^P.lf.b-U Srom t^e fet6rarg of (|)rofe6Bor Wtfftdm J^^^^ (Breen QSequeat^b fig ^im to f^e feifirari? of (Princeton C^eofogtcaf ^eminarj? V, 3 THE HISTORY CHURCH OF CHRIST. VOLUME THE THIRD. CONTAINING THE SIXTH, SEVENTH, EIGHTH, NINTH, TENTH, ELEVENTH, AND TWELFTH, CENTURIES. TO WHICH IS ADDED, THE HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES TO THE REFORMATION. BY THE REV. JOSEPH MILNER, M. A. Master of the Grammar School in Kingston upon Hull, PUBLISHED BY FARRAXD, MALLORY AND CO. BOSTOX 1809. PREFACE. If the real church historian find it a difficult task, to extract a connected view of his peculiar subject from the ecclesiastical materials of the fourth and fifth cen- turies, that difficulty is multiplied a hundred fold, while he labours through the long and gloomy period, which in the present volume engages his attention. Impressed, however, with the certain truth of the declaration made by the divine author of Christianity, " that the gates of hell shall never prevail against his church," I have endeavoured all along to discover her actual existence. How far I have succeeded, the reader must determine for himself. If the fundamental doc- trines of the gospel have not been exhibited, both as professed in various parts of the world, and as pro- ductive of those fruits of holiness, which are peculiarly christian, my aim has been missed, and the grand de- sign of the whole narration has failed. But I hope the scriptural reader will see the lineaments of the church pervading these dark centuries; provided he divest himself of all partial regards for sects and denomina- tions, ages and countries, and attend exclusively to the marks and evidences of genuine Christianity. This is the right frame of spirit, which the subject before us requires; and it is what I have steadily endeavoured to preserve. Tros Rutulusve fuat, nullo discrimine habebo. In the former part of the volume, Gregory I. of Rome, and the English christians, will be found ob- VoL. III. 2 VI PREFACE. jects deserving our serious attention. Nor should wc be prejudiced against the real church, because she then wore a Roman garb. Undoubtedly she was by this means much defiled with superstition; for that was as much the predominant evil of those times, as profaneness is of our own. The last mentioned evil admits of no coalition with christian holiness; but su- petstition, to a certain degree, may coexist with the spirit of the gospel. When that degree is exceeded, and general idolatry takes place, the system then be- comes too corrupt, to deserve the name of the church of Christ. I have marked this limit to the best of my judgment in the course of this history, have exhibited the MAN OF SIN matured in all his gigantic horrors, and from that epocha I despair of discovering the church in the collective body of nominal christians. Every reader will observe the various features of an- tichrist described in this volume, and some may per- haps be enabled to form a more distinct and adequate conception of the nature of popery, than they had before acquired. Leaving therefore the general church of Rome, after she had ceased entirely to hold the head, I either travel with faithful missionaries into regions of heathenism, and describe the propagation of the gos- pel in scenes altogether new, or dwell with circum- stantial exactness on the lives and writings of some particular individuals, in whom the Spirit of God maintained the power of godliness, while they remain- ed " in Babylon." The former object displays one of the brightest prospects of this whole period, and seems to rebuke the supineness of modern times, in regard to the extension of divine truth among pagan nations: the latter, I trust, will be found to afford matter of christian instruction. The pleasure and benefit, which, as I have repeatedly heard, has been derived from the PREFACE. VU perusal of Augustin's Life and Confessions in the preceding volume, encourage me to expect, that the review of the lives and writings of Ansclm and of Bernard in this, may not be without similar fruit. The history of these seven centuries, as it has hi- therto appeared in our common ecclesiastical narra- tives, it must be confessed, is extremely uninteresting. If I have had some advantages for enlivening and illuminating the scene, let those be ascribed to the peculiar nature of my historical plan. The account of the waldenses, which closes the volume, belongs not to the thirteenth century exclu- sively; it is, however, ascribed to it, because in the course of that century most extraordinary persecutions and conflicts took place among this people, and par- ticularly excited the attention of Europe. It was also judged proper, to give one unbroken narrative of waldensian transactions in ecclesiastical matters, till the time of the reformation. If the reader learn some practical lessons concerning the power, wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness of God, from the review of the events, which lie before him, I shall have reason to rejoice, nor shall I think my la- bour to have been in vain. CONTENTS. CENTURY VI. CHAPTER I. The Life of FiUgentius^ and the State of the African Churches in his time. CHAPTER n. The State of the Church in other Parts of the Roman Emfiire, till the Death of Justin, including' the Life of Ctesarius. CHAPTER HI. The State of the Church during the Reign of Justinian. CHAPTER IV. Miscellaneous Affairs to the End of the Century. CHAPTER V. Gregory the Fir sty Bishop, of Rome. His Pastoral Labours. CHAPTER VI. Gregory's Conduct toward the Emfierors Mauritius and Phocas. CHAPTER VII. Gregory's Conduct with Resfiect to England. CHAPTER VIII. The Works of Gregory. CHAPTER IX. Writers of this Century. CENTURY VII. CHAPTER I. c The English Church, X CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. The Profiagation of the Gosfiel in Germany and its JVeighbourhood. CHAPTER III. The General History of the Church in this Century, CHAPTER IV. Authors of this Century. CENTURY VIII. CHAPTER I. Venerable Bede^ the English Presbyter. CHAPTER II. Miscellaneous Particulars. CHAPTER III. The Controversy on Images. The maturity of Antichrist. CHAPTER IV. The Profiagation of the Gospel in this Century^ including the Life of Boniface^ Archbishop of Mentz. CHAPTER V. Authors of this Century. CENTURY IX. CHAPTER I. A general View of the State of Religion in this Century. CHAPTER II. The PauJicians. CHAPTER III. The Opposition made to the Corruptions of Popery in this Century, particularly by Claudius, Bishop of Turin. CHAPTER IV. The Case of Qotteschalcus. CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER V. The Profiagation of the Gosfiel in this Century. CENTURY X. CHAPTER I. ji general View of the Church in this Century. CHAPTER II. The Profiagation of the Gosfiel in this Century. CHAPTER III. ./in Afiologyfor Christian Missions. CHAPTER IV. Writers and eminent Men in this Century. CENTURY XI. CHAPTER I. ji general View of the Church in this Century. CHAPTER II. The Ofifiosition made to the Errors of Pofiery. CHAPTER III. The Profiagation of the Gosfiel in this Century. CHAPTER IV. The State of the Church in England. CHAPTER V. jinselm. CENTURY XII. CHAPTER I. A general View of the Life of Bernard. CHAPTER II. Bernard's Defence of Evangelical Truth against Melard Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. « Controversies oj" Bernard ivith several other real or supposed Here- tics. Some account of the Cathari. CHAPTER IV. The Writings of Bernard reviewed. CHAPTER V. Death and Character of Bernard, CHAPTER VI. General State of the Church in this Century. CHAPTER VII. The Propagation of the Gos/iel. CHAPTER VIII. Writers and e?ninent Persons in this Century. CENTURY XIII. CHAPTER I. Peter Waldo. CHAPTER II. The real Character of the Waldenses. CHAPTER III. The Doctrine and DiscifiHne of the Waldenses. CHAPTER IV. The Persecutions of the Waldenses. CENTURY VI. CHAP. I. The Life of Fulgentms^ and the State of the African Churches in his Time. IN the year 496, a storm began again to lower over the African Churches. Thrasamond, whose reign then commenced, as obstinate in arianism as Huneric, but more sagacious and less bloody, mingled the arts of gentleness and severity against them. On the one hand he strove to gain over the orthodox by lucrative mo- tives, on the other he forbade the ordination of bishops in the vacant churches.* But P^ugenius, whose faith- fulness had been so severely tried in the former perse- cution, was called to sleep in Jesus before the com- mencement of this. The African bishops showed how- ever that divine grace had not forsaken them. They determined unanimously not to obey an order, which threatened the extinction of orthodoxy. They ordain- ed bishops, and filled the vacant sees, though they foresaw the probability of Thrasamond's resentment. But they thought it their duty to take care of their flocks at this hazard, rather than to seem to consent to the king's unrighteous prohibitions. Thrasamond enraged, determined to banish them all. Fulgentius was just at that time chosen bishop of Ruspae. In him we behold another instance of the effects of the religion revived under Augustine. Fulgentius's life is written by some one of his disciples, and dedicated to Felician, a bishop, who was the successor of Fulgentius. The review of it and of his own works will give us a specimen of the power of divine grace victoriously struggling under ^1 * Sec Fleury, b. xxx. vol. iii. Vol. III. 3 14 the disadvantages of monastic superstition and the childish ignorance of a barbarous age. Fulgentius was descended from a noble family in Carthage, where his father was a senator. His grandfather Gordian, flying from the arms of Huneric, retired into Italy. After his decease, two of his sons, returning into Africa now settled under the Vandal government, found their family mansion possessed by the Arian clergy. By royal authority however they received part of their patrimony, and retired to Constantinople. In that part of the world, at Tellepte, Fulgentius was born, being the son of Claudius one of the brothers, and of Mar- riana, a christian lady, who being soon left a widow gave her son a very liberal education, for which Con- stantinople afforded at that time peculiar advantages; and thus his mind became stored with Greek and Ro- man learning. As he increased in religious serious- ness, he inclined more and more to a monastic life, for which he gradually prepared himself by successive austerities in Africa, the country of his father, to which he returned with his mother. He was received into the monastery of Faustus, a bishop w^hom the Arian persecution had banished from his diocese to a place contiguous to it where he erected his monastery. The spirit and fiishion of the times so transpor- ted him, that, at first, he refused even to see his own mother who came to visit him, though he af- terwards behaved to her with the greatest filial duty. He underwent severe bodily sufferings from the re- newal of the arian persecution. He was beaten with clubs so cruelly, that he confessed afterwards he scarce found himself capable of enduring the pain any longer, and was glad to induce his tormentors by some con- versation to allow an interval to his afflictions. For he seems to have been of a weak and delicate constitution, and the softness of his early education rendered him unfit to bear much hardship. His mind, however, ap- pears to have been serene and faithful to his Saviour, ■whom, in real humility and sincerity, though tarnished with the fashionable superstition, he served according 15 to the fundamentals of the gospel. The arian bishop of Carthage, who had known Fulgentius, and esteemed his character, highly disapproved of this treatment, which he had received from a presbyter of his own religion and diocese, and told the injured youth, that, if he would make a formal complaint before him, he would avenge his cause. Many advising him to do so, "it is not lawful, says Fulgentius, for a christian to seek revenge. The Lord knows how to defend his servants. Should the presbyter through me be punished, I shall lose the reward of my patience with God, and the more so, as it would give an occasion of stumbling to the weak, to see an arian pujiished by a monk." By aixl by he retired into the more interior parts of Africa. Sometime after he sailed to Syracuse, and then visited Rome, and saw there king Theodoric in the midst of a magnificent assembly. If men in this life, seeking vanity, attain such dignity, what will be the glory of saints who seek true honour in the new Jerusalem? this was the reflection. Ruspas in Africa was the place to which Fulgentius, much against his will, was at length elected bishop. But this exaltation lessened not the severity of his w^ay of life: and by the Arian perse- cution he was banished into Sardinia in company with other ftiithful witnesses of orthodoxy. Upwards of sixty bishops were with him in exile. Thrasamond sent more still into Sardinia, in all 220; exerted him- self mightily in overcoming the constancy of the or- thodox, and delighted to insnare them with captious questions. Fulgentius was sent for by him to Carthage, and by his skill in argument, and his readiness in an- swering questions, excited the king's admiration — till through the advice of his Arian clergy, who looked on the presence of Fulgentius as dangerous at Carthage, he was remanded to Sardinia. Soon after, Hilderic, the successor of Thrasamond, in the year 523, favouring tlie orthodox, put a total end to the persecution, and Ruspa; once more beheld her bishop. He lived among his flock from this time to his death» eminent in piety, humility, and charity. For near 16 seventy days he suffered extreme pains in his last sick- ness — '* Lord, give patience here and rest hereafter," was his constant prayer — and he died at length, as he had lived, an edifying example of every christian vir- tue. I feel almost ashamed to have written so barren a life of a man undoubtedly excellent in godliness. But the reader must be content, as well as myself, with the poverty of materials. In an age of learning and genius the life of Fulgentius would have shone abundantly. In his treatise to Morinus on predestination he ob- serves,* " The internal master, from whom we have received the supply of celestial doctrine, not only opens to us, inquiring the secrets of his words, but does also himself inspire the grace to make inquiry. For we cannot so much as hunger after the bread which comes down from heaven, unless an appetite be given to persons before fastidious by him, who deigns also to give himself to satisfy the hungry. From him it is, that thirsting we run to the fountain, who affords to us himself that we may drink." He afterwards expresses himself with great energy " on the internal and sweeter doctrine of divine inspiration, where truth speaks the sweeter, as it is the more secret." I shall not expect of any man, but one who is truly taught of God, to give a candid interpretation of this. " I pray to be taught many more things which I do not know, by him, from whom I have received the little which I do know. I beg by his preventing and following grace to be in- structed,"! &c. In what follows he shows how serious- ly he had made the sentiments of Augustine his own, in discussing points exceeding intricate, with that author's modesty and dexterity, and particularly in re- solving all sin into pride. J In a subject so arduous as Predestination, it is very easy to push men into difficulties. Our au hor ob- serves, (§ that some Frenchmen had objected to Au- gustine, that he had described men as predestinated not only to judgment but also to sin: on which account the learned and holy Prosper defended the sentiments' * Book i. ch. i. t Ch. iv. t Ch. xvii. § Ch. x$S- 17 ot' the African prelate, whose death prevented any an- swer from himself. Prosper says, the unbelief of men is not generated from predestination; for God is the author of good, not of evil. Infidelity is not to be re- ferred to the divine constitution, but only to the divine prescience. Wiih equal dexterity he defends the faith of the Trinity in a book addressed to king Thrasamond. Let it suffice to mention one ar8;ument for the divnity of the Holy Ghost toward the close. " If he can quicken who is not God; if he can sanctify who is not God; if he can dwell in believers who is not God; if he can give grace who is not God, then the Holy Ghost may be denied to be God. If any creature can do those things, which are spoken of the Holy Ghost, then let the Holy Ghost be called a creature." In a treatise on the incarnation and grace of Jesus Christ *" he answers the trite objection against divine election drawn from the words, " God would have all men to be saved," by showing that upon the views of those who see no mystery in the subject, but resolve the distinction into the merits or demerits of men. Al- mighty God ceases to be incomprehensible, as the scripture describes him to be. He allows the great truth, that God would have all men to be saved, and yet that there is a depth not to be fathomed by man in the destruction of so many sinners. Much more might be quoted from this author on subjects essen- tially connected with the gospel of Christ. But the diffusiveness of the quotations from Augustine may supersede the necessity of enlarging on the views of one, who so closely followed his steps, and who wrote and lived with a similar spirit. Besides several doctrinal treatises we have also a few epistles of this saint. The fourth to Proba con- cerning prayer deserves to be carefully studied. It is an excellent sample of the humble piety of the African school. He instructs the lady in his favourite doctrine of grace connected with humility, and justly infers, * *Ch. vi^ t.'t^. 18 it that if" a man as yet innocent could not remain so by his natural power, much less can this be expected from him now that he is in a state of so great depravity. He describes, in a pathetic manner, the snares arising from the craft of Satan, and the corrupt workings of the heart, declaring that though the Lord from time to time attend with aids during the sharp war, lest his people faint, yet our mortalnature is suffered to be over- loaded with the burden of corruption, that we may feel our helplessness, and have speedy recourse to divine grace. He describes the conflict between flesh and spirit, shows that it must last through life, that prayer and watching arc ever necessar}^, and that a conceit of our perfection would lead us into deadly pride. He re- commends an humble contrite frame of spirit, not only for the beginning, but for the whole course of a chris- tian's progress, and concludes with a beautiful view of the perfect rest from sin which remains for him hereafter. It is refreshing to the mind, to see the real principles of Christianity appearing in great vigour and clearness in this little composition. The epistle to Eugyptius* is full of charity, and describes this greatest of christian graces in a manner much resembling that of Augusthie. In an epistle to Theodorus a senatorf, he congratulates him on his vic- tory over the world. He had been, it seems, a Roman consul, and had given up secular pursuits through the love of heavenly things. Fulgentius strongly reminds him to \vhose grace alone he was indebted for the change, and recommends humility^, " a virtue which neither those have who love the world, nor those who profess to ha^"e renounced the world by their own streng-th." Bv which distribution of the unconverted into two sorts Ik; points out the same division of men, * Ep. 5. t Ep. 6. r The practice of Fulg-entius agTeed with his doctrine. About the end oi' the year 524, a bishop in an African council tUsputed precedency with him The council decided for Fulgentius, who for that time acqiuesced in the au- thority of the council. But, observing how much the other was afflicted at the determination, in a future ouncil he publicly desired that it might be reversed. His humility was admired, and his request was grained. 1-9 which has ever taken place from the tune of Chrihl. Pharisees and Sadducces were their names among the Jews; in the Gentile Avorld the terms Stoics and Epi- cureans gave the same distinction. In the school of Augustine lovers of the world, and men ])roudly boast- ing in their own strength, pointed out the difference, which we now commonly mark by the terms worldly- minded and self-righteous: while in all ages the genuine religion of real humility stands contradistinguished from both. Fulgentius recommends to this nobleman the constant study of the scriptures. " If you come to them meek and humble, there you will find preventing grace by which, when fallen, you may rise; accompa- nying grace, by which you may run the way of rectitude; and Ibllowing grace, by which you may reach the hea- venly kingdom." In the epistle to Venantia concerning repentance*, he steers in the middle course between presumption and despair, invites all men of every age to repent and be converted, under the confident expectation of ac- ceptance with God through Jesus Christ, mentions ouf Lord's parable of the different hours in which la- bourers are brought into the vineyard as an alignment, that no time is fixed to debar the returning sinner. Nor would Jesus have come to save the lost in this last age ©fthe world, if human wickedness was ever too strong for divine mercy and goodness. He observes, that the great defect of Judas in his repentance lay in this, that he had no faith in that blood which he had betray- ed. He quotes pertinent scriptures, and, to compre- hend in one nervous sentence the whole subject, he says t, A salutary conversion is twofold; it is when re- pentance leaves not him who hopes in the divine favour, nor hope deserts the penitent: and it is evi- denced by this, if a man with his whole heart renounce his sin, and with his whole heart place his hope of forgiveness in God. For sometimes the devil takes away hope from the penitent, sometinies repentanci; % . * Ujj. r. ■ + C'.i ' m from him who hopes. In the first case he overwhelms the man whom he burdens, in the second he throws down him whom he sets at ease. Hear his testimony to the mystery of the gospel. The only begotten God so loved human nature, that he not only freed it from the power of the devil, but also placed it at the right hand of the Father in himself above all good angels. In his epistle concerning the baptism of a dying ne- gro, who had given previous proofs of sincerity, while he was a catechumen, but in the time of baptism it- self was senseless and incapable of professing his faith; he endeavours to obviate the doubts of those who were afraid lest his incompetency should prevent his salva- tion. There are two points observable in this epistle^, one is the custom of the church in presenting infants to baptism, the other is, that however rapid the pro- gress of superstition had been in the time of Fulgen- tius, yet the most destructive superstitions, and those which are directly subversive of christian faith and purity, both in doctrine and practice, were as yet un- known. He assigns as a reason for not baptizing the dead, that sins are irremissible after the separation of the soul from the body. He supports his opinion: with the declaration of the apostle, that we must be judged of the things done in the body. Nothing can be more conclusive against the pernicious doctrine of purgatory. I observe farther that he uses the word " to justify" in the same sense in which Augustine does; nor does the true idea of the word seem to be recovered by the christian world till the days of Luther*. He speaks of the evils of the Pelagian heresy, and describes the strength and ability given to Augustine against it, and strongly recommends the writings of that father to the christian world, as containing a more copious instruction of divine grace, than had been known some time before, though the doctrine itself, he contends, had ever been held in the church, f * De Verit. Pracd. b. j, c, xiv. f JDe Verit. Prard. b. ii.c. xviii 21 CHAP. II. The State of the Church in other Parts of the Roman Empire, till the Death of Justin^ including the Life of Ccesariiis. IN the beginning of this century Alaric king of the Visigoths reigned at Toulouse, and was sovereign of a kingdom on the confines of France and Spain, though afterwards, by the victorious arms of the Franks, the Visigoths were confined to the latter country. Most of his subjects were of the general church, and he himself was an arian; yet he treated them with great humanity, and gave leave to the bishops of his kingdom to meet together at the city of Agde. Twenty-four bishops assembled, the presi- dent of whom was Ccesarius, bishop of Aries. They made a number of canons, relating to discipline and church externals, two or three particulars of which may be mentioned. " All clergymen who serve the church faithfully shall receive salaries proportionable to their services." This rule, so simple and general, was the ancient provision for die maintenance of pas- tors. But, by another canon of this council, clergy- men are allov/ed, provided they have the bishop's leave, to reserve to themselves the revenues of the church,^" saving its rights, but without the power of giving a^vay or alienating any part; and here is the origin of benefices. " In all churches the creed shall be explained to the competentsf on the same day, a week before Easter. All such laymen as shall not receive the communion three times a year, at the three great festivals, J shall be looked on as hea- thens. Oratories may be allowed in the country to * Fionry, li. Nxxi. 1. Vol. iv. T Who seen) to havt; been those who ap])ru,-(i fi)r baptisni i Christmas, Easter, imd Whltsunti.lc. Vol. in. 4 22 . those aaIio live at a great distance from the parish churches, for the ease and convenience of their famihes; but they must appear at their parish churches on certain solemn festivals." This lasi rule showed at once a regard for parochial order and for the instruction of the people.* The next is equally- laudable: '' Laymen are ordered to remain in the church, till the blessing is pronounced." Caesarius was verv zealous ae'ainst the abuses meant to be rec- tified by this canon. He observed one day some per- sons going out of the church to avoid hearing the sermon, " What are you about, my children? cried he with a loud voice, where are you going? Sta}', stay for the good of your souls. At the day of judgment it will be too late to exhort you." This just and charitable zeal prevailed at length; but he was often obliged to cause the church doors to be shut, after the gospel was read, to prevent the impious practice. His people were however reclaimed, and they repent- ed by degrees. There are still extant two of his ser- mons on this subject. Mankind in all ages are apt to be weary of God's word; there were however pastors in the western church, who served for charity, and not for lucre. Another canon will deserve to be m.en- tioned. It forbade auguries, and divinations, and the opening of the scriptures with a view to make an omen of the first words that offered. We have seen, that Augustine had opposed this last mentioned su- perstition. Here it was forbidden under penalty of ex- communication. Yet it still prevailed. I see the Afri- can school virtuously, but unsuccessfully, struggling against the increasing darkness and superstition. Cgesarius himself had spent some part of his youth in the famous monastery of Lerins.f Hearing after- wards that he Avas actually designed to be made bishop * The union of these two in just proportion gives a perfect idea of good discipline. It would be well if similar care were taken for many places in our own country, far distant from parish churches. f This little island, which we have had repeated occasion to mention, is now called St. Honorat, is close to the French roast, and lies between Nice and Toulon 23 of Aries, he hid himself among the tombs. But he was taken out thence, at the age of thirty, was ap- pointed bishop, and continued in that church above forty years. He was fond of ringing, and as he found the laity were apt to talk in the church, while the clergy were singing, he induced the laity to join with them in psalmody; and, in a sermon still extant, he exhorts them to sing with their hearts, as well as their voices. In another sermon he exhorts them to throw off all distracting thoughts, before they prostrate them- selves for prayer, " Whoever, says he, in his prayers, thinks on a public place of resort, or the house he is building, worships that place or that house." He di- rects them also not to be content with hearing the scriptures read in the church, but to read them also at home. This holy man gave himself intirely to reading and preaching. He preached on all Sundays and holidays. If he was himself hindered from preaching, he caused his own sermons or those of Augustine, whom he highly revered, or those of Ambrose, to be read by other ministers. His style was plain, and adapted to common capacities. He entered into practical particu- lars, searched the consciences of his hearers, and se- verely reproved idolatrous and superstitious usages. He was once, by calumny, ejected from his church; but Alaric, his sovereign, on the discovery of his in- nocence restored him. He was exposed to similar sufferings afterwards; but was again delivered, and amidst the confusions of the times distinguished him- self exceedingly by acts of mercy. He died in the year 542, universally lamented. In the mean time the cause of arianism was gra- dually declining, partly by the progress of the Franks, and partly by the influence of Sigismund, king of Burgundy, who succeeded his father Gondebaud, hav- ing been brought over to orthodoxy by Avitus, bishop of Vienne, a year before. Sigismund, king of the Burgundians, having been induced to put to death his son Sigeric by the calumny 24 of his second wife, and finding afterwards his error, repented in gr^at bitterness, and besought God to punish him in this Hfe and not in the next. His prayer seems to have been heard; for, in the year 523, he was attacked by Clodomir, king of the Franks, the successor of Clovis, and was afterwards slain with his wife and children. Clodomir himself was soon after slain in Burgundy, and his three sons were brought up by Clotilda, the widow of Clovis their grandmo- ther. Such was the state of the church of Christ in France during the former part of this century. In Italy, some degree of g-enuine piety may he presumed to have still existed, though I haA-e no interesting par- ticulars to record. If we turn our eyes to the east, the prospect is far more disagreeable. Factions and feuds, heretical perversions and scandalous enormities fill up the scene. Under the emperor Justin Christi- anity began at length to wear a more agreeable aspect in some respects, and peace and good order, in exter- nal things at least, WTre in a measure restored. In the year 522 Zamnaxes, king of the Lazi, a people who inhabited the country anciently called Colchis, being dead, his son Zathes repaired to Constantinople, tell- , ing the emperor that he was desirous of receiving the gospel, and of relinquishing the idolatry of his ances- tors. They had been vassals to the king of Persia, and had been obliged to perform sacrifices after the Persian mode. He put himself therefore under the protection of Justin, and desired to receive the crown from his hands. Justin granted his requests, and thus the Lazi became vassals to the eastern empire, and embraced Christianity. The Iberians also, who bor- dered on their territories, and were also subjects to the king of Persia, had already received the gospel. How far any thing of the real spirit of Christ's religion was imbibed by either nation, I know not. I can only say, the limits of the christian name were extended in the east.* * FJetiry xsxi. 59. 25 In Arabia Felix* there were many christians subject to a kingt called Dounouas, a Jew, who caused those who were unwilling to become Jews to be cast into pits full of fire. In the year 522 he besieged Negra, a town inhabited by christians. Having persuaded them to surrender on articles, he broke his oath, burnt the pastors, beheaded the laymen, and carried all the youth into captivity. Here then the real church of Christ may be traced by sufferings voluntarily under- gone for his sake. The next year Elesbaan, king of Abyssinia, a country, which, as we have formerly seen, had been christian since the days of Athanasius, supported by the emperor Justin, invaded the territo- ries of the Arabian Jew, subdued his country and slew him. Thus the Arabian christians were relieved. Elesbaan himself was very zealous, and gave this proof of his zeal, that he resigned his crown to em- brace the monastic life. CHAP. III. The State of the Church during the reign of Justinian. On the death of Justin, his nephew Justinian suc- ceeded at Constantinople in the year 527. He was then forty-five years old, and reigned thirty-nine. I scarce know any prince, whose real and ostensible character were so different. If one judge by external things, he may appear one of the wisest, the most pious, and the most prosperous of men. He reunited Africa and Italy to the Roman empire; he is to this ^ Fleury xxxi. 60. f Bruce iij liis travels into Abyssinia, towards the latter end of the 1st vol. calls this king- Phineas, who, he says, threw Christians into pits of fire, particularly a preacher Hawaryat, signifying the Evangelical, with ninety of his companions. The king of Abyssinia, who fought against tlie Jew, he calls Caleb. His story, as extracted from Abyssinian and Arabian annals, is the same; and their correspondence, in this instance, with the Greek history gives some testimony to the authenticity of the materials of Bruce's Abyssinian historv. "26 day famous for his code of laws; he was temperate and abstemious in private life, and was incessantly em- ployed in religious acts and ceremonies: he honoured monks and persons reputed holy, built sumptuous churches, endowed monasteries, was liberal beyond measure in the support of the externals of religion, was incessant in the encouragement of orthodoxy, at least of that which to him appeared to be soj indefatigable through the course of a long life in public affairs; seems scarce to have ever unbended himself in any recreations, spent much time in religious specula- tions, rooted out idolatry from its obscure corners, and brought over a number of barbarous kings and nations to the profession of Christianity. What a cha- racter, if his heart had been right! His understanding and capacity indeed have been called in question; but I think unjustly. No weak man could have done half of what he did. He must have been a person of supe- rior talents, and of very vigorous and strong faculties. But so far as appears from his conduct, he was alto- gether, in religion, the slave of superstition, in mo- rality the slave of avarice. For gold he sold his whole empire to those who governed the provinces, to the collectors of tributes, and to those who are wont to frame plots against men under any pretences. He encouraged the vilest characters in their detestable and infamous calumnies, in order to partake of their gains. He did also innumerable pious actions, says Evagrius*, and such as are well pleasing to God, provided the doers perform them with such goods as are their own property, and offer their pure actions, as a sacrifice, to God. In this emperor then it may be seen more eminently what a poor thing the body of christian religion is without the spirit. Whatever benefit the church might, in some cases, derive from his administration, particulai'ly in what relates to the extension of its pale, this is to be ascribed to the * Ch. XXX. b. iv. Evagrius Scholasticus. His ecclesiastical history takes us vip, just after we are deserted by Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, the tripailite historians of the same period; and in future I must make some use of him, though in historical merit far inferior to the three former. 27 adorable providence of God bringing good out of evil. On the other hand the evil he wrought was pal- pable. Dissensions and schisms, forced conversions attended with cruelties which alienated men's minds still more from godliness, the increase of superstition and formality, the miserable declension of real inter- nal godliness, especially through the east, where his influence was most extensive, and the increase of ignorance and practical wickedness, were the un- doubted consequences of Justinian's schemes. In truth this man attempted too much: he pressed uniformity of doctrine through the world by imperial menaces and arms: he laboured to bring all nations in- to a nominal attachment to Christianity: he prescribed what bishops and laity should believe, and was him- self, in effect, the pope as well as the emperor of the Roman world; yet, wretched being! he himself seems not to have known any one thing in religion in a right manner. In external things he could not but some- times be right; in internal religion it was hardly possi- ble he should be so; for he w^as ignorant of his own heart, while his eyes and ears with insatiable curiosity were intent on all persons and objects. It will not be pertinent to the design of this history to enter into a detail of the actions of such a prince; but the view of his character, which I think is supported by the con- current testimony of civil and ecclesiastical historians, may teach persons of eminence, either in power, or learning, or genius, who shall give their minds to re- ligious objects, to be in the first place more concerned for their own genuine conversion, and for personal godliness*; and then to contract and limit their plans, within the humble circle that belongs to a fallible, con- fined, and shortlived creature like man; and steadily * Nothint^ shows in a stronger lig-ht the emptiness of his mind than bis boasting- after he had finished the magnificent church of St Sophia, *' I have excelled thee, Solomon." Yet was this vain empei'or made use oi by divine providence as a shield to support external Christianity at least in the world. In his time Chosroes king of Persia persecuted the christians in liis dominions, with extreme cruelty, and publicly declared, that he would wage war not only with Justinian, but also with the God of thr Christians. The military measures and the religiou.s zeal of Jur^tinian ho\^■ ever checked the progress of his ferocity. ^ 28 to move within that circle in the propagation and sup- port of the gospel of Christ, and of whatever is virtu- ous and praiseworthy, without being seduced by ro- mantic and dazzling schemes to attempt what is vastly above their reach: for by this method the)'^ may be the victims of their own ambition or avarice, while they think they serve God, and may fill the world with evil, while they vainly suppose they are its benefactors. But these are ideas with which the profane and the careless governor has no right to meddle: Justinian was neither the one nor the other. He was serious through life, though void of humility, faith, and cha- rity; and for serious spirits, the caution, which his character is calculated to give, will stand an instruc- tive lesson. In his first year he made laws relating to bishops: a few words of them will deserve to have a place in this history. " The absence* of bishops, says he, is the reason that divine service is so negligently performed; that the affairs of the churches are not so well taken care of, and that the ecclesiastical revenues are em- ployed in the expenses of their journeys, and of their residence in this city (he means the metropolis of Con- stantinople) with the clergy and domestics who accom- pany them. Let no bishops quit their churches to come to this city, without an order from us, whatever may happen. If we find their presence to be neces- sary here, we will send for them." What motives in- duced bishops to attend the court so much, is easy to guess; and we have here a plain description how mucli the eastern church was secularized, and how it gra- dually ripened into a fitness for desolating judgments. Justinian says further, " when an episcopal see be- comes vacant, the inhabitants of the city shall declare in favour of three persons, whose faith and manners shall be testified by witnesses, that the most worthy may be chosen." He proceeds to lay down rules to restrain the avarice of bishops; rules which had no ex- istence in purer times, because a purer spirit prevailed- * Fleurvj b. xxxii. 10. 29 In the year 529, a council, memorable for its evan- gelical spirit, was held at Orange in France: Cassarius was its head. He had, as I observed, tasted the doc- trine of Augustine concerning grace, and was there- fore zealous for its propagation. We may reasonably suppose the articles of this council to have been framed in opposition to the attempts in favour of semr,- pelagianism made in France, as well as to give testi- mon} to the grace of the gospel. Thirteen bishops were present, ar.d we have a pleasing spectacle of the work of the divine Spirit flourishing in a considerable degree in France, particularly in the parts about Orange, and in the vicinity of the Rhone. " Adam's sin, says the council*, did not only hurt the body, but the souljw: descended to his posterity; the grace of God is not giv^n to them who call upon him, but that grace is the cause that men do call upon him: the being cleansed from sin and the beginning of our faith, is not owing to ourselves, but to grace. We are not able by our own natural strength to do or think any thing which may conduce to our salvation. We believe that Abel, Noah, Abraham, and the other fathers, have not had that faith by nature that St. Paul commendeth in them, but by grace." To clear the Almighty of being the author of sin, they add however, " that some may be predestinated to evil, we not only disbelieve, but detest those who think so." These words express in substance the sentiments of these holy men. But to enable the reader to judge for himself what they were more precisely, I shall give him two passages from the fifth and seventh canons, translated at length from the Latin original. " If any one say, that the beginning or increase of faith, and the very affection of belief is in us, not by the gift of grace, that is by the inspiration of the holy Spirit cor- recting our will fi'om infidelity to faith, from impiety to piety; but, by nature, he is proved an enemy to the doctrine of the apostles." " If any man affirm, that he • See Fleurv, id. 12- Vol. hi. 5 30 can, by the vigour of nature, think any thing good which pertains to the salvation of eternal life as he ought, or choose, or consent to the saving, that is to evangelical, preaching, without the illumination and inspiration of the holy Spirit, who gives to all the sweet relish in consenting to and believing the truth, he is deceived by an heretical spirit/' I have been solicitous to preserve faithfulness to the original in this short abstract. Doubtless the sweet relish they speak of is no odier than that ineffable de- light in the perception and obedience of the gospel, which characterizes the godly in all ages, subjects them, though unjustly, to the charge of enthusiasm, and produces real practical Christianity. In every ef- fusion of the SpiT'it of God, it always app^s in rich exuberance, and is as distinct from formal or even merely theoretical views of religion, as the substance is from the shadow. I look on it as a remarkable fact, thi^t so plain a testimony to vital religion should be given in the south of France in the sixth century, when the christian world was every where so much sunk in darkness. It seems, that in this part of France at least semipelagianism had been checked: indeed, as several e^pousers of it were real good men, it is not to be wondered at, that by farther experience and at- tention thev might be led to embrace in system what in their own sensations they must have known to be true, name!} , that man, by nature, is lost and helpless in sin, and that grace alone can revive him. Cajsarius, of Aries, was, in all probability, highly instrumental in producing this change of sentiment; for we should re- collect, that Hilary of Aries, had been a semipeiagian. I should rejoice to be able to gratify the spiritual reader with the account of the lives, labours, and works of these thirteen bishops of France, which were probably useful and edifying. But my records say no more; and this is one of the thousand cases in which I have to re- gret, how little of real church history hiis been written, how much of ecclesiastical perversions and abuses. 31 In the same year a council was held also at Vaison,* at which were present twelve bishops, of whom Cse- sarius was one. They decreed, according to the cus- tom observed in Italy, that ail country priests should receive into their houses young men, who might be readers in the church, that they should educate them with a paternal regard, causing them to learn the psalms, to read the scHptures, and to be acquainted with the word of God; and in this way should provide themselves with worthy successors.! For the conve- nience of the people, the pastors were allowed to preach not only in the cities, but in all the coimtry parishes. About this time the monastic rules of Benedict were established, which afterwards were received through the western churches. They are full of forms, and breathe little of the spirit of godliness. The ver}^ best thing that I can find recorded of the superstitious founder, is the zeal with which he opposed idolatry. In that part of Italy, where the Samnites dwelt former^ ly, the worship of Apollo had been still continued, which he eradicated, and the peasants were by him instructed in Christianity. In a council held at Clermont, J in the year 535, I see canonical methods were still used to prevent the interference of secular power in the appointment of bishops. " To correct the abuse of obtaining bishop- rics by the favour of princes, it is decreed, that he who is a candidate for a bishopric shall be ordained by the election of the clergy and citizens, and the consent of the metropolitan, without making use of the protec- tion of PERSONS IN POWER. Otherwise the candidate shall be deprived of the communion of the church, which he is desirous of governing." Hilderic, king of the Vandals in Africa, having been * Fleury, Id. 12. f This is quite consonant to the ancient method of educating- men for the pastoral offices, and supplied the want of ecclesiastical semlni'nes. While so much attention was paid t^ education and tlie word of God, there is i-eason to uelieve that the doctrines of the gospel must have be«n taught with some success in Frjince, * Id. 44. 32 deposed by Gilimer, Justinian, by his renowned ge- neral Belisariiis, recovered the country from the bar- barians, and reunited it to the empire. This put an end to the dominion of arianism in that region. The orthodox were reinstated; two hundred and seven- teen bishops held a council at Carthage; arians and donatists were forbidden to hold assemblies; and the lands which had been taken from the arians were re- stored by an edict of Justinian in the year 535. The face of true religion was recovered in this country; its spirit I cannot find. The best symptom was the exten- sion of Christianity among the Moors, by the zealous care of Justinian. How far any cordial change took place among them does not appear. In the year 536, Belisarius, the hero of this age, took Rome from the Goths, thousrh some lime elansed after this event before the Gothic power was annihilated in Italy. But what has this our history to do with his tri- umphs? His master showed much zeal for religion, though ill directed; and, what is worse, not principled with the genuine fear of God. The general scarce seemed to profess any religion at all ; and the most re- markable ecclesiastical transaction in which he was concerned is sufficient to brand his name with eternal infamy. A very brief view of it shall suffice.* Theo- dora, the empress, gave an order to Vigilius, deacon of the Roman church, to require Belisarius to secure his election to the bishopric of Rome, and the expul- sion of Silverius, at that time bishop. Vigilius was in that case to present Belisarius with two hundred pounds of gold. The venal general executed the order on the infamous conditions, and delivered Silverius into the hands of Vigilius, who sent him into the island of Pal- maria, where he died of hungerf . It was worth while just to mention this villany, that, if any persons have been seduced into an admiration of the character of * Fleuiy, b. xxxii, 57' f So Libcratus in Breviar; but Procopius, a living witness, says, that he was murdered, at the instig-ation of Antonina the wife of Belisarius, bj £ugenia, a woman devoted to her. S3 Belisariiis on account of his military prowess, they may see how much splendor of false virtue may exist in a man who is altogether void of the fear of God. Justinian, though at first he seemed to take some pains to correct the consequences of this scandalous transaction of his wife, of his general, and of the un- principled bishop of Rome, suffered at length the whole scheme to stand. Still he persisted to meddle in reli- gious controversies, and issued an edict for the con- demnation of Origen's errors. In the year 54-ii, a council held at Orleans ordered, that if any person desired to have a parish church erect- ed on his estate,! he should first be obliged to endow it, and to find an incumbent. Hence the origin of pa- tronages. In the year 555 died Vigilius, bishop of Rome, after having governed eighteen years in the see, which he had so iniquitously obtained. Selfish duplicity marked his character more eminently than that of any Roman bishop before him. But he paid dear for his intrigues and dissimulation. Justinian, who had the ambition of acting as an infallible judge of controversies himself, suffered not Vigilius to be the pope of the church. On the contrary, a little before his death, he was, though very reluctant, compelled by the emperor to consent to the decrees of a council held at Constanti- nople; which, by the influence of Justinian, condem- ned the writings called the three chapters; that is, three books, or passages of books, one of which was the work of the pious Theodoret of Cyrus. The contro- versy itself was idle and frivolous; yet, how many pages of church history, so called, does it fill! But I can find no vestige of piety in the whole transaction. " Therefore eternal silence be its doom." Several western bishops, because they refused to rondemm the three chapters, were banished by the or- der of Justinian. What advantage was it to the church, that Italy and Africa were recovered to nominal ortho- t Fleury, b. xx-xiii, 15. 34 *( doxy, and to the Roman empire, when she was thus oppressed by her pretended protector! Justinian, in his old age fell into the notion, that the _body of Jesus Christ was incorruptible. Having once formed the sentiment, he drew up an edict, and, in his usual manner, required his subjects to embrace it. Eutychius, bishop of Constantinople, had the honesty to refuse the publication of it. " This, said he, is not the doctrine of the apostles. It would follow from thence, that the incarnation was only in fancy. How could an incorruptible body have been nourished by the milk of its mother? How was it possible for it, when on the cross to be pierced by the nails, or the lance? It cannot be called incorruptible in any other sense, than as it was always unpolluted with any sin- ful defilement, and was not corrupted in the grave." But the imperial mandate was stronger than the ar- guments of the bishop, however reasonable. He was roughly treated, was banished from his see, and he died in exile: he acted however uprightly, and seems from his integrity to have been a christian indeed. Anastasius, bishop of Antioch, resisted also with njuch firmness: he was a person of exemplary piety, whom Justinian in vain endeavoured to gain over to his sen- timents. As he knew the emperor- iuiiended to banish him, he wrote a farewel discourse to his people. He took pains to confirm the minds of men in just ideas of the human nature of Christ, and daily recited in the church that saying of the apostle. " If any man preach to you any other gospel than that which ye have re- ceived, let him be accursed*." The example of a truly holy and upright person supporting a just cause is very prevalent. Most around him were induced to imitate. An opinion, directly subversive of the real sufferings of Christ, on which the efficacy of his atonement de- pends, appeared altogether unchristian. But God had provided some better thing for us, says Evagrius. While the old imperial pope was dictating the sen- • GjJ. i. Evagrius, b. iv. toward the end 35 tence of banishment against Anastasius and other pre- lates, he was seized with the stroke of death. Let not profane persons exuk over him; but let those who ex- ercise their thoughts on religion, take care to study the written word with humility, prayer, and pious reverence, warned by the apostasy of a man, who for many years had studied divinity, and fell at last into an error, equally subversive of the dictates of common sense, as it is of christian piety, and diametrically op- posite to all scripture: let us remember, however, that liib follies and persecutions were the occasion of exhi- biiing some excellent characters even in the eastern church, who showed that thev boie noi the chiistian name without a just title to that best of all appella-: tions. CHAP. IV. Miscellaneous Affairs to the End of the Century. Justin, the nephew of Justinian, succeeded*. He recalled the bishops whom the late emperor had ex- iled, Eutychius of Constantinople alone excepted. The reason of this exception I cannot learn; but, after the decease of John, his successor, who held the see twelve years, Justin was prevailed on to restore Eutychius, who conthmed bishop of Constantinople till his death. His integrity and piety should scarce be doubted after the long course of suftering which he sustained on account of the faith of Jesus. But, in his old age he embraced a whimsical notion, that om* bodies after the resurrection become thinner than air. A notion which it would not have been worth while to have mentioned at all on its own account. But it is a specimen of the low state of christian knowledge in the east, and of the predominancy of origenism and platonism, which ' Evagrius, v. c 3 30 had never "been exterminated in Asia, since the\ had gained admission into the church. For the opinion, though not so fundamentally erroneous as that of Jus- tinian, originated from the same chimerical school: and we may see what a blessing it was to the west to have been instructed in christian doctrines of grace through Augustine, whence the purity and simplicity of the faith was preserved in a much superior manner, and fantastic notions could not so easily be received among them.* A number of Britons having been expelled from their country by the arms of the Anglo-Saxons, who had entered the island in the year 446, crossed the sea, and settled in the adjacent parts of France. Hence the origin of the French province of Britanny. With them the faith of the gospel was preserved, as well as with their brethren in Wales and Cornwall, and some parts of Scotland and Ireland, while the major part of Eng- land was covered with Saxon idolatr}^ Sampson, ori- ginally a Welshman, left his own country and came into Britanny. This man founded a monastery at Dol, and was bishop of Dol himself some years. He died about the year 565, and was renowned for piety and learning in his day. He had been educated in his na- tive country by Heltut, who was said to have been the disciple of Germanus, of Auxerre. Thus the seed sown in our island by that holy person brought forth fruit; and it is only to be regretted, that the accounts of these things are so slight and scanty. About the same time died St. Malo, who, to prevent his being appointed bishop of Winchester, forsook our island, and fled to the coast of France, To the west of Britanny there was an Island, called x\letha, now called St, Malo's, the greatest part of the inhabitants of which were pagans. At the desire of the few christians who v/ere there, Malo la- boured among them, till most of the inhabitants re- ceived the gospel, and persuaded him to reside among them as their bishop, which he did till his death, t Other '^ Eutychius, however, before he died, retracted his error. - Fleurv. b. xxxlv. 14. 37 British bishops are celebrated, who in the same age^ were distinguished for their piety and useful labours in Britanny. Gildas, surnamed the Wise, another disciple of Hel- tut, was born at Dunbritton, in Scotland; he preached with much success, in the best sense, so far as appears, in his native country and in Ireland. He afterwards came over into Britanny, and built the monastery of Buis, which is still called by his name, says my author. Two of his discourses on the ruin of Great-Britain are still extant, in which he deplores the vices and cala- mities of the times, and with honest vehemence exhorts to repentance six British princes, ascribing the deso- lations made by the Saxons to the depravity of his countrymen. He addresses with much spirit the clergy of Great Britain, and rebukes them for their ignorance, avarice, and simony. From these hints, in conjunction with what has been elsewhere related, these things are evident; namely, that there had been a considerable degree of pure re- ligion among our ancestors before the invasion of the Saxons; that even after the declension and decay, there were still faithful pastors, who carried bacJ^ into France with success that spirit of godliness ^vhich the latter country, by the means of Germanas, of Auxerre, had brought over into our island; and that the poison of pelagianism must have had a considerable influence in the production of that jiational decay of piety, which Gildas so feelingly deplores. Colomban, an Irish priest in this century, came over into the northern parts of Scotland, and laboured with much success among the Picts.* The southern parts of Scotland had been evangelized long before by the instructions of Ninias, a British bishop, who had him- self been instructed at Rome. Colomban lived thirty- four years after his passage into Britain. His disciples were remarkable for the holiness and abstemiousness * Probably they were originally Britons, who fled mto Scotland from, the arms of the Saxons, and were called Picts, because they painteH tY'i'iv bodies, according- to the ciistpm of our barbarous ancestors Vol. hi. 6 38 of their lives. 'I'hus, while the gospel was rapidly withdrawing from the east, where it first arose, God left not himself without witness in the most distant parts of the west. Radegimda, daughter of Bertharius, king of Thu- ringia, having been taken captive by the Franks in her infancy, fell to the lot of king Clotaire, who married her. This woman might have been added to the list of those pious persons of her sex, who were made highly instrumental in instructing mankind, had she not imbibed monastic ideas, the pest which infected godly persons, in general, in these times, and which, though it could not ruin their relation to God, cut off the greatest part of their usefulness. She obtained a separation from her husband, and followed the monas- tic rules with great austerity to her death. These rules were now gro^vn stricter than ever; the vows were made perpetual, and we must leave this godly queen in the nunnery, who might have caused her light to shine in a blessed manner in the world. Toward the latter end of this century the Lombards came from Pannonia into Ital}^ and settled there under Alboinus, their first king. They fixed their metropolis at Pavia. As iliey were arians by profession, heresy again took root in Italy, whose inhabitants felt all the horrors and miseries which a savage and victorious na- tion could inflict. But the church needed the scourge: the Roman see had been dreadfully corrupt under Vigilius, and formal superstition was corroding the vitals of genuine godliness. At the same time John Climmachus flourished, who >vas abbot of the monastery of Mount Sinai, in Arabia, near to which was a little monastery, called the Prison, in which all who had committed any great crime, since they entered on the monastic state, voluntarily confined themselves. The account which Climmachus gives of it is striking. The poor prisoners spent their time in prayer, with every possible external mark of selfdenial and wretchedness. They did not allow themselves any one comfort of human life. In their prayers they did 39 not dare to ask to be delivered intirely from punish- ment; they only begged not to be punished with the utmost rigor. The voluntary torments they endured were amazing, and this voluntary humility of theirs continued till death. But I turn from the disagreeable scene to make one remark. How precious is the light of the gospel! How gladly, we may suppose, would many of these miserable per- sons have received the doctrine of free forgiveness by faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, if it had been faithfully preached among them! How does their seriousness rebuke the levity of presumptuous sinners among ourselves, who trifle w ith the light! How deeply fallen was the east from the real genius of Christianity, when men distressed for sin could find no hope but in their own formalities and rigid austerities! In the year 584, Levigildus, king of the Visigoths in Spain, having married his eldest son Hermenigil- dus, to Ingonda, daughter of the French king, began to find effects from the marriage, which he little ex- pected. Ingonda, though persecuted by her mother in law, the wife of the Spanish monarch, persevered in orthodoxy, and, by the assistance of Leander, bishop of Seville, under the influence of divine grace, brought over her husband to the faith. The father, enraged, commenced a grievous persecution against the orthodox in his dominions. Hermenigildus was led into the grievous error of rebelling against his father, not through ambition, it seems, but througli fear of his father, who appeared to be bent on his destruction. Being obliged to fly into a church, he was induced by his father's promises to surrender himself. Levigildus at first treated him with kindness, but afterwards banished him to Valentia. His wife Ingonda flying to the Grecian emperor died by the way. Some time after, the young prince, loaded with irons, had leisure to learn the vanity of earthly great- ness, and exhibited every mark of piety and humility. His father sent to him an arian bishop, ofi'ering him his favour, if he would receive the communion at his ■^;- 40 hands. Hermcnigildus continued firm in the faith, and the king, enraged, sent ofiicers who despatched him. The father Hved however to repent of his cruel- ty; and the young prince, notwithstanding the unjus- tifiable step into Avhich his passions had betrayed him, had lived long enough to give a shining example of christian piety. Levigildus, before he died, desired Leander, bishop of Seville, whom he had much per- secuted, to educate his second son Recaredus* in the Same principles in which he had instructed his eldest. Recaredus succeeded his father in the government, and embraced orthodoxy with much zeal. The con- sequence was the establishment of orthodoxy in Spain, and the destruction of arianism, which had now no legal settlement in the world, except with the Lom- bards in Italy. Though this account be general and external, it seemed proper to give it, as an illustrious instance of the work of divine providence, eflecting, by the means of a pious princess, a very salutary revolution in religion. I have collected in this chapter the few events which appeared worthy of notice from the death of Justinian to the end of this century, with a studied exclusion of the concerns of Gregory the first, bishop of Rome. He is a character deserving to be exhibited distinctly. And in connexion with his affairs, what- ever else has been omitted, which falls within our plan, may be introduced in the next chapter. * Gveg'ory of Tours, b. viii. c, nit. 4i CHAP. V. Gregory the Firsts Bishop of Rome-, HIS PASTORAL LABOURS. riE was a Roman by birth, aiid of a 'noble family. But being religiously disposed, he assumed the mo- nastic habit, and was eminently distinguished by the progress he made in piety.* It was not till after he was drawn back, in a degree, to a secular life by his employments in the church, that he became thorougly sensible what fidvantage he had enjoyed for his own soul from religious retirement. With tears he owned, that he had had the world under his feet, while he was absorbed in heavenly contemplation; but was now bereft of comfort. " Now," says he, " my mind, by reason of pastoral cares, is oppressed with the business of secular persons, and after so fair an appearance of rest, is defiled with the dust of earthly action. And suffer- ing itself to be distracted by exterior things in con- descension to many, even while it desires inward things, it returns to them, without doubt, more faintly. I weigh, therefore, what I en^re : I weigh what I have lost, and while I look at that which I have lost, my present burdens are more heavy." In truth, in different periods of his life he moved in opposite extremes. He was one while dormant in the quietism of solitude ; another while, involved in the multiplicity of episcopal cares at Rome. If his lot had l:)een cast in the earlier aiud purer days of Christianity, he would neither have been a monk, nor a bishop charged with such extensive secular concerns, and so * Bede Eccles. Hist. b. ii. c. 1. It should be obsei'ved here, that before this he had studied the Roman jurisprudence, was eminent in that and every other fashionable secular kind of knowledge, had been distinguished as a senator, and promoted by Justin II. to the government of the city of Rome, an aj'duous and im- portant office, which he had discharged with singular prudence, fidelity, and justice. 42 xvould have av^oided the evils of AAhich he compkiins. The great sees in these times, that of Rome in parti- cular, through the increasing growth of spiritual domi- nation, and the load of worldly business very impro- perly connected with it, worldly, though in some sense ecclesiastical, were indeed agreeable enough to minds like that of Vigilius, earthly and ambitious, but were fatiguing beyond measure to men like Gre- gory, who unfeignedly loved heavenly things. Nothing could be more unwise than the custom which prevail- ed of encouraging monasticism and very large epis- copal governments at the same time. The transition from the one to the other, as in Gregory's case (and it was a common one) must to holy minds, like his, have been a trial of no small magnitude. The serious complaints, however, which Gregory made of this trial during the whole scene of his bishopric, pro- ceeded from the spirituality of his affections; and all, who have enjoyed in private the sweets of communion with God, and have found how difficult it is, in the hurry of business, to preserve a degree of the same spirit, will sympathize with him. A mediocrity and a mixture of employment and retirement are, doubtless, the best situation for religious improvement. Being drawn from his monastery, and ordained to the ministry, he was sent from Rome to Constantino- ple, to transact ecclesiastical affairs. Here he became acquainted with Leander, afterw^ards bishop of Seville, the same person that we have spoken of in the relation of the affairs of Spain. Leander and he found in each other a similarity of taste and spirit; Gregory opened his heart to him. " I found my soul," says he, " con- vinced of the necessity of securing salvation; but I delayed too long, entangled with the world. At length I threw myself into a monastery; now I thought I had placed an insuperable bar between myself and the world. But again I am tossed on the tempestuous ocean, and unless I may enjoy the communion of my brethren, I can find no solace to my soul."* * Grcg'or. Pref. to Jo!?, c. i. 43 He had, however, taken with him some of the bre- thren of his monastery, and with them had enjoyed the benefit of christian discourse, and of searching the scriptures. Here, by the exhortation of his bre- thren, he began his long commentary on the book of Job, which he finished in his episcopacy.* His resi- dence at Constantinople was not without, at least, some use to the church. By Jiis arguments and influence he quashed the fanciful notion of the archbishop Euty- chius concerning the qualities of the human body after the resurrection, which has been mentioned already. Had it not been for the timely and vigorous opposi- tion of a man so respectable as Gregory was for know- ledge and piety, the notion might have continued with many, to the disgrace of Christianity, at this day- The emperor Tiberius, who had succeeded Justin, supported the labours of Gregory with his authority. Gregory, even from his youth, was afflicted with frequent complaints in his stomach and bowels; and by his own account in his letters, appears to have suf- fered much in his body all his days. The vigor of his mind was not however depressed, and perhaps few men ever profited more than he did by such chastise- ments. His labours, both as a pastor and an author, were continued, and, in all probability, received pecu- liar unction from his afflictions. After his return to Rome,+ there was so great an inundation of the Tiber, that it flowed upon the walls of the city, and threw down many monuments^ and ancient structures. The granaries of the church were overflowed, by which a prodigious quantity of wheat was lost. Presently after, an infectious distemper in- vaded the city. Pelagius the bishop fell a victim to it among the first. The destruction prevailed, and many houses were left without an inhabitant. In this distress the people were anxious to choose a bishop in the * Bede. ■j" Vita Gregor. incert. autor. i These inundations of the Tiber were not uncommon. The classical reader will recollect in Horace, Ode ii. i'b. i. Ire dejectuni momimenta reg'is, &c. 44 room of the deceased Pelagius, and by unanimous consent the election fell upon Gregory. He, with thafe- humility which formed invariably a striking feature of his character, earnestly refused, and loudly proclaim- ed his own unworthiness. He did more; he wrote to Mauritius, the successor of Tiberius, beseeching him to withhold his assent.^ Germanus, the governor of Constantinople, intercepting the messenger, and open- ing the letter of Gregory, informed Mauritius of the election. The emperor confirmed it with pleasure. In the mean time the plague continued to make dreadful havoc; and Gregory, however backward to receive the office of a bishop, forgot not the duties of a pastor. A part of his sermon on this occasion may give us some idea of the best preaching of those times ; for I know none in those days, which is superior, and but little which is equal, to that of Gregory. " Beloved brethren, we ought to have feared the scourge of God before it came; at least, after having felt it, let us tremble. Let grief open to us the pas- sages of conversion, and let the punishment which we feel dissolve the hardness of our hearts. For, to use the prophet's language, 'the sword hath come even into the soul.' Our people, behold, are smitten with a wea- pon of divine indignation, and each is carried off by the rapid devastation. Languor does not precede death, but death itself with hasty strides, as you see, outstrips the tardy course of languor. Every person, who is smitten, is carried off, before he has opportunity to bewail his sins. Conceive in what state that man will appear before his Judge, who is hurried off in the midst of his sins. — Let each of us repent, while we have time to weep, before the sword devour us. — Let us call our ways to remembrance. — Let us come before * The assent of the emperor to the election of a bishop of Rome appears plainly to have been necessary by the custom of these times. But the total exclusion of the people from all concern in these appointments had not yet obtained. It is obvious to be noticed also, how dependent the bishop of Rome was on the emperor. Antichrist had not yet formally begun his reign, nor would have been known at Rome to this day, hud all the bishops resemi)led Gretrorv. 45 his face with confession, and Hft up our hearts with our hands to the Lord. Truly he gives, he gives to our trembhng hearts a confidence, who proclaims by the prophet: ' I would not the death of a sinner, but rather that he be converted and live.' Let none de- spair on account of the greatness of his crimes. Think how the inveterate evils of the Ninevites were wiped off by three days' repentance;| and the converted rob- ber in the very article of death obtained the rewards of life. Let us change our hearts, and encourage our- selves beforehand with the thought that we have ob- tained what we ask. — Importunity, so disagreeable to man, is well pleasing to the Judge of truth; because the good and merciful Lord loves to be overcome by prayers. Remember the psalmist: * call upon me in the time of trouble; so will I hear thee, and thou shalt praise me.' He admonishes us to call upon his name, and witnesses by this his readiness to forgive." He concluded his discourse with appointing a lita- ny* to be performed by seven companies, who were to march at break of day from different churches, and to meet at one place. The first company consisted of the clergy; the second, of abbots with their monks; the third, of abbesses with their nuns; the fourth, of children; the fifth, of laymen; the sixth, of widows; the seventh, of married women. Fourscore persons in one hour, while the people were supplicating in the litany, died of the plague. Gregory, however, persisted in praying and preaching, till the plague ceased. He was all this time as eager to avoid the honour of the episcopal office, as he was to discharge the duty of it. The gates were watched, and his flight was pre- vented for a time. But he found means to be conveyed in a wicker basket out of the city, and concealed him- self three days. The zealous search of the people dis- ^ I translate faithfull_y; the expression marks the want of evangelical ac- curacy in Gregory, though not surely the want of evangelical humility. It is not to be imagined, that he considered repentance as a proper atonement for sin. * The word signifies supplication^ Vol. HL 7 40 lovered him at length, and he was obliged to entei' upon his bishopric. This happened in the year 590. Gregory continued to discharge the office in the same spirit in which he began it. Other bishops had been sedulous to adorn churches with gold or silver; he gave himself wholly, so far as he could, to the care of souls.* The melancholy circumstances of his ac- cession corresponded with the gloomy state of the church, in the east almost universally fallen, in the west tarnished with much superstition, and defiled by variety of wickedness. The whole period of his epis- copacy, which was thirteen years and a half,t was disastrous beyond measure, because of the ferocious Lombards; and Gregory himself was firmly persuaded, that the end of the world was near. Hence he had evi- dently a strong contempt of sublunary things, and loved to refresh his mind with prospects beyond the grave. Nor has the sceptical, philosophical taste, as it is called, of this day, any reason to plume itself on comparison with that of Gregory. What is there, for instance, in the scene we have been just reviewing, which should excite the contempt of the philosopher, or rather, of the infidel who calls himself philosopher? Some superstition has appeared in it: it was an age of fsuperstition: the form of Christianity was degenerated even in the best; but the divine religion sparkled through the gloom in the real life of humility, faith, and repentance. The spiritual benefit of many, it is highly probable, resulted from the pastoral labours and litanies of Gregory; and whether is more rational, namely, to fear the wrath of God, when his hand is upon us, to weep and pray, and implore his grace and mercy, in reliance on the promises of his word, be- holding the scourge as really sent from God, or to harden the heart in jocose and fastidious sneers at the weakness of superstition, and to see nothing and to learii nothing, that may lead us to repentance, from the desolating judgments of the Almighty? * Becle. t Bede. 47 In Gregory's works we have a collection of epistles, which will give us a view of his labours and transac- tions. Discipline, and indefatigable attention to order, justice, mercy, and piety, mark all his proceedings. The inordinate amplitude of authority and of exten- sive jurisdiction, to which superstition had already ad- vanced the Roman see, and which afforded such copi- ous fuel to pride and ambition in some of his prede- cessors, and many of his successors, was to him only the cause of anxious care and conscientious solicitude. Italy and Sicil}' were of themselves too large a theatre of action; but with the government of these he re- ceived the prevailing notion of a superintendence of the Roman see over all the churches, derived from St. Peter. In him, at least, the idea excited no pleasing- sensations of dominion. A fatherly inspection of Chris- tendom without civil power called him to incessant la bour; beside that his own diocese was much too great for any one man's capacity. Humility and the fear of God were his ruling dispositions ; and it is evident to a careful observer of Gregory, that he exerted autho- rity in full consistency with these. Moreover he found time to expound the scriptures, to perform the office of a sedulous pastor, and to write much for the in- struction of mankind. Deeply must the spirit of that man have been impressed with the prospects and hopes of immortality, who amidst bodily infirmities., and in times of public perplexity, could persevere in such a course of arduous labours. I shall endeavour to enable the reader to form a judgment for himself of the man by a reviev/ of his letters; omitting those which are the least interesting. He directed the bishops of Sicily to hold an annual visitation at Syracuse or Catana under his subdeacon, and to attend in it to things which related to the pub- lic and ecclesiastical welfare, to relieve the necessities of the poor and oppressed, and to admonish and cor- rect those who had fallen into errors. In which coun- cil he begs that they would be guarded against ma- 48 lice, envy, and discord, and maintain a godly unity and charity.* He reminds the pretor of Sicily, whose duty it was to send corn into Italy from that fruitful granary of the empire, to be just and equitable in his dealings, to remember that life is short, that he must soon ap- pear before the Judge of all, and that he can carry away with him nothing of his gains, and that only the causes and methods of his gains will follow him to judgment.! To a friend he writes thus on his promotion. " I value not the congratulations of strangers on my ad- vancement. But it is a serious grief to me, that you, who know me throughly, should felicitate me on the occasion. Ye have long known my wish; I should have obtained the rest which I sought, could I have been gratified in it."| " If charity," says he, writing to John bishop of Constantinople, " consist in the love of our neigh- bour, why do not ye love me, as yourselves? With what ardor and zeal ye would fly from the weight of episcopacy I know, and yet ye took no pains to hinder the imposition of this burden on me. But as the go- vernment of an old and crazy vessel is committed to me weak and unworthy as I am, I beseech you, by ' the Lord, that you would stretch out the hand of prayer to my relief. "§ The employment of deciding causes, which in these times fell to the lot of bishops, must have been tedious and burdensome to a mind of conscientious exactness, like that of Gregory. Hear how feelingly he complains of the load in a letter to Theoctista, sister to the emperor. " Under II colour of the bishopric I find I am brought back to the world, in which I am enslaved to such a quantity of earthly cares, as I never remem- ber to have been infested with in my lay capacity. I have lost the sublime joys of myself, and sinking in- wardly, seem to rise externally. I deplore my expul- *B.i. ep. 1. fEp. 2. ^Ep. 3. § Ep. 4. || Ep. 5. 49 sion from the face of my Maker. I was endeavoutii\g to live out of the world and the flesh; to drive away all the phantasms of body from the eyes of my mind, and to see supernal joys mentally, and with my in- most soul panting after God, I said, my heart hath said to thee, ' thy face. Lord, will I seek.' Desiring nothing, and fearing nothing of the world, I seemed to have almost realized that of the prophet. ' I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth.' Surely it is so with him, who looks down from his intellectual elevation on all the grandeur and glory of the earth. But suddenly from the height of peace and stability, impelled by the whirlwind of this tempta- tion, I have fallen into fears and terrors; because, though I fear not for myself, I fear much for those who are committed to my charge : I am shaken with the fluctuations of causes on all sides, and say, ' I am come into deep waters, so that the floods run over me.' After the hurry of causes is over, I desire to return to my heart, but excluded from it by the vain tumults of thoughts, I cannot return." Such is the picture which Gregory draws of his mental situation in the midst of all his envied greatness. Experience and habit might in time lessen his anxieties. Nor was it through want of capacity for business that he suT- fured thus extremely. No age ever saw a bishop more vigorous, firm, and circumspect. The immensity of ecclesiastical employment, which went through his hands, seems almost incredible. I rejoice to find in him such vivid tokens of that spiritual sensibility and life, which it is the great business of this history to delineate, as it appeared from age to age in the church, and which distinguishes real christians as much from nominal ones, as from all other men. In the mean time I have to regret, that while the power and expe- rience of godliness decayed, the amplitude of bishop- rics was so much augmented, and that so much ex- traneous matter, which ought to have been committed to other hands, was thrown upon them. The conse- quence has been, that the dignitaries of the chtir(?h 50 ,(,liave ever since been thrown into circumstances pe- culiarly disadvantageous. Those of a secular spirit have toiled with eagerness in the work, for worldly and selfish ends, without feeling any injury to the spiritual life, because they had none: those of an heavenly spirit have felt like Gregory under the united pres- sures of conscientious care and the tumult of thoughts very alien from the christian life, and tending to ex- tinguish it. The pious and upright Anastasius of Antioch " has been already introduced to the reader's notice. Gre- gory had contracted an intimacy with him while in the east, and he writes to him thus in answer to his letter. " I received your letter, as a weary man does rest, as a sick man health, as a thirsty person a foun- tain, as one overcome with heat a shade. I read not mere words; I perceived the heart itself to be disco- vering your affection towards me in the spirit." He goes on to complain of Anastasius's cruel kindness in having contributed to his promotion, and describes his burdens in his usual manner. " But when you call me the mouth and lamp of the Lord, and a person capable of profiting many, this is added to the load of my iniquities, that I receive praise instead of punish- ment for my sins. How I am overloaded, no words can express; you may form some idea from the bre- vity of my letter, in which I say so little to him whom I love above all. I have begged of the emperor to allow you to visit me at Rome, that while I enjoy your company, we may relieve the tediousness of our pilgrimage by conversing together of the heavenly country."* It is not easy for persons, unacquainted with their own heart, to believe all this sense of un- worthiness to be genuine in Gregory; men who know themselves will believe, that he spake sincerely. Gregory was solicitous for the conversion of the Lombards from the arian heresy, and therefore he wrote to the bishops of Italy, to avail themselves of * Ep. 7. 51 their influence to unite all the young persons of that nation, who had been baptized in the arian commu- nion, to the general church, to preach to them the doctrine' of eternal life, and to secure to themselves a pleasing account of their pastoral labours at the last day.* Under his administration a gradual accession of this people was made to the church, notwithstand- ing the great power of the Lombard princes, and their obstinate attachment to arianism. Indeed the shining example of Gregory himself must have made a very powerful impression on the minds of all who had opportunity of knowing him. He was careful to preserve the great revenues of the church, but no man was ever more conscientious to employ them to good purposes. As he loved to imitate his predeces- sor Gelasius,t he followed the statement of the reve- nues which he had drawn up, and formed an estimate of them in money; distributions of which he made to the clergy, monasteries, churches, the officers of his house, deaconries, and hospitals. He regulated the sums to be allotted to each at four times of the year, an order which was observed three hundred years after. A great volume was kept in the palace of the Lateran, containing the names of the poor, who were the objects of his liberality, their age and circum- stances, at Rome, in Italy, and even in distant pro- vinces. On every first day of the month, he distri- buted to the poor's necessities, according to the season, various articles of provision. Every day he distributed alms to the sick and infirm; and before he sat down to eat, he sent portions from his table to some indigent people, who were ashamed to appear. It would be tedious to recount from his letters! ^^"^^ instances of his liberality. He pressed his agents to inform him of objects, and loved to exceed the ex- pectations of his petitioners. But while he abounded in benefactions, he would receive none himself. "We * Ep. 17. f Fleury, b. xxxv. c. xvi. vol. iv. ■" Ep. X8, 44, 23, 57, 65, 54, 30. 52 ought to refuse" said he, writing to Felix bishop of Messina, " presents, which are expensive to the churches. Send to the other clergymen every year what is established by usage. But as I love not pre- sents, I forbid you to send me any for the future. I thank you for the palmtrees which you sent me, but I have caused them to be sold, and have sent you the price of them." The unhappy wars of Italy having caused great desolations of the churches, that the re- maining inhabitants might not be forsaken, he gave those churches in charge to the neighbouring bishops. If two of them did not contain, singly, a sufficient number of persons to constitute a diocese, he joined them together under one bishop, insisting on equal care being taken of that in which he did not reside, as of that in which he did. He made no difficulty of obliging a bishop to leave a small church, where he was little more than titular pastor, to govern a more important one.* Having discovered several abuses committed in the management of the revenues in Sicily, he took care to reform them. "We are in- formed," says he,t " that corn is bought of the pea- sants, under the market price; I direct that they be paid always according to the current price, without deducting the corn lost by shipwreck, provided that you take care that they do not transport it out of sea- son. We forbid all base exactions; and, that after my death the farmers may not be charged anew, let a cer- tificate be delivered to them in writing, containing the sum which each is obliged to pay. Take particular care, that false weights be not made use of in receiv- ing the payments, as the deacon Servus Dei discovered, but break them in pieces, and cause new ones to be made. I have been informed, that farmers are distres- sed at the first time of the payment of their rents; for, having not yet sold their fruits, they are obliged to borrow at heavy interest. Supply them therefore out * B. i. ep. 42. — He wi-ites thus to Peter his ag'ent in Sicily f Ep. 64, Sec. b. ii. ep. 50. of the stock of the church with what they may have borrowed, and receive their payments by degices, lest you oblige them to sell their commodities at an under price, to make good their rents. In general, I WILL NOT SUFFER THE CHURCH TO BE DEFILED BY BASE GAINS." This is a specimen of the uprightness and atten- tion of Gregory to those secular concerns, under which his sp rit so much groaned. A pharisee would have found a mental feast in so much beneficence. Bm Gregory was humble; he could not fint rest to his soul in such exercises, however laudable; and though his heart and head seemed as well fitted as any man's in any age for such work, and though he went through it with much ability and success, yet it were to be wished, that he had been allowed more time to pay attention to the more spiritual duties of his state. The short extract however (for the account might have been swelled to a large size) may deserve some attention from persons, whether ecclesiastical or secular, whose employments are of a similar nature. Let them ask themselves, whether with Gregory's care for the preservation of their rights, (and in that he was as firm and strenuous as christian charity al- lows) they are also like him upright, disinterested, and merciful. And as human malignity has been abun- dantly gratified in large details of the encroachments and oppressions of churchmen, it falls within the plan of these memoirs, to show that all churchmen have not been thus iniquitous; that those who are humble and evangelically pious, are also, above all men, up- right, munificent, and liberal. Peter, bishop of Terraco in Spain, had consented to a species of persecution of the Jews in his diocese, by permitting them to be molested in their festivities, and to be more than once driven from the place in which they celebrated them. Let those, who have been led by fashionable historians to annex the idea of persecution to that of the priesthood, take notice, that Gregory bishop of Rome wrote to Peter, to con- VoL. in. 8 # 54 dentin the practice, and to give his decisive opinion, that the Jews should not be in the least molested, that they ought to be won over to the faith by the SWEETNESS of gospcl preaching, and by the denun- ciation of divine judgments against infidelity, and that these were christian arts and methods, while those of a different nature tended only to harden and disgust the human mind.* To Leander of Sevillef he expresses with tears the pressures of his mnid under loads of solicitude, and earnestly entreats his prayers. He congratulates him also on the conversion of king Recaredus of Spain, and while he rejoices at the news of that prince's piety and virtues, he admonishes the bishop to watch over the royal convert, that his life may correspond to so hopeful a beginning. He wrote some time after to the same prince, to recommend to him a strong guard over anger, pride, and lust, vices more pecu- liarly apt to infest princes. Of all the princes of this time he seems most to have adorned the gospel. He was just, mimificent, and liberal. And before he left the world he publicly confessed his sins, and appeared to have been possessed of true piety, so far as we can judge. He died about the close of this century. To Virgilius and Theodorus, bishops of Mar- seilles, he writes on occasion of the persecuting me- thods made use of against the Jews. He again bears testimony against the compulsory practices. He de- clares how sorry he is to find, that many of that peo- ple had been brought to the baptismal font by vio- lence rather than by preaching. " If a Jew is brought thither by necessity, not by the sweetness of the word, returning to his former superstition, he dies in a worse state than that from which he seemed to be regenerated. Preach frequently to them that they may desire to be changed, through the love of what they hear. Thus your desire of saving souls will be accomplished, and the convert will not return like the dog to his vomit. * B. i. ep. 34. t Ep. 41. 55 % Preach, that their dark minds may be illuminated, and that under God they may be brought to real regene- ration."* He wrote also to Pascasius, bishop of Naples, com- plaining of the violence used to the Jews in driving them from their solemnities. He blames this method, and exhorts to the same purpose as before. f It is well known what different methods have been, since Gre- gory's time, supported by the Roman popes. I appro- priate the term pope to antichrist, who did not, accu- rately speaking, exist as yet in the western church. On the other side he was zealous to suppress the attempts of Jews to seduce christians, and prohibited their purchasing of christians for slavesj. The Lombards were a constant scourge to Italy in the time of Gregory; and he was aware of their inten- tions to invade Sicily. Hence he wrote to all the bishops of the island to supplicate the Lord in litanies every fourth and sixth day of the week, and exhorted them not only to draw their flocks to this association of prayer, but also to preach to them the doctrine of repentance. " For if the gracious Lord behold us loving his commands, he is able to defend us from the enemy, and to prepare eternal joys for us."<§ Natalis, bishop of Salonse, had written to Gregory in defence of the entertainments given by the clergy. The bishop of Rome allows his assertions, but under these important restrictions, " that no absent persons be slandered at these meetings, that none be made an object of ridicule, that the empty discourse of secular business be avoided, that the word of God he read in them, that no more meat and drink be used than is needful lor the refreshment of the body, and to fit it for the discharge of duty. If this be your practice, I confess you to be masters of temper ance||." But it seems Gregory's animadversions on the feasting of * B. i. ep. 45. f B. ii. ep. 15. i B. li. ep. 76. § E. ix. 45. Hence I appreheriil the oi'i^ln of the use of the litapy on V»'cdnesda.vs and Fridays in nublic worship. i|B. ii.sr. 56 4 , the Salonian clergy had given offence, by that which he adds. " You take it ill to be leprehended by me, who, though I am your superior in church dignity, (I do not mean as a man), am willing to be corrected and reproved by all. I thank, indeed, that man as my friend, through whose advice I am enabled to wipe off the blemishes of my soul before the appearance of the awful Judge." One cannot form any great idea of the piety of this Natalis, who had excused himself from assiduous reading the scriptures partly on account of the pressure of tribulations, partly by a m^ere cavil, because our Lord had told his disciples, that it should be given them in the same hour what they should say. Gregory informs him, that the scriptures were given us, that we, through patience and comfort of them, might have hope. How he answers the cavil, it is not necessary to say. " But we cannot be like you," ISa- talis had said. The bishop of Rome was not to be seduced by such evasive flattery. " The encomiums you bestow on me," said he, " seem to be spoken in derision, because I cannot in truth find them realized in my experience." We see in all this, on one side, a zealous pastor labouring to revive a sense and spirit of godliness in his brethren; on the other, a slothful and falsehearted ministry, poorly excusing itself by feign- ed apologies, from doing the Lord's work, ^vith vigor and sincerity. After having given a beautiful description of charity in writing to Dominicus bishop of Carthage,'* he shows how deeply his soul was penetrated \i ith the importance of the pastoral ofiice. In their views of this, many of the ancient fathers, whom we deride for their supersti- tions, do far excel the generality of pastors in our times. Let him who has entered on this office with merely secular views read, and, if he can, blush and weep, after he has considered, that no age since the apostles' days has ever seen one more intentl}- and sincerely laborious than Gregory. " Weighty indeed - B. ii. 39. is the office of a pastor. He must be an example tt) the flock, and after this he must learn to keep himself humble. He must ever be intent on the ministry of the word, remembering who hath said, occupy till I COME. This we then truly execute, when by life and doctrine we gain the souls of our neighbours, strengthen the weak by setting before them the joys of the heavenly kingdom, and bend the proud by sounding aloud the punishments of hell, when we spare none against truth, and when given up to heavenly friendships, Vve fear not human enmity. I tremble at my own infirmity. Hov»? can I sustain the last judginent, seeing so very little fruit of my la- boars? Dearest brother, I implore your prayers for me. Bv the union of charity, we have a common interest." 1 o Boniface, bishop of Rhegium, he gives an hand- some reproof for boasting of the good deeds he had done. He owned that he rejoiced to hear of his works of mercy. But he was sorry to find, that he himself had spoken of them to many persons. He warns him to take care that he did not mar the whole by ostenta- tion. " What are we, dust and ashes, that we should covet the praise of men. Him you should seek to please, whose coming we expect, and whose retribu- tions will know no end."* Evangelus, a deacon of the church of Sypontum, had complained to Gregory, that his daughter had been deflowered by Felix, the grandson of the bishop of the same name. The bishop of Rome, not without some animadversion on the bishop's careless education of his grandson, ordered, on supposition of the truth of the fact, that Felix should be obliged to marry the young woman, or, in case of refusal, be scourged and confined in a monastery, excommunicated, and remain in a state of penance, and not be suffered to go abroad till farther orders were received from Gregory. f It seemed proper to mention this ancient precedent of * B. ii, 4.3 t B. ii. 79, 81. 58 the practice of spiritual courts. Doubtless, they were, in their origin, courts of censure on immoralities not so easily cognisable in courts of common law. The necessities of society, and the depravity of human na- ture, seem to require the existence of such tribunals. The Roman office of censor was of the same kind. Nor would mankind be disposed to depreciate them, w^ere they naturally as sincere in their regard for the honour of God and for moral decorum, as they are for the preservation of propert}^ The abuses of these courts among ourselves are well known. But why per- sons of rank and property in our country do not labour to regulate them, or rather, do not endeavour to insti- tute a censorship of morals that shall be practicable and effectual, — why they indiscriminately condemn the whole principle, while they permit lewdness to be practised without any restraint, — are questions not hard to be determined. In the mean time, every lover of equity and decency should prefer a spiritual court, armed with some power for the suppression of vice, before the licentiousness, which, under the name of liberty, threatens among ourselves to destroy all the barriers which our ancestors erected against vice and immorality. Severe as Gregory's conduct may now seem, it was wholesome no doubt, and society felt the good consequences. In writing to Priscus, a patrician of the east, he justly describes the mixed state of human affairs, and the duties of christian faith and humility. The thought is common to moralists in all ages; but Gregory en- nobled it with some real principles of Christianity. Gregory corresponded also with Theodolinda, the queen of the Lombards: she was the widow of their king Autharit, a zealous arian. After his death, she married Agihilfus, a Lombard, whom the nation re- ceived as king. Being orthodox herself, she brought over her husband, and the whole nation, at length, to the same persuasion. Gregory congratulated her on the happy prospect of the progress of Christianity among the Lombards. What degree of real piety was 59 ill all this, does not appear: the temporal benefit of Gregory's hiboiirs was, however, evident in the esta- blishment of peaee for some time between the Lom- bards and the Roman empire,^ Anastasius, bishop of Antioch, seems ever to have been a special favourite of Gregory. He had been ejected from his see by the injustice of Justin, the successor of Justinian, and had lived in exile a num- ber of years. He was at length, however, restored to his see,t and Gregory wrote a letter to him on the occasion, full of pious and tender sentiments. In this letter, he endeavours to solace the mind of the prelate with the same scriptural views and promises, with which his own had been refreshed under a variet}- of afflictions. The hope of glory hereafter to be revealed, it is evident, was the spring of joy to his own soul, and enabled him to bear calamities with patience J. In another letter to him he writes, " you ought to keep in mind, as you do, what is written: ' In the last days perilous times shall come.' — And though m old age you suffer much, remember him, who told St. Peter, that when he was old, another should gird him. Yet, in saying this, I recollect, that from youth you have laboured in many adversities. Numbers rejoice at our sorrows, as you write; but we know who hath said, * ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall re- joice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.' We feel the performance of the former part; let us expect the latter part also. You say, that some who ought to relieve, add burdens to you; I know they are those who come in sheep's clo- thing, but who inwardly are ravening wolves. We are not disturbed on account of their ambition in arrosra- tmg all honour to themselves, because we trust in the Almighty, whose law and rule is, that those who covet what belongs to others, are sooner on that account deprived of their own. For we know who hath said, ' he that exalteth himself, shall be abased,' and, * * B. xii, ep. 7. f B. iv. 81. + Evagi'ius, b. vi. toward the end GO haughty spirit before a fall.' In these days, as I find, new heretical wars arise, which would reduce to no- thing the prophets, the gospels, and all the fathers together. But while Anastasius lives, we trust in the srrace of our Protector; their swords will break in pieces, striking against a rock. The church, in the mean time, by the subtilty of heretics, is sharpened in her doctrine, and learns the truth more accurat(-ly= The heart of God approaches to us, and, by tempta- tions we are brought to feel him more sensibly. What I suffer from the swords of barbarians and from the perverseness of judges, I spare to relate, that 1 may not increase the sorrow of him whom I wish to con- sole. But I weigh those words, ' this is your hour, and the power of darkness.' The power of light then shall have its day afterwards; because the elect are the light of the world, and it is written, ' the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning:' hence, all we suffer in the hour and power of darkness is not to be regretted. You wish, if it were possible, that we might converse without pen and ink; and it is a pain- ful circumstance that we are almost as distant from one another as east and west. But truly we, whom grace hath not separated, are made one. Why wish you for the wings of a dove, which you have already? The wings are the love of God and our neighbour. By them the church flies through the earth: if you had not these wings you would not have come to me with so much love by* your epistles. — As your life is ne- cessary to all good men, may you after a long time arrive at the joys of the heavenly country." I have only to add concerning Anastasius, that he lived five years after his restoration, and died about the end of the century. We are much in the dark con- cerning the trials of this great and good man. Grego- ry's words however v/ill stand as proper to be addres- sed to the suffering children of God in all ages. I conceive the bishop of Antioch to have been a lumi- * B. vii. cp. 3 61 nary in the east, envied and persecuted extremely, bearing testimony to the faith of Christ in the decline of the eastern church; whose life and transactions would be very instructive, if they had been transmitted to posterity. John, bishop of Constantinople, disturbed in Gre- gory's time the peace of the church by assuming to himself the title of universal bishop. The pride and arrogance, with which he assumed it, was only equal- led by the obstinacy, with which he persevered. Gre- gory wrote with much vehemence* against his haugh- tiness, and, on this occasion, laid down some memo- rable rules of humility, which severely condemned, not himself, but his successors in the Romish see. In what a state must the east have been to revere as a great saint both living and dying so proud a man as John of Constantinople! But there godliness was nearly expiring, and the mahometan scourge was at hand. Gregory wrote to Dominicus an African bishop, entreating his prayers, and thanking him for his pre- sents. By this letter it appears that the spirit of true godliness was not yet extinct in Africa. f There is another letter to the same person, who, it seems, was bishop of Carthage, full of the spirit of charity and devotion, though there is nothing in it that calls for any very particular attentionf . Cyriacus succeeded John of Constantinople, whose pride has been mentioned already. At his solemn or- dination the people shouted, " this is the day which the Lord hath made; Ave will rejoice and be glad in it." Superstition naturally paved the way for the do- minion of the clergy; and the bishops of the great sees were gradually increasing in secular grandeur. The congratulation just mentioned was calculated to en- courage Cyriacus to emulate the ambition of his pre- decessor. Gregory (I justly finds fault with it, in a letter to the great men of Constantinople, shows that the acclamation properly belonged to the Stone which * B. iv. 82. f B. V. 119. i B. v. 162' !j B. vi. in. Vol. III. 9 62 ihe Lord had laid for a foundation in his church*, and observes that it was impious to ascribe those praises to the creature, which belonged to the Creator. Yet he is willing to excuse the mistake as proceeding from a charitable intention. Gregory, no doubt, had him- self too high views of the dignity of his own see; and its supposed relation to saint Peter blinded his judg- ment. The exaltation of Constantinople, through the domineering pretensions of the late bishop excited his jealousy, and so subtil and intricate are the motions of the heart, that he himself might not at all be aware of the selfishness, which probably influenced his con- duct. I doubt not, however, from the unaffected hu- mility of his whole life, that his heart detested sacer- dotal ambition. The excessive dignity of the prelatical character would have done little harm to Christen- dom, had all prelates been like Gregory. But, as this was not to be expected, the state ought to have set bounds to ecclesiastical encroachments before this period. Gregoria, a lady of the bedchamber to Augusta the empress, in her anxiety for her soul, and in the height of her admiration of Gregory, by letter requested him to inform her, if he could by revelation, that her sins were forgiven her.f Gregory assured her, " that cer- tainty in this matter was not attainable: we must re- pent and mourn over our sins, and apply for pardon continually." He declares himself unworthy of hav- ing such a revelation made to him, and gives her useful and salutary advices, so far as he saw into the system of divine truth. In regard to the doctrine of justification, he seems to have had the same confusion of ideas, and the same sentiments which Augustine had. HoAv superstition, servility, and darkness pre- vailed in the church at this time, is but too evident. Yet Gregory was a luminary compared with most of his contemporaries. To a person named Andrew, affecting secular * Psalm, cxviii. 24. f B- vi. ep. 186. 63 greatness, he writes with much pathos on the vanit}- of suhkinary thmgs, a subject which he touched with more, sensibility, because he was strongly impressed with the idea of the world being nearly at an end.* Serenus, bishop of Marseilles, observing some of his people to adore the images which had been placed in churches, brake them in his zeal, and gave so much disgust by this conduct, that many withdrew from his communion. Gregcwy rebukes him on this account, and wishes him to conciliate the affections of the people, by allowing them to make use of images as pieces of history to instruct their minds in the great facts of Christianity. He would have him to use them as books for the illiterate people, and at the same time to caution them seriously against paying any adoration to them.