triumphantly, and with so much self-complacency, that out of tenderness to his feelings we are for the present disposed to concede it to him:-be it then, that transubstantiation was the faith of our Saxon ancestors. Who were they? A set of pirates just emerging from barbarism, and scarcely capable of comprehending their own wretched systems. Yes, it is to the faith and practice of such an age that we are to be recalled,-to give in exchange for the cloudy sophistry of Scotus the luminous metaphysics of Locke, Clarke and Paley, and in a period when all the operations of intellect have been analized with an exactness, and carried to a perfection, unknown in former ages, to resign our understandings to the authority of dreaming priests who were hardly acquainted with the first principles of scientific reason.

Equally unimportant is it to us whether the marriages of the Saxon clergy were canonical or not :-they were natural and necessary, and therefore scriptural. But married or unmarried, why are the secular clergy of the church of Rome itself, to be for ever sunk in the comparison with their cloistered brethren? Why are the frozen and torpid virtues of the one to be preferred to the active and laborious exertions of the other? To the zeal and well-directed endeavours of many of these men we are willing to pay every tribute of applause. Unintelligible as their public ministrations are to the generality; in private instruction and admonition, in constant and vigilant inspection of their flocks, the secular clergy of that church have, in many instances, been a pattern, and perhaps a reproach to ourselves. They have done the work of evangelists-they have been instant in season and out of season: but these virtues have descended upon them in succession from an higher antiquity, and from a purer fountain than the institutes of Gregory or Benedict, Take the monastic life in its most favourable aspect; its abstractions and mortifications, its watchings, meditations, together with its everlasting round of tiresome forms-what is it but a waste of devotion, a solitary and self-chosen path? Surely, unless the members of that church were given up to a reprobate taste in religion, some portion of their applause would be transferred to men whom they might justly commend-to the humble and devout Fenelon, to the intrepid and heroic Belsunce, and to the confessors and martyrs of the Gallican church during its last awful trial. We have been provoked by the petulance of the author to express a warmth to which we have not been accustomed-and we would challenge a comparison between the meddling and secular spirit, the pride and cruelty of his heroes Odo and Duustan, not merely with the se u-' lars of his own church, but with the learning and moderation of Parker, or the sanctity of Secker and Porteus, each of whom he insults. Could any thing short of the rancour and bigotry of his

church

church have tempted a Saxon scholar, (and no contemptible one) to speak of the offal of Archbishop Parker, to whose taste and liberality many of the most valuable remains in that language owe their preservation? But the archbishop's offence was inexpiable. He had honestly vindicated the antiquity and independence of the British churches--he had censured, in the free and spirited language of the first reformers, the arrogance and superstition, the pomp and vanity of Augustine. We will, however, present the classical reader with a morsel of this 'offal.'

'Gregorius enim-ipsi Augustino ad missarum solennia celebranda, pallium, item vasa sacra, altarium vestimenta, ecclesiarum ornamenta, sacerdotilia atque clericalia indumenta, sanctorum apostolorum ac martyrum reliquias se misisse dicit: Ex quibus videmus, quantæ tum in Romanam ecclesiam cæcitates et errores irrepserant. Nec hujus modi solum malis sanctiora ecclesiæ instituta depravata sunt, sed ex illâ, de unius in ecclesiâ pastoris imperio atque potestate, contentione, quam Johannis Constantinopolitani patriarchæ ambitio, vivente adhuc & acerrimè reclamante Gregorio, excitavit, non modò ad superstitionem & sacrorum omnium profanationem, sed etiam ad impietatem atque Antichristi regnum, patefacta fuit janua: Antea enim inaudita erant et incognita illa superborum titulorum nomina; summus pontifex & unicum ecclesiæ in terris caput, Christi vicarius & similia, quibus insolescere cœpit Romanorum pontificum audacia, quibusque parere, sub æternæ mortis pœnâ, omnes jubentur.'-Augustinus.

