nunc reperire pro longinquitate itineris. (Ibid.)

On account of the length of the journey, we have not been able to

find...

[Sidenote: ARCHBISHOP THEODORE]

There was not much zeal in the city, of the pontiffs: and the pope was

compelled to look out for a stranger. There happened at that time to

be in Rome a man of great reputation for learning, who had come from

the east, and adopted the rites and doctrines of the Latins in

exchange for the knowledge he had brought them. He was pointed out to

Vitalian as well qualified to be the metropolitan of England.

Theodore, for such was his name, belonging by birth to the churches of

Asia Minor, would be listened to by the Britons in preference to any

other, when he solicited them to abandon their oriental customs. The

Roman pontiff, however, fearful perhaps that he might yet entertain

some leaven of his former Greek doctrines, gave him as companion, or

rather as overseer, a zealous African monk named Adrian.[87]

[87] Ut diligenter attenderet, ne quid ille contrarium veritati,

fidei. Græcorum more, in ecclesiam cui præesset introduceret. (Beda,

lib. iv. cap. i.) That he should constantly attend him, lest after the

manner of the Greeks, he should introduce any thing contrary to the

true faith into the church over which he presided.

Theodore began the great crusade against British Christianity, and

endeavouring to show the sincerity of his conversion by his zeal, he

traversed all England in company with Adrian,[88] every where imposing

on the people that ecclesiastical supremacy to which Rome is indebted

for her political supremacy. The superiority of character which

distinguished Saint Peter, Theodore transformed into a superiority of

office. For the jurisdiction of Christ and his word, he substituted

that of the bishop of Rome and of his decrees. He insisted on the

necessity of ordination by bishops who, in an unbroken chain, could

trace back their authority to the apostles themselves. The British

still maintained the validity of their consecration; but the number

was small of those who understood that pretended successors of the

apostles, who sometimes carry Satan in their hearts, are not true

ministers of Christ; that the one thing needful for the church is,

that the apostles themselves (and not their successors only) should

dwell in its bosom by their word, by their teaching, and by the Divine

Comforter who shall be with it for ever and ever.

[88] Peragrata insula tota, rectum vivendi ordinem disseminabat.

(Ibid. cap. ii.) He visited the whole island, and taught the right

rule of life.

[Sidenote: DISCORD IN THE CHURCH.]

The grand defection now began: the best were sometimes the first to

yield. When Theodore met Cedda, who had been consecrated by a bishop

who had himself received ordination from the elders of Iona, he said

to him: "You have not been regularly ordained." Cedda, instead of

standing up boldly for the truth, gave way to a carnal modesty, and

replied: "I never thought myself worthy of the episcopate, and am

ready to lay it down."--"No," said Theodore, "you shall remain a

bishop, but I will consecrate you anew according to the catholic

ritual."[89] The British minister submitted. Rome triumphant felt

herself strong enough to deny the imposition of hands of the elders of

Iona, which she had hitherto recognised. The most stedfast believers

took refuge in Scotland.

[89] Cum Ceadda Episcopum argueret non fuisse rite consecratum, ipse

(Theodorus) ordinationem, ejus denuo catholica ratione consummavit.

(Beda, lib. iv. cap. ii.) When he charged Cedda with not being a

regularly ordained bishop, he (Theodore) himself completed his

ordination after the catholic manner.

In this manner a church in some respects deficient, but still a church

in which the religious element held the foremost place, was succeeded

by another in which the clerical element predominated. This was soon

apparent: questions of authority and precedence, hitherto unknown

among the British Christians, were now of daily occurrence. Wilfrid,

who had fixed his residence at York, thought that no one deserved

better than he to be primate of all England; and Theodore on his part

was irritated at the haughty tone assumed by this bishop. During the

life of Oswy, peace was maintained, for Wilfrid was his favourite; but

ere long that prince fell ill; and, terrified by the near approach of

death, he vowed that if he recovered he would make a pilgrimage to

Rome and there end his days.[90] "If you will be my guide to the city

of the apostles," he said to Wilfrid, "I will give you a large sum of

money." But his vow was of no avail: Oswy died in the spring of the

year 670 A.D.