—- 1 have stated the substance of the senti- ments of both these bishops, f It seems not probable, that those, who deserted . Serenus on this account, had much Christianity "to lose. Gregory had not the opportunity of knowing so well as we do the danger of his advice. Thus far is evident, that image wor- ship had not generally commenced in Gregory's time, and that he seriously reprobated the practice. The gradual approximation, however, to idolatry may be traced from these facts; and the danger of such a mode of teaching, as that^v-hich Gregory recommeilds has been so abimdantfy pi^'oved since his time, that no doubt remains but in this instance, the bishop of Marseilles judged better than^'he. The cori'espondence between Gregory and Brune- halt, the queen of Austrasia or Burgundy, a division of the French monarchy, which took place amidst the confusions of that country, after the death of Clovis, will deserve to be succinctly stated. | She was an ambitious, dissolute woman; yet, in that age of su- perstition, she endeavoured to impose both on herself and on the world by an appearance of piety. She at- tempted to Extend her power while her young male • B. vi. ep. 190. t B. vii. 190. b. ix. 9. t B. vii. 113. b. ix. 57. 61. 64 descendents were on the throne; and permitted, or rather encouraged their vicious conduct, that she might herself keep the reins of government. Gregory, while he commends her respectful attention to the forms of religion, blames her ecclesiastical proceedings in some matters of great moment. He represents, with much earnestness, the irregular, and even simoniacal ordinations of pastors in France, and observesj with great energy, the deplorable state of the flocks, and the scandal of all godliness, which must ensue from such conduct. Finding that his remonstrances had little effect, he urges her still more strongly on the same subject, and observes the probability of divine vengeance overtaking her family, if she corrected not these enormities. It is remarkable, that this wicked woman was afterwards put to a cruel death, and that her descendents were slain or expelled. From some parts of the more early correspondence between them, one would think that Gregory thought highly of her virtues. Time, however, undeceived him, and it must be confessed, that he treated her with the undissem- bled plainness, which becomes a christian pastor. The bodily afflictions of Gregory, in connexion with the miseries of the times, are forcibly described in a letter to Italica, a patrician lady.* " I can find nothing else to say of myself, than that as a just punishment of my sins, I have been almost eleven months confined to my bed. I am so oppressed with the gout, that life is an heavy punishment. I faint daily through pain, and breathe after death as my remedy.! Among the clergy and people of the city, scarce a freeman or a slave is exempt from fevers. Africa and the east are also full of misery and deso- lation. I see the end of all things approaching; be * B. vii. 127. f In another letter he speaks of a disorder different from the gout, hamel)^, a grievous burning heat, that spread over all his body, and took a.way liis spirits. By such severe exercises was this good man trained for the kingdom of heaven; and he evidently grew in humilit}', tender sym- pathy with others in distress, and ardent breathings for the heavenly countrj'. 65 therefore less solicitous on account of your own cala- mities. Study with alacrity that godliness, which has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come." In a letter to Eulogius,* bishop of Alexandria, written the year after, he says, " I have been near two years confined to my bed, in constant pain. — Often have I been forced to return to my bed, when I scarce had left it, by the violence of pain. — Thus I die daily, and yet live. But I am a grievous criminal, and, as such, deservedly shut up in so painful a prison, I daily cry with the psalmist, " bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to thy name." While he lived, he was frequently thus afflicted; but the vigor of his mind was unabated, and his faculties were unclouded. Another instance of his bodily sufferings shall close this branch of his story. Writing to his friend Venan- tius, who was likewise afflicted with the gout, he says, " what ought we to do, but to call our sins to remem- brance, and to thank God, that he purifies us by afflic- ting our flesh. Let us take care, that we pass not from one degree of torment to another, and let us consider the goodness of God, who threatens us with death, that he may imprint in us an edifying fear of his judgments. How many sinners have continued immersed in sin through life without a headach, and have suddenly been cast into hell?" — I rejoice to find in this great man the marks of that deep humility, which is known only to true converts, and of that wise improvement of affliction, of which theorists may rea- son, but which saints only feel. He concludes thus benevolently and piously to his friend. " May the Lord infuse into your soul these words by the inspira- tion of his Spirit, cleanse you from your iniquities, give you here the joy of his consolation, and eternal reward hereafter, "f * This Euloglus, by preaching and writing, strengthened the hands of the godly in the east, and lessened the influence of heretics. He seems, by Gregory's correspondence with him, to have been a wise and pious pastor, such as in Alexandria £«i,d the east were rarely to be found- t B. is. 25. 66 Gregory, having been informed, that Clementina, a woman of quality, had harboured some suspicions against him, wrote to her in a charitable spirit and with the intention of effacing the disagreeable impres- sions. He at the same time mildly reproved her for the want of a placable and forgiving temper. He re- minds her of the well known petition in the Lord's prayer, and delivers several trite, but weighty senti- ments adapted to the subject.* On no occasion was Gregory wanting to impress on men's minds the care of the soul. Two persons having requested his ajssistance in their temporal dif- ficulties, after having said what the case required, he exhorted them not to murmur at the divine dispensa- tions, nor to undertake any thing unjust under the pretence of necessity; but to fix their hope on the mercy of their Kedeemer, who forsaketh not those who trust in him, to occupy their minds with divine things, and to repose on him who gives what we have not, re- pairs what we have lost, and preserves what he has repaired, t The subdeacon was an officer of the church, who superintended, under the bishop of Rome, the distant bishoprics and parishes which belonged to his jurisdic- tion. f Gregory wrote to Anthemius, the subdeacon of Campania, that he had heard of Paschasius, a bishop, who was so slothful, that he neglected every pastoral duty, admitted of no advice, and gave himself up to the building of a ship. It seems he used to go down to the sea on this verj^ unclerical employment with one or t\A:o of his clergymen, and was held in derision by all the country. Gregory directs his subdeacon to reprimand him in the presence of some presbyters, or gentlemen of the neighbourhood, and try by that method to reform him. Should that prove ineffectual, he enjoins him to send Paschasius to Rome, to answer for himself before Gregory. I know not the result; but it seemed worth while to ' B. rin. 16. f B. xi. 23. i B. xi. 29. 67 mention the case, as it illustrates the state of the church discipline of that day, as well as the vigilant attention of Gregory. That so many should nominallj sustain the pastoral character, whose taste and genius, as well as disposition and sentiments, are repugnant to it, and who seem qualified to excel in any thing rather than what is sacerdotal, is matter for lamenta- tion. The profane avarice of parents educating their children for the ministry at all events, is one great cause of it. CHAP. VI. Gregory'' s Conduct toward the Emperors Mauritius and Phocas. It is impossible for any impartial person, who has attended to the spirit and conduct of Gregory as ex- hibited in his pastoral memoirs, not to feel a conviction of the eminent piety, integrity, and humility of this bishop. Yet it has been the fashion to arraign his cha- racter with great severity, on account of his conduct in the latter part of his life. He has been accused of great ingratitude towards one excellent and virtuous emperor, and of egregious flattery towards another who was profligate and tyrannical. Tl\e evidence al- ready adduced of his disposition and temper should naturally dispose us to receive with much caution such grievous accusations. I shall throw together into this chapter the facts on which our judgment is to be founded. * A series of events had given Gregory a strong pre- judice against the government of Mauritius. Their op- position of sentiment had remarkably alienated their spirits from one another, though they once had the most sincere esteem for each other's character. Gre- * See Bower's History of the Popes, vol. ii. Gregory. 68 gory had been very acceptable to Mauritius, who had strongly favoured his promotion to the bishopric. Nor is there anj' reason to doubt of the sincerity of the bishop's professions of a very high regard for the em- peror, when he made them. Changes of this sort are common amongst mankind, nor are the declarations, which men make at different times of the characters of the same persons, however contradictory, to be always charged to insincerity. Mauritius made a law, to prohibit men, who had held civil offices under the government, from under- taking the administration of the church. Of this Gre- gory approved; but a clause in the same law, which forbade military men to enter into monasteries till the time of their service was expired, or till they were dis- abled for the profession, met not with the same appro- bation. Gregory, too fond of monastic institutions, and conceiving them necessary for the souls of some, though not of all, expostulated with the emperor on the impiety of the decree. He does so, however, with all possible decency and respect, and lays open his sen- timents with a frankness and modesty, which do ho- nour to his character. Doubtless he was mistaken; and the mistake was common to him with the most pious of those times. He promulged, however, the emperor's decree through Italy, and thus, as he himself says, he was faithful to God, and obeyed his prince at the same time.* In this transaction, in which it does not appear that he succeeded with the emperor, the zeal of Gregory was quickened by the strong presentiments of the near approach of the day of judgment, which filled his mind. This mistaken notion seems to have dwelt with Gre- gory; nor was it in him a mere speculation. He was practically serious in the expectation. I find him pres- sing it in another letter to the nobles and landholders of the island of Sardinia, whom he reproved for suf- fering their^ labourers to remain in a state of idolatry. ' B. xii. ep. 100. 69 He justly observes, that they were bound in conscience to take care of the spiritual instruction of those who laboured for them in temporal things, and he earnest- ly exhorts them to promote the charitable work.* The selfishness and insensibility, with which so many, in modern times, can reap lucrative advantages from the labours of mariners, slaves, and apprentices, with no more attention to their best interests, than if they were of the brute creation, here naturally forces itself on our attention. Other letters, of the same kind, demonstrate the zeal of Gregory for the propagation of Christianity among idolaters and infidels. Italy suffered extremely from the Lombards, as has been observed; nor can we form any hopeful idea of the real conversion of Aigilulph, the husband of Theo- delinda, since he still ravaged the Roman territories, and filled them with misery and desolation. These evils were a constant source of affliction to the tender spirit of Gregory, yet he failed not to improve them IN HIS HOMILIES TO THE INSTRUCTION OF HIS FLOCK. Willing to put a stop to the effusion of blood, and averse to shedding even that of the Lombards, by nourishing intestine feuds among them, as he might have done, he strove to make peace with Aigilulph, and had even succeeded, when the exarch of Ravenna, the emperor's governor in Italy, perfidiously brake the peace, and provoked the Lombard king to renew his hostilities. The exarch himself, finding his own profit in the continuance of the war, was for persevering in it at all events, and his heart was hardened against the sufferings of the people, which Gregory deplored. In- volved as we find this holy bishop in political concerns far more than it were to be wished, it is yet pleasing to see him uniformly supporting the christian charac- ter. For now a severe trial came upon him. Mauritius, induced by representations from the exarch, reproach- ed him severely with his conduct, and in effect called him a foolish person. Gregory, humble as he was, felt * B. iii. 23. Vol. m. 10 70 the indignity, of all others the hardest to be borne by mtn of understanding. Yet he checked his spirit, and brake not the just bounds prescribed to the christian and to the subject of an emperor. " While you reprove me," says he, " in sparing you have not spared me. While you politely tax me with simplicity, you doubt- less call me a fool. I own the charge. Had I not been so I should not have come hither to this episcopal scene, to endure what I suffer amidst the Lombard wars. In- deed if I saw not the daily increase of the calamities of the Romans, I should gladly be silent with respect to personal contempt. But this is my affliction; the same cause which subjects me to the imputation of folly, brings my countr3^men under the yoke of the Lom- bards. And while I am not believed, the strength of the enemy increases mightily. This I suggest to my good lord, that he may believe of me what evils he pleases, only let him not give his ears to any sort of persons concerning the public good, but regard facts more than words. I know I am a sinner; I daily offend, and am daily chastised. I trust the chastisement of your displeasure will work for my good, among the rest, at the last day. But let me recount my grievances. First, the peace I had made with Aigilulph, with no loss to the state, js broken. In the next place, soldiers are removed from Rome, some to perish by the ene- my, others to defend Peru slum, while Rome is ex- posed to danger. Further, Aigilulph appears with his forces; with these eyes I have seen Romans, like dogs, tied with cords, and dragged to be sold as slaves among the Franks. As to myself, in the integrity of my con- science I am not dejected with false accusations: I ani prepared to endure all, provided my soul's salvation be not endangCi ed. But it grieves me to the heart, that Gregory and Castorius, who did all that men could do, while Rome was besieged, have fallen under your displeasure on my account. That you threaten me with an awful account at the day of judgment, will require a few words in answer. I beseech you cease from this language. ' Judge nothing before the time,' 71 says that excellent preacher Paul. I only say this in brief, that, unworrhy sinner as I am, I rest more on the mercy of Jesus, than on your justice. JVIcn are very ignorant of the measures of his judgment; per- haps what you commend, he will blame; and what you blame, he will commend. I leave uncertain things; I have recourse to prayers and tears alone, begging that the Lord would rule our pious emperor with his hand, and acquit him at that awful judgment; at the sarne time, that he would teach me so to please men, that I lose not his eternal grace."* I have already mentioned the jealous uneasiness of Gregory at the pride of John, bishop of Constantino- ple. The title of universal bishop, had upon his own application been conferred upon him in an eastern council, and the policy of some former emperors had induced them to compliment the prelates of Constan- tinople with it; because the honour and influence of the imperial city were augmented by this means. Gre- gory was the more vexed at this, because the synod of Chalcedonf had offered the same title to the Roman bishops, and they had not accepted it. He in his let- ters called himself the servant of the servants of God. Such humility might have been thought affected in a person not eminent for this grace. Doubtless it would have been more prudent in him not to have assumed it. But it continues to this day the title of his successors, a standing mark of egregious hypocrisy! That which deceived Gregory in this case was the erroneous notion of the preeminence of his own see, as belonging to St. Peter; yet I no way doubt but he sincerely abhorred the pride of the eastern prelate. Had he himself, how- ever, been more completely humble and less supersti- tious, he would have suffered the affair to pass with greater indifference. While in one respect we behold this good man acting the patriot and the christian, re- lieving the distressed and ransoming the captives with unbounded liberality, nominally possessing great ec- * B. iv. ep. 75 f B' '^'^ ^P- "^^^ f. 72 clesiastical wealth, but employing it all to the most be-- neficent purposes, and sparing no labour or fatigue, in another we see him writing and negotiating with per- severing vehemence concerning a title, in which, though his cause was unquestionably just, his eager- ness was far too sanguine. He solicited the emperor Mauritius on the subject, but in vain. And this was an additional cause of the prejudices, which they im- bibed against each other. Mauritius cannot be vindicated in supporting the odious pride of John against the just demands of Gre- gory. The evil, by the countenance of the emperor, continued; and John's successor assumed the same antichristian title. But Gregory had still more weighty causes of complaint, and such as his episcopal duty called on him to lay before the emperor. This he did in a letter to Constantia, the empress. *' Knowing," says he, "that there were many gen- tiles* in Sardinia, that they worshipped idols, and that the clergy were remiss in preaching our Redeemer to them, I sent a bishop from Italy thither, who, the hand of the Lord being with him, brought over many of them to the faith. I am informed that those, who per- severe in idolatry, give a fee to the judge of the island, that they may be allowed to do so with impunity. Some, having been baptized, and ceasing to worship idols, are still obliged to pay the same fine to the judge:! who, when the bishop blamed him, answered, * The term means idolaters in the language of the fathers. B. iv. ep. 77. f Gregory was much afflicted to find, that almost all the peasants of the island were still idolaters. Januarius, bishop of Cagliari, was indolent; the slaves belonging to his own church were idolaters; the other bishops of the province were equally negligent. Hospiton, the chief of the barba- rians, had, however, received the gospel; and to him Gregory re- commended his missionaries, exhorting him to exert himself for the sal- vation of his countrymen. Gregory rebuked Januarius for his neglect of discipline in general, though he had exercised it severely in one instance, in which he had met with a personal aftront. The world is still the same; I could wish that what has been mentioned did not give just cause to the reader, to recollect not only the state of religion in the West Indies, but nearer at home, in Ireland, in which, notwithstanding there are such a number of bishoprics and churches, a superstitious and idolatrous religion prevails to this day. 73 that he had paid so much money for the purchase of his office, that he could not recover his expenses but by such perquisites. The island of Corsica also is op- pressed with such exactions and grievances, that the in- habitants are scarce able to pay the tributes even by the sale of their children. Hence a number of proprietors in the island, relinquishing the Roman government, are reduced to put themselves under the protection of the Lombards. For what more grievous oppression can they suffer from the barbarians, than to be obliged to sell their children? I know that the emperor will say, that the whole produce of the revenue in these islands is applied to the support and defence of Italy. Be it so; but a divine blessing ought not to be expected to at- tend the gains of sin." He wrote again to the empress, against the pride of John, and speaks superstitiously on the merits of St. Peter, while he laments his own unworthiness. Twenty- seven years, he observes, the Roman church had suffered from the desolation of the Lombards; and its daily expenses, partly on ac- count of the war, and partly in the support of the indi- gent, were incredibly great. Gregory had also other just causes of complaint against the emperor. Property, he saw, was intirely fluctuatnig and insecure on account of oppressive ex- actions, insidious proceedings in wills, and various ar- tificers employed by the emperor's ministers.* These evils were constantly practised in Italy, and Gregory had deplored them in vain. Evagrius delivers a very pompous encomium on the character of Mauritius.! But his praise is declamatory and vague, and Mauritius was then living. After all due allowances made on account of the emperor's dis- tance from Italy, it is impossible to vindicate his con- duct. He wanted not military virtues, and had some sense of religion. But avarice was the predominant feature of his character; and how much this vice pre- vails to eclipse all laudable qualities in a man, was ne- " B. XI. ep. 36. + Toward the close of his history. 74 ver more illustrated than in the conduct of Mauritius, Chagan, king of the Avares, a Scythian nation on the banks of the Danube, offered, for a ransom, to liberate some thousands of prisoners. He even proposed to do it at a low price; but Mauritius would not part with his money, and the barbarian in a rage massacred all his prisoners. Mauritius, though covetous, was not inhu- man: he was struck with horror at the news, and be- sought God, that his punishment might be in this life, not in the next. His prayer was answered in the former part of it undoubtedly, and 1 hope also in the latter. As he had alienated the affections of his soldiers by his refusal to supply their wants, they elevated Phoc iis a centurion, to the imperial throne. Mauritius fled, but was seized, and inhumanly murdered with his wife and family. Five of his sons were slain in his sight before he himself received the fatal stroke. 7"he little spark of divine grace, which for years seems to have main- tained a dubious existence in a heart, by nature ex- tremely avaricious, was fanned into a flame by the keen blast of wholesome affliction. Mauritius bore the scene with silent resignation, repeating only, as each of his children was butchered, " Righteous art thou, O Lord, and true are thy judgments." A nurse, who took care of his youngest son, placed her own in its room: Mauritius detecting the generous fraud, discovered it to the executioners, and prevented its eflPect. This is a transaction of civil history, but it falls in with our plan. The great faults of one, who had a latent spark of grace within him, were punished in this life by the wickedness of the monster Phocas, and the story de- serves to be remembered as a beacon to warn profes- sors of godliness against the love of the world. Mau- ritius seems to have profited abundantly by the scourge, and to have died in such a frame of mind, as belongs only to a christian. We are not apt to be aware of the advantages which society reC' ives from Christianity. Let us suppose this emperor to have been totally un- acquainted with, or intirely averse to christian princi- ples. How immensely more pernicious his natural dis- 75 position would have been, unchecked internally, as well as externally, can scarce be conceived. The images of Phocas and of his wife Leontia, were sent to Rome, and received with much respect by the people, and by Gregory himself. It cannot be suppos- ed, that the bishop of Rome could be acquainted with the personal character of Phocas, who was in truth a man of extraordinary wickedness; and the late trans- actions at Constantinople would naturally be misre- presented to him in the accounts transmitted thence. Prejudiced as he was against Mauritius, and willing to hope better things from the new emperor, he wrote him a congratulatory letter, in which he studiously avoided saying any thing on the detail of circum- stances, of which he must have been very insufficiently informed, and dwelt on that which was certain, namely, the adorable hand of divine providence in changing the times, and in transferring kingdoms, as he pleases. He exults in the prospect which he had too eagerly formed of a wise, just, and pious administration. He modestly hints at the great abuses of the late govern- ment, and exhorts Phocas to redress them, reminding him, " that a Roman emperor commands freemen, and not slaves."* Such is the substance of his letter, in which I see nothing unworthy of the piety and patriot- ism of Gregory, but much of his wonted care for the good of the church and the public. Gregory wrote again to Phocas, to apologize for the want of a deacon, who should reside at Constantino- ple. Phocas had complained to him of this, and invi- ted him to send one. The bishop informed him, that the severity of the late government had deterred all clergymen from going thither. But, as he now hoped better things, he sent him a person, whom he recom- mended to his protection. He beseeches Phocas to listen to his relation of facts, as he would thence learn more distinctly the miseries, which Italy had sustained without redress, for thirty-five years, from the Lom- * B. x^. ep. 36 76 bards.* Is it at all surprising, that this language should be used by a man who sincerely loved his country, and knew little of the new emperor; who probably had received a false account of his actions and character, and who had so long been, on christian principles, both patient and loyal to an oppressive government? In another letter to Leontia he is not to be excused from the charge of an unhappy superstition. He talks of Peter the apostle, reminds her of the scripture text, on the perverted use of which hangs the whole struc- ture of the papacy,! and of his intercession in heaven. He prays, that she and her husband may be endowed with princely virtues, and expresses, I will not say with flattery, but with an expectation much too san- guine, his hopes of the blessings of the new adminis- tration. Phocas was displeased with Cyriacus, the bishop of Constantinople, because he had generously interested himself in favour of the remaining branches of Mau- ritius's family; and while he courted the favour of Gregory and of the Romans at a distance, he tyran- nized at home in an uncommon manner. But Gregory died the next year after Phocas's promotion, and had not, probably, time enough to know his genuine character, and was himself also so bowed down with pains and infirmities, that he was unable to answer a letter of Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards. He had promised to do it, if his health was restored; but he grew less and less capable of business till he died. Had health and opportunity permitted, the vigor and piety of his character give me no room to doubt, that he would have rebuked the Roman tyrant in such a manner, as to have quite silenced the accusations, which, on this account, have been thrown upon him. That he should have opposed the usurpation of Pho- cas, will not be expected from those who consider the views of the primitive christians, who intermeddled not with politics; but he, who plainly rebuked Man- * B. xj, ep. 43. t Matth. svi. 18. 77 ritius, would certainly not have spared his successor, whose conduct was far more blamable. * CHAP. VII. Gregory'' s Conduct with respect to England. 1 HIS also has been a source of much accusation against the Roman prelate. Protestant writers, in their zeal against poper}^ have censured his domineering spirit with acrimony, as if the British christians had been protestants, and the Roman christians papists, accurately speaking. But Gregory was no pope, nor had the Britons separated from the general church, and formed a purer establishment of their own. Super-, stition and ecclesiastical power, in the excess, adhered indeed to the conduct of the Roman prelate, as the fault of the age, not of his temper; and if he had per- fectly avoided the fashionable evils of his time, he would have been, I had almost said, more than human. But the ideas, peculiarly popish, were not yet matu- red in the churches. Dissenting writers, I find, have been seduced by the same sort of prejudices as divines of the church of England, and it is curious to observe, how different writers can find, in the features of the British church, the very figure of their own denomi- nation. I ought to profit by the mistake of others; that is, to forget my own times and connexions; to transplant myself into the age of which I write; to make liberal allowances for its customs and prejudi- ces, and to enable the reader, from facts themselves, to form his own judgment. For near a century and a half the gospel of Christ * Phocas took awaj'the title of universal bishop from the prelate of Con- stantinople, and granted it to Boniface III. the next successor but one to Gregory. After Phocas's death the prelate of tlie east reassumed the title. The two bishops each preserved it, and with equal anjbition strove for the preeminence. 'For Greg'ory, who abhorred all view.s of secular ambition, had now departed this life. Vol. III. 11 78 had been declining in Britain, and for the greatest part of that time had been, as we have seen, confined to Wales and Cornwall, or to the mountains of , Scotland. Ireland too still preserved something of the light, while the Angles or Saxons, our ancestors, destroyed every evangelical appearance in the heart of the island. No barbarians were ever more ferocious or more idolatrous; and the Britons, who escaped their rava- ges, oppressed one another with civil broils. Being favoured with some cessation from their wars with the Saxons, they lost by degrees all traces of former piety, though the form of Christianity still remained. One proof among others, which the old historian Gildas gives of their intire want of christian zeal, is, that they took not the least pains for the conversion of the Saxons. Seven Saxon kingdoms, called the Hep- tarchy, were now formed, altogether ignorant and idolatrous, while the few British churches were inat- tentive to the propagation of christian truth in the island. And the Saxons continued, some of them for a century, others more than two centuries, immersed in darkness.* One cannot form any agreeable idea either of the piety or of the knowledge of the British christians, from these circumstances. Nor are the excuses, which our protestant historians are inclined to make for their Avant of zeal, at all satisfactory. It has been said that, " the hostilities of the Angles would make such at- tempts to be arduous;" but let the reader only reflect how such difficulties were surmounted by ^alous and charitable christians in former ages.f I cannot but therefore subscribe to the testimony of our ancient historians, J " that much worthier pastors were sent by the divine goodness, through whom, those, whom God had foreknown, might believe to salvation." A testimony as evangelical in its language, as it is solid in fact. It was about 150 years after the arrival of the Sax- "' Bcde. f See Warner's Eccl. Hist, towards the beginnnig-. i Bcdc. 79 ons in Britain, that Gregory sent his famous mission into our island, toward the close of the sixth century. It was no sudden thought, but the effect of much de- liberation. Even before his consecration at Rome, walking one day in the forum, he saw some very hand- some youths exposed to sale. Asking of what country they were, he was informed they were of the island of Britain. "Are the inhabitants of that island christians or pagans?" They are pagans, was the reply. Alas! said he, deeply sighing,* that the prince of darkness should possess countenances so luminous, and that so fair a front should carry minds destitute of eternal grace. What is the nanie of the nation? Angli, it was said, " In truth they have angelic countenances, and it is a pity they should not be coheirs with angels in heaven. What is the province from which they come?" Deira, that is Northumberland, he was told. It is well, said he, De ira, snatched from the wrath of God, and called to the mercy of Christ. " What is the name of their king?" Ella, was the answer. Playing upon the name, " Alleluia should be sung to God in those re- gions. "* Impressed with the importance of the object, he earnestly entreated the then Roman bishop to send a mission to the island, offering himself as one ready for the task. Nothing but the officious benevolence of the Roman citizens prevented the work at that time. Gregory was too much beloved at Rome, to be allowed to leave it. It was the character of Gregory to pursue with un- wearied attention any jjlan or scheme of piety or disci- pline, which he had once conceived. After his conse- cration, in the year 595 he directed a presbyter, whom he had sent into France, to instruct some young Sax- ons of seventeen or eighteen years of age in christiani- * I leave to fiistldious sceptics, such as the historian Hume, to sneer at Gregory's want of taste in these several allusions. The candid reader will impute them to tjie times, not to the man; and the devout and charitable will adore the goodness of God, which was beginning to provide such pre- cious benefits for our country; benefits, which call for ceaseless gratitude to the Author of all good, and should endear the memory of the Roman prelate to our latest posterity. 80 ty. He intended to prepare them for the mission into our island; and in the year 597 he actually sent mis- sionaries thither. They were a number of monks, at the head of whom was one named Augustine. In obe- dience to Gregory's directions they proceeded on their journey; but their hearts failed them, when they re- flected on the difficulties and dangers to which they thought themselves likely to be exposed. The faith and zeal and simplicity of a christian missionary were at this time grown rare in the world; and Augustine was sent back by the rest, to entreat Gregory to dis- charge them from the service. The prelate wrote ex- hortatory letters, advising them to proceed in confi- dence of divine aid. He informed them, that it had been better not to have begun a good work, than to recede from it afterwards. He eiitreated them not to be deterred by the labour of the journey, nor by the breath of malevolence. He set before them the hea- venly prospects, and prayed that he himself might see the fruit of their labour in the eternal country. For though, says he, I cannot labour with you, may I at the same time be found in the joy of retribution, be- cause I am willing to labour! Nor did he neglect any means proper to accommodate the missionaries: he recommended them to the attention of Etherius, bishop of Aries, and secured them all the assistance in France, that might expedite their passage into Britain, and every convenience which they needed. Thus animated, they arrived in Britain.* There was, however, a remarkable concurrence of providential circumstances, which facilitated the work, and gave it a more expeditious success than might have been expected from appearances. It is very ob- servable, how much the Lord has made use of women in the propagation of the gospel among idolaters. To former instances of this sort, we must add, that two queens were concerned in this work, one of whom was the infamous Brunehalt, whose correspondence- * Bede, b. . 81 with Gregory has been noticed. Desirous to cover her vices by the appearance of religion, she had, at Grego- ry's request, given the missionaries e very possible assist- ance. The other, a character on whom the mind will dwell with pleasure, was Bertha, the only daughter of Caribert, king of Paris, a descendent of Clovis. She had been married to Ethelbert, in his father' s lifetime, who was now king of Kent, and one of the most wise and powerful of the Saxon princes. He had not been allowed to marry the French princess, but on the ex- press stipulation, that she should be permitted to make free profession of Christianity, in which she had been educated. She brought over with her a French bishop to the court of Dorobernium, now Canterbury. Her principles were firm and sound: her conduct was wor- thy of the christian name; and her influence over her husband was considerable. Her zealous piety was not inferior to that of the queen Clovis, which had been attended with such happy consequences in France, and every thing conspired to favour the missionaries. Ethelbert assigned Augustine an habitation in the isle of Thanet. Here he remained at first with his as- sociates, who were nearly forty. By the direction of Gregory, they had taken with them French interpre- ters, by whose means they informed the king, that they were come from Rome,* and brought him the best tidings in the world, eternal life to those who received them, and the endless enjoyment of life with the living and true God. After some days Ethelbert paid them a visit; but being apprehensive of enchantments, he took care to receive them in the open air, where he thought he should be safer than in an house. The mis- sionaries met him, singing litanies for their own sal- vation, and that of those for whose sake they came thither. t Sitting down by the king's direction, they * Bede b. i. ep. 25, &c. t As I write not the history of superstition, but of christian religion, 1 think nut myself obliged to copy all the accounts I meet with in ancient records which relate to the former. Justice, in the extreme, has been done to them bv other writers. t 82 preached to him and his attendants the word of life. I cannot produce the smallest extract of the sermon; but that it explained the fundamentals, at least, of the gospel, there seems no reason to doubt. One may form some idea of it by rhe king's answer, which was to this effect. " They are fine words and promises, which ye bring, but because they are new and uncertain, I cane not aiford my assent to them, nor relinquish those things, which for so long a time I have observed with all the English nation. But as ye are come hither from a great distance, and as I seem to discover, that ye are willing to communicate to us those things, which ye believe to be true and most excellent, we are not willing to disturb you, but rather to receive you in a friendly manner, and to afford you things necessary for your support; nor do we hinder you from uniting all, whom ye can persuade by preaching, to the faith of your religion. He gave them a mansion in the royal city of Canterbury, with all necessary accommodations, and the license of preaching the word. As they ap- proached the city, they sang in concert this litany: We pray thee, O Lord, in all thy mercy, that thine anger and thy fury may be removed from this city, and from thy holy house, because we have sinned. Alleluia. Certainly the human mind was in a debased and childish state at this time throughout a great part of the world. It had long been sinking in its powers and taste; and while paganism existed in the Roman em- pire, the heathen philosophers and orators appear no way superior to christian authors and pastors in the use and cultivation of the understanding. Such men as Gregory and his missionaries should not be com- pared with Cicero and Demosthenes, but with their own contemporaries; and had this been done by wri- ters who treat them with perfect contempt, the injus- tice of that contempt would have appeared. It must be expected, that the work of divine grace in different ages, will, in its effects and manifestations, exhibit the complexion and colour of the objects with which 83 it is surrounded. The subtilty of Satan will not fail to take every possible advantage of this circumstance; and I can believe that even more superstitions than those recorded by Bede attended the labours of the Roman missionaries. In our own times of refinement, evils far more plausible, but not less pernicious, ac- company the same salutary work. I have not, how- ever, observed any thing idolatrous or otherwise di- rectly subversive of Christianity to have yet prevailed in any of the fashionable superstitions. These things being premised, let us consider what most probably was the doctrine preached by Augustine; 1 say pro- bably, since the wretched narratives from which I draw my information have given no account. That eternal salvation and forgiveness of sin by the blood of the Lamb, was his capital doctrine, seems evident in a great measure from Ethelbert's observation of the good news which they brought. I may still more confidently say, that his sermon was not a system of moral duties. For how could that be called good news? All the difficulty with Ethelbert was to believe what they promised; the very same difficulty which strikes all unrenewed minds at the first hearing of the gospel. And when to this we add what we certainly know of Gregory's sentiments, and consider Augus- tine as preaching according to his views, the evidence seems to rise even beyond probability. Ethelbert, a prudent and sensible prince, though, as yet at least, by no means convinced of the truth of Christianity, sees no suspicious mask in the language and conduct of the preachers. The air of genuine sincerity is sim- ple and above the possibility of imitation. Candid and intelligent minds perceive it almost intuitively. The king of Kent could see no selfish motive that was likely to influence these men. They spake with an earnestness that showed their own conviction of the excellency of their doctrine, and their desire of profit- ing their fellow creatures. Not an atom of gain was to be acquired to the see of Rome: the whole mission was disinterested. Hence the candid prince was in • 84 duced to give them countenance; and the gospel ap- pears to have been preached, and that with plainness and sincerity, by the missionaries. Their conduct at Canterbury was correspondent to these beginnings. They prayed, fasted, watched, preached the word of life to all, as opportunity served: they lived as men above the world: received nothing from those whom they taught, except necessaries: they practised what they taught, and showed a readi- ness to suffer or even to die for the truth which they preached. Some believed and were baptized, admiring their innocent lives, and tasting the sweetness of their doctrine. Near the city there was an old church, built in the times of the Romans, in which queen Bertha was wont to pray. In this the missionaries first held their assemblies, sang, prayed, preached, and bap- tized, till the king himself being converted to the faith, ^'" they obtained a larger license of preaching every where, and of building or repairing churches. When he himself, among others, delighted with the holiness of their lives, and the preciousness of gospel promises confirmed by many miracles,t believed and was baptized, numbers crowded to hear, and received the word. The king congratulating the new converts, declared that he would compel no man to become a christian; however he embraced those who did so wi^ a more intimate affection as fellow heirs of the gra^ of life. For the missionaries had taught him, that tlie service of Christ ought to be voluntary, not compul- sive. He now gave to them a settlement in Canter- bury, suited to their station, with all necessary ac- commodations. Augustine returning into France received ordina- tion, as the archbishop of the English nation, from the bishop of Aries, and returning into Britain, sent * I hope Bede's expression (b. i. ep. 26 ) is true in the proper sense of the words. f What shall be said concerning these miracles? The credulity of that age should not lead one to deny all that is said of them. It was a new- scene: evangelists were preaching among pagans. Certain it is, that every one concerned in those scenes believed their reality. 85 Laurentius the presbyter, and Peter the monk, to ac- quaint Gregory with his success, and to receive an- swers to various questions. To his inquiries concern- ing the maintenance of the clergy, Gregory answered, that the donations made to the church were, by the customs of the Roman see, divided into four por- tions, one for the bishop and his family to support hospitality, a second to the clergy, a third to the poor, a fourth to the reparation of churches: that as the pas- tors were all monks, they ought to live in common, with a remarkable exception, which proves that the absolute prohibition of marriage, one of the marks of antichrist,"* was not yet enjoined the clergy, namely, that those of them who preferred the marriage state, might be allowed to marry, and receive their mainte- nance out of the monastery. To another question which related to the diversity of customs and liturgies in different churches, the answer of Gregory was libe- ral; namely, that the new bishop was not bound to follow the precedent of Rome, but that he might select whatever parts or rules appeared the most eligible, and best adapted to promote the piety of the infant church of England, and compose them into a system for its use. A number of other questions and answers are recorded likewise, too uninteresting to deserve a place here.-j- Yet amidst the childish super- stition of the times, the enlightened mind of Gregory appears; and his occasional comment on St. Paul's words, concerning the law in his members warring against the law of his mind, in which the bishop un- derstands the apostle as describing himself to be free and enslaved at the same time with a double respect to his natural and spiritual state, evinces the solidity of his evangelical knowledge. Augustine having intimated, that the harvest was plenteous, but that the labourers were few, Gregory sent him more missionaries, and directed him to con- stitute a bishop at York, who might have other subor- • 1 Tim. Iv. t Bede, b. I c. 2". Vol. III. 12 86 dinate bishops; yet, in such a manner, that Augustine of Canterbury should be metropolitan of all England. — Such were the rudiments of the English church. Gregory has been censured for being too eager in settling a plan of ecclesiastical government for places as yet not in the least evangelized: and it must be owned, that this extreme care of subordination and uniformity does seem premature; but the spirit of the times favoured such hasty external institutions. Gregory thought long and deeply of this his favour- ite infant church; and wrote to Mellitus, one of the missionaries going to Britain, an account of the fruits of his meditation; which were,* that the idol temples being purged of their uncleanness, should be convert- ed into churches for the use of the natives, in which they might worship God, according to the gospel. And reflecting that they had been wont to sacrifice to de- mons, and in their sacrifices to indulge themselves in feasts, he directs that, setting apart all sacrifices and whatever was connected with idolatry, they might be allowed on the day of the church's dedication, or on the martyrdom of saints, to make booths for them- selves in the neighbourhood of the churches, and en- joy themselves in temperate banquets. This latter di- rection appears dangerous: the reason he assigns for it, is, that the English, if they found their usual entertain- ments to be altogether prohibited, might be induced to relapse into idolatry. I cannot compare Gregory's compliances to the Jesuitical artifices practised in after ages among the Chinese, because it appears that idola- try was absolutely prohibited, and the real christian religion taught in Britain: but a man, who knew hu- man nature so well as this bishop did, might have fore- seen the practical excesses which his license would en- courage, and should have committed to God himself the success of his own cause among the English. Hearing from Augustine of his miraculous powers, Gregory, who seems to have entertained no doubt of ' Id.c. SO. 87 their reality, cautions him excellently against pride and presumption on their account, informs him that they were given him more for the sake of the new converts than of himself, and teaches him the all important les- son of humility. He wrote also to Ethelbert, to con- gratulate, instruct, and exhort him, setting before him the example of the great Constantine, and pressing him to extend the propagation of the gospel.* His zeal was much animated by the near prospect which he himself had of the end of the world, and of which he failed not to inform the king of Kent.f I'he latter reigned fifty years, and died 6 16. J As a statesman he was great, as a christian greater still. And few princes in any age were richer blessings to their subjects than Ethelbert and Bertha. But this fine gold was not without some alloy! Before these events there existed, in Wales particularly, a British church. Augustine willing to establish an uni- formity of discipline and customs in the island, invited * Hume (cliap. i. of his History of En^^land) represents this exhortation to extend the propagation of the gospel as inconsistent with the conduct of Augustine, " who had thought proper in the commencement of his mission, to assume the appearance of the greatest lenity." Thus it is that men, more mahgnant than mteUigent in christian history, pervert facts, and represent pious men as hypocritical in their moderate conduct, The truth is, neither Constantine, nor Theodosius, nor Gregory, nor any of the ancients ever compelled any man to become a christian, either in the be- ginning or progress of religion. Nor does any thing of the kind appear in Gregory's letter to Ethelbert. But he, liice Theodosius, directed, that the worship of idols should be destroyed. Men were allowed to remain aloof all their days from Christianity, if they pleased Forced conversions, like those of popery in after ages, were as yet unknown, and this other mark of antichrist, persecution, as yet existed not in the church. It is very possible, that the indifferent spirit of our times may be disgusted with that part of the conduct of Theodosius and Gregory, which related to the de- struction (jf idols, and call it persecution. Be it so: I have (in chap. xvi. cent. 4.) examined this point with as mucli exactness as I can. But let not men of sincere piety and fervent cliarity for the good of souls, be repre- sented as if they were hypocritical in their moderation at first, and as if they intended to establish tyranny afterwards. Their plan was, whether it b- agreeable to present reigning maxims or not, to compel no man to receive Christianity, and at the same time to render the practice of idola- try impracticable. I believe many, who have written against them as per- secutors, have not distinctly understood this distinction. All I contend for here is this, they acted consistently and uprightly. + Gregory had already written to queen Bertha, and stimulated her zeal to labour for the conversion of her husband. \U.c. 32. 88 the Welsh bishops to a conference, and began to ad- monish them to enter into christian peace and concord, that with hearts united they might join in evangelizmg the pagans. The Britons observed Easter at a season different from that of the Roman church, and did many other things contrary to her customs. The conference proved fruitless; the Britons would hearken to no pray- ers or exhortations; and Augustine in the close had :'ecourse to a miraculous sign.* A blind man was in- troduced to be healed. We are told that the Britons had no success; but that Augustine's prayers were heard, and his sight was restored. The Britons were induced to confess, that Augustine was sent of God, but pleaded the obstinacy of their people, as a reason for their noncompliance. -A second synod was appointed, attended by seven British bi- shops, and many of their learned men, belonging to the famous monastery at Bangor, of which Dinoth was at that time the abbot. Before these came to the synod, they asked the advice of a person of reputed sanctity, whether they should give up their own traditions on the authority of Augustine or not. Let humility, said he, be the test, and if you find, when you come to the synod, that he rises up to you at your approach, obey him; if not, let him be despised by you. On so preca- rious an evidence, it seems, did he rest the proof of hu- mility. It happened, that Augustine continued sitting on their arrival, which might easily have taken place, without any intentional insult: the Britons were how- ever incensed, and would hearken to no terms of recon- ciliation. Augustine proposed to them to agree with him only in three things, leaving other points of differ- ence undecided, namely to observe Easter at the same time with the rest of the christian world, to administer baptism after the Roman manner, and to join with Au- gustine in preaching the gospel to the English. In all other things, saj's he, we will bear you with patience. The Britons were inexorable, and refused to acknow- * Bed. b. ii, c.2. 89 ledge his authority. " If you will not have peace with brethren, said the archbishop of Canterbury, roused at length into an unbecoming warmth, you will have war with enemies; and if you will not preach to the English the way of life, you will suffer death at their hands." It happened afterwards, that, in an invasion of the pagan Saxons of the north, the Bangorian monks were cruelly destroyed, though long after the death of Augustine. He died in peaceable possession of the see of Canterbury, after having lived to see the gospel . propagated with increasing success. He or- dained Mellitus and Justus bishops; London was brought into the pale of the church, and the southern parts of the island found die benefit of his labours, and of those of his auxiliaries. I shall close the story of English affairs with the death of Augustine, which happened early in the 7th century. And as the ground I am now upon has iDeen disputed, I am willing to lay open all the information which antiquity can give us. Let us hear some other accounts of these transactions. Writers, who have been studious of the honour of our country, tell us, that when Augustine came into England, he found seven bishops and an archbishop supplied with godly governors and abbots, and that the church was in goodly order, at Bangor particu- larly: that Dinoth the abbot showed Augustine, that they owed him no subjection: that their bishops had been independent of Rome : that the bishops of Rome had no more right to their obedience than other chris- tians had, and that the bishop of Caerleon upon Usk was their proper superior;* and that in revenge for this honest assertion of their independency, the Ken- tish king procured the invasion and slaughter of the British monks mentioned above. How Christianity was afterwards propagated in our island, and how the disputes between the Roman and British churches terminated, will properly fall under * G.ilfridus Monomctejisis, b. iv. c. 12. See NichoUs on the CommoTi Prayer, 90 our consideration hereafter. In the mean time the in- justice of a certain writer* to the memory of Gregory., in accusing him of exercising tyranny over the British church, is very glaring. We have, by an early asso- ciation of ideas, been so habituated to condemn every thing that is Roman in religion, that we are not easily open to conviction on this subject. It should, how- ever, be remembered, that not the least revenue could accrue to Gregory from the conversion of Britain; nor did he suggest or intimate any lucrative plan, directly or indirectly. If there were any improper steps taken, they must not be charged to a selfish or interested spirit, such as that which has since anima- ted the papacy. The doctrines avowedly and earnestly taught by Gregory and his followers were the doc- trines of grace; and though no account of the faith of the Welsh monks is given us, there is great reason, on account of the pelagian leaven of our island, to fear it was not so truly christian as that of Gregory. That they were uncharitable, appears incontestable from their neglect of the Saxon pagans, and their ob- stinate refusal to hearken to any advice on that head. And the reader has already had a view of their man- ners, very different from the flattering account of Gal- fridus. The extent, however, of the British church, before the arrival of Augustine, was so inconsiderable, that when Gregory planned the hierarchy for this island; it is probable he knew little of the very exis- tence of such a church. The fault of ambitious en- croachment must, therefore, be laid to Augustine. Seduced he undoubtedly was, according to the com- mon superstition of the age, by an excessive zeal for uniformity. And that admirable method of uniting zeal for establishments with a spirit of toleration, which was discovered toward the close of the last century, was as yet unknown. The Britons had been independent, and they had a right to continue so ; but I believe, from all appearances, that Augustine wished * Bower's Lives of Popes, vol. ii. Gregory. ^ 91 them to form a connexion with the Romans from cha- ritable views. What could be the meaning of his wishing the Britons to baptize after the Roman manner? This question has exercised the critical talents of authors. After all, as baptism by trinal immersion was then the Roman mode, this seems to give the most natural ac. count of the circumstance. The charge of Galfridus, in accusing the Romans of employing the pagans to murder the British, is too absurd to merit any serious notice. Augustine died long before it ha])pened. Gregory himself was deceas- ed before the controversies between Augustine and Dinoth took place. He has been accused of extreme inconsistency, in being imperious toward heretics, and indulgent toward pagans* and Jews. But a more exact acquaintance with cases would enable men to form a better judgment. Gregory, like all real good men, was averse to use violent methods in proselyting; he knew that conversion, if sincere, must be volun- tary. But when men once have been received into the christian pale, the same zeal, which laboured for their conversion, is studious for their uniform attachment to christian fundamentals. It was no breach of charity in Gregory to attempt to hinder the promotion of a donatist in the christian church in Africa; and such an attempt was very consistent with that charity which forbade the persecution of Jews. On the whole, Gregory's conduct with respect to our island appears one of the most shining efforts of christian charity. His missionaries, in general, acted laudably; and the real establishment of Christianity was, under God, effected by their means. There was a stain of rivalry and jealousy, as we have seen, which appeared in their conduct; but they were men. * JBower. 92 CHAP. VIII. The Works of Gregory, 1 HIS great prelate, worn out at length with labours and diseases, slept in Jesus in the year 604,* after he had enjoyed, shall I say — or endured his bishopric thirteen years and six months? No man in any age ever gave himself up more sincerely to the service of God, and the benefit of his fellow creatures. Power in him was a voluntary servitude, undertaken not for himself, but for all the world. Even the growth of superstition, with which he was strongly infected, while it secured to him the cheerful obedience of the laity, contributed nothing to his ease or secular emo- lument. The belief of the Roman bishop's succession to Peter, which he found to be prevalent in Europe, was accidentally strengthened by his eminent piety and his laborious virtues. Had he even been disposed to have extended his authority to much greater lengths, all the world would have been prone to submit to his decrees; so firmly was the opinion of his integrity es- tablished among men. His conscience, however, would not suffer him to carry any thing farther than prece- dents had sanctioned; and who, especially in an age of superstitious credulity, could doubt the justice of his pretensions, while the preeminence was so painful, so disinterested, and so beneficially exerted? For I cannot persuade myself to call him pope. He pretended not to any thing like infallibility, nor did he ever attempt any thing like a secular domination. The seeds of antichrist were vigorously shooting in- deed; and the reputation of Gregory doubtless contri- buted much to mature the poisonous plant. But ido- latry, spiritual tyranny, and the doctrine of the merit of works, the three discriminating marks of the pa- * Flciiry, vol- iv. b. xxxvi. 51. 93 pacy, had, as yet, no settled establishment at Rome. Had this man lived in our age, he would doubtless have beheld with astonishment, on the one hand the worldly spirit of many christian pastors so called, and on the other the impiety of numerous infidels who are continually railing against the religious. His mind, naturally vigorous, industrious, and active, would doubtless have shaken off the gloom and credulity of superstition; but he would have been amazed to hear the pompous pretences to philosophy, in which every juvenile sciolist indulges himself. He would have ex- amined the fruits, and have been at a loss to conceive with what propriety the term philosopher could be applied to sceptics, blasphemers, atheists, levellers, and sensualists. He would, as a bishop, have tried what could be done to stem the torrent, and have ex- erted in the way of discipline, which was his peculiar talent, his usual address, mildness and resolution. He would have mourned over his beloved England,* if he had seen her so absurdly enslaved to ideas of mis- taken liberty, as to spurn at decent rules of disci- pline, and to discountenance, as, tyranny, godly at- attempts to introduce and support them. He would have been ready to say, " this people are enemies to their own good:" he would have pitied them, wept, and consoled himself with his usual refuge, the views of a better world, and have done what good was still in his power, by the example of an holy life, by painful preaching, and by pious writings. Of these last we have many still extant. He parti- cularly excelled in devotional composition. Litanies had been used in the west before his time, in cala- mitous seasons, as the plague or famine. These were collected, and the choicest parts selected from them, and compiled, through the care of Gregory, into one * The gratitude of Bede has (b. ii. c. 1. Ecc. Hist.) led him to apply to Gregory the words of St. Paul in regard to the Corinthians. As an En- glishman, who felt himself much obliged, he says, the seal of his apostle- ship are we in the Lord. The testimony of antiquity to Gregory's benefi- cent piety toward this island is uniform. Vol. hi. 13 y4 large litany, not much different from that iibcd by the church of England at this day. It was much corrupted afterwards in the popish .times, was reformed by Her- mannus, archbishop of Cologne, in the days of Luther, and afterwards improved by our reformers. But the church of England is not only indebted to Gregory for the litany. In his sacramentary he em- bodied the collects of the ancient church, and im- proved old, or made new ones. Gelasius, before him, had appointed public prayers composed by himself or others. These were all placed in the offices by Gregory. And by a comparison of our book of Com- mon Prayer with his sacramentary it is evident, that almost all the collects for Sundays and the principal festivals in the church of England were taken out of the latter. To me it appears to be an advantage, that our reformers followed antiquity so much in the work. The purification of the ancient services from the cor- rupt and idolatrous mixtures of popery was as strong an indication of their judgment as the composition of prayers altogether new could have been, which how- ever they scrupled not to introduce in various parts of the liturgy. From the brief account I have given,*' it appears, that the service of the church is far more ancient than the Roman Missal, properly speaking. And whoever has attended to the superlative simpli- city, fervor, and energy of the prayers, will have no hesitation in concluding, that they must, the collects particularly, have been composed in a time of true evangelical light and godliness. It is impossible in- deed to say, how early some parts of the liturgy were written; but doubtless they are of verj^ high antiquity. Many persons, in dark times, and under the disadvan- tage of slothful ignorant pastors, have been enlight- ened and nourished through their medium; and not a few I trust of my readers can justly confess with me, how much their devotion has been assisted by the public use of them. Let any unprejudiced person " NichoUs on B. of Com. Pray. 95 compare with the liturgy several forms of prayer com- posed in modern times, and he will find an unction to attend the former, of which the latter is destitute. The present age is certainly much tinctured, in general, with a sceptical, philosophic spirit, which in its nature is not favourable to the production of devotional com- positions. The historical evidence hence resulting of the reli- gious spirit of the times is great. The western church was far from being wholly corrupt in the close of the sixth centurJ^* The doctrines of grace revived by Augustine were still predominant: divine life- was much clogged indeed with the asthma of superstition; but its pulse was yet vigorous. I close this digres- sion, if it may be called one, with remarking, that the continued use of these liturgies in the churches of the west, demonstrates the concurrent testimony of anti- quity, in favour of evangelical doctrine. Of Gregory's epistles nothing more is needful to be added to the numerous extracts from them, which have supplied me with materials for his history. His exposition of the book of Job is very volumi- nous. In a letter to Leander prefixed to it, he speaks of the tripartite sense, according to the ideas of Au- gustine, with sufficient justness and accuracy; yet through fondness for system he carries his point too far, so as to destroy sometimes the literal sense, after the vicious mode of Origen. We may believe him, when he describes the coiTcspondence of the subject to his own bodily afflictions; and he frankly owns his neglect of language and style. Few readers will be tempted to search the work throughout, on account of the heaviness of his manner, and the total want of elegance. Yet piety and humility are every where predominant; and though it can by no means be cal- led a just commentary on the book of Job, he in gene- ral avoids deviations.ifrom the analogy of faith, by the * That beautiful and sublime ode, called Te Deum, ascribed, though not with certainty, lo Ambrose, Wiis incontestably used in the chuixh, before the middle of the sixth centur\ . V6 evangelical purity of his frame and temper, and he had, I doubt not, real communion with God in the work. Let us hear his humble confession at the close- it deserves the serious notice of authors, and in that most salutary science of selfknowledge demon- strates a proficiency worthy of a follower of Augus- tine. " Having finished my work, I see I must return to myself. The human mind is frequently bewildered, even when it attempts to speak correctly. For while we study propriety of language we are drawn out of ourselves, and are apt to lose simplicity. From speak- ing in public let me return to the court of the heart; let me call my thoughts to a serious consultation with a view to discern mj^self, that I may observe whether I have spoken evil inadvertently, or good in a wrong spirit. For then only is real good spoken in a right spirit, when we mean by it to please Him alone, from whom we receive it. I am not conscious of having said evil; yet I will not maintain that I am absolutely innocent in this respect. The good which I have spo- ken I have received from above, and it is less good, through my sinfulness. For, averting my contempla^ tion from words and sentences, the leaves and branches, and narrowly inspecting the root of my intention, I know that I meant earnestly to please God: but the desire of human praise insensibly mixes with this intention. I discover this slowly and afterwards, and find that the execution corresponds not with the first intention. While we really mean to please God at first, the love of human praise steals into the mind, and overtakes and accompanies the pure design; as in eat- ing, what was begun through necessity and in inno- cence, terminates too often in excess. If we are strict- ly examined by the divine Judge, how can we escape? Our evils are our own without mixture, and our good things are defiled with impurity. What I feel within, I lay open to my reader. In expounding I have not concealed what I think; in confessing I hide not what I suffer. I beg every reader to pray for me. If the value 97 of his prayers and of my ex,position be compared, ht will have the advantage. He receives from me only words; but repays me with tears of supplication." His Pastoral Care is a monument of the author's in- tense seriousness. I have already observed in man) christian pastors, and in Gregory as eminently as in most, a very strong sense of the importance of the clerical office, which rebukes the presumption of mo- derns more keenly than any words of mine can do. With the ancients scarce any person, however quali- fied, seemed adequate to the cure of souls; with us every stripling undertakes it without fear or hesita- tion. The treatise itself deserves to be read through- out by every candidate for the pastoral office. I know not how to select any parts of it particularly, and its brevity forbids and discourages all attempts at abridg- ment.* The exposition on the Canticles is worthy of the godly spirit of Gregory. I shall hazard a quotation or two, which I doubt not will meet the sensations of minds acquainted spiritually with Jesus Christ, how- ever the profane may ridicule, and the phlegmatic may censure. It is worth while to show, that a spirit of union with Christ has ever been felt in his church. On the first verse of the Canticles he says, " Let him whom I love above all, nay alone, let him come to me, that he may touch me with the sweetness of his inspiration. For when I feel his influence, I leave myself by a sudden change, and being melted am transformed into his likeness. The holy mind is disgust- ed with all things which it feels from the body, and de- sires to become altogether spiritual; and while sensual objects murmur around, it flies into spiritual things, and desires to hide itself in them. Therefore it desires * Should the young candidate for the minlstty object, as he justly may, the difficulty of meeting with this work of Gregory, let him substitute in its place bishop Burnet's treatise on the same subject. It is to be lamented, that so valuable a book is so little read and known, and that while the pub- lic taste has called for repeated editions of inflammatory politics, this treasure of pastoral information is dwindled into an oblivion little short of contempt. 98- the loving kindness of the Lord, becanse without it, it feels no power to approach him. " On the words, "draw me, we will run after thee," he observes, " divine grace prevents us. He, who is drawn, runs, because being strengthened by divine love, he passes over all obstacles." The defective taste and learning of his age forbid us to expect any very accurate and solid exposition of so difficult a prophet as Ezekiel.* It is, in fact, in oc- casional passages, independent of system, that Grego- ry shines. I single out a passage as an instance of this. ■' Generally those who most excel in divine contem- plation, are most oppressed with temptation. By the first the soul is lifted up to God, by the second it is pressed downi into itself. Were it not for this, the mind would fall into pride. There is by the divine disposi- tion, a wonderful temperature in this subject, that the saint may neither rise too high, nor sink too low." Observe how divinely he speaks concerning the teaching of the holy Spirit, in one of his homilies on the gospels. On the words in St. John's gospel, he (the Spirit) shall teach you all things, he says, "unless the Spirit be with the heart of the hearer, the word of the teacher is barren. Let no man attribute to the teacher what he understands from his mouth; for, un- less there be an internal teacher, the tongue of the external one labours in vain. Why is there such a dif- ference in the sensations of hearers, all hearing the same words? It is to be ascribed to this special teach- ing. John himself in his epistle teaches the same, 'the anointing teaches you of all things.' "f It is plain that the Spirit of the Lord was not departed, as yet, from the Roman church, while his internal instructions, despised so fearlessly by the profane, and scrutinized so malignantly by many orthodox professors in our days, were regarded with so much simplicity and re- verence. His dialogues, if indeed they be his, or be not ' Tom. ii. Homil. on Ezek. xiv. f Tom.ii.p. 451 99 much interpolated, dishonour his memory by the ex^ eess of superstition. Thus far of the first of the Gregories; it will not be saying enough in his praise, though it be a truths that it would have been to the advantage of the repu- tation of the Roman church, if he had been the last of that name. CHAP. IX. Writers of this Century. Jb ULGENTIUS adorned the beginning, and Gre- gory the close of this century, which produced no other authors of equal merit. And the decay in learn- ing and knowledge was so great, that I shall detain the reader a very little time on this article. Ennodius, bishop of Pavia, wrote against those, who affirmed, that man could only choose evil. With gross ignorance of the connexion and scope of St. Paul's argument, he quotes his words in the epistle to the Romans, c. vii. as favourable to his views. " For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not;" thus ascribing to man as such, what the apostle evidently speaks of as de- scriptive of the regenerate. He maintains that man by nature has power to turn himself to God, and deduces from the contrary doctrine the consequences which the advocates for the doctrine of freewill in all ages have done from the days of Cicero, who, it is remarka- ble, reasons exactly in the same manner. On the other hand, John Maxentius, a Scythian monk, in company with a number of monks, his brethren, strenuously defended the doctrines of grace. In a confession of their faith is this sentence: " that freewill, since the entrance of sin, has of itself no other power but that of'choosing some carnal good 100 and pleasure,* and that it can neither desire nor will, nor do any thing for eternal life, but by the operation of the holy Spirit." So remarkable a confession would seem to show some distinct knowledge of the depravity of the heart. Maxentius and his brethren were ill treated by Hor- misdas, bishop of Rome, a bold and dexterous politi- cian, of whose theological knowledge and practical piety I find no proofs. He accused them of turbulence and selfconceit, and after a year's attendance at Rome they were expelled thence by his order. I cannot find that Hormisdas gave any decided opinion on the sub- ject himself; probably he had never studied it; but he acted imperiously and decisively. Maxentius wrote with vigor in defence of the doctrines of grace; and I wish I could gratify the reader with a larger account of a man, who was counted worthy to suffer shame for the faith of Christ. The controversy between the defenders of grace and of human powers was still alive, and the western church continued still divided upon it. Facundus, bishop of Hermiana in Africa, will de- serve to be mentioned for the sake of one sentence. " The faithful, in receiving the sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, receive his body and his blood; not that the bread is properly his body, and the cup his blood; but because they contain in them the mystery of the body and blood of Jesus Christ."t Though it makes no part of our system to confute the particular points of popery, I could not omit so clear a testimony against transubstantiation. The western church is indebted for historical infor- mation to Gregory of Tours, the eastern to Evagrius. It must be confessed that they are inelegant and inju- dicious writers: they had the literary taste of this century. The truly evangelical second council of Orange has been already reviewed. The second council of Mascon • Du Pin. Cent. 6th. f Da Pin Facundus. 101 held in 585, will deserve to be mentioned.^ They were very zealous for the observation of Sunday. Let none follow any business on this day, say they: let none yoke oxen, or prosecute suits of law; but let all the world ap- ply themselves to sing the praises of God. They de- cree penalties against sabbathbreakers. An advocate, who was guilty of the crime, was to be driven from the bar; a peasant or a slave to receive some stripes. They exhort christians also to spend the evening of Sunday in prayers. They forbid bishops to keep birds and dogs for game. They ordain the celebration of a synod every three years in a place appointed by the bishop of Lyons and king Gontranus. A proof may be drawn from hence that some spirit of genuine religion was still preserved in France. Vol. Ilf. 14. CENTURY VII. CHAP. I. The English Church. 1 HE diversity of circumstances in different ages of the church constantly admonishes an historian, who loves method and perspicuity, to vary the arrangement of his materials. No abstract rules, but the circum- stances of each period should direct him in this mat- ter. In the century before us, barren and unpromising as it is for the most part, Great Britain shone with dis- tinguished lustre. As she was a world within herself, her ecclesiastical affairs were little connected with those of the continent. Hence the propriety of review- ing them by themselves. In this subject I shall closely follow the venerable Bede, whose narration extends to the year 731. Though much of his history be fabu- lous and superstitious, it is still of the greatest value, because it is the only light which we have concerning the progress of the gospel in our own country for seve- ral generations: and some ra3^s of truth, piety, and good sense now and then break out in the historian amidst the clouds of legendary romance. After the death of Augustine, the first archbishop of Canterbury, Laurentius, whom he had ordained, succeeded to that see. He trode* in the steps of his predecessor, and laboured to promote the best inte- rests of the English by frequent preaching of the word and by a diligent and useful example. - doubt not the sincerity of this prelate; though seduced by the charms of a nominal unity, he laboured, as the first mi.sel among the pagan nations. Lauientius com- plained of the bigotry of a certain Irish bishop, who, coming to Canterbury, refused to eat at the same table, or even in the same house with him. The archbishop could not prevail either with the Britons or with the Irish to enter into his views. " Even the present times, says our author, declare how little success he had.*' At the period in which Bede concludes his history, the greatest part of the British churches remained still distinguished from the English. The bishops of Rome continued to superintend the latter; and while Ethel- bert lived, the gospel flourished. This prince died * I advert, particularly to Bow er's Lives of the Popes, and to Warner's Ecclesiastical History of our own country Their laborious colled ion of facts deserves commendation. I avail myself of all the helps, whicli offer, for the supply of materials. — But, I mean to extol the church of Christ, wherever I can find her, nor does a Roman dress, when she appears in it, convey any prejudice to my mind. t Bedc's own words, which demonstrate that the Irish were anciently called Scots 104 after a reign of 56 years, twenty-one years after he had embraced Christianity, and was buried by the side of his deceased queen Bertha. Among other benefits which the English derived from him, there was a code of laws formed after the example of the Romans,* which was still extant in Bede's time, and was parti- cularly calculated to protect the persons and property of the church. His son and successor Eadbald not only despised Christianity, but also lived in incest with his father's wife. Whence all, who had embraced the gospel through motives purely secular, were induced to re- lapse into idolatry. Sabereth, king of the East Saxons, who had followed the example of Ethelbert who was his uncle, being deceased, his three sons became joint heirs of his kingdom. Immediately they resumed the idolatry, which they had intermitted a little in their father's lifetime, and encouraged their subjects to do the same. These princes observing the bishop of Lon- don to distribute the bread of the eucharist in the church, asked why he did not give them the bread, which he had usually given to their father, and which he distributed at that time to the people. " If you will be washed, replied Mellitus, in the same laver of regeneration in which your father was, you may par- take of the same sacred bread : but, if ye despise the laver of life, ye cannot partake of the bread of life." We will not, said they, enter into that fountain; we do not know that we need it, yet we choose to eat of that bread. In vain did the upright pastor seriously and diligently admonish them, that it was not possible for any person remaining uncleansed from sin to par- take of the communion: in a rage they declared, " if you will not gratify us in so small a matter, y©u shall not remain in our province." They thereupon order- ed him to be gone with his associates. Mellitus, thus expelled, came into Kent to consult with Laurentius and Justus. The three bishops agreed * Bede, id. c. 5. 105 to leave the country, that they might serve God with freedom elsewhere, rather than remain among enemies without fruit. Mellitus and Justus retired first into France, waiting the issue. The three princes not long after were slain in battle, but their subjects remained still incorrigible. Laurentius, intending to follow the two bishops, em- ployed himself in prayer in the church during the silent hours of the night, with much agony and many tears, entreating God to look upon the state of the English church, which, after such promising beginnings, seem- ed now on the eve of a total dissolution. Next morn- ing he paid a visit to the king, who struck at last with horror for his crimes, and relenting, when he appeared in imminent danger of losing his christian instructors for ever, forbade his departure, reformed his own life and manners, was baptized, and from that time became a zealous supporter of the faith.* Eadbald was determined to show the sincerity of his zeal. He recalled Mellitus and Justus from France, after a year's exile. Justus was reinstated in Roches- ter; but Mellitus could not recover his see. The Lon- doners preferred idolatry, and Eadbald had not the same power, which his father had possessed in that city, to oblige them to receive him. So far, however, as his influence extended, he exerted it for the cause of Christ, and, from the time of his conversion, adorn- ed the gospel and propagated it among his people. Laurentius being deceased, Mellitus was appointed * Bede, c. 6. ' I was unwilling to introduce into the narrative the story of St. Peter's whippin^c of Laurentius that night in tlie church and reproving of him for his cowardice; whence he was said to have been induced to wait upon Eadbald next morning who was struck, it seems, with remorse at the sight of the stripes which ihe bishop had received. Stories of this sort were innumerable in those times. The steady perseverance of Eadbald, and the intire change both of his private and public conduct denumstrate the reality of his conversion. He most probably retained an internal reverence for the religion in which he had been instructed in his childhood, against which his grand objection seems to have been the love of a dissolute life. The Lord honoured the prayers of Laurentius with success, and recover- ed the English church, at the last extremity. The substance of the nar- rative remains intire, abstracted from the legend which disgraces it. w 10$ the third archbishop of Canterbury, while Justus still presided at Rochester. These two bishops governed the English church with much care and labour.* Mel- litus, after having given the most undoubted proofs of genuine piety, and presided over the diocese of Can- terbury five years, died in the year 624, and was suc- ceeded by Justus. England was still governed by the Saxon Heptar- chy. Seven kingdoms, often at war with one another, and also with the old native Britons, exhibited in our island scenes of the most unpleasant nature. Nor is any portion of our history in a secular view less in- teresting. Nevertheless in this dull period it pleased God to show the power of his grace among our ances- tors. Hitherto Kent almost alone had been illuminat- ed. But the gospel was now introduced into the north, where reigned Edwin, king of the Northumbrians. And a woman was once more honoured as the instru- ment of salvation to a king her husband, and to many of his subjects. Edwin had sent to Eadbald to desire his sister Ethelburg or Tatef in marriage. The Ken- tish prince with that christian sincerity, which had ever distinguished him since his conversion, answer- ed, that it was not lawful to marry his sister to an in- fidel. Edwin replied, that he would certainly grant free liberty of conscience to the princess and to her attendants, adding that he himself would receive the same religion, if it appeart-d more worthy of God. Upon this Eadbald consented, and sent his sister into Northumberland, J attended by Paulinus, who was consecrated bishop of the north of England by Justus in the year 625. The reason of sending him was, that by daily exhortations and administration of the com- munion he might guard the young princess and her attendants from the infection of idolatry. But Provi- dence had a higher and more extensive aim, and in- * Bede, c. 7- f Bede, c. 9. I This term meant in those times all that part of England, which Ues to the north of the Humber. 107 fused into the heart of Paulinus* a strong desire to propagate the gospel in these regions. He laboured much both to preserve Ethelburg and her attendants in christian simplicity, and to draw over some of the pagans to the faith. But though he preached a long- time, " still (it is Bede's quotation) the god of this world blinded the minds of unbelievers." After some time Edwin was very near being murdered by an as- sassin whom the king of the West Saxons sent against him, and the same night his queen was delivered of a daughter. While the king was thanking his gods for the biith of a daughter, Paulinus began to give thanks to the Lord Christ. Edwin told him, that he himself would worship Christ and renounce all his gods, if he would give him victory over the king of the West Saxons, who had attempted to murder him, and, for the present, he gave the young infant to Paulinus to be baptized. She was the first Northumbrian who was admitted into the visible church by the ordinance of baptism; and twelve of the king's family were baptized on that occasion. EdVvin collecting his forces van- quished the West Saxons, and killed or reduced into subjection all who had conspired against him. Return- ing victorious, he determined no longer to serve idols. He was, however, in no hurry to be baptized, but re- solved to examine seriously the grounds and reasons of Christianity. He attended Paulinus's instructions, held conferences with prudent and knowing persons, and was himself observed, frequently to commune with his own heart, in silence, and anxiously to inquire what was true religion. All who use his methods will not fail to know the truth. Edwin was doubtless in good earnest, and at length held a consultation with his intimate friends and coun- sellors. " What is," says he, " this hitherto unheard of doctrine, this new worship?" Coifi, the chief of the priests, answered, " See you, O king, what this is, which is lately preached to us? I declare most frankly * He was one of the monks whom Gregory had sent into England, and possessed much of the pious and zealous spirit of that renown^ prelate. 108 what I have found to be true, that the religion we have hitherto foliovved is of no value. If the gods could do any thing, they would more particularly distinguish me with their favours, who have served them so dili- gently. If the new doctrine be really better, let us embrace it." Another of the nobles, observed, that he had taken notice of a swallow, which had rapidly flown through the king's house, entering by one door and going out at the other. This happened, he said, when the king was sitting at supper in the hall: a fire burn- ing in the midst, and the room being heated, a tem- pest of rain or snow raged without: the poor swallow felt indeed a temporary warmth, and then escaped out of the room. " Such," says he, " is the life of man; but what goes before, or comes after, is buried in profound darkness. Our ignorance then, upon such principles as hitherto we have embraced, is confessed; but if this new doctrine really teach us any thing more certain, it will deserve to be followed." These and similar* reflections were made by the king's coun- sellors. Coifi expressed also a desire to hear Paulinus preach, which, by the king's order, was complied with. The chief priest, having heard the sermon, ex- claimed, " I knew formerly, that what we worshipped was nothing; because the more studiously I sought for truth, the less I found it. Now I openly declare, that in this preaching appears the truth, which is able to aflford us life, salvation, and eternal bliss. I advise that we instantly destroy the temples and altars, which we have served in vain." The king feeling the convic- tion with no less strength, openly confessed the faith of Christ, and asked Coifi, who should be the first man that should profane the idolatrous places. " I ought to do it," replied the priest, " I, who worship- ped them in folly, will give an example to others in destroying them, by the wisdom given me from the true God. He immediately went to the temple and profaned it, rejoicing in the knowledge of the Most High, and ordered his companions to burn the build- * Id. c. 13. 109 ing with its inclosures. The place was still shown in our author's time, not far from York to the east of the Derwent. In the eleventh year of Edwin's reign, this prince with all his nobles and very many of the commonalty was baptized, 180 years after the arrival of the Saxons in Britain, and in the year of Christ 627. This was performed at York in a wooden oratory, in which Edwin had been first proposed as a catechumen for baptism. By the advice of Paulinus he afterwards began to build on the same spot a church of stone, which however he did not live to finish, but it was completed by Oswald his successor. Paulinus, first bishop of York, continued for six years, till the death of Edwin, to preach the gospel; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.* Edwin's children were afterwards baptized, and so strong was the de- sire of his subjects for Christianity, that Paulinus coming with the king and queen to a royal villa, cal- led Adregin, spent there thirty-six days in teaching and baptizing, from morning till night. At another time he baptized, in the river Swale,t which flows near Catterick, a number of persons who resorted thither. Many of these conversions may be supposed to have been the result of mere complaisance to the court. But there is every reason to believe, that there was a real effusion of the Spirit at this time. And, in this age, when men profess much to think for themselves, it will not be easy to find a person in high life attend- ing with so cool and reasonable a spirit to the nature and evidences of true religion, as Edwin and his nobles did at a time which we call extremely barba- rous. They thought impartially, and they had the in- dispensable qualification of being serious in their researches. Edwin induced also Carpwald, king of the East An- gles, to embrace the gospel. Redwald, the father of * They are Bede's words; the scrjjptural reader knows w^^ncc he bor rowed them. Id. 14. C. • * > f Sauha, qui vicum juxta Cataractam prxterfluit * Vol. III. 15 110 this prince, had been baptized in Kent, but had been seduced by his wile into idolatry. Carpwald was suc- ceeded by his brother Sibert, a man of singular zeal . , and piet}", whose labours for the spiritual benefit of * his subjects were much assisted by Felix, a Burgun- dian christian. This person had received a commission from Honorius, the successor of Justus at Canterbury, "^ to preach among the East Angles, which he did with great success, and lived and died bishop of Dum- mock.* The zealous Paulin us preached also in Lincolnshire, the first province south of the Humber,t where the governor of Lincoln J with his house was converted to God. Bede informs us that a friend of his heard an old person make this declaration, " I was baptized, together with a multitude of others, in the river Chan- ta§ by Pauiinus, in the presence of Edwin." Wonder- ful things are told us of the perfect peace, order, and justice which prevailed during the reign of the wise and pious king of Northumberland. Attempts were made all this time by the bishops of Rome to induce the Irish to unite themselves to the English church, but in vain. John, the bishop of Rome, wrote letters also into Ireland against the pela gian heresy, which was reviving there. Edwin, after having six years served the cause ol Christ, was slain in a battle, which he fought with Carduella, a British prince, a christian by profession, and with Penda, king of the Saxon principality of Mercia, a professed pagan. It is remarkable that the British prince used his victory with savage barbarity; and our author complains that, to his times, the Bri- tish christians looked on the English only as pagans. Pauiinus after this mournful event retired with Ed- win's queen into Kent, whence he had brought her. 'I'here being a vacancy at Rochester, he was by Ead- bald, who still reigned in Kent, fixed in that see, which he held to his death. His deacon James, whom * Now Dunvvich in Suffolk. f Id. 16, c. \ Liiulocorma. § Now Trent. ' Ill lie had left in Northumberland, preserved still some remains of Christianity in a province now overrun by pagans. Such are the vicissitudes of the church in this world: her perfect rest is above. The situation of the north was, after this, deplorable. Cedwalla, a British king, tyrannized with the fiercest barbarity over the subjects of Edwin, till at length Oswald, his nephew, vanquished and slew Cedwalla, and established himself in the kingdom. He had, in his younger days, lived an exile in Ireland, and had there been baptized. Desirous of evangelizing his people he sent for a pastor out of Ireland, who, after he had made some fruitless attempts, returned into his own country, complaining of the intractable dis- position of the Northumbrians. " It seems to me," said Aidan, a monk, who was present at his com- plaints, " that your austere manners and conduct to- ward them was unsuitable to their state of extreme ignorance. They should be treated like infants with milk, till they become capable of stronger meat." The cotisequence was, what probably Aidan little expected; he Avas himself deputed by an Irish council to enter on the mission. The* character of this missionary would have done honour to the purest times. We may more confidently depend on the account given of him, because he be- longed not to the Roman communion, to which Bede was superstitiously devoted, but was a schismatic in the observation of Easter, as all the christians in the British isles were, except the Saxons. To him Bede applies the expression that " he had a zeal for God, though not FULLY t according to knowledge." Oswald, * Id. b. iii. c. 3, 4, 5. ■j- Non plene. Warner, l)y omitting the expression fully, misrepre- sents oiii' \enerable historian, as if lie had looked on Aidan as wrong' in ]3oint of knowledge altogether. In another place he invidiously compares thie laboriousness and simpiicity of the Irisli missionary with the pomp of the Roman pastors sent by Gregory, We have seen abundant proof of the integrity and diligence of the latter. The truth is, that though God is no respecter of persons, man is very apt to be so. Wherever he sends pas- tors fitted and commissioned by himself, genuine traces of tlieir work ap- pear, and leave salutary iruits behind them. The Irish saint Colomban, 112 whom early education had rather prejudiced in favour of the same schism, gave him an episcopal see in the isle of Lindisfarn.* But there was a great difficulty, which attended his ministry; Aidan spake English very imperfectly. Oswald himself, therefore, who tho- roughly understood Irish, acted as his interpreter. The zeal of this monarch was indeed extraordinary, to induce him to take such pains. Encouraged by his pro ection, more Irish ministers came into the north of England, and churches were erected; the gospel was preached, and Northumberland recovered, by the zeal and piety of the new missionaries, the ground which it had lost by the expulsion of Paulinus. Even to the year 716t the principles of evangelical piety flourished in the Irish school among this people ; at which time they were reduced to the Roman com- munion. Aidan himself was a shining example of godliness. He laboured to convert infidels, and to strengthen the faithful. He gave to the poor whatever presents he received from the great, and employed himself with his associates in the scriptures continually. He strictly avoided every thing luxurious, and every ap- pearance of secular avarice or ambition: he redeemed captives with the money which was given him by the rich: he instructed them afterwards; and fitted them for the ministry. The king was not inferior to the prelate in his en- deavors to promote godliness. Uncorrupt and humble, in the midst of prosperity, he showed himself the be- nefactor of the poor and needy, and cheerfully encou- raged every attempt to spread the knowledge and prac- tice of godliness among men. In the mean time Byrinus was sent from Rome into aiul after him Aidan, as well as tlie Roman missionavies of the Greprorian school, influenced by the same holy Spirit, left wholesome vestiges of their labours in the British isles, which extended even to distant ages. Had the former been protestants, properly speaking-, and the latter papists, the same estimate ought to have been formed, though such a distitictior; in reg-ard to those ages is chimerical. * Now called Holv Island, four miles from Benvick. fid. C.4 113 Britain, who, arriving among the West Saxons, and finding them ail pagans, laboured to instruct them. Cynigilsiis, their king, the father in law of Oswald, received baptism from him. The two princes gave to Byrinus the city of Dorcinca;* where he resided as bishop, and the gospel was propagated with success through this branch of the Heptarchy. In Kent Eadbald died in the year 640,t and was succeeded by his son Easconbert, who reigned twenty - four j-ears, was zealous in the support of godliness, and was the first Saxon king who totally destroyed all the idols in his dominions. Oswald at length in the thirty-eighth year of his age, was slain in battle by the same Penda king of Mercia, who was mentioned before. A memorable instance of the unsearchable ways of providence! Two kings, whose equals in piety and virtue are not easily found in any age, both lose their lives in battle with the same enemy, a barbarian and a pagan! But they served not God for worldly, but for heavenly blessings. Providence was however preparing the way for the propagation of the gospel through the whole Heptar- chy. Young Penda, son of the tyrant of Mercia, de- sired in marriage the daughter of Oswy, brother and successor to Oswald. His reception of Christianity was made the condition; and the young prince, we are told, on hearing the doctrines of the gospel preached, was induced to declare, that he would become a chris- tian, even if Oswy's daughter were denied him. Two years before the death of old Penda, the son married the Northumbrian princess, and patronized Christianity in that part of his father's dominions, wliich was committed to his government. But the latter renewed hostilities against Oswy, and at length was slain in battle. I Oswy now master of Mercia and Northum- berland, applied himself to propagate Christianity among his new subjects. Through his influence also * Now Dorchester, near Oxford. f ^^- c- 8. ^ The battle w as fought between Oswy and Penda, near Loyden, nov,- Leeds, in Yorkshire, at Winwidfield, on the river Winvaed, now Aire. 114 the gospel was restored to the kingdom of the East Saxons; and London, which had rejected the ministry of Mellitus, again embraced the religion of Christ. In this century, Kentigeni, bishop of Glasgow in Scotland, being expelled from his see, founded a mo- nastery and a bishopric on the banks of the river Elwy *' in North Wales. Archbishop Usher, quoting John of Tinmouth, says, there were in the abbey 965 monks, one of whom was named Asaph. Kentigern being called back to Glasgow, appointed Asaph abbot and bishop of Llan-Elwy. Of Asaph it is recorded, that he was a zealous preacher, and that he used to say, " they envy the salvation of souls, who withstand the preaching of the word." The see has since borne his name; and he seems to have had a spirit superior to the monastic superstitioii, in which he was educated.* Marianus Scotus, in his chronicle, says, in regard to this century, " Ireland was filled with saints. Their schools were renowned for ages."f But it is time to bring the English church history of this century to a close. That there was a real effu- sion of the holy Spirit on England, so that numbers were turned from idols to the living God; that pastors, first of the Roman and afterwards of the British com- munion, laboured in the work with simplicity and suc- cess, has been evidenced. We have had also several in- stances of the completion of that prophecy, " kings shall be thy nursing fathers and queens thy nursing mothers."! But the zeal and purity of the christian spirit seldom last much longer than thirty or forty years in any place. The native depravity of man gra- dually quenches the Spirit of God, and the power of godliness is soon buried, or at least very faintly sub- sists in the rubbish of factious contentions and worldly lusts. This I find to have been the case in the latter part of the century in England. Wilfrid, bishop of York, a very suspicious character, in his exile laboured indeed among the Frisians, and is said to have been * Alban Butler, vol. v. f Id. ;j: Isaiah, xlix. 2". il.') the first missionary who taught that people. If he did any real good among them, it was the most useful part of his life; for in Britain he seems to have fo- mented turbulence and contention. He paved, how- ever, the way for more upright missionaries, whose labours in Friezeland shall be mentioned hereafter. The craft of Satan too commonly succeeds in foment- ing divisions, even among those, who with equal sin- cerity are engaged in the best of causes. While such men as Paulinus and Aidan lived, the diversity of sentiments produced no great mischief. Afterwards, as depravity increased, and the spirit of faith and love grew colder, very hurtful disputes arose, to the scan- dal of the gospel. The Roman church, however, ac- quired more and more influence, though it was very far from pervading the whole of the British isles at the end of the century. But nothing particularly per- tinent to the design of this history occurs. Let it suf- fice us to say, that our ancestors saw in this century a blessed time, the fruits of which will abide for ever. CHAP. II. The Propagation of tlve Gospel in Germany and its JVeighbourhood. 1 HE northern parts of Europe had still remained in the darkness of idolatry. In this century they were visited by the Most High. The Britons, Scots, and Irish were honoured as the principal instruments in the work, and this circumstance affords an additional evi- dence to the account already given of the genuine spi- rit of godliness, which prevailed in the British isles. The French had also their share in the blessed cause. I shall throw together the very imperfect hints which are preserved to us of these important transactions. Though the first instance more properly relates to 116 France than to Germany, it may with no great impro- priety be mentioned in this chapter. Omer, bishop of Tarvanne, the old metropolis of the Morini in Artois, laboured with success in the cultivation of a wilder- ness. Vice and idolatry were very predominant in his diocese; but by the assistance of Bertin a Swiss, his kinsman, he was enabled to eradicate inveterate evils and to civilize a race of barbarians. The erection of many convents in Germany for the Scotch and Irish, some of which are still extant, is to be accounted for from the ecclesiastical connexions of their ancestors. Many persons travelled from Great Britain and Ireland with the laudable purpose of preach- ing Christ in Batavia, Belgium, and Germany.* And however superstition might tarnish their labour's, there must have been a nobler principle to have induced men to undergo so much danger, with hardly any pos- sible prospect of lucre or of fame. Mere philosophers are generally but too liberal in censure and raillery: we seldom however hear of them engaging in any work of so disinterested a nature. The love of God in Christ alone can support the spirit of men in such enterprises. Colomban, an Irish monk, distinguished from him of the same name, spoken of before, who was called " the Ancient," toward the close of the foregoing cen- tury had extirpated the remains of expiring paganism in France. He also passed the Rhine, and evangelized the Suevijf the Boii,| and other German nations. He laboured in the cause to his death, which happened in the year 615. Gal, one of his companions, laboured with much zeal about the lakes of Zurich and Con- stance. Near the latter lake, at a little distance from Bregent, he erected a monastery, which still bears his name. In fortitude and laboriousness he was inferior to none of the missionaries of this age. But we find very little worthy of being recorded concerning him. ' Moslieim, cent. 7th, c. 1. t This people inhabited the places between the Rhine and the flbff. j Now Bavarians. 117 The account of Kilian, another Irish missionary, is somewhat more satisfactory. He received a commission from the bishop of Rome toward the end of the century, to preach to the infidels; and with some of his disciples he came to Wirtzbourg upon the Mayne, where a pa- gan duke called Gosbert was governor. The duke re- ceived the gospel, was baptized, and many followed his example. But he had married his brother's wife. The missionary united discretion with zeal, and defer- red hi.s admonitions on this head, till he found that his pupil the duke was firmly settled in the faith.* Kilian at length ventured to act the part of John the Baptist, and the event was in a great measure similar. Gosbert promised to obey, but delayed the execution of his promise till he should return from an expedition. The mischief of procrastination against the light of con- science was never more strongly illustrated. In his ab- sence Geilana, for that was the name of the German Herodias, procured the murder of Kilian and his com- panions. They were engaged in devotional exercises, and died with the patience of martyrs in the year 688. Gosbert was prevailed on by the artifices of Geilana to suffer the murderers to escape with impunity. But all the actors in this tragedy, Gosbert among the rest, came to an unhappy end; and there is no doubt but that in this case, as well as many others, the blood of the mar- tyrs became the seed of the church. Numbers of the eastern Franks had embraced Christianity, and sealed the mmistry of Kilian. Barbatus, born in the territory of Benevento in Italy, in the beginning of this centu- ry, was also a great ornament to it. Meditation on the scriptures was his chief delight. He was looked upon to excel in preaching. He acted as curate of Morcona near Benevento, and gave great offence by his faith- fulness. By the malice of the people he was obliged to retire to Benevento. This town was possessed by the Lombards who were chiefly arians; many of them were indeed idolaters, though some were of the ,^eneral * Fleury,b. xl.37. Vol. IIL 16 118 church with their duke Arichis, a friend of Gregory I. Barbatus labouring there found the christians so called very idolatrous. They worshipped a golden viper, and a tree on which the skin of a wild beast was hung. He preached and prayed a long time: at length the emperor Constans besieging Benevento, the wicked inhabitants were intimidated so far, as to repent of their idolatry. Barbatus was allowed to cut down the tree, and to melt the golden viper of which he made a sacramental chalice. This man was appoint- ed bishop of Benevento in 663, and destroyed every vestige of idolatry in the whole state. He lived after- wards to bear a testimony by his presence in the coun- cil of Constantinople against the monothelite heresy, and died in 682. See Butler's Lives. Toward the conclusion of the century Willibrod, an English missionary-, and eleven of his countrymen crossed over the sea into Holland, to labour among the Friezelanders. But being ill treated by the king of Friezeland, who put one of the company to death,* they retreated into Denmark. Returning however into Friezeland in the year 693, they propagated divine truth with success. Willibrod was ordained bishop of Wilteburgt by the Roman prelate, and laboured in his diocese to his death; while his associates spread the gospel through Westphalia and the neighbouring countries. I It was in this centurj'^, the former part of it, accord- ing to the researches of one author,§ the latter part, according to those of another, || that Bavaria received the gospel from the ministry of Rupert, or Robert, bishop of Worms. He was invited by Theodo, duke of Bavaria. His ministry prospered, and he was ap- pointed bishop of Saltzburg. The increasing harvest * Mosheim, cent, vii, c. 1. t Now Utrecht. :j: Disen, an Irish monk, taught the E;-ospel in Ireland, France, and Ger- many. His labours were most remarkably crowned with success in the neighbourhood of Mentz. A. Butler. § Velserius Reruin Boicarum, b. iv. II Fleury, b. xli, 31. If Fleury's chronology be right, the greatest part of the narrative before us will belong to the next century. 