feelings, gives rise to conduct which man, at least, cannot condemn; but that it may and does prompt reason to disbelief, is too notorious to be doubted

"In pride, in reasoning pride, man's error lies."

In this passion, then, we find an explanation of the few instances of unbelief which are free from the charge of gross immorality; and we again fearlessly state our conviction that in these, as in all other instances, reason is not a principal, but an accessory in the crime of Infidelity; and that passion, open or disguised, is its only real and effective source.

BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

(Continued from page 12.)

ON the death of Mellitus, in the year 624, Justus, bishop of Rochester, succeeded to the archiepiscopal throne of Canterbury. The boasted exertions of Augustine had accomplished no more than the conversion of the small kingdom of Kent; all the rest of Saxon England were unreclaimed from the kingdom of darkness. About this period, however, Edwin, king of Northumberland, married Ethelberga, the daughter of Ethelbert, king of Kent, which paved the way for the exertions of the native British Church in the north of England. In the marriage treaty it was stipulated that this Christian princess should be permitted to enjoy the unmolested exercise of her religion; and with that view Justus consecrated Paulinus a bishop, who accompanied her into the northern kingdom, as part of her household, whose chief care at first was to prevent the queen and nobility in her train from relapsing into idolatry. But the labours of Paulinus were not blessed with much success, till truth and grace operated on the heart of the king, whose example and authority reduced Coiffi, the pagan high priest of his dominions, with many of his nobility and people, to the obedience of the faith. Authority has ever had great influence over the mass of mankind, and the example of the court was speedily followed by all his subjects. The example, and perhaps the exhortations, of Edwin, were soon followed by Erpwald, king of the East Angles, and many of his subjects. Edwin settled Paulinus at York, of which he was the first archbishop, and on whom Honorius, then bishop of Rome, bestowed a pall, "for which," says Johnson, "he paid an unreasonable sum." Palls are made of the wool of the purest white lambs, that, in imitation of the heathen deities, have been presented to St. Agnes! They are white, and consecrated annually by the Pope himself, and are presented as badges of slavery to archbishops and metropolitans, who happen to be in communion with the See of Rome, which they purchased at most extravagant prices, and were worn when the archbishop celebrated mass. To such a pitch do the Roman prelates carry this impudent usurpation, that no primate can exercise any metropolitical jurisdiction till these trumpery bits of fleecy hosiery have been conferred and duly paid for.

But the Christian profession of the Northumbrians was only simulated and in obedience to the royal authority; and retributive vengeance overtook them from that indigenous people whom they had perfidiously betrayed and massacred. Cadwalla, a native British prince, attacked and defeated the Northumbrians in a great battle, in which Edwin himself, and many of his nobility, were slain, in the year 633. When the power that controlled the faith and opinions of the mass of the people ceased its pressure, they simultaneously revolted from the Christian faith and sunk back again into heathen barbarism. Paulinus, unable to ascertain that there might have been seven thousand knees that refused to bend to idolatry, yielded to the fearful torrent, and retired with the royal widow into Kent, where he was appointed bishop of Rochester.

Justus, archbishop of Canterbury, died the same year, having governed the church in Kent nine years. He was succeeded by Honorius, who was consecrated at Lincoln by Bishop Paulinus and others. He is said to have divided that part of England which he governed into parishes; but this must be a mistake, arising from the encouragement which he gave to the nobility and gentry to erect churches on their own demesnes, which then began to prevail, and the bounds of whose estates were the boundaries of the present parishes, and their endowment of churches the origin of the present patronage enjoyed by laymen and others. "The Saxon thanes or noblemen," says Johnson, "did very early begin to erect lesser churches for their own convenience (Bed., b. 5., c. 4), which yet were not to be made use of till consecrated by the bishop; and it was many ages before the parochial division of diocesses was effected. We cannot precisely say when this work first began, or when it came to a settlement: so far is it from being true that the Archbishop Honorius did this work all at once, A.D. 636, that it does not appear that it was then thought of. And yet this work was so far advanced in King Edward the Confessor's time, that in his laws it is complained of, that in some places there were three or four churches, where there had been but one; by which means the maintenance of the officiating priest was much lessened; especially because the clergy being rich, while their parishes were so large, would not be at the trouble of prosecuting their rights, which, by being neglected, were in a great measure lost. (Spelman, Vol. I., p. 621.)"