[90] Ut si ab infirmitate salvaretur, etiam Romam venire, ibique ad

loca sancta vitam finire. Beda, lib. iv. cap. ii.

[Sidenote: WILFRED'S DISGRACE AND END.]

The _Witan_ set aside Prince Alfred, and raised his youngest brother

Egfrid to the throne. The new monarch, who had often been offended by

Wilfrid's insolence, denounced this haughty prelate to the archbishop.

Nothing could be more agreeable to Theodore. He assembled a council at

Hertford, before which the chief of his converts were first summoned,

and presenting to them, not the holy scripture but the _canons of the

Romish church_,[91] he received their solemn oaths: such was the

religion then taught in England. But this was not all. "The diocese of

our brother Wilfrid is so extensive," said the primate, "that there is

room in it for four bishops." They were appointed accordingly. Wilfrid

indignantly appealed from the primate and the king to the pope. "Who

converted England, who, if not I? ... and it is thus I am

rewarded!"... Not allowing himself to be checked by the difficulties

of the journey, he set out for Rome, attended by a few monks, and Pope

Agathon assembling a council (679), the Englishman presented his

complaint, and the pontiff declared the destitution to be illegal.

Wilfrid immediately returned to England, and haughtily presented the

pope's decree to the king. But Egfrid, who was not of a disposition to

tolerate these transalpine manners, far from restoring the see, cast

the prelate into prison, and did not release him until the end of the

year, and then only on condition that he would immediately quit

Northumbria.

[91] Quibus statim protuli eundem librum canonum. (Ibid. cap. v.) To

whom I straightway presented the same book of canons.

Wilfrid--for we must follow even to the end of his life that

remarkable man, who exercised so great an influence over the destinies

of the English church--Wilfrid was determined to be a bishop at any

cost. The kingdom of Sussex was still pagan; and the deposed prelate,

whose indefatigable activity we cannot but acknowledge, formed the

resolution of winning a bishopric, as other men plan the conquest of a

kingdom. He arrived in Sussex during a period of famine, and having

brought with him a number of nets, he taught the people the art of

fishing, and thus gained their affections. Their king Edilwalch had

been baptized, his subjects now followed his example, and Wilfrid was

placed at the head of the church. But he soon manifested the

disposition by which he was animated: he furnished supplies of men and

money to Ceadwalla, king of Wessex, and this cruel chieftain made a

fierce inroad into Sussex, laying it waste, and putting to death

Edilwalch, the prelate's benefactor. The career of the turbulent

bishop was not ended. King Egfrid died, and was succeeded by his

brother Alfred, whom Wilfrid had brought up, a prince fond of learning

and religion, and emulous of the glory of his uncle Oswald. The

ambitious Wilfrid hastened to claim his see of York, by acquiescing in

the partition; it was restored to him, and he forthwith began to

plunder others to enrich himself. A council begged him to submit to

the decrees of the church of England; he refused, and having lost the

esteem of the king, his former pupil, he undertook, notwithstanding

his advanced years, a third journey to Rome. Knowing how popes are

won, he threw himself at the pontiff's feet, exclaiming that "the

suppliant bishop Wilfrid, the humble slave of the servant of God,

implored the favour of our most blessed lord, the pope universal." The

bishop could not restore his creature to his see, and the short

remainder of Wilfrid's life was spent in the midst of the riches his

cupidity had so unworthily accumulated.

Yet he had accomplished the task of his life: all England was

subservient to the papacy. The names of _Oswy_ and of _Wilfrid_ should

be inscribed in letters of mourning in the annals of Great Britain.

Posterity has erred in permitting them to sink into oblivion; for they

were two of the most influential and energetic men that ever

flourished in England. Still this very forgetfulness is not wanting in

generosity. The grave in which the liberty of the church lay buried

for nine centuries is the only monument--a mournful one indeed--that

should perpetuate their memory.

[Sidenote: ADAMNAN.]