119 i-equired more missionaries: he therefore returned to his own country, and brought twelve assistants: from that time Christianity was established in Bavaria. Cor- binian, another Frenchman, watered, where Rupert had planted. Duke Theodo received him gladly. His son and successor Grimoald was induced to part with his wife whom he had married contrary to the levitical laws of matrimonial consanguinity; and so far as can be judged from very imperfect accounts, the gospel was received with great sincerity in this ©ountry.* Somef time after, Emmeram an Aquitanian French- man, leaving his country and his large possessions, travelled to Ratisbon, to spread the gospel. He was well received by another Theodo, duke of Bavaria. He observed, that the Bavarians were, many of them at least, still addicted to idolatrous rites, which they mixed with Christianity. The old inhabitants were particularly guilty of these things. He laboured among them three years, preaching in all the towns and vil- lages, and reserved for himself only the bare necessa- ries of life. His success was great, and his end was worthy of his profession. Lambert, a son of the duke, murdered him at length with savage barbarity. He had been offered a large revenue, and a settlement at Ra- tisbon by Theodo, which he had refused, declaring that he only wished to preach Christ crucified. Marinus and Anian, two Egyptians, came into Ba- varia, and were very successful in the same cause. But the excessive austerity, which they brought with them from the east, must have been detrimental to their work. The former at length was murdered by * Tliis missionary was remaikable for private devotion, as well as public labours, and reserved to himself a considerable portion of time everyday, for prayer and meditation. But from Alban Butler's accoimt: I learn, that Grimoald persecuted Corbinian on account of his faithfulness, and that Biitrude the relict of Grimoald's brother, hired assassins to murder him. Both Grimoald and Biitrude perished miserably. If the former was in- duced to repentance at all, he seems to have relapsed. After the deaths of his persecutors Corbinian returned to Frisingen, and laboured till hiSi death, which happened in the year 730. t Velser. id. 120 robbers; the latter died a natural death. Eloi, bishop of Noyon, carefully visited his large diocese, espe- cially the pagan parts of it, and was very successful among the Flemings, the Antwerpers, and the Frisons. At first he found them fierce, and exceedingly obsti- nate. But God was with him both in life and doctrine. Every Easter he baptized great numbers, who had been brought to the knowledge of God in the prece- ding year. Very aged persons, amidst crowds of chil- dren, came to be baptized, and there is the fairest evidence of his evangelical success. This is all that I can find, with certainty, of the propagation of the gos- pel in the seventh century in Germany and the neigh- bouring countries. The censures of Mosheim, as if the greatest part of the missionaries were not sincere, or as if many of the monks covered their ambition with the cloke of mortification, appear to me illiberal and unfounded,* and would have been more worthy of a modern sceptic. Superstition and an excessive attachment to the Roman see is very visible among them. But the little account of facts, which we have, bears testimony to their uprightness. Where is that charity which hopeth all things, if we are to suppose men to be wrong, against all appearances? If ecclesias- tical historians had delighted as much in recording good as they have in recording evil, it is probable a more ample refutation of the inconsiderate aspersions of this author might have been exhibited to the reader^ * Mosheim, id. I find no just reason to suspect any of them except Wilfrid, bishop of York, mentioned in the last chapter. ' 121 CHAP. III. The General History of the Church in this Century. Jl HOCAS, the Greek emperor, was deposed and slain by Heraclius in the year 610: he was one of the most vicious and profligate tyrants, and may be com- pared with Caligula, Nero, and Domitian. Since the days of Constantine such characters had been exceed- ingly rare. For such was the benign influence of the gospel, that even amidst all the corruptions and abuses of it, which were now so numerous, a decency of character and conduct, unknown to their pagan pre- decessors, was supported by the emperors in general. Heraclius, the successor of Phocas, reigned thirty j'ears. In the beginning of his reign the Persians desolated the eastern part of the empire, and made themselves masters of Jerusalem. While Asia groaned under their cruelties and oppressions, and was afilicted with scourge after scourge, for her long abuse of the best gift of God, an opportunity was given for the exercise of christian graces to a bishop of a church, which had long ceased to produce christian fruit. This was John, bishop of Alexandria, called the Almoner, on account of his extensive liberality. He daily supplied with necessaries those who flocked into Egypt, after they had escaped the Persian arms. He sent to * Jerusalem the most ample relief for such as remained there: he ransomed captives; placed the sick and wounded in hospitals, and visited them, in person, two or three times a week. He even seems to have in- terpreted too strictly the sacred rule, " of giving to him that asketh of thee." His spirit however was noble. *' Should the whole world come to 'Alexandria," said he, '• they could not exhaust the treasures of God." The Nile not having risen to its usual height, there * Flcurv xxxvii. 10. 122 was a barren season; provisions were scarce, and crowds of refugees still poured into Alexandria. John continued, however, his liberal donatives, till he had neither money, nor credit. The prayer of faith was his resource, and he still persevered in hope. He even refused a very tempting offer of a person, who would have bribed him with a large present, that he might be ordained deacon. " As to my brethren the poor," said the holy prelate, " God, who fed them, before you and I were born, will take care to feed them now, if we obey him." Soon afterward he heard of the arrival of two large ships, which he had sent into Sicily for corn. " I thank thee, O Lord," cried the bishop in a rapture of joy, " that thou hast kept mc from selling thy gift for money." From the beginning of his bishopric he maintained 7500 poor persons by daily alms. He was accessible to them on all occasions; and what is most material, divine faith seems to have influenced his acts of love. ** If God," said he, " allow us to enter into his house at all times, and if we wdsh him speedily to hear us, how ought we to conduct ourselves toward our brethren?" He constantly studied the scriptures, and, in his conversation, was instructive and exemplary. Slander and evil speaking he peculiarly disliked. If any person in his presence was guilty in this respect, he would give another turn to the discourse. If the person still persisted, he would direct his servant not to admit him any more. The long course of heresy, licentiousness, and am- bition, which had filled the Alexandrian church, sup- ported by the shameful examples of such pastors as Theophilus and other profligate men, must have reduced it to the lowest ebb; and I wonder not to find, that persons behaved indecently even in public wor- ship. John, one day seeing several leave the church after the reading of the gospel, went out also and sat down among them. " Children," said he, " the shep- herd should be with his flock; I could pray at home, but I cannot preach at home." By doing this twice,. 123 he reformed the abuse. Let it be marked, as an evi- dence of the zeal of this prelate, who, like another Josiah, seems to have been sent to reform a falling church, that the preaching of the word engaged much of his heart, and let it moreover be observed, that the contempt of preaching is a certain token of extreme degeneracy. A canon was made at Paris, in a council, in the year 614, the same year in which Jerusalem was taken, which enjoins that he shall be ordained to succeed a deceased bishop, who shall be chosen by the arch- bishop, together with the bishops of the province, the clergy and the people, without any prospect of gain: if the ordination be conducted otherwise through compulsion or neglect, the election shall be void. The intelligent reader will hence judge of the state of ecclesiastical polity at that time. In 616 John the Almoner departed from Alexan- dria, for fear of the Persians, and died soon after in Cyprus, in the same spirit in which he had lived; and with him ends all that is worth recording of the church of Alexandria. In the same year the haughty Chosroes, king of Persia, having conquered Alexandria and Egypt, and taken Chalcedon, Heraclius, who saw the ruin of his empire approaching, begged for peace. " That I will never consent to," replied the tyrant, " till you re- nounce him who was crucified, whom you call God, and with me adore the sun." If one compare Chos- roes and Heraclius, their personal characters will not appear intrinsically different. In one is seen a daring blasphemer of Christ, in the other a nominal profes- sor of his religion, whose life brought no honour to the name. Their ostensible characters in the world were, however, extremely different. The Lord, who is a jealous God, has ever been used to confound his open enemies in the view of all mankind. Chosroes was a second Sennacherib, and he was treated as such by the Sovereign of the universe. The spirit of Hera- clius was roused, and God gave him wonderful sue- 124 cess: the Persian king was repeatedly vanquished, though he ceased not to persecute the christians, so long as he had power; and after he had lost the great- est part of his dominions, he was murdered by his own son, as was the case with Sennacherib; and in the year 628 the Persian power ceased to be formidable to the Roman empire. * It is not without reason that St. Paul exhorts us " to shun profane and vain babblings; because their word will eat like a canker. "f The nestorian and eutychian heresies, opposite extremes, the one divi- ding the person, the other confounding the two natures of Jesus Christ, though condemned by councils, still flourished in great vigor in the east. And the resist- ance of the orthodox had little effect, for want of the J energy of true spiritual life, which still subsisted in a measure in the west. For there the sound doctrine of grace, the guard of true humility, was an ensign, around which truly pious men were wont to rally their strength from time to time. But, in Asia and Egypt, religion was for the most part heartless speculation. And about the year 630 the eutychian heresy pro- duced another, the monothelite, which ascribed only one will to Jesus Christ. This opinion was the natural consequence of that, which gave him only one nature. Theodore, bishop of Pharan in Arabia, first started this notion, which was also readily received by Ser- gius, bishop of Constantinople, whose parents had been eutychians. Cyrus, who soon after was made bishop of Alexandria, supported the same heresy. The ambiguous subtilties of the party drew the em- peror Heraclius into the same net, and the east was rapidly overspread with the heresy. Sophronius, formerly the disciple of John the Al- moner, a man of sincerity and simplicity, with tears bewailed and protested against the innovation in a council at Alexandria, but in vain. Having been elected bishop of Jerusalem in 629, he afterwards in 633 » Flcury, b. xxxvii. 31. i f 2 Tim. ii. 16, 17. | Fleiivy, xlvli. 41. 125 exerted his authority against the growing heresy, but with meekness of wisdom. In a sy nodical letter he explained with equal solidity and accuracy the divine and human operations of Jesus Christ, and gave perti- nent instances of both.* " When he thought fit, he gave his human nature an opportunity to act or to suffer whatever belonged to it. His incarnation was no fancy, and he always acted voluntaril3\ Jesus Christ, as God, willingly took on himself human nature, and he willingly suffered in his flesh to save us, and, by his merits, to free us from suffering. His body was subject to our natural and innocent passions : he permitted it to suffer, according to its nature, till his resurrection; then he freed himself from all that is corruptible in our nature, that he might deliver us from the same." Sophronius recom- mends himself to the prayers of Sergius, to whom he writes, and adds, " pray for our emperors," he means Heraclius and his son, " that God may give them vic- tory over all the barbarians; particularly, that he would humble the pride of the Saracens, who for our sins have suddenly risen upon us, and lay all waste with fierce barbarity and impious confidence." Thus, in the lowest times of evangelical religion, God ever raised up men who understood the truth, and knew how to defend it by sound argument, a cha- ritable spirit, and an holy life. This seems to have been the case of Sophronius. In the mean time the monothelite heresy spread wider and wider. Even Honorius, bishop of Rome, was led into the snare, owned but one will in Jesus Christ, and imposed si- lence on all the controversialists. Heraclius himself, who lent his imperial authority to the support of a spe- culative phantom, while he imposed on his own heart by a specious show of theological nicety, lived in the gross and open wickedness of incest, by marrying his own niece. The danger from the Saracens, mentioned by So^ * Fleury, xxxvili. 5 Vol. hi. 17 126 phronius, was no other than the victorious arms of Mahomet, the Arabian impostor. He had begun in the year 608 to declare himself a prophet, and, by the assistance of a Jew and a renegado christian, had formed a farrago of doctrines and rites, in which there was a mixture of paganism, Judaism, and Christianity, whence he found means to draw over to his party some of the various sorts of men who inhabited Arabia. An age of excessive ignorance favoured his schemes: at this day so senseless and absurd a book as the koran could scarce move the minds of any persons in Eu- rope. But he laid hold of the corrupt passions of man, and by indulging his followers in sensuality, ambition, and the love of booty, and by promising them a carnal heaven hereafter, he contrived a religion more direct- ly adapted to please mankind than any other of which we have heard. At the same time by declaring war against all who did not receive him, he gave an un- doubted right to all nations to attack a system which could only thrive by the oppression of others. But there are seasons of infatuation, when, for the sins of men, empires and kingdoms are permitted to slumber, and enter into no effectual measures of resistance, till invaders, at first weak and contemptible, grow in time to an enormous height. This was the case with ma- hometanism. The time was come when the Saracen locusts were about to torment the christian world, and the prophecy of Rev. ix. 1 — 12, was going to be fulfilled. The Greeks were idly employed in the new dispute: vice and wickedness prevailed over the east in all forms. A few indeed mourned over the times, and adorned the truth by humility and holiness, but scarce any christian writers appeared to make a serious opposition to the doctrines of Mahomet; and at the time of his death, which happened in the year 631, he had conquered almost all Arabia.* * It has pleased God to permit the existence of this odious and con- temptible religion to this day. And it should be carefully observed, that Mahomet, wicked and deceitful as he doubtless was altogether, did not openly oppoge God or his Christ. He did not deny directly, though he 127 Notwithstanding the decease of the impostor, the mahometan arms proceeded still with the same rapi- dity. Damascus fell into the hands of his successors; and Sophronius exhorted his flock to take warning and repent. Jerusalem however was taken by the enem}^ in the year 637, and Sophronius died soon after. Antioch and Alexandria successively sunk under them. Persia itself was subdued. Thus did God equally punish the persecuting idolaters, and the vi- cious professors of Christianity in the east. They were doomed to a long night of servitude under mahome- tanism, which continues to this time. Heraclius him- self died in the year 641. God had showed him great mercies and given him very great encouragement to seek true religion, by the remarkable success of his arms against the Persians in the middle of his reign. But he lived wickedly and speculated unscripturally. And a new power was erected, which reaped the fruits of all his Persian triumphs, and tore from him the fairest provinces of the east. To what purpose should I run through the mazes of the monothelite controversy? Yet something must be said of the part which Maximus acted in it. He was one of the most learned men of the age, and had been employed by Heraclius as his secretary; but I wonder not that a man, who loved real godliness, as he did, should have a strong aversion to a court like that of Heraclius. He entered into the monastery of Chrysopolis near Chalcedon, and was at length elected abbot. He it was who succeeded Sophronius in the did consequentially, the divine revelation either of old or new testa- ment. He always spake respectfully of the inspired prophetical character of Moses and of Christ. He received so much of Christianity as agrees with socinianism. Jehovah was not therefore openly despised by him as he was by Julian, Chosroes, and Sennacherib. On them was fulfilled that scripture, " he repayeth them, that hate him, to destroy them; he will not be slack to him,, that hateth him, he will repay him to his face." Deater. vii. 10. A speedy destruction of such avowed enemies seems to be menaced, that the divine character may be vindicated. His covert ene- mies, who yet treat him with respectful decorum, are often permitted long to exist, for the punishment of false professors. For the truth and majesty of God are not so sensibly dishonoured by them in the view of the whole world, as to call for their immediate extirpation. 128 defence of the primitive faith, and with much labour confuied the heresiarchs. Martin, bishop of Rome, was excited by the zeal of Maximus to assemble a council, in the Lateran, of a hundred and five bishops in 649. Constans was at this time emperor, and, by a decree, had forbidden any side at all to be taken in the controversy. Sergius, Pyrrhus, and Paul, three successive bishops of Constantinople, had supported the heresy. The controversy had now lasted eighteen years. In this way the active minds of men, destitute of true godliness, but eagerly embracing the form, gratified the selfrighteous bias of the heart and all the malevolent passions in long protracted controversies, while practical religion was lost. Nor could all the calamities of the times and the desolation of the eastern churches move them to the love of peace and . truth. In these circumstances, Martin in council ventured to anathematize the supporters of the monothelite heresy. I cannot blame his disobedience to the em- peror Constans in refusing to observe silence on a point of doctrine, which to him appeared important. Constans evidently forgot his office, when he required such things. And it is a curious instance of the power of prejudice in some protestant historians,* that they will so much support the conduct of a worthless ty- rant, as Constans doubtless was, because his speculative principles induced him to treat a Roman bishop with cruelty. There was a haughtiness, no doubt, and an asperity in the language and behaviour of Martin, very unbecoming a christian. His cause however seems just; nor does it appear, that he either meant or acted treasonably: he defended that part of the truth, which was opposed, with the magnanimity, though not with the meekness, that became a bishop. Constans ordered him to be dragged into the east, and treated him with a long, protracted barbarity of punishment. Martin was firm to the last. " As to this wretched body," says * See Bower and Mosheim. 129 he, " the Lord will take care of it. He is at hand; why should I give myself any trouble? for I hope in his mercy, that he will not prolong my course." He died in the year 655. His extreme sufferings of impri- sonment, hunger, fetters, brutal treatment a thousand ways, call for compassion: his constancy demands respect; and his firm adherence to the doctrines of truth, though mixed with a very blamable ambition in maintaining the dignity of the Roman see, deserves the admiration of christians. He is, in Roman language, called St. Martin; and I hope he had a just title to the name in the best sense of the word. Maximus was also brought to Constantinople, and, by the order of Constans, underwent a number of ex- aminations. He was asked b)^ an officer to sign the type; so the edict of Constans was named. Only do this, said the officer, believe what you please in your heart. " It is not to the heart alone," replied Maxi- mus, " that God hath confined our duty; we are also obliged with the mouth to confess Jesus Christ before men."* It is astonishing! to observe, what pains were taken to engage him to own the monothelite party, nor can this be accounted for in any other way than by the opinion which all men had of his piety and sincerity, and the expectation of the influence, which his example would have on many. But the labour was lost: Maximus, though seventy-five years old, preserved all the vigor of understanding, and confounded his examiners, by the solidity of his an- swers. He clearly proved, " that to allow only one will or operation in Jesus Christ was in reality to allow only one nature: that therefore the opinion for which the emperor was so zealous, was nothing more than eutychianism diessed up anew: that he had not so properly condemned the emperor, as the doctrine, by whomsoever it was held: that it was contrary to the current of ail ecclesiastical antiquity: that our Sa- viour was always allowed from the apostolical times * See Butler's Lives, vol. xii. f Fleury, b. xxxiv. 12, &c. 130 to be perfect God and perfect man, and must there- fore have the nature, will, and operations distinctly- belonging both to God and man: that the new notion went to confound the idea both of the divinity and the humanity, and to leave him no proper existence at all: that the emperor was not a pastor, and that it had never been practised by christian emperors in the best times, to impose silence on bishops: that it was the duty of the latter not to disguise the truth by ambi- guous expressions, but to defend it by clear and distinct terms adapted to the subject: that arianism had always endeavoured to support itself by such artifices as those employed by the emperor, and that a peace obtained by such methods in the church was at the expense of truth. " I admire the good sense and sincerity, which appear through the very long' account of his defence, of which I have given a very brief summary. Were it not, that God, from age to age, had raised up such champions in his church, humanly- speaking, not an atom of christian truth by this time w^ould have been left in the world. For heretics have uniformly acted on this plan: they have imposed silence on the orthodox, under pretence of the love of peace and union, whenever they had the power, and in the mean time propagated their own tenets. The question before us was very metaphysical and obscure; yet, if the emperor's side had prevailed, instead of an insignificant party, called the maronites, in the east, who still subsist, the monothelites might have filled half the globe to this day. The tyrant, enraged to find himself disappointed, ordered Maximus to be scourged, his tongue to be cut out, his right hand to be cut off; and he then directed the maimed abbot to be banished and doomed to imprisonment for the rest of his life. The same punishment was inflicted on two of his disciples, both of the name of Anastasius. These three upright men were separated from each other, and confined in three castles in obscure regions of the east. Their condemnation took place in 656: Maximus died in 131 662: one of the Anastasiuses in 664: they both had sustained the most cruel indignities, and had been rendered incapable of any consolations, except those which undoubtedly belong to men who suffer for righteousness' sake. The other Anastasius died in a castle at the foot of Mount Caucasus in 666. While such barbarous measures were used by no- minal christians to support unscriptural tenets, it is not to be wondered at that providence frowned on the affairs of the empire. The Saracens now ruled over Arabia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, Syria, Pales- tine, Egypt, and part of Africa. Even Europe suffer- ed from the depredations of the Arabians, and part of Sicily was reduced to their subjection. The unworthy emperor Constans murdered also his own brother Theodosius, and continued to disgrace the christian name by his follies, his vices, and his cruelties. He was himself despatched at length in the twenty-seventh year of his reign in 667. In the year 680 a general council was called at Con- stantinople: the emperor Constantine Pogonatus pre- sided: the monothelite heresy was anathematized; and its several abettors were condemned, among whom was Honorius a bishop of Rome. A certain proof that infallibility was neither allowed nor pretended to at that time by the Italian prelate. For the legates of Agathon, who was then bishop of Rome, were at the council, nor do we find that any opposition was made by them or by their master to the condemnation of Ho- norius. If we compare the east and the west, during this century, we shall see a very striking difference. In England true godliness shone for a considerable part of it: in France there was a good measure of piety; and from these two countries divine truth made its way into Germany and the north with glorious suc- cess. In Italy, the Lombards were more and more cleared of arianism; and though there arose no bishop of Rome to be compared at all to Gregory, yet the purity of the faith was preserved by them all, in point 132 of theological speculation, except one. And his con- demnation, which we have just seen, demonstrates, that antichrist had not yet arrived at maturity. Infal- libility was not then thought of, as attached to the per- son of the Roman prelate. His power indeed was much too great; so was his pomp and influence. But it was the same with the bishops of other great sees: and the bishop of Constantinople retains the title of universal bishop to this day. Nor had the bishop of Rome any temporal dominion, nor did he pretend to any. In fine, the most decisive marks of antichrist, idolatry and false doctrine, had not yet appeared at Rome. Superstition and vice were lamentably on the increase in the west, though a considerable degree of true piety prevailed, and some gracious effusions of the Spirit of God appeared. The influences of divine grace seem to have been withheld, in the east, intirely. Men hud there filled up the measure of their iniquities. Even from Origen's days a decline of true doctrine, and the spirit of seep* tical philosophy, ever hostile to that of grace, kept them low in religion compared with their western brethren. How precious must the grace of the gospel be, which, being revived in Europe, in the time of Augustine, ceased not to produce salutary effects, and to extend true religion even to the most savage na- tions! Attempts indeed to propagate, what they called Christianity, were made in the east by the nestorians, who dwelt in Persia and India, and by the eutychians, who flourished in Egypt. The former were particu- larly successful in increasing their numbers; but I have nothing to produce of real godliness as the result of the labours of either party. Abyssinia, which from the days of Athanasius, always considered herself as a daughter of Alexandria, receives thence her pontiff" to this day: when eutychianism prevailed in Egypt, it did so of course in Abyssinia, and has been the preva- lent form ever since the seventh century in both coun- tries. The mahometan conquerors reduced the ancient professors of orthodoxy into a state of extreme insig- 133 iiificancy; and this was one of the scourges of God by the Arabian imposture, namely, that heretics were en- couraged and protected by those conquerors, while the orthodox were crushed. Orthodox patriarchs ex- isted indeed in Egypt for some time after the Saracen conquest. But ignorance, superstition, and immorality, still abounded, and have now continued to abound for many centuries. The east, whence the light first arose, has long sat in darkness, with the exception of some individuals from age to age, such as John the Almo- ner and a few others, who have been mentioned in this chapter. God will have a church upon earth, and it shall be carried to the most despised regions rather than extinguished intirely. And there is a voice which speaks to Europe in diese works of his providence in a louder tone than I know how to describe. Africa fell under the power of the mahometans to- ward the close of this century. It had long shared in the general corruption, and it shared in the general punishment. The region, which has so often refresh- ed us with evangelical light and energy, where Cy- prian suffered, and where Augustine taught, was con- signed to mahometan darkness, and must henceforth he very neai'ly dismissed from these memoirs. .CHAP. IV. Authors of this Century.* ISIDORE, of Seville, flourished in the former part of it : he governed the church of Seville for forty years, having succeeded his brother Leander, of whom we have made honourable mention already. This writer was volumiiious, and, with all due allowance for the superstition of the age, appears to have been sincerely * Du Pin, Cent. T- Vol. III. 18 134 pious. But perhaps the most useful part of his works is his collection of sentences out of Gregory. He seems to have been providentially given to Spain, in order to preserve some of the ancient learning, and to prevent men from sinking into total ignorance and rusticit}-. Colomban must be mentioned also as an author, though we hav£ already celebrated him in the charac- ter in which he shone far more, namely, of a mission- ary. He was, no doubt, pious and fervent: he wrote monastic rules, and while every part of his writings is infected with the servile genius of the times and the spirit of bondage, which had seized the church, one sentence retrieves his character, and with it I shall dismiss him. " We must have recourse to Christ the fountain of life." Sophronius of Jerusalem wrote a synodical letter to confute the monothelites. His part in that controversy has been stated already. He asserted that we shall rise with the same body, and that the punishments of hell are eternal. The most remarkable thing in him, is the soundness of his doctrine, which he adorned with genuine piety and purity of life. Martin, bishop of Rome, whose sufferings from the tyrant Constans have been succinctly described, was one of the greatest men of the age. Some of his letters are extant, and they indicate both strength of mind and %eal in religion. Amandus, bishop of Utrecht, in wri- ting to him, declared, that he was so grieved to find some clergymen to have lived lasciviously after their ordination, that he was tempted to quit his bishop- ric. Martin dissuaded him; and at the same time ex- horted him to exercise salutary discipline on the of- fenders, declarinij;, that such clergymen should be de- posed intirely from the sacerdotal function, that they may repent in a private condition, and may find mercy at the last day. He exhorts Amandus to undergo pa- tiently all trials for the salvation of the sheep, and the service of God. This Roman prelate, doubtless, was sincere, ^nd he appeaj^s to have defended evangelical truth Avith much firmness. And it was for a branch of 135 scriptural doctrine, that he suffered with consistenc} and integrity. I mention Maximus, his fellow sufferer in the same cause. His writuigs are too scholastical to merit much attention, though he was, doubdess, a very able rea- soner, and, what is infinitely better, a pious and up- right man. I might swell the list, with the names of writers lit- tle known, and of little use. Learning was very low;^ the taste of the age was barbarous: we have seen how- ever that Christ had then a church; and the reader, if he pleases, may travel through still darker scenes; yet I trust some glimmerings of the presence of Christ will appear. CENTURY VIII. CHAP. I. Venerable Bede, the English Presbyter. 1 HE church history of our country, written by this renowned father, was continued to the year 7.il. I have extracted from it that which suited my purpose. He is said to have died in 735. Of his age the accounts are ver}- contradictory. The history of the century will properly begin with a brief narrative of the life and works of this historian. He was born near Durham, in a village now called Farrow, near the mouth of the Tyne. Losing both his parents at the age of seven years, he was, by the care of relations, placed in the monastery of Weremouth, was. there educated with much strictness, and appears from his youth to have been devoted to the service of God. He vi^as afterwards removed to the neighbouring monas- tery of Jerrow, where he ended his days. He was look- ed on as the most learned man of his time. Prayer, wri- ting, andteaching were his familiar employments during his whole life.* He was ordained deacon in the nine- teenth, and presbyter in the thirtieth year of his age. He gave himself wholly to the study of the scripture, the instruction of disciples, the offices of public wor- ship, and the composition of religious and literary works. The life of such a person can admit of little variety. It was not, however, for want of opportunity, that he lived thus obscure. His character was cele- brated through the western world: the bishop of Rome invited him warmly to the metropolis of the church; but, in the eyes of Bede, the great world had no * Life of Bede, prefixed to his works. Cologne edition. 137 charms. It does not appear that he ever left England^ and, however infected with the fashionable devotion to the Roman see, he was evidently suicere and dis- interested. Constantly engaged in reading or writing, he made all his studies subservient to devotion. As he was sen- sible, that it is by the grace of God rather than by na- tural faculties that the most profitable knowledge of the scriptures is acquired, he mixed prayer with his studies. He never knew what it was to do nothing. He wrote on all the branches of knowledge then culti- vated in Europe. In Greek and Hebrew he had a skill very uncommon in that barbarous age; and, by his in^ structions and example, he raised up many scholars. Knowledge indeed in those times was more familiar in the British isles than in any part of Europe. The catalogue of Bede's works exhibits the proofs of his amazing industry. His church history is to us the most valuable, because it is the only British mon- ument of the church which we have for the seventh century. His expositions and homilies, however, must in that dearth of knowledge have been abundantly use- ful. The ignorance of the times is indeed but too vi- sible in him; and he followed Augustine and other fathers so closely, and collected so much from various authors, that his want of original genius is more than problematical. Genuine godliness, rather than taste and genius, appear on the face of his writings. His la^ hours in the sciences show a love of learning; however inconsiderable his acquisitions must appear, in compa- rison with the attainments of the present age. In his last sickness he was afflicted with a difficulty of breathing for two weeks. His mind was, however, serene and cheerful; his affections were heavenly; and, amidst these infirmities, he daily taught his disciples. A great part of the night was employed in prayer and thanksgiving; and the first employment of the morning was to ruminate on the scriptures, and to address his God in pra\er. " God scourgeth every son whom he receiveth," was frequently in his mouth. 138 Even amidst his bodily weakness he was employed in writing two little treatises. Perceiving his end to draw near he said, " if my Maker please, I will go to him from the flesh, who, when I was not, formed me out of nothing. My soul desires to see Christ my King in his beauty." He sang glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holyghost, and expired with a se- dateness, composure, and devotion, that amazed all, who saw and heard. This is the account of his death by one of his disci- ples; and a very few quotations from his expository writings will show on what solid grounds these reli- gious affections were founded. In expounding Acts ii. 28. " thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance," he says, " These things are not only to be understood of our Lord, who needed no other guide to overcome the kingdom of death, but having received at once the fulness of divine strength and wisdom, was able to con- quer death by himself, rise again to life, and ascend to his Father, but also of his elect, who, by his gift, find the well of life, by which they rise to the bliss, which they lost in Adam, and shall be filled with heavenly joy. This shall be our perfect bliss, when we shall see him face to face." Philip knew this well, when he said, " Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. That pleasure of seeing the face of God sufficeth: there shall be nothing more; nor is there a call for any thing more, when he is seen, who is above all."*^ " Other innumerable methods of saving men being set aside, this was selected by infinite wisdom, namely, that, without any diminution of his divinity, he as- sumed also humanity, and in humanity procured so much good to men, that temporal death, though not due from him, was yet paid, to deliver them from eternal death, which was due from them. Such was * Retractat. on Acts of the Apostles. I cannot prevail on myself to omit this passaf^e, thouj^fh tlie expression of Philip be not so pertinent to the purpose of the author, as some other portions of scripture might liave been. 139 «» .......... the eificacy of that blood, that the devil who slew Christ by a temporary death, which was not due, can- not detain in eternal death any of those who are clo- thed with Christ, though that eternal death be due for their sins."*- Such were the evangelical views, w^hich, in a night of superstition, biirst forth from the northern extre- mity of England. But the doctrines revived by Au- gustine flourished still in Europe in a good degree, though in no part more than in the British isles. Mo- nastic superstition grew, indeed, excessively among our fathers at the same time, and, in the end, intirely corrupted the doctrines themselves. But that was not yet the case: superstition itself, though deplorably childish and absurd, was not incompatible with since- rity and the fear of God. The real nature of the gos- pel, and its practical exercise in faith, humility, and true mortification of sin, were understood and felt by the Saxon presbyter, whose comments on St. Paul's epistles are, in depth of understanding, and penetra- tion into the sacred sense, even with ail the defects of the times, greatly superior to several admired exposi- tions of this, which calls itself an enlightened, age. The seventh chapter to the Romans may deservedly be called a touchstone of spiritual understanding. Too many modern divines, by supposing that the apostle is only describing the conflict between reason and passion, after the manner of the ancient philoso- phers, have demonstrated their own total ignorance of St. Paul's argument. He only, who feels, abhors, and sincerely struggles with indwelling sin, who is conscious of its unutterable malignity, and is humbled under this conviction, can understand the apostle aright, and prize the real grace of God in Jesus Christ. Such was Bede: the very best expositors in the most evangelical times do not much exceed him, in clear- ness and solidity, in the exposition of this chapter. I ^vill not delay the reader by quoting largely from his * On Rom. V, 140 * explication. Suffice it to give a hint or two. He ob- serves, from the apostle, that the desire of sinning itself is increased by the prohibitions of the law, which therefore increases sin, without giving any strength; and the purport of this part of the divine '# economy is, that men groaning under the law might come to the Mediator. He strongly contends, that the wretched carnal person, sold under sin, in this chapter, was no personated character, but Paul himself, and he confirms this by observing, from the epistle to the Philippians, that the apostle confessed " he was not perfect, and had not attained unto the resurrection of the dead:" and from another epistle, that he was even buffeted by Satan, and had a thorn in his flesh, lest he should be exalted above measure. This inward war- fare, our author contends, must last through life. " In the resurrection, every thing," says he, " shall be per- fected. In the mean time it is a great thing to keep the field, and remain unconquered, though not dis- charged from war." But though he fully reached the scope of Augus- tine, from whose labours he profited abundantly, he seems never to go beyond it. Indeed his expositions are extracts and compilations from the fathers, chiefly from Augustine. In this sense they were his own, that he understood and experienced their truth and effica- cy. But judgment and industry, not genius and inven- tion, were the talents of this writer. Though the thought I am going to mention is most probably not his own, yet it gives so instructive a view of the state of all mankind ranked in four classes, that I cannot prevail on myself to withhold it from the reader. Speaking of the conflict with indwelling sin, described in Rom. vii, he observes, " that there are those who fight not at all, and are drawn away by their lusts; others who fight indeed, but are overcome, because they fight without faith, and in their own strength; others who fight and are still in the field, not over- come, which was the case of St. Paul and all true christians in this world; and lastly, others who have 141 overcome and are at rest above." Bede, like Augus- tine, allegorizes to excess, and is very often desultory and vague in his comments: his views of Solomon's Song are solid, though in the explication too minute: still more faulty perhaps are his expositions on the ta- bernacle and on Solomon's temple. His homilies, at the time, must have been very edifying, notwithstand- ing the puerile fancies, with which they are disco- loured. On the whole, I shall venture to observe, what, however, no reader will be prepared to receive, unless his mind has been seasoned with a degree of experimental religion, that the comments of Bede are far more solid and judicious than those of many mo- dern, improperly called rational, divines; though in the former the errors of fanciful allegory abound, in the latter an air of strict and accurate argumentation every where appears. The reason is, because the former, being possessed of the true meaning of the apostle on the whole, supports and illustrates it throughout, though he fails in detached passages because of the desultory ebullitions of a vicious taste, which predo- minated in his time; the latter, with " semblance of worth, not substance," are accurate and just in many particulars, but from their system of notions, which is extremely opposite to that of St. Paul, mislead their readers altogether, in regard to the main drift of the argument. A year before our presbyter's death, he wrote a let- ter to Egbert, archbishop of York, which deserves to be immortalized for the solid sense, which it exhibits, a quality, with vv^hich Bede was very eminently eiii- dowed.* " Above all things," says he, " avoid useless dis- course, and apply yourself to the holy scriptures, es- pecially the epistles to Timothy and Titus; toGregory's Pastoral Care, and his homilies on the gospel. It is indecent for him, who is dedicated to the service of the church,, to give way to actions or discourse unsuit- • Bede's Works, Paris edit. p. 46. Vol. III. 19 142 able to his character. Have always those about you, who may assist you in temptation: be not like some bishops, who love to have those about them, who love good cheer, and divert them with trilling and facetious conversation. "Your diocese is too large to allow you to go through the whole in a year; therefore appoint presbyters, in each village, to instruct and administer the sacraments; and let them be studious, that every one of them may learn, by heart, the creed and the Lord's prayer; and that if they do not understand Latin, they may repeat them in their own tongue. I have translated them into English, for the benefit of ignorant presbyters. I am told, that there are many villages in our nation, in the mountainous parts, the inhabitants of which have never seen a bishop or pastor; and yet they are obliged to pay their dues to the bishop. " The best means to reform our church, is to increase the number of bishops: who sees not, how much more reasonable it is for numbers to share this bur- den? Gregory therefore directed Augustine to appoint twelve bishops to be under the archbishop of York, as their metropolitan. I wish you would fill up this number, with the assistance of the king of Northum- berland.* " I know it is not easy to find an empty place for the erection of a bishopric. You may choose some monastery for the purpose. In truth, there are many places, which have the name of monasteries without deserving it." He goes on to show how, for thirty years past, the scandalous abuse of monasteries had prevailed, and how useless many of them were to church and state, as they preserved neither piety nor decency. He directs Egbert to see that his flock be instructed in christian faith and practice, and that they frequently attend on the communion. He finds fault • His name was Cedulph. Two years after Bede's death, he gave up Lis crown and lived twenty-two years in a monastery. His mind was most probably truly devout, thoug^h the spirit of the times led him into a de- generate method of showing- it 143 with the excessive multiplication of monks, and ex- presses his fears, lest, in process of time, the state should be destitute of soldiers to repel an invasion. This last observation is of a piece with another at the close of his history, that many Northumbrians in his days, both nobles and private men, emplo5ed themselves and their children more in monastic vows than in the ex- ercise of arms. " What effect this will have," says he, "the next generation will bear witness." It is no com- mon instance of judgment in one who had always been a monk, to notice these evils.* How they happened to be so very fashionable in our island, il is not hard to account for. Our ancestors were, doubtless, much indebted under God to the Roman see. Christianity, before the missions of Gregory, was very low in England. A real spirit of godliness, the sincere prac- tice and true understanding of the gospel, had been, through the bishops of Rome, introduced among bar- barians. Even the benefits thence resulting to society must have been great. Gratitude and affection would naturally lead our ancestors, in those superstitious ages, to monastic excesses. And if the evils, of which Bede complains, be strong proofs of the superstitious taste, they are also of the spirit of piety which subsist- ed among them. While Bede lived, in no part of the world was godliness better understood and practised, than among our ancestors. In a synod held by Cuth- bert, archbishop of Canterbury, about the middle of this century, at Cloveshoo,! there were twelve pre- lates, with Ethelbald, king of the Mercians. The ca- nons of this synod would have done honour to the purest times, and they seem to have been inspired by the genius of Bede. The clergy are directed to have fellowship with one another, to serve God in one spi- rit of faith, hope, and charity, to pray for one another, * Even kings gave themselves up to retirements of this kind, and there want not instances, among the Saxon princes, of pilgrimages to Rome of a religious nature. ■•■ Now ClifF, near Rochester. Warner. 144 to attend the duties of the sabbath, and, in fine, the same things are repeated, which are to be found in Bede's letter to Egbert. Let us not pride ourselves in a fancied superiority to our forefathers: a vanity of this seems to be the dis- ease of the present age; but men were not all without understanding in those dark seasons. The indiscri- minating censures of Mosheim on whole centuries, seem to show more malignity than discernment. Bede alone knew more of true religion, both doctrinal and practical, than numbers of ecclesiastics put together at this day; which will clearly appear, if we do but free him from superstitious rubbish, and examine what he is internally. CHAP II. Miscellaneous Particulars. /V LITTLE after the beginning of this century, Lambert, bishop of Maestricht, was murdered. He had succeeded Theodard, under whom he had been educated, and, for forty years, had adorned the gospel by a life of piety and charity. He had been seven years deprived of his see amidst the civil confusions of France, but had been reestablished about the year 681. This prelate had exerted himself with much zeal in his dio- cese, and laboured with success in the conversion of the pagans, who were in his neighbourhood. His pa- tience as well as his doctrine, had a salutary effect. It is not, however, in the power of the wisest and best of men, to restrain the tempers of their friends and relations. Two brothers, Gallus and Riold, were in- tolerably violent in plundering the church of Mae- stricht, and infesting the neighbourhood. Lambert's re- lations, particularly two nephews, returned evil for evil, and slew them, much against the will of the bishop. 145 Doubtless, the brothers ought to have applied to the civil nicigistrate, though justice was at that time very ill administered in France. Dodo, a powerful baron of the neighbourhood, a relation of the robbers, was determined to revenge their deaths upon the bishop himself; and he attacked him with armed men at Leo- dium-^ upon the Meuse. Lambert, in his first agita- tion upon the news of their approach, seized a sword, but recollecting himself, and lifting up his heart to God in prayer, he laid aside the sword, and composed himself to suffer. Two of his nephews began to make resistance. " If you love me truly," said Lambert, *' love Jesus Christ also, and confess } our sins to him. As for me, it is time for me to go to live with him,'? " Do you not hear," said another nephew, " how they call out to set fire to the house, to burn us all alive?" Remember, replied the bishop calmly, the guilt of the murder is yours: submit to receive the due recom- pence of your deeds. He continued in fervent prayer, and the armed men put all, whom they found, to the SMord, and Lambert himself among the rest. A man of a christian spirit surely, and worthy of a more enlightened age, in which his humility, piety, and charity might have shone with a brighter lustre! Ceolfrid, in the early part of this century, governed the two monasteries of Weremouth and Jerrow, which had educated Bede. Through his influence, the Picts, who inhabited North Britain, were brought over to the Roman mode of celebrating Easter, and of course to the Roman communion. f But I can find no account of any progress in piety in the British isles. As the Roman church itself grew more corrupt in this cen- tury, our ancestors were infected with a larger portion of its superstitions. In the year 713, the mahometans passed over from Africa into Spain, and put an end to the kingdom of the Goths, which had lasted near three hundred years. » * Now I/iege. Fleury, xli. 16. t Egbert, an Englishman, not long after, effected the same change among many of the Irisli. 146 The christians were there reduced to slavery; and thus were scourged those wicked professors, who had long held the truth in unrighteousness, called on the name of Christ, while in works they denied him, and buried his faith under an enormous heap of supersti- tions. A remnant) however, preserved their independen- cy in the Asturian mountains, who chose Pelagius for their king, a person descended from the royal family. He expressed his hope, that after God had chastised them for their sins, he would not give them up wholly to the mahometans. His confidence in God was not disapppinted. Under circumstances extremely disad- vantageous, he defeated the enemy, repeopled the cities, rebuilt the churches, and, by the pious assist- ance of several pastors, supported the gospel in one district of Spain, while the greatest part of the coun- try was overrun by the Arabians. But the successors of Pelagius, by degrees, recovered more cities from the enemy. Christendom, at this time, afforded a very grievous and mournful spectacle. Idolatry itself was now spread- ing widely both in Europe and in Asia, among the pro- fessors of the gospel :*^ men had very commonly every where forsaken the faith and the precepts of Jesus, in all those countries, which had been long evangelized. The people, who served the Lord in the greatest pu- rity and sincerity, seem to have been our ancestors, f and the inhabitants of some other regions, which had but lately received the gospel. So true is the observa- tion, which our history constantly gives us occasion to make, namely, that there is a perpetual tendency in human nature to degeneracy and corruption. Such, however, was the goodness of God, that he still exer- * This important event will be explained in the next chapter. f Ireland, which Prideaux calls the prime seat of learning in all Chris- tendom, during the reig-n of Charlemai^ne, was peculiarly distinguished in this century. Uaher lias proved the name of Scotia to have been ap- propriated to Ireland at this time. Eginhard, the secretary of Charle- magne, calls Ireland, Hibernia Scotorum insula. Several of these Scftts (Irish) laboured in the vineyard in Charlemagne's time, and were made bishops in Germany. BotU sacred and profane learning were taught by them with success. 147 eised much longsuffering amidst the most provoking- enormities; and after he had removed the candlestick from some churches, he carried it to other places,* so that the Ught of his gospel was never removed from the earth. The most marvellous event in such cases, is, that men seem not at all conscious of their crimes, nor perceive the avenging hand of God upon them. For the nominal christians of the day were insensible of their condition; and, though the Arabians were evi- dently making large strides toward universal domi- nion, it was not till they had advanced into the heart of France, and ravaged that country in a dreadful manner, that any strong efforts were made to with- stand them. In the year 732, however, they were to- tally defeated near Poictiers, by the heroic Charles Martel. An event memorable in history, because by it the providence of God stopped the progress of the Arabian locusts. It is astonishing, that all the civil- ized nations had not long ago united in a league, which would have been equally just and prudent, to stem the torrent, which threatened the desolation of mankind. Those who had, for ages, trusted more in relics, altars, austerities, pilgrimages, than in Christ crucified, and had lived in deceit, avarice, and unclean- ness, were suffered to yield themselves a prey to de- vouring invaders. Adored be that providence, which, in the crisis, preserved Europe from complete deso- lation, and, by saving France from those barbarians, has still left a people to serve God in these western regions, f * This will be illustrated in chap. iv. f The plague of the locusts, Rev. ix. continued five months, that is, 150 years, a day being reclioned for a year in prophetical language. It may be difficult to reckon exactly the time of the extension of the Ara- bian conquests, because of the inaccuracy and confusion of historians. But divine truth was exact no doubt; and under every possible way of^ computation, the period of about 150 ypars '.vili properly limit the dura- tion of the Saracen conquests. 148 CHAP. III. The Contro'oersij of Images. The Maturity of Anti- christ. IN the year 727, the Greek emperor began open hos- tihty with the bishop of Rome, and, to use the words of Sigonius,* Rome and the Roman dukedom passed from the Greek to the Roman bishop. It would have been more accurate to say, that a foundation was then laid for the temporal power of that prelate, than that it was actually established. However, as it was esta- blished a few years after, and a rupture commenced at the period just mentioned, I shall assume this as the most proper date, that I know of, for the beginning of popedom, which from this time is to be regarded as antichrist indeed; for it set itself by temporal power to support false doctrine, and particularly that, which deserves the name of idolatry. The marvellous propensity of all ages to the sin of idolatry, which implies a departure of the heart from the one living and true God, must originate in some steady principles existing in the nature of fallen man. The true account of this extraordinary and lamenta- ble fact seems to be as follows. God is an immaterial, selfexistent being, of infinite power and goodness, and, as our maker and preserver, he has an imquestionable ckim to our supreme veneration and affection. Man, considered as a rational creature, is endowed with faculties abundantly sufficient for the discovery of this great and perfect Being, so far as his own duties and interests are concerned. This has frequently been proved, by able moralists, in the way of argument, and is expressly affirmed to be the case, by St. Paul, in the first chapter of the epistle to the Romans, where it is said, that " the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being under- * Sigon. Il'ist. de Regn. Italic, B. Ill: / 149 stood by the tilings that are made," and where tt is added " that they are without excuse." In fact, however, fallen man has never, by the mere use of his reason, found out God to any good purpose, and worshipped him accordingly; and even when God by special revelation has condescended to explain and manifest his true character to a particular people, few of that people have served him as they ought to have done for any great length of time; but they soon corrupted the divine religion, and were plunged in idolatry. The Jehovah of the sacred writings, and the al- mighty and all perfect God, which may be discovered by sound reason, is an invisible being, and is to be honoured, as a spirit, with the heart and the under- standing, and without the intervention of sensible ob- jects, as stocks or stones. " Thou shaltlove the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul:" but the history of our corrupted nature shows, that images and other sensible objects have, in all ages, offered themselves to men's minds as guides and helps to a conception of the Deity; and if, in some instan- ces, these absurd inventions of gross idolatry have been rejected by men of learning and refinement, it has then generally happened, that intellectual figments of philosophical vanity have been substituted in their place, figments still more atheistical in their nature, and farther removed from the notion of a wise and authoritative Governor of the universe, who enjoins the submission and dependence of his creatures, re- quires their obedience, and dispenses justice impar- tially. The principles, which appear to account for this apostasy and opposition to the divine will, may be comprehended under the terms pride, selflove, self- righteousness, and desire of independence, or, in- deed, under the single term pride alone, if we use that expression according to its most extensive appli- cation. Fallen man is too proud, practically to feel and confess his relative ignorance and inanity, when Vol. III. 20 150 compared with the supreme Author of all things; and the iame principle prevents him from placir.g his su- preme regard and esteem on God, though reason dic- tate, and revelation command this duty. He loves himself and his own gratifications too well. Then it is easy to understand, that pride and selfrighteousness are nearly synonymous expressions: a proud being will never esteem his own " righteousnesses as filthy rags" (Isaiah Ixiv. 6.); will never cordially beg for pardon of his sins: he has too good an opinion of his own labours, inventions, and performances; in a word, he is selfrighteous; and, in a similar way, it is plain, that the same being will aim at independence, and be impatient of control. In such a dangerous and corrupt state of human affections, the broad and crowded road to idolatry, which is the object we are seeking, is not difficult to be traced. For, whether we consider pride as a comprehensive principle, evolving itself, accord- ing to the explanation just given, in various mis- chievous operations, or, whether we choose to confine the meaning of the term, no one will doubt, but that, in fact, mankind in all ages have been grievously want- ing in humility, have proudly set themselves up against God, have been actuated by inordinate self- love, and not submitting to the righteousness of God, have endeavoured to establish their own righteous- ness, and have been impatient of control. The exis- tence of these principles and inclinations implies an absolute departure of the heart from the living God; and when that has once taken place through the action of some steady cause, the progress to idolatry, or to some species of atheism, nearly allied to idolatry, is the next step. Man has departed from the true God, and there must be some device to quiet conscience. Thus, in rude and barbarous times, the proud, self- righteous devotee, will naturally have recourse to the sottish invention of the worship of wood, or stone, or metals, and become a gross idolater. He will burn part of the wood with fire, and of the rest he will make a god, and kneel before it. The discovery mightily 151 pleases him: he has found out a god exactly suited to his taste; a god, who will easily pardon his vices, set a high value on his imagined virtues, and be con- stantly propitious to him; a god, who is not an uni- versal governor or benefactor, but who is particularly kind to himself and his countrymen; a god, whom he can see and handle, and in which he may pride him- self, as having contrived and finished it with the tongs and hammer, or with the plane and compass; a god, which is local and tutelar, and over which he himself has considerable power: he can place it in his temple, in his chamber, or in the camp. The ancient idolaters often represented, by their images, deceased chiefs, or heroes, or kings, who were still supposed to possess a superintending influ> ence over the affairs of men; and, not unfrequently, these departed beings appear to have ranked among the most wicked of mankind. In more modern times, even Christianity itself has been disgraced with the adoration of images, representations, and relics of saints;, nor has the abominable superstition always sufficiently taken care, that the supposed saints them- selves should have been reputable characters. In ages of great learning and refinement, the same principles of pride, &:c. which in religious concerns, blinding the understanding and corrupting the affec- tions, effectually draw the heart from the living and true God, induce men to profess a reverence for ab- struse and intellectual figments, as nature, a principle of order, or the soul of the universe. These notions of God, which prevail in polished seasons of the world, in one sense merit the imputation of idolatry, in an- other of atheism; and, in any possible interpretation, they must be deemed equivocal, unintelligible, and pernicious. The species of idolatry are exceedingly various; but they differ not much either in their source or their tendency. In all circumstances, man is miser- able and blind, if he be not seeking and worshipping the true God in spirit and truth. If, in breach of the second commandment, he represent the glory of Je- 152 hovah by images, or if, in breach of the first, he set up a divinity opposite to Jehovah, in both cases he forms a deceitful basis for salvation and happiness, and directly affronts the perfections of God. Such practices are, therefore, forbidden throughout the scripture, in the most positive manner. The guilt of idolatry is not so apparent to natural conscience, as that of crimes committed against our fellow creatures; though no sin is so much spoken against through the old testament. Many are apt to wonder why the Israelites were so prone to it; not considering nor knowing their own idolatry, which works in a way more suited to present times and cir- cumstances. But whoever understands, that idolatry implies the departure of the heart from the living God and a fixing of it on something else; that to refuse to trust his word, and to choose to put confidence in some sensible object, by which we would represent him to our minds; still further, to glory in our own strengdi and righteousness, instead of seeking salva- tion b)^ grace through faith only, proceeds from pride, and pours all possible contempt on the divine Ma- jesty, will not wonder at God's indignation against this sin, will see how naturally it operates on the hu- man mind, and how it affords a complete demonstra- tion of the apostasy of man. The ancient church of God were distinguished from the nations all around by the most express prohibi- tions of this sin. They were directed not to worship any but the living God, nor even Jehovah himself by any images whatever; much less were they allowed to worship any creature by representations, which would be to break the two first commandments by the same act. He, who knows the propensity of his own heart to distrust the providence and grace of God, and how eagerly we catch at any human relief, instead of pa- tiently waiting upon God in trouble, will not wonder that the Israelites worshipped the calf in the absence of Moses, nor think the sin small, because they in- tended to honour Jehovah by the symbol. 153 Under the gospel dispensation the prohibition of images contiiiued, and, in the purest times, there was little occasion to dwell on the subject. God in Christ was worshipped, in spirit and in truth, by the primi- tive christians: and, while they called on the gentiles to turn from their idols to the living God, idolatry it- self, in any of its forms, could scarce find a shadow of admission into the christian church. For, while men's hearts were filled with peace and joy in believing, while the doctrines of justification and regeneration were precious and allimportant in their e} es, and they lived by the faith of Jesus, saw his glory, and felt in their souls the transforming power of his grace, the deceitful aids of idolatry had nb charms. It was not till the knowledge of the gospel itself was darkened and adulterated, that the miserable spirits of men had recourse to such'Hain refuges, and that the mind, no longer under the influence of the holy Spirit, betook itself to the arts of sculpture and painting, in order to inflame its affections, and to kin- dle a false fire of devotion. Christians then worshipped the true God with the understanding, and whoever was converted to the faith, ceased from idolatry. And, as we have seen, christian emperors, particularly Theodosius, destroyed image worship in their domi- nions. Origen, in his treatise against Celsus, observes, that it is not possible, that any, by worshipphig images, should attain the knowledge of God. Athanasius and Lactantius* strongly inculcate the same truth. To- ward the end of the fourth century some approach to- ward this evil appeared in the church. Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus, observes,! that he found a linen cloth hanging on the church door painted, artd having * In the three homilies of the church of Enp^land against peril of ido- latry, the controversy is handled with much solidity and historical infor- mation. I have made some use of them for my purpose. It seems pro- per that every protestant divine should acquaint himself with the funda- mentals of the controversy, and be able satisfactorily to convince himself, that popery is not, what it pretends to be, founded on the precedents- of christian antiquity. t See vol. ii. 154 in it the image of Christ, or of some saint. " Observ- ing this," says he, '* so contrary to the authority of the scriptures, I tore the cloth." The famous Jerom pub- lished, in Latin, an epistle of Epiphanius concerning this subject, and added his own testimony on the point. So evident is it, that at that time images were abso- lutely prohibited in the church of Christ. Augustine also gave his opinion against images. " They are of more force to pervert the soul than to in- struct- it." And "when images are once placed in tem.ples, and had in honours, error creepeth in." Men, however, Avho had been lately turned from idols, be- gan at length to paint or carve images of Christ, the virgin Mary, and the apostles; and Jerom observes, that the errors of images passed to the christians from the gentiles; and Eusebius, the historian, says that im- ages of Peter anj Paul, and of our Saviour himself, were made in his time, which he took " to be an hea- thenish custom." They were not, however, worship- ped, nor publicly set up in churches. Paulinus, who died bishop of Nola in the year 431, caused the walls of a temple to be painted wdth stories taken from the old testament, that the people might thence receive in- struction: the "written word was neglected, and these poor substitutes were placed in its room. A strong sign of the growing ignorance! As the ignorance in- creased, these historical paintings and images increased also. Serenus, bishop of Marseilles, because of the danger of idolatry, brake to pieces the images then set up in the churches. And I have already noticed the imprudent concession made by Gregory, bishop of Rome, on this occasion, to the growing superstition. Thus, six hundred years after Christ, images had begun to appear in churches, but still without idolatry. The authority of Gregory, however had evil conse- quences: the spirit of idolatry grew stronger, as real spiritual knowledge decayed; and men, having now- much lost the divine way of applying to God through Christ, by faith, for the relief of their consciences, became still more prone to rely on 155 idols. So closely connected is the doctrine of justifica- tion with purity of worship. In this respect the Roman* church advanced in corruption more rapidly than the eastern. And Grecian emperors employed themselves in destroying images and pictures, while in Italy they were held in idolatrous admiration. The evil, in truth, became incurable, because there was no clear and ef- fectual knowledge of the gospel, that might dissipate the clouds of error. Yet were men's opinions divided both in the east and the west; and, at length, the crisis arose, when the christian world was formally broken into two parties on this question. We are now advanced to the year 727, when Leo, the Isaurian, the Greek emperor, began openly to op> pose the worship of images, and produced the rupture with the Roman see, before mentioned. A Syrian, born of christian parents, named Beser, who had been taken by the mahometans, and afterwards returned to the Romans, had imbibed an opinion of the unlawful- ness of the practice, having, very probably, observed the advantage which it had given to the infidels. He was in great favour with the emperor, and convinced him by his arguments, that image worship was idola- trous. But the most eminent defender of the purity of divine worship in this point, and whom Fleury there- fore, in his popish zeal, calls the author of the heresy, f was Constantine, bishop of Nacolia in Phrygia. Con- vinced in his judgment, and zealous to propagate what appeared to him to be right, Leo assembled the people, and with the frankness and sincerity, which marks his character, publicly avowed his conviction of the idolatry of the growing practice, and declared that images ought not to be erected for adoration. Such a. declaration in the sixth century would have raised no ferment in Christendom; but idolatry had been gradu- ally advancing itself, as the simplicity and purity of christian faith had decayed: men of no religious solici tude naturally conformed themselves to the habits of * I say the Romans; for in other parts of the west, we shall see, th-at some opposition was made to idolatry, t Fleury, b. x4ii. 1. vol. v. 15G the times, and persons of some concern for the soul had been so long trammeled m a variety of superstitions for the relief of conscience, and the true relief of Christ's atonement was so little understood and re- lished, that the emperor was evidently in the minority through the christian world. As yet no synods had given a sanction to image worship. Precedents of an- tiquity were intirely against it. The word of God, which ought to have influenced the minds of men infinitely more than either, was in full opposition to the practice; but so deeply had error prevailed; so convenient did wicked men find it to commute for the indulgence of their crimes, by a zealous attachment to the idolatrous externals; and so lit- tle was the scripture then read or studied, that the subjects of Leo murmured against him, as a tyrant and a persecutor. Even Germanus, the bishop of Constantinople, with equal zeal and ignorance as- serted, that images had always been used in the church, and declared his determination to oppose the emperor at all events. It is not necessary to give a de- tail of the paltry evasions and frivolous arguments, with which he endeavoured to support the idolatry. Desirous, however, of strengthening himself against the emperor, he wrote to the bishop of Rome, who warmly supported the same cause, and by reasonings of the same nature. Never was a more instructive lesson given to pastors, to teach the word of God in simplicity and faithfulness. Conscience will be dis- quieted at times in men not altogether given up to a reprobate mind; and, if peace by Jesus Christ, through faith alone, be not sedulously preached, men distress- ed for their sins will flee to idolatry with all their might, which will give them a false peace, and con- firm them in sinful practices. By the knowledge of Christ crucified alone, can we be brought to a sound peace of conscience, and be constrained effectually to serve God and our neighbour in love. We have often seen this connexion of doctrine and practice in the course of this history, and we are now stating the re- 157 verse of the picture. Nor can the spirit and principles of those christians, who supported divine truth in the world, be so clearly understood without some know- ledge of the real grounds of popery^. He who filled the Roman see at that time was Gre- gory the second, whom for his open defence and sup- port of idolatry, I shall venture to call the first pope of Rome. Many superstitions and abuses had been growing;* and since the decease of Gregory I. I have for the most part been silent concerning the Roman bishops, because very little of godliness appeared among them. The most honourable part of their con- duct related to the encouragement of missions and the propagation of the gospel among the gentiles; in which, many, who were actuated by the same spirit as those, who had been sent by Gregory I, were suc- cessful in their provinces; and pure religion, in the fundamentals, at least, was extended into distant re- gions, while Rome and Italy grew more and more corrupt. The open avowal, however, of idolatry, was * One will deserve to be specified, as it marks the decline from evan-. gelical purity of doctrine. It was not nntil the days of this Gregory, that churchyards had a beg'innintc The dead had been usually interred near the hi£!;hways, according- to the Roman laws, and christian con^rej^ations had followed the piactice; at least, they had burial places remote from the city. But, in Gregory's time, the priests and monks began to offer prayers for the deceased, and received gifts from the relations for the perf irniance of these services; on which account these ecclesiastics re« quested have of Gregory, that the dead might be interred near the places of tlie monks' abode, or in the churches or monasteries; that the relations might have a better opportunity of joining in the funeral devo* tions. Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury, introduced the custom into England in 750; hence the origin of churchyards in this island used as burial grounds. The practice itself is certainly innocent; though its first origin was extremely superstitious. The attentive reader will judge hence of the progress of the doctrine of purgatory, and the avarice of the ecclesia.stics connected with it; above all, of men's departure from the artJcle of justification; which, if it liad remained in any degree of purity in the church, would have effectually excluded these abominations. See Newcome's Hist, of the Abbey of St. Albans, p. 109. While men rested in Christ, and dared to behold themselves complete in him, they had no temptation to apply to the false refuges of prayers for the departed. In the article of death they committed their souls and bodies to their Sa- viour. That hope of glory being lost, they struggled, in vain, through life, with doubts and fears, and departing in uncertainty, left to the cha- rity of friends to eke their supposed defect of merit, and " fovmd no end, in wandering mazes lost." Vol. III. 21 158 reserved for Gregory II, and from this time I look on the bishops of Rome as antichrist. Rebellion trode on the heels of idolatry. Greece and its neighbouring islands opposed the emperor, and set up an usurper, so infatuated were men with image worship. But the rebels were routed; and the usurper was taken and beheaded. Leo has been so blackened by contemporary wri- ters, that it is not easy to form a just idea of his cha- racter, 1 he same observation may be extended to his son and successor, on the same account. All that can be advanced with certainty is, that his cause was just, and his zeal sincere, though his temper was too warm. He might be a pious christian; there is doubtless no proof to the contrary. He not only condemned the worshipping of images, but also rejected relics and the intercession of saints. But there lived none at that time capable of doing justice to the holiness of his motives, if indeed, as there is reason to hope, they were holy. In the year 730 he published an edict against images, and, after having in vain endeavoured to bring over Germanus to his view^s, he deposed him, and set up Anastasius in his room, who supported the empe- ror. There was a porch in the palace of Constantino- ple, in which was an image of Christ on the cross. Leo, who saw that it had been made an engine of ido- latry, sent an officer to pull it down. Some women, who were there, entreated that it might be spared, but in vain. The officer mounted a ladder and struck three blow^s with a hatchet on the face of the figure, when the women threw him down by pulling away the ladder, and murdered him on the spot:* however, the * This first instance of idolatrous zeal vliicli occurs in Christendom, shows that the worshippers ofimaijes naturally connect the idea of sanc- tity with the wood or stone; and therefore the charge of literally wor- shippin,2j inanimate matter, which the scriptures make a.cainst pag'-an idolaters, is just when applied to popish. By an induction from particu- lars, it were easy to prove, that the cases are similar, and, that futile distinctions and evasions may equally be applied to both, to cover and soften what cannot be vindicated in either. 159 image was pulled clown and burnt, and a plain cross set up in its room; for Leo only objected to the erec- tion of an human fifrure. The women afterwards in- suited Anastasius, as having profaned holy things. Leo put several persons to death, who had been concerned in the murder, and, such was the triumph of idolatry at length, that the murderers are honoured as mar- tyrs, by the Greek church, to this day! More blood was spilt on the occasion, partly through the vehe- mence of the emperor^ and partly through the obsti- nacy of the idolaters. The news flew to Rome, where the same rage for idolatry prevailed, and the emperor's statues were pulled down, and trodden under foot. Italy was throv/n into confusion: serious attempts were made to elect another emperor: and the pope encouraged these attempts. He also prohibited the Italians from paying tribute to Leo any longer, say the Greek wri- ters, and some of the partisans of the Roman see< while the French writers represent him as endeavour- ing to quell the rebellion. It is difficult to give a fair statement of Gregory's conduct on this occasion: certain it is, that his obstinate defence of idolatry actually fomented the rebellion, and in the end, established the temporal power of his successors on the ruins of the imperial authority.* His conduct was indirectly rebellious, if it was not directly so; for he wrote to Anastasius, that if he did not return to the catholic faith, he should be deprived of his disrnitv.t Grearorv must have known, that this was, in eifect, to oppose the emperor himself. This was one of the last acts of the Roman prelate. He was succeeded by Gregory III. who wrote to the emperor in these arrogant terms. " Because you are unlearned and ignorant, we are obliged to write to you rude discourses, but full of sense and the word of God. VVe conjure you to quit your pride, and hear us with humility. You say that we adore stones, walls, and * See Mosheim, cent. viii. t.. \v.. t Fieury, c. 3diL. 7. 160 boards. It is not so, my lord; but those symbols make us recollect the persons whose names they bear, and exalt our groveling minds. We do not look upon them as gods; but if it be the image of Jesus,' we say, " Lord, help us." If it be the image of his mo- ther, we say, *' pray to your Son to save us.'* If it be of a martyr, we say, " St. Stephen, pray for us."*^ " We might, as having the power of St. Peter, pro- nounce punishments against you; but as you have pronounced the curse upon yourself, let it stick to you. You write to us to assemble a general council; of which there is no need. Do you cease to persecute images, and all will be quiet. We fear not your threats; for if we go a league from Rome, tow'ard Campania, w^e are secure." Certainly this is the lan- guage of antichrist, supporting idolatry by pretences to infallibility, and despising both civil magistrates and ecclesiastical councils. I cannot do justice to Leo, because we have not his answers to the pope. But perhaps the language of Gregory will enable the reader for himself to vindicate the emperor. It is not to be wondered at, that Leo refused to have any farther intercourse with the Ro- man prelate. In 732, Gregory, in a council, excom- municated all, who should remove or speak contemp- tuously of images. And Italy being now in a state of rebellion, Leo fitted out a fleet, which he sent thither; but it was wrecked in the Adriatic. He continued, however, to enforce his edict against images in the east, while the patrons of the fashionable idolatry sup- • From these specimens the reader may jud^e Mhether the pope or the emperor was better acquainted with the scripture. A pagan philosopher would have defended gentile idolatry much in the same manner; and the dependence, which both the pagan and the papist place on the image, demonstrates, that they imagine the power of tlie saint or demon to be intimately connected with the image, which represents, as it were, the body, of which the object of their worship is the soul, so justly do the scriptures describe idolaters as literally worshipjiing the works of their own hands, and the man of sin as worshipping demons (1 Tim. iv.) So- phistry may evade, but it cannot confute When men cease to hold the head and to be satisfied with Christ as their all, they fall into these or similar errors. The heart, which feels not the want of the living God, sti^ its proper nutriment, will feed on the ashes of idolatry. 161 ported it by various sophisms. In all his conduct Giegory now acted like a temporal prince: he bup- ported a rebellious duke against Luitprand, king of the Lombards, his master, and fearing the vengeance of the latter, he applied to Charles Martel, mayor of the palace in France,* offering to withdraw his obe- dience from the emperor, and give the consulship of Rome to Charles, if he would take him under his protection.! Charles, however, by his wars with the Saracens, was prevented from complying with the pope's request. But he left his power and ambitious views to his son and successor Pepin. Charles, Gre- gory, and Leo, all died in the same year 741, and left to their successors the management of their respective views and contentions. Constantine Copronymus inherited his father Leo's zeal against images: and, as both the east and the west were precipitating themselves into idolatry, hence nei- ther of these princes have met with a fair and impar- tial historian.! The Arabians persecuted the chris- tians in the mean time with unrelenting barbarity in the east, while the real church of God was desolated on all sides, and suffered equally from enemies with- out and within her pale. Zachary was the next pope after Gregory III, an aspiring politician, who fomented discord among the Lombards, and, by his intrigues, obtained from the king Luitprand an addition to the patrimony of the church. The Roman prelates had ceased to worship God in spirit and in truth, and were now become mere secular princes. Zachary showed how well he merited the title of a temporal governor. He had the address to preserve stiii d nominal subjection to the Greek emperor, while * This is he wlio hud stopped the progress of the Saracen arms. Mayol* of the palace, was the title of the prime minister in France, who during the reigns of a succession of weak princes, governed with sovereign power. f This shows that the charge of rebellion against the emperor is not unjiistl}' made against this pope \ Thf-ophaiies relates some ridiculous things of Copronymus, which only prove the strength of his own preituUces. p. S-IG, and Fleury follows him ashisguid'" 162 he seized all the power of the Roman dukedom for himself, and looked out for a protector both against his lawful sovereign and against the Lombards. This was Pepin, the son and successor of Charles Martel in France, who sent a case of conscience to be resolved by the pope, namely, whether it would be just in him- self to depose his sovereign Childeric III, and to reign in his room?* Zachary was not ashamed to answer in the affirmative: Pepin then threw his master into a monastery, and assumed the title of king. Zachary died soon after, viz. in the year 752. The Greek emperor was unable to cope with the subtlety of the pope and the violence of the Lombards. Ravenna the capital of his dominions in Italy was taken by king Astulphus, who had succeeded Rachis, the successor of Luitprand. This government, called the exarchate, had lasted in Italy about a hundred and fourscore years. Stephen, the successor of Zachary, finding the superior strength of the Lombards, now solicited the aid of Constantine, who was too much employed in the east, to send any forces into Italy. In the year 754, the emperor held a council of 338 bi- shops, Xq decide the controversy concerning images. They express themselves not improperly on the na- ture of the heresy. t " Jesus Christ," say they, " hath delivered us from idolatry, and hath taught us to adore him in spirit and in truth. But the devil not being able to endure the beauty of the church, hath insensibly brought back idolatry under the appearance of Chris- tianity, persuading men to worship the creature, and to take for God a work, to which they give the name of Jesus Christ." Reinforced by the decrees of this council against image worship, Constantine burnt the images, and de- • Fleiiry, xliii. 1. calls liim a weak and contemptible prince. So the French kings had been for some time. But Greij^oi-y I. would have told Pepin, that the weakness of tlie sovereign's faculties gave the servant no viglit to usurp the master's authority. Gregory feared God: whereas idolatry had hardened the hearts of these pope.?, and left them no lawbii* r.heir ewn insatiable ambition. I Fleury, xliii, T 163 molished the walls, which were painted with represen- tations of Christ or the saints; and seemed determined to exterminate all the vestiges of idolatry. In the mean time, in Italy, Stephen pressed by the victorious arms of Astulphus, applied himself to Pepin, and wrote to all the French dukes, exhorting them to succor St. Peter, and promising them the remission of their sins, a hundred fold in this world, and in the world to come life everlasting. So rapidly advanced the pope- dom! A letter now was brought to the pope from the emperor, ordering him to go to Astulphus, and de- mand the restitution of Ravenna. Superstition was every where so strong, that there was no danger in- curred by such a step; and the weakness of the em- peror, and the distraction of his affairs allowed him not to give any other sort of succor to Italy, Stephen sent to the king of the Lombards, to demand a pass. This was granted, and he set out from Rome, to go to As- tulphus. A short time before he undertook this jour- ney, messengers had arrived to him from Pepin, en- couraging him to go along with them into France. Stephen arrived at Pavia, the capital of Lombardy, and, after an ineffectual interview with the king, went into France, where Pepin treated him with all possible respect, and promised to undertake an expedition into Italy to relieve the Roman see. Stephen anointed with oil the king of the Franks; and, by the authority of St. Peter, forbade the French lords, on pain of excom- munication, to choose a king of another race. *► Thus did these two ambitious men support one another in their schemes of rapacity and injustice. In the pope the evil was aggravated by the pretence of religion.* " It is you," says Stephen, " whom God hath chosen for this purpose by his prescience from • Fleurj', a much better divine tlian Stephen, is struck with the absur- dity of the allusion, xliii. 15. If I am somevthat more secular in this nar- ration than in general, the importance of the subject, which is notliing less than the establisliment of the papal power, and the vindication ol faithful witnesses, who from at^e to a,<;e protested ag-ainst it, may afford a sufficient apolog'y. Popery once established, I shall not so minutely attend her steps, but seek the children of God, wherever they are to be found. 164 all eternity. For whom he hath predestinated, them he also called; and, whom he called, them he also jus- tified." It must be owned, that Stephen was fitter to conduct a negotiation, than to expound a text. Pepin attacked Astiilphus so vigorously, that, in the end, he obliged him to deliver the exarchate, that is Ravenna, and twenty-one cities besides, to the pope. Constantine, alarmed at the danger of his dominions in Italy, sent an embassy to king Pepin, to press him to deliver the exarchate to its rightful sovereign: but in vain. In the issue, the pope became the proprietor of Ravenna and its dependencies, and added rapacity to his rebelhon. From this time he not only assumed the tone of infallibility and spiritual dominion, but became lite- rally a temporal prince. On the death of Astulphus, Dcbiderius, duke of Tuscany, in order to obtain the succession, promised Stephen, to deliver to him some other cities, which the Lombards had taken from the emperor. Stephen embraced the offer without hesita- tion, assisted Desiderius in his views, and obtained for the popedom the dutchy of Ferrara, and two other fortresses. The injured emperor, in the mean time, continued to exterminate idolatry in the east; but, whether his motives were pious or not, our ignorance of his private character will not suffer us to ascertain. The ambitious and successful Stephen held the pope- dom five years, and died in 757. His successor Paul, even before his appointment to that dignity, had taken care to cultivate the friendship and secure the protec- tion of Pepin. The maritime parts of Italy still obey- ed the emperor, and these, together with the Lom- bards, threatened the pope, from time "to time; whence he was induced to write frequently to the king of France for assistance.* Constantine forbade every where the addressing of prayers to the virgin Mary, or to other saints, and discountenanced the monks through his dominions. • It is remarkable, that Fleury blames this pope for representing his secular aftairs as if they were spiritual, p. 31. 165 He is said to have treated the worshippers of images with great barbarity, and to have been profane and vicious in his own practice. Bat such censures were the natural and obvious effect of his conduct. In the year 768 died Pepin, the great supporter of the popedom. Its grandeur was, however, not yet arrived at maturity. Adrian, who was elected pope in 772, was not inferior to his predecessors in the arts of ambitious intrigue. He received the homage of Rieti and Spoleto, towns of Lombardy, and allowed them to choose a duke among themselves. Partly by these means, and still more by the powerful alliance of Charles, the son and successor of Pepin, commonly called Charlemagne for his great exploits, he strength- ened himself against the hostilities of king Desiderius. He received from the French king a confirmation of Pepin's donative of the exarchate, with some consi- derable additions of territory. The friendship of am- bitious men is cemented by views of interest. This was exactly the case of Charles and Adrian. The for- mer derived from the sacred character of the latter the most substantial addition to his reputation in a superstitious age, and was enabled to expel Deside- rius intirely from his dominions. In the year 774, he assumed the title of king of France and Lombardy. The last king of the Lombards was sent into a mon- astery in France, where he ended his days. In the next year, the emperor Constantine died, after having vigorously opposed image worship all his reign. At the same time also died the mahometan calif A1-. mansor, the founder of Bagdad, which from that time became the residence of the Saracen monarchs; whose empire then began to carry more the appearance of a regular government, and ceased to be so troublesome to the remains of the old Roman empire, as it had formerly been. Leo, the son and successor of Constantine, trode in the steps of his father and grandfather, and exercised severities on the supporters of image worship. But. Vol. III. 22 166 as he died in the year 780,* his wife Irene assumed the government in the name of her son Constantine, who was only ten years old. She openly and zealously supported idolatry. The east was so eagerly addicted to it, that there wanted only the authority of a sove- reign to render it triumphant. Images gained the as- cendency; and the monastic life, which either the piety or the prudence of three emperors, (for I cannot as- certain their real character,) had much discouraged, became again victorious in Greece and Asia.f In 784 Irene wrote to Adrian, desiring his presence at a council to be held for the support of image wor- ship; at least that he would send legates to it. Tara- sius, bishop of Constantinople, just appointed, and perfectly harmonizing widi the views of the empress, wrote to the same purport. Adrian's answer is worthy of a pope. He expresses his joy at the prospect of the establishment of image worship; and at the same time, testifies his displeasure at the presumption of Tarasius, in calling himself universal patriarch: he demands the restoration of St. Peter's patrimony, which during the schism, the emperors of Constantinople had withheld; and sets before the empress the munificent pattern of Charlemagne, who had given to the Roman church, to be enjoyed forever, provinces, cities, and castles, once in possession of the Lombards, but which of right belonged to St, Peter. Ambition and avarice were thus covered with the thin veil of superstition. But this was the age of clerical usurpations. Large domains were now commonly annexed, by supersti- tious princes, to the church, for the pardon of their sins; but the pope was the greatest gainer by this traffic. That, which is most to our purpose to observe, is the awful departure, which had commonly been made, throughout Christendom, from the aliimpor- tant article of justification. While this is firmly be- * Fleury, xliv. 16. f If the plan, on which I have chosen to write a church history, need the axithority of any writer to support it, the words of Fleury are very decisive. B. xliv. 17- " The temporal afF'airs of the church, nay, of the Roman church, do not belong to an ecclesiastical history." 167 lieved and reverenced, it is impossible for men to think of commuting for their offences with heaven; and it is itself the surest defence against clerical en- croachments, superstition, idolatry, and hypocrisy. But the pulpits were silent on this doctrine : during this whole century, false religion grew without any check or molestation; and vices, both in public and private life, increased in proportion. In the year 787 the second council of Nice was held under the empress: and, of such a council it is suffi- cient to say, that it confirmed idolatrous worship. Pope Adrian, having received the acts of the council, sent them to Charlemagne, that he might procure the approbation of the bishops of the west. But here his expectations were disappointed. United in politics by the coincidence of interested views, they were how- ever found to disagree in religious sentiments. Char- lemagne, though illiterate himself, was one of the greatest patrons of learning: and, if he may be sup- posed to have been in earnest in any opinions, he would naturally be much influenced by the famous Alcuin, an Englishman, whom he cherished and es- teemed. The customs and habits of the west were far from universally favouring the reigning idolatry. I am anxiously looking for the features of the church of Christ in this very gloomy period, and seem to think that her existence \Vas most probably to be found in the churches lately planted, or, in those, which were then in an infant state. Our own island was decidedly, at that time, against idolatry. The British churches execrated the second council of Nice;*^ and some even of the Italian bishops protested against the growing evil. Nor is it probable, that the churches of Germany, now forming, were at all dis- posed to receive it. Men, who first receive Christianity from zealoiis teachers, are simple and sincere; nor is it easy to convince an ingenuous person, that idolatry, however qualified or explained, is allowable on the * Hoveden Annal. pars prior, p. 232. Usher Annals, p. 19, 20. The for- mer of these writers tells us, tliat Alcuin composed the Carolin books. 168 plan of the scriptures, either of the old or new tes- tament. France itself had, as yet, shown no disposi- tion positively in favour of idolatry. The Roman see alone, in Europe, had in form supported and defended it. And experience proves, that the greatest stages of degeneracy are to be found in the churches, which have subsisted the longest. Charlemagne could not but be struck at the discor- dancy of the Nicene council with the habits of the west; and was therefore so far from receiving, with implicit faith, the recommendation of it by pope Adrian, that he ordered the bishops of the west to examine the merits of the question. The issue was, the publication of the Carolin books, in which the famous Alcuin had at least a distinguished share. In these the authors find fault with a former synod held in Greece, under Constantine, which forbade the use of images. For they held the dangerous opinion of Gregory ist, name- ly, that these might be set up in churches, and serve as books for the instruction of the people. But they condemn, in very free terms, the late Grecian synod, which enjoined the worship of images. They find fiiult with the flattering addresses made by the Greek bi- shops to pope Adrian. They allow the primacy of St. Peter's see, but are far from founding their faith on the pope's decrees. They condemn the worship of images by scriptural arguments, by no means imper- tinent or contemptible, but which there is no occasion for me to repeat.* Engilbert, the ambassador of Charles, presented these books to Adrian. This ambitious politician, who subsisted by the protection of Charlemagne, and who was concerned to maintain the honour of his see, re- plied with great prudence. It is evident, from his whole conduct, that his object was the temporal inte- rests of the popedom. Hence his answer to Charles was tame and insipid, and his defence of image wor- ship weak and inconclusive. f Charles and the French * See Du Pin, Councils of 8th Century, t This is allowed by Du Pin. Ibid. 169 • churches persevered in their own middle practice: they used images, but they abhorred the adoration of them. In the year 794, at Frankfort upon the Maine, a synod was held, consisting of 300 bishops, who con- demned the second council of Nice, and the worship of images. In this synod, Paulinus, bishop of Aqui- leia, in Italy, bore some share. Adrian, however, con- tinued on good terms with Charlemagne, to the death of the former, which took place before the close of the century, when he was succeeded by Leo III. Political intrigue, and secular artifice, not theological study, was then the practice of Roman bishops. The Irish, at this time, particularly excelled in divinity, travelled through various countries, and became renowned for knowledge; and the superior light of England and France, in the controversy concerning images, seems to show both those countries, in knowledge and in re- gard for the doctrines of scripture, to have been far su- perior to Rome. Yet so strongly were men prejudiced in favour of the dignity of the Roman see, that it still remained in the height of its power, and was enabled in process of time to communicate its idolatrous abo- minations through Europe. In the east the worship of images was triumphant, but as yet not universal.* This chapter contains the narrative of the most fatal events, which the church had ever seen. The arian heresy had disfigured and deeply wounded her consti- tution, but she had recovered, and confounded this ad- versary. The pelagian poison had operated for a time; but its detection and expulsion had even contributed to recover her health, and to restore her to a great de- gree of apostolical purity. Other heresies, which af- fected the doctrine of the trinity, had been successfully opposed: superstition, for a number of centuries, had sullied her beauty, but had left her vitals untouched. Idolatry, at length, aided by the same superstitious * Irene, toward the close of this century, dethroned her son Constan- tine, and put out his eyes with such violence, that he lost his life. This monster, a worthy patroness of idolatry, then reigned alone, and coopera- ted witk the pope of Rome, in the support of Satan's kingdom. 170 propensity, prevailed to disunite her from Christ, her livhig head. The reigning powers both in the east and the west, were overgrown with false worship: even those parts of the west, which as yet were not disposed to receive idolatry, w^ere deeply prepared for the gra- dual admission of it, partly by the growing of super- stition, and partly by the submission of all the Euro- pean churches to the domination of the Roman see. There the seat of antichrist was firmly fixed. Rebel- lion against the lawful power of the magistrate, the most arrogant claims to infallibility, and the support of image worship, conspired with the temporal dominion lately obtained by the bishop of Rome, to render him the tyrant of the church. His dominions, indeed, were not large; but, in conjunction with the proud preten- sions of his ecclesiastical character, they gave him a superlative dignity in the eyes of all Europe. It was evident, that the face of the whole church was altered: from the year 727, to about the year 2000, we have the dominion of the beast;* and the prophesying of the witnesses in sackcloth, which was to continue 1260 days, or forty and two months, that is, for lz60 years. We must now look for the real church, either, in distinct in- dividual saints, who, in the midst of popery, were pre- served by eflPectual grace in vital union with the Son of God, or in associations of true christians, formed in different regions, which were in a state of persecution and much affliction. Where then was the church in the eighth century? She still subsisted; and the oppo- sition made to idolatry by Charles and the council of Frankfort, demonstrates her existence. Nothing but the influence of principles very opposite to those which were fashionable at Rome can account for such events at a time when the dignity of the Roman see was held in universal veneration. After all, it is in the propaga- tion of the gospel among the pagans, that the real church is chiefly to be seen in this century. Some real work of this kind was carrying on, while the popedom * Rev. xi. and xiii. 171 was forming; and, by the adorable providence of God, pious missionaries, who entered not into the recent controversies, but were engaged in actions purely spi- ritual, were patronized and supported in preaching Christ among foreign nations, by the same popes of Rome who were opposing his grace in their own.