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Oswald, a Christian prince, succeeded to Oswi, the immediate successor of Edwin, who was killed in battle. Owing to some family feuds, he had taken shelter in early life at the court of the Scottish kings, where he had been well rooted and grounded in the Christian religion. Finding that the gates of hell had prevailed against the church in his kingdom, and that it was wholly desolate, he sent ambassadors to Donald IV., the reigning Scottish sovereign, to request that he would send Christian missionaries to convert his people and to re-establish the church. The monastery of Iona selected Corman as the missionary, and he was sent accordingly; but, being of an austere unconciliating temper, he entirely failed of success, and returned to his convent, giving a very unfavourable account of the Northumbrians. But the good monks of Iona were not disposed to leave this missionary field entirely unoccupied; and at the conventual meeting which received Corman's report, Aidan spoke with

VOL. II.

1 Johnson's Vade Mecum. Sixth Edit. 1731: p. 17.

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so much wisdom that all eyes were turned on him as the right person to fill the vacant office. "All that were at the assembly, looking upon Aidan, debated diligently his sayings, and concluded that he, above the rest, was worthy of that charge and bishopric, and that he should be sent to instruct those unlearned paynims; for he was tried to be chiefly garnished with the grace of discretion-the mother of all virtues. Thus making him bishop, they sent him forth to preach." 1

Aidan was accordingly consecrated a bishop, and sent, "with divers persons" as his assistants, into Northumberland, where he governed the church seventeen years. "He chose the place of his episcopal see in the Isle of Lindisfarn; there he was with his clergy, and there was the abbot with his monks, who all belonged to the care of the bishop." Bede says that the king gave Bishop Aidan lands for the erection and endowment of monasteries and churches. He recovered the people from their paganism into which they had lapsed, and extended the blessings of Christianity into the large kingdom of Mercia. He kept the feast of Easter according to the universal custom of the ancient British Church; and was in full communion, as we learn from Bede, with the bishops of Kent, who were in the Gallican and Roman successions. "He was even deservedly beloved by them, and held in veneration by the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of the East Angles; and, accordingly, after his death he was accounted a saint by those of the Romish communion." "Which," says Bishop Lloyd, "sufficiently showeth that they did not take him for an intruder into their order, but were very well satisfied with his ordination." And Archbishop Usher justly observes, that "St. Aidan and St. Finan (his successor) deserve to be honoured by the English nation with as venerable a remembrance as Austin the monk and his followers."

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On the death of Finan, Oswy, the brother and successor of Oswald, who was slain in battle in the thirty-eighth year of his age, again applied to the Scottish Church for a renewal of their friendly offices. The monks of Iona again selected Finan, one of their own order, who, being duly consecrated, was sent as bishop into the kingdom of Northumberland as successor to Aidan in the year 651. Of this bishop, Bede says, Having arrived in his diocess, he built a church fit for an episcopal see; and, having shortly afterwards baptized Peada, king of the Middle Angles or Mercia, with all his court, he gave him four priests, one Scotch and three English, to instruct and baptize his people." Peada, king of Mercia, visited the court of Oswy, for the purpose of marrying his daughter Alchflida. He and all his followers were there converted to Christianity; and, together with his Christian princess, took the four priests above alluded to, named Chad, Adda, Bell, and Diuma, for preaching and propagating the Gospel in his kingdom. Soon after, Diuma was consecrated by Finan, and placed as bishop of that kingdom.

Berinus, a Roman missionary, began to preach the Gospel in the kingdom of Wessex, whose king embraced the Christian faith about the year 635, and founded an episcopal see at Dorchester, of which Berinus was the first bishop. About the same period Finan, with the assistance of two other bishops, consecrated Cedd, and who was placed by Sigebert over the church in his kingdom of the East Angles. With the assistance of some

1 Stapleton's Bede, lib. iii. c. 5.

presbyters, who accompanied him, Cedd reduced the East Anglians to the obedience of the faith, "fulfilling the work which he had begun; erected churches in different places, and ordained priests and deacons, who might assist him in the word of faith and in the ministry of baptism, in the chief city, which, in the Saxon language, was called Ythencaister." About the year 659 Christianity was restored in Essex, through the instrumentality of Oswy, who reasoned with Sigebert, its king, on the folly of adoring stocks and stones, the work of men's hands. Sigebert was converted, and became the means of establishing the Christian faith in his kingdom.

