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such a mode of statement, that there had been for centuries British metropolitans of London, and probably of York; that the last of the archbishops of London, Theouus, had been obliged to take refuge in Wales only eleven years before Augustine's arrival; and that, to use Dr. Hook's own admission, "the northern half of Anglo-Saxon Britain was indebted for its conversion to Christianity, not to Augustine and the Italian mission, but to the Celtic missionaries who passed through Bernicia and Deira into East Anglia, Mercia, and even Wessex."

stated by the historian." There reader would scarcely imagine, from were excuses for this: the Welsh traditions, and in a less degree the Irish, are palpably untrustworthy; and whatever more authentic records may have existed have probably perished, as Gildas of Bangor says they did, in the troublous days of foreign invasion. The author of the Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, though he takes Augustine's mission as his starting-point, is careful to give due honour to the teachers who had preceded him. It has been too often assumed that to Gregory, and his missionary Augustine, England was entirely indebted for the introduction of Christianity Historians have reproached the -that before that time its light had Celtic Church with a lack of zeal to never reached beyond the remote fast- attempt the conversion of the connesses of Wales and Scotland. During quering Saxons. The remark is the long rule of the Roman Church originally Bede's, who was himself, in England, this assumption was na- it must be remembered, a pupil of turally encouraged for the greater the Italian missionaries. Reserve honour of the Papal See. Popular and jealousy towards all foreigners belief, never very curious as to eccle- is undoubtedly a characteristic of siastical antiquities, was quite con- the Celtic nation, as it was of the tent to adopt it; and popular belief maintains its ground long after his torical investigation has disproved it. But it is curious to find even so learned and accurate a writer as Dr. Stanley contributing unconsciously to strengthen the common misapprehension. Throughout the whole of his picturesque and interesting account of the "Landing of Augustine," there is nothing more than a passing allusion to the "remnants of the old British churches." He speaks of the Italian mission as "the means, under God, by which our fathers received the light of the Gospel," and points to Canterbury emphatically as "the first English Christian city." Even granting that such an expression as the first might be correctly used in a lecture delivered to the people of Kent, it is very misleading when published to be read by the general public of England. Of course Dr. Stanley himself understood perfectly well what he meant to imply, and those who have any very moderate acquaintance with Church history will not misunderstand his words; but an ignorant

Jews. But there is no need to seek in this national prejudice excuses for the apathy charged against them. A century of hard fighting for existence leaves little leisure or tem

per for evangelisation. A people who have been driven back, step by step, before a pagan invasion, disputing every river and every ridge as they retired, and who have been worsted in a war of extermination, may be excused if they bury their religion for a while with their defeat in their mountain fastnesses, and leave the successful invader to the protection of his own gods. It is no reproach to the disinherited British Church, if the Gospel, which the Saxons trode out before them as they advanced, came back into Kent from a different quarter.

The mission of St. Augustine, then, was, even in Kent, but the rekindling of the old altar-fires. Nay, the light was found still_burning there. Though the King of Kent was a heathen, his Queen, Bertha, had brought with her from her father's court at Paris her Christian chaplain, Luidhard. An ancient church

had been assigned her for the offices the honest enthusiasm and faith in of her faith, the free exercise of their high purpose which he felt which had been specially reserved himself. They had all but turned to her in the marriage-contract; back in their passage through and it is probable that Augustine France, terrified at the length and found others who had already be- difficulties of the journey. Auguscome disciples of the Cross eyen in tine himself returned to Rome, and Saxon Cæsar's household. asked to be released from an engagement of which he had not counted the cost; and nothing but the firm. ness of the Pope himself, and the influence of his personal encouragement, prevented this Anglo-Saxon mission from being a failure in the very outset.