* Their ambition led them to cherish the zeal of the mis- sionaries, but with how different a spirit! To this scene let us now direct our attention. CHAP. IV. The Propagation of the Gospel in this Century^ includ- ing the Life of Boniface^ Archbishop of Mentz. W ILLIBROD,t with other English missionaries, continued to labour with success in the conversion of the Prisons. His episcopal seat was, as we have seen, at Utrecht;! for fifty years he preached, founded churches and monasteries, and appointed new bishops. The consequence of his labours was, that great num- bers of pagans were received into the pale of the church. The $ great light of Germany in this century was an Englishman named Winfrid, born at Kirton in Devonshire, about the year 680. He was brought up in the monastic life from infancy. His residence was in the monastery of Nutcell, in the diocese of Winchester, which was afterwards destroyed by the * Should any persons startle, that I call image worship by no better nanne than idolatry, and rank pa,i(an and papal practices in the same class, I would refer such to the censure of St. Paul on the Galatians, iv. 8, 9. Idolatry beinjj with them merely mental, originated in a selfrighteous prin- ciple, and the apostle looks on them as worshippers of false gods, and in- forms them that they were returning again to bondage. How much more justly may image worship be called " the doing service to them which b) nature are no gods," where the idolatry is both mental and extemaT. t Fleury, fifth vol. xli. 1. \ See page 118 of this volume. \ Fleury, xli. 35, &c. Alban Butler, vol. 6 172 Danes, and was never rebuilt. Here he was made ac- quainted with the sacred and secular learning of the times. At the age of thirty, he was ordained priest, on the recommendation of his abbot, and laboured with much zeal in preaching the word of God. His spirit was ardent, and he longed to be employed as a missionary in the conversion of pagans. The exam- ple of a number of pious persons of his own country might, no doubt, have great influence with him; for we have seen already, that the zeal of spreading the gospel was peculiarly strong in the British isles. He went over with two monks into Friezeland about the year 716. He proceeded to Utrecht, *' to water, where Willibrod had planted;" but finding that circumstances rendered it impracticable at present to preach the gospel there, he returned into England, with his companions, to his monastery. On the death of the abbot of Nutcell, the society would have elected Winfrid in his room; but the monk, steady to his purpose, refused to accept the presidency; and, with recommendatory letters from the bishop of Winchester, went to Rome, and pre- sented himself to the pope, expressing a desire of being employed in the conversion of infidels. Gre- gory II. encouraged his zeal, and gave him a commis- sion of the most ample and unlimited nature in the year 719, With this commission Winfrid went into Bavaria and Thuringia. In the first country he reformed the churches, in the second he was successful in the con- version of infidels. Here also he observed, how true religion, where it had been planted, was almost de- stroyed by false teachers: some pastors, indeed, were zealous for the service of God, but others were given up to scandalous vices: the English missionary be- held their state, and the ill effects of it on the people, with sorrow; and laboured, with all his might, to re- cover them to true repentance. It was with sincere delight, that he afterwards learned, that the door, which had been shut again'st his first attempts in Friezeland, was now opened for preaching the gospel in that country. Ratboid, king of the Frisons, who had planted idolatry afresh among his subjects, Was dead, and the obstacles Were re- moved. Winfrid returned into Friezeland, and for three years cooperated with Willibrod. The pale of the church was hence enlarged: churches were erected: many received the word of God; and idolatry was more and more subdued. Willibrod, declining in strength through old age, chose Winfrid for his successor. I have before ob- served, that the duration of his pastoral labours, in his mission, was no less than fifty years. The example of this great and holy person had long before this stirred up others to labour in the best of causes. Soon after that, he, with eleven companions in 690, had begun to preach the gospel in Friezeland, two brothers of the English nation went over into the country of the an- cient Saxons, in order to preach to the idolaters. They were both called Ewald. They arrived in this countr}' about the year 694, and meeting with a cer- tain steward, desired him to conduct them to his lord. They were employed all the way in prayer, in singing psalms and hymns. The barbarians fearing lest these men might draw their lord over to Christianity, mur- dered both the brothers; and thus, toward the close of the foregoing century, it pleased God to take to him- self two persons who had devoted themselves to preach the gospel of his Son among the heathen. The time of the more peculiar visitation of Germany was reserved for the age which we are now reviewing. It must have been extremely delightful to Willi- brod, to have met with a coadjutor so zealous and sin- cere as Winfrid. However, the latter declined the offer, because the pope had enjoined him to preach in the eastern parts of Germany ; and he felt himself bound to perform his promise. It is not possible, in- deed, to couct ive such a man as Gregory to have had any other views than those of secular ambition in ex- acting this promise from Winfrid. But it seems also Vol. III. 23 174 equally apparent, that the motives of tlie latter were holy and spiritual. Willibrod acquiesced in Winfrid's desires, atid dismisi^ed him with his blessing. The younger missionary departed immediately, and came into Hesse, to a place called Omcnbourg, belonging to two brothers, who were nominal christians, but prac- tical idolaters. Winfrid's labours were successful, both on them and their subjects: and, throughout Hesse, or at least a very great part of it, even to the confines of Saxony, he erected the standard of truth, and upheld it with much zeal, to the confusion of the kingdom of Satan. It ought not, however, to be con- cealed, that Winfrid suffered great hardships hi a country so poor and uncultivated as the greater part of Germany then was; that he supported himself at times by the labour of his hands, and was exposed to immi- nent peril from the rage of the obstinate pagans. After some time he returned to Rome, was kindly received by Gregory H, and was consecrated bishop of the new German churches, by the name of Boniface. There seems, even in that little circumstance, some- thing of the policy of the Roman see. A Roman name was more likely to procure from the German converts respect to the pope, than an English one. Gregory, moreover, solicitous to preserve his dignity, exacted from the new bishop an oath of subjection to the papal authority, conceived in the strongest terms; a circum- stance, remarkably proving both the ambition of Gre- gory and the superstition of the times. Boniface armed with letters from the pope, and, what was far better, encouraged by the addition of fresh labourers from England, returned to the scenes of his mission. Coming into Hesse, he confirmed, by imposition of hands, several* who had already been baptized, and exerted himself with much zeal against the idolatrous superstitions of the Germans. An oak of prodigious size had been an instrument of much pagan delusion: his sincerest converts advised him to cut it down; and ♦ Fleury, b. xli. 44, 84c 175 he followed their counsel. It ought to be observed, that the famous Charles Martel protected him with his eivil authority; for the dominion of the French ex- tended a considerable way into Germany. It does not appear, however, that Boniface made any other use of this circumstance, than what the most conscientious ecclesiastic may do, wherever the christian religion is established by the laws. Daniel, bishop of Winchester, about the year 723, wrote to Boniface concerning the best method of deal- ing with idolaters. " Do not contradict," says l;ie, " in a direct manner their accounts of the genealogy of their gods; allow that they were born from one ano- ther in the same way as mankind are; this concession will give you the advantage of proving, that there was a time when they had no existence. Ask them, w^ho governed the world before the birth of their gods; ask them, if these gods have ceased to propagate. If they have not, show them the consequence; namely, that the gods must be infinite in number, and that no man can rationally be at ease in worshipping any of them, lest he should, by that means, offend one, who is more powerful. Argue thus with them, not in the way of insult, but with temper and moderation; and take op- portunities to contrast these absurdities with the chris- tian doctrine: let the pagans be rather ashamed than incensed by your oblique mode of stating these sub- jects. Show them the insufficiency of their plea of an- tiquity: inform them that idolatry did anciently prevail over the world, but that Jesus Christ w as manifested, in order to reconcile men to God by his grace." Piety and good sense appear to have predominated in these instructions, and we have here proofs, in addition to those already given, of the grace of God conferred on our ancestors during the Heptarchy. Boniface preserved a correspondence with other friends in England, as well as with Daniel. From his native country he was supplied also, as we have seen, with fellow labourers. In Thuringia he confirmed the 176 churches, delivered them from heresies, and false bre- thren, and the work still prospered in his haiid. In the mean time, like all upright and conscientious men, he found himself often involved in difficuUies, and doubted in what manner he should regulate his conduct in regard to scandalous priests, who greatly obstructed his mission. He hiid his doubts before his old friend the bishop of Winchester.* Should he avoid altogether their communication? he might of- fend the court of France, without whose civil protec- tion he could not proceed in his mission. Should he preserve connexion with them? he was afraid of bring- ing guilt upon his conscience. Daniel advises him to endure with patience, what he could not amend: he counsels him not to make a schism in the church, un- der pretence of purging it; and, at the same time, ex- horts him to exercise church discipline on notorious offenders. Boniface desired Daniel also to send him the book of the prophets, " which," says he, " the abbot Win- bert, formerly my master, left at his death, written in very distinct characters. A greater consolation in my old age I cannot receive; for I can find no book like it in this country; and, as my sight grows weak, I can- not easily distinguish the small letters, which are join- ed close together, in the sacred volumes, which are at present in my possession." Do these things seem to belong to the character of an ambitious and insi- dious ecclesiastic, or to that of a simple and upright servant of Jesus Christ? The reputation of this saint, (such I shall venture to call him from the evidence of facts,) was spread through the greatest part of Europe; and many from England poured into Germany, to connect themselves with him. These dispersed themselves in the coun- try, and preached in the villages of Hesse and Thu- ringia. In 732, Boniface received the title of archbishop, * Bon if. ep. 3. Fleury, b. xli. toward the end. 177 from Gregory III, who supported his mission wi^th the same spirit, with which Gregoiv II had, done. Encou- raged by a letter sent to him from Rome, he proceeded to erect new churches, and to extend the profession of the gospel. At this time, he found the Bavarian churches disturbed by an heretic, called Eremvolf, who would have seduced the people into idolatry. Bo- niface condemned him, according to the canons, freed the country from his devices, and restored the disci- pline of the church. About the year 732, Burchard and Lullus were in- vited from England by Boniface, who made the for- mer bishop of Wurtzburg, where Kilian had preached, and suft'ered martyrdom, about fifty years before. He was abundantly successful during the labours of ten years, by which his strength was exhausted: he gave up his bishopric in 752, and died soon after. Butler, Vol. X. Some time after, Boniface wrote to Northelme, archbishop of Canterbur}', in a strain, which equally shows the charity and sincerity of his spirit, and the superstition of the times.* In 738, he again visited Rome, being far advanced in life; and, after some stay, he induced several Englishmen, who resided there, to join with him in his German mission. Re- turning into Bavaria, by the desire of duke Odilo, he restored the purity of the faith, and prevailed against the artifices of some seducers, who had done much mischief both by false doctrine and flagitious exam- ple. He established three new bishoprics in the coun- try, at Saltzburg, Frisinghen, and Ratisbon. That of Passaw had been fixed before. It must, however, be observed, that the successes and conquests of the Car- lovingian princes much facilitated his labours in Ger- many. In writing to Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury,! after testifying his zealous adherence to the see of Rome, and his submission to its authority, he exhorts * Ep. b. V. See Fleury, xlii 2?. t Bonif. e\i. 105. Fleury, xlii. 37- 178 him to discharge his duty faithfully, notwithstanding the difficulties to which good pastors were exposed. " Let us fight," says he, " for the Lord; for we live in days of affliction and anguish. Let us die, if God so please, for the laws of our fathers, that with them we may obtain the heavenly inheritance. Let us not be as dumb dogs, sleepy watchmen, or selfish hirelings, but as careful and vigilant pastors, preaching to all ranks, as far as God shall enable us, in season and out of sea- son, as Gregory writes in his Pastoral." Adalbert,* a Frenchman, a proud enthusiast, and Clement, a Scotchman, pretended that Christ, by his descent into hell, delivered the souls of the damned. The former was deceived by the most absurd and ex- travagant delusions, and the latter was infamous in life and conversation. Gevilieb also, a German bishop, who associated with them, had actually committed murder; but so ignorant and depraved were the rulers of the German christians, that he was still allowed to con- tinue a bishop without infamy. Boniface, who saw the evil of these things more deeply than others, desired that the two former might be imprisoned by the au- thority of duke Carloman, and be secluded from so- ciety, that they might not corrupt others by their poi- sonous sentiments, and that Gevilieb might be deposed from his bishopric. He gained his point in the con- demnation and imprisonment of the two former, and in the deposition of the latter. He, who has no chari- ty for souls, and no prospects beyond those of this life, may harshly condemn the missionary; but every seri- ous and candid mind will applaud the sincerity and uprightness of his intentions, and will wish for the exercise of discipline, though in a manner somewhat irregular, provided substantial justice be done, rather than that men should be allowed to corrupt their fel- low creatures, without mercy and without control. The guilt of these three men seems to have been evi- * Butler's Lives, Boniface. Fleury, xlii. 52. 179 denced by a detail of circumstances, which are too uninteresting to be related at large. Boniface, at length, was fixed at Mentz, and he is commonly called archbishop of that city. The increase of his dignity does not, however, seem to have di- minished his zeal and laboriousness. His connexion with England was constantly preserved; and^ it is in the epistolary correspondence with his own country, that the most striking evidence of his pious views ap- pears. In one of his epistles,* he mentions his suffer- ings from pagans, false christians, and immoral pas- tors: he feels as a man these hardships, but intimates his desire of the honour of dying for the love of Him, who died for us. He often begged for books from England, especially those of Bede, whom he styles the lamp of the church. He wrote also a circular letter to the bishops and people of England, entreating their prayers for the success of his missions. Many persons, while in obscure life, have professed much zeal for the service of God, but have declined in earnestness, as they advanced in years, particularly if they acquired honour and dignity in the world. This was not the case with Boniface. Though op- pressed with age and infirmities, and greatly revered in the whole christian world, he determined to return into Friezeland. Before his departure, he acted in all things, as if he had a strong presentiment of what was to happen. Pie appointed Lullus, an Englishman, his successor, as archbishop of Mentz, and wrote to the abbot of St. Denys, desiring him to acquaint the king, Pepin, that he and his friends believed he had not long to live. He begged, that the king would show kindness to the missionaries whom he should leave bfhind him.f " Some of them," said he, " are priests dispersed into divers parts, for the good of the church: others are monks, settled in small monasteries, where they instruct the children. There are aged men with me, who have long assisted me in my labours. I fear, • 36 Ep. Alban Butkr. f Ep. 92. 180 lest after my death, they be dispersed, and the disci- ples, who are near the pagan frontiers, should lose the faith of Jesus Christ. I beg that my son Luilus, may be confirmed in the episcopal office, and that he may teach the priests, the monks, and the people. I hope that he will perform these duties. That, which most afflicts me, is, that the priests, M^ho are on the pagan frontiers, are very indigent. They can obtain bread, but no clothes, unless they be assisted, as they have been by me. Let me know j^our answer, that I may live or die with more cheerfulness." It is most probable, that he received an answer agreeable to his benevolent spirit, as, before his de- parture, he ordained Luilus his successor, with the consent of king Pepin.* He went by the Rhine into Friezeland, where, assisted by Eoban, whom he had ordained bishop of Utrecht, after the death of Wil- librod, he brought great numbers of pagans into the pale of the church. He had appointed a day to con- firm those, whom he had baptized. In waiting for them, he encamped with his followers on the banks of the Bordne, a river which then divided East and West Friezeland. His intention was to «onfirm, by impo'si- tion of hands, the converts in the plains of Dockum. On the appointed day, he beheld, in the morning, not the new converts, whom he expected, but a troop of angry pagans, armed vvitli shields and lances. The servants went out to resist, but Boniface, with calm intrepidity, said to his followers, '' children, forbear to fight; the scripture forbids us to render evil for evil. The day, which I have long waited for, is come; hope in God, and he will save your souls." Thus did he prepare the priests and the rest of his companions for martyrdom. The pagans attacked them furiously, and slew the whole company, fifty-two in number, besides Boniface himself. This happened in the year 755, in the fortieth year after his arrival in Germany, and in the 75th of his age. The manner, in which his death * Fleury, xlii. 20. 181 was resented by the christian Germans, shows the high veneration, in which he was held through the country, and sufficiently confutes the notion, which some have held of his imperious and fraudulent con- duct. They collected a great army, attacked the pa- gans, slew many of them, pillaged their country, and carried off their wives and children. Those, who re- mained pagans in Friezeland, were glad to obtain peace by submitting to christian rites. Such a method of showing regard for Boniface, might be expected from a rude and ill informed multitude. But, rude as they were, they had the gift of common sense, and could judge whether the apostle of the Germans was their sincere friend or not; and their judgment is with me decisive. A collection of Boniface's letters has been pre- served, some of which have already been mentioned. That the reformation of the clergy, and the conver- sion of infidels, were the objects of his zeal, appears from his literary correspondence, no less than from the whole tenor of his life.* In the first letter to Ni- thardus, in which he takes the name of Winfrid, he exhorts him to contemn the things of time and sense, and to devote himself to the study of the scriptures, which he recommends as the highest wisdom. " No- thing," says he, " can you search after more honour- ably in youth, or enjoy more comfortably in old age, than the knowledge of holy scripture. " In another letter, he exhorts the priest Herefrede, in his own name, and in that of eight bishops, who were with him, to show the memoir, which they sent him, to the king of the Mercians. The purport of it was to implore that prince to check the debaucheries and disorders of his kingdom. Excessively attached as he was, both to the Roman see and to monastic institutions, he knew how to sub- due these attachments, and make them obedient to a stronger passion for genuine piety and virtue. He • Du Pin. 8th Cent. Bonit Vol, hi. 24 182 wrote to Cuthbert, archbishopof Canterbury, desiring him to restrain the women of England from going in such numbers to Rome: " The greatest part of them," says he, " Hve in lewdness, and scandalize the church; as there is scarce a city in Lombardy and France, where there are not some English women of flagitious life and manners." That association of ideas, which Mr. Locke de- scribes, and which has been in all ages a powerful source of error and absurdity, both in principles and practice, accounts for the acrimonious expressions with which protestant writers have too often indulged themselves in the relation of matters connected with the see of Rome. The Magdubergensian centuriators seem, by their treatment of the character of Boniface, to have largely imbibed this prejudice. I was surprised to find them giving sanction to the account of an old chronicle, *^ which describes Boniface as raising sol- diers to invade the Thuringians, absolving them from the payment of taxes to their civil governors, and jus- tifying this extraordinary conduct by the recital of a divine vision. The manners of the eighth century cer- tainly did not allow such an union of the military and sacerdotal character: moreover, the circumstances of Boniface's proceedings, as attested by the most credi- ble accounts, and, above all, the unquestionable me- morials of his evangelical labours, forbid me to enter- tain such sentiments of the apostle of Germany. If he had had soldiers at his devotion, he surely might have avoided those hardships which he endured, and have prevented the murder of himself, and of his compa- nions, in the plains of Dockum. The account seems to have been forged, in order to justify the conduct of military prelates, and of papal tyranny in after ages. The censures also, which Boniface passed upon Adal- bert and Clement, seem to have been arraigned by the centuriators, without foundation. It looks like an in- stance of great partiality to call such men " good per- * Cent. 8th. De Propagatione Ecclesix, De Bonifacio. 183 sons," who were convicted of scandalous wickedness. But it would be tedious to particularize the charges, which these writers have formed against Boniface, sup- ported chiefly by mere suspicions and conjectures. That Mosheim should inveigh against this mission- ary, is what might be expected from his prejudices. But he should have written with consistency. He speaks of the pious labours of Boniface, of his finish- ing with glory the task he had undertaken, and of the assistance which he received from a number of pious men, who repaired to him from England and France.* " His piety, he adds, was ill rewarded by that barba- rous people, by whom he was murdered. If we con- sider the eminent services he rendered to Christianity, the honourable title of the apostle of the Germans will appear to have been not undeservedly bestowed." Who could imagine that this pious pastor should, by the same writer, be accused, without warrant, of often " employing violence and terror, and sometimes arti- fice and fraud, in order to multiply the number of christians." He ascribes to him also " an imperious and arrogant temper, and a cunning and insidious turn of mind." Which of these two accoijnts shall we believe? for, it is as impossible, that both should be true," as that piety should be consistent with a spirit of violence, arrogance, and fraud. But, it is thus, that men zealous to propagate divine truth in the earth, are often de- scribed by those, who arrogate to themselves the whole praise of judgment and candor. There has sel- dom existed an eminent and useful missionary, who has not, in this way been aspersed. In the mean time, I am sensible, that the foundation of the strong preju- dices against Boniface, is his attachment to the Roman see. 1 cannot observe, however, that he either practised idolatry or taught false doctrine. Removed from the scene of controversy, he seems to have taken no part in the debate concerning images: he was ever invaria- * Mosheim, cent. vjii. 184 bk 111 opposing idolatry and immorality: he lived amidst many dangers and sufferings; and he appears ' to have supported, for many years, an uniform tenor of zeal, to which he sacrificed all worldly convenien- ces, and, in fine, to have finished his course in mar- tyrdom, and in the patience and meekness of a disci- ple of Christ. I shall leave it to the reader's judgment, what estimate ought to be formed of the man, after having observed, that God made large use of his labours by extending, in the north of Europe, the bounds of the church, at the same time that they were so much contracted in Asia and Africa. Virgilius, an Irishman, was appointed bishop of Saltzburg, by king Pepin. His modesty prevented him from entering upon the office for two years; but he was at length prevailed upon to receive consecra- tion. He followed the steps of Boniface in rooting out the remains of idolatry in his diocese, and died in the year 780.* Winebald, the son of a royal English Saxon, shared with Boniface in his labours in Germany; his life was preserved, though in imminent danger from idolaters, and God blessed his work among the heathen: he died in 760. * A misunderstanding liad once taken place between this missionary and Boniface. The latter accused him to the see of Rome, of teaching', •' that there was another world, and other men under the earth, or another sun and moon." Bonif. ep. 10. To the pious spirit of Boniface a difficulty of solving the question arose, on this view of the tenets of Vir- gilius, how such ideas were compatible with the mosaic account of the origin of all mankind from Adam, and of the redemption of the whole species by Jesus Christ. After all, it appears that Boniface was mistaken, and that Virgilius, being better acquainted with the true figure of the earth, than mo.st of his contemporaries in that ignorant age, only held the opinion of the antipodes, a notion as sound in philosophy, as it is in- nocent in regard to Christianity. As Virgilius was afterwards made bish- op of Saltzburg, he continued to labour in the same cause with Boniface, and to tread in his steps. It is more than probable, that both Boniface and the pope were satisfied of his soundness ?n the faith, and dismissed the accusation. It seemed worth while to state this matter in a true light, from the evidence of Boniface's letter. It appears, that Virgilius was not condemned for holding the doctrine of the antipodes, and that the charge of Bower, against Boniface, is as maUcious, as it is ill founded. See Hist, of the Popes. Zachary, — where the historian, without warrant, accuses Boniface of bearing a secret grudge to Virgilius, and of being actuated by a spirit of revenge. 185 In Friezeland, the church of Utrecht was governed by Gregory, who, from the fifteenth year of his age, had been a follower of Boniface. Two of his brothers having been murdered in a wood, the barons, whose vassals they were, delivered the murderers bound into his hands. Gregory, after he had treated them kindly, bade them depart in peace, saying, sin no more, lest a worse thing befal you. He was assisted in his min- isterial labours by several disciples of various nations; some were of his own nation, the French, others were English, Prisons, newly converted Saxons, and Bava- rians. Scarce a day passed, but early in the morning he gave them spiritual instruction. This man affected no singularity either in habit or in diet. That he was not carried away by the torrent of popular super- stition, is a strongproof either of great understanding, or of eminent piety, or of both. But he recommended sobriety among his disciples; was not to be moved from the path of duty by slander, and was boundless in his liberality to the poor. He died about the year 776. Liefuvyn, an Englishman, one of his disciples, was distinguished by his labours among the missionaries of Germany. He ventured even to appear before the assembly of the Saxons held upon the Weser; and, while they were sacrificing to their idols, he exhorted thenk with a loud voice to turn from those vanities to the living God. As an ambassador from Jehovah, he oiFered them promises of salvation. And here his zeal seemed likely to have cost him his life; but he was at length suffered to depart, on the remonstrances* of •Buto, one of their chiefs, who expostulated with them on tlte unreasonableness of treating an ambassador of the great God with less respect than they did one from any of the neighbouring nations. f In the mean time, * Fleury, xliv. xl. f Buto seems, in part at least, to have felt the power of the divine word commending itself to his conscience in the sight of God; and to have re- ported that God was of a truth with real christian pastors. 1 Cor. xiv. 25. Effects of the kind, mentioned by the apostle, have, in all ages, been very common, wherever the real gosppl is plainly and faithfully delivered. The 186 the arms of Charlemagne prevailed over the SaxOns, and eventually, at least, facilitated the labours of Lie- fuvyn, who continued to preach among this people till his death. Villehad, an English priest, born in Northumber- land, was abundantly successful in the conversion of the Saxons. It is true, that he taught under the pro- tection and auspices of Charlemagne. But, whatever may be thought of the motives of the latter, the views of the missionary might be, and probably were, up- right and spiritual. Certainly he underwent great ha- zards,* overcame the ferocious spirits of the infidels by his meekness, and spread among them the know- ledge of the gospel. A persecution drove him once out of the country; but, by the power of the emperor, he again returned and prosecuted his labours. After various contests, the Saxons were obliged to submit to Charlemagne, and to become nominal christians in general. But, that this was universally the case, or even nearly so, the pious laboriousness of a number of missionaries renders very improbable. Villehad was bishop of Bremen, and was called the apostle of Saxony. He had begun his mission in Dockum, where Boniface was murdered. He was the first missionary, who passed the Elbe. His attention to the scriptures appears from his copying the epistles of St. Paul. He died in Friezeland, after he had la- boured 35 years, and had been bishop of Bremen upwards of two years. To his weeping friends, he said in his dying moments, '' Withhold me not from inessas!;e from God convinces and overawes the serious hearer, and, by its internal excellence, makes itself a way into the conscience. If Liefu- vyn had preaclied mere morals, I should no more have expected sucli consequences to have attended his harangues, than they did the lectures of the Greek philosophers. * Once when he was in dang-er of beings put to death by the pagan Pri- sons, some of them, struck witli his innocence and probitj', and doubting whether the religion w hich he preached might not be divine, said, " let us cast lots whether we shall put him to death, or dismiss him." It was , done so, and the lot decided in his favour. Fleury, xlv. 15. The custom of deciding cases of this nature by lot, was remarkably German. The clas- sical reader may recollect a similar instance in Cesar's Comm. toward 'he end of lib. i. De Bell. Gall. 187 going to God: these sheep I recommend to him, who intrusted them to me, and whose mercy is able to protect them." See Alban Butler, vol. xi. This was an age of missionaries: their character and their success form, indeed, almost the only shining picture in this centur}-. Firmin, a Frenchman, preach- ed the gospel, under various difficulties,* in Alsace, Bavaria, and Switzerland, and inspected a number of monasteries. After all, the arms of Charlemagne con- tributed more than any thing else to the external re- ception of Christianity; and Alcuin, his favourite, laments, that more pains were taken to exact from the Saxons the payment of tithes, than to inform them of the nature of true religion. Teachers, who were mere- ly secular, drenched in the vices of human nature and of the times, would doubtless act in this manner. But, I have atttempted, from very confused and imperfect memoirs, to present to the reader, those, who were indeed sent of God, and laboured, in demonstration of the Spirit, in the north of Europe. Rumold, a native either of England or of Ireland, should be added to the list. He travelled into Lower Germany, went into Brabant, diffused much light in the neighbourhood of Mechlin, and was made an itin- erant episcopal missionary. In 775, he was murdered by two persons, one of whom he had reproved for adultery. |- Silvin, of Auchy, born in Toulouse, J was first a courtier, then a religious person, and afterwards ap- pointed bishop among the infidels. His labours were, chiefly, in Terouanne, the north of France, which Avas, in this century, full of pagans and merely nomi- nal christians. He gathered in a large harvest, having preached for many years. He died at Auchy, in the county of Artois. * Mosh cent. viii. | A. Butler, vol. vli. \ See Alban Butler's Lives of Saints. CHAP. V. Authors of this Centm^, 1 HE most learned writer of this century, if we may except our countryman Bede, seems to have been John of Damascus. He was one of the first, who mingled the aristotehan or peripatetic philoso- phy with the christian religion.* This philosophy was gradually supplanting the authority of the platonic. It makes no part of my subject, to explain the differ- ence of the systems of Plato and Aristotle. Suffice it to say, that they were both very foreign to Christianity, and each, in their turn, corrupted it extremely. John was a voluminous writer,' and became, among the Greeks, what Thomas Aquinas afterwards was among the Latins. He seems to have defended the system, commonly called the arminian notion of freewill, in opposition to the doctrine of effectual grace. Thisf was a natural consequence of his philosophizing spirit. For, all the philosophers of antiquity, amidst their endless discordancies, agreed in teaching man to rely on himself. This is the dangerous philosophy, which St. Paul warns us to beware of. It hitherto wore, chiefly, the garb of Plato: it was now assuming that of Aristotle. In both these dresses, it was still " the wisdom of this world, which is foolishness with God;" and even at this day, among all Avho lean to their own understanding, to the disparagement of revelation, its nature is the same, however varnished with the polish of christian phraseology. In the doctrine of the Trinity, John appears to have been orthodox : in other respects, he was one of the most powerful supporters of error. He was an advo- cate for the practice of praying for the dead, which he regarded as effectual for the remission of sins. This * ii^Vur. xlij. 44. t Du Pin. 8th cent. John of Damascn"Up. i. 18. t Fleury, b. 1. 54. 224 ncss. After this, Bartilas, prince of Moravia, under- sftanding what had been done among the Chazari, de- sired the Greek emperor Michael to send some mis- sionaries to instruct his people likewise in Christianity. Michael sent the same Constantine and Methodius, who carried with them the same Sclavonian gospel, taught the children the letters, which they had invented, laboured in their mission, and instructed the people four years and a half. The king of Moravia was baptized with many of his subjects. Cyril died a monk: Methodius was con- secrated bishop of Moravia. The Sclavonian tongue, invented by these two missionaries, is, to this day, used in the liturgy of the Moravians. Comj^aint was made to pope John VIIL of the novelty of worshipping in a barbarous tongue; but he condescended to own himself satisfied with the reasons assigned by the mis- sionaries. Bogoris, king of Bulgaria, gave up his crown about the year 880, and retired into a monas- tery. Methodius, after a long course of labours, died in an advanced age. See iVlban Butler, vol. xii. These were noble works, and some divine unction, amidst all the superstitions, no doubt, attended them. In the mean time, Nicolas of Rome, and Photius of Constantinople, two of the proudest men of any age, were acrimoniously inveighing against one another, and striving each to secure to himself the obedience of the new converts. There is reason to hope, that the missionaries themselves were of a better spirit: and if I had materials of their transactions before me, I Avould present them with pleasure to the reader; but the squabbles of the prelates themselves, for ecclesiastical dominion, and the effects of those squabbles, are scarce worth his attention. It appears from one of the invectives of Photius, against Nicolas, that the Russians, hitherto barbarous and savage, had received a christian bishop, and were then under instructions. Also, about the year 867, certain provinces of Dalmatia sent an embassy to Con- stantinople, imploring the emperor Basilius to supply 225 them with christian teachers. Their request was grant- ed, and the pale of the church was extended through- out those provinces.* If we turn our eyes toward the countries, which had been evangelized in the last century, we may discern some traces of the spirit of godliness still remaining among them. Length of time, under the influence o£ natural depravity, had not, as yet, destroyed all the seeds of that divine simplicity, v/hich, as we have had repeated occasion to observe, is always the most pure "in the infancy of religion. Frederic of Devonshire, ne- phew to Boniface, the apostle of Germany, so renown- ed in the last century, was appointed bishop of Utrecht; and din^g with the emperor, Lewis the Meek, was exhorted by him to discharge his office with faithful- ness and integrity. The bishop, pointing to a fish on the table, asked whether it was proper to take hold of it by the head or by the tail. " By the head, to be sure,'-' replied the emperor. *' Then I must begin my career of faithfulness," answered Frederic, "with your ma- jesty." He proceeded to rebuke the emperor for an incestuous connexion, which he openly maintained with Judith the empress; and, in the spii it of John the Baptist, told him, " that it was not lawful for him to have her." Lewis had not expected this salute; and, like Herod, was not disposed to give up his Herodias, No sooner did the empress hear of this rebuke, than, in the true temper of an incensed adulteress, she be- gan to plot the destruction of Frederic; and, by the help of assassins, she at length effected it. Frederic being mortally wounded, insisted, however, that no blood should be shed on his account; and died in a spirit of martyrdom worthy of the relation of Boni- face. In him the Hollanders lost a faithful prelate; but his death would preach a salutary doctrine among them. Frederic was murdered about the year 833. f Haymo, a monk of Fulda, a scholar of Alcuin,J was * Porphyrogen. See Mosheim, chap. i. cent, uc- I Ing-ulph's Hist. See Collier's Ecc. Hi-st. 1 vol \. Dn Pin, cent, ix 226 chosen bishop of Halberstadt in Saxony, in the year 841. He was by descent an Englishman, a relation of Bedc, and took much pains in preaching to the peo- ple. His writings are voluminous, but the matter of them is chiefly extracted from the fathers. He assisted in the condemnation of Gotteschalcus at Mentz; nor is it hard to conceive, that a pious person might be de- ceived by the elaborate misrepresentations of Raba- nus; though I should think it very improbable, that Haymo vv^ould be at all concerned in the barbarities af- terwards exercised on the supposed heretic at Rheims. For Haymo seems to have thought and written on the doctrines of grace, with more unction and vigor than most of his contemporaries. He composed comments on many parts of the holy scriptures. A few speci- mens may serve to show what sort of doctrine was then preached to the recent churches of Germany. *' By ^ the book of life, we ought to understand the divine predestination, as it is written, the Lord know- eth them that are his." " Man of himself departing from God, returns not of himself to God. God works all in all; by which words human arrogance is removed, since without the lioly Spirit our weakness can effect no real good, whether great or small. "f " We are not onh'^ unable to perfect any good, with- out divine grace and mercy, preceding and following us, but not even to think any. For the grace of God prevents us, that we may be willing, and folloAvs us, that we may be able. Every good thing that we have, the good will, and the good M'ork, is not from our- selves, but from God." His views of the distinction between the law and the gospel, a subject in his time very little understood, have a considerable degree of perspicuity. " In the law, no room is reserved for repentance, but its lan- guage is, the soul that sinneth shall die. The gospel saith, I will not the death of a sinner. The law is not » Magd. cent. ix. p. 52. f W. p. 60- 227 of faith.* It is the province of faith, to believe aiid to hope things invisible. The law therefore is not fulfilled by faith, but by works. But the gospel is fulfilled by faith rather than by works; for faith alone saves!"! Precious sentiments! well understood by serious and humble spirits, coming to Christ for rest, who find themselves by the law debarred of all hope of salva- tion, because of their consciousness of intire depra- vity. It is not necessary to give distinct quotations, in order to prove, that he has the same imperfect and inaccurate views of justification, which we have ob- served in Augustine. " The faith, by which we believe in God, is given by the Father, the Son, and the holy Spirit : it is not in man naturally, it is given by God; for, if it were in us, by nature, all would l:iave it. Faith, remission of sins, and all the gifts of God, are freely given to be- lievers. | Does it not appear a cruel thing to disfigure such lovely pictures of evangelical truth? but historical ve- racity is a stubborn thing. This same Haymo, who knew so much of Christ, was so infected with the growth of idolatrous superstition, that, in an homily concerning virgins, he says, " it is highly fitting, that we supplicate her," (he means some virgin, whose fes- tival he was then celebrating) " with devout prayers, that she may make us comfortable in this life by her merits and prayers, and in the next acceptable to God."§ How inconsistent are these sentiments with his avowed faith in the Mediator! But such was the torrent of the times! I see Germany, which had been happily tutored in the infant simplicity of christian faith, gradually perverted by the idolatry, which de- rived its strength from the papal dominion. Haymo, however, most probably did not mean what he said, in the full import of his own words; and he seems to have felt so sincerely the spirit of gospel truth, that I am tempted to suppose, that his homilies were inter * Galatians, iii. 12 t Magd. 64. \ Magd. p. 67. i Ma-gd. \>. HI. 228 polated by what arc called pious frauds, dian which practice nothing was more common in the dark ages. Haymo continued bishop of Halberstadt for twelve years, and died in 853. A rare light, which shone in the midst of darkness! We have seen some evidences of the power of christian truth, in this century, among the recent churches cf Germany and Holland. Let us now look to the north of Europe, and see, by what gradations, divine providence paved the way for the propaga- tion of the gospel in the frozen regions of Scandi- navia,* and on the shores of the Baltic, which had hitherto been inveloped in the most deplorable dark- ness of paganism. Adelard, cousin german to Charlemagne, was a bright luminary in the christian world at the begin- ning of this century. He had been invited to the court in his youth: but fearing the infection of such a mode of life, he had retired; and, at the age of twenty years, became a monk of Corbie, in Picardy,t and was at length chosen abbot of the monastery. His imperial relation, however, forced him again to attend the court, where he still preserved the dispositions of a recluse, and took every opportunity, which business allowed, for private prayer and meditation. After the death of Charlemagne, he was,onunjust suspicions, ba- nished by Lewis the Meek, to a monastery on the coast of Aquitain, in the isle of Here. After a banishment of five years, Lewis, sensible at length of his own in- justice, recalled Adelard, and heaped on him the high- est honours. The monk was, however, the same man in prosperity and in adversity, and in 823 obtained leave to return to his Corbie. Every week he addres- sed each of the monks in particular: he exhorted them in pathetic discourses; and laboured for the spiritual good of the country around his monastery. His liber- * This term commonly includes the three kingdoms of Sweden, Den-' mark, and Norway, t A. Butltr, vol! p. 229 ality seems to liave bordered on excess: his humility induced him to receive advice from the meanest monk: when he was desired to live less austerely, he would frequently say, I will take care of your servant, that he may be enabled to attend on you the longer. Another Adelard, who had governed the monastery during his banishment, by the direction of the first Adelard pre- pared the foundation of a distinct monastery, called New Corbie, near Paderborn, beside the Weser, as a nursery for evangelical labourers, who should instruct the northern nations. The first Adelard completed the scheme: went himself to New Corbie twice; and set- tled its discipline. The success of this truly charitable project was great: many learned and zealous mission- aries were furnished from the new seminar}-; and it became a light to the north of Europe. Adelard pro- moted learnhig in his monasteries: instructed the peo- ple both in Latin and French; and, after his second return from Germany to Old Corbie, he died in 827, aged 73. Such is the account given us of Adelard. A character, there is reason to believe, of eminent piety, the fruits of whose faithful labours appear to have been still greater after his death than during his life. To convert monasteries into seminaries of pasto- ral education, was a thought far above the taste of the age in which he lived; and tended to emancipate those superstitious institutions from the unprofitable and il- liberal bondage, in which they had subsisted for many generations. In * the year 814, Harold, king of Denmark, being- expelled from his dominions, implored the protection of the emperor Lewis, the son and successor of Char- lemagne. That prince persuaded him to receive chris- tian baptism; and foreseeing that Harold's reception of Christianity would increase the difficulty of his resto- ration, he gave him a district in Friezeland for his, * I have extracted the subsequent account of Anscarius from various parts of Fleury, in his history of the 9th centur}^; not without an atten- tion also to the history of the same missionary in Alban Butler, and in the Centur. Magd. Vol. m. 30 230 present maintenance. Lewis, dismissing Haroldto his own country, inquired after some pious person, who might accompany him, and confirm both the king and his attendants in the christian religion. But it was not easy to find a man disposed to undertake such a jour- ney. At length Vala, abbot of Old Corbie, who had succeeded his brother Adelard, whose history we have just considered, said to the emperor, " I have, in my monastery, a monk, who earnestly wishes to suffer for the sake of Christ; a man of understanding and integ- rity, and peculiarly fitted for such a work. But I can- not promise, that he will undertake the journe)^" The emperor ordered him to send for the man; Anscarius was his name. When the nature of the employment was opened to the monk, he professed his readiness to go. "I by no means command you, said Vala, to en- ter on so difficult and dangerous a service; I leave it to your option." Anscarius, however persisted in his resolution. It was matter of surprise to many, that he should choose to expose himself among strangers, barbarians, and pagans: much pains were taken by many to dissuade him; but in vain: while preparations were making for his departure, he gave himself up to reading and prayer. This excellent monk had been employed, as a teacher, both in Old and New Corbie, and had distinguished himself by his talents and vir- tues. Aubert, a monk of noble birth, a great confident of Vala, and steward of his house, offered himself as a companion to Anscarius. Harold, with the two strangers, proceeded on his journey; but neither he nor his at- tendants, rude and barbarous in their manners, were at all solicitous for the accommodation of the mission- aries, who therefore suffered much in the beginning of their journey. When the company arrived at Cologne, Hadebald the archbishop, commiserating the two strangers, gave them a bark, in which they might convey their effects. Harold, struck with the conve- nience of the accommodation, entered into the vessel with the missionaries; and they went down the Rhine into the sea, and came to the frontiers of Denmark. 231 But Harold finding access to his dominions impossible, because of the power of those, who had usurped the sovereignty, remained in Friezeland, in the district assigned to him by the emperor. This king of Denmark seems to have been appointed by divine providence, only as an instrument to intro- duce Anscarius into the mission. For we hear little more of him afterwards. The two French monks la- boured with zeal and success in Friezeland, both among christians and pagans. Harold sent some of his own slaves to be taught by them; and, in a little time, they had above twelve children in their school. Above two years they laboured, and were made instruments of good to souls: after this Aubert ended his days by a disease. About the year 829, many Swedes having expres- sed a desire to be instructed in Christianity, Anscarius received a commission from the emperor Lewis to visit Sweden. Another monk of Old Corbie, Vitmar by name, was assigned as his companion; and a pastor was left to attend on king Harold, in the room of Anscarius. In the passage, the two missionaries were met by pi- rates, who took the ship and all its effects. On this oc- casion, Anscarius lost the emperor's presents, and for- ty volumes, which he had collected for the use of the ministry. Buthis mind was still determined: and he and his partner having with difficulty got to land, they gave themselves up to the direction of providence, and walked on foot a long way, now and then crossing some arms of the sea in boats. Such are the triumphs of christian faith and love. They arrived at Birca, from the ruins of which, Stockholm took its rise, though built at some distance from it. * The king of Sweden received them favourably; and his counsel unanimously agreed to permit them to remain in the country, and to preach the gospel. Success attended their pious ef- forts. Many christian captives in Sweden rejoiced at the opportunity of the communion of saints which » * PuflTendoi'f 's Hist, of Sweden. 2-Z-2 was now restored to them; and among others, Heriga- rius, governor of the city, was baptized. This man erected a church on his own estate, and persevered in the profession and support of the gospel. After six months, the two missionaries returned with letters written by the king's own hand, into France, and informed Lewis of their success. The consequence was, that Anscarius was appointed arch- bishop of Hamburg. This great city, being in the neighbourhood of Denmark, was henceforth looked on as the metropolis of all the countries north of the Elb, which should embrace Christianity. The mission into Denmark, was at the same time attended to; and Gausbert, a relation of Ebbo, archbishop of Rheims, who, as well as Anscarius, was concerned in these missions, was sent to reside as a bishop in Sweden: there the number of christians increased. But perhaps the reader has anticipated the observation; namely, that it was the genius of these dark ages, to provide for the hierarchy prematurely; and to constitute bi- shops and dioceses over large districts, in which scarce any christians were to be found. Anscarius, (such was the ecclesiastical discipline of the times,) by the order of the emperor Lewis, went to Rome, that he might receive the confirmation of the new archbishopric of Hamburg. Returning to his diocese, he gained over many pagans, brought up children in the christian faith, and redeemed captives, whom he instructed and employed in the ministry. In the year 845, his faith was tried by a severe affliction. Hamburg was besieged, taken, and pillaged bytheNor- mans, and he himself escaped with difficulty. On this occasion, he lost all his effects: but his mind was so se- rene, that he was not heard to complain: " The Lord gave," said he, "and the Lord hath taken away." It was no inconsiderable addition to his sufferings, to hear, that Gausbert, whom he had sent into Sweden, was banish- ed through a popular insurrection; in consequence of which, the work of the ministry was for some years at a stand in that country. Anscarius, reduced to great 233 poverty, and deserted by many of his followers, per- sisted still with unwearied patience in the exercise of his mission in the north of Europe, till the bishopric of Bremen was conferred upon him. Hamburg and Bremen were from that time considered as united in one diocese. It was not till some pains were taken to overcome his scruples that he could be prevailed on to accept of this provision for his wants. About the year 852, Anscarius sent a priest, called Ardgarius, into Sweden, to strengthen the faith of the few chris- tians, who remained there. Among these was Heriga- rius, who had supported the cause of Christ, while it was in the most feeble and afflicted state. Though Anscarius had made no great impression on Sweden, he was not discouraged in his views of propagating the faith in the north. He still had his eye on Denmark, which had been his first object: and having gained the friendship of Eric, who reigned there, he was enabled to gain a footing in that coun- try; and to plant the gospel with some success at Sleswick, a port then much frequented by merchants. Many persons, who had been baptized at Hamburg, resided there; and a number of pagans were induced to countenance Christianity in some degree. Ansca- rius, through the friendship of Eric, found means also to visit Sweden once more. A recommendatory letter from that prince to Olaus, king of Sweden, insured him a favourable reception in the last mentioned coun- try. The zealous bishop arrived at Birca, where a pagan, who pretended to intimacy with the gods, op- posed his designs with arguments adapted to the superstitious notions of the people. Olaus himself in- formed Anscarius, that it must be decided by lot, whether he should be permitted to preach Christianity in Sweden. The missionary prayed, and the lot deci- ded in favour of his designs. The profession of the gospel was established at Birca, and Christianity made a great progress in Sweden. Anscarius returned into Denmark, and laboured there with success. The mis- sionaries, whoni he employed, were directed by him 234 to follow the example of St. Paul, by labouring with their own hands for bread; a very necessary practice in those poor countries. In the year 865, this apostle of the north was called to his rest. He had lived six years after the union of the dioceses of Hamburg and Bremen, and had appli- ed himself to the duties of his office, both as a go- vernor and a preacher of the church, with indefatiga- ble assiduity. A terror to the proud, and a comfort to the humble, he knew how to divide the word of truth, and to give to each of the flock his portion in due season. In all good works, and particularly in his care of redeeming captives, he was eminently distinguish- ed. He erected an hospital at Bremen, in which pas- sengers were relieved, and the sick were taken care of, which, in that rude age, was an uncommon instance of liberality and compassion. His example and au- thority had great influence even among those, who sold captives to pagans, or kept them in slavery. They were induced by his exhortations to set the prisoners at liberty. He is said to have had the gift of miracles; and, though I cannot give full credit to the most plau- sible stories of this nature, which are related of him, because of the superstitious credulity and fraudulent inventions of the times, I must confess with Fleury, that if ever the gift of miracles may be supposed to have existed after the first ages of Christianity, it may be believed, most probably, to have been vouchsafed to those, who were concerned in the fiist plantation of churches.* And it should be remembered, that Sweden and Denmark, were, under God, indebted to Anscarius, for the first light of the gospel. This ex- traordinary person, however, was by no means dispo- sed to value himself on miraculous powers; as he * Nelson is of the same opinion. " Q; Does it seem probable, tbat if the conversion of infidels were attempted by men of honest and sincere minds, God would extraordinarily countenance such a design? A. 'Tis ag-reeable to reason to think he would, and in no way contrary to scripture. For, as the wisdom of God, is never found to be prodigal in multiplying the effects of his almight)' power, so it is never wanting to afford all necessary evi- dences and motives of conversion." Nelson's Festivals, p. 259. 235 appears to have been acquainted with an holy influence of a more excellent nature, 1 Cor. chapter xii. last verse. " If I had found favour with God," said he, one day, when he heard his miracles extolled, " I should beseech him to grant me one single miracle, even his grace to sanctify my nature." It is remarked of him, that he never did any thing without recom- mending himself first to God by prayer. A short fragment of an epistle to the bishops, is the wl)ole of his writings, which I can find to be extant.* " I beg your earnest prayers to God for the growth and fruit- fulness of this mission among the pagans. For, by the grace of God, the church of Christ is now founded both in Denmark and Sweden; and the pastors dis- charge their office without molestation. May God Almighty make you all partakers of this work in godly charity, and joint heirs with Christ in heavenly glo- ry!" The centuriators have charged him with idola- tr}^; but the only proof, which they give, is his super- stitious attachment to relics: an evil so general, I had almost said universal, at that time, that it cannot fix any particular blot on the character of Anscarius. I see no proof of his having practised or encouraged image worship. It is true, that he was devoted to the see of Rome. And, in those days, how few were not so! The centuriators in their own attachment to the prejudicesof the age, in which they lived, might have found a charitable apology for those of the northern apostle. If candor be not exercised in such circum- stances, we shall scarce be able to see, for many ages, even the existence of a church of Christ. A Luther, firmly and decidedly resisting, and even despising the current maxims of his own age, is a rare phenomenon. I have the satisfaction to observe, that Mosheim is, in the case of Anscarius, more candid than the centuri- ators. He allows that the labours of that missionary, and in general of the other missionaries in this century, deserve the highest commendations. If it were possi- * Crantzius. See. Cen, Magd. Cent. Ix. p. 324. 236 ble to exhibit a circumstantial account of Anscarius, most probably the justice of Mosheim's encomium on his character, would be ascertained beyond the reach of contradiction. What else but the genuine love of God in Christ, could have furnished the mind with such faith in providence, perseverance in hardships, and active charity for souls? Rembert, his confidant, was appointed bishop of Bremen, by the dying words of the apostle. He wrote the life of his predecessor, a treatise which seems to have furnished historians with the greatest part of their materials concerning Anscarius. Rembert himself pre- sided over the churches of the north, for twenty-three years, and established their discipline and ecclesiastical consistence. He was not unworthy of the confidence of his predecessor, and lived and died an example of piety. He began to preach among the people of Bran- denburg, which -hitherto had been altogether pagan, and made some progress towards their conversion. He died in 888. Jeron, an English presbyter, went over to Holland, in this century, and preached the gospel there: and, so far as appears, with faithfulness. He was crowned with martyrdom about the year 849.* Patto, a Scotch abbot, was appointed bishop of Verden, by Charlemagne. Ifhe centuriators only tell us, that he strenuously supported popish corruptions and human traditions. But Crantzius from whom they collected this account, would have informed them also of better things. f Patto, it appears, had great success among the infidels, but was grieved to see christian professors disgracing the faith by their vices. He faithfully rebuked them; and for his honest zeal in preaching against the sins of nominal christians, was murdered about the year 815. Tanes, who had succeeded Patto in the Scotch abbey, after a time left his situation, and followed his countryman into Germany, not so much with a desire * Cent. Magd. f See A. Butler, vol. ii. 237 of martyrdom, say the centuriators,, as of obtaining a richer benefice. Uncharitable surmise! There is too much of this leaven to be found in a work, which, in other respects, abounds in piety and industry. The same Crantzius informs us, that Tanes, in fact, laboured in conjunction with Patto, and, after awhile, was appointed his successor to the see of Verden. Were the sufferings and hardships, which Patto and himself had sustained among barbarians, likely to ren- der the bishopric of Verden an enviable object of am- bition? I know no other ground on which the propagation of the gospel may be discovered in this century. The accounts of the labours of Spanish pastors among the mahometans, or of the sufferings of the christians un- der the persecutions of the Moors, are not sufficiently authenticated. The reader, I hope has seen, in this dark century, a clear demonstration, that the church of Christ still existed. He may now, if he please, descend with me, to the ultimate point of christian depression. Vol. Ill 3] CENTURY X. CHAP I. A General View of the Church in this Century. 1 HE famous annalist of the Roman church, whose partiality to the see of Rome is notorious, has, how- ever, the candor to own, that this was an iron age, barren of all goodness; a leaden age, abounding in all wickedness; and a dark age, remarkable above all others for the scarcity of writers, and men of learn- ing.* " Christ was then, as it appears, in a very deep sleep, when the ship was covered with waves; and what seemed worse, when the Lord was thus asleep, there were no disciples, who, by their cries, might awaken him, being themselves all fast asleep." Under an allusion by no means incongruous with the orien- tal and scriptural taste, this writer represents the di- vine Head of the church as having given up the church, for its wickedness, to a judicial impenitency, which continued the longer, because there were scarce any zealous spirits, who had the charity to pray for the cause of God upon earth. I give this serious and de- votional sense to Baronius, because the words will bear it, without the least violence, and the phraseo- logy is perfectly scriptural. f Infidel malice has with pleasure recorded the vices and the crimes of the popes of this century. Nor is it my intention to attempt to palliate the account of their wickedness. It was as deep and as atrocious as lan- guage can paint; nor can a reasonable man desire more * Baron. Annal. t As for instance, awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Ps. xliv. 239 authentic evidence of history, than that, which the records both of civil and ecclesiastical history afford, concerning the corruption of the whole church. One pleasing circumstance, however occurs to the mind of a genuine christian; which is, that all this was pre- dicted. The book of the Revelation may justly be called a prophetic history of these transactions; and the truth of scripture is vindicated by events of all others the most disagreeable to a pious mind. What materials then appear for the history of the real church? The propagation of the gospel among the pagan nations, and the review of some writers of this century, form the principal materials, and shall be the subjects of two distinct chapters. But the gene- ral description of the situation of the church, can be little else than a very succinct enumeration of the means made use of to oppose the progress of popery. The decrees of the council of Frankfort against image worship, had still some influence in Germany, France, and England. In the year 909, a council was held at Trosle, a village near Soissons in France, in which they expressed their sentiments of christian faith and practice, without any mixture of doctrine that was peculiarly popish. Many churches still had the scriptures in the vulgar tongue. The monks took much pains in our island, to erect an independent do- minion on the ruin of the secular clergy. This scheme, equally destructive of civil and clerical authority, met, however, with a vigorous, and, in a great measure, a successful resistance; and the celibacy of the clergy was strongly opposed. The doctrine of transubstan- tiation itself, the favourite child of Pascasius Radbert, was still denied by many, and could not as yet gain a firm and legal establishment in Europe. Alfric, in England, whose homily for Easter used to be read in the churches, undertook to prove, that the elements were the body and blood of Christ, not corporeally, but spiritually. In an epistle, he asserts that this sacrifice is not made his body, in which he suffered for usj nor his blood, which he shed for us, but is 240 spiritually made his body and blood, as was the case with the manna which rained from heaven, and with the water which flowed from the rock. Op- position was also made by kings and councils to the authority of the pope. One of the most remarkable instances of this kind took place in the council of Rheims, which deposed a bishop without the consent of the pope. The story is tedious and uninteresting. I have looked over the acts of the synod, which are circumstantially detailed by the centuriators in their history of this century; and a few words of the dis- courses of Arnulph, bishop of Orleans, the president, may deserve to be distinctly quoted.* " O deplorable Rome, who in the days of our forefathers producedst so many burning and shining lights, thou hast brought forth, in our times, only dismal darkness, worthy of the detestation of posterity: What shall we do, or what counsel shall we take? The gospel tells us of a barren figtree, and of the divine patience exercised toward it. Let us bear with our primates as long as we can; and, in the mean time, seek for spiritual food, where it is to be found. Certainly there are some in this holy assembly, who can testify, that, in Belgium and Ger- many, both which are near us, there may be found real pastors and eminent men in religion. Far better would it be, if the animosities of kings did not pre- vent, that we should seek, in those parts, for the judgment of bishops, than in that venal city, which weighs all decrees by the quantity of money. What think you, reverend fathers, of this man, the pope, placed on a lofty throne, shining in purple and gold? whom do you account him? If destitute of love, and puffed up with the pride of knowledge onl}^, he is antichrist, sitting in the temple of God."t It is always a pleasing speculation to a thinking • Bishop Newton, in his 3d vol. p. 161. on the prophecies, of whom I have made some use in a few foregoing sentences, assigns the words to Gerbert, of Rheims. The acts of the synod, which I have mentioned, show his mistake: they expressly ascribe them to Arnulphus. t 2 Thess. ii. ' 241 mind, to observe the ebullitions of good sense and a vigorous understanding, exerted even in disadvanta- geous circumstances. It should be still more pleasing to observe them, when they are under the conduct of humble piety, as it may he presumed was the case in this instance of Arnulphus. We see here even Luther and Cranmer in embryo. The zealous and intelligent Frenchman laments, that the kings of the earth were committing fornication with the Roman harlot, and giving their power to support her grandeur. He casts his eyes toward the Netherlands and Germany, which appear to have had, at that time, a degree of light and purity unknown at Rome : he eagerly wishes to oppose this light and purity to the darkness and the profligacy of Rome. Like Luther, he is fearful of throwing all things into confusion by hasty and precipitate methods: and, like Cranmer, in the case of Henry the eighth's divorce, he wishes to appeal to the unprej udiced j udgment of men more learned, and more virtuous, than any to be found at Rome, against the scandalous oppressions of that venal city. That which Arnulphus conceived so judi- ciously, in an age the most unfavourable to reforma- tion, Luther in Germany, and Cranmer in England, afterwards effected. It is not, however, to be supposed, that even those magnanimous struggles for christian light and liberty were in vain. The Spirit of God was evidently still with the recent churches of Germany and the north; and France itself was by no means des- titute of men, who feared God, and served him in the gospel of his Son. There is an ultimate point of depression in morals, below which the common sense of mankind and the interests of society will not permit the scandalous pro- fligacy of governors, whether secular or ecclesiastic, to descend. The church of Rome had sunk to this point in the present century. Not only moral virtue itself, but even the appearance of it, was lost in the metropolis: and the church, now trampled on by the most worthless prelates, and immersed in profaneness, sensuality, and lewdness, called for the healing aid of 242 the civil magistrate. Otho I, emperor of Germany, came to Rome: and, by the united powers of the civil and the military sword, reduced that capital into some degree of order and decorum. He put an end to the irregular and infamous customs of intruding into the popedom, and confirmed to himself and his succes- sors the right of choosing the supreme pontiff in future. The consequence was, that a greater degree of moral de- corum began to prevail in the papacy, though matter of fact evinces but too plainly, that religious principle was still as much wanting as ever. The effect of Otho's regulations was, that the popes exchanged the vices of the rake and the debauchee, for those of the ambi- tious politician and the hypocrite ; and gradually re- covered, by a prudent conduct, the domineering as- cendancy, which had been lost by vicious excesses. But this did not begin to take place till the latter end of the eleventh century. If a very moderate degree of christian knowledge had obtained, during Otho's time, in the christian world, the farce of St. Peter's domi- nion at Rome by his successors, would have been at an end. But there arose no Claudius of Turin in this century. The little specimen of the eloquence of Ar- nulphus, which has been mentioned, was the only effort I can find, which was made to stem the torrent of Roman tyranny. The whole western world, with O'lho at its head, an emperor of upright intentions, and of shining endowments, agreed to reverence that see as supreme, which had laboured, as it were, by the most infamous practices, to degrade itself, and to con- vince mankind, that it could not possibly be of divine appointment. The popes were rebuked, condemned, and punished; but the popedom was reverenced as much as ever. God had put into the hearts of princes to fulfil his will; and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God should be ful- filled.* The Roman prelates, convinced of the neces- sity of more caution and decorum in the use of their * Rev. xvii. 17- 243 power, recovered by political artifice what they had lost, and became, in the issue, more terrible and more pernicious in the exercise of their power than ever. The liksglect of so favourable an opportunity for eman- cipating the church from religious slavery, is the high- est proof of the extreme ignorance of these times, and deserved to be noticed. This was an age of great political regulations. The choice of the German emperor was restricted to cer- tain electors, with whom it continues to the present time. The empire had, indeed, been intirely separa- ted from the French monarchy, in the latter end of the foregoing century. But, in this, the great Otho more firmly fixed the imperial crown, in the name and nation of Germany. He himself was sprung from the dukes of Saxony ; and deserved much of all Eu- rope for his memorable victory over the Turks, by which the same restraint was laid on their inroads into Germany, as had been laid in France on the in- roads of the Saracens into that kingdom, by the victo- rious arms of Charles Martel, the grandfather of Charlemagne. The Turks were a fierce and valiant nation, who inhabited the coast of the Caspian sea, and who were let loose on mankind as a just provi- dential scourge, on account of the contempt of divine truth, and the overflowing torrent of iniquity, which had pervaded Christendom. They gnidually superse- ded the Saracens, and seized their power and empire; but no great alteration took place in the civil situation of the east or the west on that account. For the Turks universally embraced mahometanism, the religion of the vanquished ; and with that the hatred of the Sara- cens to the christian name ; nor have they to this day acquired either politeness or science to such a degree, as might mitigate their ferocity. In all this disastrous period, I find scarce any prince, except Otho, actuated with a spirit of religious zeal: indeed, his two successors of the same name, inherited some portion of his talents and virtues. The efforts of Otho, to purify the church, to promote learning, to 244 erect bishoprics, to endow churches, and to propagate the gospel among the barbarous nations, were highly- laudable. And so steady and sincere were his exer- tions of this nature, and so amiable was his private life, that I cannot but hope that he was himself a' real christian. His empress, Adelaide, was no less remark- able for her zeal and liberality. But I scarce need to say, that the reigning ignorance, superstition, and wickedness defeated, or abused their wellmeant de- signs; those alone excepted, which regarded the pro- pagation of the gospel among the pagans. In the west the Normans, in the east the Turks, committed the most dreadful outrages on the church. In our own island I find nothing, in all this period, but ignorance, superstition, and the ravages of nor- thern barbarians. The state of France was not much different: the latter kings of the house of Charlemagne were dwindled into ciphers; and, towards the close of the century, the third race of French kings began in the person of Hugh Capet. This prince was him- self by no means so renowned as Clovis and Charle- magne, the heads of the first and second race; but his posterity remained on the throne for a much longer series of years than that of the two former, though the name of Capet was almost forgotten in the world. It has, however, been rendered familiar to our ears of late, by a series of transactions, which have issued in the ruin of that house, and in the exhibition of scenes, which have equally outraged every principle of reli- gion, honour, and humanity. 245 CHAP. II. The Propagation oftke Gospel in this Century. 1 HE Hungarians had received some ideas of Chris- tianity in the time of Charlemagne. But, on his de- cease, they relapsed into the idolatries of their ftithers, and the christian name was almost extinguished among them. Nor is it probable, that they had ever been much instructed in the real gospel of Christ. But toward the middle of this century, two Hungarian chiefs, whose governments lay on the ba«ks of the Danube, made profession of Christianity, and were baptized atConstan- tinople. These two leaders were called Bologudes and Gylas. The former soon apostatized: the latter perse- vered; received instruction from Hierotheus, a bishop, who had accompanied him from Constantinople; and encouraged the labours of the same bishop among his subjects. The effects proved salutary to the Hunga- rian nation: Sarolta, the daughter of Gylas, was given in marriage to Geysa, the chief prince of Hungary. She prevailed on her husband to receive Christianity, and the gospel was once more introduced into a coun- try through the zealous piety of a woman. Geysa, however, still retained much inclination to the idolatry of his fathers, though his conversations with christian captives and missionaries made a strong impression on his mind: but he wac prevented from apostatizing, by the zeal and authority of Adalbert, archbishop of Prague, who visited Hungary toward the conclusion of this century. Whether the king's conversion was real or nominal, the most salutary consequences at- tended the reception of the gospel by his subjects. Humanity, peace, and civilization began to flourish among a people hitherto fierce and barbarous in the extreme. Stephen, the son of Geysa, was baptized by Adalbert; and became a more decisive defender of the faith than his father had been. Under Stephen, Hun- Vol. hi. 32 246 gary was almost wholly evangelized; and nothing was omitted by this zealous prince to establish Christianity throughout his dominions. There is every reason to believe that many real conversions took place, though I can give no particular account of them. But Adalbert has been mentioned; and it will be' proper to give the reader a short sketch of the life of thai extraordinary personage.* He was born in 936, and ordained by Diethmar, archbishop of Prague. He be- held this same archbishop dying in terrible agonies of conscience, on account of his neglect of pastoral duty, and secular avarice. Adalbert was appointed his suc- cessor; but with so little satisfaction to himself, that he was never seen to smile afterwards. Being asked the reason, he said, " it is an easy thing to wear a mitre and a cross, but an awful thing to give an account of a bishopric, before the Judge of quick and dead." Bohemia, the scene of his diocese, was covered with idolatry: there were christians, indeed, in that country, but chiefly nominal ones. In vain did the pious arch- bishop endeavour to reform the evils and abuses. The people undesignedly gave the noblest testimony to his sincerity, when they observed, that it was impossible for him and them to have communion with each other, because of the perfect opposition of life and conversa- tion. Adalbert, sighing over the wretched objects of his charge; and, still willing to labour in the best of causes, travelled as a missionary into Poland, and planted the gospel in Dantzic. Here his labours seem to have been crowned with good success: in visiting a small island, he was knocked down with the oar of a boat: however, recovering himself, he made his escape, rejoicing that he was counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ, and with his fellow labourers quitted the place : indeed he was forced to flee for his life; and, at length, was murdered by barbarians in Lithuania; or, as some think, in Prussia, about the year 997. Siggo, a pagan priest, was the principal in- * Alban Butler's Saints' Lives, vol. iv. 247 strument of his death. He is commonly styled the apostle of Prussia,* though he only evangelized the city of Dantzic, which is in die neighbourhood of that country. Such was Adalbert; and so small is the ac- count transmitted to us, of one of the wisest and best of men, whom God had raised up for the instruction of the species, a man willing to labour and to suffer for Christ! Wolfang, bishop of Ratisbon, may properly accom- pany Adalbert, who had received his bishopric of Prague, in consequence of Wolfang's having vacated part of his diocese for that purpose. The latter was a native of Suabia, and was brought up at a school in Wurtzburg. His experience gave him an opportunity of seeing, that professors of wisdom may even be greater slaves to pride and envy than the illiterate. Wearied with the view of scholastic strifes, he sighed for solitude, but was engaged to attend Henry, his friend, to Triers, where the latter was chosen arch- bishop. Wolfang there taught children, and was dean of a community of ecclesiastics. In 972, he went to preach in Hungary, but had no great success. He was after- wards appointed bishop of Ratisbon: there he reformed the clergy, and was indefatigable in preaching twenty- two years. Henry, duke of Bavaria, placed under him his four children: Henry, afterwards emperor; Gisela, queen of Hungary; Bruno, bishop of Augsburg; and Brigit, abbess of Ratisbon, all eminent characters. Wolfang died in 994. See Butler, vol. x. The plantation of the gospel in Brandenburg was begun by the zeal and victorious arms of Charle- magne; but was not completed, in a national sense, till the year 928, under Henry the fowler, the prede- cessor of Otho I.f The labours of Gerard, bishop of Toul in Germany, will also deserve to be mentioned. He was himself an eminent preacher; and often commissioned zealous pastors to preach in country parishes. He cultivated * Mosheim, cent. xi. chap. i. t Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg, by the late king of Prussia, 248 learning among his disciples; but at the same time took care, so far as it lay in his power, that they should apply themselves to devotion. That he vv^ould be very earnest in these pious efforts, will admit of no doubt, if it be true, that he declared, that he found more delight in heavenly exercises during one moment, than a worldly soul finds in worldly pleasures for a thousand years. Alban Butler, vol. iv. If we look into Scandinavia, we find that the w^ork of God, which had begun so prosperously^ in the last century, by the labours of Anscarius, had met with a severe check in Denmark, whose king, Gormo the 3d,* laboured to extirpate the gospel there intirely. His queen Tyra, however, openly professed it, and gave it all the support which she was enabled to do, under great disadvantages. But the power and influ- ence of the king prevailed, and most of his subjects returned to idolatry. At length, Henry I. called the fowler, the predecessor of the great Otho, led an army into Denmark; and through the terror of his arms, obliged Gormo to promise submission to the com- mands of the emperor. Under the protection of this last prince, Unni, then archbishop of Hamburg, with some faithful labourers, came into Denmark, and brought over many to the profession of divine truth; but Gormo himself remained inflexible. Harald, the son of Gormo, however, received the word with res- pect: for the instruction of his mother, Tyra, had, at least, removed all prejudice from his mind. Unni, with the consent of Gormo, visited the islands, and formed christian churches among them. The king himself was allowed by his conqueror Henry, to choose, whether he would receive Christianity himself, or not; but was prohibited from persecuting the faith, in his dominions: and thus, by a singular concurrence of circumstances, a sovereign prince was, by a foreign power, prevented from committing that evil among his subjects, to which his own inclinations would have • Centuriat. cent. x. Mosheim, cent. x. c. i. 249 led him. I cannot vindicate the imperious proceedings of Henry: the labours of Unni were, however, highly laudable, and providence smiled on his benevolent views in propagating truth and holiness. Unni, animated with success, determined to follow the pattern of Anscarius, and to visit the kingdom of Sweden. He entered the Baltic, and arrived at Birca: there he found that the gospel had been extinct: for seventy years, no bishop had appeared among them, except Rembert, the successor of Anscarius. There probably were, however some souls then alive, who had heard the gospel with joy in former times: and it pleased God, to give large success to the ministry of Unni. He fixed the gospel in Sweden, and planted it even in the remoter parts of that northern region. And, at length, he finished his glorious course at Bir- ca, in the year 936. 1 he savage disposition of the princes, and the confusion of the times had tendtd to obliterate the traces of Anscariuj»'s lai)0urs: but, at length, Eric, the eighth king of Sweden, and still more, his son and successor, Olaus the second, fa- voured the propagation of the gospel. The former of these princes requested the archbi- shop of Bremen to supply his kingdom with mission- aries. The archbishop sent him two persons of know- ledge, piety, and integrity, Adalvard and Stephen. They laboured with much success for a time; but the natural enmity of depraved mankind will exert itself against true piety, whatever be the form of govern- ment under which men live. The nobles of Sweden were enraged to find their licentiousness of manners so restrained: and they commenced a religious perse- cution against both the missionaries and the king. The former were beaten with rods, and expelled from Up- sal: the latter was murdered on account of his piety. His son and successor Olaus was not discouraged from cherishing Christianity; and his zeal and piety were crowned with success. Cent. Magd. cent. x. Thus were Sweden and Denmark, after a variety of changes, reduced into subjection to the form, and, no 250 doubt, many individuals to the power of the gospel. In the latter country, after the death of Hemy 1. the inhabitants refused to pay tribute to Othothe great, his successor. This monarch obliged them to submit, and required Harald, the son and successor of Gormo, to receive christian baptism. All that we know of this prince, inclines me to believe, that there was no reluc- tance on his part. He was baptized, together with his wife and little son, whose name had been Sueno; and, in honour of the emperor, he was now called Suen- Otho. Harald, during his whole life, took every wise and salutary method to propagate divine truth among his subjects, and to restrain vice and immorality. Nor is it much to be doubted, that he would instruct his son Suen-Otho to act in the same manner, and labour to impress on his mind the power of that divine reli- gion, which he himself seems to have felt. Be that as it may, Suen-Otho formed a junction with the chiefs of the country, who were offended at the pious zeal of Harald: in consequence of which, the latter was mur- dered: and Suen-Otho, renouncing even the name, which had been imposed on him, persecuted the chris- tians with great cruelty; and, for a time, gave a pre- dominancy to the pagan interest in his dominions. It is remarkable, however, that, like another Manasseh, in his affliction he knew that the Lord was God. Be- ing expelled from his throne, and forced to live in ex- ile among the Scots, he was induced to remember the lessons of his childhood: he repented of his crimes; and, being restored to his throne, like the same Ma- nasseh he laboured to destroy the idolatry, which he had supported, and, in the latter part of his life, trode in the steps of his father. In this century, the light of the gospel penetrated into Norway.*^ About the year 912, an English mis- sionary, named Bernard, attempted to plant the doc- trine of Christ in this barbarous region. Olaus, the king, listened to his discourses, and professed himself * Centuriat. cent. x. Mosheim, cent x. chap. i. 251 to be a convert; but he still attended to omens and gentile superstitions. All the arguments of Bernard were ineffectual, to cure him of his inveterate propen- sities: whence he was more a disgrace than an orna- ment to his profession. About the year 933, another king, called Hagen, who had been educated among the English, employed certain missionaries of that na- tion, to instruct his subjects. But the Norwegians per- sisted in their idolatry; and his successor Graufeldt pursued the same plan, but without effect. Several successive princes laboured in the same cause, with the same ill success. The form of a government es- tablished in any country, from experience seems to have beei). of no capital moment in regard to the suc- cess of christian missions. Despotism, limited mo- narchy, and republicanism, have each been serviceable or detrimental in the cause; and to associate strongly any one of these forms with the progress of the gospel, is, perhaps, forming an imagination of an alliance be- tween church and state, that has no solid foundation in nature. We see, in the case before us, that a republi- can form would have proved destructive to the best of causes. It is to the effusion of the holy Spirit, direct- ing subordinate causes, and, independently of mere human politics, that the success of the gospel is ever to be ascribed. At length, Haco, king of Norway, be- ing driven from his throne, on account of his tyran- nical government, having himself also persecuted the christians in Norway, and having put himself into the protection of that same Harald of Denmark, whom we have already celebrated, became a patron of Christi- anity among his people. For Harald both instructed him in the nature of Christianity, and restored him to his dominions. Haco, humbled and enhghtened, re- commended the gospel in an assembly of the people, in the year 945. His zeal and solemnity were very striking; but the fierce and barbarous people were not much moved; and the remembrance of his former ill conduct would naturally prejudice their minds against his arguments. Olaus, who reigned some time after. 252 was the most successful of all the Norwegian princes in recommending Christianity. At length, Svvein, king of Denmark, having made himself master of Norway, obliged his subjects universally to renounce their, gods, and profess the gospel. Doubtless many compul- sory methods were used by several, probably by all these princes, by no means agreeable to the genius of the gospel. Their intentions, however, seem laudable; and at least the zealous labours of the missionaries de- serve to be noticed. Among these, Guthebald, an English pastor, was most eminent. The idol Thor was dragged from its place, and publicly burnt in the sight of its worshippers. In fact, Norway became christian, in the form of its religion, throughout. The Orkney islands, then subject to the Norwegian crown, receiv- ed the light of the gospel, which, in some degree, pe- netrated also into Iceland and Greenland; and, in this century, the triumph of Christianity was complete throughout all Scandinavia. The labours of Adelbert, the first archbishop of Magdeburg, will deserve to be mentioned in this place. The Rugi, about the year 960, entreated the emperor Otho I. to send them a christian bishop. This people lived in Pomerania, between the Oder and the Wipper, and in the isle of Rugen in the Baltic. The town of Rugenwald still bears their name. They were a remarkably savage race, and had a famous tem- ple in Rugen. Certain monks of the mission seminary of New Corbie, had formerly laboured with success, in various provinces of the Sclavi or Sclavonians, and in the whole isle of Rugen, the Rugi being a tribe of the Sclavi. An oratory was erected in the isle, in honour of Christ, and in memory of St. Vitus, patron of New Corbie. But the savage people soon relapsed; and making Vitus the chief of their gods, erected to him a temple and idol with sacrifices, permitting no merchant to buy or sell there, who did not first give some offer- ing for their sacrifices, or for the temple of their god, whom they now called Swantewith. " Xhus,' says Helmodus, " the man whom we confess a martyr and 253 servant of Christ, they adore as god, a creature for the Creator; nor is there any nation, who so much abhors christians, especially pastors." A memorable caution for teachers, to beware, lest their instructions of the heathen may only lead them from one species of ido- latry to another. However, at their desire, Otho I. sent Adelbert to the isle. But the people were hardened: several of his fellow preachers were murdered, but he himself escaped. This fruitless mission was in 961. Adelbert was afterwards, in 970, appointed archbishop of Magdeburg, where Adelaide the empress, and wi- dow of Otho I. passed the greatest part of her time, and gave herself up very much to his directions: she had gone through a great variety of prosperity and ad- versity, and was very pious and exemplary. Adelbert was an instrument of converting great numbers of the Sclavi: he supplied his diocese with able pastors for the new converts, and died in 982, having very lauda- bly ruled the church for tw^eive years. See Butler, vol. xii. In the preceding century, Rollo, a Norwegian pi- rate, at the head of a valiant and lawless band of sol- diers, who are commonly called Normans, invaded and ravaged France. But in the year 912, Charles the simple, a monarch ill calculated to withstand so pow- erful an enemy, purchased a peace, by investing Rollo with the dukedom of Normandy, and by giving him his daughter Gisela in marriage, on condition that he should embrace Christianity. All religions were equally indifferent to Rollo and his followers: they, therefore, professed the gospel without the least hesitation. It seemed proper to notice this event, as introducing the famous line of Norman dukes into France, whose his- tory, in process of time, involves so much both of French and English history. As for the rest, I know of no evidence of an effusion of the divine Spirit, which attended their reception of Christianity. The Normans, however, became gradually better members of society; and, at length, began to patronize, in some Vol. III. 33 254 form or other, something that bore the appearance of more serious rehgion. While the nations, who had long enjoyed the forms of true religion, were slumbering in superstitions, or wallowing in gross wickedness, the Head of the church, in his providence, still reserved to himself a GODLY seed; and, by their labours, extended the pale of the gospel. Poland had hitherto remained in the thickest night of ignorance, and both an inland situation and a barbarous neighbourhood seemed to exclude it from the light of divine truth. Some Poles, however, travelling into Bohemia* and Moravia, on account of business, were struck with what they heard concerning Christianity: they listened to the ministry of the word of God, and received it gladly. Returning home, they every where recommended to their coun- trymen the grace of the gospel. Moreover, foreigners often visiting Poland, on account of trade, preached Christ, as they were able,- to the Poles. Something divinely excellent appeared to be in Christianity; and the happy infection spread from heart to heart. It reached, at length, Micislaus, the king or duke of Poland; who divorced his seven wives, with whom he had cohabited, and married Dambrouca, the daughter of Boleslaus, the duke of Bohemia. He was baptized in the year 965; and, by the pious and charitable in- structions of his new spouse, was induced to exert his authority in the propagation of the gospel through his dominions: in fine, Poland became a christian nation; nor is it probable that this was no more than an exter- nal profession: that it was so in some instances, there is no doubt; but, nevertheless, the circumstances of the narrative carry the appearance of something truly divine. Nor is that true, which Mosheimf asserts, that an inward change of aifections and principles, was far from being an object of attention in this barbarous age. It seems most probable, that it was an object of attention in the missionaries, and in those, who zeal- * Cent. Magd. | Chap. J. cent. x. f 255 ©usly received them. We have seen, in several in- stances, an evidence of zeal in preaching, and a con- stancy in suffering, which can scarce be explained on any other principle than that of godly sincerity. And we have lived to see a refined age as indifferent con- cerning an inward change as any barbarous period whatever. In the year 955, Olga, the queen of Russia, sailed from Kiow to Constantinople, and received baptism, together with her attendants. On her return, she per- severed in the christian religion, but could not prevail on her family and subjects, to receive the same: the Greek missionaries, however, laboured still, and gra- dually succeeded.* At length, Wolodomir, her grand- son, in the year 961, married Anna, sister of the em- peror Basil, who, by her zealous importunity, prevailed on her spouse to receive Christianity. He was baptized in the year 987; and, from that time, Russia received a christian establishment, and has ever since considered herself as a daughter of the Greek church. Ulric, son of count Hucbald, born in 893, was pla- ced at Augsburg under the care of Adalberon, bishop of that city. He was made, at length, bishop of Augs- burg, by the emperor, Henry the fowler. He com- forted his people, who had been plundered by the Hungarians: he avoided the court: he kept close to his flock, and was equally renowned for devotion, and for pastoral labours. He died about 973. Thus, in an age of proverbial darkness, that illus- trious prophecy continued to receive its accomplish- ment; " Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers."! The regular and ci- vilized governments in the world sustained such dreadful calamities from the irruption of pagan na- tions, on all sides, that their encouragement of chris- tian missions was equally humane and prudential. The precepts of the gospel were found alone effectual to meliorate the dispositions of barbarians; and, under the influence of the holy Spirit, no doubt, this was the * Gibbon, vol. v. f Isaiah, xlix. I 256 happy eftbct on the minds of many. But, it will still be said, " the conversion of a great number was only nominal, and compulsory methods were employed, which are by no means adapted to the genius of the gospel." It must be allowed, that the latter of these assertions is strictly true, and the former, in many in- stances, but by no means in all. The efforts of the tenth and the three preceding centuries, to extend Christianity, had their blemiohes, which have been malignantly insisted on, and even exaggerated by mo- dern writers. Defective, however, as these efforts were, they form the principal glory of those times; and partly, by evident proofs, and a detail of circum- stances, and partly by analogy and the nature of things, they appear to have been attended with the effusion of the divine Spirit, the genuine conversion of numbers, and the improvement of human society. The virtues of many, at least of the missionaries are above any en- comium, which I can give; though they were born in rude ages, and are consigned to contempt and obli- vion by polite historians, who lavish all their praises on heroes and politicians. If, however, the labours of an obscure individual may attract the attention of the public, the names of Boniface, Anscarius, Adalbert, Unni, and others of the same class, shall be honoured among men, and the work of propagating the gospel shall appear laudable in an extreme degree. It must appear so to all, who desire that the name of Jesus should be honoured through the earth, and that the power of his grace should be felt in every place, and in every heart. But to what lengths will not scepti- cism proceed? It has even been advanced, that the attempt to propagate Christianity, without the consent of the government established in every fcountry, is un- lawful in its nature. A position so injurious to the character of many of the best and wisest men, whom it behooves us to celebrate in this history, and so con- veniently favourable to the selfish, avaricious, indolent spirit of nominal cliristians, will deserve to be inves- tigated and exposed in its genuine colours. 257 CHAP. III. jin Apology for Christian Missiotis. JL he commission, which our Saviour gave to his apostles, a little before his ascension, forms of itself the strongest apology for the practice of christian mis- sionaries in all ages. " Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holyghost: teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."* It may not be said, that this commission of evange- lizing all nations is restricted to the apostles, because he, who gave these directions, declares, he will always be with those, who obey them, to the end of the world. The commission is then as much in force at this day, as it was in the first age of Christianity; and will con- tinue in force, till time shall be no more. The promise of divine support, to encourage the missionaries in the prosecution of a work so arduous and so difficult, ex- tends to all ages, and would be perfectly inapplicable to those ages, if any such there were, which should have no right to propagate the gospel. " Is every person then, calling himself a christian, authorized to preach the gospel among the heathen na- tions?" Not so: nor is every person called a christian authorized to preach in christian countries. Certain qualifications and endowments, and, above all, the real and genuine influence of the holy Spirit, are necessary for this purpose. To define and to ascertain these in particular cases, enter not into the subject before us. Suffice it to say, that, however, in point of prudence and expediency, it be proper to procure, if practicable, * Matthew, xxviii. 19, 20- 258 the consent and concurrence of the government of the country, which is the object of the mission, such con- sent jind concurrence are not necessary as a legitimate qualification of a missionary, who should undertake to evangelize pagan countries. Our Lord well knew, that such consent was not attainable at the time in which he gave this commission, in any country under hea- ven. He mentions no such condition, nor did the apos- tles conceive the necessity of such a license. It is well known, on the contrary, that they persisted in their mis- sion, not only without the consent, but also against the express prohibitions of all governments, whether Jewish or gentile. The nature and reasonableness of Christianity itself is such, that, wherever it is fairly exhibited, in connexion with its proper proofs and evidences, those,, who hear it, are bound in conscience to obey it, ma- gistrates, as well as others; and, as we have seen, the magistrate himself not only may, but ought to promote it, for the good of society.* " But the apostles wrought miracles; and therefore, though they had a right to propagate Christianity, oth- ers, who do not so, have no right to preach, except with the consent of the government.," It does not ap- pear, that the evidence of their commission rested wholly on miracles, though it must be confessed these formed a striking part of it, and were afforded by di- vine providence, in order to facilitate the progress of the then infant religion. But if, what no serious chris- tian will deny, there is an internal evidence in the gos- pel itself, which ought to weigh with every reasonable mind, abstracted from any thing miraculous, it will be the duty of every one to receive it, when fairly pro- posed; and the obedience due to divine revelation is binding not only on those who hear it from one, who works miracles; but also on those who hear it from one, who brings unexceptionable testimonies of mira- cles having been wrought by others, in attestation of Christianity. Whoever attentively reads the history of ' See chap.xvli. vol. ii. 259 the acts of the apostles, and the historical parts of the epistles, will find, that all ministers, regularly ordained, (for the case of selfordained ministers, I do not here consider,) thought it their duty to preach the word every where, whether they could work miracles or not. The miraculous powers were an adventitious cir- cumstance; of great importance, indeed, in the open- ing of Christianity; but if the stress of an evangelical commission to the heathen had ever been meant to be laid upon it, it is surprising, that this condition should never be mentioned in the sacred volume: it is not to be conceived, that the numberless missionaries in the apostolic age should all have been ignorant of it. Be- sides, with the cessation of miracles, the work of pro- mulgation must have probably ceased; whereas, it ap- pears, that in the succeeding centuries, even to the tenth, missionaries still laboured; and, in a greater or less degree, the work prospered in their hand. If these reflections have any weight, they show that it has been inconsiderately asserted, that civil govern- ments alone have a right to determine, whether chris- tian missionaries shall preach the gospel or not within their dominions. I have proved, I think, that they have a right to establish Christianity; but it does not follow, that they have a right to exclude it. Right and wrong, in this case, have a higher foundation than hu- man politics. Trajan might think himself justified in persecuting christians, because they transgressed the Roman laws, which forbade the introduction of foreign religions. But Trajan ought to have known, that there is an authority in religion, superior to any human con- stitutions whatever. Though the authority of scripture, the practice of the apostolic age, and the labours of the best and wisest of their successors, from age to age, seem, taken together, to form a sufficient apology for chris- tian missions at this day, yet we need not fear, in this cause, to appeal to the common sense of mankind. If a whole nation were afflicted with a pestilential dis- ease, and a foreigner were in possession of a medicine, 26d that might probably save many of their lives, it might be prudent, no doubt, for that foreigner to obtain an express license, if practicable, from the government, for affording medical aid to its subjects. But will any man say, that it would be wrong in him to endeavour to heal the diseased, if he had an opportunity, and had the benevolence to attempt it, though he had no formal sanction from the magistrate? To promote the welfare of our neighbours, is, next to our duty to God, the most essential ingredient in the character of a good man. Is the express consent of the legislature necessary, antecedently to every office of mercy and humanity? It is not necessary to say, that the propa- gation of the gospel is the most salutary and the most important of all works of charity: what then ought to be thought of an objection to it, which leaves to the mercy of the magistrate the great office of la- bouring to win souls; and would charge with sin an employment of all others the most beneficent to man- kind? " Is not this to teach rebellion against lawful autho- rity, and to countenance an undue interference with foreign governments?" Could this be proved, I should not know how to apologize for missionaries. For I scarce know any thing more diametrically opposite to the genius of the gospel than such a conduct. Let it be carefully observed, that our argument goes no farther than to justify a pacific attempt to teach Christianity throughout the globe. " If they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another," is the rule of the divine Author of Christianity. A missionary must be pre- pared to endure, not to inflict evil: he may expect op- position, and even death itself. He must patiently sustain his lot: he must forego not only all violence in attempting to propagate Christianity, but also all artifice and secular intrigues: he must not only for- bear to disturb the government of the country, and to weaken men's attachment to it, but he must do more: he must teach obedience to it, as an essential branch of Christianity itself, and an obedience too, " not only 261 for wrath, but also for conscience' sake." If his word is not received in one place, he must make experi- ment of another, in dependence on di\'ine providence and grace. Meekness, patience, submission to civil authority must attend him in every step. Such were the apostolic missionaries; such in a good degree were the missionaries of the dark ages, which we are re- viewing. And I am apt to think, that those, who ob- ject to missions in general, have had their eye on the political craft of the Jesuits, or the furious factions of enthusiasts. For I can scarce believe we are grown so totally callous to every christian sensation, as delibe- rately to condemn all missions conducted in the spirit of the gospel. Do we expect that the kingdom of Christ shall spread through all nations, according to numerous prophecies? and arc no means to be employed to promote it? Shall we complain of the want of univer- sality in the best religion, and discourage every at- tempt to effect that universality? With what an ill grace do objectors to the propagation of the gospel make such complaints? Are human efforts concerned in all other works of divine providence? and are they in this, the most important of all, to be excluded? Are we to sit still, and expect some sudden and mira- culous providential interposition? and is this the only instance, in which socinians and men, who call them- selves rational christians, will use no rational methods, in order to produce the most desirable effects? Or have we learned to despise the importance of Christi- anity itself? and do we think that the present comfort and future felicity of mankind are no way connected with the subject before us? I propose these few questions, leaving the resolu- tion of them to the consciences of those, who have had it in their power to encourage christian missions in our times, and who have opposed them. To have been particularly active in extending the Redeemer's kingdom, forms no part of the glory of this country. Denmark, a poor impotent government, compared with Vol. III. U 262 ours, has, it is well known, effected in iliifj way what may cause Britons to blush, and what should stir us up to virtuous emulation. With every advantage in our hands, for the propagation of the gospel, we have done very little indeed; and the annals of the several dark ages, we have reviewed, have exhibited a spirit of ad- venturous charity unknown to those, who now boast themselves as the most enlightened and the most phi- losophic of mankind. CHAP. IV. fFriters and Eminent Men in this Century. IN a dearth so excessive, there are few, who will de- serve to be noticed either for knowledge or for piety; and fewer still for both. My chief view, in this chap- ter, is to give the reader an idea of the state of true religion in these times; nor will the picture here exhi- bited be materially erroneous, though it could be proved, that Theophylact, one of the authors, whom I shall quote, belonged to the next century, as Mo- sheim thinks. For the spirit and taste of the tenth and eleventh centuries are so similar, that what illus- trates the one, will illustrate the other. The very to- leration of the Roman popedom itself, after the detec- tion of its flagitiousness before all the world, evinces the uncommonly low condition of christian knowledge in this age: proofs, however, will appear, that the Spirit of God had not forsaken the church, and that there were those, who reverenced and felt the power of her doctrines. It is not in Rome, but in the more recent churches, that this power appears. Whether it was practically exemplified by Bruno, archbishop of Cologne, in Germany, is not very evident. But, in knowledge and learning, he was very eminent. He was brother to 263 Otho I. and, by the desire of the people of Cologne, was fixed by that great prince in the archbishopric. We must not expect much regard to ecclesiastical discipline in these times; and therefore are not to be surprised, that a prince, so religious as Otho was, should invest his relation also with the civil power of a dukedom. Bruno is remarked, however, to have been among the first, who united offices so discordant in the same person.