-“in mimic hunting matches, or imaginary combats.” Their nights were devoted to feasting upon delicious viands, served by virgins of surpassing beauty, and never fading charms; and in regaling themselves with mead, drunk from the skulls of their slaughtered enemies.*

A conquest made by the worshippers of such a god, and the expectants of such pleasures, and under the immediate direction of men who claimed affinity to Woden himself— must, of necessity, have been destructive of everything civilizing or humanizing.

Christianity introduced among the Saxons, about A. D. 596.

Gregory the Great was the father of the Anglo-Saxont church. That same Gregory who is said to have destroyed the monuments of ancient Roman greatness, lest the visitors of Rome should give more attention to those works of art, than to the pursuits of religion; and who is infamous among the lovers of classical literature, for having burned numerous ancient manuscripts, among which were several of Livy, lest the clergy should be more instructed in the polished productions of pagan Rome, than in the monkish learning of papal Rome. The same, who encouraged the use of pictures and images in the churches, -though he condemned the worship of them-as needful helps to the instruction and edification of the ignorant populace. Such was the fountain head from which flowed the Christianity of the Saxon church; not, that Gregory him

See Art. Mythology, in London Encyc.-also, Hume, Vol. I. Chap. 14 and Russell's Modern Europe, Letter xi.

This title is sometimes given to the conquerors of Briton, because the Angles were a leading tribe among the Saxon conquer

ors.

self went to Briton-though he would gladly have done so had his duties as pope of Rome allowed him. He, however, was the great patron and promoter of the mission to these reputed barbarians. Augustine, commonly called St. Austin, the chosen leader of the forty monks who were sent on this embassy of proselytism, seems to have been a worthy representative of his sovereign lord the pope.* Jortin calls him " a sanctified ruffian." Whether or not he deserves so harsh an appellation, certain it is, that the religion introduced by Austin was little better than that which it superseded. By the order of his sovereign lord the pope, Austin established public worship in the heathen temples, after purifying them with "holy water;" and encouraged the people, on festive occasions, to gather around these temples, to build their booths, and slaughter their cattle, and feast and carouse, as they had been accustomed to do under the reign of Woden. This, and much else of the same general character, his saintship allowed, on the very convenient plea of-adapting the forms of worship, and the order of the church, to the peculiarities of the people among whom it was established. And it will not be easy, I apprehend, for the advocates of this doctrine, to show wherein Gregory, or his vicegerent, acted inconsistently with this convenient doctrine. If we may depart from the apostolic model, in order to accommodate the prejudices of one class of people, or to adapt the church to one form of civil government, why may we not be equally accommodating to all? And who shall say: Thus far shalt thou go, but no further! The truth is—and good men will yet, I believe, come to see it-there is no stopping place, if we go beyond the law and the testimony. If the apostolic churches are not our patterns, we have none. And if we

* See Jortin's remarks, quoted by Waddington, p. 134, note.

have none; every people may consult their own taste and fancy in church architecture.

With a knowledge of Gregory's principles, and Austin's policy, we need not wonder that eight years sufficed to spread Christianity-such as it was-over the kingdom of Kent, the eldest of the heptarchy kingdoms. This event was hastened, doubtless, by the circumstance that Ethelbert, the king of Kent, had married Bertha, a christian princess, daughter of the king of Paris; who, for eighteen years previous to the arrival of Austin, had supported a private chaplain and maintained christian worship at the The kingdom of Northumberland followed the example of Kent; 12,000 persons, we are told, were baptized in a single day. Before the close of the seventh century (about A. D. 686), Christianity had become the religion of all the seven kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons.

court.

The character of the converts may be estimated by the ease with which they were made, the means employed, and by the readiness with which these converts threw off their Christianity and returned to paganism, and put it on again, at the bidding of their king.

A single story shall suffice for an illustration of this whole matter:-Eadbald, the son and successor of Ethelbert the first christian monarch of Kent, conceiving a violent passion for his mother-in-law, renounced the christian religion, because it forbade such incestuous marriages; and, with most of his subjects, returned to the worship of Woden. In this posture of affairs, there was little to encourage the bishops to remain in the kingdom, and two actually left. Laurentius, the primate, was upon the point of giving up all further attempts to Christianize the kingdom, when a happy expedient was suggested to his mind :-He appeared one morning before Eadbald, and throwing off

his priestly robes, presented his lacerated body to the astonished king. The monarch immediately demanded who had dared thus to abuse so venerable a person. Laurentius informed him, that no earthly hands had thus wounded him; but, that St. Peter had appeared to him in a vision, and after severely reprimanding him for his intended desertion of the sheep of Christ, had inflicted the blows which he saw, as a punishment for his unfaithfulness. The apostate monarch could resist no longer; he immediately divorced his wife, and returned to the church. His subjects, as in duty bound, followed his example; and thus the Christian religion! was firmly established in the eldest of the heptarchy kingdoms.*

Christianity propagated among pagans by men and means such as have now been described, could be little else than a change of superstitions. The history of Anglo-Saxon Christianity, from the arrival of Bertha and her chaplain, in 579, to the end of the heptarchy, in 827,-a period of 248 years-is a confirmation of this reasonable supposition. It would be too much to assert, that there was no intelligent piety in the land; but, it is perfectly apparent from the history of those times, that Christianity had little else than a name to live while it was dead. Flowing to the Saxons, as it did, from the corrupt fountain-head of papal usurpation, it must have been the water of death, rather than of life, to the ignorant islanders. The church history of the heptarchy is a loathsome story of papal imposition on the one hand, and of ignorant and superstitious devotion on the other hand. Many of the putrescent abominations of Rome were incorporated into the Saxon church. Reverence for their sovereign lord the pope, was the first article of the

* See Mosheim, Book II. Cent. VI. Part I. Chap. 1. and Cent. VII. P. I. c. 1. And Hume, Vol. 1. Chap. 1.

Saxon creed. A devout regard for all that wore the sacerdotal habit, stood next in order. The worship of saints and reliques, was held as scarcely less important than that of God himself. The payment of "Peter's pence," would purchase pardon for a thousand sins. A pilgrimage to Rome, the establishment of a monastery, or the gift of property to the church-would cover the most flagitious crimes. The hoary-headed villain could wash his hands in innocency, quiet the upbraidings of conscience, and smooth his path to hell, by making over to the church the profits of his villainy, and spending his last days within the hallowed walls of a monastery.

Danish Invasion, A. D. 832.

This was the state of English Christianity up to the time of the Danish invasion, A. D. 832. Confusion, and war, and pillage, and flames, and blood, attended the successive incursions of the Danish freebooters. The persevering en

ergy and the bravery of Alfred, finally expelled these fierce invaders, or converted them into obedient subjects; and his wisdom restored peace and prosperity to England, after more than half a century of confusion and suffering ;-A. D. 893-901.

Alfred is celebrated in English history for his martial valor, the excellent laws and regulations which he established throughout his kingdom, for the encouragement of learning, and finally, for his pious regard for the interests of religion. That there was a call for his fostering care of learning and piety, is but too obvious from the complaint of Alfred himself;-" that on his accession, he knew not one person, south of the Thames, who could so much as interpret the Latin service; and very few in the northern parts who had even reached that pitch of erudition."*

* Hume's England, Vol. I. Chap. 2.