In opposition to these censures let it be remembered how candidly the archbishop had spoken of the labours and successes of his first predecessor: Illi evangelium Jesu Christi regi & universo comitatui prædicant. Quid multis opus est? Multi Christo nomen dederunt, crediderunt, baptizati sunt, donec Rex ipse tandem conversus et universus populus Christo lucrifactus est. It was the religion therefore of Christ which was presented to Ethelbert and his people; their faith is admitted to have been genuine, their conversion sincere, their baptism regular; concessions which would not have been made by a catholic to the claims of any protestant missionary. But upon such men concessions are thrown away. Acknowledgments of what yet remains in popery of genuine christianity are coldly and sullenly accepted. An exposure of its errors, however elegantly expressed, is coarsely denominate doffal. These observations may suffice as to the general temper and principles of the work before us; in the style there is little to censure, and excepting that the author has chastized and simplified his model, there is nothing greatly to commend; our concern, therefore, in the remaining part of this Review, must be with specific facts and positions.

And first we have to admire the flexible and accommodating spirit of our author, ás a missionary: 'the Saxons,' he tells us,

'had

'had been accustomed to enliven the solemnity of their worship by the merriment of the table. The victims which had bled on the altars of the gods, furnished the principal materials of the feast, and the praises of their warriors were mingled with the hymns chaunted in honour of the divinity. Totally to have abolished this practice, might have alienated their minds from a religion which forbade the most favourite of their amusements.' So thought and acted the Chinese missionaries, and so will ever think and act the propagators of a religiou like that of Rome. But when the apostles and first preachers of the word went forth in the power of the spirit' to convert the world, we find nothing of this compromise and conciliation, this medley of christian worship with the elegant mythology, the captivating songs and dances which constituted the great attractions of the heathen ritual. Had Paul and Barnabas acted upon these principles, the offence of the cross would in one sense have ceased, and the churches of the first century exhibited what these men have again and again been challenged to produce, a gay religion, full of pomp and gold.' The doctrine of Jesus would have found a ready reception at Corinth or at Antioch, and the grove of Daphne have exhibited an edifying spectacle of easy and accommodating christianity. Compared to the puritanism, with which this writer has branded the morality of Dr. Henry, how gentle in his language in speaking of the Saxon worship and manners! Their acts of idolatry are termed 'solemnities of worship,' their brutal intemperance heightened, like every species of excess, by its combination with religion, 'the merriment of the table;' while the hymus chaunted to their idols are expressly said to be addressed to the divinity.' To the flexibility, however, of Gregory, in permitting this incongruous union, we are indebted for all the outrages on decency which take place in the religious festivals of the common people, and of which one of the evils was, that, in the seventeenth century, they produced a recoil of manners more hateful and mischievous than themselves.

But where is the wonder, if in the conception of this writer, the conduct of missions admit of such a latitude, when the principle itself is radically defective? The rulers,' he says, of the barbarous nations had proved themselves not insensible to the truths of the gospel, and the influence of their example had been recently demonstrated in the conversion of the Franks, the Visigoths and the Suevi. Hence, the first object of the missionaries, Roman, Gallic, or Scottish, was invariably the same, to obtain the patronage of the prince his favour ensured, his opposition prevented their success.' In the primitive church, christianity prevailed against the powers of the world, and those excellent men who are, in our

days,

days, undertaking missions more remote and perilous than that of Augustine, have learned to rely on the favour and protection of One who, in Mr. Lingard's account, is no party to the conversion of heathen nations. Of national conversions indeed we have always been jealous; for the complaisance which embraces the christianity of the prince, will, with him, relapse into idolatry, and even while it retains the external profession of religion, be either hypocrisy or nothing. On these principles, the only instrument of conversion is policy, and the only effect an external compliance.