It was within these walls, then, already consecrated to the simple worship of the early Britons, which had now been succeeded-probably after no long interval-by the Gallican liturgy, from which it differed little except in language, that for the first time the splendours of the They made a brave show, howRoman ritual found place in Eng- ever, when at last they landed at land. For this Italian mission was Ebbe's Fleet, between Ramsgate perfectly disciplined and appointed and Pegwell Bay, and marshalled for its purpose, that of converting, their procession to meet King Eththrough their chiefs, a tribe of suc- elbert. Augustine himself was one cessful warriors, easily impressible of nature's princes, like Saul— through their outward senses, and "from his shoulders upward," says ready to give assent to the impos- the chronicler, “higher than any of ing and authoritative in questions the people." Before him went a of religion. Even then, Rome had verger carrying a massive silver the art in which other Christian cross, and another who bore what churches have so often been lamen- served for the banner of the mission tably wanting, of choosing her in- -a large painting of the Saviour on struments and her mode of opera- a board, "beautiful and gilded;" tion wisely for their ends. Augus- whilst the choir of brethren, led tine went forth to his work of by Honorius, Gregory's own pupil, conversion with other apostolic chanted a litany to those sweet furniture besides scrip and staff. " Gregorian tones which, after 80 He had many high qualifications many ages, are still found to have for his office; but he was an evan- such a wondrous charm alike for gelist of a different type from Ninian the rudest ear as for the most scienor Columba. Neither he nor any tific. Some of the words have been of his forty monks would have traditionally preserved by Bede :liked to cross the channel with the "We beseech Thee, O Lord, for Irish saint in his ox-hide boat. Thy mercies' sake, that Thy wrath Pope Gregory had provided them and Thine anger may be turned well with all the appliances which away from this city, and from Thy the Roman Church could furnish- holy house, -for we have sinned. silver crosses, vivid paintings of the Allelujah.” Sacred Passion which might attract the barbarian's eye, and appeal to his rude sensibilities, harmonised litanies which might charm his ears, and interpreters who might explain the solemn message. More than all, they brought with them what Rome could then give-sound doctrines, not indeed wholly free from superstitions, but in which superstition had not yet overlaid the truth. One thing Gregory failed to give them,

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The immediate results of the mission are too well known to be told again here. In that little British church of St. Martin the king of the Anglo-Saxons received baptism from Augustine. The font used at the ceremony is still shown to Canterbury pilgrims; but unimaginative archaeologists point to the mouldings, and refuse to countenance the illusion. It is a pious fiction, they say, like the impress

they were held to confer upon their resting-place, led in after years, as we shall presently see, to very indecorous contests at the burial of future archbishops.

The Italian prelate, who now found himself firmly established at Canterbury, whether from personal ambition or from zeal for his motherchurch, desired to assert the supremacy of Rome in matters ecclesiastical, to an extent which Gregory himself appears never to have claimed or desired. He wished to unite the newly-formed Saxon Church

of Augustine's footstep which was long shown on the rock where he landed, or the mark still pointed out on the ruined wall of St. Pancras another Celtic church reconsecrated by the Roman missionary the last hold of the "devil's claw" in his attempts to retain possession; for the building, under the Saxons had been converted into a pagan temple. The new faith soon spread, when it became known that the Bretwalda and his witan had formally adopted it; and on the Christmas after Augustine's landing ten thousand Saxons were with the ancient British one; but baptised at once in the river Swale. The chroniclers assure us that nothing like undue influence was used; but when we read that the "Dooms of Ethelbert"-laws at this time enacted by the Bretwalda in full council-declared Christianity to be the adopted religion of the nation, we are left at liberty to attach what value we please to these wholesale conversions; and we are not surprised to find that, in the next succeeding reign, a change of ruler produced a large reaction to wards paganism.