* This was to secularize the church; and Cologne continues in a similar state to this day. Bruno was nevertheless an assiduous pro- moter of religion. Normans, Danes, and various others, who travelled in his province, he brought over to the profession of Christianity. He restrained die luxury both of clergy and people; and was himself a shining example of modest and frugal manners. He died about the year 965. Unni, a far more decided character, has been alrea- dy celebrated. As archbishop of Hamburg, he acted with a vigor and a piety worthy the importance of that see. He was highly reverenced by the German em- perors of his time; and that a person so opulent should choose to labour as a missionary in such countries as Denmark and Sweden, argues a zeal of no common degree. He died at Stockholm in 936. f By the advice of Adolvard, bishop of Verden, Adeldagus, who had discharged some petty office in the church, was sent for to court b)^ the great Otho, and made his chancellor. On the death of Unni, he was appointed archbishop of Hamburg, but was so acceptable, by his talents and industry, to the empe- ror, that he still continued in the same secular em- ployments. Adeldagus sent a number of pastors into Denmark, and was present with Otho at Rome when the popedom was reformed. His flock, however, at Hamburg complained, and not without reason, of his absence from them. The emperor, at length, gave him liberty to return home. His care of the poor, and * Cent. Magd. cent. s. vol. iii. t lUid. 264.< many rathei' princely than pastoral virtues, were re- markable. But I can form no great idea of the spiri- tuality of a man, who neglects residence among his flock, and continues to act in a secular capacity under three successive princes, while he holds a bishopric. He served Otho II. and III. with the same success and ability with which he had done Otho I. and after he had held his bishopric 53 years, he died under Otho III. in the year 988.* Libentius, an Italian, by the desire of Adeldagus, was appointed his successor. Much is said in praise of this prelate. He often visited the Vandals, a barba- rous people in Poland, about the Vistula, and taught them the way of salvation. He sent pastors to distant nations, and was a shining exemplar of piety and be- neficence. He died in lOlS.f Adolvard, bishop of Verden, who, as we have mentioned, recommended Adeldagus to the patronage of Otho I. was himself an excellent pattern of piety and probity. He discharged the office of a faithful pas- tor in his diocese, and took pains to instruct the igno- rant Vandals in the way of salvation. J Of Adalbert, archbishop of Prague, I can find no more than has been already mentioned; though his labours deserve to have been minutely recorded. That the true doctrines of the gospel, and some true knowledge of their experimental use and power, were not lost in the church altogether, the following quota- tions will abundantly evince; though of the authors themselves no particular account can be given, nor is it very clear at what exact period of time some of them lived: the passages selected from them will serve, however, to show the religious taste of the times. Ansbert, speaking of the effect of the divine word, observes; " There is no doubt, but by the holy preach- ing of the word the faithful receive the grace of the holy Spirit, the Lord bearing witness to this, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."'^ * Cent. Magd. cent. x. vol. iii. f Id. \ Id. § John, vi. 63. Cent. Magd. vol. iii. p. 18. 265 The value of the inward teaching of the holy Spirit, has been frequently attested in these memoirs, and in a language very similar to the following passage of Smaragdus on the same subject. " Our sense is re- newed by the exercises of wisdom, meditation on the word of God, and the understanding of his statutes; and the more proficiency any person daily makes by reading, and the deeper hold the truth has upon his understanding, the more the new man grows day by day. Let no man attribute to the teacher, that he understands from his mouth; for unless there be an INTERNAL TEACHER, the extcmal one labours in vain. The Jews heard Christ preach in one manner, the apostles in another; those to judgment, these to salvation: for the Spirit taught these in the heart, what those heard outwardly by the ear. Unless the Lord shine into the heart of the hearer, the teacher labours in darkness. For the faith of the nations comes not by the wisdom of the composition, but by the gift of divine vocation."* " If thou wouldst have thy sons obedient to thee," says Theophylact, " instruct them in the divine word. Say not, that it belongs only to persons professionally religious to read the scriptures. It is the duty of every christian, particularly of those, who are in the midst of secular employments: they need the greatest help, as they live in a tempest. It is for thy own interest, that thy children be well versed in scripture; thence they will learn to reverence their parents." Let mo- dern sceptics and infidels attend to the voice of a writer who lived in a dark age of the church; for he was a luminary of these dark ages. He most probably lived in the eleventh century; and the plain precepts just mentioned deserve, from gentlemen of the eigh- teenth century, more serious attention than whole volumes of metaphysical subtilities, or political specu- lations. Speaking of the state of man after the fall, Theo- Id. 266 phylact observes: " Some are found, indeed, to be good tempered and benign by nature, none by exer- cise and meditation. And though some be reckoned good men, they adulterate every action by vainglory. But he, whose goodness centres in his own glory, not in goodness itself, whenever an opportunity oifers, will indulge evil lusts. For, if among us christians, the threatening of hell, every advantage of study, and the lives of innumerable saints, can scarce preserve men in the practice of virtue, how can the nugatory tales of the gentiles teach them virtue? It will not be matter of surprise, indeed, if they cbnfirm them in wicked- ness."* With such discrimination of ideas did this writer distinguish between the state of nature and of grace! Let us hear him express his thoughts on the gospel, as opposed to the law. '^ The law, if it detect any man sinning, even in a circumstance that may appear trifling, as in gathering sticks on the sabbath day,t condemns him to death: but the holy Spirit, receiving those, who have committed innumerable offences, in the laver of baptismal regeneration justifies them, and quickens those, who are dead in sin. — The righte- Ousness of God preserves us; not our own righte- ousness: for what righteousness can we have, who are altogether corrupt? l>ut God hath justified us, not by our works, but by faith, which grace ought to grow more and more consummate; as the apostle said unto the Lord, increase our faith.J Truly it is not enough to have once believed. For, as the benefits of divine grace exceed human thoughts, there is abso- lute need of faith to conceive and apprehend them. The righteousness of God is by faith. This needs not our labours and works; but the whole belongs to the grace of God. Moses asserts that man is justified by works. § But none are found to fulfil them. Justifica- tion by the law is therefore rendered impossible. This * Cent. Mae^d. id. p. 64. f Numbers, xv. 32, &c. :j: Luke, xvii. 5. § He appears to mean the same thing which St. Paul does, by the ex- pressi-n, • Moses describeth the rig-hteousness, which is of the law, that the man, which doetli those things, shall live by them." Rom. x. 5. 267 is the righteousness of God, when a man is justified by grace, so that no blemish, no spot is found in him."* " Maxime Teucrorum ductor, quo sospite nunquam Res equidem Trojae victas aut regna fatebor." So speaks Evander to Virgil's hero. With great pro- priety may we say of justification by Christ through faith, the leading doctrine of Christianity, that while its existence is preserved in the church, the power of Christ's kingdom is not destroyed in the world. There, doubtless, were those in Theophylact's time, who knew how to feed on the doctrine of grace, and con- vert it into spiritual nourishment. This writer, it should be observed, belonged to the eastern church, of which we hear very little in the dark ages before us. Serious and humble spirits, therefore, in those regions, were not left without a light shining amidst the tenfold ob- scurity of the times, by which their feet might be guided in the paths of peace. And as it is not to be supposed, that the light was preserved to no purpose, we may safely conclude, that the real church was still in existence in the east. The same intelligent writer gives us an illustration of the abundance of grace, spoken of in Rom. v. M^hich will deserve to be mentioned. " Suppose a person is thrown into prison with his wife and children, because he is deep in debt, and then should be not only freed from the prison and the demands of the law, but also receive at once innumerable talents, be introduced into the royal palace, be presented with a kingdom, and accounted worthy of the same, and be reckoned a son of the king; This is the abundance of grace."! Hear how experimentally he speaks of christian faith. " Faith is looked on as contemptible, because of the foolishness of preaching — He, who believes witia great affection, extends his heart to God. He is united to him. His heart, inflamed, conceives a strong assti' * Cent. Magd. Id. p. 78. + Id. 81 268 ranee, that it shall gain its desire. We all know this by experience, because Christ hath said. Whatever ye ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive. He who be- lieves, gives himself wholly to God; he speaks to him with tears ; and in prayer holds the Lord, as it were, by the feet. O rich advantage, exceeding human thought, that every one who believes on him, gains two things, one, that he does not perish, the other, that he has eternal life. The faith of Christ is an holy work, and sanctifies its possessor. It is a guide to every good work: for works without faith are dead, and so is faith without works. There needs not the circuitous and afflictive course of legal works, but God justifies in a summary way, those who believe. For, if thou con- fess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved* Faith is a shield, not vain so- phisms, not fallacious argumentations. These hinder the soul, faith protects it. Know, that thou must not exact a reason from God; but however he dispose of thee, thou must believe him."t It would have been wonderful indeed, if the Gre- cian divine before us, had been exempt from the errors relating to the will, which for ages of greater light had pervaded the eastern church. He appears to have mixed the powers of grace and nature in the confused manner of Chrysostom; but it is not necessary to quote any passage for this purpose. A specimen of his wri- tings on this point may be seen in the 139th page, vof. 3. Magd. Giselbert, or a theologian, whose works bear that name, and who lived in or near this century, speaks of justification in the usual manner of Augustine, and of the later Latin fathers, and with the same valuable tincture of divine truth. " When I speak of the right- eousness of God," says he, " I do not mean his ab- solute righteousness, but that, with which he clothes man, when he justifies the ungodly. The law and the * Rom. X. t 8.1 269 prophets bear witness to this righteousness. The law, indeed, by commanding and threatening, and yet jus- tifying no man, sufficiently indicates, that man is jus- tified by the gift of God, through the quickening spirit. From God, beyond question, arises the beginning of salvation, never from us, nor with us. But the consent and the work, though not originating from us, is, however, not without us."* Of the work of grace and of the duty of man in sanctification, he seems to speak with evangelical accuracy. The only error is, that by speaking of justification, as effected through the quick- ening Spirit, he seems to confound justification Avith sanctification. A common mistake! The great lumi- nary of Africa fell into it; and, by his authority, gave it a sanction throughout the western church. In ano- ther passage, Giseibert, by speaking of a variety of justifications, which he multiplies to seven, and, with equal reason, he might have multiplied them to seventy times seven, J tarnishes the precious doctrine of salva- tion exceedingly, and leaves no distinct ground for the afflicted conscience, to seek peace with God. " The first remission is baptism; the seventh is by tears and confession." Whenever men are brought to feel what sin is, what their own sin is, they should learn the scripture doctrine of justification, which is, from first to last, by grace alone through Jesus Christ, and by the instrumentality of faith. Careless and selfrighteous spirits may trifle at their ease with other views of doc- trine; the contrite spirit cannot rest but in Christ alone; and by the truth, as it is in Jesus, the conscience finds peace, and the heart is set at liberty to serve God in love. However, a serious investigation of the doc- trine of christian righteousness, argues some just con- cern for the salvation of the soul, and often leads to the most salutary consequences. The worst state of the church is, when a deep silence is preserved concerning justification in any mode or sense, how- ever men's minds may be amused or agitated Avith a • 78. t Id. 139 Vol. tit. 35 270 variety of religious speculations or controversies. In thai case, religion lives only in the brain, and has for- saken the conscience altogether. But no writer of this age pierces more deeply into the spirit of divine truth, than the monk Radulph, who certainly flourished about the tenth century, *^ though very little is known concerning him. " Since," says he, " in every good work, divine mercy prevents us, if a man seek what recompence he may render to the Lord, he finds it not, unless he receive it also from God. Divine grace, therefore, obliges us by its bene- ficence, and helps us when thus obliged, by many repetitions of the same grace, that we may not remain ungrateful." " In us all, who are by nature children of wrath, and born under the yoke of diabolical sla- very, it is not expected, who will choose to come out of the mass, but whom celestial clemency will deliver. For it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that run- neth, but of God that showeth mercy, "f And he adds more to the same purport, speaking very fully con- cerning the " election of grace, "J and connecting that doctrine with practical views of humility and grati- tude. Nilus, of Greek extraction, was born in the year 910, in Calabria. He was allowed to have lived in a state of eminent sanctity, though a rnarried man; a singular circumstance for those times. After his wife's death he retired about the year 940 into a convent. In 976, the bishop of Calabria, and a lord of the territory, named Leo, with many priests went to visit him, ra- ther with a view to try his skill than to derive any be- nefit from his instructions. Nilus treated them civilly, prayed with them a short time, and then put into Leo's hands a book of maxims concerning the small num- ber of the SAVED. The company expressed their dis- satisfaction at the harshness of the doctrine. This in- duced Nilus to undertake the proof of it from the wri- tings of the fathers, from St. Paul, and from the gos- * Id. 363. t Id. 65. i Rom. xi. 5. 271 pels. " These maxims seem terrible," said he, " but the only reason why they do so, is this, they condemn your practice. Unless you be sincerely holy, you can- not escape everlasting torments."' They sighed, and they trembled. He had, however, said no more than w)iat the whole new testament inculcates continuall3^ And the conduct of these men, and of men like these, who abound in every age, shovvs how little the scrip- ture is really believed. One of the company, whom Nilus knew to live in open sin, asked the monk, whe- ther Solomon was saved or not? What is it to us, an- swered the upright Nilus, whether Solomon be saved or not? It is sufficient for you to know, that Christ pro- nounces damnation against all workers of iniquity. I should think it a more interesting object of inquiry for you, to consider whether you shall be saved or not. As for Solomon, the scripture mentions not his repentance, as it does that of Manasseh. What effect his discourse had upon his visitors we know not. But it deserved to be recorded, both to show how dangerously men ex- ercise their ingenuity in furnishing themselves with excuses to live in sin, and also to give a sample of plaindealing in those, who undertake to instruct man- kind. Euphraxus, an haughty nobleman, was governor of Calabria, under the Greek emperor. For the eastern part of Italy remained subject to that monarch a con- siderable time after the establishment of the popedom. Euphraxus sought every occasion of mortifying Ni- lus, because he gave him no presents, as other abbots did. Falling sick, however, he sent for him, and beg- ged of him the monastic habit. Your baptismal vows suffice, said Nilus. Repentance requires no new vows, but a change of heart and life. This sentiment of Ni- lus was somewhat extraordinary for the tenth century. But Euphraxus, who sought to pacify his conscience -^ at the easiest rate, with miserable ignorance impor- J tuned the abbot to invest him with the habit, to which 1, he at length consented. Euphraxus died three days after. Infidelity may smile, but if ever the conscience i272 become thoroughly alarmed, even in the most harden- ed sceptics and sensualists, it will quickly find, that the best of our moral works are no covering to the soul from the justice of an holy God; and therefore, imless the real doctrine of salvation be understood, men in their distress will betake themselves to such paltry refuges as this of Euphraxus. A licentious Charles II. having sedulous recourse to popish cere- monies, in his dying hours, is not a singular case. Others, who, like him in health, despised the doctrines of grace, have done the same. Nilus refused the offer of the bishopric of Capua: nor could the most flattering invitations induce him to go to Constantinople. He seemed likely to enjoy tran- quil retirement to his death, in his convent. But pro- vidence ordered it otherwise. The Saracens invaded Calabria, of which they afterwards gained possession. Nilus was driven from his home, and lived a long time in other convents. Otho III. upon a visit, pressed him to accept some situation in his dominions, wherever he should choose. Nilus thanked the emperor, but said, our divine Master will «ot forsake my brethren, if they be true monks, after I am gone. Ask what you please, said the emperor, I will give it you with plea- sure. " The only thing, 1 ask you," replied Nilus, " is, that you would save your soul. For you must give an account to God, as well as other men." This good abbot died at Tusculum, in an extreme old age in the year 1005.* Such was the light, scattered here and there, in the darkness of the times, by which the God of grace and mercy called, nourished, and sanctified his church, and preserved to himself a godly seed in the earth, who should serve him in the gospel of his Son, and prevent the cruel tyranny of the prince of darkness from com- pletely overspreading the world. " A. Butler, CENTURY XI. '* CHAP. I. A Ge?ieral View of the Church in this Century. 1 HE genuine church of Christ under the protec- tion and influence of her supreme Head, existed in- deed in this century; but it would be in vain to at- tempt a regular and systematical history of her pro- gress. Some particular circumstances in diflferent parts of the christian world, some pious and successful en- deavours to propagate the gospel in pagan countries, some degrees of opposition to the reigning idolatry and superstition, and the writings of some pious and evangelical theologians, demonstrated, that the Spirit of God had not forsaken the earth altogether. Indeed, if this century may be said, in some de- gree, to have excelled the last, the superiority must be ascribed to the improvements of learning. For the arts and sciences revived, in a measure, among the clergy and the monks, though not cultivated* by any other set of men. I speak in regard to the western church; for the eastern, enfeebled and oppressed by the Turks and Saracens from without, and by civil broils and factions from within, with difficulty pre- served that degree of knowledge, which in those de- generate days still remained among the Greeks. I scarce find any vestiges of christian piety among the eastern christians at this time: indeed, the attentive reader must have observed how barren of that sort of events, which relate to christian history, Asia in ge- • Mosheim, cent. xi. 479 274 neral had been for some ages. So fatal was the influ- ence of mahometanism, and so judicially hardened were the descendents of those, who first had honoured the religion of Jesus. Constantinople was still called a christian city, and, in learning and politeness, was su- perior to any part of the west: but it is in Europe we. are to look for the emanations of piety. France and Italy excelled particularly in the cultivation of learn- ing. Robert king of France, the son and successor of Hugh Capet, who began to reign in 996, and died in 1031, distinguished himself as the friend of science. Even the ferocious Normans, whose wars and devas- tations were so terrible in Italy, France, and England, after they had established their respective govern- ments, applied themselves to the cultivation of the human mind, and diffused some light among the peo- ple whom they had subdued. This was particularly the case with the southern parts of Italy, and with our own island.' William the conqueror, savage and im- perious as he was, restored letters to England, which, amidst the Danish depredations, had been almost ex- tinguished. And we shall see, at least, one learned foreigner at the head of the English church, who, uniting piety to knowledge, was not unworthy of the christian name. The learning itself, indeed, was not philosophical, like that of modern times, but consisted chiefly of grammar, rhetoric, and logic. It was, how- ever, connected with divinity: the scriptures were held in high reputation: the hardy presumption of subtile theory, and the supercilious negligence concerning piety and public worship were then unknown among men. In such circumstances, to have learned to read, to have attended to the meaning of words, and to have employed the powers of the human mind, in any man- ner, on the sacred writings, were blessings to mankind. In Italy and France also there were some witnesses of divine truth, who opposed the abominations of the popedom. The great scenes of political contention in this age, were, in the east, the crusades; in the west, the dis- 275 putes between the popes and the emperors. Civil, and even, what is called, ecclesiastical history, is full of these subjects. To my province they bear scarcely any relation. The former were attended with dreadful evils, and much augmented the influence of that per- nicious superstition, which commutes for offences, and taught men to indulge themselves in the worst of vices, through the hope of finding their way to heaven by the merit of a crusade. I shall, however, examine a little, hereafter, the grounds of the justice or injus- tice of these expeditions, because the character of some pious men of great eminence, is connected with the question. The disputes between the popes and the emperors, seem intirely barren of instructive inci- dents in religion. They confirm, nevertheless, the christian in the belief of those scriptures, which so accurately mark the character of antichrist.* Gre- gory VII. commonly called Hildebrand, began the scheme, which fifty years after was completely accom- plished, namely, of rescuing the election of the popes from the emperors, and of fixing it intirely in the col- lege of cardinals, in which it still continues. The ce- libacy of the clergy, and the doctrine of transubstan- tiation, were established by the council of Placentia in 1095. Popery, in short, reigned triumphant, and no public profession of the gospel, which professed in- dependence of its domination, could be endured in Europe. It will be proper to close this general view of the century with a circumstance or two concerning Africa. That once fruitful mother of the churches, who glorifed in her Cyprians and Augustines, had now only two bishops. The Saracens, masters of the country, per- secuted the christians there with great bitterness; yet so infatuated were the African christians with the love of sin, that they quarrelled among themselves, and betrayed their bishop Cyriacus into the hands of the in- fidels, who much abused him. Gregory VII. wrote to * See particularly 2 Thess. ii. 1 Tim. !v 276 the good bishop to comfort him in his distresses. A friendly letter, aboundnig with truly christian senti- ments, even from so imperious and unchristian a cha- racter as Hildebrand's, might convey consolation to the mind of Cyriacus.* Piety, united with distress, stands aloof from politics, and thankfully embraces truth as sent from her God, whatever be the instru- ment. He, who seriously reflects in what glory Asia and Africa once shone before God and his Christ; how dark and idolatrous, and, at the same time, how insen- sible of their spiritual misery die inhabitants of those two quarters of the globe were in this century, and continue even to the present times, will see with what reverential care the jewel of the gospel should be cherished, while in our possession, lest we not only lose our own souls, but entail a curse on ages yet unborn. CHAP. IL The Opposition made to the Errors of Popery. T * IN the year 1017, certain persons, real or supposed heretics, were discovered in France, who were said to hold, " that they did not believe, that Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary; that he died for the satygLtion of mankind; that he was buried and rose again; that baptism procured the remission of sins; that the consecration by the priest constituted the sa- crament of the body and blood of Christ; and that it was profitable to pray to the martyrs and confessors.'' Other practical matters of a detestable nature were as- cribed to them. On their refusal to recant before a council held at Orleans, thirteen of them were burnt * Du Pin. 1st edit. vol. iv. cent. xi. p. 55- 277 alive.* It is not easy to say, what was the true cha- racter of these men. It is certain, that they opposed the then reigning superstitions, and that they were willing to suffer for the doctrines, which they espous- ed. The crimes alleged are so monstrous, and incredi- ble, as to render the charges adduced against their doctrines very suspicious. That they, however, were truly evangelical christians, is what I dare not affirm. Some time after there appeared, in Flanders, another sect, which was condemned in a synod held at Arras, in the year 1025, by Gerard, bishop of Cambray and Arras. They had come from Italy, being the disci- ples of Gundulphus, who taught there several suppo- sed heretical doctrines. Gerard himself, in a letter, which he wrote on the subject, observes, that the dis- ciples of Gundulphus travelled up and down to multi- ply converts, and that they had withdrawn many from the belief of the real presence in the sacrament; that they owned themselves to be the scholars of Gundul- phus, who had instructed them in the evangelical and apostolical doctrine. " This," said they, '* is our doc- trine, to renounce the world, to bridle the lusts of the flesh, to maintain ourselves by the labour of our own hands, to do violence to no man, to love the brethren. Ifthisplanof righteousness be observed, there is no need of baptism; if it be neglected, baptism is^f no avail." They particularly objected to the baptism of infants, because they were altogether incapable of un- derstanding or confessing the truth. They denied the real presence of Christ's body in the Lord's supper: they rejected the consecration of churches: they op- posed various reigning superstitions, particularly the doctrine of purgatory and the practices connected with it. They likewise refused to worship the cross, or any images whatever. The bishop of Arras, having examin- ed their supposed errors, and, in his own opinion, con- futed them, drew up a confession of faith, contrary to those errors, which he required the heretics to sign * Du Pin. first edit. vol. iv. cent; si. p. 110, Vol. Ill, r-,6 278 As they did not well understand the Latin tongue, he caused the confession to be explained to them in the vulgar tongue, by an interpreter; then, according to this account, they approved and signed the instrument, and were dismissed in peace by the bishop. It is very difficult to judge a cause by hearing only one side, and that side prejudiced to an extreme. If we are tempted to look on the doctrines of Gundulphus, in a favourable light, (whatever we may think of the characters of these his timorous disciples) from this short narrative of his enemies, how much more excel- lent might they appear, if we had his writings and ser- mons? As he did not deny the use of the Lord's sup- per, but only the doctrine of the real presence, it is pro- bable that he held baptism also in a similar manner. If, however, he absolutely rejected the baptism of infants, the people, who call themselves baptists at this day may seem with justice to claim Gundulphus as belong- ing to their sect. The nature of mankind, ever prone to run from one extreme to another, will easily account for this circumstance of the rejection of infant baptism. The practice had long been sullied with superstitious fooleries: the transition to its total rejection was natu- ral. Yet we shall afterwards see reason to doubt, whe- ther ^lis people did deny the absolute lawfulness of infan||ibaptism, when we come to consider the religious views of the waldenses; for the probability is strong, that generally those called heretics in France, Flan- ders, and Italy, in these middle ages, were similar to each other in doctrines and customs. We have seen, however, a noble testimony to the existence of evan- gelical truth, a body of men in Italy before the year 10^6, in doctrine and practice directly opposite to the church of Rome, spreading purity of christian worship through the world with all their might, and distinguish- ing themselves from the general mass of christians in the west. I cannot believe that they held marriage as unlawful, though they were charged with this sentiment by their enemies: and, notwithstanding some errors and blemishes, it is not to be doubted, but that, on the 279 whole they were of the true church of Christ. Faith- fully to withstand idolatry and the reigning corruptions, required a light and strength far above nature, and I have only to regret, that, after a careful search, this is all the account I can find of them. Not long after the supposed heretics of Orleans, arose the famous Berengarius of Tours, who wrote against the doctrine of the real presence. His writings called forth the most learned romanists to defend the tenets of Paschasius Radbertus; and Berengarius was compelled to renounce, and to burn his writings. But he recanted a^ain and again, and returned, says a con- temporary popish author,* like the dog to his vomit. Whether he died in the same sentiments, is strongly contested between the papists and the protestants. The former quote William of Malmesbury, who says, he died trembling. " This day," said he, " will my Lord Jesus Christ appear to me, either to glory by his mer- cy through my repentance, or, as I fear, on the ac- count of others, to my punishment." The sentiment, whether founded on fact or not, is strongly expressive of the genius of the then reigning religion, which ex- cluded the spirit of adoption, and filial confidence in God through Christ, and supported the spirit of |pDnd- age and anxiety. And the effect was, in this cas4f pro- portional to the cause. Men had lost the christian ar- ticle of justification through faith alone; and, believing salvation to be suspended on the merit of human works, they found it impossible for Berengarius, even on the most sincere repentance for his supposed here- sy, to countervail the mischiefs which he had done by misleading others. Whether then we suppose the con- fession of Berengarius to be a forgery, or a real fact, it was delivered in the spirit of those, who weighed hu- man merits and demerits in opposite scales, and found * Bertold presbyter of Constantia. See bishop Newton's 3d vol. of the prophecies, p. 164. I have examined Du Pin, Natalis Alexander, A But- ler, and Mosheim on this subject, and find tlie whole mass of informa- tion so very uninteresting, though prolix beyond measure, that the few sen- tences in the text seem to me all that is needful to be observed on the Berengarian controversy. 28b no other method of determinmg the question ot a man's salvation or destruction, than that, which should result from the comparison of his good actions with his crimes. How impossible is it to give solid peace of conscience to a sinful creature by such a procedure! Joy, and love, and cheerful activity in the christian life can have no existence on such a plan: but such was the general spirit of the religion of the times we are reviewing. It is not easy to decide whether the papists or the protestants were in the right, in the deter- mination of the question, In what sentiments did Be- rengarius die? The former have the advantage of posi- tive testimony in their favour. The question is, how- ever, perfectly immaterial. The doctrine of the real presence depends not on the character of Berengarius for its decision. I know no marks of his christian piety; and his repeated dissimulations render him no honour to either party. It is, however, of some moment to ob- serve, that he was the instrument of calling forth a de- gree of salutary opposition to the errors of the times. He called the church of Rome a church of malignants, the council of vanity, and the seat of Satan. And he corrupted, say some old historians, almost all the French, Italians, and English, with his depravities. The Expressions are much too strong; but, no doubt, a salutary check was given to the growing supersti- tions: the opposition to the popedom, though it did not lay hold of the central truths of the gospel, might yet pave the way for still more eJBTective exertions; and served at least to inform mankind, that the court of Rome was not infallible. -s 281 CHAP. III. The Propagation of the Gospel in this Century. 1 HE* work of christian piety, which had been suc- cessfully carried on in Hungary, was now crowned with still greater prosperity. Stephen the king, who had been baptized by Adalbert bishop of Prague, and who began to reign in the year 997, showed himself a zealous patron of the gospel. Under his auspices, As- tricus came into Hungary, opened a school, and edu- cated ministers, while Boniface, one of his disciples, preached the word in Lower Hungary. The zeal of Stephen, indeed, was much stimulated by his pious queen Gisla, daughter of the emperor Henry H. He often accompanied the preachers, and pathetically ex- horted his subjects. He suppressed barbarous customs, and restrained blasphemy, theft, adultery, and murder. His kindness to the poor, and, indeed, his whole mo- ral conduct was admirable. His excellent code of laws are to this day the basis of the laws of Hungary. It is inscribed to his son Emeric, whom he exhorts to cul- tivate sincere huinility, the true glory of a king. He forbids in it all impiety, the violation of Sunday du- ties, and irreverent behaviour in the house of God. This monarch defeated the prince of Transilvania, who had invaded his dominions, and took him pri- soner; but restored him to liberty, on condition that he should allow the gospel to be preached to the Tran- silvanians, without molestation. Stephen was a pros- perous monarch, but found afflictions at home in the loss of all his children. His mind was, however, im- proved in divine things by his sufferings. He laboured three years under a complication of diseases, and died in the year 103 8. f He had lived to see all Hungary become externally christian, though Christianity ex- * Cent. Magd. cent. xi. t Alban Butler- 282 isted there, adulterated, or clouded at least by papal domination, and by the fashionable superstitions. Gerard, a Venetian, had been much employed by king Stephen, as bishop of Choriad, a diocese of which two thirds of the inhabitants were idolaters. In less than a year, they, in general, had received the forms of Christianity from the pious labours of Gerard. The power of Stephen had seconded the views of the bi- shop; but the prospect changed on the king's decease. His nephew and successor Peter, persecuted Gerard : he was, however, expelled by his subjects in the year 1042, and Abas, a nobleman, was made king of Hun- gary, who being slain after two years, Peter was re- called, but was once more banished. Andrew, the son of Ladislaus, the cousin of king Stephen, was appoint- ed king, on the condition of restoring idolatry. Ge- rard and three other bishops endeavoured to divert him from the design. But they were assaulted on the road by duke Vathas, a zealous pagan. Andrew him- self came up to the spot, and rescued one of the bi- shops: the other three, of whom Gerard was one, had fallen by the arm of the barbarian. It is probable, how- ever, that divine providence permitted their atrocious villany for the good of the church. The heart of An- drew was moved: he had seen of what idolatry was capable: he examined Christianity, received it, re- pressed idolatry, and reigned successfully. After the Hungarians had seen such a prince as Stephen, and had felt the good effects on society resulting from the establishment of Christianity, that they could still prefer idolatry, is a deplorable proof of the native power of human depravity! What long continued exertions are necessary, to establish genuine goodness in a country! In * Denmark, Othingar, a bishop of that country, extended the pale of the church by his labours; and Un\\'an, the bishop of Hamburg, under the patronage of the emperor Henry II. cut down the idolatrous * Cent. Masrd. cent. xi. 283 groves, which the people of his diocese frequented, and erected churches in their stead. Godeschalcus,* duke of the Vandals, revived among; his subjects the regard for the gospel, which they had once embraced, and which they had afterward neglect- ed. It is not easy to know precisel}^, what were the limits of his dominions. But I find Lubeck, Mecklen- burg, and Sclavonia mentioned as belonging to, or as, at least, contiguous to his dukedom. Much has been said in praise of this prince, and of the success of his labours.! He is reported to have, in person, exhorted his people with much affection in the public assem- blies; and John a Scotchman, the bishop of Mecklen- burg, baptized great numbers of the Sclavonians. Yet this last people, together with the Obotriti, whose ca- pital town was Mecklenburg, the Venedi, who dwelt on the banks of the Vistula, and the Prussians, conti- nued pagans, in a great measure, throughout this cen- tury. Boleslaus, king of Poland, attempted to force these nations into a profession of Christianity; and some of his attendants used methods to evangelize them, which were better adapted to the nature of the gospel. Boniface, in particular,! and eighteen other persons, set out from Germany, to labour among the Prussians, and were massacred by that barbarous people. They seem to have been among the last of the European nations, who submitted to the yoke of Christ. In the zealous attempts made, however, for their conversion, though unsuccessful, we see abundant proofs, that the spirit of propagating the gospel, which was the bright- est gem of these dark ages, still existed. Nor was the zeal for propagating the gospel, with which our ancestors had been so eminently endowed, evaporated in this century. In the year 1(301, at the desire of Olaus II. king of Sweden, some English priests were sent over into the north by king Ethelred. Of these Sigefrid, archdeacon of York, was one. His labours were very successful, and he was appointed * Cent. Magd. cent. xi. f Crantziiis in Vandalia. t Mosheim, cent. xi. cliap. t. 284 bishop of Wexia, in East Gothland. Having esta. blished the churches there, he preached to the infidels in West Gothland, leaving his nephews to govern his diocese, while he was absent. But they were mur- dered by the pagan nobility of the country. A melan- choly proof, how strong the spirit of idolatry still remained in these northern regions! The same kind of family pride, which, at this day, preserves the remnants of popery in protestant countries, preserved the exis- tence of paganism in Sweden. Sigefrid, however, re- turned into his diocese, died there a natural death, and was buried at Wexia. This man is said to have finished his course about the year 1U02; an account inconsistent, as to the order of time, with that which has been already given. But not to trouble the reader with such niceties of chrono- logy, as at this distance of time are impossible to be adjusted, it is more material to observe, that he appears to have been an apostolic person; that on his first arri- val in Sweden, he was obliged, chiefly, to preach by interpreters; that he prevailed on the king to spare the murderers of his nephews; and, that though he was very poor, he refused to touch the fine, which had been exacted on those murderers, and which had been of- fered to him as a present by the Swedish monarch.* Gotebald, another English missionary, was appointed bishop in Norway, and preached in Schonen. Ulfrid, a learned and virtuous Englishman, preach- ed the faith, first in Germany, afterwards in Sweden, under the patronage of king Olaus; where he was an instrument of converting many, till, in the year 1028, preaching against the idol Thor, and hewing it down with an hatchet, he was slain by the pagans. See Adam of Bremen, who wrote his history of the church in 1080. Canute, king of Denmark, natural son of Swein 11. whose great uncle Canute had reigned in England, was carefully educated by his father, who had no legi- * Olaus magn. B. 17. C 20. Collier's Ecc. Hist. Alban Butler, vol. Ji. ^85 limate issue. He became king of Denmark by elec- tion, warred aguinst the turbulent barbarians his neighbours, and planted the profession of Christianity in Courland, Samogitia, and Livonia. His zeal for the maintenance of the clergy having disgusted his sub- jects, he was deserted and murdered. His brother Olaus succeeded, whose successor Eric HI. restored the authority of the clergy. The life of Canute vi^as written by JElnoth, a monk of Canterbury, who lived twenty-four years in Denmark, and who wrote in 1105. He tells us that the first preachers of the faith in Den- mark, Sweden, and Norway were English priests; that the Danes embraced the gospel with zeal, but that the Swedes were more obstinate in their idolatry, among whom Eschil, an Englishman, was martyred, while he was preaching Christ to some savage tribes. That Sweden, however, was chiefly evangelized by Anglo- Saxon missionaries, is the remark of Stiernman in his treatise on the state of learning among the ancient Swedes. Alban Butler, vol. ii. Olaus, king of Norway, assisted the Danes against Ethelred of England, and, in his return from England, carried over several priests; one of whom, named Grimkele, was appointed bishop of Drontheim, the capital of king Olaus. This prince abolished idola- trous customs in Norway, Orkney, and Iceland. He used to travel with zealous preachers, exhorting his subjects, and destroying temples. The pagans, at length, aided by Canute of England, defeated and slew him in the year 1030. His son Magnus was called home from Russia, and became king of Norway in 1039. Alban Butler, vol. vii. The triumphs of the gospel in Denmark were, upon the whole, very conspicuous in this century. Hear the account of Adam of Bremen, who wrote concerning the situation of this country in the year 1080. *' Look," says he, "at that very ferocious nation of the Danes. For a long time they have been accustomed, in the praises of God, to resound alleluia. Look at that piratical people. They are now content with the fruits Vol. m. 37 286 of their own country. Look at that horrid region, for- merly altogether inaccessible on account of idolatry — they now eagerly admit the preachers of the word."* From this very imperfect account, for which I am obliged to Gil)bon, and which he candidly admits to be true, we may collect, what a blessed work it is, to propagate the gospel of Christ; that no meli deserve better of mankind than faithful missionaries; and, that the allegorical descriptions of the effects of real Chris- tianity, which we meet with in the prophets, have a deep and solid meaning. f To see Danes and English- men enjoying together, in mutual confidence and cha- rity, the blessings of true religion, must have been surprising to those, who had known, with what savage barbarity the former had desolated the habitations of the latter. In truth, that religion which could mollify, transform, and rectify the heart of an ancient Dane, must indeed be divine. These are the triumphs of the gospel. It was the preaching of the cross, attended with the energy of the holy Spirit, which effected this salutary change of manners in the north of Europe. Denmark had inflicted much evil on her southern neighbours, and they requited her with spiritual bless- ings. It is remarkable, that, to this day, no nation has exceeded the Danes in labours for the propagation of the gospel, in proportion to their abilities and oppor- tunities. And it must be confessed, that they owe much to mankind on the score of gratitude, for the favours of the same kind, which their ancestors re- ceived. I cannot, for want of materials, dwell on the parti- culars of the conversion of this people. J But the du- * Gibbon, vol. v. c. 55. f Isaiah, xi. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. \ One instance, however, is recorded, that will deserve to be mentioned. William, an English priest, attended Canute the great, in one of his voy- ages from England to Denmark. Moved with pity on account of the idol- atry of the Danes, he desired to be left as a missionary. His labours were successful, and he was appointed bishop of Roschild, in Zealand. King Swein having put to death some persons without a legal tria'., William forbade his entrance into the church. Several courtiers drawing their swords, the bishop offered them his neck. Swein submittted, conformed 287 rable change of their manners intimates, that their country must have been blessed with one of those gra- cious "effusions" of tiieholy Spirit, the consequences of which are commonly felt for ages after. Toward the close of this century, the northern nations ceased to invade the southern intirely. The last attempt was made by Magnus, king of Norway, on the isle of An- glesea; but he was repulsed by Hugh earl of Shrews- bury,* in the eleventh year of William Rufus. " That restless people seem about this time to have learned the use of tillage, which thenceforth kept them at home, and freed the other nations of Europe from the devastations spread over them by those piratical invaders. This proved one great cause of the subse- quent settlement and improvement of the southern nations." I quote the words of Hume, which represent in a very perspicuous manner the advantages resulting from the civilization of the north, not only to the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes, but also to the south of Europe. It is in assigning the cause of this happy change, that I am obliged to dissent from the elegant historian. He thinks that the effect is sufficientiv ac- counted for by these northern people having learned the use of tillage. But, besides, that he has no histo- rcal evidence of this fact, and supports it by mere conjecture, it is fair to ask, how came they to be so docile and tractable, as to submit to the arts of agri- culture? Does a nation, habituated to arms and to idle- ness, easily give itself up to industry, and the arts of peace? If we can answer this question aright, we shall know to ^^ hat is to be ascribed the happy transforma- tion of the north. Scanty as my materials have been, I have yet shown, that the gospel had now been, for three centuries, preached in Scandinavia. To this, doubtless, as the principal cause, we must attribute the happy alteration of manners in those barbarous re- to the rules of penance imposed by William, ami ever after concurred with his views. The bishop of Ruschild died in the year 1067. Alban Butler. * Hume, vol. i. c. v. 288 gions. Christian godliness has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. Wh;ie it conducts enslaved souls into liberty, and, turiiing them from the power ol Satan to God, in- vests them with the garments of salvation, it also me- liorates their condition in this life, and diffuses, through the world, the most salutary precepts of peace, order, and tranquillity. Let not men expect the general civi- lization of the globe by any other methods. When the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, then will the nations learn war no more. We enjoy, at this day, the advantages of society derived to Europe, from the propagcition of the gospel, while we ungrate- fully depreciate the labours of those christian mission- aries, through which, under God, those advantages were conveyed to us. Our Saviour has directed us, to pray to the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest; and every one who breathes the genuine spirit of the gospel, will devoutly obey the precept. CHAP. IV. The State of the Church in England. As the importance of our own country began to be displayed in this century, it will be proper to take some notice of the appearance of religion in an island, which, we have seen, had so distinguished a share, in diffusing divine truth through the northern parts of Europe. Even the very little of evangelical religion, which we may discover, may deserve our attention. In the reign of Ethelred, a very cruel massacre of the Danes was, by royal order, made throughout his dominions. The rage of the populace, excited by so many injuries, was extreme, and made no distinction between the innocent and the guilty. Swein, king of Denmark, amply revenged these cruelties, by repeated 289 devastations: and the unwarlike Ethelred fled into Normandy to save his life, while his subjects felt all the miseries, which might be expected from incensed and victorious barbarians. Among other instances of their hostilities, they levied a contribution on the county of Kent, and murdered the archbishop of Can- terbury, who had refused to countenance the exac- tion.* The author, whose short account I have followed, does not deign to give us the name of this archbishop, nor to relate a single circumstance of his murder. I cannot but think, however, that he would have en- larged on the subject, if it would have grarified his dislike of religion. But thus a conduct, at once the most magnanimous and patriotic, is buried in obscu- rity, because the hero was an ecclesiastic. Let it, however, receive the justice, which is due to it, from these memoirs. Thef Dunes were besieging Canterbury, when Al- phage, the archbishop, was entreated by his friends to save his» own life. " God forbid," said Alphage, " that I should tarnish my character by so inglorious a con- duct; and should be afraid of going to heaven, because a violent death lies across in the passage. I have been the instrument of drawing over several considerable persons among these Danes to the gospel: if this be a fault, I shall be happy in suffering for it. I have ran- somed some of my countrymen, and supported others when in captivity. If Danes be angry, because I have repj oved their sins, it behooves me to remember Him, who hath said, " If thou give not the wicked warn- ing, his blood will I require at thine hand." It is the character of an hireling to leave the sheep, when he seeth the wolf coming. 1 mean, therefore, to stand the shock, and submit to the order of divine provi- dence."! The archbishop, influenced by these motives, re- mained in Canterbury, and exhorted the people, as a • Hume, vol. i. p. 144. f Collier's Ecc Hist. ^ Osbern de Vit. Elphegi. Hoveden's Annals 290 christian pastor. But the Danes entered the city by violence, and exercised the most horrid barbarities, particularly on ladies of quality, whom they dragged to the stake and burnt to death, nor did they spare even infants. Alphage, moved at these hideous scenes, had the boldness to expostukite with them. " The cradle," says he, " can afford no triumphs for soldiers. It would be better for you to exercise your vengeance on me, whose death may give some celebrity to your names. Remember, some of your troops, have, through my means, been brought over to the faith of Christ, and I have frequently rebuked 30U for your acts of injustice." The Danes, exasperated at his words, seized, and bound the archbishop, and kept him pri- soner for seven months. His liberty, however, was offered to him, on condition of immense payments to be made by himself and by Ethclred the king. He told them, that the sums were too large to be raised by any exactions, and he firmly refiised to drain the treasures of the church, for the sake of saving his life; accounting it wrong to give to pagans those sums, which had been devoted to the honour of religion, and to the relief of the poor. The merciless Danes, enraged beyond measure, threw him down and stoned him, while he prayed for his enemies, and for the church; and, at length, a certain Dane, lately become a chris- tian, despatched him, in order to free him from his pain. One of his successors, the famous Lanfranc, doubted whether Alphage ought to be looked on as a martyr, because he had not died explicitly for the christian faith. But Anselm, a still more famous per- sonage, told Lanfranc, that Alphage was a real mar- tyr, who died rather than commit an unjust thing. Nor is it easy to conceive that any spirit, less than that of a christian, could have conducted him through such a scene, and supported him with so much forti- tude and charity. Alphage was murdered in the year 1013. A preceding archbishop, probably his immediate predecessor, Elfric, in the year 1006, had directed in 291 one of the canons published at a council,* in which he presided, that every parish priest should be obliged on Sundays and on other holidays, to explain the Lord's prayer, the creed, and the gospel for the day, before the people, in the English tongue. While historians enlarge on the quarrels between the papacy and the civil power, and descant, with tedious prolixity, on the superstitions, which were in vogue during the dark ages, they are too apt to pass over in a cursory manner, such facts as this, which has been mentioned. Let the reader, who has seriously considered the im- portance and excellency of evangelical truth, reflect on the preciousness of the doctrines, which the Lord's prayer, the creed, and some of the plainest and most practical passages of the new testament, do either ex- hibit or imply; and he will be convinced, that, if the canon of Elfric had been obeyed with any tolerable degree of spirit and exactness in a number of parishes in England, the ignorance and darkness could not have been so complete nor so universal, as we are generally taught to believe it was. Such bishops as Elfric and Alphage must have been useful lights in those times. The gospels read in the churches, I sup- pose, were either the same as, or similar to, those which are read at this day; nor is it to be imagined, that a familiar exposition of them, in conjunction with the creed and the Lord's prayer, would be in vain: because, in every age, the preaching of christian fun- damentals is accompanied with a divine energy, and the word returns not void to its divine Author, but prospers in the thing whereto he sends it.f The mix- ture of superstitious inventions might adulterate, but could not altogether destroy the efficacy of the word of God. Nor can I doubt but many at this day, who boast of their exemption from papal ignorance, and who call themselves enlightened, because they have been refined by philosophical and political knowledge, are themselves much inferior in christian light and * Collier- t Isaiah, Iv. 292 spirh to many, who lived in the dark times of the eleventh century, under the benefit of such advantages of instruction, as the canon before U3» afforded. For that elementary knowledge, which is the object of the canon, is ever more salutary in its influence, than the most ingenious subtilities of literary refinement in re- ligion. These, like the spider's web, are intricate, and are often found to be flimsy and void of any substan- tial advantage to mankind. Armed with catechetical knowledge, I conceive that serious minds would in that age find rest and food to their souls; and the love of God being, by this means, shed abroad in the heart, would constrain the missionaries of that period to difflise the gospel in the northern regions with abi- lity and success. The facts, on which these reflections are founded, may show us, that God, had not forsaken this island during the disastrous reign of Ethelred, though the political hemisphere was gloomy beyond expression. Ethelred himself, though he returned into his king- dom, was never able to make head against the Danes, who at length, in the year 1017, brought the English into total subjection. Their king Canute, and his two sons in succession, governed England, which, how- ever, recovered itself from the Danish yoke, and re- ceived Edward the confessor, the son of Ethelred, as its monarch, in the year 1041. But the Saxon line, though restored, was unable to maintain itself on the throne, and soon sunk under the power of William the Norman, who in the year 1066, beheld himself the sovereign of England, which continues under the government of his posterity to this day. Under William,* the papal power, which hitherto had by no means been so absolute in England as in the southern countries, began to be felt more strongly, * Osmund, a Norman, privy counsellor to William the conqueror, af- terwards bishop of Salisbury, corrected the liturgv used in his diocese. And he was thou.^ht to have done the work so judiciously, that the ser vice " In Usum Sarum," was received in other dioceses, and became common throughout England. For, before this time, e^ery diocese had its appropriate liturgy. Collier's Eccles. History. 293 and soon reached the same height, which it had al- tained in France and Italy. The tyrant found it a con- venient engine for the support of his own despotic authority: and while he took care that every one of his subjects should, in ecclesiastical matters, bow un- der the yoke of the bishop of Rome, he reserved to himself the supreme dominion in civil affairs, and ex- ercised it with the most unqualified rigor. Lanfranc, whom he appointed archbishop of Canterbury, zeal- ously supported the power of Rome, and confirmed the absurd doctrine of transubstantiation by his influ- ence and authority. His successor, Anselm, was no less devoted to the pope, and maintained several fa- mous contests with his sovereign William Rufus, the son and successor of the conqueror. This archbishop contributed much, by his influence, to settle the celi- bacy of the clergy in England; and it must be con- fessed, that even the virtues of this great man, through the peculiar infelicity of the times, were attended with great disadvantages to the state of societ}^ For it ought to be observed, that, if we set aside his attach- ment to the authority of the pope, and his passion for the fashionable superstitions, his conduct was pious and exemplary: his zeal against the luxury, simony, and vices of the great was laudable: and, above all, his defence of evangelical truth, adorned by an up- right course of life and conversation, preserved, under God, some genuine remains of godliness in the nation. Nor ought we to follow implicitly the ideas of our protestant historians, who, in every debate between the king and the church, are sure to decide against the latter. What could be more arbitrary, for instance, than the demand of a thousand pounds which William Rufus made upon Anselm? and what more warrant- able than the conduct of tlie latter?* He offered the king five hundred pounds, which were refused in dis- gust. Anselm gave the sum to the poor, rather than rack his tenants to double it, and said to the tyrant;, * Collier. Vol. III. 38 294 ' If I am used according to my station, all I have is at your service; if I am treated as a slave I shall keep my property to myself." And undoubtedly the rapacity and profaneness of the Norman princes, particularly of William Rufus, in the seizure and alienation of ecclesiastical benefices^ were justly opposed by the bishops of those times. It is only to be wished, that they had conducted their opposition on the grounds of scripture, and the pre- cedents of the primitive church, not on the authority of the court of Rome. ' Nothing else seems to have occurred, deserving a place in these memoirs, in the general history of our island, during the course of this century, except what relates to the personal character of Margaret queen of Scotland: a woman of the rarest piety, and of a cha- racter fitted to throw a lustre on the purest ages. She was sister to Edgar Athelin, the grandson of Ed- mund Ironside, who was the son and successor of Ethelred. Edgar was a peculiar favourite of the En- glish, because he was the last of the Saxon line of princes. In the reign of William the Norman, he and his sister found a safe* retreat in Scotland, under the protection of Malcolm, who, by the assistance of Ed- ward the confessor, had recovered the throne of Scot- land from the usurper Macbeth. Malcolm married the P^nglish princess. Wonderful things are related of her piety, liberality, and humility. Through her influ- ence, the ferocious spirit of her husband received an happy tincture of humanity. She was enabled to re- form the kingdom of Scotland in a great degree, and to introduce a more serious regard to the duties of the Lord's day, than had been known in that country. She had by Malcolm six sons and two daughters. Three of her sons reigned successively, and were esteemed excellent monarchs. Her daughter Matilda was wife to Henry I. of England, and was looked on as a pious christian. Margaret had taken uncommon care of hev * Alban Butler, vol. v 295 children's education, and the fruits of her labours ap- peared in their lives. Theodoric, her confessor, ob- serves, that she was remarkably attentive in public prayer. " And," says he, *' she would discourse with me concerning the sweetness of everlasting life, in such a manner, as to draw tears from my eyes." This same Theodoric, a monk of Durham, wrote her life. She was afflicted with sickness at the very time in which her husband Malcolm was slain at Alnvi^ick in Northumberland, in the time of William Rufus, in 1093. The bitter news was brought to her ears: her reflection upon it was truly christian. " I thank thee, O Lord, that in sending me so great an affliction, thou wouldst purify me from my sins. O Lord Jesus Christ, who by thy death hast given life to the world, deliver me from evil." She survived this event only a few days. A princess of such accomplishments, could not have shone in vain in Scotland; but, most probably, must have led man} , in a rude and ignorant age, to think that there is something real in godliness. CHAP. V, Anselm. 1 HAT good men* frequently appear to more advan- tage in private life than in public, is a remark which was perhaps never better exemplified than in this pre- late, of whom all that is known by the generality of readers is, that he was a strenuous supporter of the papal dominion in England. I can easily conceive that he might be influenced by the purest motives in this part of his conduct, when I reflect on the shameless and profane manners of the Norman princes. But his private life was purely his own, originating more directly from the honest and good heart, with which, through grace, he was eminently endowed. As a divine and a christian, he was the first of characters in 296 this century, and will, therefore, deserve some atten- tion. He* was born at Aoust in Piedmont. From early life his religious cast of mind was so prevalent, that, at the age of fifteen, he oft'ered himself to a monastery, but was refused, lest his father should have been dis- pleased. He afterwards became entangled in the vani- ties of the world; and, to his death, he bewailed the sins of his youth. Becoming a scholar of Lanfranc, his predecessor in the see of Canterbury, at that time a monk at Bee in Normandy, he commenced monk in the year 1060, at the age of twenty-seven. He after- wards became the prior of the monastery. His pro- gress in religious knowledge was great; but mildness and charity seem to have predominated in all his views of piety. The book, commonly called Augustine's meditations, was chiefly abstracted from the writings of Anselm. At the age of forty-five, he became abbot of Bee. Lanfranc dying in 1089, William Rufus usurped the revenues of the see of Canterbury, and treated the monks of the place in a barbarous manner. For several years this profane tyrant declared, that none should have the see while he lived; but a fit of sick- ness overawed his spirit; and conscience, the voice of God, which often speaks even in the proudest and the most insensible, severely reproved his wickedness; insomuch, that he nominated Anselm to be the suc- cessor of Lanfranc. That Anselm should have accep- ted the office with much reluctance, under such a prince, is by no means to be wondered at: and, the more upright and conscientious men are, the more wary and reluctant will they always be found in accepting offices of so sacred a nature; though it is natural for men of a secular spirit to judge of others by them- selves, and to suppose the " nolo episcopari" to be, without any exceptions, the language of hypocrisy. Anselm pressed the king to allow the calling of councils, in order to institute an inquiry into crimes * Butler, vol. i\ . 297 and abuses; and also to fill the vacant abbeys, the re- venues of which William had reserved to himself with sacrilegious avarice. Nothing but the convic- tion of conscience, and the ascendency, which real uprightness maintains over wickedness and profligacy, could have induced such a person as William Rufus, to have promoted Anselm to the see, though he must have foreseen how improbable it was, that the abbot would ever become the tame instrument of his tyran- ny and oppression. In fact, Anselm, finding the church overborne by the iniquities of the tyrant, retired to the continent with two monks, one of whom, named Ead- mer, wrote his life. Living a retired life in Calabria, he gave emplo}^- ment to his active mind in writinq; a treatise on the reasons why God should become man, and on the doctrine of the trinity and the incarnation; a work at that time useful to the church of Christ, as he refuted the sentiments of Roscelin, who had published erro- neous views concerning the trinity. For, after a sleep of many ages, the genius of arianism or socinianism, or both, had awaked, and taken advantage of the general ignorance, to corrupt the fundamental doc- trines of Christianity. Anselm knew how to reason closely and systematically, after the manner of the famous Peter Lombard, master of the sentences, and bishop of Paris; and he was properly the first of the scholastic divines. The method of ratiocination then used was, no doubt, tedious, verbose, and subtile; and, in process of time, grew more and more perplexed. It was, however, preferable to the dissipation and inanity, which, in many publications of our times, pretend to the honour of good sense and sound wis- dom, though devoid of learning and industry: and the furniture of the schools, in the hands of a fine genius like Anselm, adorned with solid piety, and under the control of a good understanding, stemmed the torrent of profane infidelity, and ably supported the cause of godliness ii\the world. Roscelin was confuted, and the common orthodox doctrine of the trinity upheld itself 29a in the church. What were the precise views of Roscc- Jiii Aviil be better understood, when we come to intro- duce one of his scholars, the famous Peter Abelard, to the reader's notice. Anselm, weary of an empty title of dignity, and seeing no probability of being enabled to serve the church in the archbishopric, entreated the pope to give him leave to resign it, but in vain. Nor does he seem to have been justly chargeable with the display of an " ostentatious humility," when he had first refused the promotion.^-' The integrity, with which he had acted, e\'er since that promotion had taken place, ought to hd.ve rescued him from the illiberal censure. " Rufus had detained in prison several persons, whom he had ordered to be freed during the time of his penitence; he still preyed upon the ecclesiastical bene- fices; the sale of spiritual dignities continued as open as ever; and he kept possession of a considerable part of the revenues belonging to the see of Canterbury." Was it a crime, or was it an instance of laudable inte- grity in Anselm, to remonstrate against such proceed- ings? I suppose the candor and good sense of the author, to whom I allude, would have inclined him to praise that upright conduct, for which Anselm was obliged to retire to the continent, had not this same Anselm been a priest, and a priest too of sincere zeal and fervor. In justice to Anselm, it should, more- over, be observed, that one reason, why he wished to resign his archbishopric, was, that he believed he. might be of more service to the souls of men in a merely clerical character, which wa.s more obscure. And he was naturally led to assign this reason to the pope, from the observation, which he made of the effect of his preaching on audiences in Italy. Men of superior talents, however, are frequently born to drudge in business or in arts, whether they be in prosperous or in adverse circumstances. For mankind feel the need of such men; and they them- * See Hume, vol. i. p. 302- 299 selves are not ^pt to bury their powers in indolence. A council was called at Bari by pope Urban, to settle with the Greeks the dispute which had long separated the eastern and western churches, concerning the pro- cession of the Holyghost. For the Greek church, it should seem, without any scriptural reason, had deni- ed the procession of the Holyghost from the Son; and had, therefore, thrust the words filioo^: out of the nicene creed. While the disputants were cngpged, Anselm, said the pope, Anselm our father and master, where are you? I'he archbishop arose, and by his powers of argumentation silenced the Greeks. At Lyons, he wrote on the conception of the virgin, and on original sin; and thus he employed himself in religious, not in secular cares, during the whole of his exile. A strong proof of his exemption from that domi- neering ambition, of which he has been accused. In the year 11 00 he heard of the death of his royal perse- cutor, which he is said to have seriously lamented, and returned into England, by the invitation of Henry I. To finish, at once, the account of his unpleasant con- tests with the Norman princes, he, at length, w?.s ena- bled to compromise them. The great object of contro- versy was the same in P^ngland, as in the other coun- tries of Europe, namely, " Whether the investiture of bishoprics should be received from the king or from the pope." Anselm, moved undoubtedly by a consci entious zeal, because all the world bore witness to his integrity, was decisive for the latter; and the egregious iniquities, and shameless violations of all justice and decorum, practised b}' princes in that age, would na- tnrallv strengthen the prejudices of Anselm's educa- tion. To receive investiture from the pope for the spi- ritual jurisdiction, and, at the same time, to do homage to the king for the temporalities, was the only medium, which in those times could be found, between the pre- tensions of the civil and ecclesiastical dominion; and matters were settled, on this plan, both in England and In Germany. If Anselm then contributed to the depression of the 300 civil po^er, and the confirmation of the papal, he was unhappily carried away by a popular torrent, which few minds had power to resist. It seems certain, how- ever, that ambition formed no part of this man's cha- racter. " While I am with you," he would often say to his friends, " I am like a bird in a cave amidst her young, and enjoy the sweets of retirement and social affections. But when I am thrown into the world, I am like the same bird hunted and harassed by ravens or other fowls of prey: the incursions of various cares distract me; and secular employments, which I love not, vex my soul." He, who spent a great part of his life in retirement, who thought, spake, and wrote so much of vital godliness; and whose moral character was allowed, even by his enemies, to have ever been without a blot, deserves to be believed in these decla- rations.* Let us then attend to those traits of character, which were more personal, and in which the heart of the man more plainly appears. He practised that, which all godly persons have ever found salutary and even ne- cessary, namely, retired and devotional meditation, and even watched long in the night for the same purpose. One day, an hare, pursued by the hounds, ran under his horse for refuge, as he was riding. The object, bring- ing at once to his recollection a most awful scene, he stopped and said weeping, " this hare reminds me of a sinner just dying, surrounded with devils, waiting for their prey." It was in this manner, that he used to spiritualize e\^ery object, a practice ever derided by profane minds, whether performed injudiciously or not; but to which, in some degree, every devout and pious spirit on earth has been addicted. In a national synod, held at St. Peter's Westminster, he forbade men to be sold as cattle, which had till then been practised. For the true reliefs and mitigations of human misery lay intirely, at that time, in the infiu- c«ce of Christianity; and small as that influence then * See his life, written by Eadmer. 301 was, the ferocity of the age was tempered by it; and human life was thence prevented from being intirely degraded to a level with that of the beasts which perish. Anselm died in the sixteenth year of his archbishop- ric, and in the seventy- sixth of his age. Toward the end of his life, he wrote on the will, predestination, and grace, much in Augustine's manner. In prayers, meditations, and hymns, he seems to have had a pecu- liar delight. Eadmer says, that he used to say, " If he saw hell open, and sin before him, he would leap into the former, to avoid the latter." I am sorry to see this sentiment, which, stripped of figure, means no more than what all good men allow, that he feared sin more than punishment, aspersed by so good a divine as Fox the martyrologist. * But Anselm was a papist, and the best protestants have not been without their prejudices. But it is time to let Anselm speak for himself; it is possible, we may hear something by no means un- worthy the attention of the most intelligent christians. A direction for the visitation of the sick was composed by Anselm;! the substance of which is as follows. Two previous questions were to be asked by the mi- nister; the first was, Dost thou believe that thou de- servest damnation? the second was, Dost thou intend to lead a new life? When the sick man had returned an answer in the affirmative to these questions, he was further asked. Dost thou believe, that thou canst not be saved but by the death of Christ? The sick man an- swered, I do so believe. Then the minister says to him. See then, while life remains in thee, that thou re- jjose thy confidence only in the death of Christ; trust in nothing else; commit thyself wholly to this death; cover thyself wholly with this alone, mix thyself wholly with this death; involve thyself wholly in this death. And, if the Lord will judge thee, say, Lord 1 cast the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between myself and thy judgment; otherwise I will * Acts and Monuments, vol. i. f Anselmi. Opera. Vol. hi. 39 302 not engage in judgment with thee. And if he shall say to thee, that thou art a sinner, say, I place the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and my sins. If he shall say to thee, that thou hast deserved damna- tion, say, Lord, I cast the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and my evil deserts, and I offer his merits for that merit, which I ought to have had and have not; if he shall say, that he is angry with thee, say, Lord, I cast the death of the Lord Jesus Christ between me and thy displeasure. It cannot be doubted, but all this process would be mere formality in the hands of many persons, both pastors and people. But so, even at this day, are se- veral the most spiritual catechisms, and the most evan- gelical exhortations. While the world is, as it is, de- praved and sensual, the very best means of grace will be lost on very many. But it is not easy to conceive, that he who composed these directions, could himself have been a mere formalist. They breathe the spirit of one, who seems to have felt what it is to appear be- fore the majesty of God; and also, how unclean and defiled with sin both his nature and practice had been; and how unsafe it is to rest on any thing but Christ crucified. The jewel of the gospel, peace by the blood of Christ alone, which is the doctrine that gives law and being, order and efficacy to all the other doctrines of Christianity, is contained in this plain catechism; and the variety and repetition, which the author in- dulges, offensive as they are in the light of criticism, demonstrate the author's sincerity and zeal, and are the natural effect of the impression, which had been felt in his o\vn conscience. For those alone, who have plowed deep into the human heart; have been truly serious for eternity; have been well practised in self- examination, and are become well acquainted with their own demerits; are disposed to relish the peculi- arities and the essentials of the gospel. Let a man once know himself a sinner deserving destruction, and be truly desirous to become a new creature, and he will find that the gospel of Christ is the only cordial 303 that can console him. This cordial is here adminis- tered: and as it belongs to true penitents only, to the humble and the contrite, so is it administered by the skilful divine before us : or, in other words, that doc- trine, which is " most wholesome and very full of comfort," namely, the doctrine of justification " before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Je- sus Christ, by faith and not for our own works or de- servings,"* is preached by a bishop of the eleventh century. So strong was the provision made by the God of all grace for the preservation of evangelical truth in the darkest times. With happy inconsistency, Anselm, in seeking peace to his conscience, and in preaching peace to others, sees none of the manifold superstitious methods with which the papacy abound- ed, and which he himself professed. I suppose he would give some lower meaning to the doctrine of the merits of saints, and the efficacy of pilgrimages; some meaning, which should not interfere with a simple ap- plication to Jesus Christ. And this was the method of many other pious spirits in those ages. The reader is desired to observe, however, that we have found the essential and leading doctrine of real Christianity in the possession of Anselm: and hence, we are at no loss to account for the superior piety and virtue, which rendered him the ornament of the times in which he lived, though they exempted him not from the com- mon frailty of being seduced by the prejudices of edu- cation. The inestimable benefit of reading, and medi- tating on the divine word with prayer, may, from this example, be inferred. Such reading and meditation were the delight and employment of Anselm, through life; and he found the word of God a light to his feet and a lantern to his paths. Hence also it is not to be wondered at, that ne should so seriously oppose the antitrinitarian refine- ments of Roscelin. He, who finds relief to his own mind in the death of Christ, can never behold with indifference the attacks made on the dignity of Christ's * See 11th article of religion. 304 person. And though, in that rude age, men had not, so commonly as in our times, learned to express a contempt for the scriptures, yet there were those, who ridiculed and pretended to argue against their divine inspiration. The zeal of Anselm, who lived for eter- nity, by faith in Christ, was induced to oppose these attempts, in a work entitled, " The Fool Refuted."* The ingenuity and acuteness of the archbishop were displayed with good effect in this treatise. It is pro- per to observe, also, that this great man was the real in- ventor of the argument erroneously attributed to Des Cartes, which undertakes to prove the existence of God from the idea of infinite perfection, which is to be found, without exception, in every man's mind.f Thus did Anselm employ himself in the defence of divine truth and serious religion. His knowledge of the scriptures was, I am persuaded, so sound, and his love of them so sincere, that if he had met with direct opposition, on these infinitely momentous sub- jects, from the court of Rome, he would have sooner pronounced the pope to be antichrist, than have parted with his evangelical sentiments and profession. But the course of events threw them into such circum- stances, that it became the temporal interest of the court of Rome, to cherish and honour the archbishop. Hear with what seriousness he expresses his views concerning his own justification before God. " I am conscious that I deserve damnation, and my repen- tance suffices not for satisfaction; but certain it is, that thy mercy abounds above all offences. "| The works of this great prelate are partly scholas- tical, partly devotional. Taken together, they demon- strate him to have been eminently endowed with ge- nius and piet)\ Like Augustine, whom he seems to have followed, as his model, he abounds both in pro- found argumentation on the most abstruse and difficult subjects, and in devout and fervent meditations on * Liber adversus insipientem. See Mac's transl. of Moshejm, vol. i. cent. si. p. 530- Qjiarto edition. t See Id. p. 483. \ Anselm's Meditations. 305 practical godliness. But it will not be so much adapted to the purpose of this history to analyze his tracts, as to give some detached passages on matters of real christian importance. In his treatise on the reason why God became man,* he says, " I see that the man, whom we seek as qua- lified to be our mediator, must be of this description; he must not die of necessity, because he must be om- nipotent; nor of debt, because he must not be a sin- ner; and yet he must die voluntarily, because it was necessary, that he should do so, as mediator." — " As it is necessary, that man should satisfy for the sin of man, therefore none could make satisfaction, but he who was properly man, Adam himself, or one of his race. That Adam himself could satisfy was impossi- ble."! He thus expresses his admiration, while he medi- tates on the power of the cross. | " O hidden forti- tude! that a man hanging on the cross should suspend eternal death, which oppressed mankind! that a man, nailed to the cross, should overcome the world, and punish its wicked powers with everlasting destruc- tion. O secret powers! that a man condemned with robbers, should save men condemned with devils; that a man extended on a cross should draw all things to himself! O secret virtue! that one, expiring in agony, should draw innumerable souls from hell; that man should undertake the death of the body, and destroy the death of souls!" Speaking of the humiliation of Christ, § he observes, " He assumed poverty, yet lost not his riches; rich within, poor without. God was latent in riches; man was apparent in poverty. By that blood we have lost the rags of iniquity, that we might be clothed with the garment of immortality. Lest we should not dare with our poverty to approach him, who has all riches in his hand, he exhibited himself poor; that is, God conde- * Cur Deus homo, Lib. 2. c. 11. fid. c. 8. \ De Medit. reddente hum, c. 1. $ On 2 Cor. viji. scended to take upon him our nature. That man might return to internal riches, God condescended to appear externally poor. We should have wanted at least one proof of his tender love to us, unless he had taken upon him our poverty, and he himself had sustained, for a time, that indigence, from which he delivers us." The reader, from these specimens, may idtm some idea of the felicity of thought, which enabled this pre- late to unite practical devotion with scholastic theol- ogy, and to educe the most cogent motives to grati- tude and pious affections from those mysterious doc- trines, which have ever been esteemed, by wise and holy men, the special glory of Christianity. The following thought seems to throw no small light on some of the most sublime ideas of scripture. He has his eye on the first chapter to the Ephesians. " In the revelation of the mystery of our Lord's in- carnation, the angels themselves received an advance- ment of dignit}^ Even their joy was increased, when they began to receive men into their fellowship. Christ indeed died not for angels; nevertheless, the fruits of his redemption, tend to their benefit. The enmity, which sin had caused between the angelic and human nature, is done away; and even from the redemption of men, the loss of the ancient angelic ruin is repaired. Thus heavenly and earthly things are renewed: those, however, only, who were in Christ elected and pre- destinated before the foundation of the world, obtain this benefit. For in him they always were and are, whom God hath chosen from eternity." His views of the virtue and efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ he thus expresses:* " Christ was made sin for us, that is, a sacrifice for sin. For, in the law the sacrifices, which are offered for sins, are called sins. Hence Christ is called sin, because he was offered for sin. He hath blotted out all sin, original and actual; hatli fulfilled all righteousness, and opened the king- * On 2 Cor. v. 307 tlom of heaven. By one offering he perfects for ever:* for, to the end of the world, that victim will be suffi- cient for the cleansing of ail his people. If they sin a thousand times, they need no other Saviour, because this suffices for all things, and cleanses every con- science from sin." I need not say of a man so holy and upright, that he meant not to encourage sin, while he magnifies the savour of divine peace, through the blood of Christ, which his own conscience had expe- rienced. " Thought all, who were to be saved, could not be present when Christ made that redemption, yet so great was the virtue of that death, that its effects are extended to those, who are absent or remote, in regard to place and time." Hear how divinely he speaks of the holy Spirit and his operations. " The holy Spirit is evidently declared to be God,J because, unless he were God, he would not have a temple. He breathed on them, and said unto them, receive ye the Holy ghost.*) As if he had said : As ye perceive this breath, by which I intimate to you the holy Spirit, as spiritual objects are intima- ted by sensible things, to proceed from my body, so know that the holy Spirit proceeds from my person, even from the secret of my deity." An interpretation worthy of him, who confuted the Greeks in the article of the procession of the holy Spirit from the Son. In- deed every precious fundamental of Christianity appears in his writings. Remove the rubbish of superstition, and view the inward man; and you see in Anselm all that is vital and essential in godliness. Nor is he con- tent with orthodoxy of sentiment: let us hear how he pants after God, and learn from him to apply, by prayer, for the power of the doctrine, which we pro- fess. || Draw me. Lord, into thy love. As thy creature, I am thine altogether; make me to be so in love. See, Lord, before thee is my heart: it struggles; but, of * Heb. X. t B. ii. Cur Deus homo. c. 16. J On 1 Cor. vi. § De processu spiritus, || De Meditat. cap. 7- 308 itself, it can effect nothing. Do thou, what it cannot do. Admit me into the secret chamber of thy love. I ask, I seek, I knock. Thou, who causest me to ask, cause me to receive: thou givest me to seek, give me to find. Thou teachest me to knock, open to me knocking. To whom dost thou give, if thou deniest him, who askest? Who fiiids, if he, that seeks, is dis- appointed? 'J'o whom dost thou cpen, if thou shiittest to him, that knocks? What dost thou give to him, who prays not, if thou deniest thy love to him who prays? From thee 1 have the desire; Oh, may I have the fruition! Stick close to him; stick close im- portunately, my soul.'^ Let this suffice as a specimen of those groanings, which cannot be uttered,* of which the breast of Anselm was conscious, and which, in every age of the church, have been known by the real people of God. These groanings are too much ne- glected even where they are not altogether contemned among men; but they are delightful in the ears of the heavenly host, and inferior only in harmony to the praises of just men made perfect. This holy personage appears, from his comments on the 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters to the Romans, to have understood the right use of the law and the gos- pel; the power and pollution of indwelling sin; its augmentation in the heart from the irritation of the law which forbids evil; and the real and solid relief from guilt, by the grace of Jesus Christ. These sub- jects are well understood, that is, sufficiently for all practical purposes, even by persons, who have no pre- tensions to skill in languages or criticism; provided they have felt the lost condition of fldlen man, and have been taught by the Spirit of God, in an effectual manner, to apply the medicine of the gospel: whereas they are altogether hidden from the wise and prudent of this world ;f from men, who may possess much learning and acuteness, and who trust in the strength of their own knowledge and acquirements; but' whose ♦ Romans, viii. 26. f 1 Corin. i. 19. 309 hearts have never been truly humbled, or opened* to the reception of spiritual knowledge. The apostle of the gentiles was divinely commissioned to explain the important points; and, I find Anselm to have known them experimentally; but. let it suffice just to have mentioned these things in this place. They have been copiously illustrated by many writers since the refor- mation. So various, however, and so abundant was the knowledge of Anselm in the divine life, that he wrote with no less precision on practical, than on mysterious subjects. Observe, for instance, how justly he describes the evil of rash judgment.f There are two cases, in which we ought to guard against rash judgment; first, when the intention of him, whom we are disposed to blame, is uncertain; secondly, when it is uncertain, how the person will turn out in the END, who is the present object of censure. A person, for instance, refuses to fast, complaining of his bodily infirmities; if you, disbelieving him, impute his refu» sal to a spirit of intemperance, you are guilty of the sin of rash judgment. Moreover, though his gluttony be unquestionably evident, yet if you censure him, as if his recovery to holiness were impossible, you are guilty of censoriousness. Let us not then censure things, which are dubious, as if they were certain; nor reprehend even manifest evils in such a man- ner, as to represent them absolutely incurable. Of uncertain things, those are most prone to judge rash- ly, who take more delight in inveighing against what is amiss, than in correcting it : and the vice of censo- riousness itself may be traced up either to pride or to envy." On the awful subject of predestination his views are similar to those of Augustine. Suffice it to quote a single sentence. " It cannot be investigated why God comes to this man in the way of mercy, to that in the way of justice. For no creature can decide, why he hath mercy on this person, rather than on that. "J * Acts, xvi. 14. f On Rom. xiv. \ On Rom. si- Vol. III. 40 310 In his comments on the 5th chapter of the epistle to t^e Romans, he beautifully illustrates the all-important doctrine of justification by faith in Christ; on which subject it may suffice to produce a single quotation from one of his systematical treatises.* " If, as it is evident, the heavenly city must receive its complete number from the human race in addition to the angels, who fell not, and if this be impossible, without a sa- tisfaction made to the divine justice, if God alone can make this satisfaction, if man is bound in justice to make it, it follows, that the Saviour must be God- ttian." So clearly were the essentials of salvation dis- cerned, in one of the darkest periods of the church: and there is not an humble soul, in any age, who seeks out the works of the Lord with admiration and delight, but he will join with the pious archbishop in his me- ditation. " The wicked sin, and the just are punished; the impious offend, and the pious are condemned; what the servant perpetrates, the master compensates; in fine, the evil which man commits, of that evil Christ endures the punishment. "f It would carry me too far to transcribe all his devout reflections and meditations on these subjects. One remark, however, which glances at the great corruption of doctrine, that origi- nated from the mistaken philosophy of free-will,f should not be omitted. " If natural possibility by free- will, as the wise of this world say, be sufficient unto salvation, both for knowledge and for practice, then Christ is dead in vain, and his cross is of none effect. But so surely as human salvation depends on the cross, so surely is that secular wisdom convicted of * Cur Deus homo. b. 2. w. 6. f B. Meditat. \ I have used the term free-will in this, and in some other places, in compliance with custom, thout^h the expression leads to a confusion of ideas on the subject. It is as absurd to talk of the freedom of the will, as of the* freedom of liberty; for we can have no other rational idea of freedom in men's actions, but that of their being voluntary. If men act voluntarily, thej- act freel}': responsibility is attached to what is vo- LtTNTARY, provided the subject be of sound understanding. When men do as thej' please, they are answerable for their conduct. Tliis is a simple state of the case. See Locke's Essav on Hum. Und, and Edwards on Free- 311 iplly, which knows not the virtue of the cross, and substitutes a phantom of human merit and ability in its room."* " We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery," says St. Paul. The real doctrine of salvation needs, therefore, a stronger light than the world, weak and distempered in discernment as it is by sin, can endure. Hence it always appears foolish to the natural man. Are we to wonder, therefore, that men of secular wisdom should despise it? That they should call the ideas of St. Paul, which Anselm illustrates, jejune, systematical, ab- struse, unintelligible? that they should pronounce the christian experience, which has those ideas for its basis, illusory, fanatical, and visionary? There have not been wanting, however, men of sound intellect and of solid learning, in every age, who have found the gospel of Christ to be the power of God to salvation. Anselm was one of these. Amidst the gloom of super- stition with which he was surrounded, he was yet ena- bled to describe, and vindicate every fundamental of evangelical doctrine: though a papist, he appeals to the scriptures: he expounds them, bv opening the plain, grammatical sense of St. Paul; and it behooves men, who call themselves protestants, or who boast of the superior light of this age, to confute his arguments, or at least to own that they do not believe the scriptures to be divine. If original sin be a true doctrine, it is to be expected, that men leaning to their own under- standing, would reject the doctrine of the remedy for a disease, which they will not feel. If the fever of pride have caused men to lose all sense of their fallen condi- tion, ought their reasonings to be regarded by those, who feel what that condition is, and to what a state ot misery sin has reduced them? If human powers, by the natural exertion of the will, exclusively of grace, be indeed sufficient to guide men into the v/ay of salva- tion, then the principle of effectual grace, through the mediation of Christ, and by the influence of the holy ' On ICnf. :, 312 Spirit, is doubtless unnecessary. Let experience there- fore decide by the fruits. Schemes and theories of doctrine, either wholly or partly subversive of all ideas of grace, have long been patronized by persons of great celebrity in the christian world. What have these schemes and theories done for mankind? Who, among , these philosophers, can be compared, I will not say I with many protestant divines, but even with Anselm, who lived, under a cloud of superstitious disadvan- tages, in humility, sincerity, piety, charity, and hea- venly mindedness? It is allowed, even by his enemies, that his life was in the right: and all the true holiness of practice, which has appeared in the world, has ever originated from such doctrines as he professed. What has been the consequence of doctrines grafted on hu- man merit and ability, but an inundation of vice and wickedness? We have lived, indeed, to see this conse- quence exhibited in full perfection in France. Since christian ideas were almost exploded there, that coun- try has been one vast theatre of all that is execrable among men. Even the military success of those infi- dels has only propagated misery; and their triumphs, like those of Satan, while they multiply the calamities of others, add only a fresh accumulation to their own. Is it the same thing to forbid crimes, as to prevent them, ye innovators without discernment?* Is it the same thing to despise the wisdom of antiquity, as t© understand it, ye philosophers without learning? To those then, who will not lend a patient ear to christian doctrine, we say, it is divine; it has proved it- self so to be in every age; the proofs of it lie open before you, examine, and confute if you can. And among these proofs we adduce one of no mean importance, * The innovators here alluded to, were continually, in words, forbid- ding crimes, and e-xho/ting- citizens to be orderl)', &c.; while, in fact, they taught them to hate and despise the true preventives of crimes, viz- an effective government, a strortg^ police, and above all, the doctrine of the eternal punishments of the vvicked. All this time, the multiplication of the most flagitious enormities was forming a sea without a shore, which at length swallowed up the preachers themselves. Such are the effects of chimerieal philosophy, and of the conteropt of ancient wis-^ doni! 313 namely, that the gospel stands recommended as the medicine of our nature by its holy effects. However you may dislike it in its principles, you must own, if at all attentive to matter of fact, that it teaches men in real practice to live soberly, righteously, and godly; and that the farther men remove from its system in their views of religion, the more rampant do they grow in wickedness and immorality. Reflections of this sort should teach men to inquire, with serious and humble reverence, both into the na- ture and evidences of Christianity; and persons, who feel at all the force of these, or similar observations, ivill find it their duty to pray devoutly for the divine influences. In this spirit of devotion, Anselm excelled; and a few quotations, tending to illustrate it, shall close this article. There were some others in the eleventh century, who lived, and who wrote in a simi- lar taste; but his eminent superiority over them all, will justify me in omitting the account of their works.* He, who in the following manner, breaths out his soul in prayer, through the Intercessor and Mediator between God and man, and so seriously rejects the hope of any other advocate than the Son of God, could not really confide in the virgin Mary, or any saint or angel, but must have rested in Christ alone, however difloicult it may be to explain the consistency of his sen- timents with the fashionable superstitions of the times, the infection of which he by no means escaped entirely. " Thus, Father Almighty, I implore thee by the love of thy almighty Son; bring my soul out of pri- * It may, perhaps, be not improper to mention Bruno, the founder of the severe order of Carthusians. He was born at Cologne, was chancellor of the diocese of Rheims and doctor of divinity there. He with two other canons prosecuted Manasses, archbishop of Cologne, for simony, in 1077. Manasses in a rage, brake open and plundered the liousesof the canons, and sold their prebends. He was, however, legally deposed. Bruno was offered the vacant archbishopric, but preferred a state^ of solitude. He is said, also, to have refused the archbishopric of ReggSb. Notwithstanding the uncommon austerities of the order, which he instituted, he was obliged to attend Pope Urban II. formerly his scholar at Rheims. He was learned in Greek and Hebrew, and versed with the fathers, particularly Ambrose and Angustine; he followed the system of the latter, concerning grace; wrote on the psalter, and St. Paul's epistles; and seems to h&ve been un- questionably pious and heavenly minded. See Butler, vol. x. 314 son, that I may give thanks to thy name: free me from the bonds of sm; I ask this of thee by thy only coeter- nal Son: and by the intercession of thy dearly beloved Son, who sitteth at thy right hand, graciously restore to life a wretch, over whom, through his own demerits, the sentence of death impends. To what other inter- cessor I can have recourse, I know not, except to him, who is the propitiation for our sins.*^ That the only begotten Son should undertake to intercede for me, with the eternal Father, demonstrates him to be man; and that he should ;8ucceed in his intercession shows, that the human nature is taken into union with the majesty of the deity. "f He addresses the Son of God as " the redeemer of captives, the saviour of the lost, the hope of exiles, the strength of the distressed, the enlarger of the enslaved spirit, the sweet solace, and refreshment of the mourn- ful soul, the crown of conquerors, the only reward and joy of all the citizens of heaven, the copious source of all grace. "J The holy Spirit he thus addresses in the same trea- tise. " Thee, holy Spirit, I implore, if through my weakness, I have a very imperfect understanding of the truth of thy majesty, and if, through the concupi- scence of sinful nature, I have neglected to obey the Lord's precepts when understood, that thou wouldst condescend to enlighten me with thy visitation, that through thee, whom I have called upon as my succor, in the dangerous ocean of life, I may, without ship- wreck, arrive at the shore of a blessed immortality." Could the pious spirit, who believes and longs for the rest, which remains for the people of God, express its most ardent breathings in language more adapted to lier frame than the following? " Hasten the time, my Saviour and m}- God, when, what I now believe, I may see with eyes uncovered; what I now hope and reverence at a distance, I may apprehend; what I now desire, according to the measure of my strength, J ' De Vestiment. + Chap. viii. Rom. ^ SP^<^- Sermo Evang. c. IP, 315 may affectionately embrace in the arms of my soul, and that I may be wholly absorbed in the abyss of thy love!"* After having uttered many petitions, f he says, *' I have asked many good things, my Creator, though I have deserved many evils. Not only I have no claim on thee for these good things, but I have merited exqui- site punishments. But the case of publicans, harlots, and robbers, in a moment snatched from the jaws of the enemy, and received in the bosom of the shepherd, animates my soul with a cheering hope." With so in- tuitive a glance of christian faith does he console his soul! It is in the same way that divine mercy is appre- hended by all humble and penitent spirits. The person of Christ, and the doctrine of justification by him alone, are the objects and supports of confidence in God. • Id. chap. J8. t B- Medit. CENTURY XII. CHAP. I. A General View of the Life of Bernard. A GREAT luminary strikes our attention at the en • trance of this century — the famous Bernard, abbot of Clairval. As the general scene of our history still con- tinues dark and gloomy, let us stick close to the splen- did object. At least I would wish to exhibit a just es- timate of the life, character, and writings of this re- nowned saint. For the subject may not only throw a considerable light on the religion and manners of this century, but will also illustrate that connexion between christian doctrine and practice, which it is the princi- pal design of this work to explore from age to age. There was a time when Bernard was idolized: his word was a law, while he lived, throughout Europe; and, for ages after his death, he was scarce thought to have been capable either of fault or mistake. But the public taste has long since deviated into the other ex- treme, and it will behoove me to say a few words, with a view to combat that power of prejudice, by which most minds are apt to be carried down the torrent of fashion. Bernard was doubtless a very ardent champion of the popes of Rome; I mean, of their office, not of their personal characters. He inveighed against the vices of the men, and the various evils of their ec- clesiastical administration. But he supported their pretensions to the chair of St. Peter, and opposed with vehemence all who withstood those pretensions. Forgive him this wrong: It was common to him with the christian world; and the German monk, who, ol i four hundred years after, could see at length, though by slow degress, the wickedness and folly of the whole established system, under which he had been strictly educated, has ever been looked on as a prodig}\ In superstition also, Bernard was unhappily involv- ed all his days; it was the evil of the times. His aus- terities have, with nauseous punctuality, been recited by his panegyrists.* They might have spared their accounts, as they themselves confess that he afterwards owned, he was in an error, both in injuring his own health, and in exacting too much of labour and suf- ferings from his disciples. Nor is the sincerity of Ber- nard to be doubted, either in his juvenile zeal, or in his candid and frank confession of his faults, t He even accused himself of sacrilege, because, by his indiscreet excesses, he had rendered himself almost unfit to serve God and the church. And though the weakness of his frame continued till death, as the consequence of the injuries, which his body had received by his austerities, he seems to have taken some care of health in the latter part of his life. But the strongest prejudices, which we are inclined to admit against him in our times, are derived from his supposed miracles, and from his real attachment to the cause of the crusades. In truth, 1 was disgusted with the tedious perusal of his miracles, with not one of which do I mean to trouble the reader. But Bernard was canonized: it was therefore necessary, by the etiquette of the Roman see, that a saint should work miracles; and no wonder, when the interests of all parties concerned were fa- vourable to fraud, and when credulity was a general evil, that miracles should be feigned, be circumstan- tially related, and be implicitly believed. Thus Igna- tius, the father of the Jesuits, was said, sixty years after his death, to have wrought miracles; though in * These are several; the lives of Eernaril, which they wrote, are at the close of the 2d vol. of his works; which are two folios. I use the Parisian edition of Mabillon. f Vol. ii. p. 109^. Vol. IIL 41 318 liis life, published fifteen years after that event, no mention is made of any. Our king Henry III. was re- ported to have wrought a miracle after his death, at his torab. He, also, might have been added to the Roman calendar, if the imposture had not been de- tected and exposed by the vigour and sagacity of his son Edward I.