Augustine little dreamed of the extent and influence of the ancient British Church when he, an intruder and a solitary bishop, demanded the submission of its bishops to his patriarchate. All that himself and his successors effected was the conversion of the small kingdom of Kent and part of Wessex; whereas the greater proportion of the country was converted by the British Church established in Scotland and Wales; and which accordingly settled the apostolical succession in the largest division of the kingdom. Augustine and his successors introduced the new and more approved cycle for finding and keeping Easter; whereas the British Church in both islands pertinaciously adhered to the ancient method. They solemnized the feast of Easter on the Sunday which happened between the fourteenth and twentieth day of the moon inclusive, following the ancient cycle of eighty-four years. This cycle was universally adopted throughout the Western Church till the council of Nice authorized the present mode of calculation. The British Church being so remote from the continental churches, and the intercourse, little, if any, especially since the calamities incident to the Saxon treachery, probably were ignorant of the change which had been universally made. After all, it was a matter of discipline and not of faith wherein the two churches differed; for in all the articles of the Christian faith they were perfectly agreed, as it is confessed by the Jesuit Parsons, who says "that the faith which St. Austin brought, and that which the Britons had before, must needs be one and the selfsame in all material and substantial points."

The bishops in the Roman succession zealously laboured to effect an uniformity in the celebration of Easter; but which was as keenly resisted by the church in succession from St. Paul. Conan, a Scottish bishop, but who had lived some time in Kent, became a convert to the new computation of the feast, and attempted to introduce it on his return into his native country, and also into the Northumbrian Church.

He accordingly challenged Bishop Finan to argue the point with him in a public meeting; to whom Finan replied, that he was ever ready to give an account of the faith that he maintained; but, whilst he lived, he would not permit any alteration in the rites and ceremonies of the church over which he presided. Finan governed the northern division of England for ten years, and died at his episcopal residence in Holy Island, in the year 663.

On the death of Finan, the Northumbrian monarch again applied to the Scottish Church for a successor, and Colman, another Columban monk, was consecrated and sent into that kingdom. The controversy about Easter was now so keenly pressed, that the new bishop of Lindisfarn was constrained to agree to a conference at Whitby, in the year 664. He was assisted by several Scottish bishops and clergy; and his opponents were Agelbert, bishop of the West Saxons, with Agatho, James,

Romanus, and Wilfred, priests. King Oswy himself, and his son Elfrid, were present and firmly attached to the opinions entertained by their own bishops and clergy. The king opened the debate by saying, "seeing they were assembled for composing differences, especially touching the celebration of Easter, they should calmly inquire what was the most ancient form" and, turning to Colman, he requested him to deliver his opinion. Bishop Colman then said, "the Easter which I observe I received from my elders, who did send me hither and ordained me bishop; all our forefathers, men beloved of God, are known to have celebrated Easter in the same manner that I do; and, if any think light of this, the blessed evangelist St. John, with all the churches whereof he had the oversight, observed the same; which, to us, is a warrant sufficient." To this Wilfred replied, "The Easter which we keep we have seen observed at Rome, where the holy apostles Peter and Paul did preach and suffered martyrdom. The Churches of France, Italy, Africa, Asia, Egypt, Greece, and, to be short, the whole Christian world, doth observe the same time; only these men and their followers, the Britons and Picts, do foolishly contend in this point against the whole world.”

Colman checked Wilfred for calling the custom of St. John foolish; to whom Wilfred replied: "Far be it from me to charge St. John with folly. In his time the Church judaized in many things. But the light of the Gospel now shining through the world, it is neither lawful for a Christian to be circumcised, nor to offer carnal sacrifices unto God. Thus, St. John, keeping the custom of the law, celebrated Easter on the 14th day of the first month, on whatever day of the week it fell. But, St. Peter preaching at Rome, instituted Easter on the Sunday following, and that this is the true Easter is clear by the Nicene council, which confirmed it. But you (the bishops of the British churches) neither follow the example of St. Peter nor St. John: for you keep Easter from the fourteenth to the twentieth day, beginning on the night of the thirteenth. Our Lord himself ate the passover on the fourteenth day of the month, and then instituted the sacrament."

Colman still pleaded St. John's precept and example and the custom besides, which was sanctioned by the renowned Columba. Wilfred contended that Columba erred through ignorance, and so was excusable. Howbeit," he continued, 66 your fathers were holy men, you must not think that a few, dwelling in a corner of a remote isle, are to be preferred to the universal Church of Christ. And, if Columba, your father, yea, and ours also if he was of Christ, was mighty in miracles, yet he is not to be equalled to the prince of the holy apostles, unto whom the Lord said, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.'

King Oswy had listened to the arguments on both sides with profound attention; but the power of the keys was irresistible, and took complete possession of his imagination. He asked Colman, therefore, if our Lord had actually spoken those words to St. Peter. Colman frankly admitted a truth which was undeniable. "And can you,” continued the king, " produce a similar promise made to Columba?" Colman could not answer this question in the affirmative, and, therefore, the king decided the controversy in favour of the keeper of heaven's gates, saying, with great simplicity, Seeing St. Peter is the doorkeeper of heaven, I will follow his rule in every thing, lest when I come

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