Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

IT

CHAP. I.

The History of the Propagation of Christianity among the

Anglo-Saxons.

I.

T has often been remarked as a peculiar merit of the Christian CHÁ P. religion, that it neither arose from ambition, nor was propagated by the sword. It appealed unoffendingly to the reason, the sensibility, the virtue, and the interest of mankind; and it established itself in every province of the Roman empire.

When the torrent of barbarians overspread Europe, to the destruction of all arts and knowledge, Christianity fell in the general shipwreck. Soon, however, in some districts, she raised her mild and interesting form, and the savages yielded to her benign influence..

Among the Anglo-Saxons, her conquest over the fierce and wild paganism which our ancestors adored, was not begun till France and even Ireland had submitted to her laws; but it was

BOOK accomplished in a manner worthy of her benevolence and purity.

XIII.

Genuine piety seems to have led the first missionaries to our shores. Their zeal, their perseverance, and the excellence of the system they diffused, made their labours successful.

Gregory the Great was one of the few popes whose character has been distinguished by sincere religion. In some we see little else than the politician, the voluptuary, and the hypocrite. But most of the earliest possessors of the papal dignity display a nobler life; and among these Gregory is remarkable for a zeal that never slept, and for a piety that, though always eminently active, was yet injudiciously

austere.'

His father was a nobleman, who educated him for civil offices. He was always studious, though fond of costly habits of silk and gold; and he began his political life by discharging the office of the city pretor.

Religion exciting his attachment, he abandoned the scenes of ambition and the ornaments of luxury, and devoted himself to an ecclesiastical life. His father's death allowed him to pursue his own wishes.

Out of his rich inheritance he built and liberally endowed six monasteries in Sicily, and one in Rome. In this he unambitiously entered as a private monk, appointing another to be its abbot. Having provided for the support of these establishments, he sold the rest of his property, and divided it among the poor.*

Our Venerable Bede has given a slight sketch of the Pope's life in his history, 1. ii. c. 1. Gregory of Tours, a still more ancient writer, supplies us with much more in formation,, 1. x. c. 1. Isidorus, Paulus Diaconus, archbishop Ado, Simon Metaphrastes, and others, have also recorded him. But his most elaborate, though not most judicious biographer, is Joannes Diaconus, whose life, with the other accounts, is prefixed to the edition of Gregory's works in large folio. Paris, 1640.

Greg. Touron. 1. x. c. 1.

Joan. Diac. 1. i. This latter writer has crowded the life of Gregory with a series of miracles, which have as few of the graces of fancy as of truth. This author closes the life with a vision, which he boldly claims to have happened to himself.-The devil came to him as he had finished his fourth book; teased and terrified him by putting out his light. Gregory himself and two other persons immediately appeared to him, re-illuminated and consoled him! As he had given about a`

1..

His severe abstinence, watchings, prayer, and studies, occa- CAř. sioned a pressure of disease, which made his life a continued indisposition.' Though possessed of all the means of the amplest indulgence, he used nothing for his daily food but raw pulse, sent by his mother. In this extreme austerity there is nothing to admire but the motive. So much selfrestraint as will produce self-government is wise and salutary. All severer mortification makes a phantom of terror of that religion whose natural character is to attract mankind by her smiles, her sociability, her benignity, and her suitability to every climate of nature, and every class of mankind.

The accidental sight of English youth exposed to sale in the market-place at Rome, excited his first wishes for the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. He was struck with their fair and beautiful countenances: he enquired who they were, and was informed that they came from Britain, where the inhabitants were all of the same complexion. When he heard that such an interesting race were still pagans, he groaned heavily, and exclaimed, "Why should the prince of darkness "have such splendid subjects! Why should the mind be so "dark, when the person is so beautiful!"

His sensibility was excited. On learning that their name was Angles, the sound immediately associated itself with their personal appearance, and his religious impressions. "Angles! that is to say, angels. They have angel countenances, and ought to join the angelic companies."