The following passage betrays a secret conviction that these missionaries were indebted for their freedom from persecution, to some abatement of that boldness and sincerity which distinguished the first preachers of christianity. If they neither felt nor provoked the scourge of persecution, they may at least claim the merit of pure, active, and disinterested virtue, and the fortunate issue of their labours is sufficient to disprove the opinion of those who imagine that no church can be firmly established, the foundations of which are not cemented with the blood of martyrs.' That is, the prudence and discretion of Augustine greatly surpassed that of the apostles and primitive martyrs: they, it seems, provoked the scourge these men declined it; and with respect to success, till we know how many were really civilized, (a word which as being suited to the extent of his views Mr. Lingard generally uses,) and how many were really sanctified, (a word which he does not use ;) we must be permitted to make some deductions from his flattering representations. Neither can we altogether accede to his opinion as to the disinterested exertions of Augustine and his followers. Men usually act upon a combination of motives. The character of a missionary was popular, the honours which awaited success were certain, and if, as appears, ecclesiastical ambition was the ruling principle of his heart, Augustine had his reward.' Meanwhile, we are not unwilling to concede to him a sincere and benevolent wish to civilize the manners and correct the vices of a distant and savage people.' The terms are happily chosen; they describe the conduct of the Jesuits in Paraguay; but they fall infinitely short of the views of an apostle. Doubtless a change of life and manners would occasionally take place even under great disadvantages in the mode of instruction; but these humble though important achievements of the missionaries were too private and unobtrusive to figure among the nominal conversions of princes, or nations, and accordingly the records of them are not to be sought upon earth.

The beneficial effects of christianity, however, upon the manners and temporal happiness of the Saxon converts, are pleasingly represented. Such were the pagan Saxons. But their ferocity

soon

soon yielded to the exertions of the missionaries, and the harsher features of their origin were insensibly softened under the mild influence of the gospel. Death or slavery was no longer the fate of the conquered Britons: by their submission they were incorporated with the victors, and their lives and property were protected by the equity of their Christian conquerors. The humane idea, that by baptism all men became brethren, contributed to meliorate the condition of slavery, and scattered the seeds of that liberality which gradually undermined, and at length abolished so odious an institution.' Very gradually indeed! These seeds, though sown in no barren soil, were long in maturing; and the topic would scarcely have been touched by Mr. Lingard, had he recollected that the vestiges of this odious institution are to be traced among his brethren the monks, to the very dawn of the Reformation.

Other instances of the success of the gospel, in this period, very conspicuous in Mr. Lingard's eyes, are, to our unpurged vision, somewhat equivocal. In the clerical and monastic establishments, the most sublime of the gospel virtues were carefully practised; even kings descended from their thrones, and exchanged the sceptre for the cowl.' From this passage, the disciples of Mr. Lingard may, not improbably, be led to infer, that, in a certain volume, there exists some specific precept by which kings, in order to attain to the most sublime of the christian virtues, are required to exchange a' sceptre for a cowl.' In that volume we discern a very different spirit. We see the great sovereigns of the chosen people, David and Solomon, Jehosaphat and Josiah, administering judgment and justice, fighting the battles of their country, and actively employed in the various duties of their station to the very close of intellect or life. Three and twenty Saxon kings, however, and sixty queens and children of kings, were revered as saints by our ancestors.' What were the requirements to constitute that species of regal sanctity which excluded Alfred from the catalogue, we stay not to examine. Yet we are far from blaming the voluntary retirement of many Saxon princes; but surely, to descend from one of the thrones of the heptarchy, in the decline of health and spirits, is no such heroic act as to call forth extravagant commendation. Mere satiety of power, united with the love of quiet incident to old age, has operated with equal force upon heathens :-and when the resolution was once taken, what retreat presented itself in a state of society so rude and turbulent, but the cloister? War and devotion were the two employments which then divided mankind. There were no liberal arts to relieve the irksome languor of declining age; no SaJonian gardens to sooth the feelings of an abdicated monarch; no elegant retreat like that of St. Justus, in which, unfettered by

VOL, VII. NO. XIII.

VOWS,