Ethelbert himself, however, was a sincere convert, according to his light. He presented his new archbishop (who had gone for consecration to the Archbishop of Arles) with his own palace at Canterbury for a residence, and withdrew himself to Reculver, the old Roman fortress of Rutupium. He granted to him, also, a piece of ground outside the city walls, where was built the great monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul, afterwards known as St. Augustine's, and now once more the site of a missionary college, and still bearing his name. Outside the walls, because one great object was to provide a consecrated spot for the burial of faithful kings and bishops, and the customs of Christian Rome, as of Pagan Rome, forbid burial within the gates of the city. There Ethelbert and Augus tine both had their bones laid; and the value attached to such relics of the faithful, and the sanctity which

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his notions of union implied that the Celtic Bishops should acknowledge him as their metropolitan. They, on the other hand, saw in him only an equal. The pallium which the Pope had lately sent to his new archbishop conveyed with it mysterious rights in their eyes. There was a difference, too, in their practice as to the correct time of keeping Easter: one of those differences in formal points which seem so unimportant, but about which, we know from all experience modern and ancient, men will do battle to the death, and for which they will sacrifice, with all the complacency of martyrs, the weightier matters of justice and charity. We are not going to discuss the controversy either as to metropolitan rights of the calculation of Easterday. but there is one story recorded by Bede and others which reads like truth, which supplies a key to the real causes which turn such discussions into bitter feuds, and which, even if it be a fable, is worth preserving for the lesson which it bears, that a gentle word might decide a controversy which confident assertion and learned arguments only push to extremities. There appears to have been no archiepiscopal dignity claimed at this time by any of the seven British bishops who were assembled to discuss their line of action previous to a second conference with Augustine on the questions in dispute. They were not unwilling, for the sake of the

unity of the Church in the island, to acknowledge the new Archbishop of Canterbury as their metropolitan. Even on the Easter question, they might have been prepared to give way then as they did afterwards. But in their first interview with Augustine, they had remarked something in his tone which made them hesitate to submit themselves to his rule as an ecclesiastical superior. Their impression of his character is corroborated, as Dr. Hook observes, by the fact that his friend Pope Gregory took occasion twice in his pastoral letters to warn him against being puffed up with vainglory. The British prelates took counsel with a certain anchorite, highly reputed for saintliness and wisdom.

"The anchorite advised them to accept Augustine as their metropolitan,

if he were a man of God. But how are

we to know that he is a man of God? 'The Lord,' continued the anchorite, "hath said: "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart." If Augustine be meek and lowly of heart, he bears the yoke of Christ, and the yoke of Christ is all that he will seck to lay on you. But if, instead of being meek, he is a proud haughty man, it is clear that he is not of God, and his proposals may be rejected by us. On further consultation, it was determined to put him to the test. It was to be so arranged as to permit Augustine and his little party to arrive first at the place of meeting; then the seven British bishops, with Dimost and their men of learning, were in an imposirg procession to draw near. If Augustime,' said the anchorite, 'shall rise up to meet you as you draw near to him, then accede to his proposals, and accept him for your leader; but if he shall treat you with contempt, and not rise to meet you, let him be by us contemned.'

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"They came. Augustine was seated, and the British prelates were permitted to enter the place of conference, not as if they were equals, but as if they were in feriors, summoned into the presence of one who had a right to lay down the law. They were justly indignant. They would concede nothing. They positively refused to receive Augustine as their metropolitan. They assigned their reason: If, while they were equals, he would not treat them with respect, what were

they to expect if they elected him their superior, and took the vow of canonical obedience ?"

Lingard dismisses the whole story with a sneer, remarking that such advice was an easy mode of avoiding responsibility by "leaving to accident the decision of the controversy." Be that as it may, it was a course adopted nine hundred years afterwards-whether with a recollection of Augustine or not-by St. Philip Neri, perhaps as wise a man as Dr. Lingard. A certain nun had laid claim to a miraculous gift of inspiration. Her abbess sent to inform the Pope of the treasure she possessed in her establishment. The holy Father requested Philip to examine the case. It is Mr. Emerson who tells the story :

"He threw himself on his mule, all travel-sciled as he was, and hastened through the mud and mire to the distant of his Holiness, and begged her to summon the nun without delay. The Lun into the apartment Philip stretched out was sent for; and as soon as she came his leg all bespattered with mud, and desired her to draw off his boots. The of much attention and respect, drew young nun, who had become the object back with anger, and refused the office. Philip ran out of doors, mounted his mule, and returned instantly to the Pope. Give yourself no uneasiness, boly Father; here is no miracle, for here is no humility."

convent. He told the abbess the wishes

Augustine showed that they were not far wrong in their judgment of his character.