* Let Bernard, then, be acquitted of all blame on this head, though his panegyrists, it must be owned, have ^vritten as absurdly concerning him^ as if they had intended to disgrace his character. Of the crusades, the question concerning their po- licy, is not the same thing as concerning their justice. In the beginning of this century, prodigious armies marched out of Europe, to take possession of the holy land; and, notwithstanding the repeated calami- ties which attended their progress, the princes of the WTst still persevered in the attempt. That they should single out Palestine as the scene of their military ex- ploits was fanatical and superstitious. The great in- conveniences to which they were inevitably exposed^ on account of the immense distances from their res- pective countries, and the want of all political and prudential wisdom in their plans, are evident; and, in the event, Europe suffered the punishment of their temerity and folly. Add to this, that the improvident waste of so' much human blood on so fantastic an ob- ject,, and the mixture of profane wickedness with ab- surd; superstition in the crusaders, render their cha- racters, on the whole, as reprehensible as they were ridiculous. But when the precise question is asked, whether they had a just cause against the mahometans, I cannot decide, with the genei'ality of modern histo- rians, against them. Perhaps we have too hastily ad- mitted the truth of the accounts, which infidel writers, of no very accurate information, have given of the virtues of the Arabians. It is very evident, that in the vrars between them and the christians, the rules of justice and humanity were more frequently and more ' Fqx. B. of Martyrs, vol. i. 399. 319 atrociously violated by the former than by tlie latter. Even the very degenerate Christianity, which had then for ages obtained, produced a degree of social virtue unknown to the followers of Mahomet, A savage pride, a sanguinary malice, and a shameless perfidy marked, with very few exceptions, the general con- duct of men, whom Voltaire, with insidious candoi', prefers to their christian adversaries. It should be re- membered, that the mahometans from the first publi- cation of the koran, asserted a divine claim to univer- sal empire; and, in their creed, unbelieving nations are continually threatened with the loss of their reli- gion, their lives, or at least their liberties. In the eleventh century the Turks, the successors of tlie Arabians, both in regard to their empire and their re- ligion, had, in less than thirty years, subdued Asia, as far as the Hellespont.*^ Yet the same author, who gives us this information, says, the charge alleged against tl:ie mahometans, of looking on it as a duty to extirpate all religions by the sword, is confuted by the koran, by the history of the mussulman conquerors, and by the toleration of christian worship. This obser- vation seems scarce consistent with the former. To live in slavery, under the mahometan yoke, was all the in- dulgence granted to the christians, who sunk beneath their arms; and as they realized this doctrine at one time, even to the straits of Gibraltar; as the pilgrims to the holy land were exposed to many insults, rob- beries, and extortions; as both Saracens and Turks acted, from age to age, on the maxims of original mahometanism; and as, at length, for want of a proper union of the European princes, in stemming the tor- rent, they desolated a great part of Europe itself, it seems agreeable to the law of nations, to conclude, that the christian powers had a right to resist their ambitious pretensions. If this state of the case be just, it is sufficient to vindicate Bernard from the charge of iniquity, in encouraging and promoting the crusades. * GiWjon's Decline, c. 58. v. 6. 320 This is enough for my purpose: he might, and he, doubtless, did mean well in his exhortations on this head; and, it is only to be wished that the enterprizes of the christian princes liad been conducted on the plan of defensive prudence, rather than of offensive military enthusiasm. I am not, however, called on to vindicate Bernard as a politician, but as a christian. Bernard was born at Fontaine, a village of Bur- gundy, in the year 1091; and was the son of Teceli- nus,* a military nobleman, renowned for piety, at least according to the ideas of religion prevalent at that time. The same character is given of his mother ' Aleth. She had seven children by her husband, of whom Bernard was the third. From his infancy he was devoted to religion and study, and made a rapid proficiency in the learning of the times. He took an early resolution to retire from the world, and engaged all his brothers and several of his friends in the same monastic views with himself. The most rigid rules were agreeable to his inclination: and, hence, he be- came a cistertian, the strictest of the orders in France. The cistertiaiis were at that time but few in number: men were discouraged from uniting with them on ac- count of their excessive austerities. Bernard, how- ever, by his superior genius, his eminent piety, and his ardent zeal, gave to this order a lustre and a cele- brity, which their institution by no means deserved. At the age of twenty-three, with more than thirty companions, he entered into the monastery. Other houses of the order arose soon after, and he himself was appointed abbot of Clairval.f To those noviti- ates, W'ho desired admission, he used to say, " If ye hasten to those things, which are within, dismiss your bodies, which ye brought from the Avorld; let the spi- rits alone enter; the flesh profiteth nothing." Strange advice this may seem, and very different from the meekness and facility, which our Saviour exhibited toward young disciples. J Nor would it be worth while * Life of Bernard by GuUelmus, 1077. j Life of Bernard, 1085. t Matthew, xiv. 9- 321 p^ have mentioneci it at all, but that it evinces the ex- treme disadvantages, which then attended the pursuit ef religious knowledge, and the cultivation of pietj. Yet, amidst all these disagreeable austerities, the soul of Bernard was inwardly taught of God; and, as he grew in the divine life, he gradually learned to correct the harshness and asperity of his sentiments. Finding the novitiates to be terrified at his severe declarations, he used to preach to them the mortification of carnal concupiscence, and lead them on with a mildness and clemency, which, however, he did not exercise toward himself. He injured his health exceedingly by auste- rities, and, as he afterwards confessed, threw a stumb- ling block in the way of the weak, by exacting of them a degree of perfection, which he himself had not at- tained. He had induced all his brethren to follow his example of retirement. They were five in number; and his only sister still remained in the world, who, coming to visit the brethren in the monastery, in the dress and with the attendance of a lady of quality, found herself treated with such neglect, that bursting into tears, she said, " though I am a sinner, neverthe- less, for such Christ died." Bernard, moved with an expression so truly evangelical, remitted his severity, gave her directions suited to the taste of the age, and, probably, still better advice. But of that the miserable writer, whom I follow, says nothing. External auste- rities are, as it were, the whole of his theology, and having told us, that Bernard's sister became a nun, and resembled her brothers in piety, he dismisses her from his narrative.* Bernard, however, having reduced himself to the greatest weakness, by his absurd excesses, and being obliged to take more care of his health, was humbled under a sense of his folly, and frankly confessed it, in the strongest terms.-f He recovered his strength, and began to exert himself, by preaching, and travelling from place to place, for the real good of mankind. It ■ T^i 1090 ■* W. 1094 322 is wonderful to observe, with what authority he reign- ed in the hearts of men of all ranks, and how his word became a law to princes and nobles. His eloquence, indeed, was very great: but that alone could never have given him so extensive a dominion. His since- rity and humility were eminent, and his constant refu- sal of the highest ecclesiastical dignities, for which he was, doubtless, as well qualified as any person of his time, gave, in his circumstances, an unequivocal tes- timony to the uprightness of his character: I say, in his circumstances, for I would by no means insinuate, that the acceptance of the highest ecclesiastical dig- nities manifests, in all cases, a spirit of avarice or am- bition. The bishoprics of Genoa, Milan, and Rheims, were among those which he refused to accept. During a schism, which happened in the church of Rome, the authority of Bernard determined both Lewis VI. king of France, and Henry I. king of England, to support the claims of Innocent II. This is one instance, among many, of his influence, which was employed, in various negotiations, for the good of the church, as he thought; but of which the detail is very foreign to the views of this history. That which eminently marked the character of Ber- nard, amidst the profusion of honours heaped on his character throughout Europe, was his undissembled humility. Though no potentate, vi^hether civil or eccle- siastical, possessed such real power as he did, in the christian world, and though he was the highest in the judgment of all men, he was nevertheless, in his own estimation, the lowest. He said, and he felt what he said; namely, that he had neither the will nor the power to perform the services, for which he was so much extolled, but was wholly indebted to the influence of divine grace. At intervals, from the employments of ecclesiastical affairs, he meditated on the subject of the book of canticles. The love of Christ toward his church, his great condescension toward it, though sullied and dishonoured by sin, the reciprocal aft'ec- tion also of the church toward the divine Saviour, the 323 prelibations of his love afforded toward lier, varied however with anxieties and interruptions, these sub- jects engaged his attention, and he wrote on them in that manner, which experience only can dictate.* Another writer of Bernard's life tells us,t of the excellent dignitaries of the church, who had received their education in the monastery of Clairval. But as I know nothing of any of them, except one, it must suffice to mention him, pope Eugenius III. From a monk, he rose to that height of ecclesiastical dignity; and he still practised the apsterities of the convent, so far as his exalted station admitted; and we have yet extant five books, addressed to him by Bernard, writ- ten with that air of genuine piety and sincerity, which showed that the abbot was no respecter of persons. The pope himself was irreproachable in his manners, continued to reverence the abbot, was zealous toward God, and appears to have far excelled the generality of popes. For the worst thing that can be said of Eugenius was, that he seems to have had no scruples' in accepting the popedom. But it is not for man to say, how great a quantity of ignorance and supersti- tion is compatible with the existence of genuine piety- Eugenius was raised to the pontificate in the year 1145, and governed nine years, in a state of splendid misery. For feuds and factions convulsed his govern- ment; and he was obliged to fly from Rome into France, to avoid the fury of his enemies. It was pro- bably a blessing in the disguise of afflictions, that he was never allowed to taste the sweets of power and grandeur. Theobald, count of Blois, elder brother to Stephen king of England, was also much guided by the coun- cils of Bernard, and he was surely a very extraordina- ry character. Though a powerful prince, he lived in abstemiousness, simplicity, and plainness. Nothing indecent was permitted to be saidj or done in his presence. His care and munificence in relieving the '- Id. H2.T. t 1 127. Life of Berrard, by Evnald. $ Id. 1109. 324 afflicted was wonderful: in a famine he opened his storehouses to the poor: his Hfe, in short, was devo- ted to the service of maokind; and I hope it was true what Ernald tells us, that he laid up treasures above. But we must be content with details of external things from a writer who gives no account of the inward vital godliness of his heroes. Theobald also had his share of afflictions, though the account of their nature and of his relief from them at last, is beyond measure obscure. The talents of Bernard in preaching were, doubt- less, of the first order. He possessed that variety of gifts, which fitted him either to address the great or the vulgar. He knew how to improve conversation to salutary purposes, and to overrule the frivolous tri- fling of a company by introducing something serious, which yet was of an inviting and an agreeable nature. At the command of the pope, and at the request of other bishops, he was wont to preach in various places; and the impressions left on the congregations, who crowded from all parts to hear him, demonstrated the powers of his eloquence.* The crusade of Lewis VH. called the younger, was supported by the eloquent voice of Bernard, who un- happily prevailed to draw numbers to join that mo- narch in his absurd expedition, which was in its con- sequences, pregnant with misery and ruin.f If we had no other apologies for Bernard, than those very ab- surd ones suggested by Gaufrid, it must be confessed, he would be totally inexcusable. But, in the review of his works, we shall have occasion to hear the abbot speak for himself. * Life of Bernard, by Gaofrid, f Id. 1157. 325 CHAP. II. Bernard^ s Defence of Evangelical Truth against Ahelard, 1 HE merits of the controversy between these two great men, can scarce be appreciated, without some previous review of the life and transactions of the lat- ter. Peter Abelard was born in Britanny, in the year 1079.* He was, doubtless, a man of genius, industry, and learning. In early life, he was put under the tui- tion of Roscelin, an acute logician, already mentioned, who, incorporating his philosophical subtilities with christian ideas, departed from the simplicity of the faith, and was condemned for tritheism, toward the close of the foregoing century. Abelard needed not the instructions of such a mas- ter, in order to learn the arts of selfsufficiency. Confi- dent and presumptuous by nature, elated with ap- plause, and far too haughty to submit to the simple truth, as it is revealed in scripture, he was, from the moment that he applied himself to the study of the sacred writings, ardently disposed to embrace hereti- cal singularities. After he had appeared in a very splendid light in the schools of philosophy, and had been equally distinguished by his acuteness and by his contentious spirit, he attended the lectures of f An- selm in divinity. What sort of lectures they were, we are not told, but I have not the worse opinion of them from the supercilious contempt with which Abelard spake of them. He himself had given very little atten- tion to the sacred books, and yet very speedily de- * I have bceir obliged to Mr. Berins^ton's history of this man, for the ar- rangement of cprtain facts and cii'cumstances. I scarce need to say, that I am rorstrained to ditfer, toto coelo. from him in sentiments. Nor is it possi- ble, tl;ut it siioiild be otherwise, where two persons liave scarce one com- raoii p mriple of theology, in which they agree. t This person must not be confounded with the famous archbishop of Canterbury of that name. Vol. III. 42 326 cided against his teacher, pronounced him void of reason and common sense, and declared, that, with the assistance of an easy expositor, the scriptures were perfectly intelligible to any one, who had the smallest pretensions to literature. " Are you equal to the work of expounding the scriptures?" said his companions. " I am ready," said he: " choose any book, which you please, from the old or new testament, and allow me a single commentator." They instantly fixed on the most difficult of all the prophets, Ezekiel. He studied that night, and next morning declared, that he was pre- pared to expound the prophet: " for it is not by lei- sure," said he, " but by energy of genius, that I un- dertake to master the sciences." He exhibited him- self in public, lectured repeatedly on Ezekiel, and was admired by his ignorant auditories. Hitherto every thing seems to be a modern scene. The same juvenile confidence, supported by the same ignorance of themselves and the same depraved na- ture, has formed many socinian and pelagian preach- ers and writers in our times, who, between the age of twenty and thirty, have despised the wisdom of anti- quity, and the authority of men most justly renowned for good sense, learning, and holiness, and have com- mitted themselves to the direction of plausible and presumptuous innovators, who are often sufficiently artful in beguiling the unwary. One of their most suc- cessful devices is, they pretend to teach young stu- dents of divinity how to think for themselves. It is remarkable, however, that we very seldom find any of those, who have gone to visit the sick lion, to return from his den. A selfconfident spirit naturally leads the mind into opinions the most daringly subversive of the gospel, as well as into a course of life the most op- posite to its precepts. And when a man has begun to despise the influence of the holy Spirit, he is awfully left at large to his own dark designs, and to the crafts of the prince of darkness. The connexion between doctrines and practice is close and exact. He, who thought highly of himself, was easily disposed to think 327 meanly of divine grace; and the best uses of the story of this miserable man are these, to teach youth to be modest, and to inform mankind, whether young or old, that the scriptures should ever be studied with rever- ence, humility, and prayer. Abelard had the baseness to seduce a young wo- man, named Eloisa, who was brought up in Paris by her uncle. The names of both these persons are fami- liar to those who have read our poet Pope, and it would be far remote from the plan of this history, to enlarge on scenes of so flagitious a nature. The real principles of grace, I constantly find, are alone pro- ductive of holy practice. He, who has not seen the evil of sin in his own nature, and the preciousness of the grace of Christ, even while he boasts of his regard to moral virtue, will play with iniquity, and call evil good, and good evil. The unhappy woman herself learned to glory in her shame, and professed that she thought it an honour to become the harlot of so re- nowned a person as Abelard. Sin deceives and har- dens the heart incredibly; even holy David, for a sea- son, felt its fascinating power, and nothing less than the influence of divine grace can subdue it. Blinded by lust, Abelard and Eloisa felt no remorse for their monstrous treatment of her uncle, whose confidence they abused, and whose kindness they repaid with the most vile and wicked ingratitude. In the mean time, Abelard studied and expounded the prophets, and continued to preach, not the Lord, but himself, as he had ever done. Happy had it been for the christian world, if there had been no more such theologianSa But thus it is with men, who speculate on religion at their ease, and make it a vehicle for their own ad- vancement, honour, and wealth. With shameless ver- satility, they can at one time undertake to explain the scriptures, at another gratify the lusts of the flesh. With men truly serious for their own souls it is not so: they may be slow in their advances in christian science; but their s'teps are safe; and, while religion 328 is by them brought to the test of experience, their conduct is preserved in uprightness. I throw a veil over the particulars of the shameful story. Suffice it to say, that, in the issue, Abelard's projects of ecclesiastical ambition were disappointed, and that both he and the unhappy woman retired into monastic obscurity. Ambition and the force of an active genius soon en- gaged Abelard again in theological inquiries. Of all the ancient fathers, Origen most suited his taste; and, mindful of the instructions of Roscelin, he began to philosophize in public on the doctrines of the gospel, and composed, in three books, his introduction to theology; in which he attempted to render the myste- ries of Christianity more agreeable to reason, than they had been represented by the ancient fathers. The tri- nity, in panicuiar, he describes as a doctrine known to the ancient schools of philosophers, and revealed to them, in recompense of their virtues. This is certainly a language very different from that of the scriptures, which never mention philosophers, except with a view to guard against their seductions, and always represent their views as extremely abhorrent from the doctrines of the gospel. The modern historian of Abe- lard is large and diffuse in describing the treatment which his hero met with, but desultory and indistinct in the account which he gives of his real sentiments. He asserts, however, that Abelard was persecuted without cause; that his book really contained nothing that was expressly heterodox; and, while he positively and decidedly condemns the conduct of his adversa- ries, he gives his readers no sufficient data, by which they may judge for themselves. But thus it is, that heresy has ever been defended. While its words do EATAs A CANKER, and gradually pervert the minds of the unwary, every charitable attempt to* counteract the poison is treated as bigotry, illiberality, and fana- ticism. The praise of good sense and sound argument is considered as appropriate to the heretic. He, at least, is allowed and encouraged to spread his doc- 329 trines with freedom, and to asperse the orthodox with the keenest invective; while all, who undertake to de- fend the plain sense of scripture, ^re stigmatized as persecutors. Scenes of this nature, have, to the dis- grace of human nature, been renewed from age to age: and so low and mean are the ideas of charity incul- cated by those, who call themselves liberal, that the real spiritual benefit of thous:inds seems to them scarce an object of any magnitude, compared with the per- sonal reputation of the applauded heretic. Let us then endeavour to give, from the best evi- dences, a distinct view of the leading sentiments of Abelard, that we may be enabled to form a just idea of the controversy, which at present engages our atten- tion. I have drawn them from the history of Alexan- der Natalis;* and the testimonies both of Abelard himself, and of Bernard his opponent, are introduced into this account. 1. Abelard distinguished the persons of the trinity in this manner. He described God the Father to be FULL POWER, the Son to be a CERTAIN POWER, the holy Spirit to be no power. He said, " the Son was to the Father asacERTAiN power to power, as spe- cies to genus, as materiatum to materia, as man to an animal, as a brazen seal to brass." I suppose, were I to translate the Latin words of gjL-this passage, for the sake of the less learned reader, 1 should make no addition to his stock of knowledge. 2. He represented the holy Spirit to have proceeded from the Father and the Son, but not from the sub- stance of the Father and the Son. Let this article pass as an unintelligible subtilty, if the reader please. The next speaks plainly a sentiment, which strikes at the root of Christianity. 3. He denied that the devil ever had any legal au- thority over man, and therefore he denied that the Son assumed flesh, for the sake of freeing man from the devil. God appeared, said he, in flesh, for no other ' Alexand. Nat. 12th cert. end, than for our instruction by word and example^ nor did he suffer and die for any other reason, than to show and recommend his love towards us. I scarce need to say, that this is the very essence of socinianism. That I have not mistaken the meaning of Abelard, will farther appear from a view of his reasonings against the doctrine of atonement. " How is it possi- ble, that God should be reconciled to us by the death of his son, since, in all reason, he ought to have been more incensed against men for the murder of his son, than for the violation of his precept by the eating of a single apple? If Adam's sin could not be expiated but by the death of Christ, what expiation could be made for the horrid crime of murdering Christ him- self? Could the death of an innocent son be so pleas- ing to God, that he would be reconciled to us men on the commission of it? Who does not see, that it is cruel and unjust, that any one should require the blood of the innocent? How much less could God be so pleased v/ith such an action, as to be reconciled on account of it to the whole world?" Thus far Abelard.* Socinians have never said any thing more specious. To those, who know how to reverence divine wisdom, and to submit to the express word of God, such rea- sonings will appear unworthy of an answer. What I am concerned for at present is, to state the fact that Abelard was an heretic, that Bernard did not accuse him either unjustly or precipitately, and that the as- sertion of the, historian of Abelard, f namely, that his Jiero " was not guilty of a single error," is altogether unfounded. It may be proper to add, that Abelard, having set aside the scripture doctrine of an atonement, gives it as his opinion, that the real cause and design of Christ's incarnation was, that he might illuminate the world with the light of his wisdom, and inflame it to the love of God. * Bern. vol. i. 647. t History of Abelard and Elolsa, p. 278. 331 4. He affirmed, that the holy Spirit was the soul of the world. A phrase much used by the philosophers. 5. He asserted, that Christ, God and man, is not a third person in the trinity, and that God is not pro- perly to be called man. 6. That by freewill, without the help of grace, we can both will and perform that which is good, in direct contradiction to the seventh chapter to the Ro- , mans. 7. That in the sacrifice of the altar, there remains, in the air, the form of the former substance. 8. That not the fault but the penalty of original sin is derived from Adam. 9. That there is no sin, except in the full consent of the man, and that consent attended with or implying a contempt of God. 10. That no sin is committed by concupiscence, in- ward delight in evil, or ignorance. However obscurely he expresses himself, he evidently lessens the demerit of sinful thoughts. 11. That diabolical suggestions are made, in a na- tural way on men, by the contact of stones and herbs, as the sagacious malice of evil spirits knows how to suit the various efficacy of these things to the produc- tion of various vices. 12. Faith, he called an estimation or opinion of things not seen. "As if," says * Bernard, " a man might think and speak, in matters of faith, what he pleases, or, as if the sacraments of our faith were not sure and certain in their nature. The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits, that we are children of God. The whole object of faith is divinely con- firmed by prophecies and miracles, established and consecrated by the incarnation, bloody death, and glorious resurrection of the redeemer. How can any man give to so divine a principle as the faith of the gospel, so low and mean a title as an opinion, except * I anticipate the sentiments of Bernard in this place: iiioi'e of his ar- guments against Abelanl will be given, when we come to the account of liis opposition to the hejetic. 332 one, who hath not received the holy Spirit, or, who is ignorant of the gospel, or, who looks on it as a fa- ble?" The difference between divine and human faith in the christian religion is here not improperly stated by Bernard. 13. In commenting on the epistle to the Romans, Abelard thus expresses himself. " Since the divine compassion, by bare intuition, could have freed man from the devil, what necessity, what reason, or what need was there, that, for our redemption, the son of God should assume our nature, should sustain so many and so great miseries, and the painful and igno- minious death of the cross? To us the reason seems to be as follows: that our justification by his blood and our reconciliation to God, consisted in this sin- gular grace exhibited to us, namely, in his taking upon him our nature, and in his persevering by word and example, even to death, in instructing us.* '' Thus he drew his true disciples the more closely to himself by love. Our redemption, therefore, consists in that great love excited in us by the passion of Christ, which not only frees us from the servitude of sin, but gives us the liberty of the sons of God." In another place, he says, *' Though our doctors, since the days of the apostles, are of different senti- ments, I think the devil had no legal power over man, except a permissive power from God, as a gaoler,f nor did the son of God assume flesh, that he might free men from slavery." 14. He asserts, that fresh continued influences of divine grace are not necessary to the production of every single good action, contrary to the plain sense of * Observe liow the idea of atonement is excluded, to make way for that of instruction, while evangelical terms are still nsed. Some of the other articles are nug'atory or obscure: this is palpably plain, and of es- sential importance in the controversy. In the same lisfht the opposition, which he makes, in a e" .'at degree, to the work of the holy Spirit, is to be considered. f He plainly misrepresents the ancient doctors; none of whom as- sign any otlier sort of power to Satan, but, by this misrepresentation, he speciously introduces his opposition to the doctrine of the atonement. 333 the patable of the vine and its branches, and our Lord's own explication of it in John, xv. I might add also another sentiment of Abelard, namely, " that God does no more for him, who is saved, than for him, who is not saved." He argues, that " if man be naturally more prone to evil than to good, his sins merit no blame; nay, that * God him- self seems blamable for making him so weak and frail." Humble and intelligent christians know how to answer: " nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" And, moreover, they will, with great truth, contend, that such men as Abelard ought not to complain, that the character of humble and sincere christians is denied to them, and that their invectives against their opponents are not only unfounded, but also prove themselves to be void of integrity and can- dor, because they endeavour to impose on mankind by pretending to be what they are not. On the whole, it seems impossible, that a man, who had known any thing of the power of native depravity, should have advanced such sentiments as Abelard pub- lished to the world. Still, if he had kept his thoughts to himself, or had even been a modest inquirer, and proposed his doubts for the sake of information from persons better versed than himself in theological in- quiries, his sentiments would have been no proper object of an ecclesiastical council. But Abelard had proceeded to assume the character of a teacher; and what fundamental doctrine of Christianity had he not opposed? The views of the trinity had been either perverted under his hands, or confounded with the speculations of philosophers. The atonement of Christ, on which alone the hope and comfort of real christians, in all ages, depends, had, in effect, been denied: the efficacious influence of divine grace had been asserted to be, in many cases at least, unnecessary; and the fallen state of man by nature had been excluded from his creed. If he had renounced the christian name, at * Bern. 647. vol. i. Vol. m. 43 334 tlie same time that he renounced the fundamental doc- trines of the gospel, he would have merited the cha- racter of an honest man; and, by separating himself from christian society, would have prevented the weak and the unwary from being imposed on by his notions- But such candor and frankness seldom belong to the character of heretics: strict truth and plain dealing in religious matters are scarcely to be expected from any but those, who are humble before God, and sanctified by his truth. Why Abelard chose still to call himself a christian is obvious; his schools would have been deserted, if he had acted openly and honestly. Unless then it can be proved, that there are no fundamental truths of scripture, or, that all sentiments are equally insignificant, it behooved the rulers of the church, from every principle of piety and charity, to take cognisance of the growing 'heresy. A council was called at Soissons, and Abelard M'as summoned to appear. He was charged with tritheism, and with having asserted, that God the Father was alone almighty. He was ordered to burn his volumes, and to recite the symbol of Athanasius. He obeyed both the mandates, and, after a short confinement, was set at liberty. I am not disposed to approve of all the steps taken by this council. I only maintain, that the principle of their proceedings was just and equitable. Every person, who is a member of any society, reli- gious or civil, would own, if a similar occasion pre- sented itself, that he had a right to require the trea- cherous member, who had laboured to subvert that society, either publicly to retract his sentiments, or to submit to a decree of expulsion. But Abelard, in his own account of the transaction, largely descants on the iniquity and imperiousness of the synod. The acrimonious invective, the airs of tri- umph on occasion of little advantages gained by him- self in the course of the debate, the shrewdness of his cavils, and, above all, the dextrous evasion of the main points on which the controversy rests, these things appear on the face of his narrative, and are so exactly similar to the conduct of modern heretics, much bet- ter known to the world, that I may well be spared the recital of them. Moreover, want of sincerity as well as of temper, are so evident in the narrative of Abe- lard, that his authority is rendered defective ; and so much so, that we can lay no decisive stress on his tes- timony in things, with which his own character is concerned. Indeed the want of honesty and veracity appears to have been most striking features in this in- genious and learned disputant. A commentary on the epistle to the Romans was also published by Abelard, to which, in an introduc- tory preface, he has prefixed an observation on the comparative value of the gospels and the epistles. *' The former, he thinks, are designed to teach those things, which every christian ought to know; the lat- ter, to inculcate a strict attention and obedience to them; these last," says he, " contain some wholesome documents and advice, which though they appertain not to the essence of belief, may serve to embellish the christian establishment, and to develop its tenets.*' This is the method of speaking, usual with socinians, namely, to undervalue the authority of some parts of scripture, compared with others, as if holy men of God did not speak, as they were moved by the Holy- ghost, with equal authority through the whole of the sacred volume. It is not necessary to give any other account of the commentary than that, which the reader may conjecture for himself from the view already stated of the leading sentiments of the author. Bernard, paying a visit to the nunnery of the Para- clete, over which Eloisa presided, was heard from the pulpit by the abbess and her nuns, with admiration. He read and approved of their laws and institutes, which had been drawn up by Abelard. He objected 1^ only to one phrase in their repetition of the Lord's prayer. For the common expression daily, in the petition, " Oive us this day our daily bread," they had been taught to say, supersubstantial bread. Abe- lard, it seems, had literally followed the etymology of ooo the Greek word;* seduced, I suppose, by the aristo- teliaii chimeras, which relate to substance. The plain mind of Bernard, attending to sense and utility, rather than to sound and glitter, revolted against the innova- tion ; and, while he spake with a respectful deference of the man, and commended every thing else relating to the nunnery, he expressed his disapprobation of the unusual term. When Abelard heard of it, his pride took fire; he wrote to Bernard a warm expostulation, and, by undertaking to show the superior authority of St. Matthew to St. Luke, he endeavoured to support the propriety of the term supersubstantial. Here again appeared the socinian mode of undervaluing one part of scripture, in comparison of another. This is the first instance recorded of an open altercation between Ber- nard and Abelard. For I find, at least, no decisive proof of any opposition made, as yet, by the former to the publications of the latter. On the contrary, Ber- nard was hitherto far from being clear in his own judgment, concerning the real theological character of Abelard; and of his caution and charity we shall presently see abundant proofs. The little story which has been told, is trifling in its own nature, if any thing can be called trifling, which illustrates the human cha- racter, and displays the connexion between doctrine and disposition, which was never more apparently ex- hibited than in the transactions of Abelard. The council of Soissons had been held in the year 1121. It was a long time after this, that Bernard took any particular notice of Abelard. Either he had heard little of the controversy, or had not thought himself called on to deliver his sentiments. Abelard, however, notwithstanding his retractations, persevered in teach- ing his heresies; and it became, at length, impossible for his errors to escape the observation of the abbot of Clairval. About the year llb9,t William, abbot of St. Thi- erry, alarmed at the growing progress of Abelard's " Ev^vTicv. -j- Bern. Opera, vol. i. p. 303. 337 doctrine, wrote to Geofry, bishop of Chartres, and to Bernard, intreating them to undertake the defence of divine truth. " God knows I am confounded," said he, " when I, who am " no man,"*^ am compelled to ad- dress, on a subject of urgent importance, you and others, whose duty it was to speak, though hitherto ye have been silent, f For when I see the faith of our common hope to be grievously and dangerously corrupted with- out resistance, and without contradiction, the faith which Christ hath consecrated for us with his blood, for which apostles and martyrs contended even to death, which holy teachers defended with much labour and fatigue, and which they transmitted entire and uncor- rupt to these dregs of time, I feel a distress which con- strains me to speak for that faith, for which I could wish to die, if it were necessary. They are no small objects which I lay before you: the faith of the holy trinity, the person of the mediator, the holy Spirit, the grace of God, the sacrament of our common redemp- tion, are the subjects which engage my attention. For Peter Abelard again teaches and writes novelties: his books cross the seas, and pass over the Alps; and his new sentiments concerning the faith are carried into provinces and kingdoms, are preached to crowded audiences, and are openly defended; they are even said to have made their way into the court of Rome. I say to you both, your silence is dangerous, both to yourselves, and to the church of God; I tell you, this monster is as yet in labour; but if he be not prevented, he will eject a poisonous serpent, for which no charmer can be found. " I lately met with ' The Theology of Peter Abe- lard. ' 1 confess this title made me curious to read. I have sent you the books with my remarks; whether there is a just cause for my apprehensions, judge ye. As new terms and new ideas disturbed my spirit, and I had no one before whom I could freely unbosom my * Psalm, xxii. t Hence it is evident, that Bernard had not yet distinp^uished hiniself in this controversy, though it must have been of above eighteen years stand- ing. A plain proof of his caution and modesty. 338 thoughts, I have apphed myself to you, and implore you todefeiidthe cause of God and the whole Latin Church. The man fears you, and dreads your authority. For, indeed, almost all the champions of divine truth being deceased, a domestic enemy hath invi led the de- fenceless state of the church, and hath betaken himself to a singular method of teaching; dealing with scrip- ture, as he used to do with logic, by introducing his own inventions and novelties: a censor, not a disciple of the faith; a corrector, not a follower." He then mentions the heads of the heresy, which he had discovered, and which were much the same as those which have already been described, and he promises to enlarge in writing on the same argument, " with the help of Him, in whose hand are both we and our words; nor," says he, " do I value your being offended at my language, provided I please you in the doctrine. If I can convince you that I am justly moved, I trust you also will be moved, and, in an important cause like this, will not fear to part with him, though he be a foot, an hand, or even an eye. I myself have loved him, and wish to do so still, God is my witness: but in this cause I see neither relation nor friend." Bernard read the book which William sent, and re- turned this answer. " I think your zeal both just and necessary: that it was not idle, the book, which you have sent me, demonstrates. In this book you effectu- ally stop the mouths of gainsay ers: not that I have gi- ven it that accurate survey, which you desire; but I own I am pleased with it, even from a cursory read- ing, and I think the arguments solid and convincing. But as I have not been accustomed to trust to my own judgment, especially in things of so great impor- tance, I believe the best way would be for you and me to meet, and talk over the subject. Yet even this, I think, cannot be done till after Easter, lest the devo- tions of the holy season be distracted. But I must be- seech you to have patience with me, in regard to my silence on the subject, since I was hitherto ignorant of most, if not all the particulars. As to that which you 339 exhort me to, God is able to inspire me with his good spirit through your prayers." Bernard, having, at length, made himself master of the subject, and, being impressed with its magnitude, resolved to exert himself on the occasion. He first held a private conference with Abelard, and admon- ished him, in a friendly manner, to correct his errors. But this first attempt being fruitless, he took two or three persons with him, according to the precept of the gospel; and, in their presence, expostulated with the innovator.* Finding his endeavours to be unsuc- cessful, and observing, on accurate inquiry, how much the evil spread, it now became a question with Ber- nard, whether he ought to sacrifice the honour of God and the good of souls to the humor of an artful and obstinate heretic. As a conscientious spirit, like his, was obliged to decide this question in the negative, and as he had sufficiently exculpated himself from the charge of personal malice, or blind precipitation, he began to warn the disciples of Abelard against the errors of their master, and to guard, as far as in him lay, the christian world against the growing heresy. He wrote to pope Innocent in these terms. " Another foundation is laid, than that which has been laid for us. A new creed is coined in France: virtues and vices are discussed, not according to rules of morality: the sacraments are treated unfaithfull) ; and the mystery of the holy trinity is investigated, not in simplicity and sobriety, but in a manner contrary to that, which we have received. Our theologian, with Arius disposes of the trinity by degrees and measures; with Pelagius prefers freewill to grace; with Nestorius divides Christ, and excludes the man Christ Jesus from all connex- ion with the trinity. "t To another bishop he wrote thus. " The dragon had been silent many days; but, when he was silent in Britain,! he conceived iniquity in France. The man * Bern. Opera, vol. i. p. 310. f Id. p. 306. t He alludes to the pelag'ian heresy, which had flourislied in Britain. 340 boasts, that he hath infected the court of Rome with the poison of his novelty; that he hath dispersed his books among the Romans: and he assumes those as the patrons of his error, by whom he ought to be con- demned. May God defend that church for which he died, that he may present it to himself, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. "^ Let this suffice for a specimen of the glowing lan- guage of Bernard; too vehement perhaps, but surely kindled by the fire of charity. Those, however, alone can judge of the spirit of the man with candor and equity, who feel the importance of divine truth. Humanly speaking, the errors of Abelard, aided by the propensities of our depraved nature, might in a silent and gradual manner have pervaded all Europe, and the propagation of socinianism might have been matured six centuries ago, if the mischief had not been thus vigorously opposed. In the archiepiscopal city of Sens, a superstitions ceremony, namely, the translation of a saint's body into the cathedral church was to be performed in the year 1140. Abelard, incensed at the open and repea- ted opposition of Bernard, challenged him to make good his charges of heresy at this solemn assembly. Undoubtedly he proceeded regularly in the formality of the challenge. For he implored the archbishop of Sens to cite his accuser before the assembly, and pro- mised to meet him. The archbishop wrote to Bernard accordingly, and named the day on which he should expect to see him. Bernard seems to have been con- siderably embarrassed at this step. His good sense enabled him to see the diiference between popular preaching, and close scholastical argumentation. He had been habituated to the former; with the latter he was unacquainted: and, he knew that Abelard excel- led all men in the arts of controversy, in which also age and experience would give him a great advantage over a young antagonist. Bernard, therefore, at first * Id. 307. 341 refused to appear. '' I was but a youth," says he, in his own account of this matter, '' and he a man of war from his youth.* Besides, I judged it improper to commit the measures of divine faith, which rested on the foundations of eternal truth, to the petty reason- ings of the schools. I said, that his own writings w^re sufficient to accuse him, and that it was not my con- cern, but that of the bishops, to decide concerning his tenets." Elated at the apparent pusillanimity of Bernard, Abelard collected his friends, spake in a strong tone of victory, and appealed to many concerning the justice of his cause. " What things he wrote of me to his scholars," says Bernard, " I love not to relate. He took care to spread the news every where, that he would answer me at Sens on the day appointed. I yielded, however, though with tears and much reluc- tance, to the advice of my friends. They saw that all men were going, as it were, to the spectacle, to behold the combatants. What would they say, if one of them did not appear? The people would stumble, the adversar}^ would triumph, and error would grow stronger, if none should appear to answer and to con- tradict. Moved by these reasons, I determined at length to meet Abelard at the time and place, with no other preparation than that scripture promise, do not premeditate, how you may answer; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall say; and that other, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear Avhat man can do unto me."! The assembly was splendid. Lewis VIL was there with his nobles; the archbishop with the bishops of his diocese, many abbots, professors, and in general all the learned of France were present. The superstitious ceremony being perforiTied on the first day, on the second the two abbots appeared, and every eye was fixed on them. The whole assem- bly was suspended in expectation of the contest. Ber- M'l.p. 181. flfl Vol. ITT. U 342 nard arose, and in a modest and diffident manner, declared; " I accuse not this man; let his own works speak against him. Here they are, and these are the propositions extracted from them. Let him say, I wrote them not, or let him condemn them, if they be erroneous, or let him defend them against my objec- tions." He then delivered the charges to the promoter, who began distinctly to read them. He had not read far, when Abelard arose. " I appeal," said he, " to the pope," and refusing to hear any more, began to leave the assembly. The assembly was astonished at the unexpected step. " Do you fear," said Ber- nard, "for your person? you are perfectly secure: you know that nothing is intended against you: you may answer freely, assured of a patient hearing."* "I have appealed to the court of Rome," cried the ap- palled heretic, and withdrew. Bernard, in writing the account of these transactions, to the pope, gives it as his opinion, that the procedure of Abelard was unjustifiable, to appeal from judges, of whom he had himself made choice. f If the issue of the conference between these two renowned antagonists has been such as to disappoint the reader's expectations, something, however divine- ly instructive, may be learned from the narrative. I know nothing in Bernard's history more decisively- descriptive of his character, than his conduct in this whole transaction. By nature, sanguine and vehement; by grace and self knowledge, modest and diffident, he seems, on this occasion, to have united boldness with timidity, and caution with fortitude. It was evidently in the spirit of the purest faith in God, as well as in the most charitable zeal for divine truth, that he came to the contest; while Abelard, who, presumptuous through a long course of scholastic honours, came elated and selfconfident, drooped in the very crisis, which called for his eloquence and resources. His courage seems to have failed him; or, did the con- * Viata Bern. v. il. p. 1138. f Id. 183. 343 sciousness of real heresy make him incapable of stand ing before a distinct and orderly examination? At any rate, the humble was exalted, and the proud was dis- graced, according to the maxims of the gospel; and the conduct of the men was a precise, counterpart of the doctrines which they severally espoused. The bishops of France wrote to the pope an account of the procedure; and, in their words, I shall recite the little that remains to be mentioned of the acts of the assembly. Having given an account of the conduct of Bernard, perfectly agreeable to that which we have heard from the abbot himself, they observe, that " he certainly ap- peared at Sens, inflamed with pious fervour, nay, un- questionably with the fire of the holy Spirit."* And they proceed as follows: " As Abelard's sentiments were read over and over in public audience, and as the arguments of Bernard, partly built on the most solid reasons, partly on the authorities of Augustin and other holy fathers, convinced the synod, that the tenets, which he opposed, were not only false, but also heretical, we, sparing the man out of deference to the apostolic see, condemned the opinions. We in- treat you to confirm our decrees, and to impose si- lence on the author of the books, in order to prevent the pernicious consequences with which his errors may be attended." In what manner Bernard disproved the tenets of Abelard before the council, may be judged from the following brief review of his long epistle to the pope, f " The new theologist of France is one, who scorns to be ignorant of any thing in heaven above, or in earth below; to one point only, himself and his own ignorance, he is perfectly blind. While he is prepared to give a reason for every thing, he presumes things above reason, and contrary both to reason and to faith. We ought to consider, that Mary is recommended, because she prevented reasoning by faith, :j: and that • p. 3111. + Bern. vol. i. p. 650 \ Luke, i. 38. 344 Zachariah was punished, because he tempted a faith- ful God by reasonings. Abraham also is extolled, who believed in hope against hope." But our theologist says, " what does it profit, if, what we teach, cannot be rendered intelligible?" Thus promising, perfectly to explain mysterious things, he places degrees in the trinity, measures in the divine majesty, and numbers in eternity. In the very entrance on his work, he defines faith to be " an estimation or an opinion." But christian faith has no such limits. Let estimation and opinion belong to the academics, whose character it is to doubt of all things; to know nothing. I shall follow the sentiments of the apostle of the gentiles, and know that I shall not be con- founded. His definition of faith, I own, is agreeable to me: Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen. Substance of things hoped for; not a fancy of empty conjectures. The idea of substance is connected with something certain and fixed. Faith is not estimation, but certainty. I shall not dwell upon a number of nugatory specula- tions, in which, while he labours to make Plato a christian, he makes himself a pagan. I come to more weighty matters. I have read in a certain book of his sentences, and in his exposition of the epistle to the Romans, that he holds an original sentiment concern- ing the mystery of our redemption; namely, that the ancient doctors were unanimous in their mode of in- terpretation concerning the subject, that they all held in such a manner; but, that he holds in a different manner. And art thou he, who constructest for us a new gospel? Thou hast discovered, it seems, that the son of God did not assume flesh, that he might free man from the devil. Let them give thanks, says the psalmist, whom the Lord hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.* This thou wouldst not deny, if thou wert not under the power of the enemy. Thou canst not give thanks with the redeemed, who art not * Ps. c^i. & 345 tliyself redeemed. That man seeks not for redemption, who knows not himself to be a captive. But those,^ who do know, cry to the Lord ; and the Lord hears them, and redeems them from the hand of the enemy. Hear an apostle: " If God, peradventure, may give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will."* Hearest thou, at his will, and dost thou deny the power of the devil. Hear the Lord himself. He is called by him the prince of this world,! ^^^^ the STRONG MAN ARMED, AND THE POSSESSOR OF goods; I and dost thou say, that he has no power over men? This power of Satan was known to him, who said, " who delivered us from the powers of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. "§ Let him learn, therefore, that the devil has not only power, but a just power over men. Though the devil himself, who invaded us, is not just; but God, who exposed us to him, is just. Man was then justly enslaved, but mercifully de- livered: with such mercy, however, that justice ap- peared even in his deliverance. For what could man do of himself, to recover lost righteousness, being now a bond slave of the devil? Another's righteousness ih therefore assigned to him, who had lost his own. The prince of this world came, and found nothing iit Christ; II and, when he still would lay violent liands oi; the innocent, most justly he lost the captives, whont he possessed; and that Being upon whom death had no just claim, having injuriously suffered the pains of death, by this voluntary submission justly freed, from the debt of death, and from the dominion of the devil, him who was legally obnoxious to both. Man was the debtor: man also paid the debt. For, if one died for all, then were all dead, If that the satisfliction of one might be imputed to all, as he alone bore the sins of a^l; and now he, who offended, and he, who satisfi- • 2 Tim. ii. 25. f John, xiv. 30. \ Luke, xi. 21 . ^ Coloss. J* }" || John, xiv "0. •; 2 Cor. v. 15 346 ed divine justice, are found the same; because the head and the body is one Christ. The head then sa- tisfied for the members, Christ for his own bowels; since, according to St. Paul's gospel, which fully con- futes the error of Abelard, God hath quickened us to- gether with him, who died for us, having forgiven us all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordi- nances, nailing it to his cross, and spoiling principali- ties and powers.* May I be found among those spoils of which adverse powers are deprived! If I be told, your father enslaved you, I answer, my brother hath redeemed me. Why may not I have another's righte- ousness imputed, since I have another's sin imputed to me? Is there sin in the seed of the sinner, and not righteousness in the blood of Christ? As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. The fault has truly laid hold of me, but grace has also visited me. If the judgment was by one to condemnation, the free gift was of many offences to justification. f Nor do I fear, being thus freed from the powers of darkness, to be rejected by the father of lights, since I am justified freely by the blood of his son. He, who pitied the sinner, will not condemn the just. I call myself just, but it is through his righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, J and he is made of God for us righteousness.^ Thus is man made righteous by the blood of the redeemer; though Abelard, this man of perdition, thinks this the only use of his coming; namely, to deliver to us good rules of life, and to give us an example of patience and charity. Is this then the whole of the great mys- tery of godliness, which any uncircumcised and un- clean person may easily penetrate? What is there in this beyond the common light of nature? But it is not so: for the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God; II thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent; If and, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them, that are lost.** He asks, had the devil domi- * Coloss. ii. 13. f Rom. v. 16. :j: Rom. x. 4. § 1 Cor. i. 30. !! 1 Cor. ii. H Matt. xi. 25. ** 2 Cor. iv. o. 347 nion over Abraham and the other elect? No; but he would have had, if they had not been freed by faith in him that was to come. As it is written, Abraham be- lieved God, and it was imputed to him for righteous- ness; and Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it, and was glad. It was the blood of Christ, which dis- tilled, as the dew on Lazarus, in the parable, that he should not feel the flames of hell, because he believed on him, who was to suffer. We must believe of all the elect of that time, that they were born, as we are, under the powers of darkness, but were thence de- livered before they died; and that only by the blood of Christ. He asks, why so tedious and painful a mode of de- liverance, since Christ could have effected it by a mere volition? Who affirms that the Almighty was limited to this mode? But the efficacy of this method, which he preferred to all other possible ones, is surely de- monstrable from that very preference : and, perhaps, its excellence may hence appear, that the grievous sufferings of our redeemer afford us an admonition of the strongest and most impressive nature concern- ing our own fallen and miserable condition. But no man knows, nor can know to the full, what precious benefits, what wisdom, what propriety, what glory the unsearchable depth of this mystery contains in itself. But, though we may not search out the mystery of the divine will, we may feel the effect of its execu- tion, and reap the fruits of its goodness: and what we may know, we ought not to conceal. When we were yet sinners, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Where reconciliation is, there is remis- sion of sins. In what then lies remission of sins? This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you, for the remission of sins.* Why by blood, say you, what he might have done by a bare word? Ask God himself. I may know that it is so: \\'hy it is so, I may not. Shall the potter say to him, that formed him, why hast thou made me thus? * Li'.ke, xxii. ?(i 348 Strange, says he, that God should be reconciled to men by the death of his son, which ought to have in- censed him the more against them. As if in one and the same transaction, the iniquity of wicked men might not displease, and the piety of the sufferer please God. What, says he, can expiate the guilt of the murder of Christ, if nothing less than that murder could expiate the sin of Adam? We answer briefly, that very blood which they shed, and the intercession of him, whom they slew. Not simply the death, but the voluntary obedience unto death of the redeemer was well plea- sing to God; of the redeemer I say, who by that death destroyed death, wrought salvation, retrieved inno- cence, triumphed over principalities and powers, re- conciled all things in heaven and in earth, and restored all things. And because this precious death, which was to be spontaneously undergone, could not take place but through the sin of men, he, not delighted indeed with their wickedness, but taking occasion from it to execute the purposes of his own benevo- lence, by death condemned death. This blood was able to expiate the guilt which shed it, and therefore left no doubt of its expiating the first original sin. In answer to his tragical complaints of the cruelty of this dispensation, we say, God did not thirst for blood, I)ut for salvation, which was to be' effected by blood. Salvation we say, and not as he writes, the mere dis- play of love, and the exhibition of useful instruction and a powerful example. For what avails instruction without recovery? How useless the finest lessons, un- less the body of sin be destroyed in us! At this rate t!ie whole harm of Adam's sin lies in the exhibition of an evil example, since the medicine must be adap- ted to the quality of the wound. For, if we be chris- tians and not pelagians, we must confess the sin of Adam to be derived to us, and by sin death; and that righteousness is restored to us by Christ, not by in- struction, but by regeneration; and by righteousness life; that, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnationj even so, by the righteous- 349 ness of one, righteousness came upon all men to jus- tification of life.* If, as he says, the design of the incarnation was illumination, and a powerful incentive to love, we may own these things came from Christ; but, from whom came redemption and deliverance? As far as in him lies, he, who attributes the glory of redemption not to the cross of Christ, but to our proficiency in holy conversation, renders void and of nope effect the mystery of the divine dispensation. But God forbid, that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection. I see, indeed, three capital objects in this work of our salvation, the form of humility by which the son of God made himself of no reputation, the measure of love which he extended even to the death of the cross, and the mystery of redemption, in which he suffered death. The two former, exclusive of the latter, are as if you painted on a vacuum. Great and necessary indeed was the example of humility; great and worthy of all ac- ceptation, was the example of his charity; but remove redemption, and these have no ground to stand upon. I would follow the humble Jesus, I desire to embrace with the arms of love him who loved me, and gave himself for me; but — I must eat the Paschal Lamb. Unless I eat his flesh and drink his blood, I have no life in me. It is one thing to follow Jesus, another to embrace, another to feed upon him. To follow, is wholesome counsel; to embrace, is solemn joy; to feed upon him, is an happy life. For his flesh is meat in- deed, and his blood is drink indeed. The bread of God is he that cometh down from heaven, and gi\'eth life to the woj-ld.f What room is there for counsel or for joy, without life? they are mere pictures and sha- dows, without a solid ground and substance. There- fore, neither examples of humility, nor displays of charity, are any thing without redemption." If the reader has attentiv^ely considered the argu- • Rom. V. 18. t Joli". vi. Vol.. Ill 45 350 meiits of iVbelarcl, unci the answer of Bernard, he has seen what weight ought to be laid on a fashionable sentiment of this day, namely, that in consequence of the improvements in reasoning and philosophy, a per- son is now capable of expounding the scriptures much better tlian the ancients could do. If the observation be supposed to be applicable to the essential doctrines of salvation, I ask, how docs this appear to be the case? In subjects of human art and science, indeed, ncAv discoveries may be expected; but with what per- tinency can the remark be applied to divinity? The whole system of divine truth is not more perfectly re- vealed now than it was seventeen hundred years ago. The scriptures are the same: common sense is the same: the influence of the holy Spirit is the same: and human wants are the same: and if men search and pray in humility and seriousness; if they cry clfter knowledge, and lift up their voice for under- standing; if they seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures, what is there to hinder them from understanding the fear of the Lord, and finding the knowledge of God, in one age as well as in another?* Is not God said to be willing to show, in the ages to come, the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus?f And will any man say, that, in some particular periods, he is not willing to unfold these inestimable riches? It is not to be denied, but that by skill in learned languages, by study, and by general cultivation of the human mind, much light may be thrown on several doubtful passages of holy writ: their connexion and meaning ma}' be rendered clearer, and so far improvements may be made in the interpretation of scripture; but when this is admitted, we must still maintain that no new dis- coveries are to be expected in regard to the essential and fundamental truths of divine wisdom and holiness, and to these truths this whole remark is exclusively <:onfincd. These, wherever the Bible cai"i be had in an * Piov. i! - Eph. ii. 7. 351 intelligible language, seem to lie open to the view of all humble and serious inquirers in every age. What can modern socinianism say more than Abelard has done? And does not Bernard answer it in the same manner as evangelical divines do now? Even in the darkness of the twelfth century \ve have seen the light as clear and full in the main, as it can be at this day. Old errors maj^ be revived and dressed up anew, but they are the same errors still. Even the praise of ori* ginal genius will be denied to the modern heretic, b}^ him, who carefully investigates antiquity. The whole circle of human sciences, however they be cultivated and improved in our days, can add nothing to the stock of spiritual understanding. In every age God has not been wanting to his church; and divine trutli has ever appeared the same, and has brought forth the same holy fruits in those, who fear God, and believe the gospel of his son. I shall not now need to give an abstract of the other letters, which Bernard wrote on this occasion. In them all he sees the true ground of Abelard's errors. While this heretic undertook to comprehend all that God is, by mere human reason, while nothing seemed to escape his penetration either in heaven above or in the depth beneath, he was totally ignorant of himself. ^f^ He was ignorant of nothing, but of himself, t Such is the language of Bernard, concerning him, while he cautions the pope and other dignitaries of the Roman church against the seductions of heresy, and informs them how much i\belard presumed on the expectation of finding patrons at Rome, where his books had been dispersed, j The influence of Bernard's labours in this cause on the minds of the christian world was very great, and decisively defeated the designs of the enemy. Gaufre- dus, one of the writers of Bernard's life, observes: " Blessed be God, who gave tons a better master, b^ whom he confuted the ignorance of the former, and * Vol. I. p. 184, 185. U86. 4 Vol. I. 312- 352 quashed his' arrogance, by whom Christ exhibited to us three special objects in his sufferings, an example of virtue, an incentive of love, and a sacrifice of redemption."*" Roused by the exhortations of Bernard, the pope pronounced a definitive sentence against Abelard, or- dered his works to be burned, and the heretic to be confined in some monastery, at the discretion of the leaders of the council, which had condemned his doc- trine. We have, however, better authority than that of the pope for pronouncing his sentiments heretical. And though the decisions of the pope deserve no at- tention from christians, it was matter of sincere pleasure to all, who loved the souls of men, that Abelard was stripped of the power of doing mischief. As for the rest, he was treated with as great lenity as the nature of ecclesiastical government at that time, which was cer- tainly absurd and arbitrary in many respects, would admit. He was permitted to end his days in the mo- nastery of Cluni, over which Peter the venerable pre^ sided, who treated him with much compassion and friendship. An interview was also promoted by the good natured offices of Peter, and of another abbot, between the two champions, the particulars of which are not known. Only it appears, that Bernard declared himself satisfied with Abelard's orthodoxy. I suppose the latter would, in conversation, retract, or soften, or explain his thoughts in the same manner as he did in an apology, which he published at this time. But the reader remembers, that this was not the first time of his submitting himself to the judgment of the church. Whether he was sincere or not, it belongs not to man to determine. The charity of Bernard, however, is in- contestable, because he dropped the accusation, as soon as Abelard had ceased to vent heretical senti- ments. Not personal malice, but christian zeal seems to have influenced the abbot of Clairval in this whole transaction. '^ Vol. ii. 1074. 35S h' it be asked, what benefit resulted from the scene, which we have reviewed? it is answered, either Abe- lard's retraction was sincere or not. If the former, the advantage was great to the heretic himself; if the lat- ter, he doubtless added hypocrisy to his other crimes, though he was prevented from making himself acces- sory to the ruin of others. But the guilt of h3^pocris)' was properly and solely his own. If his opponents con- tracted any guilt on the account, it would be unlawful to oppose error at all, for fear of possible consequences. To this I add, that the benefit resulting to the whole church for ages, is unquestionably evident; a conside- ration worthy the attention of those, who, in their chari- ty for single heretics, seem to forget the mercy and charity due to the souls of thousands. Abelard, how- ever, continued after these events in quiet obscurity till his death, which took place in the year 1142. Eloisa survived this extraordinary man many years. Their correspondence still remains, and I have exa- mined it with a view to discover, whether there be any evidences of genuine conversion in the unhappy cou- ple. That they were sorry for their past follies is cer- tain; that the latter part of their lives was outwardly decent and regular is no less evident; but of real re- pentance, genuine faith in Christ, and the true love of God, I cannot discern any satisfactory proofs. I have now enabled the reader, by an orderly state ment of facts, to decide for himself what candor and justice there is in the declaration of a learned historian, that *' Bernard misunderstood some of the opinions ot Abelard, and wilfully perverted others. For," conti- nues he, " the zeal of this good abbot too rarely per- mitted him to consult, in his decisions, the dictates of impartial equity; and hence it was, that he almost al- ways applauded beyond measure, and censured Avith- out mercy."* Wilful perversions, and by a good man too! what inconsistency of language! Or is Bernard called a good man ironically? Or did this writer feel a * Mosheiin, p, 601 . vol i, quarto. 354 sympathy with one of these great men, and an antipa- thy to the other? Certainly, whoever, like Bernard, defends the real truth, as it is in Jesus, with the simpli- city of a christian, even though he preserve modesty, caution, and charity, must expect no mercy from the criticisms of men more zealous for the honour of what they improperly call rational religion, than for that of Jesus Chriat. The world will love its own: the car- nal mind is enmity against God; and he, who in charity supports evangelical truth, and, under God, is made wise to win souls to real humility and holiness, shouldcommit himself to him that judgeth righteously, and patiently wait his decision. If Mosheim do not altogether deserve the censure implied in these observations, undoubtedly he is not to be acquitted of uncharitableness, temerity, and selfsufficiencv. CHAP. III. Controversies of Bernard ivith several other real or supposed Heretics. Some Account of the Cathari. oO great was the esteem of Bernard throughout the western churches, that no characters of eminence in the religious world arose, but he was looked up to as a judge to decide concerning their merits. It happened, that he had not always the same means of accurate information, as in the case of Abelard; and hence there is reason to believe, that he treats as heretics some persons, who were " the excellent of the earth." I shall throw together into this chapter the best infor- mation, which I can collect, concerning these mat- ters. At any rate we shall find some light concerning the real church of Christ. Gillebert de la Porree, bishop of Poitiers, possessed of a subtile genius, and indulging a taste, like that of Abelard, undertook to explain the mystery of the 355 trinity, by some curious distinctions and refinements. Offence was, however, given by his publications, and the zeal and eloquence of Bernard were employed in confuting him by public disputation. I shall not at- tempt to explain this controversy. It seems to have originated from the metaphysical spirit of Gillebert, whose chief fault appears to have been, that he was not content with plain truth, and with stopping there in liis inquiries, where the scripture does. The trinity in unity, received indeed in the simplicity of scrip, ture, is one of the clearest, as well as one of the most decisively scriptural doctrines in the world; and so it has always appeared to those, who believe what is revealed, and who are content to be ignorant of the MANNER how the Father, the Son, and the Holyghost are three in one. But, though there seems no positive evidence of the heresy of Gillebert, the council of Rheims condemned some of his propositions, which were of a dangerous nature. Gillebert recanted them: Bernard candidly expressed his belief of the sincerity of the recantation^ and the bishop of Poitiers was al- lowed to return to his bishopric* I have examined the sentiments of Gillebert, and cannot, I own, form any determinate conception of their nature. He wandered in the misty region of ab- struse metaphysics, and seems both to have lost him- self, and to have been unintelligible to his readers. Bernard endeavoured to stop the mystic inquirer in his career; and this was no unprofitable employment; but again Mosheim is displeased with the conduct of the abbot, and seems to intimate, that he himself un- derstood the opinions of Gillebert, and that Bernard did not,^ \vhen he says, " these refined notions were far above the comprehension of good St. Bernard, who was by no means accustomed to such profound disquisitions, to such intricate researches."! Does * Bern, vol.ii. p. 1138. Du Pin's 12th cent, cliap. viii. f Quarto, vol. it. p. 602. As Mosheim's work, translated by Maclain, is lai- better known than the original in England, I always quote the for - raer, and would be understood, both here ami cL^cv.heie, to n^cv to that rather than to the latter 356 Mosheim really mean what he says, or, is the epithet good, synonymous with weak and ignorant? Bernard was, however, with the critic's leave, a man of sound understanding and of true wisdom; and, if it were worth while, I could easily furnish the reader with such specimens of Gillebert's subtilities, as would fully justify the account given of him at the begin- ning of this chapter. If to oppose the popedom with vigor and fortitude be in itself a certain criterion of a real christian, Ar- nold of Brescia may justly be ranked among the most eminent saints. But the spirit and views of an innova- tor should be known, that we may determine, whether he deserve the character of a reformer. In Arnold, the spirit of an old Roman republican was united with the theological sentiments of a socinian. He was the disciple of Abelard, and was in action as daring as that heretic had been in speculation. Bernard vehe- mently opposed his designs, and while he allowed his morals to be decent and regular, he guarded the chris- tian world against his ambition and secular artifices. The conduct of Arnold demonstrated, that Bernard penetrated into the real character of the man. For the disciple of Abelard, having gained over at Rome a large party to his views, by his address and dexterity stirred up a sedition against the pontiff; during the violence of which, private houses were burned; the property of the clergy and nobles was plundered; the pope was driven from Rome; and, in general, the civil government was disordered and convulsed. Flushed with success, Arnold planned a scheme for the restora- tion of the forms of the old republic: but providence favoured not his designs. In the end he was seized and burned, and his ashes were thrown into the Tiber. His case demonstrates, that to oppose what is esta- blished, however great be the abuses or faults of an establishment, is an uncertain criterion of character. What is it, which men really mean to substitute in the room of that government, which is established? This is a question to which every man, who fear.^ 357 God, should seriously attend, before he suffer himself, by countenancing innovations, to introduce anarchy and confusion. Here Arnoldof Brescia failed entirely.* Tanchelin in Flanders, and Peter de Bruys, with his disciple Henry, in France, were also famous inno- vators in this century. The first appears to have been altogether so worthless and extrayagant a person, that I shall not detain the reader a moment concerning his character, or his actions. Nor can I give such an ac- count of the others, as is very satisfactory to my own mind. They were both treated as heretics: they both made many converts to their sentiments; and were condemned by the then reigning powers. Peter wa^ burnt to ashes, and Henry was put under a confine- ment, in which he seems to have ended his days. Peter of Cluny, from whose writings we have the most copi- ous account of the former, doubtless a man of a mild and moderate temper, charges Peter de Bruys with atrocious excesses, and represents him as support- ing his tenets by violence and sedition. f The tes- timony against the moral character of Henry is still more peremptory. For Bernard charges him with scandalous impurities of practice, and refers to such proofs and circumstances, as might have led to a de- tection of the charges, if he had indeed been innocent. And it was very much by the authority of Bernard, that the credit and party of Henry Avere sunk in the christian world. J These men, however, bore a striking testimony against the predominant corruptions of the church. The superstitious rites, with which the primitive cus- tom of infant baptism was now disgraced, naturally gave a strong plausibility to their arguments in favour of adult baptism exclusively. They protested also against the extravagant sumptuousness of churches, the adoration of relics and images, and against masses, prayers for the dead, and transubstantiation. It is not * Bern. p. 1H7, kc. vol. i. Berington's Abelard, p. .301, &c t Du Pin's Heretics, 12 cent. Berington. Abel, t Vol. i.p. 238. Vol. ii. 1139. Vol. hi. 46 358 worth while to discriminate with minute accuracy, what were the tenets of Peter, and what v\'ere those of Henry. With no great difference from one another, they descanted on the topics just mentioned; they loudly inveighed against the papal and clerical abomi- nations, under which Europe groaned at that time, and provoked a storm of vengeance, which proved their ruin. If we may judge from the accounts of their lives, (and they are very scanty and confused,) these men seem to have been rather bad citizens than here- tics. The darkest circumstance relating to their cha- racter is, that they seem not to have been so clear and explicit in describing, what they approved, as what they condemned. Satire and invective are plants of rapid and easy growth in the malignant soil of human nature. Men of the greatest licentiousness, both in sentiments and practice, can discover and display, with sufficient ability, the evils of popery. It belongs only to souls truly humbled, and well informed in scrip- tural principles, to erect in its room the edifice of real evangelical truth and holiness; and I wish I could show the reader that Peter and Henry performed this in any degree. But though, among the supposed heretics of this century, we have failed in attempting to discover any particular leaders, who carry the unquestionable marks of real christians, yet that there must have been some who were really such, is evident, from the considera- tion, that there certainly were opposers of the church of Rome at this time, who deserve the name of Pro- testants.* The writer to whom I have already been indebted for some evidence of this nature, particularly in the account of Claudius of Turin, has, with singu- lar learning and industry, illustrated this part of eccle- siastical history, and seems to have consulted the very best monuments and records. It would be tedious to follow him through the mazes of a scene beyond ex- pression obscure and perplexed. Nor can I depend on •* Allix on the ancient churches of Piedmont, p. 139 — 183 359 the attempts which he has made to class and distin- guish his protestant sects. The accusation of mani- cheism was commonly brought against them all; nor will I venture to say, that every christian sentiment or practice which he describes, belongs to any one particular body of people. Those, who have conversed with different denominations of christian professors, know how difficult it is to explain the various ramifi- cations of parties, which, nevertheless, all seem to spring from one root: they are aware, also, how fre- quently it happens, that those, who are only superfici- ally acquainted with the sectaries, and have noticed some external agreement, will hastily suppose persons to belong to the same class, when, in reality, they are quite opposite in spirit; and lastly, they have observed, that a disagreement in externals by no means, in all cases, implies an opposition of sentiments. Christian professors may differ in these lesser matters, and may even suspect the soundness of one another's princi- ples, merely for want of mutual intercourse, when, in substance and in all essentials, they are the same peo- ple. Elaborate attempts to explain the several peculi- arities and discriminations, for want of proper evi- dence, have often darkened this subject, instead of elucidating it. The worst consequence of such at- tempts is, that by the mixture of good and evil, which runs through such accounts, where the leading ves- tiges of Christianity are all along kept out of view, the reader can scarce discern any true church of Christ to have existed at all. How shall we conduct ourselves through this labyrinth? By laying down from the best authorities the real marks of godliness, which existed among the various sects of professing christians. If this can be done, the reader will find that the presence of God has been among them, however difficult it be to define the limits of the church of Christ by human artificial distinctions. This I shall attempt to do in the case before us, omitting those things which are foreign to the design of this histor}'. Evervinus of Steinfield, in the diocese of Cologne, 360 wrote to Bernard, a little before the year 1140, a let- ter preserved by Mabillon concerning certain heretics in his neighbourhood.* He was perplexed in his mind concerning them, and wrote for a resolution of his doubts to the renowned abbot, whose word was a law at that time in Christendom. Some extracts of this letter are as follows. " There have been lately some heretics discovered among us near Cologne, though several of them have, with satisfaction, returned again to the church. One of their bishops and his compa- nions openly opposed us in the assembly of the clergy and laity, in the presence of the archbishop of Co- logne, and of many of the nobility, defending their heresies by the words of Christ and the apostles. Finding that they made no impression, they desired that a day might be appointed for them, on which they might bring their teachers to a conference, pro- mising to return to the church, provided they found their masters unable to answer the arguments of their opponents, but that otherwise they would rather die, than depart from their judgment. Upon this declara- tion, having been admonished to repent for three days, they were seized by the people in the excess of zeal, and burnt to death; and, what is very amazing, they came to the stake, and bare the pain, not only wuth patience, but even with joy. Were I with you, father, 1 should be glad to ask you, how these members of Satan could persist in their heresy with such courage and constancy, as is scarce to be found in the most re- ligious believers of Christianity?" It cannot be denied, that the reigning corrpptions both of faith and practice, from the times of Gregory the second and third, distinguished by real idolatry, had rendered the pretence of uniformity, considered as a mark of the church, intirely unsound. In these circumstances then, the appeal to a fair and open course of scriptural argument was not unreasonable: the refusal of this appeal, and the requisition of an un- * Allix, churches of Piedmont, p. 140. 361 qualified submission made to the supposed heretics, was unchristian: and, if neither in the general course of their lives, nor in their behaviour on this occasion, there was any thing arrogant, deceitful, or turbulent; and Evervinus charges them with nothing of the kind; the patience and joy of their martyrdom may seem to have arisen from the consideration, that God was with them. But Evervinus goes on: " their heresy is this: they say, that the church is only among themselves, because they alone of all men follow the steps of Christ, and imitate the apostles, not seeking secular gains, possessing no property, following the pattern of Christ, who was himself perfectly poor, and did not allow his disciples to possess any thing." Doubtless they carried this point too far:* for, rich christians are charged to be rich in good works, willing to distri- bute, apt to communicate:! these are precepts, which suppose that the possession of opulent property is not incompatible with the character of a true chris- tian. The error is, perhaps, natural enough to those real good men, whose habits and prejudices are chief- ly of the vulgar sort; and I would hence infer, that these supposed heretics were mostly of the low- er class of people. God seems to have had a peo- ple among them, who detested the Romish abomina- tions, and who served him in the gospel of his son. They appear, however, to have had no learned persons among them capable of doing justice to their charac- ters. We must take these from the accounts of ene- mies. Evervinus proceeds: " Ye, say they to us, join house to house, and field to field, seeking the things of this world; so that even those, who are look- ed on as most perfect among you, namely, those of the monastic orders, though they have no private property, but have a community of possessions, do yet possess these things. Of themselves they say, we the poor of Christ, who have no certain abode, fleeing * It is probable, however, tlvat Evervinus misrepresented them, as will appear afterwards. 1 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18. 362 from one city to another, like sheep in the midst of wolves, do endure persecution with the apostles and martyrs; though our lives are strict, abstemious, labo- rious, devout, and holy, and though we seek only vi'hat is necessary for the support of the body, and live as men who are not of the world. But you, lovers of the world, have peace with the world, because ye are of it. False apostles,- who adulterate the word of Christ, seeking their own,* have misled you and your ancestors; whereas, we and our fathers, being born and bred up in the apostolical religion, have continued in the grace of Christ, and shall continue so to the end of the world. By their fruits ye shall know them, saith Christ; and our fruits are the footsteps of Christ. " The apostolical dignity," say they, " is corrupted, by engaging itself in secular affairs, while it sits in the chair of Peter." They do not believe infant baptism to be a duty, alleging that passage of the gospel, who- sover shall believe, and be baptized, shall be saved-t They put no confidence in the intercession of saints; and all things observed in the church, which have not been established by Christ himself or his apostles, they call superstitions. They do not admit of any purgatory after death; but affirm, that as soon as the souls depart out of the bodies, they enter into rest, or punishment, proving their assertion from that passage of Solomon, which way sover the tree falls, whether to the south or to the north, there it lies, whence they make void all the prayers and oblations of believers for the deceased. Those of them who have returned to our church, told us, that great numbers of their persuasion were scattered almost every where, and that among them were many of our clergy and monks." All this seems to be at least as fair an account of * Philip, ii. 21. ' t The propriety of infant baptism has been once for all vindicated, in the first volunie of this historj'. I shall only add here, that these sectaries are charged with manicheism, and of course with the total rejection of water baptism. It was no unusual thinj^ to stigmatise new sects with the odious name of manichees, though I know no evidence that there were any real remains of that ancient sect in the twelfth century. 363 true christians, as might be expected from the mouths of enemies. Evervinus can be considered in no other light than that of an enemy, for he calls these men by the harsh name of monsters; and it deserves to be no- ticed, that, from his confession it plainly appears, there were societies of christians, in the twelfth cen- tury, who disowned the pope and all the fashionable superstitions. These societies were poor and illiterate indeed, hardly distinguishable from a number of fan- tastic and seditious sects, headed by the very excep- tionable characters we have reviewed; and they were not denominated from any one leader of eminence. They do not seem to have understood the necessity of the existence of property, and therefore, with vulgar ignorance, they held, as it was reported, a tenet in- consistent with the good order of society;* yet, with all these defects, they probably possessed the spirit of real godliness; and, though imperfect in light, and in some points of practice, upheld the real truth of God in the earth, during the general profligacy and cor- ruption. If Bernard had been habitually conversant among them, 1 can conceive that much good might have arisen to both parties. From him they might have learned a more copious and perspicuous view of the doctrines of divine grace, and have improved in the knowledge of the fundamental truths of the scrip- ture. His pious zeal and charity and humility might have instructed their minds, and disposed them to give up their absurd ideas concerning property and social rights: and he, from an intercourse with them, might have learned, that the pope was indeed the an- tichrist of scripture, and so have been emancipated from a variety of superstitions, in which he was in- volved all his days. But mutual ignorance and preju- dice prevented both him and them from even inti- mately knowing each other. In the 65th and 66th * We shall afterwards see abundant occasion to doubt the trutli even of this charge. 364 sermons on the canticles,* he attacks these sectaries; he condemns their scrupulous refusal to f swear at all, which, according to him, was also one of their pecu- liarities. He upbraids them with the observance of secrecy in their religious rites, not considering the necessity which persecution laid upon them. He finds fault with a practice among them, of dwelling with women in the same house, without being married to them; though it must be owned, he expresses himself as one, who knew very little of the manners of the sect. From the strength of prejudice, and from the numberless rumours propagated against them, he sus- pects them of hypocrisy; yet his testimony in favour of their general conduct seems to overbalance all his invectives, " If," says he, " you ask them of their faith, nothing can be more christian; if you observe their conversation, nothing can be more blameless; and what they speak, they prove by deeds. You may see a man, for the testimony of his faith, frequent the church, honour the elders, offer his gift, make his con- fession, receive the sacrament. What more like a christian? As to life and manners, he circumvents no man, overreaches no man, and does no violence to any. He fasts much, he eats not the bread of idleness, he works with his hands for his support. The whole body, indeed, are rustic, and illiterate; and all, whom I have known of this sect, are very ignorant." He, who confesses a set of men to have been so ap- parently sound and upright in faith and practice, should not have ti'cated them with contempt, because they were poor and vulgar. Their ignorance and rustic habits should rather serve as some apology for their errors concerning the nature of baptism and of human society. And the proofs of their hypocrisy ought to be very strong indeed, which can overturn such evi- dences of piety and integrity as Bernard himself has admitted concerning them. It seems also from his * p. 1493, vol. i. f The truth of this charge also, as will appear afterwards, is much to be doubted. 365 account, that they were not separatists, in the modem sense of the word. Though, no doubt, they had pri- vate religious assemblies, they attended the worship of the general church, and joined with other christians in every thing which they deemed to be laudable. It \vould be tedious to examine minutely the charges and arguments of Bernard. He attacks some mani- chean errors with great justice, supposing the men, against whom he writes, to be manichees. He argues in defence of infant baptism, and, lamentable blind- ness in so holy a person! he vindicates the doctrine of purgatory and other Roman superstitions. He owns, that these men died with courage in defence of their doctrine, and blames those who had, in an illegal and irregular manner, destroyed some of them. Some no- tions, concerning marriage, which they were suppos- ed to hold, he justly rebukes, though, from the exces- sive prejudice of their adversaries, it is very difficult to know how to affix charges of real guilt upon them. Let not the lover of real Christianity be distressed at these things. The power of prejudice is great; and it is hard to say how many wrong notions both Bernard and these supposed heretics might maintain, through the circumstances of the times, and yet both serve the same God in the gospel of his son. That he did so is abundantly evident; that many of them did so, their lives and their sufferings evince. It will be one of the felicities of heaven, that saints shall no longer mis- understand one another. But there want not additional evidences, that this people of Cologne were true Pro- testants. Egbert, a monk, and afterwards abbot of Schonauge, tells us,* that he had often disputed with these heretics, and says, " These are they, who are commonly called cathari." From his authority I shall venture to distinguish them by this name. The term corresponds to the more modern appellation of Puri- tans, and most probably was affixed to them, in deri- sion and contempt, by their contemporaries. Egbert * Allix, p. 149. Vor. in. 47 I 366 adds, that they were divided into several sects, and maintained their sentiments by the authority of scrip- ture. See by the confession of an enemy their vene- ration for the divine word, and their constant use of it, in an age when the authority of scripture was weakened, and its light exceedingly obscured, by a variety of traditions and superstitions. " They are armed," says the same Egbert, " with ail those pas- sages of holy scripture, which in any degree seem to favour their views; with these they know how to de- fend themselves, and to oppose the catholic truth, though they mistake intirely the true sense of scrip- ture, which cannot be discovered without great judg- ment." " They are increased to great multitudes throughout all countries, their words spread like a cancer. In Germany we call them cathari; in Flanders they call them piphies; in France, tisserands, because many of them are of that occupation."! Bernard him- self also, a Frenchman, speaks of both sexes of them, as weavers; and it became not a man of his piety to speak degradingly of the humble labours of peaceful industry. But such were the times! monastic sloth ap- peared then more holy than useful mechanical occu- pations. We seem, however, by comparing together several fragments of information, to have acquired some distinct ideas of these cathari: they were a plain, unassuming, harmless, and industrious race of chris- tians, condemning, i)y their doctrine and manners, the whole Lipparatus of the reigning idolatry and supersti- tion, placing true religion in the faith and love of Christ, and retaining a supreme regard for the divine word. Neither in that, nor in any other age, since the propagation of the gospel of Christ, have the fanciful theories of philosophers contributed to enlighten or improve mankind in religious matters. It is a strict attention to the revealed word, which, under the in- fluence of the divine Spirit, has alone secured the existence of an holy seed in the earth, who should t That jaweavers; see Du Pin, ccni. xii. p. 88. 367 serve God in righteousness; though they might fre- quently be destitute of learning and every secular ad- vantage; as seem& to have been the case with the cathari, " Even so, Father, for it hath seemed good in thy sight." It appears also, that their numbers were very con- siderable in this century; but Cologne, Flanders, the south of France, Savoy, and Milan were their princi- pal places of residence. " They declare," says Egbert, " that the true faith and worship of Christ is no where to be found, but in their meetings, which they hold in cellars and weaving rooms. If ever thc}^ do accompany the people, witli, whom they dwell, to hear mass, or to receive the sa- crament, they do it in dissimulation, that they may be thought to believe what they do not; for they main- tain, that the priestly order is perished in the Roman church, and is preserved only in their sect." He gives, however, and at too great a length to be here inserted, some noble testimonies of the soundness of their doc- trine, in the rejection of purgatory, prayers for the dead, and the like. I am obliged to collect, from thinly scattered mate- rials, the evidences of the true character of these ca- thari; and much has, I think, already appeai'cd in their favour, from the mouths of enemies. Egbert, we see, allows, in perfect agreement with Bernard, that they were not separatists, in the modern sense of the word, and that they attended the public service and sacra- ments of the general church. I suppose they knew how to make a practical distinction between what still remained divinely excellent in the church, and what was idolatrous and corrupt. They seem to have con- formed to the public worship, much in the same man- ner as the apostles themselves did to the Jewish church, while it existed, still preserving an miion among them- selves in worship, and in hearing sermons, so far as the iniquity of the times would permit. That, which Egbert charges to tlieir hypocrisy, I should think ad- mits of a more liberal construction. It may appear to 368 deserve the name of candor and even of charity. He, who agrees with you in practice, so far as you are ri^ht, ought to be respected for his conformity, not- withstanding, that in things, which he deems wrong, he exphcitly opposes you. It were to be wished, that all serious christians had acted in that manner, and had not been so hasty, as some of them have been, in forming a total separation from the general church. Then the happy influence of their views in religion might have spread more powerfully; nor is there any particular danger that they themselves would have received infection from the world, while they were estranged from it in practice and in manners. After all, circumstances may arise, when an intire sepai'a- tion from the whole body of nominal christians may become necessary to the people of God. But this should never be attempted with precipitation. And the meekness and charity, which the cathari exhibit- ed in this point, seem highly laudable. He also, who has observed so much of the world, as to perceive that a deliberate system of hypocrisy usually prevails among a collection of idle vagrants, but seldom or never among men who subsist by patient industry, will be little moved by Egbert's charge of dissimula- tion. The same Egbert confesses also, that they had many things mingled with their master's doctrine, which are not to be found among the ancient ma- nichees. *' They are also," says he, " divided among themselves: what some of them say Is denied by others." If the cathari held some doctrines quite dis- tinct from manicheism, it should seem, that the whole charge of that ancient odious heresy, might be nothing more than a convenient term of reproach. Even Ber- nard, who appears to have been extremely ill informed concerning this people, remarks, that they had no particular father of their heresy; an observation, which may imply more than he was willing to allow, namely, that they were not heretics, but christians. As to the diversity of sentiments among themselves, what de- 369 nomination of christians ever existed, who, in some lesser matters, did not maintain several diversities? This people continued in a state of extreme perse- cution throughout this century. Galdinus, bishop of Milan, who had inveighed against them during the eight or nine years of his episcopacy,* died in the year 1173, by an iUness contracted through the excess of his vehemence in preaching against them. There is a piece, entitled " The noble Lesson," written undoubtedly by one of the cathari, which in the body of it says, eleven hundred years are already passed, since it was written thus; " for we are in the last time."t The writer, supposing that the world was drawing near to an end, exhorts his brethren to prayer, watching, and the renunciation of worldly goods. He speaks with energy of death and judgment; of the dif- ferent issues of godhness and of wickedness; and, from a review of the scripture history, connected with the experience of the times in which he lived, concludes, that there are but few that shall be saved. The first principle of those, says he, who desire to serve God, is to honour God the father, to implore the grace of his glorious son, and the Holyghost, who enlightens us in the true way. This is the trinity, full of all power, wusdom, and goodness, to whom wc ought to pray for strength to overcome the devil, the world, and the flesh, that we may preserve soul and body in love. To the love of God, he observes, the love of our neighbours should be joined, which com- prehends the' love even of our enemies. He speaks of the believer's hope of being received into glory. He * Allix. p 153. f The manuscript of this composition was given to the public library o! the university of Cambridge, by sir Samuel Morland in the year 1658. The people of whom the author speaks, are called Wallenses or Vaudes, from the valleys of Piedmont. They afterwards were called Waldenses, from Peter Waldo, of whom hereafter; and by that name, they are known to this day. But by the date 1100 they were evidently a distinct people- before his time, and, most likely, had existed, as such, for some genera tions. The seeds of the cathari had, in all probability, been sov/n by Claudius of Turin, in the ninth century. The whole of the " Noble Lesson," is given us by sir Samuel Morland in his history of the churches of Pied- mont. Allix," 160. Morland's Hist. 370 explains the origin of all that evil, which reigns in the world; and he traces it up to the sin of Adam, which brought forth death; whence, says he, Christ hath re- deemed us by his own death. He asserts the necessity of holiness, in order to salvation. He explains the spi- rituality of the law of God, and describes the punish- ment of transgressors as the effect of divine justice and goodness. He illustrates the holiness of the di- vine character, in the economy of the old testament, and in the history of the Israelites, and delineates the purity and perfection of the gospel precepts. He re- lates the great historical facts of Christianity, and makes some just observations on the spii'it of persecution. Very remarkable is the character, which he gives of the vaudes in his own time, contrasted with that of their enemies. Let the reader consider, whether we have not here the flock of Christ among wolves. " If a man," says he, " love those, who desire to love God and Je- sus Christ; if he will neither curse, nor swear, nor act deceitfully, nor live in lewdness and injustice, nor avenge himself of his enemies, they presently say, the man is a vaudes; he deserves to be punished: and iniquitous methods are then used to rob him of the fruits of his lawful industry. Such an one, however, consoles himself with the hope of eternal salvation." He represents their enemies as supposing themselves to be good men and true christians; and exposes their folly in placing their hopes on a deathbed repentance, the priestly absolution, and masses. He roundly condemns the whole system of anti- christ, which prevailed in liis time, particularly the fatal doctrine of priestly absolution. He describes the true practical principles of christian godliness, and de- clares, that no other divine revelation is to be expected. He speaks with equal simplicity and strength of the last judgment, and of the everlasting punishments of the wicked; " from which," says he, " may God de- liver us, if it be his blessed will, and give us to hear vvhat he shall say to his elect, Come hither, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for yon 371 from the beginning of the world, where you shall have true pleasure, riches and honour. May it please the Lord, who formed the world, that we may be of the number of his elect, to dwell in his court forever. Praised be God. Amen." Such was the provision of divine grace, to take out of a corrupt and idolatrous world of nominal chris- tians, a people formed for himself, who should show forth his praise, and who should provoke the rest of mankind by the light of true humility, and holiness; a people, singularly separate from their neighbours in spirit, manners, and discipline; rude indeed, and illi- terate, and not only discountenanced, but even con- demned by the few real good men, who adhered alto- gether to the Romish church: condemned because con- tinually misrepresented. Nor do I know a more strik- ing proof of that great truth of the divine word, that, in the worst of times, the church shall exist, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. CHAP. IV. The Writings of Bernard Reviewed. IN this chapter I shall take notice of some of those parts of Bernard's writings, which bear no relation to the controversies that have already engaged our attention. His epistles come first under our consideration; and, among these, the epistle directed to Bruno, elected archbishop of Cologne, ^vill deserve the attention of pastors, and of every person, who aspires to the most important of all functions. " You* ask of me, illustrious Bruno, whether you ought to acquiesce in the desires of those, who would promote you to the office of a bishop. What mortal can * Ep. 8. vol. \\ 372 presume to decide this? Perhaps God calls you; who may dare to dissuade? Perhaps he does not; who may advise you to accept? Whether the calling be of God or not, who can know, except the Spirit, who searches THE DEEP THINGS OF GoD, or hc, to whom the Spirit may reveal it? Your humble, but awful confes- sion in your letter renders it still more difficult to give advice; so grievously, and, as I believe, with truth, do you condemn the course of your past life. For, it cannot be denied, that such a life is unworthy of so sacred an office. But you fear on the other side, and I also have the same apprehensions, that it may be wrong- not to improve the talent of knowledge committed to you, though your conscience do thus accuse you; only it may be observed that you may faithfully employ that talent in some other method, less extensive in- deed, but less hazardous. I own, I am struck with a serious dread: I speak freely to you, as to my own soul, what I really think, when I consider from what, and to what you are called; especially as no time of re- pentance will intervene, through which the passage, however, dangerous, might be made. And truly, the right order of things requires, that a man should take care of his own soul, before he undertake the care of the souls of others. But what if God hasten his grace, and multiply his mercy toward you? Blessed in- deed is the man, to whom the Lord will not impute sin. For who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? If God justify, who is he that condemns? The thief obtained salvation in this compendious method. One and the same day he confessed his sins, and was introduced into glory. The cross was to him a short passage from a region of death into the land of the living, and from the mire of corruption into the para- dise of pleasure. This sudden remedy of godliness the happy sinful woman found, when on a sudden, where sin had abounded, grace began also to abound. With- out a long course of penitential labour her many sins were forgiven. It is one thing, however, to obtain a !5peedy remission; another, from a life of trangression, 373 to be promoted to a bishopric. I can give no decisive opinion. But there is a duty, which we may perform for a friend without danger, and not without fruit; we may give him the suffrage of our prayers to God on his be- half. Leaving to God the secret of his own counsel, we may earnestly implore him to work in you and con- cerning you, what is becoming in his sight, and what is for your real good." Bruno having accepted the archbishopric, Bernard wrote thus to him.