But Scotland was still free, and to secure the definitive triumph of

Rome, it was necessary to invade that virgin soil, over which the

standard of the faith had floated for so many years.

Adamnan was then at the head of the church of Iona, the first elder of

that religious house. He was virtuous and learned, but weak and

somewhat vain, and his religion had little spirituality. To gain him

was in the eyes of Rome to gain Scotland. A singular circumstance

favoured the plans of those who desired to draw him into the papal

communion. One day during a violent tempest, a ship coming from the

Holy Land, and on board of which was a Gaulish bishop named Arculf,

was wrecked in the neighbourhood of Iona.[92] Arculf eagerly sought an

asylum among the pious inhabitants of that island. Adamnan never grew

tired of hearing the stranger's descriptions of Bethlehem, Jerusalem,

and Golgotha, of the sun-burnt plains over which our Lord had

wandered, and the cleft stone which still lay before the door of the

sepulchre.[93] The elder of Iona, who prided himself on his learning,

noted down Arculf's conversation, and from it composed a description

of the Holy Land. As soon as his book was completed, the desire of

making these wondrous things more widely known, combined with a little

vanity, and perhaps other motives, urged him to visit the court of

Northumberland, where he presented his work to the pious King

Alfred,[94] who, being fond of learning and of the Christian

traditions, caused a number of copies of it to be made.

[92] Vi tempestatis in occidentalia Britanniæ littora delatus est.

Beda, lib. v, cap. xvi.

[93] Lapis qui ad ostium monumenti positus erat, fissus est. (Ibid.

cap. xvii.) The stone which was laid at the door of the sepulchre is

now cleft in two.

[94] Porrexit autem librum tunc Adamnanus Alfrido regi. Ibid. cap.

xvi.

[Sidenote: RESISTANCE OF IONA.]

Nor was this all: the Romish clergy perceived the advantage they might

derive from this imprudent journey. They crowded round the elder; they

showed him all the pomp of their worship, and said to him: "Will you

and your friends, who live at the very extremity of the world, set

yourselves in opposition to the observances of the universal

church?"[95] The nobles of the court flattered the author's self-love,

and invited him to their festivities, while the king loaded him with

presents. The free presbyter of Britain became a priest of Rome, and

Adamnan returned to Iona to betray his church to his new masters. But

it was all to no purpose: Iona would not give way.[96] He then went to

hide his shame in Ireland, where having brought a few individuals to

the Romish uniformity, he took courage and revisited Scotland. But

that country, still inflexible, repelled him with indignation.[97]

[95] Ne contra universalem ecclesiæ morem, cum suis paucissimis et in

extremo mundi angulo positis, vivere præsumeret. Beda, lib. v, cap.

xvi.

[96] Curavit suos ad eum veritatis calcem producere, nec voluit. Beda,

lib. v. cap. xvi.

[97] Nec tamen perficere quod conabatur posset. Ibid. The conversions

of which abbot Ceolfrid speaks in chap. xxii. are probably those

effected in Ireland, the word Scotia being at this period frequently

applied to that country.

When Rome found herself unable to conquer by the priest, she had

recourse to the prince, and her eyes were turned to Naitam, king of

the Picts. "How much more glorious it would be for you," urged the

Latin priests, "to belong to the powerful church of the universal

pontiff of Rome, than to a congregation superintended by miserable

elders! The Romish church is a monarchy, and ought to be the church of

every monarch. The Roman ceremonial accords with the pomp of royalty,

and its temples are palaces." The prince was convinced by the last

argument. He despatched messengers to Ceolfrid, the abbot of an

English convent, begging him to send him _architects_ capable of

building a church _after the Roman pattern_[98]--of stone and not of

wood. Architects, majestic porches, lofty columns, vaulted roofs,

gilded altars, have often proved the most influential of Rome's

missionaries. The builder's art, though in its earliest and simplest

days, was more powerful than the Bible. Naitam, who, by submitting to

the pope thought himself the equal of Clovis and Clotaire, assembled

the nobles of his court and the pastors of his church, and thus

addressed them: "I recommend all the clergy of my kingdom to receive

the tonsure of Saint Peter."[99] Then without delay (as Bede informs

us) this important revolution was accomplished by royal

authority.[100] He sent agents and letters into every province, and

caused all the ministers and monks to receive the circular tonsure

according to the Roman fashion.[101] It was the mark that popery

stamped, not on the forehead, but on the crown. A royal proclamation

and a few clips of the scissors placed the Scotch, like a flock of

sheep, beneath the crook of the shepherd of the Tiber.