He threaten

ed them, in his excitement, with the vengeance of heaven for their obstinacy; and when a few years after the archbishop's death, the memorable slaughter of the monks of Bangor Iscoed by the Saxon army took place, the Saxon chroniclers pointed to it triumphantly as the fulfilment of prophecy. which Bede shows on the subject is The feeling quite sufficient to mark him as a enemy of the Celtic Church. New missionaries had arrived from Rome to strengthen Augushands; and they brought with them from Pope Gregory the scheme of a complete church estab

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lishment for England. There were to be two archbishops, with twentyfour suffragans; and so little elas ticity has shown itself in the system, that it remained unaltered as to numbers for about twelve hundred years, and, with one single addition, has remained so ever since. It was long, however, before the scheme was worked out into practice. Augustine himself lived to see only the sees of Rochester and London established, and filled by bishops of his own nomination.

Four of the companions of his mission succeeded him in the see of Canterbury. When the last of these, Honorius, was laid with his predecessors in St. Augustine's, he left his own branch of the Church Catholic in England decaying, so far at least as outward progress was a sign, and the rival Celtic episcopate increasing in numbers and activity, and carrying on the work of evangelisation on its own account with great zeal and success in the northern, eastern, and even the midland districts of England. The new arbhbishopric of York, to which the Italian Paulinus had been consecrated upon his conversion of the King of Northumbria, had only a precarious and almost nominal existence for a few years. The splendid pall which was sent from Rome in 634 was never worn by Paulinus as metropolitan of York, though he thought it a harmless ornament when he retired to the see of Rochester; the Pope's letters, if they reached him at all, found him a fugitive from his diocese; King Edwin had fallen in Hatfield Chase, and Penda the pagan, a name of terror to all Christians, was ravaging the kingdom. If Paulinus had baptised his tens of thousands like Augustine, the facile converts went back to their old faith with the change of circumstances; and when Christianity revived again in Northumberland, it was under a king who

sought his bishop from the Celtic Church instead of from Canterbury, and who fixed his restored see, not at York, but at Lindisfarne. A bishop of Celtic consecration also occupied the see of London. For nearly two years for Honorius had recommended no successor the see of Canterbury was in abeyance. A Saxon was at last consecratedFrithona, better known as Deusdedit, the Latin appellation which he assumed to meet the taste of the Italian Church. By his good offices at the great Synod of Whitby, something like a union was affected between the two rival churches. The great Easter question was decided in favour of Rome by King Oswi, who seems to have acted as umpire on the occasion; and the decision was submitted to, according to the chroniclers, by all the Celtic church except a small minority, who still held with Bishop Colman of Lindisfarne, who resigned his bishopric rather than sanction the new usage. The recusants in Scotland maintained their ground for another generation, when they too gave way; but in Cornwall they continued the old British usage, probably up to the time when their kinsmen in Wales at last adopted the reckoning of the strangers. With characteristic obstinacy, these last held out until A.D. 770; and the commotion which the change excited amongst them may be estimated from the fact, that it forms one of the items of record, few and far between, in the earlier pages of the Chronicle of the Princes.*

Deusdedit died of the yellow pestilence, which carried off kings, abbots, and bishops, and desolated half England in 664; and a fatality might have seemed to hang over the Church when his successor, going to Rome for consecration, died there, with most of his company, of the plague. Its fortunes rose again under Theodorus of Tarsus the Philosopher,"

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*Brut y Tywysogion (Williams), p. 7. "Seven hundred and seventy was the year of Christ when the Easter of the Britons was altered by the command of Elbod, a man of God." Elbed is called subsequently "Archbishop of Gwynedd."

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