* " If all, who are called to the ministry, are of necessity called also to the heavenly kingdom, the arehbishop of Cologne is safe indeed. But if Saul and Judas were elected, the one to a crown, the other to the priesthood by God himself; and the scripture, which asserts this, cannot be bro- ken, the archbishop of Cologne has reason to fear. If that sentence also be now as true as ever, namely, that God hath not chosen many noble, mighty and wise, has not the archbishop of Cologne a threefold reason for solicitude? He that is greatest among you, let him he as the younger,t is the voice of wisdom itself. May I always deal with my friends in the language of salu- tary fear, not of fallacious adu4ation! To that he directs me, who says, blessed is the man that feareth alway. J From this he dissuades me, who says, O my people, those, who lead thee, cause thee to err. "§ In so serious a light appeared to Bernard the nature of the pastoral office. Do men in our times seek for eminent ecclesiastical situations with such impressions? or, do secular gains frequently make a predominant part of their views? Perhaps there is not any one point of all practical religion, in which the ancients may more advantageously be compared with the moderns, than in the subject of the pastoral office, with regard to the ideas of its importance, and the qualifications which it requires. In II another epistle to Guigo and his brethren, car- * Ep. 9. I Luke, xxil. 26. t Prov. xwiil. 14^ 5 Isaiah, iii. 12. H Ep, 1 1. p. 28. Vol. III. 48 374 thusian monks, he describes the nature of true charity '' There is one who confesses to the Lord, because he is mighty; there is another who confesses to him, be- cause he is good to the confessor; and a third, who confesses to him, because he is simply good. The first is a slave, and fears for himself; the second is mercenary, and desires his own interest merely; the third is a son, and behaves dutifully to a father. He, who lives under the predominance of fear, or of desire of his own interest, is selfish; but charity seeketh not her own. When a man prefers his own will to the eternal law of God, he perversely attempts to imitate the Creator, who is a law to himself. Alas! in us such a spirit binds us downward to death and hell. He, who will not be sweetly ruled by the divine will, is penally governed by himself, and he, who casts oif the easy yoke and light burden of love, must suffer the intole- rable load of selfwill. My Lord God, may I breathe under the light burden of love, nor be restrained by slavish fear, nor allured by mercenary desire; but may I be led by thy free Spirit, which may witness with my spirit, that I am thy child! Love, indeed, is not without fear and desire; but it sanctifies and regulates them both. But, because we are carnal, our love is tarnal at first, which, if it be directed in right order, improving in its steps under the conduct of grace, will be consummated by the spirit. In the first place, a man loves himself on his own account; and, when he finds that he is not sufficient for his own happiness, he be- gins, by faith, to seek after God as necessary for him. He then loves God in the second degree, but for him- self, not for the sake of God. But when, through the urgency of his wants, he has been brought to cultivate acquaintance with God, by degrees God himself be- gins to be known as he is, and of course to be loved: having tasted that the Lord is gracious, he passes to the third degree, to love God for what he is in him - self. In this degree he stops, and I do not know, that any man in this life attains a fourth, namel}^, that a man should love himself only on account of God. Let them 375 tissert this, who have found it: to me, I own, it seems impossible. But, it will take place, when the good and faithful servant shall be introduced into the joy of his Lord." Let this suffice for a small specimen of the meta- physical doctrine of charity, on which there has been so much controversy in different ages. The gradual progress of spirituality in religion seems to be justly described by Bernard; and the plain dictates of com mon sense do evidently restrain the flights of his fan- cy. For, in truth, what is the amount of all the meta- physics, which good men have written, concerning the disinterested love of God, but this, that it ought to be sincere, not selfish; and does not the common meaning of the word love, teach us this"? If I may be said to love a friend for the sake of my own interest, it is, at least, a very improper mode of speech; for, in strict propriety I love not him, but my own interest, or some gain which I conceive attainable through him. On the other hand, to talk of loving God, and relin- quishing selflove, is unnatural and idle romance. On this subject then, which has tortured the minds of pious souls, it would be wise to stick to common sense, which knows no repugnance between the love of God and selflove, though the latter ought in all cases to be subordinate to the former: and this is the point, which Bernard seems to have understood and maintained. The greatest defect in the letter seems to be that, which was common to the age, namely, the want of a distinct and orderly description of the faith of the gospel, which alone can work the love, which he describes. In another epistle,* he comments very justly on the judicial ignorance, which St. Paul describes as the punishment from God on those, who knew God, and yet glorified him not as God.f " But," says he, " God who calleth things that be not, as though they were, in compassion to those, who are reduced, as it * 18, p. Sa. i ^r,m r. 576 were, to nothing, hath, m the mean time, given us to relish by faith, and to seek by desire, that hidden manna, of which the apostle says, Your Hfe is hid with Christ in God.* I say in the mean time, because we cannot yet contemplate it according to its nature, nor fully embrace it by love. Hence we begin to be some- thing of that new creature, which will, at length, be- come a perfect man, and attain the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; and this will take place beyond doubt, when righteousness shall ti^rn again to judgment, and the desire of the traveller shall be changed into the fulness of love. For, if faith and de- sire initiate us here when absent, understanding and love will consummate us when present. And, as faith leads to full knowledge, so desire leads to perfect love. B}' these two arms of the soul, understanding and love, it comprehends the length and depth, and breadth, and height; and Christ is all these things." He goes on to expose the folly of seeking the praise of men, and the inconsistency of this spirit with the humility, which becomes creatures so empty and vain. Bernard, having been addressed in terms of great respect by Rainald, an abbot, f with his usual humility shows how averse he was to hear himself commended. " Indeed," says he, '' by extolling you depress me. But, that I may not sink under the pressure, I am consoled by the testimonies of divine truth: it is good for me, that I have been in trouble, that I may learn thy statutes. Such is the marvellous efficacy of the word of God, that while it humbles, it exalts us. This is indeed the kind and powerful operation of the Word, by whom all things were made; and thus, indeed, Christ's yoke becomes easy, and his burden light. Light, indeed, is his burden. For what can be lighter than a load, which even carries every person, who bears it. A burden which unburdens the soul. In all nature I seek to find some resemblance to this, and I seem to discover a shadow of it in the wings of the ' Coloss, ils. r.. V Ep. 72. p. 73. 377 bird, which are borne by the creature, and yet sustain and support its flights through the open firmament of heaven." To undertake pilgrimages to Jerusalem was the folly of the times. An abbot, John Carnotensis, was seized with this infatuation. Bernard, however re- buked* his zeal, and endeavoured to convince him, that he ought not to abdicate the pastoral care, which had been committed to him. The chief argument, which supported John in this scheme, was drawn from the strength and vehemence of his desires. It is the usual plea of all, who really deserve the imputation of enthusiasm in religion; and it is sufficiently answered by Bernard. " You say, whence should I have so strong a desire, if it be not from God? With your good leave I will speak my sentiments. Stolen waters are sweet : and whoever is not ignorant of Satan's devices, will not hesitate to say, that this poisonous sweetness h infust:d into your thirsting heart by a minister of Sa- tan, transformed into the appearance of an angel oi light." Bernard de Portis was a young man of the Carthu- sian order, and had been elected a bishop of a church among the Lombards. Our Bernard, however, think- ing him unfit for the situation, wrote to pope Innocent his sentiments; which had so great authority, as to prevent the young man's consecration. " It is, indeed, worthy of your dignity, to place a hidden light in a conspicuous situation. Let it be placed, if you please, on a candlestick, that it may be a burning and shining light, but only in a place, where the violence of the wind may not prevail to extinguish it. Who knows not the restless and insolent spirit of the Lombards? What can a young man of a weak body, and accus- tomed to solitude, do amidst a barbarous, turbulent, and stormy people? His sanctity and their perverse- ness, his simplicity and their deceitfulness, will not agree together. Let him be reserved, if you please, for a more suitable situation, and for a people, whom * Ep. 82. p. 8 J. 37« lie may so govern as to profit; and let us not lose, by a precipitate preferment, the fruit which may be reaped in due time."* To Baldwin,! whom he had dismissed from his own monastery, and appointed abbot of the monastery of Reate, he writes with that vehemence of zeal and affection, which characterize his writings. But there is no need to transcribe the epistle. ** Doctrine, ex- ample, and prayer," he recommends, as the three things which constitute a pastor. The last of the three he particularly recommends, as '■ that, which gives grace and efficacy to the labours of the preacher, whe- ther these labours be of word or of deed." See how the views of eternity mingle with the cha- ritable affections of Bernard, and how familiar, and at the same time, how animating were his prospects of the last day! " I long for your presence," says he to a friend, J " but when? At least in the city of our God; if in truth we have here no continuing city, but seek one to come. There, there, we shall see, and our heart shall rejoice. In the mean time, I shall be de- lighted with what I hear of you, hoping and expecting to see you face to face in the day of the Lord, that my joy may be full. In addition to the many good things, ■which I constantly hear of you, let me beg your ear- nest prayers for us." To § Eugenius his disciple, newly advanced to the pontificate, of whom we have already given some ac- count, he writes with an ardour of sincere piety, which might induce one to forget, if any thing could, the vices of the popedom itself, as well as the pitiable superstitions, with which early habits had clouded the honest devotion of Bernard. " I waited," says he, " for some time, if, perhaps, one of my sons might re- turn, and assuage a father's grief, by saying, Joseph thy son liveth, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. No account arriving, I write, indeed, not from inclination, but from necessity, in compliance with the request of friends, to whom I could not deny * Ep. 155. p. 157. t Ep. 201. p. 139. i Ep, 204. p. 195 - r^p. 100. p. iO('. f Ep.238.p. 234. ' 379 the little services, which the few days I yet may have to live may allow. I envy not your dignity, because what was wanting to me, I trust I have in him, who not only comes after me, but also by me. For, dignified as you are, I have begotten you through the gospel. What then is our hope, our joy, and crown of rejoic- ing? Are not you — in the presence of God? It re- mains, that this change being made in your circum* stances, the state of the church may be changed also for the better. Claim nothing from her for yourself, except that you ought to lay down your life for her sake, if it be necessary. If Christ has sent you, you will reckon, that you came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. A genuine successor of Paul will say with him, ' Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy.'* Peter's successor will hear Peter's voice, ' not as lords over God's heritage, but as ensamples to the flock. 'f All the church of the saints rejoices in the Lord, expecting from you, what it seemed to have had in none of your predecessors for many ages past. And should not I rejoice? I own I do so, but with trembling. For, though I have laid aside the name of a father, I still have toward you a father's fear, anxiety, affection, and bowels. I consider your elevation, and I dread a fall: I consider the height of dignity, and I startle at the appearance of the abyss, which lieth beneath. You have attained an higher lot, but not a safer; a sublimer station, but not a securer. Remember, you are the successor of him, who said; " silver and gold have I none. "J He then explains the particular business, on occasion of which he wrote at this time; and he de. sires him to act in such a manner, " that men may know that there is a prophet in Israel." " O that I might see before I die the church of God, as iu ancient times, when the aj)ostIes let down their nets for a draught not of silver and gold, but of souls! How do I wish you to inherit the voice of him, who '■ 5 Tor 11" T 1 p.-' V - I A.-'ts, ;;; r". 380 said, thy money perish with thee!* O voice of thun- der, let all who wish ill to Zion be confounded at its sound! Many now say in pleasing expectation, the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Many say in their hearts, the flowers appear in our land. Take courage then, and be strong. But, in all your works, remem- ber that you are a man, and let the fear of him, who restra#ieth the spirit of princes, be ever before your eyes. What a number of pontiffs before you have in af short time been removed! By constant meditation, amidst the blandishments of this fading glory, remem- ber your latter end. Those, in whose seat you now sit, you will doubtless follow to the grave," It cannot be denied, that the zeal, the sincerity, the purity of christian doctrine, in all the essentials at least, the charity, and the blameless manners of a reformer, appeared in Bernard. How happened it then, that num- bers of illiterate weavers, as we have seen, detected the spirit of antichrist in the popedom, and avoided its su- perstitions, while this abbot was imposed on by its false glare of sanctity! I suppose because he was an •abbot. The delusive splendor of fictitious holiness, so intimately connected with antichrist, deceived one of the most upright of human kind. It was not given him to observe the unreasonableness of expecting the comple- tion of his pious wishes in the church, under the aus- pices of the see of corruption! If he had lived at large in the world, with no predilection for the court of Rome, and had been favoured with the same divine grace, and even with no higher degree of christian virtue, than that which he then possessed, he might have been the head of the cathari, whom he ignorantly censured! So much do circumstances contribute to the formation of characters in life, and so much reason have many, whose piety is far inferior to that of Ber- nard, to be thankful, that the lot is fallen to them in pleasant places. From the epistles let us pass on to other treatises.. ■* Acts. viii. 20. 381 The five books concerning Consideration,* addressed to pope Eugenius, first offer themselves to our inspec- tion. As this pontifFvvas serious in his religious views^ he had desired Bernard to send to him some salutary admonitions. The honest plainness of the abbot was at least equal to the unaffected humility of the pontiff. The first book is taken up with salutary cautions against that hardness of heart, which an immenftty of business is is ever apt to produce. Bernard, who knew the toilsome life of a pope, and the snares with which he was daily encompassed, informs Eugenius, that he was seriously afraid, lest, through a despair of managing a prodigious and unmeasurable course of business with a good consience, he should be tempted to harden his heart, and deprive himself of all consci- entious sensibility. "Begin not," says he, " to ask what is meant by hardness of heart. If you fear it not, you are already under its power. That is a hard heart, which dreads not itself, because it is destitute of feel- ing. Why do you ask me what it is? ask Pharaoh. No man was ever saved from this curse, but through that divine compassion, whicH according to the pro- phet,! takes away the stone, and gives an heart of flesh." After a graphical description of the properties of a hard heart, he sums up the view with this sen- tence: It neither fears God, nor regards man. See, to what end these accursed occupations will lead you, if you give yourself wholly to them, leaving nothing of yourself to yourself. He complains of the usual mode of the pontifical life, incessantly taken up with hearing and deciding causes; whence no room is left for pray- er, teaching, and instructing the church, and medita- tion on the scriptures. " The voice of law, indeed, is perpetually sounding in the court, but it is the law of •Tustinian, not of the/.or^/." He advises him to pity him- self, and not to throw his own soul out of the list of his objects of charity, lest, in serving others perpetually, he neglect his own spiritual condition entirely. He •Vo]. i. p. 414. t Ezek. xxxvi. 26. Vol. III. 49 382 directs him to suppress and cut short the endless frauds and cavils of law, with which the courts abounded; to decide in a summary manner, on cases evidently plain; to prefer substantial justice to the tedious parade of artificial formalities, and to animadvert with severity on the frauds of advocates and proctors, who made a traffic of iniquity. By this means he would fulfil the duties of his station with uprightness, and redeem lime for privacy, contemplation, and prayer. In all this, I see the honest and pious soul of Ber- nard struggling against the corruption of the times. But the zeal was ineffectual. If Gregory I. lamented the load of his secular avocations, much more might Eugenius, who lived in an age still more coiTupt, and upheld a pontificate still more secularized, and conta- minated beyond all bounds by a system of iniquity. Even others less exalted, and less incommoded with the shackles of the world than the pope of Rome, have found, both in civil and ecclesiastical life, the pressure of business too heavy for their minds. If they were conscientious, they were ready to sink under the dif- ficulties; if careless and indifferent they grew hardened in iniquity, and lost all regard to piety and virtue. An inferior clerical station is infinitely more desirable in the eyes of a pastor, who means to serve God; and dignitaries in the church may attend with profit to the lectures addressed to a pope. In the beginning of the second book he makes a digression on the ill success of the expedition to the holy land, which had been undertaken through the exhortations of himself and of pope Eugenius. Here the eloquence of Bernard seems to be at a stand. He o^vns, however, with reverence, the unsearchable judg- ments of God; desires to take shame to himself, ra- ther than that the glory of God should be sullied; and pronounces that man happy, who is not offended at an event so disastrous and unexpected. If the casuistry of Bernard appear feeble in this subject, and expose him to the derision of the profane, his humi- lity, however, and his piety, appear unexceptionable. 383 Recovered, as it were, from the sadness of his reflec- tions on this humiliating occasion, he resumes the dis- course on contemplation, presses on the pontift' the duty of examining himself, and, toward the end, lays down rules of holy and charitable conversation, de- serving the attention of every pastor. In * the remaining part of this treatise, as well as in. that which follows on the office of bishops, the zealous abbot describes and enforces the episcopal duties with his usual vehemence. He is particularly severe on the ambition of ecclesiastics in his time. He describes them as " heaping up benefices on benefices, and restless till they can attain a bishopric, and then an archbishopric. Nor, says he, does the aspirant stop there; he posts to Rome, and, by supporting expen- sive friendships and lucrative connexions, he looks upward still to the summit of power."! How much more usefully might the spirit of Bernard have been employed in the instruction and regulation of the church, could he have seen, that the idolatrous system, to which his early monastic habits had attached him, admitted no cure; and that a distinct separation, to which men really wise and good are never hasty to advert, was yet, in present circumstances, justifiable and necessary. The zeal of Bernard appears also very fervent in a small tract concerning conversion, which contained the substance of a sermon preached at Paris before the clergy. J He insists largely and distinctly on the necessity of divine illumination, in order to genuine conversion. He exhorts his audience to selfexamina- tion ; and, while he presses them to investigate their own breasts, he points out the salutary effects of a just conviction of sin! " Blessed^ are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Who is poorer ' It may be proper to mention here :i remarkable testimony, which Bcv- nard gives to the upright and disinterested conduct of Eugenius, in liis third book de Consid. Two archbishops of Germany coming to this pope to plead a cause, oll'ered him large presents, which he refused to receive, and obliged them to send back. t p. 478. t P- 489. § Matt. v. 3. 384 in spirit than he, who finds in himelf no rest, no place where to lay his h^ad? This is the divine economy, that he who is displeased with himself may please God; and he who hates his own habitation, a house of pollution and misery, may be invited to a house of glory, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. No wonder, that he finds it hard to believe! Does misery make a man happy? But whoever thou art, in these circumstances, doubt not: not misery, but mercy gives bliss; but then the proper seat of mercy is misery. Thus distress of mind produces humility. Wholesome is that weakness, which needs the hand of the physician, and blessed is that selfdespair, through which God himself will raise and establish the heart. Even here the converted soul shall find the pleasures to which he is called a hundred fold greater than those which he has relinquished, as well as in the world to come, eternal life. Expect not from us a description of their nature. The Spirit alone reveals them: they are to be known only by experience. Not erudition, but unction teaches here; not knowledge, but inward consciousness comprehends them. That the memory of past sins should remain, and the stain of them be taken away, what power can effect this? The word alone, quick and powerful, and sharper than a twoedged sword. " Thy sins are forgiven." Let the pharisee murmur, " Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" He, who speaks thus to me, is God. His favour blots out guilt, so that sin shall remain on the memory, but no longer, as before, discolour it. Re- move damnation, fear, confusion, as they are removed by full remission; and our past sins will not only cease to hurt us, but will also work together for good, that we may devoutly thank Him, who has forgiven them." With such energy of evangelical piety does Bernard preach the doctrines of grace and conversion to the clergy; an energy sullied, indeed, and obscured with that mysticism, which the solitude of monks always encouraged, yet substantially sound in its nature, and founded on the fundamental truths of the gospel. 385 Toward the close, he rebukes and exhorts the clergy as such, and bewails that intemperate ambition, which moved, and may I not say, still moves, so many to precipitate themselves into divine functions from sec- ular views. Let a sentence or two on this subject close our review of this sermon, and let those apply the re- buke to themselves, whose practice seems to speak this language, namely, that the ministry is the only office in the world, in which presumption is a virtue, and modesty a vice. " Men run every where into sa- cred orders, and catch at an office revered by spi- rits above, without reverence, without consideration; in whom, perhaps, would appear the foulest abomina- tions, if we were, according to Ezekiei's prophecy, to dig into the walls, and contemplate the horrible things which take place in the house of God."* The sermons of our author on Solomon's Song, de- monstrate that he was well acquainted with vital god- liness. In the 36th he shows the various w^ays by which knowledge puffeth up^f " Some," says he, " wish to know, merely for the sake of knowing: a mean curio- sity. Some wish to know, that they themselves may be known: a mean vanity. Some seek for knowledge from lucrative motives: an avaricious baseness. Some desire to know, that they may edify their neighbour: this is charity. Others, that they may be edified, this is wisdom." On the whole, he owns, that the cultiva- tion of knowledge is good for instruction, but that the knowledge of our own weakness is more useful for salvation. In the 74th sermon on the same divine book, J Ber- nard lays open something of his own experience on the operations of the holy Spirit, and illustrates our Saviour's comparison of them to the wind; "thou knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth."§ After a preamble, full of cautious modesty, and the most unaffected reverence, he says, " I was sensible, that he was present with me; I remember it after his * Ezek. viii. p 498. f I'. 1404. \ P. 15'i9. § ]ohr., iii 386 visits were over; sometimes I had a presentiment of his entrance, but I never could feel his entrance or his exit. Whence he came, and whither he departed; by what way he entered or left me, I confess that I am even now ignorant: and no wonder, for his footsteps are not known.* You ask then, since all his ways are unsearchable, whence could I know that he was present? His presence was living and powerful: it awakened my slumbering soul: it moved, softened, and wounded my heart which had been hard, stony, and distempered. It watered the dry places, illumi- nated the dark, opened those which were shut, inflamed the cold, made the crooked straight, and the rough ways plain; so that my soul blessed the Lord, and all that was within me praised his holy name. I had no evidence of the Lord's presence with me by any of the senses; only from the motion of m}* heart, I un- derstood that he was with me; and, from the expulsion of vices, and the suppression of carnal affections, I perceived the strength of his power: from the discern- ment and conviction of the very intents of my heart, I admired the depth of his wisdom: from some little improvement of my temper and 'conduct I experi- enced the goodness of his grace: from the renovation of my inward man, I perceived the comeliness of his beauty; and from the joint contemplation of all these things I trembled at his majestic greatness. But be- cause all these things, on his departure, became torpid and cold, just as if you withdrew lire from a boiling pot, I had a signal of his departure. My soul must be sad, till he return; and my heart is again inflamed with his love, and let that be the evidence of his return. With such experience of the divine word, if I use the language of the spouse, in recalling him, when he shall absent himself; while I live, her word, '' return,"! shall be familiar to me. As often as he leaves me, so often shall he be recalled, that he mav restore to me the joy of his salvation; that is, that he may restore to * Ps. IxxTi. 10. f Canticles, vi. 13. 387 me himself. Nothing else is pleasing, while he is ab- sent, who alone is pleasure: and I pray that he may not come empty, but full of grace and truth, as he was wont to do." Then he goes on to explain the well tempered mixture of gravity and delight, of fear and joy, of which all true converts are the subjects; and he supports his description by that apposite quotation, " Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto him with trembling."* It appeared not impertinent to the design of a histo- ry like this, to lay before the reader the inmost soul of a saint of the twelfth century, confessing and describ- ing the vicissitudes of spiritual consolations and de- clensions, which, with more or less varieties, in all ages of the church are known to real christians. I know that much caution is necessary in speaking of them; but if we speak according to the divine oracles, as Bernard seems to do, it should be a small thing with us to be judged of man's judgment. The doc- trine of regeneration itself, with all the mixed effects of spiritual health and sickness, in a fallen creature, is foolishness to the natural man.f If any man, however, have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. J It will be the wisdom of mere nominal christians, not to de- ride, but to seek for the holy Spirit, and while godly souls estimate his presence or his absence, by such marks and effects as Bernard describes, they will not only be free from enthusiasm, but will also make it their constant aim, not to grieve the Spirit of God, by which they are sealed to the day of redemption. In ^ the 78th sermon on the canticles, he de- scribes the church as predestinated before all time, that it should be the spouse of Christ, and supports his observation from the words of St. Paul. || He speaks of the influence of the holy Spirit, and of the conver- sion of sinners as the effect of this predestination. " Yet Emmanuel," says he, " is the personage, who * Ps. ii. 11. tICor.ii. t Rom'^iii. <5.P. lo41 !| Eph. i. former part. 388 was of us, and for us was clothed with our curse, and had the appearance, not thereaHty of our shi." In a sermon on the beginning of the 91st psalm, he answers a question, which obviously arises to the mind of a serious person exercised in experimental godli- ness. Both the question and the answer will deserve to be given in the author's own words. " What is the reason, that though we pray and supplicate incessantly, we cannot attain that abundance of grace, which we de- sire? Think you that God is become avaricious or in- digent, impotent, or inexorable? Far, far from us be the thought: but he knows our frame. We must not therefore, cease from petitioning, because though he gives not to satiety, he gives what is needful for sup- port; though he guards us against excessive heat, he cherishes us, as a mother, with his warmth. As the mother sees the hawk approaching and expands her wings that her young ones may enter and find a safe refuge, so his bosom being prepared, and as it were, dilated for us, the ineffable kindness of our God is ex- tended over us. This is a dispensation adapted to the infirmity of our condition; even grace itself must be moderated, lest we fall into an undue elevation of mind, or a precipitate indiscretion. *^ *' Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holyghost?" is the serious question, which the church of England asks of all her candidates for the ministry. Let him, who would answer it conscientiously, ask his own heart, what he feels of Bernard's description, which, if not an accurate answer to the question, may, however, furnish the attentive reader with some saluta- ry contemplations. " He who is called to instruct souls, is called of God, and not by his own ambition; and what is this call, but an inward incentive of love, soli- citing us to be zealous for the salvation of our breth- ren? So often as he, who is engaged in preaching the word, shall feel his inward man to be excited with * B.2. C. 15. Florum Bernardi- A small treatise in which are estracte?: iome of the most beautiful passag'es of this author. 589 divine affections, so often let him assure himself that God is there, and that he is invited by him to seek the good of souls. Truly, I love to hear that preacher, who does not move me to applaud his eloquence, but to groan for my sins. Efficacy will be given to your voice, if you appear to be yourself persuaded of that, to which you advise me. That common rebuke will then at least belong not to you; " thou who teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?"* See how divinely he describes the grace of God in the gospel. " Happy is he alone, to whom the Lord imputeth not sin. To have him propitious to me, against whom alone I have sinned, suffices for all my righteousness. Not to impute my sins, is, as it were, to blot out their existence. If my iniquity is great, thy grace is much greater. When my soul is troubled at the view of her sinfulness, I look at thy mercy, and am refreshed. It lies in common; it is offered to all, and he only who rejects it, is deprived of its benefit. Let him rejoice, who feels himself a wretch deserving of perpetual damnation. For the grace of Jesus still exceeds the quantity or number of all crimes. My punishment, says Cain, is too great for me to expect pardon. Far be the thought. The grace of God is greater than any iniquity whatever. He is really kind and merciful, plenteous in goodness, ready to forgive. His very nature is goodness, his property is to have mercy. Indeed he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and, whom he will, he hardeneth. But mercy he draws from his own nature; condemnation is a work to which we in a measure compel him. He is, there- fore, not called the father of vengeance, but the FATHER OF MERCIES."! The following thought, concerning temptations, is striking. *' In creation, in redemption, and other com- mon benefits, God is common to all; in temptations, the elect have him to themselves. With such special care does he support and deliver, that he may seem, » In cantic. serm. 58. p. 156. Florum. f From various serm. flor. 229 Vol. IIL 50 S90 as it were, neglecting all others, to confine his care to the tempted soul."* We have already given a small specimen of his own experience, in regard to the various operations of the holy Spirit. From different sermons we may now see the practical use, which he makes of the doctrine. "• It is a dangerous thing," says he, " to be insensible of the presence, or absence of the holy Spirit. For how shall his presence be sought, whose absence is not known? and how shall he, who returns to console us, be worthily received, if his presence be not felt? May the unction, therefore, be never removed from us, the unctionf which teaches us of all things, that when the holy Spirit comes, he may find us ready. He who walks in the Spirit, never remains in one state. His way is not in himself; but as the Spirit dispenses to him, as he will, now more faintly, now more eagerly, he forgets the things which are behind, and reaches forth to the things which are before. Distrust not, when thou findest weariness and torpor; seek the hand of thy guide, beseeching him to draw thee, till thou be enabled to run the way of God's commandments. And, on the other hand, beware of presumptuous confi- dence, when thou walkest in the light of divine conso- lation, lest, when he withdraws his hand, thou be more dejected than it becomes a christian to be. "J The divine life was then, it seems, understood in the twelfth century; that same life, which is felt in all ages by holy men, which has its foundations in the genuine doctrines of grace, which alone produces true virtue upon earth, which is the comfort of real chris- tians, and the ridicule of mere philosophers, whether nominally christians or not, and which will issue in heavenly glory. That after the greatest attainments and the most earnest efforts, a christian should still feel himself infected with sin, has often been matter of great vexation and surprise to the most pious and die most intelligent persons. Great mistakes have • Flor. 257. f 1 John, ii. 2T. X Id. 44, &c- 391 been committed on this subject; some have, at length, induced themselves to believe, that indwelling sin has been totally expelled from their breasts; others have given themselves up to unprofitable solicitude and dejection. A great part of the mystery of practical godliness lies, no doubt, in the due conception of the case, and in the practical regulation of the heart, concerning it. Let us hear Bernard on this point; he speaks in unison with the soundest christians in all ages; and, what is more, with St. Paul in Rom. vii. " Let no man say in his heart, these are small evils; I care not for them; it is no great matter, if I remain in these venial sins. This is blasphemy against the Holyghost, and confirmed impenitence. On the other hand, evil cannot altogether be eradicated or ex- tirpated from our hearts, while we are in the world. However great thy proficiency, thou art mistaken, if thou think sin to be dead. Whether thou wilt or not, the Jebusite will dwell within thy borders. He may be subdued, not exterminated. Sin, the disease of the soul, cannot be taken away, till we are freed from the body. By the grace of God it may be repressed, that it shall not REIGN in us, but is ejected only at death. In many things we offend all:* let no man despise or neglect these evils; nor yet should the christian be too solicitous concerning them; he will forgive us, even with pleasure, provided we confess our guilt. In these evils of daily incursion, negligence is culpable, and so is immoderate fear; for there is no condemnation to those, who are in Christ Jesus,| and who consent not to the motions of concupiscence. That we may be humbled, the Lord suffers concupiscence itself still to live in us; and grievously to afflict us, that we may feel what grace can do for us, and may always have recourse to his aid."| Such were the humble senti- ments of this holy personage concerning this subject, and so equally remote was he from the delusive pride of the perfectionist, and the flagitious negligence of the antinomian. * James, ui. 2, f Rom. viil. 1. J Flor. 373. 392 I shall conclude this review of Bernard's works, with a short extract,* which expresses the foundation of his christian hope; and it is that, in which all real christians, in all ages, will cordially concur with him. " I consider three things, in which all my hope con- sists, the love of adoption, the truth of the promise, and the power of performance. Let my foolish heart murmur as much as it please, and say " Who art thou, and how great is that glory, or by what merits dost thou expect to obtain it? I will confidently an- swer, I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that he hath adopted me in love; that he is true in promise; that he is powerful to fulfil it; for he can do what he pleaseth. This is the threefold cord, which is not easily broken, which being let down to us from our heavenly country to earth, I pray that we may firmly hold, and may he himself lift us up, and draw us completely to the glory of God, who is blessed for ever." CHAP. V. Death and Character of Bernard. IN O one of the ancient fathers seems to have had so litile justice done to his memory as Bernard. He lived in an age so ignorant and superstitious, that protest- ants are ready to ask, can any good thing come out of the twelfth century? It is difficult, indeed, to say, whether he has been more injured by the ex- travagant encomiums of some, or by the illiberal censures of others. Even the fictitious miracles, of which the wretched accounts of his biographers are full, indirectly asperse his character, and by no un- common association of ideas, seem to detract all cre- dibility from the best attested narratives of his piety * DeEvang. Serm. 3. 393 and virtue. While then papists represent him as an angel, and protestants as a narrow bigot, or a furious zealot, those, who know nothing more of him than what they have learned from the prejudice of oppo- site extremes, are tempted to think him an object worthy of contempt, if not of detestation. The great Roman historian, in a beautiful fragment preserved to us concerning the death of Cicero, ob- serves, that to celebrate his character, as it deserves, a Cicero himself should be found as panegyrist.* A somewhat similar observation may be made concern- ing Bernard; and happily his voluminous writings, which have escaped the ravages of time, vindicate his reputation, and exhibit him to us with faithlulness and accuracy. It was necessary to be brief in my extracts; else much more numerous proofs of his genuine piety, htimility, and charity, than those which the rea- der hath already seen, might have been adduced. Nor have I concealed his superstitious turn of mind, and the unhappy prejudices, which induced him to cen- sure some of those, of whom " the world was not worthy," and with whose true character he was unac- quainted. He was deeply tinged with a ]M-edilection for the Roman hierarchy; he had imbibed most of those errors of his time, which were not directly sub- versive of the gospel; and the monastic character, which, according to the spirit of the age, appeared to be the greatest glory, seems to have much eclipsed his real virtues, and prevented his progress in true evangelical wisdom. But if we strip him of the ascetic vest, and consi- der the interior endowments, he will appear to have been no mean or ordinary character. His learning was but moderate; his understanding was solid, and his judgment seldom erred in subjects or cases, where the prejudices of the age did not warp the imagina- tion. His genius was truly sublime, his temper san- guine, his mind active and vigorous. The love of * Cicerone quidem laudatore opus asset. Liv. fragm. ^^ 394 God appears to have taken deep root in his soul, and seems to have been always steady, though always ar- dent. His charity was equal to his zeal; and his ten- derness and compassion to christian brethren went hand in hand with his severity against the heretical, the profane, and the vicious. In humility, he was tru- ly admirable; he scarce seems to have felt a glimpse of pleasure on account of the extravagant praises every where bestowed upon him. His heart felt dependence on Christ, and his heavenly affections were incontesti- bly strong. He united much true christian knowledge, with much superstition; and this can hardly be ac- counted for on any other supposition, than that he was directed by an influence truly divine. For there is not an essential doctrine of the gospel, which he did not embrace with zeal, defend by argument, and adorn by life. Socinianism in particular, under God, was by his means nipped in the bud, and prevented from thriving in the christian world. Such was Bernard, who is generally called the last of the fathers. The accounts of his death, considered as composi- tions, are no less disgusting to a taste of tolerable cor- rectness, than those of his life. While his friends admired him as an angel, he felt himself, by nature, a sinful fallen creature. He was about sixty-three years old, when he died of a disease in the stomach. A let- ter, which he dictated to a friend, a very few days before his decease, will be worth our attention, as a genuine monument of that simplicity, modesty, and piety, which had adorned his conversation. " I recei- ved your love, with affection, I cannot say with plea- sure; for what pleasure can there be to a person in my circumstances, replete with bitterness? To eat nothing solid, is the only way to preserve myself tole- rably easy. My sensitive powers admit of no further pleasure. Sleep hath departed from my eyes, and pre- vented the least intermission of my pain. Stomachic weakness is, as it were, the sum total of my afflic- tions. By day and night I receive a small portion of liquids. Every thing solid, the stomach rejects. The 395 very scanty supply, which I now and then receive, is painful; but perfect emptiness would be still more so. If now and then I take in a larger quantity, the effect is most distressing. My legs and feet are swoln, as in a dropsy. In the midst of these afflictions, that I may hide nothing from an anxious friend, in my inner man (I speak as a vulgar person) the spirit is ready, though the flesh be weak. Pray ye to the Saviour, who willeth not the death of a sinner, that he would not delay my timely exit, but that still he would guard it. Fortify with your prayers a poor unworthy creature, that the enemy who lies in wait, may find no place where he may fix his tooth, and inflict a wound. These words I have dictated, but in such a manner, that ye may know my aflfection by a hand well known to you."* Such were the dying circumstances of this excellent saint. So peculiarly were they disposed, that they seemed to rebuke the ignorant admiration of his friends; and thus, through faith and patience, did he at length, inherit the promises. CHAP. VI. General State of the Church in this Century. 1 HIS may, in a great measure, be collected so far as the Latin church is concerned, from the copious ac- count, which has been given of Bernard. Of the Greek church hardly any thing occurs which properly falls within the design of this history. Superstition, idola- try, frivolous contentions, and metaphysical niceties, attended with a lamentable want of true piety and vir- tue, form almost the whole of the religious phenomena in the east. In this chaos of the church, I can only mention a few facts and circumstances, which may throw some lights * Vol. ii. p. iiro 596 on its general state; and they shall be such as have not been con Jdered in the history of Bernard, nor direct- ly relate to the waldenses, whose affairs commenced in the latter part of this century, but will deserve a distinct narration. Just at the close of the foregoing century, pope Ur- ban held a synod of one hundred and fifty bishops, in order to promote the crusades, and exhorted the chris- tian world to concur in supporting the same cause. He died in the year 1099, and Jerusalem was taken by the crusaders in the same year.* The pale of the visi- ble church was extended by the conquests of the west- ern warriors, and several episcopal sees were again formed in regions, whence the light of the gospel had first arisen to bless mankind. But these were of short duration; and, what is much more material to be ob- served, while they continued, they gave no evidence, that I can find, of the spirit of true religion. This is a circumstance which throws a very unpleasing shade on the whole character of the fanatical war, which at that time agitated both Europe and Asia. I have exculpat- ed the western christians from the charge of positive injustice in undertaking it; in every other light it de- serves much of the asperity of the censure, with which modern authors in general agree to treat it. Among a thousand evils which it produced, or at least encou- raged, this was one, namely, that indulgences were now diffused by the popes through Europe, for the purpose of promoting what they called the holy war. These had indeed been sold before by the in- ferior dignitaries of the church, who, for money, re- mitted the penalties imposed on trangressors: they had not, however, pretended to abolish the punishments, which await the wicked in a future state. This impiety was reserved to the pope himself, who dared to usurp the authority, which belongs to God alone. The cor- ruption having once taken place, remained and even increased from age to age, till the time of the reformat * Buronius, cent. xii. S97 fion. It is needless to say, how subversive of all piety and virtue this practice must have been. That the romanists did really promote this impious traffic, is but too evident from their own writers. *^ Hence the strict propriety of St. Paul's representation of the man of sin, AS SHOWING HIMSELF THAT HE IS GoD,t IS evinced; hence, the characters of those, who opposed the power and doctrine of popery in those times, re- ceive the most ample vindication, and hence the merit of the reformation itself may, in a great measure, be appreciated. I only add, that the whole discipline of the church was now dissolved, and men, who had means to purchase a licence to sin, were emboldened to let loose the reins of vice, and follow at large, their own desires and imaginations. Nor were these evils compensated by some other circumstances, which tended to promote the revi- val of learning in this age. Gratian, a native of Tus- cany and a monk of Bologna, made the famous col- lection of canon laws, and published them in 1151. His work was much facilitated by the discovery of the pandect of the emperor Justinian, which took place in 11374 Ecclesiastical causes were henceforward tried by the canon law. The degrees of bachelor, li- centiate, and doctor, degrees mentioned by no writer before the time of Gratian, were instituted by pope Eugenius III. the disciple of Bernard, to encourage the study of this science. But they were soon after introduced at Paris by Peter Lombard, who was called the master of the sentences, and were bestowed on students of divinity, as well as of law. For Lombard was supposed to have performed the same service to divinity, which Gratian his contemporary had done to law. Paris and Bologna, the former in divinity, and the latter in law, were now looked on as the greatest • See Mosheim, cent. xii. p. 595. Qii edit. Morinus, Simon, and Mabillon, are the popisli authors, who are not ashamed to vindicate this system of iniquity. t 2 Thess. ii. ^Mosheim, cent. xii. p. 567. Bower's Lives of Popes, vol. vi, p. 69. D". Pin, cent. xii. chap, xvij Vol. in. 51 398 semiuaries in Europe. In this revival of learning, our own island also bore a part. The university of Ox- ford, which had been founded in the time of Alfred, and had suffered much from the ravages of the Danes, came to a considerable degree of eminence in this cen- tury. The learning, as well as the impiety of the con- tinent, passed into England, and we shall shortly see a dreadful instance of the effects of both appearing in the university last mentioned. For while the real word of God Avas generally neglected, and the salutary doc- trine of the gospel was buried in darkness, the literary improvements of the times might sharpen the intel- lectual faculties, but could produce no benign effects on the manners of mankind. To finish the brief detail of the progress of learning, 1 shall add, that Cambridge had begun to be a seminary of learning, some little time after Oxford, but in that view had been quite oppressed by the incursions of the Danes. It revived, however, in some degree about the year 1109, when Gislebert, with three other monks, was sent by the abbot of Croyland to his manor of Cottenham, near Cambridge. These monks went every day to Cambridge, where they hired a barn, as a convenient place for public lectures. One read grammar in the morning, a second read logic at one o'clock, and a third, at three in the afternoon, gave lectures on rhe- toric from Tully and Quintilian. Gislebert himself preached on Sundays and other holidays. The barn was soon found insufficient to contain the auditors; and, therefore, accommodations were provided for the labours of these men in different parts of the town. Such is the account which Peter of Blois gives of the infant state of learning in the university of Cambridge. The laudable passion for intellectual improvement was strong in this century. In the room of the fathers succeeded the schoolmen, whose theology was found- ed by Peter Lombard. A metaphysical subtilty per- vaded their investigations, and they were idolized by the ignorant, among whom should be ranked the nobility of that age, almost as much as the plebeians. 399 The human mind, however, by exercise recovered a new tone and vigor; but learning could not commu- nicate grace, nor even enable men to see the folly of enslaving themselves to the popedom. The influence of the bishop of Rome grew prodigious: the emperors of Germany trembled under the rod; and some of the bravest and wisest of the English princes were found unequal to a contest with the hierarchy. But to dwell on these scenes, would be to forsake the path of church history. Where then was the church of Christ, and what "was its condition? In the general appearance of na- tional religion she was not to be discovered. God had, however, his secret ones. There might be, and probably there were, in vulgar life, various persons too poor and too insignificant to be regarded in his- tory, who feared God and served him in the gospel of his son, but whom an humble station in society se- cured from persecution. There were also here and there some of the recluse, who practised something better than superstition. The story of Bernard has given us an illustrious instance. In the west, we have seen also the state of the cathari, who formed religi- ous societies among themselves. These increased ex- ceedingly, and assuming a new name much better known in the latter part of the century,* were ex- posed to the unrighteous indignation of the then reigning powers, both in church and state. The ac- count of this persecution will demand our particular attention, when we come to the next century. Thus the church of Christ had a real existence in the west, and shone as a light in a dark place. In the east it is extremely difficult to discover the least vestiges of genuine piety. It is probable, however, that the church existed among the remains of the paulicians. For in the year 1118, Alexius Comnenus, who had zealously persecuted this people in the latter end of the forego- ing century, burned a supposed manichee, who was * Waldenses. 400 charged with maintaining all the absurdities of Manes. We have the account from the female historian, his own daughter Anna Comnena, who every where idol- izes the character of her father.* The supposed here- tic, however, it ought to be known, rejected the wor- ship of images as idolatry;! a circumstance, which, at least affords a strong presumption in favour of his christian character. The reader is hence lead to be- lieve it not improbable, that there were even then some relics of a church of God in the east. If he com- plain that the evidence is scanty, I can only lament, that history affords no more. And if he recollect the ■account given of the cathari in the memoirs of Ber- nard, and consider them as properly belonging to this place, he will see, that the prophecy of Christ concern- ing his church, " that the gates of hell should never prevail against it," had its real completion even in the dark times which we are reviewing. It is, however, no small consolation to the mind of a true believer, that the most disastrous, as well as the most glorious scenes of the church, are predicted in scripture. The evidence of prophecy constantly ac- companies the light of history, and " behold I have told you before," is the voice of our Saviour, which we hear in every age. In a council held at London in 1108, in the reign of our Henry I. a decree was issued against clerks, who should cohabit with women. J This council did not mean to give an attestation to the truth of the prophecy of St. Paul, concerning the apostacy of the latter days, one circumstance of which was the prohibition of marriage§, but they fulfilled the pro- phecy in the clearest manner. The voices of natural conscience and of common sense were, however, by no means altogether silenced during this gloomy sea- son. Fluentius, bishop of Florence||, taught publicly, that antichrist was born, and come into the world; on which account pope Paschal II. held a council there * Anna Comnena, b. xv. + Baron, cent, xit J Baron, cent xii. § 1 Tim. iv. II See bp. Newton on the Prophecies^ vol. iii. p. 167". 401 in the year 1105, reprimanJed the bishop, and enjoin- ed him silence on that subject. Even Bernard himself inveighed so strongly against the popes and the clergy, that nothing but the obstinate prejudices of education prevented him from seeing the whole truth in this matter. It was natural for men, who reverenced the scriptures, and who compared what they read of anti- christ, with what they saw in the church of Rome, to express some suspicions, that the prophecy was then fulfilling, though the glare of fictitious holiness, which covered the popedom, prevented them from behold- ing their object with perspicuity. Our own island was rapidly advancing all this cen- tury into a state of deplorable subjection to the Roman see. Men of solid understanding, like our Henry IT. lamented, struggled, and resisted, but with little effect. They felt the temporal oppression of ecclesiastical tyranny, while they were perfectly regardless of their own spiritual misery, and even aided the court of Rome in the persecution of real christians. That same Henry II. who made so firm a stand against papal en- croachments in civil matters, in the twenty-fourth year of his reign, joined with the French king in persecut- ing the cathari of Toulouse, who were injuriously de- nominated arians;* and, while he abused and per- verted one of the finest understandings by a life of ambition, and lewdness, and by supporting idolatrous religion, he himself was exposed to the severest suf- ferings from the papal usurpations. One instance of his barbarity will deserve to be distinctly related. Thirty men and women, who were Germans, ap* peared in England in the year 1159, and were after- wards brought before a council of the clergy at Ox- ford. Gerard their teacher, a man of learning, said, that they were christians, and believed the doctrine of the apostles. They expressed an abhorrence of the doctrine of purgatory, of prayers for the dead, and of the invocation of saints. Henry, in conjunction with * Hoveden, p. ."27. 402 the council, ordered them'ko be branded with a hot iron on the forehead, to be whipped through Oxford, to have their clothes cut short by their girdles, and to be turned into the open fields; and he likewise for- bade any person, under severe penalties, to shelter or relieve them. As it was the depth of winter, they all lost their lives through cold and hunger.* They had made one female convert in England, who, through fear of similar punishment, recanted. The whole number of the Germans remained, however, patient, serene, and composed, repeating " Blessed are those, who are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Their teacher Gerard, that he might be distinguished from the rest, had an additional stigma on his chin. What a darkness must at that time have filled this island! A wise and sagacious king, a renowned uni- versity, the whole body of the clergy and laity, all - united in expelling Christ from their coasts! Brief as is the account of the martyrs, it is sufficiently evident that they were the martyrs of Christ. Driven most probably from home by the rage of persecution, they had brought the light and power of the gospel with them into England; aad so totally senseless and corrupt was our nation, that none received it. It deserves to be noticed, that England was afterwards for a long time exposed to suifer more severely, than most other nations, from the exactions of the popedom. Mr. Berington observes, on occasion of this story, that none but a hero or a madman was at that time qualified to be a reformer. But a true reformer need not to be either the one or the other. A man of under- standing, who fears God, and speaks the words of so- berness, if influenced by the spirit of God, is fitted to reform mankind. The contention between king Henry and Becket is well known. I have nothing to say of it, except that the whole affair is foreign to my purpose. There is no * Neubrig. Brompt. Collect. See Henry's Hist, of Eng. vol. iil. p. 240. 403 evidence that a spirit of true religion influenced either the king or the archbishop. Antichrist, indeed, reigned calm and victorious throughout Europe. Nevertheless, even in Italy itself, some suspicions of his existence appeared. Joachim, abbot of Calabria, was a man renowned for learning and piety, and perhaps very deservedly. This man asserted that antichrist was born in the Roman state, and would be exalted to the apostolic see.* Our king Richard I. being at Messina in Sicily, going upon his expedition to the holy land, sent for this Joachim, and with much satisfaction heard him explain the book of the Revelation, and discourse of antichrist. Mr. Ber- ington gives a ludicrous account of this interview be- tween the king and the abbot; and observes, that the " bishops who were present, and Richard, and Joa- chim, were equally intelligent in the mysteries of the evangelist with any other interpreters from that day. "f This gentleman is a lively, agreeable writer, and has exerted a capacity, learning, and industry, to which I have been obliged on several occasions. But the rude treatment of any part of the word of God deserves to be rebuked, whether he, who is guilty of it, be a ro- man catholic or a protestant, or a sceptic in religion. , I doubt not but some of his readers, who never ex- amined the subject with the least attention, will be gratified with the pleasantry of his remark. But let them be told, that part of the apocalypse is very in- telligible, even at present; and that all of it will pro- bably be so before the end of time. And is not all scripture said to be profitable? J It behooved not a man professing Christianity, to throw out innuendos, which might have been expected only from an avowed in- fidel. Has the author ever examined with care, the writings of expositors on the apocalypse? Did he ever attend to Mr. Mede's elaborate and learned works on the subject? Did Sir Isaac Newton's observations on the apocalypse ever fall into his hands? or, to come to * Hoveden, p. 681. Collier's Ecc. Hist. b. vi. p. 401. t Hist, of Henry TI. &c. p. S75. ] 1 Tim. iii. 16. 404 latter times, has he ever studied the works of bishop Newton, bishop Hiird, or the late bishop Halifax? Let him attend to any one of these, and having di- gested his scheme, let him then say, with a sneer if he can, that our ignorant king Richard I. was as intelli- gent an expositor as he. If this same Richard had been as earnest in study- ing the scriptures, as he was in conducting his roman- tic expedition into the holy land, by comparing the apocalyptic prophecies with the treatment which he himself received from the pope, he might have under- stood that the bishop of Rome was antichrist. For, in a bull dated 1197, Innocent III. declared, that it was not fit, that any man should be invested with authority, who did not revere and obey the holy see. In another bull, addressed to Richard, he told him, that if he op- posed the execution of the decrees of the apostolic see, he would soon convince him, how hard it was to kick against the pricks. In another bull, he declared, that he would not endure the least contempt of him- self, or of God, whose place he held on earth, but would punish every disobedience without delay, and ^.vithout respect of persons; and would convince the whole world, that he was determined to act like a sovereign.* The " lionhearted" Richard obeyed his decrees, and gave up his opposition, in the cause which he had contested. Innocent, indeed, reigned in England with a power little less than despotic. This was the pope, who confirmed the doctrine of transub- stantiation in the grossest sense, who reduced the two succeeding princes John and Henry III. into a state of the lowest vassalage to himself, and who enriched his creatures with the treasures of England, almost entirely at pleasure. * Gervas Chronicle. See Henn's 3d. vol. of Hist, of Euff. 405 CHAP. VII. The Propagation of the Gospel. 1 HE pale of the visible church was still farther ex- tended in this century among the idolatrous nations; and, though the methods of propagating divine truth were too often unchristian, some missionaries seem to have been actuated by an apostolical spirit. The arti- cles under this head are only few, but will deserve the reader's attention. Boleslaus, duke of Poland, having taken Stetin the capital of Pomcrania, by storm, and laid waste the country with fire and sword, compelled the remaining inhabitants to submit at discretion. What right he had to make war on the Pomeranians at all, and if he had a right, how far he confined himself within the bounds of justice and humanit}^, are inquiries not easy to be answered, on account of the scantiness of our infor^ mation. From such inauspicious beginnings, however, Pomerania was introdu.ced to an acquaintance with Christianity. The conqueror endeavoured, for three years, to procure pastors and teachers from his own dominions, to instruct his new subjects; but could find none. He then eng-ae-ed Otho, bishop of Bambersr, m the v/ork. The duke of Pomerania met the bishop on his approach, and received him vj'iih much respect. The savage inhabitants, however, were with difficulty prevented from murdering him. Otho was firm, and by christian zeal, patience, and meekness, laboured to efface the disadvantageous impressions, which the mili- tary executions of Boleslaus could not fail to make on their minds. The dutchess of Pomerania, with her female attendants, received the gospel. So did the duke with his companions, and he gave this evidence of sincerity, that he was prevailed on by the instruc- tions of Otho to dismiss his concubines, who were twenty-four in number. This missionary was after- VoL. III. 52 406 wards fiercely assaulted by some of the inhabitants, and escaped with great difficulty. But he bore the in- jury so meekly, and still persevered in his labours with such evident marks of probity and charity, that he at length established the form of Christianity among them. He* had entered on his mission in the year 1124, and from his success was styled the apostle of the Pome- ranians, f After he had carried the gospel into Noim and other remote districts, he returned to the care of his own fiock at Bamberg, where he died in 11394 That the work, however, was very slight among this people, appeared too plainly by the event. The Pome- ranians soon after ejected the christian pastors, and reestablished the idolatry of their ancestors. The inhabitants of Rugen, an island which lies in the neighbourhood of Pomerania, were remarkable for their obstinate opposition to Christianity. Eric, king of Denmark, subdued them, and, among other condi- tions of peace, imposed on them the necessity of re- ceiving his religion. But they soon relapsed into the idolatry of their ancestors. At length Waldemar, king of Denmark, having subjected them again by his arms to the Danish crown, obliged them to deliver up to him their idol, called Swanterwith, an account of which we have seen in the history of the tenth century. Waldemar ordered it to be hewn in pieces, and burned. He compelled the vanquished also to deliver to him all their sacred money: he released the chris- tian captives whom they held in slavery, and converted the lands, which had been assigned to the pagan priests, to the support of a christian ministry. He did also something, which was of a more salutary nature and tendency, whatever were his own motives of con- duct. He furnished the ignorant savages with pastors and teachers. Among these shone Absalom, archbi- shop of Lunden, by whose pious labours, at length, the gospel received an establishment in this island, * Cent. Map^d. cent. xil. p. 16. f Baronins, cent. xii. See Magd. cent. :j Butler, vol. vii. 407 which had so long baffled every attempt to evangelize it. Absalom* ought to be classed among those genu- ine benefactors of mankind, who were willing to spend and be spent for the good of souls. Even Jaremar, the prince of Rugen, received the gospel with great alacri- ty, and not only taught his wayward subjects by his life and example, but also by his useful instructions and admonitions. Sometimes he employed menaces, but to what degree, and with what circumstances, I know not. Certain it is, that the people of Rugen from that time were in some sense, at least, evangelized. No people had ever shown a more obstinate aversion to the doctrines of Christianity. Nor were the military proceedings of Eric and Waldemar calculated to soften their animosity. In this article, however, as in the last, the characters of the missionaries ought to be distin- guished from those of the princes; for, in the accounts of both the missionaries there appears very good evidence of a genuine propagation of godliness. These events in Rugen took place about the year llGB.f When I distinguish the character of the princes, from that of the missionaries, I am by no means certain, that the conduct of the former was unjustifiable. The people of Rugen were a band of pirates and robbers; and it is not improbable, but that the right of selfpre- servation might authorize the Danish expeditions. The Finlanders were of the same character with the people of Rugen, and infested Sweden with their in- cursions. Eric, king of the last mentioned country, vanquished them in war, and is said to have wept, be- cause his enemies died unbaptized. As soon as he was master of Finland, he sent Henry, bishop of Up- sal, to evangelize the barbarians. The success of the missionary was great, and he is called the apostle of the Finlanders, though he was murdered at length by some of the refractory people. How far the censure of Mosheim, on his severity to them, may be well founded, I cannot decide. The man seems, however, * Mosheim, xii. cent. 351. Cent. Magd. xii. cent. 13. j Butler, vol. x. 408 to have been T^ious and to have liad t^ood intentions. The laudable conduct of his sovereign also deserves to be celebrated. Eric was excellent both as a chris- tian and a king. His piety provoked the derision of soHie impious malcontents, b} whom he was attacked, while employed in public worship. The remainder of the festival, said he, I shall observe elsewhere. It was the feast of the ascension, which he was celebrating. He went out alone to meet the murderers, that he might prevent the effusion of blood, and he died re- commending his soul to God. He was slain in 1311; and his tomb still remains, at Upsal, undefaced.* It may be proper to add, that Henry was an Englishman, who had taken considerable pains among the barba- rous nations, before the period of his labours in Fin- land, and that he was stoned to death at the instigation of a murderer whom he had endeavoured to reclaim by his censures. His death happened in the same year as that of his royal master, f This person is high- ly extolled by John Olaus, in his work, De rebus Go- thicis.J The Sclavonians were remarkably averse to the gospel of Christ, and much exercised the patience and charity of Vicelinus, who preached thirty years in Holsatia and the neighbouring parts. He was at length appointed bishop of Oldenburg, which see was after- wards transferred to Lubec: and the fruits of his mi- nistry were solid and giorious.§ He died in 1J54. All the accounts of antiquity are full of the praises of Vicelinus; and his character is briefly, but very strong- ly celebrated by Mosheim, with such unqualified com- mendations, that I cannot but wish that very learned historian had favoured us with an abridgment of his life and actions, taken from the sources of information, which he quotes, but which seem to us inaccessible. I have consulted the centuriators, and find matter there sufficient to excite, but not to satisfy our curio- * Mosheim, cent. xii. 552, Bntler, vol. v. 4 His iife was written by Benzelius Monum. Suec. p. 33. Butler, vol. ii. \ B. 19. c. 3. See Baron, cent. xii. § Baron, cent. xii'. 409 sity. The little to be collected from them shall be men- tioned in the next chapter. And here is an instance of that, which I have had but too frequent occasion to remark, namely, an extreme scantiness of information on subjects most worthy of our researches. How wil- lingly would the evangelical reader have excused the omission of many pages in Mosheim, if he had grati- fied us with an orderly account of one of the best and wisest christian missionaries of the age.* The propagation of religion in Livonia will not de- serve any detail. It took place in the latter part of this century: violent and secular methods were principally used, and the wretched inhabitants were compelled to receive baptism; but I know no fruits that appeared in this century worthy of the christian name. CHAP. VHI. Writers and Enmient Persons hi this Century, xSERNARD far outshines all the other christian characters of the age. A very brief survey, however, of some who had the greatest reputation for piety, may not be improper. Meginher, archbishop of Treves, is a character, of whom it were to be wished, we had a more distinct account. He inveighed against the luxury and sensual- ity of his clergy, and so provoked their resentment, that he was obliged to undertake a journey to Rome in his own defence. By the treachery of his own cler- gy, he was intercepted on the road, and died in prison at Parma in the year 1130.t If we had the particulars of these transactions, it is probable, that he would appear to have resembled Chrysostom in his integrity, * See cent. Magd. 16. Mosheim, cent. xii. 554. The authors quoted by Mosheim are Cimbria literata of Mollerus, and the Res Hamburg, of Lambecius. f Cent. Magd. cent. xti. 23. 410 as well as in his sufferings. Meginher deserves, how- ever, to be mentioned, because his case evinces how unsafe it was in those days to defend christian piety, even in the midst of the visible church of Christ. About the same time a presbyter named Arnulph, came to Rome, and faithfully preached against the vices of the clergy. He was himself a man of unbla- mable life and conversation, and zealously laboured to induce Jie pastors of the church to imitate the sim- plicity, and disinterestedness of the primitive chris- tians. He seems to have foreseen that he should suf- fer for righteousness sake. " I know," said he pub- licly, " that ye seek m)" life. Ye despise me and your Creator, who redeemed you by his only begotten son. Nor is it to be wondered at, that ye should kill me a sinful man, who speaks to you the truth, since, if St. Peter himself were to rise from the dead, and re- buke your multiplied enormities, ye would not spare him." Arnulph was secretly murdered, and appears to have been a faithful martyr.* The orthodox sentiments of the godhead and man- hood of Jesus Christ, and the influence of both natures in the redemption, were clearly and soundly vindica- ted by Ricardus in a treatise concerning the incarna- tion, t Rupert, in this century, writing on the gospel of St. John, observes, on occasion of our Lord's decla- ring in the 14th chapter of St. John, that the world neither see nor know the holy Spirit; " that they see him not, arises from their unbelief; that they know him not, proceeds from their pride. Infidelity regards nothing but what is present; and pride approves not of such a comforter, nay, reckons the life of those who seek his consolations to be madness, and their end to be without honour." Peter Alphonsus, a Jew, was converted in the year 1106, in the forty-fourth year of his age. Being se- verely censured by his countrymen, he published a * Cent. Majvd. Q". f Id. 98. 411 dialogue against the Jews, which seems to have been no contemptible defence of Christianity against his countrymen.* This man was eminent for sacred and profane literature, and it is hoped, became a real or- nament to Christianity. t Whoever in this degenerate age acted faithfully in the ministry, exposed himself to imminent danger. This was the case of Heinricus, bishop of Mentz. He was a rare pattern of meekness, integrity, and charity. But, through the unjust accusation of his clergy, he was deprived of his bishopric by the authority of two cardinals at Worms. " I know," said he, " if I were to appeal to the pope, it would be in vain. I appeal, therefore, to Jesus Christ, the just judge of quick and dead, who neither accepts persons, nor receives bribes as you do." After his expulsion from his see, which he had held near nine years, he retired to a monas- tery in Saxony, and lived in privacy and retirement, but without taking upon him the monastic habit, and died in 1153.| Vicelinus, before mentioned, was born at an ob- scure town on the banks of the Weser, in the diocese of Minden. Having met with a sarcastic reproof from a priest, in his youth, on account of his indolence and ignorance, he was roused to pay the greatest attention to the cultivation of his understanding. Many in that age were equally studious; but Vicelinus was singu- larly eminent in directing his studies to practical pur- poses, and to the cultivation of genuine piety, and in avoiding the miserable strife of metaphysical subtiii- ties, to which men of learning were then generally addicted. The scene of his evangelical labours was Holstein, in the kingdom of Denmark: there he taught men to turn from idols to the living God; for the Holsatians had known nothing of Christianity, but the name: they worshipped groves, fountains, and various vanities. The success of Vicelinus seems to have been solid and lasting: many pagans all around, and ' Du Pin. 170. t Cent. Ma.^d. 701. | Id. 710. 4L'2 particularly the Vandals, were induced to receive Christianity. After he had laboured thirty years in Holstein and the neighbouring* parts, he was appointed bishop of Oldenburgh, in the year 1128. He still con- tinued near six years in the same course of evangeli- cal labour, in which he had persevered so long before, but was at length confined to his bed by a palsy for upwards of two years, and died in the year 1154.* Anselm of Havelburg was a bishop of some literary reputation, and flourished in the middle of this cen- tury. The only thing, which I find remarkable con- cerning him, and it gives a strong presumption in fa- vour of his piety or understanding, or both, is this, that he saw and censured the pharisaism of the inon- kish institutions. He declared, that there were many in his time, successively rising up, who disapproved of the vanity and novelty f of monastic orders. It may be proper just to mention Peter, abbot of Cluny, sirnamed the venerable, l^hat so ignorant and so trifling a writer should have been honoured with a title so magnificent, is one of the strongest marks of the low state of religious knowledge in general at that time. He takes large pains to vindicate the man- ners and customs of his monastery against objections; and in doing this, he is so verbose and circumstan- tial,! that he may seem to have placed the essence of Christianity in frivolous punctilios and insignificant ceremonies. This is he, who received Peter Abelard in his afflictions with great humanity, and who con- soled Eloisa after the death of that ingenious heretic, by sending to her, at her request, the form of Abe- lard's absolution, § which that unhappy woman in- scribed on his sepulchre. I can only say, in the praise of Peter, that his manners were gentle, his temper very mild and humane, and that he had what in com- mon life is concisely called a good heart. I add Peter Lombard to the list of eminent persons of this century, though I know nothing interesting to * Cent. Magd. cent. xii. 74S. f W. 761. i Bu Pin, cent xii. p. 79 ■§ Baron, cent. xii. 413 relate of him, further than what has already been men- tioned. Subtilty of argumentation was his fort: I find no evidence of his genuine humility and piety. Isidore of Madrid, a poor labourer of this century, was canonized by papal authority. The account of him is too scanty, to enable us to form a proper estimate of his real worth and qualifications. There must, how- ever, have been something singularly striking in his character; as here we have one canonization at least, which could not be the result of interested adulation. His master, John de Vargas, allowed him daily to at- tend the public offices of the church; and he, by early rising, took care that the master lost nothing of his due services: he relieved the poor by the produce of his la- bours: he was humble, laborious and just; and died near sixty years old, in the exercises of benevolence. What a saint! if, as may be hoped, he was principled by the faith of Jesus, and renounced, from the heart, his own righteousness as filthy rags! Vol. III. 53 CENTURY XIIL CHAP. I. Peter Waldo. 1 HE reader will recollect the account, which has been given of the cathari,* who were evidently a peo- ple of God in the former part of the last century. In the latter part of the same century, they received a great accession of members from the learned labours and godly zeal of Peter Waldo. In the century before us, they were gloriously distinguished by a dreadful series of persecution, and exhibited a spectacle to the world, both of the power of divine grace, and of the malice and enmity of the world against the real gospel of Jesus Christ. I purpose to represent in one connec- ted view, the history of this people to the time of the reformation, and a little after. The spirit, doctrine, and progress of the waldenses, will be more clearly un- derstood by this method, than by broken and inter- rupted details; and the thirteenth century seems the most proper place in which their story should be introduced. The cathari, whom Bernard so unhappily misrepre- sented, were peculiarly numerous in the valleys of Piedmont. Hence the name Vaudois, or Vallenses was given to them, particularly to those who inhabited the valleys of Lucerne and Angrogne. A mistake arose from similarity of names, that Peter Valdo or Waldo, was the first founder of these churches. For the name Vallenses being easily changed into Waldenses, the romanists improved this very easy and natural mis- take into an argument against the antiquity of these * See page 360. 415 churches, and denied that they had any existence till the appearance of Waldo. During the altercations of the papists and protestants, it was of some consequence that this matter should be rightly stated; because the former denied, that the doctrines of the latter had any existence till the days of Luther. But from a just ac- count of the subject it appeared, that the real protes- tant doctrines existed during the dark ages of the church, even long before Waldo's time; the proper founder of them being Claudius of Turin, the chris- tian hero of the ninth century. * About the year 1160, the doctrine of transubstantia- tion, which, some time afterwards, Innocent III. con- firmed in a very solemn manner, was required by the court of Rome to be acknowledged by all men. A very pernicious practice of idolatry was connected with the reception of this doctrine. Men fell down before the consecrated host and worshipped it as God: and the novelty, absurdity, and impiety of this abomination very much struck the minds of all men, who were not dead to a sense of true religion. At this time Peter Waldo, a citizen of Lyons, appeared very courageous in opposing the invention; though it is evident from the very imperfect account, which we have of the man, that it was not one single circumstance alone which influenced him in his views of reformation. It was the fear of God, in general, as a ruling principle in his own soul, and an alarming sense of the wickedness of the times, which, under the divine influence, moved * Dr. Allix, in his history of the ancient church of Piedmont, has done justice to this subject. I have already made use of his learned labours, and shall again avail myself of them; though my chief source of informa- tion concerning this people will be their history, written by John Paul Perrin of Lyons, who wx'ote in 1618. I could have wished, that his ac- counts of internal religion had been more full, even though those of the persecutions had been more scanty. But there arose no writers of emi- nence among the Waldenses; and Perrin's history is in a great measure collected from the records of the process and proceedings against the Waldensian churches, which were in the offices of the archbishops of Ambrun, and which were very providentially preserved. I shall not quote him in any particular passage, because I make such large use of his his- tory in general. 416 him to oppose with courage the dangerous corruptions of the hierarchy. A providential event had given the first occasion to this reformer's concern for religion. Being assembled with some of his friends, and after supper conversing and refreshing himself among them, one of the com- pany fell down dead on the ground, to the amazement of all that were present. From that moment, it pleased God, that Waldo should commence a serious inquirer after divine truth. This person was an opulent mer- chant of Lyons, and as his concern of mind increased, and a door of usefulness to the souls of men was more and more set open before him, he abandoned his mer- cantile occupation, distributed his wealth to the poor, and exhorted his neighbours to seek the bread of life. The poor, who flocked to him, that they might par- take of his alms, received from him the best instruc- tions, which he was capable of communicating; and they reverenced the man, to whose liberality they were so much obliged, while the great and the rich both hated and despised him. Waldo himself, however, that he might teach others effectually, needed himself to be taught; and where was instruction to be found? Men at that day might run here and there for meat, and not be satisfied. In some convents, among the many who substituted for- mality for power, there were particular persons, who " held the head," and drew holy nourishment from him. But a secular man, like Waldo, would not easily find them out, and were he to have met with some of them, their prejudiced attachments to the see of Rome would either have prevented them from imparting to the merchant of Lyons the food which was necessary for his soul, or have led him into a course of life, by which he would, after their example, have buried his talent in a napkin. The conduct of Bernard, one of the most eminent and best of them, too plainly shows, that one of these two things .would have been the case. But Bernard was gone to his rest not long before this time, and seems not to have left anv monastic brother 417 behind him at all to' be compared with himself. Di- vine providence reserved better things for Waldo: darkened and distressed in mind and conscience, he knew that the scriptures were given as infallible guides, and he thirsted for those sources of instruc- tion which at that time were in a great measure a sealed book in the christian world. To men who un- derstood the Latin tongue, they were accessible. But how few were these compared with the bulk of man- kind! The Latin vulgate bible was the only edition of the sacred book at that time in Europe; and the lan- guages then in common use, the French and others, however mixed with the Latin, were, properly speak- ing, by this time separate and distinct from it. It is a certain mark of the general negligence of the clergy in those ages, that no provision was made for the igno- rant in this respect, though I do not find that there existed any penal law to forbid the reading of the scriptures in the vulgar tongue. It is certain that Waldo found means to diffuse the precious gift of the scriptures among the people. But different ac- counts are given us of his manner of doing it.* His enemies assert, that some books of scripture, having been translated from Latin into French, he assumed the office of an apostle to himself. In particular, Rei- nerius says, " Being somewhat learned, he taught the people the text of the new testament." This looks so like a reluctant confession of his learning and know- ledge, that I am tempted to believe the words of Matthias Illyricus, who observes: " His kindness to the poor being diffused, his love of teaching and their love of learning growing stronger and stronger, greater crowds came to him, and he explained the scriptures. He was himself a man of learning, so I understand from some old parchments, nor was he obliged to em- ploy others to translate for him, as his enemies affirm." Another anonymous author tells us, likewise, that Waldo made a collection in the vulgar tongue of the * Usher de Christ. Eccl. success. & statu 418 passages of the ancient fathers, that he might satisfy his disciples by the testimony of the doctors against their adversaries. But whether Waldo himself entirely performed the work, or encouraged others to do it, or what is most probable, executed it himself with the assistance of others, it is certain, that the christian world in the west Avas indebted, under providence, to him for the first translation of the bible into a modern tongue, since the time that the Latin had ceased to be a living lan- guage. A most valuable gift! True reformers have ever been remarkable for a desire and endeavour to communicate knowledge among the ignorant: and it is a standing reproach to the whole popish system, that however pious and scripturally judicious some individuals of that church have been, no pains at all were taken by it to diffuse biblical knowledge among the vulgar. The praise of this work, if we except the sin- gle instance of the Sclavonian version of the scriptures, which, however, was executed by two Greek monks, and not by papists, is purely and exclusively of pro- testant origin in Europe, during all the ages preceding the reformation. As Waldo grew more acquainted with the scrip- tures, he discovered, that the general practice of nomi- nal christians was totally abhorrent from the doctrines of the new testament: and in particular, that a number of customs, which all the world regarded with reve- rence, had not only no foundation in the divine oracles, but were even condemned by them. Inflamed with equal zeal and charity, he boldly condemned the reign- ing vices, and the arrogance of the pope. He did more: as he himself grew in the knowledge of the true faith and love of Christ, he taught his neighbours the principles of practical godliness, and encouraged them to seek salvation by Jesus Christ. John de Beles Mayons, the archbishop of Lyons, could not but be sensible of the tendency of these pro- ceedings, and being jealous of the honour of the cor- rupt system, of which he was a distinguished member, 419 he forbade the new reformer to teach any more, on pain of excommmiication, and of being proceeded against as an heretic. Waldo replied, that though he was a layman, yet he could not be silent in a matter which concerned the salvation of men. On this reply, the archbishop endeavoured to apprehend him. But the great affection of Waldo's friends, the influence of his relations, who were men of rank, the universal re- gard paid to his probity and piety, and the conviction which, no doubt, many felt, that the extraordinary cir- cumstances of things justified his assumption of the pastoral character,* all these things operated so strongly in his favour, that he lived concealed at Lyons for the space of three years. Among other scriptural discoveries the evils of the popedom struck the mind of Waldo; and pope Alex- ander III. having heard of his proceedings, anathema- tized the reformer and his adherents, and commanded the archbishop to proceed against them with the ut- most rigor. Waldo could no longer remain in Lyons. He esca- ped; his disciples followed him; and hence a dispersion took place, similar to that which arose in the primitive church on occasion of the persecution of Stephen. The eflfects were also similar: the doctrine of Waldo was hence more widely disseminated through Europe. He himself retired into Dauphiny, where his tenets took a deep and lasting root. Some of his people did pro- bably join themselves to the vaudois of Piedmont, and the new translation of the bible wa!s, doubtless, a rich accession to the spiritual treasures of that people. Waldo himself, however, seems never to have been among them. Persecuted from place to place, he re- tired into Picardy. Success still attended his labours; * If Waldo's friends reasoned aright in tliis, as I am inclined to think they did, arguing from the necessity of the case and the strength of that divine aphorism, " I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," let not, however, such extraordinary cases give a sanction to many selfcreated teachers, who disturb rather than strengthen the hands of faithful pastors by their irregular proceedings. See Butler's Analogy, page 232. Oct. edit. ■^' 420 and the doctrines, which he preached, appear to have so harmonized with those of the vaudois, that with reason they and his people were henceforward consi- dered as the same. To support and encourage the church of Christ, formed no part of the glory of the greatest and wisest princes of that age. The barbarous conduct of our Henry II. has been already noticed; and Philip Au- gustus, one of the most prudent and sagacious princes which France ever saw, was no less enslaved by the " god of this world."* He took up arms against the waldenses of Picardy, pulled down three hundred houses of the gentlemen who supported their party, destroyed some walled towns, and drove the inhabi- tants into Flanders. Not content with this, he pursued them thither, and caused many of them to be burned. From the account of a very authentic French histo- rian, f it appears, that Waldo fled into Germany, and at last settled in Bohemia. There he ended his days in the year 1179, or before that time. J It is evident, from good records, that the churches of Dauphiny corresponded with those of Bohemia, and that these last were, on some occasions at least, supplied with pastors from Piedmont. These things show the mu- tual connexion of the waldensian churches, and prove the superior antiquity of those of the valleys, the seve- rity of the persecution, and the important services of Peter Waldo. A very extraordinary personage! resem- * 2 Cor. iv. 4. f Thuan. Hist, sui temp 457. \ The account, which Mosheim lias given us of the waldenses, is so very different from mine, that it may seem proper, that I should assign the reasons, why I presume to differ from so learned an historian in mat- ters of fact. 1st. I have adduced ample testimonies, and the reader, who will consult Dr. Allix, may see more, to prove, that these persons existed before the time of Peter Waldo, and consequently, that he was not, as Mosheim asserts, the proper parent and founder of the sect. 2d. That his account of their insisting on the necessity of the poverty and manual la- bours of their pastors is a mistake, will appear from their own declarations in the next chapter. 3d. So far was Waldo from being the founder of the churches of the valleys, that it does not appear, that he ever was in Pied- mont at all. 4th. Whereas Mosheim asserts, that he assumed the pastoral function in 1180, it is evident from Thuanus, that he died before that era. On the whole, the information of Mosheim concerning this people, seems very scanty, confused, and erroneous. See Mosheim, vol. i. p. 615. 421 ,4^- bling in many respects the immediate successors of the apostles themselves! But his piety, endowments, and labours, have met with no historian capable of doing them justice; and, as in every light he had no reward upon earth, he appears to have been eminently one of those, of whom the world was not worthy; but he turned many to righteousness, and shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. * The word of God grew and multiplied, in the places where he had planted, and even in still more distant regions. In Alsace and along the Rhine the gospel was preached with a pow- erful effusion* of the holy Spirit; persecutions ensued, and thirty-five citizens of Mentz were burned at one fire in the city of Bingen, and at Mentz eighteen. The bishop of Mentz was very active in these persecu- tions, and the bishop of Strasburg was not inferior to him in vindictive zeal; for, through his means, eighty- persons were burned at Strasburg. Every thing relat- ing to the waldenses resembled the scenes of the pri- mitive church. Numbers died praising God, and in confident assurance of a blessed resurrection; whence the blood of the martyrs again became the seed of the church; and in Bulgaria, Croatia, Dalmatia, and Hun- gary, churches were planted, which flourished in the thirteenth century, governed by Bartholomew, a na- tive of Carcassone, a city not far distant from Tou- louse, which might be called in those days the metro- polis of the waldenses, on account of the numbers who there professed evangelical truth, f In Bohemia and in the country of Passaw, the churches wereTeckoned to have contained eighty thousand professors in the former part of the fourteenth century. Almost throughout Europe waldenses were to be found; and yet they were treated as the offscouring of the earth, and as people against whom all the power and wisdom of the world were united. But " the witnesses continued to prophecy in sackcloth,"^ and souls were built up in the faith, * Daniel xii. tMatthew Paris, in his Hist, of Henry III, Ann. 122.J. \ Revelat. xi. Vol. III. 54 422 the hope, and the charity of the gospel; and here was the faith and patience of the saints. CHAP. II. The real Character of the Waldenses. JbSUT we are justly called on, in this place, to vindi- ■Cate the claim, which this people made to the honour- able character of the church of God. In times of verv great decline, whoever is led by the spirit of God to revive true religion, necessarily exposes himself to the invidious charges of arrogance, uncharitableness, and selfconceit. By condemning all others, he provokes the rest of the world to observe and investigate his faults. These disadvantages the waldenses had in com- mon with other reformers: they had also disadvantages peculiarly their own. Power, knowledge, and learn- ing, were almost entirely in the hands of their adver- saries: in them very particularly God Almighty chose the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise. As they were, for the most part, a plain and illiterate people, they furnished no learned divines, no profound reasoners, nor able historians. The vindica- tion, therefore, of their claims to the character of a true church must be drawn principally from the holi- ness of their lives and the patience of their sufferings. There are, however, besides these, certain documents respecting their principles, which will enable the can- did and attentive reader to form a just estimate of these men. Nothina: can exceed the calumnies of their adver- sarics: in this respect they had the honour to bear the cross of the first christians. Poor men of Lyons and dogs were the usual terms of derision. In Provence they were all called cutpurses: in Italy, because they observed not the appointed festivals, and rested from 423 their ordinary occupations only on Sundays, they were called insabathas; that is, regardless of sabbaths. In Germany, they were called gazares, a term expressive of every thing flagitiously wicked. In Flanders the}- were denominated turlupins, that is, inhabitants with wolves, because they were often obliged to dwell in woods and deserts. And because they denied the con- secrated host to be God, they were accused of arian- ism, as if they had denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. Our old historian Hoveden calls them arians.* It was not possible for these poor sufferers to speak a word in defence or explanation of their doctrines, but ma- lice, which discolors every thing, was sure to misre- present it. If they maintained the independency of the temporal powers on the ecclesiastical, a doctrine now believed almost universally in Europe, they were called manichees, as if they favoured the notion of two prin- ciples. So I find Baronius calls them, observing that they were rather manichees than arians.f The old odious name of gnostic also was revived, with every other term of ancient or modern opprobrium, which might infix a stigma on the character of the sufferers, and seem to justify the barbarity with which they were treated. Matthew Paris himself, one of the most valuable of the monkish historians, calls them ribalds, or disso- lute men. They were termed, and as numbers believ- ed, not without justice, sorcerers, and even sodomites. It is surprising how the old calumnies, Avith which the pagans blackened the primitive christians, were renew- ed, namely, that they met in the night, were guilty of incest, and the like. Rainerius, their adversary, as mentioned above, was not ashamed to repeat this ab- surd accusation. To which he adds, that they allowed divorces at pleasure, in order that they might live with their sectarian brethren; that they worshipped their pastors; and that they maintained as a principle that no magistrate ought to condemn any person to death, * Hoveden, p. "27. t Baron, cent. xii. Ann. 1176; 424 But it were endless to recite calumnies of this kind: let us see how they cleared themselves by their own wri- tings. An apology was still extant in the time of Per- rin, which the waldenses of Bohemia sent to Ladislaus, king of Hungary and Bohemia, by whom they were grievously persecuted. From this and some other of their writings, their conduct is defended. In answer to the charge of lewdness, they strongly, deny it, and gravely express their abhorrence of the sin. " This vice," sa}^ they, " consumes the estates of many, as it is said of the prodigal son, who wasted his substance in riotous living. Balaam made choice of this vice, to provoke the children of Israel to offend their God. Hence Sampson lost his sight. Hence So- lomon was perverted, and many have perished. The re- medies for this sin are fasting, prayer, and the keep- ing at a distance from temptation. Other vices may be subdued by fighting; in this we conquer by flight." Let men of this refined age, who are enslaved by un- cleanness, learn some good rules from the waldenses, whose simplicity was mixed with true wisdom. The charge of admitting divorces at pleasure they abhor, and quote the scripture* against the practice: " Let not the wife depart from her husband, nor the hus- band put away his wife." They published also a book, describing the causes of their separation from the ro- man church. The separation was at length made com- plete, indeed, through the violence of their persecu- tors; but I have elsewhere observed, that the desire of separating from the Latin church did not commence with them. This people were injuriously represented also as holding the community of goods, and denying the right of all private property. Their answer to the charge was very satisfactory. " Every one of us hath possessed his own at all times and in all places. In Dauphiny and other parts, when we were dispossessed of our substance, the suits for the recovery of each es- * 1 Cor. vii. 425 tate were conducted by the particular proprietors.* The waldenses of Provence do at this present time de- mand of the pope the restoration of the lands and es- tates annexed to his domain by confiscation; every particular person making oath of his parcel of goods and lands, which descended to him from time imme- morial; for we never have had community of pro- perty in the sense objected to us by our adversaries." Nothing is more common than to slander true chris- tians with aspersions, which tend to deprive them of all respectability in society, and to represent them as quite unfit for the ordinary purposes of human life. We have just seen a foul attempt of this nature formed against the waldenses. To the same purport they were charg- ed with denying the lawfulness of oaths in all cases without exception. This point of their history has its difficulties: what they really held on the doctrine of oatlis is not very apparent from the account which Usher gives us.f Most probably they condemned the multiplicity of oaths, with which the courts of law abounded. That they did not, however, maintain the absolute unlawfulness of oaths is certain, from the ex- position of the third commandment in their" spiritual almanack;" in which are these words; " there are some oaths lawful, tending to the honour of God, and the edification of our neighbour, as appears from Heb. vi. 16. Men swear by a greater, and an oath for confirm- ation is to them an end of all strife." Other scriptures are alleged by them to the same purport. Men who held these things should be acquitted of the charge of universally denying the lawfulness of oaths. But it seems to have been one of the common artifices of the prince of darkness to calumniate the people of God in this manner. He knows, that if religious men be thought wholly unfitted for this world, because of cer- * This appears by the legal process, existing in Perrin's time, which shews that Lewis xii. condemned the usurpers of the goods of the wal- denses to a restitution. This happened about the beginning of the six- teenth century. t Usher De Christ. Ecc success. & statu. 426 tain absurd or ridiculous customs, the generality of mankind will pay no great regard to their instructions concerning the right way to the next. It is, therefore, of some consequence, to clear up the character of true christians in this respect. Another charge against them was, that they denied baptism to infants. In answer to this, in their spiritual almanack, they say, " neither the time nor the place is appoinj^ed for those, who must be baptized. But we do bring our children to be baptized, which they ought to do, to whom they are nearest related; their parents or those whom God hath inspired with such charity." If this be the case, and the evidence of their own books ap- pears to be unanswerable, it seems improper to look on the waldenses as averse to infant baptism. Yet, that some of them were regarded as professed enemies to the baptism of infants, is affirmed on respectable au- thority,* and it possibly might be the case with a few of them. The greater part of them are, however, vin- dicated in this respect by an authority from which lies no appeal, their own authentic writings. However, having been for some hundred of years constrained to suffer their children to be baptized by the Romish priest, they were under frequent temptations to defer it, on account of the superstitious inventions annexed to that holy ordinance in those times: and very fre- quently, on account of the absence of their own pas- tors, whom they called barbs, who were travelling abroad for the service of the churches, they could not have baptism administered to their children by their ministry. The delay occasioned by these things ex- posed them to the reproach of their adversaries. And though many, who approved of them in all other res- pects, gave credit to the accusation, I cannot find any satisfactory proof, that they were, in judgment, anti- pasdo-baptists strictly. And it is very probable, that some of the supposed heretics, who have been men- tioned above, t delayed the baptism of their children * Cent. Magd. xii. 833. f See p. 362- of this volume. 427 on the same account; because similar circumstances would naturally be attended with similar effects. On the whole, a few instances excepted, the existence of antipasdo-baptism, seems scarcely to have taken place in the church of Christ, till a little after the beginning of the reformation, when a sect arose, whom historians commonly call the anabaptists. I lay no great stress on this subject; for the waldenses might have been a faithful, humble, and spiritual people, as I believe they were, if they had differed from the general body of christians on this article. But when I find persons to have been taken as enemies to infant baptism on principle, who were not so, it seemed to be a part of historical veracity to represent things as they really were. The charge of worshipping their barbs is suffici- ently confuted by their exposition of the first com- mandment in the book of their doctrine. Indeed Al- bert de Capitaneis, their grand enemy in the diocese of Turin, violently tortured them, in order to extort from them a confession of this idolatry, but to no purpose. It was a gross calumny to accuse them as enemies to the penal power of the magistrate, because they complained of the abuse of his power in condemning true christians to death without a fair examination; when, at the same time, in their own books, they as- serted, that " a malefactor ought not to be suffered to live."* No less unjust were the charges against them of seditiousness and undutifulness to the supreme power. For in the book of the causes of their separation from the church of Rome, they said, that every one ought to be subject to those, who are in authority, to obey and love them, to honour them with double honour, with subjection, allegiance, and promptitude, and the paying of tribute to whom tribute is due. The charges of sodomy, sorcery, and the like abominations are * In a book of the waldenses, callecj " The Light of the ttrasiire of Faith." 