[98] Architectos sibi mitti petiit qui juxta morem Romanorum ecclesiam

facerent. Beda, lib. v. cap. xxii.

[99] Et hanc accipere tonsuram, omnes qui in meo regno sunt clericos

decerno. Ibid.

[100] Nec mora, quæ? dixerat regia auctoritate perfecit. Ibid.

[101] Per universas Pictorum provincias....tondebantur omnes in

coronam ministri altaris ac monachi. (Ibid.) Throughout all the

provinces of the Picts ... all the ministers of the altar and monks

had the crown shorn.

[Sidenote: EGBERT THE MONK AT IONA.]

Iona still held out. The orders of the Pictish king, the example of

his subjects, the sight of that Italian power which was devouring the

earth, had shaken some few minds; but the Church still resisted the

innovation. Iona was the last citadel of liberty in the western

world, and popery was filled with anger at that miserable band which

in its remote corner refused to bend before it. Human means appeared

insufficient to conquer this rock: something more was needed, visions

and miracles for example; and these Rome always finds when she wants

them. One day towards the end of the seventh century, an English monk,

named Egbert, arriving from Ireland, appeared before the elders of

Iona, who received him with their accustomed hospitality. He was a man

in whom enthusiastic devotion was combined with great gentleness of

heart, and he soon won upon the minds of these simple believers. He

spoke to them of an external unity, urging that a universality

manifested under different forms was unsuited to the church of Christ.

He advocated the special form of Rome, and for the truly catholic

element which the Christians of Iona had thus far possessed,

substituted a sectarian element. He attacked the traditions of the

British church,[102] and lavishly distributing the rich presents

confided to him by the lords of Ireland and of England,[103] he soon

had reason to acknowledge the truth of the saying of the wise man: _A

gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it:

whithersoever it turneth it prospereth_.

[102] Sedulis exhortationibus inveteratam illam traditionem parentum

eorum. (Beda, lib. v. cap. xxiii.) By his frequent exhortations, he

converted them from that inveterate tradition of their ancestors.

[103] Pietate largiendi de his quæ a divitibus acceperat, multum

profuit. (Ibid. cap. xxvii.) He did much good by the pious

distribution of those gifts which he had received from the rich.

[Sidenote: MONKISH VISIONS.]

Some pious souls, however, still held out in Iona. The enthusiast

Egbert--for such he appears to have been rather than an impostor--had

recourse to other means. He represented himself to be a messenger from

heaven: the saints themselves, said he, have commissioned me to

convert Iona; and then he told the following history to the elders who

stood round him. "About thirty years ago I entered the monastery of

Rathmelfig in Ireland, when a terrible pestilence fell upon it, and of

all the brethren the monk Edelhun and myself were left alone. Attacked

by the plague, and fearing my last hour was come, I rose from my bed

and crept into the chapel.[104] There my whole body trembled at the

recollection of my sins, and my face was bathed with tears. 'O God,' I

exclaimed, 'suffer me not to die until I have redeemed my debt to thee

by an abundance of good works.[105] I returned staggering to the

infirmary, got into bed, and fell asleep. When I awoke, I saw Edelhun

with his eyes fixed on mine. 'Brother Egbert,' said he, 'it has been

revealed to me in a vision that thou shalt receive what thou hast

asked.' On the following night Edelhun died and I recovered.

[104] Cum se existimaret esse moriturum, egressus est tempore matutino

de cubiculo, et residens solus..... Beda, lib. iii. cap. xxvii.