66

That such a people ought to be in the possession of a religion which Gregory considered to be the noblest gift of happiness to man, was his next association. The name of their

hundred miracles very liberally to Gregory, he seems to have thought it allowable to. take the credit of a little one to himself.

3 Gregory himself says, in a letter to Leander, prefixed to his Job, "Many years "have rolled over me, during which I have "been frequently tormented with internal pains. Every hour, every moment I lanVOL. II.

"guish under the evils of a weak and dis-
"ordered stomach. I am in a slow, but
"perpetual fever. But in these afflictions
"I recollect that God chastiseth every son
"whom he receives; and I trust that the

more I am oppressed with present evils,
"the more ardently I shall pant for a
"happy eternity."

3 K

XIII.

66

BOOK province, Deira, was a consonancy that struck him: "De ira, "from wrath!-Yes, from the wrath of God they must be plucked, and brought to the grace of Christ." While this new and benevolent idea was floating in his mind, he heard that their king's name was Ella; and with all the ardour of that sincere piety which governed his actions he exclaimed, "Alleluia!—they must sing Alleluias there in praise of their "Creator."

Gregory obtained leave from the pope to visit England as a missionary. But the Roman people, disturbed that a man who was their favourite should undertake such a perilous enterprise, raised so much clamour at his departure, that it was thought prudent to recal him; and he was afterwards sent to Constantinople as the apostolical legate, where he composed his expositions on the book of Job.

His correspondence embraced the principal regions of the known world, in the different stages of his life. We have his letters to persons in Italy, Sicily, Malta, France, Spain, Naples, Corsica, Sardinia, Dalmatia, Illyricum, Corinth, Antioch, Constantinople, Numidia, and other parts of Africa. His numerous letters and writings, which fill some folio volumes, display an intellectual activity that, in a more enlightened age, and with a happier education, would have obtained no small proportion of literary celebrity.

Before he was pope, he gave some testimony that his compassionate admiration of the English captives was not a mere transient impression.

A letter of his to a presbyter in Gaul is still extant, in which he desires him to buy some Angle youths of seventeen or eighteen years of age, that they might be taken into monasteries."

But when he was chosen to the pontifical dignity, he determined to realize the favourite purpose of his youth. He

[blocks in formation]

CHAP

selected Augustine and some other monks to proceed to Eng- CHAP. land to preach Christianity.

They had not journeyed long before the terrors of a fierce unbelieving nation, and the difficulties of an unknown language, overcame their resolution. They sent back Augustine to remonstrate on the danger, and to persuade the pope to abandon his project. Happily for England, Gregory's mind was of sterner texture. He chided their timidity; he exhorted them not to be deterred by the fatigues of the journey, or false reports; he recommended them to the bishop of Arles, in France; and, to produce a necessary subordination, and a more vigorous mission, he constituted Augustine their spiritual chief."

With better courage they renewed their journey, and landed in Thanet. It was auspicious to their undertaking, that the queen of Kent, a Frankish princess, was a Christian.

By the aid of Franks, as interpreters, they sent a message to Ethelbert, the sovereign of the country, announcing that they had arrived from Rome upon an embassy so momentous as to bring everlasting felicity to those who received it. Ethelbert ordered them to approach him. With a silver cross and a picture of Christ they advanced, singing hymns. The king received them in the open air, that he might be less under the power of any witchcraft. They disclosed their wishes, and received this manly and sensible answer, that would not have disgraced the most enlightened philosopher:

"Your promises are interesting, but as they are new to me, "and uncertain, I cannot forsake the established customs

❝ of my nation. The distance which you have traversed for "our sakes, and your desire to impart to us what you be"lieve to be true and useful, entitle you to our hospitality. "You shall be supplied with food, and we shall not forbid any from joining your religion whom you can persuade to adopt it."

[ocr errors]

66

Bede, 1. i. c. 23. who gives a copy of his letter.

Ib. c. 25.

« AnteriorContinuar »