428 sufficiently confuted by the authentic writings, holy lives, and patient sufferings of this people. One charge more against them is, that they com- pelled their pastors to follow some trade. How satis- factory their answer! " We do not think it necessary that our pastors should work for bread. They might be better qualified to instruct us, if we could maintain them without their own labour; but our poverty has no remedy." So they speak in letters published in 1508.* We have hitherto rather rescued their character from infamy, than delineated its real nature. They ap- pear, on the whole, to have been most unjustly aspers- ed; and the reader will be enabled to form some idea of their piety and probity from the following testimo- nies of their enemies. A pontifical inquisitoi"}- says, " heretics are known by their manners. In behaviour they are composed and modest, and no pride appears in their apparel." Seysillius says, it much strengthens the waldenses, that, their heresy excepted, they generally live a purer life than other christians. They never swear but by compulsion, and seldom take the name of God in vain: they fulfil their promises with good faith; and, living for the most part in poverty, they profess that they at once preserve the apostolical life and doctrine. Lielen- stenius, a dominican, speaking of the waldenses of Bohemia, says, " I say that in morals and life they are good; true in words, unanimous in brotherly love; but their faith is incorrigible and vile, as I have shown in my treatise." These testimonies, for which I am obliged to the researches of archbishop Usher, seem to me to be important. The first, as far as it goes, is favourable; and the second and third, are exceedingly decisive. Causes and effects are necessarily connected. How could the romanist last quoted suppose, that the faith of men could be bad, whose fruits were so excellent? * Usher de Cltrist. EccK succ. k statu. f Id. 429 Could he show any such fruits in the Roman church in general at that time? We have now seen the fullest testimony to the ho- liness of the waldenses; and we shall see shortly that the doctrines which they held, were no other than those, which, under the divine influence, we have all along observed to be the constant root of virtue in the world. Rainerius, the cruel persecutor, owns that the wal- denses frequently read the holy scriptures, and in their preaching cited the words of Christ and his apostles concerning love, humility, and other virtues; inso- much that the women, who heard them, vv^re en- raptured with the sound. He further says, that they taught men to live, by the words of the gospel and the apostles; that they led religious lives; that their manners Avere seasoned with grace, and their words prudent; that they freely discoursed of divine things, that they might be esteemed good men. He observes, likewise, that they taught their children and families the epistles and gospels. Claude, bishop of Turin, wrote a treatise against their doctrines, in which he candidly owns that they themselves were blameless, without reproach among men, and that they observed the divine commands ^vith all their might. Jacob de Riberia says, that he had seen peasants among them, who could recite the book of Job by heart; and several others, who could perfectly repeat the whole new testament. The bishop of Cavaillon once obliged a preaching monk to enter into conference with them, that they might be convinced of their errors, and the eflfusion of blood be prevented. This happened during a great persecution in 1540, in Merindol and Provence. But the monk returned in confusion, owning that he had never known in his Mhole life so much of the scrip- tures, as he had learned during those few days, in which he had held conferences with the heretics. The bishop, however, sent among them a number of doc- VoL. nr. 55 430 tors, young men who had lately come from the Sor- bonne, which was at that time the very centre of the- ological subtilty at Paris. One of them openly owned, that he had understood more of the doctrine of salva- tion from the answers of the little children in their catechism, than by all the disputations which he had ever heard. This is the testimony of Vesembecius in his oration concerning the waldenses. The same au- thor informs us farther, that Lewis XII. importuned by the calumnies of informers, sent two respectable persons into Provence, to make inquiries. They re- ported, that in visiting all their parishes and temples, they found no images or roman ceremonies, but that they could not discover any marks of the crimes with which they were charged; that the sabbath was strictly observed; that children were baptized according to the rules of the primitive church, and instructed in the articles of the christian faith, and the commandments of God. Lewis having heard the report, declared with an oath, " they are better men than myself or my peo- ple." On of the confessors of the same king having, by his orders, visited the valley of Fraissiniere in Dau- phiny, was so struck with the holy lives of the people there, that he declared, in the hearing of several com- petent witnesses, that he wished he himself were so good a christian as the worst inhabitant in that valley. We must add here the testimony of that great histo- rian Thuanus, an enemy indeed to the waldenses, though a fair and candid one.* He is describing one of the valleys inhabited by this people in Dauphiny, which is called the stoney valley. " Their clothing," he says, " is of the skins of sheep; they have no linen. They inhabit seven villages: their houses are con- structed of flint stone with a flat roof covered with mud, which being spoiled or loosened by rain, they smooth again with a roller. In these they live with their cattle, separated from them, however, by a fence; they have besides two caves set apart for particular *Th>iaii. Hist. b. 27. p. 16. 431 purposes, in one of whicli they coneeal their cattle, in the other themselves, when hunted by their enemies. They live on milk and venison, being by constant practice excellent marksmen. Poor as they are, they are content, and live separate from the rest of mankind. One thing is astonishing, that person?* externally so savage and rude, should have so much moral cultiva- tion. They can all read and write. They understand French, so far as is needful for the understanding of the bible and the singing of psalms. You can scarce find a boy among them, who cannot give you an intel- ligible account of the faith, which they profess; in this, indeed, they resemble their brethren of the other val- leys: they pay tribute with a good conscience, and the obligation of this duty is peculiarly noted in the con- fession of their faith. If, by reason of the civil wars, they are prevented from doing this, they carefully set apart the sum, and at the first opportunity pay it to the king's taxgatherers." Francis I. the successor of Lewis XII. received, on inquiry, the following information concerning the waldensesof Merindol, and other neighbouring places; namely, that they were a laborious people, who came from Piedmont to dwell in Provence, about two hun- dred years ago; that they had much improved the country by their industry; that their manners were most excellent; and that they were honest, liberal, hos- pitable, and humane; that they were distinct from others in this, that they could not bear the sound of blasphe- my, or the naming of the devil, or any oaths, except on solemn occasions; and, that if ever they fell into company where blasphemy or lewdness formed the substance of the discourse, they instantly withdrew themselves. Such are the testimonies to the character of this people from enemies! That they are well spoken of by protestants since the reformation, might be expected; and I need not dwell largely upon evidences drawn from this source. Beza, Bullinger, and Luther, testify the excellence of 432 the waldenscs. The last mentioned reformer deserves the more to be regarded, because he owns that he once was prejudiced against them. He understood by their confessions and writings, that they had been, for ages, singularly serious and expert in the use of the scriptures. Ke rejoiced and gave thanks to God, that he had enabled the reformed and the waldenses, to see and own each other as brethren.'* Qicolampadius and Martin Buccr also, in the year 1530, wrote an affectionate letter to the waldenses of Provence. After so many testimonies to the character of this people, the evidence of Vignaux, a waldensian pastor in the valleys cf Piedmont, who wrote a treatise on their life and manners, may deserve our attention. " We never mix ourselves," says he, " with the church of Rome, in inarriage. Yet roman catholic lords and others prefer our people as servants to those of their own religion, and come from far to seek nurses among us for their children." It is remarkable that Thomas Walden, who wrote against Wickliff", says, that the doctrine of Waldo was conveyed from France into England. It may not, per- haps, be thought improbable, that the English, being masters of Guienne for a long time, should have re- ceived some beams of divine truth from the followers of Waldo. By the general confession of the romanists, indeed, the protestants and the waldenses were look- ed on as holding the same principles. The churches cf Piedmont, however, on account of their superior antiquity, were regarded as guides of the rest; insomuch, that when two pastors, who had been sent by them into Bohemia, acted with perfidy, and occasioned a grievous persecution, still the Bohe- mians ceased not to desire pastors from Piedmont, only they requested, that none but persons of tried characters might be sent to them for the future. I can only give the general outlines: if the finer and ^' Vesembecui''. more numerous lines of this scene could be circum- stantially drawn, a spectacle more glorious could scarcely be exhibited to the reader. From the bor- ders of Spain, throughout the south of France for the most part, among and below the Alps, along the Rhine, on both sides of its course, and even to Bohe- mia, thousands of godly souls were seen patiently to bear persecution for the sake of Christ, against whom malice could say no evil, but what admits the most sa- tisfactory refutation: men distinguished for every vir- tue, and only hated because of godliness itself. Perse- cutors with a sigh owned, that, because of their virtue, they were the most danj^erous enemies of the church. But of what church? Of that, which in the thirteenth century and long before had evidenced itself to be antichristian. Here were not an individual or two, like Bernard, but very many real christians, who held the real doctrijies of scripture, and carefully abstained from all the idolatry of the times. How obdurate is the heart of man by nature! men could see and own the superior excellence of these persons, and yet could barbarously persecute them! what a blessed light is that of scripture! By that the waldenses saw the road to heaven, of which the wisest of their contemporaries were ignorant, who, though called christians, made no use of the oracles of God! How marvellous are the ways of God! how faithful his promise in supporting and maintaining a church, even in the darkest times! but her livery is often sackcloth, and her external bread is that of affliction, while she sojourns on earth. But let no factious partizan encourage himself in sedition by looking at the waldenses. We have seen how obe- dient they were to established governments; and that separation from a church, so corrupt as that of Rome, was with them only matter of necessity. The best and wisest in all ages have acted in the same manner, and have dreaded the evils of schism more than those of a defect in discipline. We shall now see what the wal- denses were in point of doctrine and discipline. For their virtues had an evangelical principle, and it is 434 only to be regretted that the accounts are very scanty on a subject worthy the attention of all, who desire t© understand the loving kindness of the Lord. CHAP. III. The Doctrine and Discipline of the Waldeiises. 1 HE leading principle of this church, which God raised up in the dark ages to bear witness to his gos- pel, is that, in which all the protestant churches agreed, namel}', " that "vve ought to believe that the holy scrip- tures alone contain all things necessary to our salva- tion, and that nothing ought to be received as an article of faith but what God hath revealed to us.* Wherever this principle is not only assented to in form, but also received with the heart, it expels superstition and idolatry. The worship of one God, through the one mediator, and by the influence of one holy Spirit, is practised sincerely. For the dreams of purgatory, the intercession of saints, the adoration of images, de- pendence on relics and austerities, cannot stand before the doctrine of scripture. Salvation by grace, through faith in Christ alone, as it is the peculiar truth and glory of the scriptures, so it is the boast and joy of the christian, who knows himself to be that guilty pol- luted creature, which the same scriptures describe. How abominable to such an one must appear the doc- trine of indulgences, and of commutation for offences, and the whole structure of the papal domination! The true love of God and of our neighbour, even the true holiness, which is the great end and aim of Christ's redemption, must be subverted by these human in- ventions. The waldenses were faithful to the great fundamental principle of protestantism. Enough ap- pears on record to prove, that they were formed by the * Vignaux in his memorials of the waldenses. See this principle expres- sed in a similar manner in the sixth article of the church of England. 435 grace of God, to show forth his praise in the world; and great as the resemblance appears between them and the reformed, if we had as many writings of the former, as we have of the latter, the resemblance in all probability would appear still more striking. " They * affirm, that there is only one mediator, and therefore that we must not invocate the saints. " That there is no purgatory; but that all those, who are justified by Christ, go into life eternal." They receive two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's supper. They affirm, that all masses are damn- able, especially those, which are repeated for the dead, and that therefore they ought to be abolished; to which they add the rejection of numberless ceremonies. They deny the supremacy of the pope, especially the power, which he hath usurped over the civil govern- ment; and they admit no other degrees, except those of bishops, priests, and deacons. They condemn the popedom as the true Babylon, allow the marriage of the clergy, and define the true church to be those, who hear and understand the word of God." Vignaux mentions old manuscripts extant among the waldenses, containing catechisms and sermons,, which demonstrate with what superior light they were favoured, in a time of immense darkness. A number of their old treatises evince, that for some hundred of years the principles of the gospel, which alone can produce such holiness of life as the waldenses exhi- bited in their conduct, were professed, understood, and embraced by this chosen people, while antichrist was in the very height of his power. They appear to have had all the essentials of church discipline among them; and their circumstances of distress, of poverty, and of persecution, however dis- agreeable to flesh and blood, favoured that spirit of submission and subordination, which ever promotes a salutary exercise of discipline; through the want of which, among ourselves, church rules are too com- 436 nionly treated as insignificant. A state of refinement, of wealth, of luxury, and of political speculation, was unknown to the waldenses: how subversive such a state is apt to be of the most wholesome ecclesiastical authority, the experience of our own age demonstrates. In a book concerning their pastors we have this ac- count of their vocation. " All, who are to be ordained as pastors among us, while they are yet at home, intreat us to receive them into the ministry, and desire that we would pray to God, that they may be rendered capable of so great a charge. They are to learn by heart all the chapters of St. Matthew and St. John, all the canonical epistles, and a good part of the writings of Solomon, David, and the prophets. Afterwards, having exhibited pro- per testimonials of their learning and conversation, they are admitted as pastors by the imposition of hands. The junior pastors must do nothing without the license of their seniors; nor are the seniors to under- take any thing without the approbation of their col- leagues, that every thing may be done among us in order. ^Ve pastors meet together once every year, to settle our affairs, in a general synod. Those, whom we teach, afford us food and raiment with good will, and without compulsion. The money given us by the peo- ple is carried to the said general synod, is there re- ceived by the elders, and is applied partly to the supply of travellers, and partly to the relief of the indigent. If a pastor among us shall fall into a gross sin, he is ejected from the community, and debarred from the function of preaching." Such was the manner of choosing the barbs, and such was the plan of church government. To transcribe their confessions of faith would be tedious; let it sufiice to mention the most interesting points. They unquestionably received the apostle's creed, and that commonly ascribed to Athanasius. They acknowledged the same canon of scripture, Avhich the church of England does in her sixth article^ and, w^iat is very remarkable, they give the same ac- 437 count of the apocryphal books, accompanied with the same remark of Jerom, which the reader will find in the same sixth article. They say, " these books teach us, that there is one God Almighty, wise and good, who in his goodness made all things. He created Adam after his own image. But through the malice of the devil and the disobedience of Adam, sin en- tered into the world, and we became sinners in and by Adam. That Christ is our life and truth, and peace, knd righteousness, our shepherd and advocate, our sacrifice and priest, who died for the salvation of all who should believe, and also rose again for our justi- fication." The confession of the Bohemian waldenses, pub- lished in the former part of the sixteenth century, is very explicit on these articles. They say, that men ought to acknowledge themselves born in sin, and to be burdened with the weight of sin; that they ought to acknowledge, that for this depravity, and for the sins springing up from this root of bitterness, utter perdition deservedly hangs over their heads, and that all should own, that they can no way justify themselves by any works or endeavours, nor have any thing to trust to, but Christ alone. They hold, that by faith in Christ, men are, through mercy, freely justified, and attain salvation by Christ, without human help or me- rit. They hold, that all confidence is to be fixed in him alone, and all our care to be cast upon him; and, that for his sake only God is pacified, and adopts us to be his children. They teach also, that no man can have this faith by his own power, will, or pleasure; that it is the gift of God, who, where it pleaseth him worketh it in man by his spirit.* They teach also the doctrine of good works as fruits and evidences of a lively faith, much in the same manner as the church of England does in her twelfth article, and more largely in her ho- milies. f The waldenses in general express their firm belief, * Morland, p. 48. + Id. 49 Vol. III. 56 438 that there is no other mediator than Jesus Christ: they speak with great respect of the virgin Mary as holy^ humble, and full of grace; at the same time that they totally discountenance that senseless and extra- vagant adniiration, in which she had been held for ages. They asserted, that all, who have been and shall be saved, have been elected of God before the founda- tion of the world; and that whosoever upholds free- will, absolutely denies predestination and the grace of God.* I use their own term freewill, not that I think it strictly proper. But what they- meant by an upholder of freewill, is not hard to be understood, namely, one, who maintains that there are resources in the nature of man sufficient to enable him to live to God as he ought, without any need of the renewal of his nature by divine grace. " We honour," say they, " the secular powers with subjection, obedience, promptitude, and payment of tribute." On this subject they are repeatedly explicit, and mention the example of our Lord, " who refused not to pay tribute, not taking upon himself any juris- diction of temporal power." They give a practical view of the doctrine of the holy trinity, perfectly agreeable to the faith of the or- thodox in all ages. Let it suffice to mention what they say of the Holyghost " We believe, that he is our comforter, proceeding from the Father and from the Son; by v/hose inspiration we pray, being re- newed by Him WHO formeth all good works with- in us, and by Him we have knowledge of all truth." Of the nature and use of the sacraments, they speak the common language of the protestant churches. The difference, indeed, between real good men in all ages, even in point of sentiment, on fundamental questions, is much smaller than what many believe. Trifling differences have been exceedingly magnified, partly through ignorance and partly through malevo- lence. Through the course of this history the unifor- * Morland, p. 40. 439 mity of faith, of inward experience, and of external practice, has appeared in the different ages of the church. For it is the same God, who v\^orketh ALL IN ALL his real saints. It is remarkable that an ancient confession of faith, copied out of certain manuscripts bearing date 1120, that is forty years before Peter Waldo, contains the same articles in substance, and in many particulars the same words, as those, an abridgment of which has^Dcen given already, and which were approved of in the sixteenth century. The conclusion from this fact is, that though Waldo was a most considerable benefactor to the waldensian churches by his transla- tion of the scriptures, his other writings, his preach- ing, and his sufferings, he was not properly their founder. Their plan of doctrine and church establish- ment, particularly in Piedmont, was of prior date, nor can any other account of the existence and light of a church so pure and sound in ages so remarkably cor- rupt be given than this, that the labours of Claudius of Turin in the ninth century had, under God, pro- duced these effects. Men, who spend and are spent for the glory of God, and for the profit of souls, have no conception of the importance of their efforts. While the schemes and toils of an ambitious conqueror or an intriguing politician, which, at the time, fill the world with admiration, do often vanish like smoke, the humble and patient labours of a minister of Christ, though, during his own life, derided and despised by the great ones of the earth, remain in durable effects to succeeding generations, and emancipate thousands from the dominion of sin and Satan. God will work, AND WHO SHALL LET IT? In ouc article, indeed, these professors of pure religion seem to have carried their zeal beyond the bounds of christian discretion. " We have," say they, " always accounted, as un- speakable abominations before God, all those inven- tions of men, namely, the feasts and the vigils of saints.-' To these they add the idolatrous corruptions of the popedom. They either did not know or did not 440 consider, that the anniversaries of the martyrdoms of primiiive saints were of very high antiquity, and were observed in the purest times, even in the second cen- tur}'. As they were at that time observed, they seem not to have had any superstitious alloy, and might be productive of the best consequences, much less do they deserve the title of " unspeakable abominations." But the adoration and canonization of saints, with other practices, v/hich deserve the name abominations, be- ing incorporated with these festivals, in the twelfth and some preceding centuries, do naturally account for the zealous and unreasonable indignation of these reformers. The aTicient catechism, for the instruction of their youth, contains the same vital truths, in substance, which form the catechisms of protestant churches. I shall mention two or three particulars, which are most strikingly peculiar. " Q. VV^herein consists your salvation? An s. In three substantial virtues, which do necessa- rily belong to salvation. Q. How can you prove that? Ans. The apostle writes, 1 Cor. xiii. now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three. Q. What is feith? Ans. According to the apostle, Heb. xi. 1. it is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Q. How many sorts of faith are there? Ans. There are two sorts, a living and a dead faith. Q. What is a living faith? Ans. It is that which works by love. Q. What is a dead faith? Ans. According to St. James, that faith, which is without works, is dead. Again, faith is nothing with- out works. Or, a dead faith is to believe that there is a God, and to believe those things which relate to God, and not to believe in him. This last clause seems happily descriptive of the 441 point. To believe in Christ is by himself in John vi. illustrated by coming to him or trusting in him, being an exercise of heart toward Christ, which always works by love. Whereas a bare unoperative assent to certain doctrinal truths implies no reception of Christ in the heart, though it be all that thousands look on as necessary to constitute a genuine believer. That the composers of this catechism had in view this impor- tant distinction between speculatively believing a per- son to exist, and cordially believing in that person, appears from another question and answer. *' Q. Dost thou believe in the holy catholic church? A. No; for it is a creature; but I believe that there is one." They then proceed to show that the real church , consists " of the elect of God from the beginning to thf end of the world, by the grace of God, through the merit of Christ, gathered together by the holy Spirit, and foreordained to eternal life.'* i he Wcildensian churches had also an exposition of the apostle's creed, the ten commandments, the Lord's prayer, and the sacraments. So remarkably has the Spirit of God, in all ages, led the real church in a similar manner, to provide for the instruction of her children, by comments on the most necessary funda- mentals! The protestant churches, in their original construction, all followed the same plan. An excess of ceremonies, and a burdensome round of supersti- tions, filled all the dominions of the papacy, while here and there an inventive genius, like Peter Abelard, en- deavoured to swell the minds of men by philosophical refinements. In the mean time the genuine christians were feeding on the bread of life, which was supplied by the divine word, and was communicated through the medium of catechetical and expository tracts, adapted to the plainest understandings. At this day true christians are employed in the same manner; and a diligent observer may distinguish them from those of the superstitious or the selfsufficient cast. In our times, indeed, there does appear one remarkable difference 442 of circumstances from the state of religion in the thir- teenth century, namely, that the selfsufficient, sceptical spirit predominates extremely above the superstitious. I have examined the vvaldensian expositions, which, together with the scripture proofs annexed to them, must at that day have formed a very salutary body of instruction. But the numerous modern treatises, which are extant on the same subjects, render it superfluous for me to give them in detail. A few of the most strik- ing thoughts sliall be mentioned. It deserves to be noticed, that in their exposition of the apostles' creed, waldensian reformers give us the well known text in 1 John, v. 7. as a proof of the doc- trine of the trinity. They were, it seems, perfectly satisfied of its authenticity, " The son of God, by the commandment of God the father, and by his own freewill, was lifted up upon the altar of the cross, and was crucified, and hath re- deemed mankind with his own blood; which work being accomplished, he arose from the dead the third day, having diff'used through the world a light everlasting,^ like a new sun; that is, the glory of the resurrection, and of an heavenly inheritance, which the son of God hath promised to give to all those who serve him in faith." Hear, in a few instances, how in common with all evangelical expositors they understand the spiritual meaning of the commandments. For " the first degree to salvation is the knowledge of sin; and therefore ac- knowledging our fault, we approach with confidence to the throne of grace, and confess our sins." " Ail that love the creature more than the Creator, observe not the first commandment. If a man shall say, I cannot tell, whether I have a greater love to God, or to that, which he forbids me to love, let him know that what a man loves least, in a case of neces- sity, is that which he is most willing to lose, and that which he loves the most, he preserves. Men cast their merchandize into the sea, to preserve their lives; which shows that they love life more than property. By such rules thou mayest try, whether thou lovest God more 445 than all persons and things besides, or, whether thou art an idolater." On the second commandment, they are soundly argumentative and judiciously exact, because of the abominations, with which they were surrounded, and with which all Europe was infected, except them- selves. " In the third commandment we are forbidden to swear falsely, vainly, or by custom. An oath acknow- ledgeth that God knows the truth, and it confirmeth a thing that is doubtful: it is an act of divine service, and therefore, they who swear by the elements, do sin." " Those who will observe the sabbath of christians, that is, who will sanctify the day of the Lord, must be careful of four things. 1st. To cease from earthly and worldly labours; 2d. to abstain from sin; 3d. not to be slothful i/^ regard of good works; and 4th. to do those things, which are for the good of the soul." They support their assertion by the case of the sabbath breaker in the book of Numbers, who was stoned to death. In the rest of the commandments, they extend the meaning to the desires of the heart, and vindicate their interpretation by the well known passages in our Lord's sermon on the mount. How could serious per- sons, who thus see the spirituality of the law, ever find rest to their consciences, but in the blood of Christ? and how common is it for selfrighteous persons on the other hand to curtail the demands of the law, and make light of sin, that they may justify themselves! On the Lord's prayer, in a very sensible introduc- tion, they observe, that " God, who seeth the secrets of our hearts, is more moved by a deep groan or sigh, with complaints and tears that come from the heart, than by a thousand words." In opposition to the for- mal rounds of repetition at that time so fashionable, they say, " there is no man who can keep his mind attentive to prayer a whole day or a whole night toge- ther, except God give the special assistance of his 444 grace. God hath therefore. appointed to his servants other exercises, sometimes in one way, sometimes iti another, which are to be performed for the good of themselves or of their neighbours, with their hearts lifted up to God." " To pray much is to be fervent in prayer." " No prayer can be pleasing to God, which refers not some way or other to the Lord's prayer. Every christian ought to apply himself to un- derstand and learn it." There is among the records of this people a very ancient confession of sin, which was commonly used, and which shows that they taught every person to apply to himself that hideous picture of human depra- vity, which St. Paul delineates,* " that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty be- fore God." If no more could be said for this people, than that they hated the gross abominations of popery, and condemned the vices of the generality of mankind, they might have been ostentatious pharisees, or self- sufficient socinians. But though, no doubt, there were unsound professors among them as among all other bodies of christians, yet, in their community, there were a number of real christians, who knew how to direct the edge of their severity against the *' sins that dwelled in them," and who, being truly humbled un- der a piercing sight of native depravity, betook them- selves wholly to the grace of God in Christ for salva- tion. Hear how they speak. " Excuse myself I cannot; for thou, O Lord, hast showed me both what is good and evil. I have understood thy power; I have not been ignorant of thy wisdom; I have known thy jus- tice; and have tasted of thy goodness. Yet all the evil, which I do, proceeds from my own depravity. I have committed many evils from the beginning of my life; covetousness is rooted in my heart; I love avarice, I seek after applause, and bear little love to those, who have obliged me by their kindness. If thou do not pardon me, my soul must go down to perdition. An- »Rom.iii. 10.— 20. 445 ger likewise reigns in my heart, and envy gnaws me; for I am naturally without charity. I am slow to do good, but industrious to do evil. I have blinded my- self, and have had many evil thoughts against thee. I have cast mine eyes on vain delights, and have sel- dom lifted them up to thy face. I have lent an ear to empty sounds, and to many evil speakings; but to hear and understand thy laws hath been grievous and irk- some to me. I have taken more pleasure in the noi- some sink of sin, than in divine sweetness; I have even, worshipped sin; I have endeavoured to conceal my own guilt, and to lay it upon another. My mind and body are wounded; my heart hath been delighted with evil things; with many foolish and unprofitable objects. I have turned aside into bypaths, and, by my levity, have given an ill example to others. I have slandered my neighbour, and have loved him only, because of my temporal interest." There is not, in any age, a truly humble and seri- ous christian, who will not acknowledge himself guil- ty in all these respects before God, even though his conduct has, comparatively speaking, been blameless before men. It is the want of selfknowledge, which keeps men ignorant of their ill desert before God; and, in truth, nothing is so much unknown to men in general as the propensity of their own hearts. This knowledge, however, was found among the waldenses; and hence they were an humble people, prepared to receive the gospel of Christ from the heart, to walk in his steps to carry his cross, and to fear sin above all other evils. Some ancient inquisitorial memoirs describing the manners and customs of this people, speak to this effect: "kneeling on their knees, they continue in prayers with silence, so long as a man may say thirt} or forty pater nosters. This they do daily with great reverence, when they have no strangers with them, both before dinner and after; likev\ ise before supper and after, and when they retire to rest, and in the morning. Before thev go to meat, the elder among: Vol. m. ' ' 57 446 them says, God Avho blessed the five barley loaves and two fishes before his disciples in the wilderness, bless this table and that which is set upon it, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holyghost. And after meat, he says, the God which has given us corporal food, grant us his spiritual life, and may God be with us, and we always with him. After their meals, they teach and exhort one another." Reinerius, their adversary, declares, "that a cer- tain heretical waldensian, with a view of turning a person from the catholic faith, swam over a river in the night and in the winter, to come to him and teach him." Hear what a character an ancient inquisitor gives of this people: " Heretics are known by their man- ners and words; for they are orderly and modest in their manners and behaviour. They avoid all appear- ance of pride in their dress, they neither wear rich clothes, nor are they too mean and ragged in their at- tire. They avoid commerce, that they may be free from falsehood and deceit: they live by manual indus- try, as day labourers or mechanics; and their preach- ers are weavers and taylors. They seek not to amass wealth, but are content with the necessaries of life. They are chaste, temperate, and sober; they abstain from anger. They hypocritically go to the church, con- fess, communicate, and hear sermons, to catch the preacher in his words. Their women are modest, avoid slander, foolish jesting, and levity of words, especially falsehood and oaths. "^^ Their directions to pastors in visiting the sick are full of evangelical simplicity. The afflicted person is exhorted to look to Christ as the great pattern of pa- tient sufferers, " who is the true Son of God, and yet hath been more afflicted than we all, and more tor- mented than any other. Let the sick man consider with himself, that he is grievously afflicted as his Sa- viour was, when he suffered for us; for which the man ' Altix, F- 235. 447 ought to yield thanks to God, because it hath pleased him to give this good Saviour to death for us, and at the same time to beg mercy at his hands in the name of Jesus. And we christians ouglit to have a perfect ■ confidence and assurance, that our Father will forgive us for his goodness sake. Let the sick person commit himself wholly to the Lord. Let him do to his neigh- bour, as he would have his neighbour do to him, making such arrangements among his relations, that he may leave them in peace, and that there may be no suits or contentions after his death. Let him hope for salvation in Jesus Christ, and not in any other, or l\v any other thing, acknowledging himself a miserable sinner, that he may ask mercy of God, finding himself in such a manner culpable, that of himself he deserv- eth eternal death. If the pastor find the sick person alarmed and terrified with the sense of the divine dis- pleasure against sinners, let him remind the distressed soul of those comfortable promises which our Saviour hath made to all those, who come to him, and who, from the bottom of their heart, call upon him; and how God the father hath promised forgiveness, when- soever we shall ask it in the name of his Son. These are the things, in which the true preacher of the word ought faithfully to employ himself, that he may con- duct the party visited to his Saviour. And whereas, in former times, it hath been the cus- tom to cause the disconsolate widow to spend much money on singers and ringers, and on persons who eat and drink, while she weeps and fasts, wronging her fatherless children; it is our duty, from motives of compassion, to the end that one loss be not added to another, to aid them with our counsel and our goods, according to the ability which God hath bestowed on us, taking care that the children be well instructed, that they may labour to maintain themselves, as God hath ordained, and live like christians." The directions, which the}' gave to new converts, were, to study the epistolary instructions of St. Paul, that they might know how to walk in such a manner 448 as not to give occasion of falling to their neighbours, -and, that they might not make the house of the Lord a den of thieves. They were zealous in directing the education of children. " Despair not," say they, " of thy child, when he is unwilling to receive correction, or, if he prove not speedily good; for the labourer gathereth not the fruits of the earth, as soon as the seed is sown, but he waits till the due season. A man ought to have a careful e3'e over his daughters. Keep them within, and see they wander not. For Dinah the daughter of Jacob was corrupted by being seen of strangers." In ecclesiastical correction, they were directed by our Lord's rule, in first reproving a brother in private; secondly, in the presence of two or three brethren; and, last of all, and not till other methods failed, in proceeding to excommunication. Private correction, they observe, is sufficient for faults not made known to many; but, in the case of open sins, they followed the apostolical rule, * Them, that sin, rebuke before all, that others may fear. " Marriages are to be made according to the degrees of kindred permitted by God. The pope's dispensations are of no value, nor deserve the least regard. The band of holy matrimony must not be made without the consent of the parents of both parties; for children belong to their parents." Against the disorders of taverns, and the mischiefs of dancing they are exceedingly severe. Remark one sentence; " They, who deck and adorn their daugh- ters, are like those, who put dry wood to the fire, to the end that it may burn the better. A tavern is the fountain of sin, and the school of Satan." For con- versing with those, that are without, they give rules, full of christian simplicity; and they direct their peo- ple also in christian morals after a style and manner much superior to the spirit and taste of the thirteenth Century. Their rules of ecclesiastical correction and excommunication were drawn from the new testament. * 1 Tim. t 20. 449 Private faults were to be censured privately, public faults before the congregation; and, in case of incorri- gibleness, they proceeded to excommunication.* It may be proper to observe here, that Sir Samuel Morland, in his history of the evangelical churches of the valleys of Piedmont, bears the strongest testimony to the truth of Perrin's narrative. He gives us the attestation of Tronchin, the chief minister of Geneva, which attestation, he tells us, is, together with other original papers, in the public library of the universit}" of Cambridge. The substance of the attestation itself is, that Tronchin declares, that Perrin coming to Geneva to print his history, communicated to him his work, and divers original manuscripts, from which he (Perrin) had extracted the ancient doctrine and disci- pline of the waldenses, which manuscripts Tronchin then saw and perused. Tronchin's testimony is dated in 1656. We have here the united testimony of Per- rin, Tronchin, and Morland, to the authenticity of the history before us. And it appears that the same Tron- chin, at the distance of thirt3'^-cight years, correspond- ed both with Perrin and Morland. There is also a book concerning antichrist in an old manuscript, which contains many sermons of the pastors; it is dated 1120, and therefore was written before the time of Waldo. The existence, therefore, of these churches is still farther proved to have taken place before the days of that reformer. The treatise concerning anti- christ was preserved by the waldenses of the Alps; and a brief summary of it is as follows. " He is called antichrist, because, being covered and adorned under the colour of Christ and his church, he opposes the salvation purchased by Christ, of which the faithful are partakers by faith, hope, and charity. He contra- dicts the truth by the wisdom of the world, and by counterfeit holiness. To make up a complete system of religious hopocrisy, all these things must concur, there must be worldly wise men, there must be relr- * Morland, p. 86. 450 gious orders, pharisees, ministers, doctors, the secular power, and lovers of this world. Antichrist, indeed, was conceived in the apostle's times, but he was in his infancy, unformed and imperfect. He was there- fore the more easily known and ejected, being rude, raw, and wanting utterance. He had then no skill in making decretals, he wanted hypocritical ministers, and the show of religious orders. He had none of those, riches, by which he might allure ministers to his ser- vice, and multiply his adherents: he wanted also the secular power, and could not compel men to serve him. But he grew to a full age, when the lovers of the world, both in church and state, did multiply and get all the power into their hands: Christ had never any enemy like to this, so able to pervert the way of truth into ft\lsehood, insomuch that the church with her true children is trodden under foot. He robs Christ of his merits, of justification, regeneration, sanctification, and spiritual , nourishment, and ascribes the same to his own authority, to a form of words, to his own works, to saints, and to the fire of purgatory. Yet he has some decent qualities, which throw a veil over his enormi- ties; such as an external profession of Christianity, tra- dition, and catalogues of episcopal succession, lying wonders, external sanctity, and certain sayings of Christ himself, the administration of the sacraments, verbal preaching against vices, and the virtuous lives of some, who really live to God in Babylon, whom, how- ever, antichrist, so far as in him lies, prevents from placing all their hope in Christ alone. These things are a cloak, with which antichrist hides his wickedness, that he may not be rejected as a pagan. Knowing these things, we depart from antichrist, according to express scriptural directions. We unite ourselves to the truth of Christ and his spouse, how small soever she appear. We describe the causes of our separation* from anti- ' Hence it appears, that, in 1120, there were a body of the waldenses, who had perfectly separated from the Roman cliurch. Yet, it is evident from Bernard's account, that those, of whom he had some knowledge. Mere not separatists. This may be one instance of their differences among 451 Christ, that if the Lord be pleased to impart the know- ledge of the same truth to others, those, who receive it, together with us may love it. But, if they be not suffi- ciently enlightened, they may receive help by our mi- nistry, and be washed by the spirit. If any one have re- ceived more abundantly than we ourselves, we desire the more humbly to be taught, and to amend our defects. A various and endless idolatry marks the genius of anti- christ, and he teaches men by that to seek for grace, which is essentially in God alone, exists meritoriously in Christ, and is communicated by faith alone through the holy Spirit." They then proceed to confute distinctly the various abominations of popery, on which points it is, at this day, unnecessary to enlarge. Suffice it to say, that to see and argue as they did in that dark age, re- quired a light and strength of judgment, of which we can now scarcely form an idea. It is more to my pur- pose to mention some testimonies of the offices of Christ, which are interwoven in their arguments. ** He is our advocate: he forgives sins. He presents himself in some measure to us, before we bestir our- selves. He knocks, that we should open to him: and, to obstruct all occasions of idolatry, he sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven, and desires, that every faithful soul should have recourse to him alone. For all the care of the faithful should be directed to- ward Christ, imitating him that is above. He is the gate: whosoever entereth by him shall be saved. He themselves, of which Evervinns speaks. And it is very conceivable, that men equally sincere, mit^ht not be, for a time, unanimous in this point. The dread of schism on tlie one hand, and of idolatrous contagion on the other, would each aflbrd no contemptible argument on botli sides of the question. The albigenses, however, a bianch of the waldenses, in the year 1200 were so exceedingly ni>mcrous, that they then formed a distinct church, and were openly separated from the whole romlsli system. In truth, though it seems to have been the fault of some protestant historians to give t(30 early a date to tiie reign of anticlirist, and, on that account, to condemn unjustly several romlsh pastors, wliom I have attempted to vin- dicate, yet the man of sin doubtless did appear, at length, In all that enor- mity, which the most vehement of the protestant writer.s have described. Therefore it became absolutely necessary for real christians to de])aift from Babylon. The several bodies of the waldenses did so, tliougli, I think successively and gradually. TJiey are properly the first of the pro- testant churches. 452 alone hath the prerogative, to obtain whatever he re- quests in behalf of mankind, whom he hath reconciled by his death. To what purpose should we address our- selves to any other saint as mediator, seeing he himself is far more charitable and far more ready to succour us than any of them?" There is also a short treatise on tribulation, a sub- ject highly needful to be studied by all christians, by those more particularly, who, like the waldenses, lived in the flames of persecution. The Noble Lesson, written in the year 1 100, has al- ready, in part, been given to the reader, and it closes the account of waldensian monuments, collected by Perry of Lyons. Some of the thoughts, which I have transcribed from this author, on account of their extreme simpli- city, may appear almost childish to persons, whose taste has been formed purely by modern models and maxims; and it must be confessed, that we discover no persons of superior capacity or uncommon genius among this people. Their means of knowledge were ordinary, their situation confined, and their circum- stances perhaps universally poor. Even so Father, FOR £0 IT SEEMED GOOD IN THY SIGHT.* The ex- cellency of the power was therefore of God and not of man. How happened it, that they should possess so sound a portion of evangelical truth, so ably and judi- ciously confute established errors, so boldly maintain the truth as it is in Jesus, so patiently suffer for it, live so singularly distinct from the world, and so nobly superior to all around them; while princes, dignitaries, universities, and all, that w^as looked on as great, splendid, and wise among men, wandered in miserable darkness? It was of the Lord, who is wonderful in council and excellent in work; and his preservation of a godly seed in the earth, in such circumstances, is a pledge tliat he never will forsake his church, and that rhe gates of hell shall never prevail against it. ' I, like X.21. 453 We have seen the most satisfactory proofs of the genuine apostolical doctrine, connected with holy prac- tice by the influence of the holy Spirit, as subsisting among this people. At the reformation, some funda- mental doctrines, particularly that of original sin, and of justification by faith in Christ, were indeed more distinctly and explicitly unfolded. But every candid and intelligent reader has seen that these, with all other fundamental truths, were understood and con- fessed by the waldenses. The principal defect of these records is, that invectives against antichrist and its abominations make up too large a proportion of their catechetical instructions; and the general vital truths of the gospel are not so m\ich enlarged on as the rea- der, who seeks edification, would wish. How far this defect might be less obvious, or even disappear, could we see the many sermons of their pastors, I know not. But these churches were in perpetual trouble and danger; and their distressed circumstances form, in some measure, an apology for the imperfection of their writings. CHAP. IV. The Persecutions of the Waldenses. X HIS is the only subject relating to the waldenses, which has not passed under our review. Their exter- nal history is, indeed, little else than a series of perse- cution. And I regret, that while wc have some large and distinct details of the cruelties of their persecutors, we have very scanty accounts of the spirit, with which they sufiered; and still less of the internal exercises of holiness, which are known only to the people of God. But this is not the first occasion, which we have had to lament, concerning the manner in which church history has been transmitted to us. In 1162, two years after Waldo had begun to preach Vol. III. 58 454 the gospel in Lyons, Lewis VIL of France, and Henry IL of England, on foot, holding the bridle of the horse of pope Alexander IIL walking one on one side of him, the other on the other, conducted him to his habitation; exhibiting, says Baronius,* a spectacle most grateful to God, to angels, and to men! For the princes of the earth, as well as the meanest persons, were now enslaved to the popedom, and were easily led to persecute the children of God with the most savage barbarity. We are astonished in reading the details of persecution. That, which raged against the waldenses in the former part of the thirteenth centu- ry, was indeed an assemblage of every thing cruel, perfidious, indecent, and detestable. But we are not to imagine, that contemporaries beheld such scenes with the same horror with which we do: the " god of this world," with consummate dexterity, infatuates his slaves, by a successive variety of wickedness, adapted to circumstances. The scenes of villany, meanness, indecency, hypocrisy, and barbarity, which, for several years, have been carrying on in France, under the mask of philosophy, liberty, and rationality, have found, in our own country, many defenders, or at least apologists. The reason is, that irreligious scep- ticism or atheistic profaneness is the darling of these times, as superstition was that of the thirteenth cen- tury. And, if men will not learn the all important les- son, namely, to obey the divine oracles, there seems no end of the deceits by which the prince of darkness will impose on mankind. In 1176 some of the waldenses, called heretics, being examined by the bishops were convicted of he- resy. They were said to receive only the new testa- ment, and to reject the old, except in the testimonies quoted by our Lord and the apostles, f This charge is confuted by the whole tenor of their authentic wri- tings, in which they quote the old testament authority as divine, without reserve or hesitation. Being inter- * Baronius Annals, cent. xii. f Baron, cent, xii 455 rogated concerning their faith, we are told, that they said, " we are not bound to answer." Other accusa- tions against them were as follow, namely, that they asserted the truth of the manichean doctrine of two independent principles, that they denied the utility of infant baptism, and that the Lord's body was made by the consecration of an unworthy priest, that un- faithful ministers had any right to the exercise of ecclesiastical power, or to titles and first fruits, or that the faithful ought to attend their pastoral services, or that auricular confession was necessary, or that oaths were in any case lawful. The reader, who has atten- tively considered the foregoing accounts of the wal- denses, will know how to separate the falsehood from the truth contained in these charges. " All these things," says Baronius, " the wretched men asserted, that they learned from the gospels and epistles, and that they would receive nothing, except what they found expressly contained there, thus rejecting the interpre- tation of the doctors, though they themselves were perfectly illiterate. They were confuted," he adds, " at a conference before the bishop of Albi, from the new testament, which alone they admitted; and, they professed the catholic faith, but would not swear, and were therefore condemned." From this account, however imperfect, and in se- veral instances, palpably injurious, some farther light may be collected oF the state of the waldenses at that time. In 1178, the same Lewis and Henry, who had six- teen years before, in so unkingly a manner, given their *' power and strength to die beast,"* hearing that the albigenses grew in numbers, determined to attack them by the sword, but afterwards thought it more prudent to employ preachers. f They sent to them * Rev. -Rvu. lo. f Baron, cent xii. It is evident, that the term Albigenses, or ratlier Albienses, employed by our author, was taken from tlie town ot" Albi, where the waklenses flourished. And, indeed, tlirough the dominions of Raymond, earl of Toulouse, and tiirough the south of France, including the territories of 456 several bishops and ecclesiastics; and they employed Raymond of Toulouse and other noblemen to expel the refractory. The commissioners arriving at Tou- louse, exacted, by an oath, of the catholics there, that they should give information of the heretics whom they knew. Great numbers were hence discovered. Among these was a rich old man called Peter Mora- nus, who had pretended to be John the evangelist.* This person, denying the bread to be the body of Christ, was condemned: his goods were confiscated: his castles, the conventicles of heretics, were thrown down. Peter abjured his heresy, and was brought na- ked and barefoot into the church before all the people; the bishop of Toulouse and a certain abbot beating him on each side from the entrance of the building to the steps of the altar, where the cardinal legate cele- brated mass. There, being reconciled to the church, he again abjured his heresy, anathematized heretics, and submitted to another penance, which was this, namely, after forty days to leave his country, to serve the poor at Jerusalem three years; and, during the forty days, each Sunday to go round the churches of Toulouse naked and barefoot, disciplined by rods, and to make various restitutions. It was ordered, however, that if he should return after three years from Jerusa- lem, then the rest of his property, till that time held in sequestration, should be restored to him. Many others abjured their heresies, but some refusing to take the oaths of subjection were excommunicated, with candles publicly lighted; and princes were order- ed to expel them from their dominions. Roger, prince of the Albiensian diocese, was excommunicated. The account of our English historian Hovedenf is similar to this of Baronius. It is remarkable, that the former calls the doctrine of the albigenses the ariau Avignon, their doctrines, at that time, spread with vast rapidity. All these were called in general Albigenses, and, in doctrine and manners, were not at all distinct from the waldenses. * It should be recollected, that this is the account given by Baronius, a very determined enemy of the waldenses. i P. 327. 457 heresy. But arian or manichee, or any other term of reproach Sufficiently answers the design of determined persecutors. It seemed proper to give the account of the barbarous treatment of the rich old gentleman of Toulouse, who, though he recanted, was punished, because it confirms the truth of Perrin's narrative of the like persecutions, and demonstrates, from the tes- timony even of Roman writers, that the horrors of papal tyranny have not been misrepresented in gene- ral by protestant authors. And, on this occasion, I cannot but disapprove of the rashness or the preju- dices of an able historian, who has already fallen under our notice.^ He says, that the albigenses, being exa- mined, denied the manichean doctrine of the two prin- ciples, though charged on that account with falsehood by their enemies: and this author believes these same enemies, who gave no proof of sincerity, that we know of, and accuses the albigenses of dissimulation, though such numbers of them were suffering continually for their principles. The man, who undertakes to be an historian, ought to be acquainted with the writings and evidences, which are produced on both sides of a controverted subject, so far as materials can be pro- cured. If the author before us had read with the least attention the waldensian records, he would never have asserted that the waldenses were legitimate descend- ants of the sect of Manes. The subjects of Raymond, earl of Toulouse, and of some other great personages in his neighbourhood, so generally professed the waldensian doctrines, that they became the peculiar object of papal vengeance. The inhabitants of Toulouse, Carcassone, Bcziers, Narbonne, Avignon, and many other cities, who were commonly called the albigenses, were exposed to a persecution as cruel and atrocious as any recorded in history. Rainerius, indeed, owns, that the waldenses were the most formidable enemies of the church of Rome, " because," saith he, *' they have a great ap- * Berington's Hist, of Henry II. p. 305. 458 pearance of godliness; because they live righteously before men, believe rightly of God in all things, and hold all the articles of the creed; yet, they hate and revile the church of Rome; and, in their accusations they are easily believed by the people." It was reserved to Innocent the third, than whom no pope ever possessed more ambition, to institute the inquisition; and the waldenses were the first ob« jects of its cruelt}'. He authorized certain monks to frame the process of that court, and to deliver the supposed heretics to the secular power. The begin- ning of the thirteenth century saw thousands of per- sons hanged or burned by these diabolical devices, whose sole crime was, that they trusted only in Jesus Christ for salvation, and renounced all the vain hopes of selfrighteous idolatry and superstition. Whoever has attended closely to the subjects of the two epistles to the Colossians and the Galatians, and has penetra- ted the meaning of the apostle, sees the great duty of HOLDING THE HEAD, and of resting for justification by faith on Jesus Christ alone, inculcated throughout them as the predominant precept of Christianity, in opposition to the rudiments of the world, to philoso- phy and vain deceit, to will worship, to all dependence for our happiness on human works and devices of whatever kind. Such a person sees what is genuine protestantism, as contrasted to genuine popery; and, of course, he is convinced, that the difference is not merely verbal or frivolous, but that there is a perfect opposition in the two plans; and such as admits of no coalition or union; and that therefore the true way of withstanding the devices of Satan, is to be faithful to the great doctrine of justification by the grace of Jesus Christ, through faith alone, and not by our own works or deservings.* Hence the very foundation of false religion is overthrown; hence troubled consciences obtain solid peace: and, faith, working by love, leads men into the very spirit of Christianity, while it com- * Eleventh Article of Religion. 459 forts their hearts, and stablishes them in ever}' good work. Schemes of religion so extremely opposite, being ardently pursued by both parties, could not fail to produce a violent rupture. In fact, the church of Christ and the world were seen engaged in contest. Innocent, however, first tried the methods of argument and per- suasion. He sent bishops and monks, who preached in those places, where the waldensian doctrine flour- ished. But their success was very inconsiderable. In the neighbourhood of Narbonne two monks were em- ployed, Peter de Chateauneuf, and Dominic* The former of these was certainly murdered; and, it seems probable, by Raymond, count of Toulouse, because he had refused to remove the excommunication, which he had denounced against that prince. Raymond him- self strongly protected his waldensian subjects, though there seems no evidence that he either understood or felt the vital influence of the protestant doctrines. But he was provoked at the im.perious and turbulent mea- sures of the monk, and saw the extreme injustice of the papal domination. He was also a witness of the purity of life and manners of his own subjects, and heard with indignation the calumnies with which they were aspersed by their adversaries, who proclaimed to all the world their own hypocrisy, avarice, and ambi- tion. Incensed at these proceedings, Raymond seems to have taken a very unjustifiable method of extrica- ting himself from the distresses to which the papal tyranny exposed him. But the event was disastrous; Innocent obtained what he wished, namely, a decent pretence for his horrible and most iniquitous persecu- tion; and thousands of godly souls were unrighteously calumniated as accessory to the crime. I need not dwell on the insidious customs of the inquisition: they are but too well known. From the year 1206, when it was first established, to the year * This is the famous founder of the tlorninicans, of whom I shall speak more distinctly in a separate article, and show how far the censures of Perrin concerning him, as aiitlur of rlic inquisition, are founded in. fact. 460 1228, the havock made among helpless christians was so great, that certain French bishops, in the last men- tioned year, desired the monks of the inquisition to defer a little their work of imprisonment, till the pope was advertised of the great numbers apprehended; numbers so great, that it was impossible to defray the charge of their subsistence, and even to provide stone and mortar to build prisons for i'hem. Yet so true is it, that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, that in the year 1530 there were in Europe above eight hundred thousand who professed the re- ligion of the waldenses. When the albigenses saw that the design of the pope was to gain the reputation of having used gentle and reasonable methods of persuasion, they agreed among themselves, to undertake the open defence of their principles. They therefore gave the bishops to understand, that their pastors, or some of them in the name of the rest, were ready to prove their religion to be truly scriptural in an open conference, provided the conference might be conducted with propriety. They explained their ideas of propriety by desiring, that there might be moderators on both sides, who should be vested with full authority to prevent all tumult and violence; that the conference should be held in some place, to which all parties concerned might have free and safe access; and, moreover, that some one sub- ject should be chosen, with the common consent of the disputants, which should be steadily prosecuted, till it was fully discussed and determined; and that he, who could not maintain it by the word of God, the only decisive rule of christians, should own himself to be confuted. All this was something more than specious: it was perfectly equitable and unexceptionably judicious; so much so, that the bishops and monks could not with decency refuse to accept the terms. The place of conference agreed upon was Montreal near Carcas- sone, in the year 1206. The umpires on the one side 461 were the bishops of Villeneuse and Auxerre; on the other, R. de Bot, and Anthony Riviere. Several pastors were deputed to manage the debate for the albigenses, of whom Arnold Hot was the prin- cipal. He arrived first at the time and place appointed, A bishop named Eusus, came afterwards on the side of the papacy, accompanied by the monk Dominic, two of the pope's legates, and several other priests and monks. The points undertaken to be proved by Ar- nold, vi'ere, that the mass and transubstantiation were idolatrous and un scriptural; that tl\e church of Rome was not the spouse of Christ, and that its polity was bad and unholy. Arnold sent these propositions to the bishop, who required fifteen days to answer him, which was granted. At the day appointed, the bishop appeared, bringing with him a large manuscript, which was read in the conference. Arnold desired to be heard by word of mouth, only intreating their pati- ence, if he took a considerable time in answering so prolix a writing. Fair promises of a patient hearing were granted him. He discoursed for the space of four days with great fluency and readiness, and with such order, perspicuity, and strength of argument, that a powerfid impression was made on the audience. At length Arnold desired, that the bishops and monks would undertake to vindicate the mass and transubstantiation by the word of God. What they said on the occasion we are not told; but the cause of the abrupt conclusion of the conference, a matter of fact allowed on all sides, showed which party had the advantage in argument. While the two legates were disputing with Arnold at Montreal, and at the same time several other conferences were held in different places, the bishop of Villeneuse, the umpire of the papal party, declared, that nothing could be deter- mined, because of the coming of the crusaders. What he asserted was too true: the papal armies advanced, and, by fire and faggot, soon decided all controversies. If the conferences had been continued, an historian of the real church might have had much to relate. As Vol. hi. 59 462 the matter stands, he must withdraw: it is the business of the secular historian to relate the military achieve- ments: some circumstances, however, which tend to illustrate the merit and conduct of the church of Christ, must be the objects of our attention. Arnold and his assistants were, doubtless, of the number of those, who " did truth, and therefore came to the light, that their deeds might be made manifest, that they were wrought in God." And their adversa- ries were of those, who hated the light, and would not come to the light, lest their deeds should be re- proved."* Amidst the darkness and uncertainty in which, independently of revelation, every fundamen- tal truth of salvation must be involved, in a world like this, and among creatures so depraved as man- kind, a readiness to abide by the decisions of the di- vine oracles, or an unwillingness to stand the test of scripture, demonstrates who are right and who are wrong. In all ages this has appeared to be the case; but we seldom meet with so striking an instance as this which we have reviewed. " In the sacrifice of the mass, it was commonly said, that the priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have re- mission of pain or guilt." This the church of Eng- land f calls a " blasphemous fable and a dangerous deceit," asserting that " there is none other satisfac- tion for sin, but the offering of Christ once made for all the sins of the whole world." This was one ques- tion in the controversy between the two parties, for the decision of which the scriptures were surely very competent. The recourse, which the popish party had to arms, in the room of sober argumenta- tion, what was it but to pour contempt on the word of God itself, and to confess that its light was intolerably offensive to them? The approach of the crusaders, who, in the manner related, put an end to the confe- rence, was not accidental; for Innocent, who never intended to decide the controversy by argument, on * John, iii. | Article xxxi. 463 occasion of the unhappy murder of the monk before mentioned, had despatched preachers throughout Eu- rope, to collect all, who were willing to revenge the innocent blood of Peter of Chateauneuf; promising pa- radise to those, who should bear arms for forty days, and bestowing on them the same indulgences as he did on those, who undertook to conquer the holy land. *' We, moreover, promise," says he in his bull, " to all those who shall take up arms to revenge the said murder, the pardon and remission of their sins. And since, we are not to keep faith with those, who do not keep it with God, we would have all to understand, that every person, who is bound to the said earl Ray- mond by oath of allegiance, or by any other way, is absolved by apostolical authority from such obliga- tions; and it is lawful for any roman catholic, to per- secute the said earl, and to seize upon his country," &c. Who is this, that forgiveth sins, except God only? and, who is this, that also dispenses with the most solemn moral obligations? Is he not antichrist, show- ing himself that he is God? On this, and some other occasions, I choose to give the very expressions of the papal bulls, as a sufficient confutation of the sophisms, by which some modern writers have endeavoured to palliate or do away the crimes of the popedom. The language, indeed, of our early protestant writers, against popery is severe beyond measure; but it hardly could be equal to the desert of those whom they op- posed. The most material error of the modern pro- testants, as I have before observed, on these subjects, seems to be, that they have been too hasty in fixing the date of the man of sin. But after he really ap- peared in the horrors of his maturity, he was all, which the most impassioned declaimer can say against him. The tyrant proceeds in his bull: " we exhort you, that you would endeavour to destroy the wicked heresy of the albigenses, and do this with more rigor than you would use towards the Saracens themselves: ^ 464 persecute them with a strong hand: deprive them of their lands and possessions: banish them, and put ro- man catholics in their room." Such Avas the pope's method of punishing a whole people for a single mur- der committed by Raymond. Philip Augustus, king of France, was at that time too much engaged in wars with Otho the emperor, and John king of England, to enter upon the crusades. But the French barons, in- cited by the motives of avarice, which Innocent sug- gested, undertook the work with vigor. Raymond of Toulouse was now struck with terror. Political motives had fixed him with the protestant party, because his subjects and neighbours were very commonly on that side. But he himself seems to have wanted a divine principle of faith to animate his mind in the defence of the righteous cause. The other princes, his neighbours, seem equally as destitute as he was of the spirit of genuine religion. They might have resisted their enemies very vigorously by the aid of their subjects, whose loyalty was unalterably firm, and who knew it was a religious duty to be fiiithful to their temporal sovereigns. In those feudal times, Raymond, rather than Philip, was sovereign of the people of Toulouse: the spririt of the protestants was strong and powerful; and even the romanists, who were mixed with them, w^re perfectly disposed to unite in the common defence. But I find not in all the account of the war a single instance of a prince or leader, who was faithful to the cause of God as such. No wonder then that the chiefs sunk under the load of oppression, and suffered themselves, repeatedly, to be the dupes of Roman perfidy. The christians had then no other part to act, after having discharged the duty of faithful subjects and soldiers, but to suffer with patience the oppressions of antichrist. Three hundred thousand pilgrims, induced by the united motives of avarice and superstition, filled the country of the albigenses with carnage and confusion for a number of years. The reader, who is not versed in history of this kind, can scarcely conceive the 465 scenes of baseness, perfidy, barbarity, indecency, and hypocrisy, over which Innocent presided; and which were conduced, partly by his legates, and partly by the infamous earl Simon of Montfort. But let it suffice to have said this in general: it is more to our purpose to observe the spirit of the people of God in these grievous tribulations. The castle of Menerbe on the frontiers of Spain, for want of water, was reduced to the necessity of surrendering to the pope's legate. A certain abbot undertook to preach to those who were found in the castle, and to exhort them to acknow- ledge the pope. But they interrupted his discourse, declaring that his labour was to no purpose. Earl Simon and the legate then caused a great fire to be kindled, and they burned a hundred and forty persons of both sexes. These martyrs died in triumph, prais- ing God that he had counted them worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ. They opposed the legate to his face, and told Simon, that on the last day when the books should be opened, he would meet with the just judgment of God for all his cruelties. Several monks entreated them to have pity on themselves, and promised them their lives, if they would submit to the popedom. But the christians " loved not their lives to the death:"* only three women of the com- pany recanted. Another castle, named Termes, not far from Me- nerbe, in the territory of Narbonne, was taken by Si- mon in the year 1210. " This place," said Simon, *' is of all others the most execrable, because no mass has been sung in it for thirty yeai's." A remark, which gives us som.e idea both of the stability and numbers of the waldenses: the very worship of popery, it seems, was expelled from this place. The inhabitants made their escape by night, and avoided the merciless hands of Simon. A single act of humanity, exercised toward several women by this general, on the principles of chivalry, * Rev. xii. 7. 466 whose persons he preserved from military insult and outrage, is the only one of the kind recorded of him. But the triumphing of the wicked is short: after he had been declared sovereign of Toulouse, which he had conquered, general of the armies of the church, its son, and its darling; after he had oppressed and tyrannized over the albigenses by innumerable con- fiscations and exactions, he was slain in battle in the year 1218. Earl Raymond, whose life had been a scene of great calamity, died of sickness in the year 1222, in a state of peace and prosperity, after his victory over Simon. We are told, that, though political and humane mo- tives at first alone influenced his conduct, he at length saw the falsity of the popish doctrine. No man, surely, was ever treated with more injustice by the pope- dom. But I know no evidence of his religious know- ledge and piety. His persecutor Innocent died in 1216; and the famous Dominic, who, according to the as- sertion of our author Perrin, was active in the inquisi- tion, and was accustomed to the destruction which Simon had begun by arms, died in the year 1220. Amalric of Montfort, the son of Simon, wearied out with the war, resigned to Lewis VIII. the son and suc- cessor of Philip, all his possessions and pretensions in the country of the albigenses; in recompense of which, the French king made him constable of France in the year 1224. This was the step, which proved the ruin of the albigenses. The French monarchy was now interested in their destruction; and, though Lewis VIII. died soon after, and Lewis IX. his son and successor was a minor, yet the capacity of the regent, the queen mother, was found equal to the work of aggrandizing the crown at the expense of the albigenses. Raymond, the heir of his father's mi- series, was treated with the most merciless barbaritv; and, after a series of sufferings, he died of a fever at Milan. Alphonsus, brother of Lewis IX. was put into pos- session of the earldom of Toulouse. Joan, the only 467 daughter of the late earl Raymond, had been deli- vered, when only nine years old, to the French court, that she might, when of age, be married to Alphon- sus. Thus secular and ecclesiastical ambition united to oppress the churches of Christ. The monk Raine- rius, whom we have had occasion repeatedly to quote, acted as inquisitor in the year 1250. There is evi- dence of the extreme violence of persecution continu- ed, against the Albigenses now altogether defenceless, to the year 1281. Long before this, in the year 1229, a council was held at Toulouse, one of the canons of which was, that the laity were not allowed to have the old or new testament in the vulgar tongue, except a psalter, or the like; and it forbade men even to trans- late the scriptures. This is the first instance in the popedom which I meet with, of a direct prohibition of the books of scrip- ture to the laity. Indirectly the same thing had long been practised. What an honour was this canon to the cause of the albigenses! What a confession of guilt on the side of the romanists! The people of God were thus, at length, for the most part, exterminated in Toulouse, and found no other resource but, by patient continuance in welldoing, to commit themselves to their God and Saviour. Antichrist, for the present, was visibly triumphant in the southwest parts of France, and the witnesses " clothed in sackcloth," there consoled themselves with the hope of heavenly rest, being deprived of all prospect, of earthly enjoy- ments. It may not be improper to mention here, that our famous monkish historian, Matthew Paris, relates, that the albigenses set up a person named Bartholomew for pope, who resided in the neighbourhood of Toulouse, consecrated bishops, and governed their churches; and that in one battle the albigenses lost a hundred thou- sand men with all their bishops. These stories easily confute themselves, nor is it necessary to observe, that the ignorance of M. Paris, in French history, is palpably glaring. The only use. 468 which I would make of this fiction is to shoAv, how unsafe it is to rely on rumours published, concerning subjects which affect the passions of mankind, by per- sons who live in places very distant from the scene of action; and to guard the minds of those among our- selves, who hear stories concerning professors of god- liness, propagated by men, who are unacquainted with the grounds of religious controversy. Dauphiny is a province of France, which was very full of the waldenses, who inhabited valleys on both sides of the Alps. On the Italian side the valley of Pragela in particular had, in our author's time, in 1618, six churches, each having its pastor, and every pastor having the care of several villages, which appertained to his church. The oldest people in them, Perrin ob- serves, never remembered to have heard mass sung in their country. The valley itself was one of the most secure retreats of the waldenses, being environed on all sides with mountains, into whose caverns the peo- ple were accustomed to retreat in time of persecution. Vignaux, one of their preachers, used to admire the integrity of the people, whom no dangers whatever could seduce from the faith of their ancestors. Their children were catechised with the minutest care; and their pastors not only exhorted them on the sabbaths, but also on the week days went to their hamlets to in- struct them. With much inconvenience to themselves these teachers climbed the steepest mountains to visit their flocks. The word of God was heard with rever- ence: the voice of prayer was common in' private houses, as well as in the churches: christian simplicity and zeal abounded; and plain useful learning was dili- gently cultivated in the schools. A monk inquisitor named Francis Borelli, in the year 1380, armed with a bull of Clement VII. under- took to persecute this godly people. In the space of thirteen years, he delivered a hundred and fifty persons to the secular power to be burned at Grenoble. In the valley of Fraissiniere and the neighbourhood, he ap- prehended eighty persons who also were burned. The 469 monks inquisitors adjudged one moiet}^ of the goods of the persons condemned to themselves, the rest to the temporal lords. What efforts may not be expec- ted, when avarice, malice, and superstition unite in ,the same cause? About the year 1400, the persecutors attacked the waldenses of the valley of Pragela. The poor people seeing their caves possessed by their enemies, who assaulted them during the severity of the winter, re- treated to one of the highest mountains of the Alps, the mothers carrying cradles, and leading by the hand those little children, who were able to walk. Many of them were murdered, others were starved to death: a hundred and eighty children were found dead in their cradles, and the greatest part of their mothers died soon after them. But why should I relate all the particulars of such a scene of infernal barbarity? In 1460, those of the valley of Fraissiniere were persecuted by a monk of the order of Friar Minors, or Franciscans, armed with the authority of the arch- bishop of Ambrun. And it appears from documents preserved till the time of Perrin, that every method, which fraud and calumny could invent, was practised against them. In the valley of Loyse, four hundred little children were found suffocated in their cradles, or in the arms of their deceased mothers, in consequence of a great quantity of wood being placed at the entrance of the caves and set on fire. On the whole, above three thou- sand persons belonging to the valley were destroyed, and this righteous people were in that place extermi- nated. The waldenses of Pragela and Fraissiniere, alarmed by these sanguinary proceedings, made pro- vision for their own safety, and expected the enemy at the passage and narrow straits of their valleys, and were in fact so well prepared to receive them, that the invaders were obliged to retreat. Some attempts were made afterwards by the waldenses in Fraissiniere to regain their property, which had been unjustly seized by their persecutors. The favour of Lewis XII. of Vol. IIL 60 470 France, was exerted toward them; yet they could never obtain any remedy. In Piedmont the archbishops of Turin assiduously laboured to molest the waldenses, having been inform- ed by the priests in those valleys, that the people made no offerings for the dead, valued not masses and abso- lutions, and took no care to redeem their relations from the pains of purgatory. The love of lucre, no doubt, had a principal share in promoting the perse- cutions; for the sums collected from the people, by the means of these and similar vanities, were immense. The princes of Piedmont, however, who were the dukes of Savoy, were very unwilling to disturb their subjects, of whose loyalty, peaceableness, industry, and probity they received such uniform testimony. A fact, which seemed peculiarly to demonstrate their general innocence must be noticed; their neighbours particularly prized a Piedmontese servant, and pre- ferred the women of the valleys above all others, to nurse their children. Calumny, however, prevailed at length; and such a number of accusations against them appeared, charging them with crimes of the most monstrous nature, that the civil power permitted the papal to indulge its thirst for blood. Dreadful cruel- ties were inflicted on the people of God; and these, by their constancy, revived the memory of the primi- tive martyrs. Among them Catelin Girard was distin- guished, who, standing on the block, on which he was to be burned at Revel in the marquisate of Saluces, requested his executioners to give him two stones: which request being with difficulty obtained, the mar- tyr holding them in his hands, said, when I have eaten these stones, then you shall see an end of that religion, for which ye put me to death, and then he cast the stones on the ground. The fires continued to be kindled till the year 1488, when the method of military violence was adopted by the persecutors. Albert de Capitaneis, archdeacon of Cremona, was deputed by pope Innocent VIII. to as- sault the sufferers with the sword. Eighteen thousand 471 soldiers were raised for the ser^'ice, besides many of the Piedmontese papists, who ran to the plunder from all parts. But the waldenses, armed with wooden tar- gets and crossbows, and availing themselves of the natural advantages of their situation, repulsed their enemies; the women and children on their knees in- treating the Lord to protect his people, during the engagement. Philip, duke of Savoy, had the candor to distinguish the spirit of resistance made by his subjects in this transaction, from a spirit of sedition and turbulence, being convinced that they had ever been a loyal and obedient people. He accepted, therefore, their apolo- gy, and forgave them what was past. But having been informed, that their young children were born with black throats; that they were hairy, and had four rows of teeth, he ordered some of them to be brought be- fore him to Pignerol; where, having convinced himself by ocular demonstration, that the waldenses were not monsters, he determined to protect them from the jiersecution. But he seems not to have had sufficient power to execute his good intentions. The papal in- quisitors daily endeavoured to apprehend these sincere followers of Christ, and the persecution lasted till the year 1532. Then it was that the Piedmontese began openly to perform divine worship in their churches. This provoked the civil power, at length, against them to such a degree, that it concurred more vigorously with the papal measures of military violence. The waldenses, however, defended themselves with courage and success: the priests left the country: the mass was expelled from Piedmont; and, whereas the people had hitherto only the new testament and some books of the old translated into the waldensian tongue, they now sent the whole bible to the press; for, till 1535, they had only manuscripts, and those few in number. They procured, at Neufchatcl in Switzer- land, a printed bible from one, who published the first impression of the word of God which was seen in France. They endeavoured to provide themselves also with religious books from Geneva, but their nicbsen- ger was apprehended and put to deatli. The persecutions were continued against this peo- ple by Francis I. king of France, with savage bar- barity; and, in particular, Jeft'ery, who was burned in the castleyard at Turin, by his piety, meekness, and con- stancy made a strong impression on the minds of many. It would be uninteresting to pursue circumstantially the story of the persecutions, which continued with more or less violence till the end of the sixteenth cen- tury, when Bartholomew Copin of the valley of Lu- cerne, being at Ast in Piedmont with merchandise for the fair, was apprehended for uttering some words against the papacy. The man bore his sufferings with much firmness and constancy, and resisted various attempts of the monks to overcome his spirit. He wrote to his wife, professing his entire dependence on the grace of Jesus Christ for his salvation. But he died in prison, not without suspicion of having being strang-led. After his death his bodv was burned in the fire. The christian rules of submission to governments, and the practice of the waldenses in general, were at no great variance. Yet, it is certahi, that the primitive christians would have conscientiously refused to bear arms at all against their own sovereigns, however tyrannical and oppressive they might be. Whether, in some instances, these persecuted christians of the valleys did not violate the apostolical precepts on this subject,* is not very easy to be decided, because it , requires a very minute acquaintance with their parti- cular circumstances, to determine who was their sove- reign. Sometimes they Mere under the king of France; at other times under the duke of Savoy; and, it is not to be doubted, but that, at all times, they had a right to resist the pope as a foreign enemy, and an enemy of uncommon ambition, injustice, and cruelty. At the end of the sixteenth century, in consequence '^ Rom. xiii. 1 Pet. ii- ' 473 of some exchange made by virtue of a treaty between Henry IV. of France and the duke of Savoy, the wal- denses of the marquisate of Saluces lost the privileges, which they had enjoyed under the French govern- ment; and, by the oppression of their new sovereign of Savoy, through the importunity of the pope, were obliged to fly into France for segurity. Some of them, from the love of the w^orld, renounced the faith; but the greatest part preferred exile with a good consci- ence, to an enjoyment of their native country. On this occasion they declared, in a 'well written manifesto, their spirit of loyalty and peaceableness, the hardships of their case, and their perfect agreement in principle with all the reformed churches. So certain is it, that the waldenses were, in every substantial article, genu- ine protestants and witnessess of evangelical truth. A number of waldenses, who resided in the Alps, possessed several villages, and, in particular, the cit} of Barcelonette. These, being persecuted by the prince of Piedmont in the year 1570, in conjunction v/itli some others, implored the protestant princes to inter cede with their sovereign on their behalf. The prince palatine of the Rhine exerted himself with much zeal on the occasion. But the people of Barcelonette being- obliged to leave their settlements, amidst a choice of difliculties were reduced to the extremity of attempt- ing, in the midst of winter to pass over a high moun tain. The greatest part of them perished; the rest re- tired into the valley of Fraissiniere. About the year 1370 some of the waldensian youths of Dauphiny sought in Calabria a new settlement, be- cause their native country was too small for the num- ber of the inhabitants. Finding the soil fertile, and the region thinly peopled, they applied to the proprietors of the lands, and treated with them concerning the conditions of dwelling there. The lords of the countr}- gave them the most kind reception, agreed with them on fair and equitable terms, and assigned them parcels of lands. The new colonists soon enriched and fer tilized their respective districts by superior industry: 474 and, by probity, peaceable manners, and punctual pay- ment of their rents, they gained the affections of their landlords, and of all their neighbours. The priests alone, who found that they did not act like others in religion, and that they contributed nothing to the sup- port of the hierarchy by masses for the dead, or by other romish formalities, were highly offended. They were particularly vexed to find, that certain foreign schoolmasters, who taught the children of these stran- gers, were held in high respect, and that they them- selves received nothing from them except tithes, which were paid according to the compact with their lords. From these circumstances, the priests concluding that the strangers must be heretics, were tempted to com- plain of them to the pope. The lords, however, with- held them from complaining of die people. " They are just and honest," said they, " and have enriched all the country. Even ye priests have received sub- stantial emolument from their labours. The tithes alone, which ye now receive, are so much superior to those, which were formerly produced from these coun- tries, that you may well bear with some losses on other accounts. Perhaps the country, whence they came, is not so much addicted to the ceremonies of the Roman church. But as they fear God, are liberal to the needy, just and beneficent to all men, it is un- generous anxiously to scrutinize their consciences. For are tliey not a temperate, sober, prudent people, not given to pleasures and excess of riot like others, and in their words peculiarly decent? and does anj^ person ever hear them utter a blasphemous expres- sion?" The lords admiring their tenants, who were distinguished from the inhabitants all around by pro- bity and virtue, maintained and protected them against their enemies, till the year 1560. In all this the fruits of godliness among the wal- denses were apparent, even to those, who knew not the nature of godliness itself. The lords, moved by temporal interest, behaved with candour, while the priests, who felt, or thought they felt their interest un- 475 dermined by these strangers, murmured and expressed their indignation. It is not to be wondered at, that the priests of idolatry should every where be the greatest enemies of true religion. It is nothing more than the natural effect of human depravity. Their passions, through the medium of interest, are more sensibly struck at than those of others; and the true use to be made of such events is, for all men, laity as well as priests, to learn the true doctrine of the fall of man, and its consequences. The Calabrian waldenses sent to Geneva in the year 1560, to request a supply of pastors. Two, namely, Stephen Negrin, and Lewis Paschal, were sent into Calabria; who endeavoured to establish the public exercise of protestantism. Pope Pius IV. having notice of this, determined to extir- pate a people, who had presumed to plant lutheran- ism, so he called their religion, so near to his seat. What follows of the history of this people is a dis- tressful scene of persecution. Numbers of them being murdered, by two companies of soldiers headed by the pope's agents, the rest craved mercy for them- selves, their wives, and children, declaring, that if they were permitted to leave the country with a few con- veniences, they would not return to it any more. But their enemies knew not how to show mercy; and the persecuted christians at length undertook to defend themselves from their invaders, and they put them to flight. The viceroy of Naples, hearing of these things, appeared in person to prosecute the diabolical business of the pope; and, in a little time, the Calabrian wai denses were entirely exterminated. The most barba- rous cruelties were inflicted on many; some were tor- tured, in order to oblige them to own, that their friends had committed the most flagitious incests; and the whole apparatus of pagan persecution Vv^as seen to be revived in the south of Italy. A certain youth, named Samson, defended himself a long time against those, who came to apprehend him. But being wounded, he was, at length, taken and led to the top of a towTr. Confess yourself to a priest hert^ 476 present, said tlte persecutors, before vuu be thrown down. 1 have aheady, said Samson, confessed myself to God. Tln-ovv him down from the tower, said the inquisitor. The next day the viceroy passing below near the said tower, saw the poor man yet alive, with all his bones broken. He kicked him wdth his foot on the head, saying, is the dog yet alive? give him to the hogs to eat. But I turn from a scene, where there is nothing but a repetition of enormities, which have often been ex- posed in the course of this history, and which equally show the influence of the prince of darkness and the enmity of the carnal mind against God: let it suffice to add, that Stephen Megrin was starved to death in pri- son, and that Lewis Paschai was conveyed to Rome, where he was burned alive in the presence of Pius IV. That tyrant feasted his eyes with the sight of the man in the flames, who had dared to call him antichrist. Paschal, however, was enabled to testify, in his last scenes, from the word of God, many things which much displeased the pope; and, by the zeal, constancy, and piety, which he displayed in his death, he failed not to excite the pity and admiration of the spectators. The waldenses of Provence fertilized a barren soil by their industr}-, but, like their brethren elsewhere, were exposed to persecution. An attempt was made to prejudice the mind of Lewis XIL against them, about the year 1506, by such calumnies as those, with which the primitive christians were aspersed. The king, struck with horror, directed the parliament of Provence to investigate the charges and to punish those, who were found guilty. But afterwards under- standing, that some innocent men vi^ere put to death, he sent two persons to inquire into the conduct of this people, by whose distinct information he was so tho- roughly convinced of their innocence, that he swore they were better men than himself and his catholic subjects; and he protected them during the rest of his reign. Thus the candor, humanity, and generosity of that monarch, who was deservedly looked on as the 477 fiither of his people, was providentially instrumental in the defence of the vvaldenses. Some time after, these Provencal protestants wrote a letter to the reformer Qicolampadius of Basle, which, as a monument of christian humility and simplicitj^, well deserves to be transcribed. " Health to Mr. CEco- lampadius. Whereas several persons have given us to understand, that he, who is able to do all things, hath replenished you with his holy Spirit, as it conspi- cuously appears by the fruits; we, therefor^, have re- course to you from a far country, with a stedfast hope, that the Holyghost will enlighten our understanding by your means, and give us the knowledge of several things, in which we are now doubtful, and which are hidden from us, because of our slothful ignorance and remissness, to the great damage, as we fear, both of ourselves and of the people, of whom we are the un- worthy teachers. That you may know at once how matters stand with us, we, such as we are, poor in- structors of this small people, have undergone, for above four hundred years, most cruel persecutions, not without signal marks of the favour of Christ; for he hath interposed to deliver us, when under the har- row of severe tribulations. In this our state of weak- ness we come to you for advice and consolation." They wrote in the same strain to other reformers, and were, it seems, so zealous to profit by their superior light and knowledge, that they willingly exposed them- selves, by this means, to a share of the same persecu- tions which at that time oppressed the lutherans, so the reformed were then generally called, both in France and through all Europe. CEcolampadius, in the year 1530, wrote to the wal- denses of Provence, to protest against the crime of attending the mass and bowing before idols, with which some of them were infected; showing that a public declaration of making satisfaction for the sins of the living and the dead by the mass, was the same thing as to say, that Jesus Christ hath not made suffi- cient expiation, that he is no saviour, and died for us Vol. III. 61 478 in vain; and that, if it be lawful for us to conceal our faith under ihe tyranny of antichrist, it would have been lawful to worship Jupiter or Venus with Diocle- sian. These admonitions were well adapted to the cir- cumstances of the waldenses; for they soon after had large occasion to practise them. Even one of the mes- sengers, who brought the letters, was seized in his journey at Dijon, and condemned to death as a luthe- ran. In the parliament of Aix, in the year 1540, one of the most inhuman edicts recorded in history was pronounced against the Provengal christians. It was ordered that the country of Merindol should be laid waste, and the woods cut down, to the compass of two hundred paces around. The name and authority of king Francis I. was obtained by surprize, and the revocation of the edict, which he afterwards sent to the parliament on better information, was suppressed by the persecutors. The murders, rapes, and desola- tions were horrible beyond all description. In particu- lar, a number of women were shut up in a barn full of straw, which was set on fire; and a soldier, moved with compassion, having opened a place for them that they might escape, these helpless victims of papal rage were driven back into the flames by pikes and halberts. Other cruelties were practised on this occasion so hor- rid, that they might seem to exceed belief, were not the authenticity of the accounts unquestionable; and he, who knows what human nature is when left to itself and to Satan, knows that there is no evil of which it is not capable. In justice, however, to Francis I. a prince in his temper by no means cruel and oppressive, it is proper to add, that being informed of the execution of this barbarous edict, to which he had with great precipita- tion given his name, he was filled with bitter remorse, being now at the point of death, and he charged his son Henry to punish the murderers. The advocate Guerin, however, was the only person, who was pu- nished on the occasion. He was, in truth, the most guilty, because it was he, who had suppressed the king's revocation of the bloody edict. 479 Those who had escaped, afterwards by degress re- covered their possessions, and taking advantage of the edict of Nantes, enjoyed the protection of government, in common with the rest of the protestants in France. If we look into Bohemia, the country in which Waldo ended his days, we find that the waldensian churches existed there in the fourteenth century, but that they had been broken up as a professing people, when the hussites (of whom hereafter) began to flourish. The hussites were later than they by two hundred and forty years, and are allowed, by their own writers, to have agreed in principle with the walden- ses; none of whose writings, however, were extant in Bohemia at the time when the doctrine of Hus was received in that country. So completely had papal tyranny prevailed! but providence raised up other wit- nesses. In Austria the number of waldenses was exceed- ingly great. About the year 1467, the hussites entered into a christian correspondence with them; in the course of which they gently rebuked them on account of the idolatrous compliances too visible in their churches. The hussites also found fault with them, because they were too solicitous in amassing wealth, " Every day," say they, " has its cares and afflictions; but as christians ought to look only for heavenly riches, we cannot but condemn your excessive atten- tion to the world, by which you may gradually be in- duced to set your whole heart on the things of time and sense." This looks like the language of younger converts, who, having not yet forsaken their " first love,"* are apt to see the evils of a worldly spirit in a stronger light, even than older and more experienced christians, who may have sunk into lukevvarmness. It should be, remembered, that the hussites were, at this time, beginners in religion, compared to the walden- ses. These latter were, however, exposed soon after this to terrible persecutions; and those of them, who * Rev. ii. 480 escaped, fled into Bohemia, and united themselves to the hussites. In Germany, in the year 1230, the papal inquisition oppressed the waldenses with peculiar severity. They were, notwithstanding, stedfast in their profession; and their pastors publicly announced the pope to be anti- christ, affirming, that if God had not sent them intoGer- many to preach the gospel, the very stones would have been raised up to instruct mankind. " We give not," say they, " a fictitious remission, but we preach the remis- sion of sins appointed by God himself in his word." About the year 1330, Echard, a dominican monk, an inquisitor, grievously oppressed them. At length, after many cruelties, he urged the waldenses to inform him of the real cause of their separation from the church of Rome, being convinced in his conscience of the justice of several of their charges. This was an oppor- tunity, not often vouchsafed to this people by their enemies, of using the weapons of christian warfare. The event was Siiiutary: Echard was enlightened, con- fessed the faith of Christ, united himself to his people, like Paul he preached the faith which once he destroy- ed, and, in the issue, was burned at Heidelberg; and the christians glorified God in him. Raynard Lollard was another convert of the same kind, at first a franciscan and an enemy to the walden- ses. He was taken by the inquisitors after he had dili- gently taught the gospel, and was burned at Cologne. From him the wickliffites in England were called lol- lards; and he it was, who instructed the English who resided in Guienne, in the waldensian doctrine. The connexion between France and England, during the whole reign of Edward III. was so great, that it is by no means improbable, that Wickliff himself (of whom more hereafter) derived, his first impressions of reli- gion from Lollard. Princes and states may carry on wars and negotiations with one another; while HE, who rules all things, makes every event subservient to the great design of spreading thekingdom of his Son. Flanders was also a violent scene of waldensian 481 persecution, though our author seems to know little of the particulars. From another writer* it appears, that in 1163 some of the waldenses retired from Flan- ders to Cologne. Here they were discovered and con- fined in a barn. Egbert, an abbot, disputed with them: three were burned; and a young woman, whom the people would have spared, threw herself into the flames. In 1183, great numbers were burned alive. A person named Robert, first a waldensian, afterwards a dominican, was appointed inquisitor general by the pope. This man, knowing the usual places of con- cealment, burned or buried alive above fifty persons in the year 1236. But he met with that punishment in this life, which was calculated to convince him of his enormous sin. The pope suspended him for the abuse of his power, and condemned him to perpetual imprisonment. Persecutors in Flanders tormented the christians by means of hornets, wasps, and hives of bees. The people of God, however, were strong in faith and love. They turned the scripture into Low Dutch rhimes, for the edification of the brcthern; and they gave this reason for the practice. " In scripture there are no jests, fables, trifles or deceits; but words of solid truth. Here and there, indeed, is an hard crust; but the mar- row and sweetness of what is good and holy, may easily be disco\'ered in it." A peculiar regard for holy writ, amidst ages of darkness, forms the glory of the waldensian churches. England, because of its insular situation, knew less of all these scenes than the continent. But the strik- ing narrative of the sufferers, in the time of Henry II. which has been recorded, ought to be added to the list of waldensian persecutions. No part of Europe, in short,, was exempt from the sufferings of these christian heroes. Paris itself, the metropolis of France, saw, in 1304, a hundred and fourteen persons buined alive, who bore the flames with admirable constancy. * Brandt's Hist, of the Refor. in the Netherlands. 482 Thus largely did the " King of saints"* provide for the instruction of his church, in the darkness of the middle ages. The waldenses are the middle link, which connects the primitive christians and fathers with the reformed; and, by their means, the proof is completely established, that salvation, by the grace of Christ, felt in the heart and expressed in the life, by the power of the Holyghost, has ever existed from the time of the apostles till this day; and that it is a doc- trine marked by the cross, and distinct from all that religion of mere form or convenience, or of human invention, which calls itself christian, but which wants the Spirit of Christ. * Rev. XV. 3. END OF THE THIRD VOLUME. Date Due f »o ' n: f) iniijiFnijiifiijp MMr liliiiiiiliii I ll I ^ iiijiililiHiilli;