[105] Precabatur ne adhuc mori deberet priusquam vel præteritas

negligentias perfectim ex tempore castigaret, vel in bonis es operibus

abundantius exerceret. Ibid.

"Many years passed away: my repentance and my vigils did not satisfy

me, and wishing to pay my debt, I resolved to go with a company of

monks and preach the blessings of the gospel to the heathens of

Germany. But during the night a blessed saint from heaven appeared to

one of the brethren and said: 'Tell Egbert that he must go to the

monasteries of Columba, for their ploughs do not plough straight, and

he must put them into the right furrow.'[106] I forbade this brother

to speak of his vision, and went on board a ship bound for Germany. We

were waiting for a favourable wind, when, of a sudden, in the middle

of the night, a frightful tempest burst upon the vessel, and drove us

on the shoals. 'For my sake this tempest is upon us,' I exclaimed in

terror; 'God speaks to me as He did to Jonah;' and I ran to take

refuge in my cell. At last I determined to obey the command which the

holy man had brought me. I left Ireland, and came among you, in order

to pay my debt by converting you. And now," continued Egbert, "make

answer to the voice of heaven, and submit to Rome."

[106] Quia aratra eorum non recte incedunt; oportet autem eum ad

rectum hæc tramitem revocare. Beda, lib. iii. cap. xxvii.

A ship thrown on shore by a storm was a frequent occurrence on those

coasts, and the dream of a monk, absorbed in the plans of his brother,

was nothing very unnatural. But in those times of darkness, everything

appeared miraculous; phantoms and apparitions had more weight than the

word of God. Instead of detecting the emptiness of these visions by

the falseness of the religion they were brought to support, the elders

of Iona listened seriously to Egbert's narrative. The primitive faith

planted on the rock of Icolmkill was now like a pine-tree tossed by

the winds: but one gust, and it would be uprooted and blown into the

sea. Egbert, perceiving the elders to be shaken, redoubled his

prayers, and even had recourse to threats. "All the west," said he,

"bends the knee to Rome: alone against all, what can you do?" The

Scotch still resisted: obscure and unknown, the last British

Christians contended in behalf of expiring liberty. At length

bewildered--they stumbled and fell. The scissors were brought; they

received the Latin tonsure[107]--they were the pope's.

[107] Ad ritum tonsuræ canonicum sub figura coronæ perpetuæ. (Beda,

lib. v. cap. xxiii.) To the canonical rite of the tonsure under the

form of a perpetual crown.

[Sidenote: FALL OF IONA.]

Thus fell Scotland. Yet there still remained some sparks of grace, and

the mountains of Caledonia long concealed the hidden fire which after

many ages burst forth with such power and might. Here and there a few

independent spirits were to be found who testified against the tyranny

of Rome. In the time of Bede they might be seen "halting in their

paths," (to use the words of the Romish historian,) refusing to join

in the holidays of the pontifical adherents, and pushing away the

hands that were eager to shave their crowns.[108] But the leaders of

the state and of the church had laid down their arms. The contest was

over, after lasting more than a century. British Christianity had in

some degree prepared its own fall, by substituting too often the form

for the faith. The foreign superstition took advantage of this

weakness, and triumphed in these islands by means of royal decrees,

church ornaments, monkish phantoms, and conventual apparitions. At the

beginning of the eighth century the British Church became the serf of

Rome; but an internal struggle was commencing, which did not cease

until the period of the Reformation.

[108] Sicut a contra Brittones, inveterati et claudicantes a semitis

suis, et capita ferre sine corona prætendunt. (Beda, lib. v, cap.

xxiii.) Even as, on the contrary, the Britons, inveterate and halting

in their paths, expose their heads without a crown.

CHAPTER IV.

Clement--Struggle between a Scotchman and an

Englishman--Word of God only--Clement's Success--His

condemnation--Virgil and the Antipodes--John Scotus and

Philosophical Religion--Alfred and the Bible--Darkness and

Popery--William the Conqueror--Wulston at Edward's

Tomb--Struggle between William and Hildebrand--The Pope

yields--Cæsaropapia.

The independent Christians of Scotland, who subordinated the authority

of man to that of God, were filled with sorrow as they beheld these

back-slidings: and it was this no doubt which induced many to leave

their homes and fight in the very heart of Europe in behalf of that

Christian liberty which had just expired among themselves.

[Sidenote: CLEMENT AND BONIFACE.]

At the commencement of the eighth century a great idea took possession

of a pious doctor of the Scottish church named Clement.[109] The

_work of God_ is the very essence of Christianity, thought he, and

this work must be defended against all the encroachments of man. To

human traditionalism he opposed the sole authority of the word of God;

to clerical materialism, a church which is the assembly of the saints;

and to Pelagianism, the sovereignty of grace. He was a man of decided

character and firm faith, but without fanaticism; his heart was open

to the holiest emotions of our nature; he was a husband and a father.

He quitted Scotland and travelled among the Franks, every where

scattering the seeds of the faith. It happened unfortunately that a

man of kindred energy, Winifrid or Boniface of Wessex, was planting

the pontifical Christianity in the same regions. This great

missionary, who possessed in an essential degree the faculty of

organization, aimed at external unity above all things, and when he

had taken the oath of fidelity to Gregory II., he had received from

that pope a collection of the Roman laws. Boniface, henceforth a

docile disciple or rather a fanatical champion of Rome, supported on

the one hand by the pontiff, and on the other by Charles Martel, had

preached to the people of Germany, among some undoubted Christian

truths,--the doctrine of tithes and of papal supremacy. The Englishman

and the Scotchman, representatives of two great systems, were about to

engage in deadly combat in the heart of Europe--in a combat whose

consequences might be incalculable.

[109] Alter qui dicitur Clemens, genere _Scotus_ est. Bonifacii

epistola ad Papam, Labbei concilia ad ann. 745.

[Sidenote: CLEMENT'S SUCCESS.]

Alarmed at the progress made by Clement's evangelical doctrines,

Boniface, archbishop of the German churches, undertook to oppose them.

At first he confronted the Scotchman with the laws of the Roman

church; but the latter denied the authority of these ecclesiastical

canons, and refuted their contents.[110] Boniface then put forward the

decisions of various councils; but Clement replied that if the

decisions of the councils are contrary to holy Scripture, they have no

authority over Christians.[111] The archbishop, astonished at such

audacity, next had recourse to the writings of the most illustrious

fathers of the Latin church, quoting Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory;

but the Scotchman told him, that instead of submitting to the word of

men, he would obey the word of God alone.[112] Boniface with

indignation now introduced the Catholic church which, by its priests

and bishops, all united to the pope, forms an invincible unity; but

to his great surprise his opponent maintained that there only, where

the Holy Spirit dwells, can be found the spouse of Jesus Christ.[113]

Vainly did the archbishop express his horror; Clement was not to be

turned aside from his great idea, either by the clamours of the

followers of Rome, or by the imprudent attacks made on the papacy by

other Christian ministers. Rome had, indeed, other adversaries. A

Gallic bishop named Adalbert, with whom Boniface affected to associate

Clement, one day saw the archbishop complacently exhibiting to the

people some relics of St. Peter which he had brought from Rome; and

being desirous of showing the ridiculous character of these Romish

practices, he distributed among the bystanders his own hair and nails,

praying them to pay these the same honours as Boniface claimed for the

relics of the papacy. Clement smiled, like many others, at Adalbert's

singular argument; but it was not with such arms that he was wont to

fight. Gifted with profound discernment, he had remarked that the

authority of man substituted for the authority of God was the source

of all the errors of Romanism. At the same time he maintained on

predestination what the archbishop called "horrible doctrines,

contrary to the Catholic faith."[114] Clement's character inclines us

to believe that he was favourable to the doctrine of predestination. A

century later the pious Gottschalk was persecuted by one of Boniface's

successors for holding this very doctrine of Augustine's. Thus then

did a Scotchman, the representative of the ancient faith of his

country, withstand almost unaided in the centre of Europe the invasion

of the Romans. But he was not long alone: the great especially, more

enlightened than the common people, thronged around him. If Clement

had succeeded, a Christian church would have been founded on the

continent independent of the papacy.

[110] Canones ecclesiarum Christi abnegat et refutat. Ibid.

[111] Synodalia jura spernens. Ibid.

[112] Tractatus et sermones sanctorum patrum, Hieronymi, Augustini,

Gregorii recusat. Ibid.

[113] Clemens contra catholicam contendit ecclesiam. Bonifacii

epistola ad Papam, Labbei concilia ad ann. 745.

[114] Multa alia horribilia de prædestinatione Dei, contraria fidei

catholicæ affirmat. Ibid.

Boniface was confounded. He wished to do in central Europe what his

fellow-countryman Wilfrid had done in England; and at the very moment

he fancied he was advancing from triumph to triumph, victory escaped

from his hands. He turned against this new enemy, and applying to

Charles Martel's sons, Pepin and Carloman, he obtained their consent

to the assembling of a council before which he summoned Clement to

appear.

[Sidenote: CLEMENT CONDEMNED.]

The bishops, counts, and other notabilities having met at Soissons on

the 2nd March 744, Boniface accused the Scotchman of despising the

laws of Rome, the councils, and the fathers; attacked his marriage,

which he called an adulterous union, and called in question some

secondary points of doctrine. Clement was accordingly excommunicated

by Boniface, at once his adversary, accuser, and judge, and thrown

into prison, with the approbation of the pope and the king of the

Franks.[115]

[115] Sacerdotio privans, reduci facit in custodiam. Concilium

Romanum. Bonifacii epistola ad Papam, Labbei concilia ad ann. 745.

The Scotchman's cause was every where taken up; accusations were

brought against the German primate, his persecuting spirit was

severely condemned, and his exertions for the triumph of the papacy

were resisted.[116] Carloman yielded to this unanimous movement. The

prison doors were opened, and Clement had hardly crossed the threshold

before he began to protest boldly against human authority in matters

of faith: the word of God is the only rule. Upon this Boniface applied

to Rome for the heretic's condemnation, and accompanied his request by

a silver cup and a garment of delicate texture.[117] The pope decided

in synod that if Clement did not retract his errors, he should be

delivered up to everlasting damnation, and then requested Boniface to

send him to Rome under a sure guard. We here lose all traces of the

Scotchman, but it is easy to conjecture what must have been his fate.

[116] Propter ista enim, persecutiones et inimicitias et maledictiones

multorum populorum patior. (Ibid.) For on account of these things, I

suffer the persecution and hatred and maledictions of multitudes.

[117] Poculum argenteum et sindonem unam. Gemuli Ep. Ibid.

Clement was not the only Briton who became distinguished in this

contest. Two fellow-countrymen, Sampson and Virgil, who preached in

central Europe, were in like manner persecuted by the Church of Rome.

Virgil, anticipating Galileo, dared maintain that there were other men

and another world beneath our feet.[118] He was denounced by Boniface

for this _heresy_, and condemned by the pope, as were other Britons

for the apostolical simplicity of their lives. In 813, certain

Scotchmen who called themselves bishops, says a canon, having appeared

before a council of the Roman church at Châlons, were rejected by the

French prelates, because, like St. Paul, _they worked with their own

hands_. Those enlightened and faithful men were superior to their

time: Boniface and his ecclesiastical materialism were better fitted

for an age in which clerical forms were regarded as the substance of

religion.

[118] Perversa doctrina......quod alius mundus et alii homines sub

terra sint. (Zachariæ papæ Ep. ad Bonif. Labbei concilia, vi. p. 152.)

A heretical doctrine.....that there is another world and other men

under the earth.

[Sidenote: DUNS SCOTUS.]

Even Great Britain, although its light was not so pure, was not

altogether plunged in darkness. The Anglo-Saxons imprinted on their

church certain characteristics which distinguished it from that of

Rome; several books of the Bible were translated into their tongue,

and daring spirits on the one hand, with some pious souls on the

other, laboured in a direction hostile to popery.