History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume V Part 2

Append.) Those are better who, though not fasting very particularly, keep diligently before G.o.d a heart pure within.

[25] In Hibernia episcopi et presbyteri unum sunt. (Ekkehardi liber.

Arx. Geschichte von S. Gall. i. 267.) In Ireland bishops and presbyters are equal.

[26] Patrem habui Calp.o.r.nium diaconum filium quondam Pot.i.ti Presbyteri. Patricii Confessio. Even as late as the twelfth century we meet with married Irish bishops. (Bernard, Vita Malachiae, cap. x.) My father was Calpurnius son of Pot.i.tus once a presbyter.

The sages of Iona knew nothing of transubstantiation or of the withdrawal of the cup in the Lord's Supper, or of auricular confession, or of prayers to the dead, or tapers, or incense; they celebrated Easter on a different day from Rome;[27] synodal a.s.semblies regulated the affairs of the church, and the papal supremacy was unknown.[28] The sun of the Gospel shone upon these wild and distant sh.o.r.es. In after-years, it was the privilege of Great Britain to recover with a purer l.u.s.tre the same sun and the same Gospel.

[27] In die quidem dominica alia tamen quam dicebat hebdomade celebrabant. Beda, lib. iii. cap. iv.

[28] Augustinus novam religionem docet.....dum ad unius episcopi romani dominatum omnia revocat. (Buchan. lib. v. cap. x.x.xvi.) Augustine teaches a _new_ religion ... when he reduces all under the dominion of the bishop of Rome alone.

Iona, governed by a simple elder,[29] had become a missionary college.

It has been sometimes called a monastery, but the dwelling of the grandson of Fergus in nowise resembled the popish convents. When its youthful inmates desired to spread the knowledge of Jesus Christ, they thought not of going elsewhere in quest of episcopal ordination.

Kneeling in the chapel of Icolmkill, they were set apart by the laying on of the hands of the elders: they were called _bishops_, but remained obedient to the _elder_ or presbyter of Iona. They even consecrated other bishops: thus Finan laid hands upon Diuma, bishop of Middles.e.x. These British Christians attached great importance to the ministry; but not to one form in preference to another. Presbytery and episcopacy were with them, as with the primitive church, almost identical.[30] Somewhat later we find that neither the venerable Bede, nor Lanfranc, nor Anselm--the two last were archbishops of Canterbury--made any objection to the ordination of British bishops by plain presbyters.[31] The religious and moral element that belongs to Christianity still predominated; the sacerdotal element, which characterizes human religions, whether among the Brahmins or elsewhere, was beginning to show itself, but in great Britain at least it held a very subordinate station. Christianity was still a religion and not a caste. They did not require of the servant of G.o.d, as a warrant of his capacity, a long list of names succeeding one another like the beads of a rosary; they entertained serious, n.o.ble, and holy ideas of the ministry; its authority proceeded wholly from Jesus Christ its head.

[29] Habere autem solet ipsa insula rectorem semper abbatem _presbyterum_ cujus juri et omnis provincia et _ipsi etiam episcopi_, ordine inusitato, debeant esse subjecti, juxta exemplum primi doctoris illius qui non episcopus sed _presbyter_ exst.i.tit et monachus. (Beda, Hist. Eccl. iii. cap. iv.) Moreover it was always the custom to have as governor in that island an abbot who is a presbyter, to whose direction the entire province and also the bishops contrary to the usual method are subject, according to the example of their first teacher, who was not a bishop, but a presbyter and monk.

[30] Idem est ergo presbyter qui episcopus, et antequam diaboli instinctu studia in religione fierent. ... communi presbyterorum concilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur. Indifferenter de episcopo quasi de presbytero est loquntus (Paulus) .... sciant episcopi se, magis consuetudine quam dispositionis dominicae veritate, presbyteris esse majores. (Hieronymus ad t.i.tum, i. 5.) A presbyter accordingly is the same as a bishop, and before that by a suggestion of the devil, party strife entered into religion..... the churches were governed by a common council of presbyters. Paul spake without any distinction between bishops and presbyters..... the bishops know that it is to custom rather than to any actual direction of the Lord that they owe their superiority to presbyters.

[31] Bishop Munter makes this remark in his dissertation _On the Ancient British Church_, about the primitive ident.i.ty of bishops and priests, and episcopal consecration. _Stud. und Krit._ an. 1833.

[Sidenote: CONTINENTAL MISSIONS.]

The missionary fire, which the grandson of Fergus had kindled in a solitary island, soon spread over Great Britain. Not in Iona alone, but at Bangor and other places, the spirit of evangelization burst out. A fondness for travelling had already become a second nature in this people.[32] Men of G.o.d, burning with zeal, resolved to carry the evangelical torch to the continent--to the vast wildernesses sprinkled here and there with barbarous and heathen tribes. They did not set forth as antagonists of Rome, for at that epoch there was no place for such antagonism; but Iona and Bangor, less ill.u.s.trious than Rome in the history of nations, possessed a more lively faith than the city of the Caesars; and that faith,--unerring sign of the presence of Jesus Christ,--gave those whom it inspired a right to evangelize the world, which Rome could not gainsay.

[32] Natio Scotorum quibus consuetudo peregrinandi jam paene in naturam conversa est. (Vita S. Galli, Sec. 47.) The nation of the Scots in whom the habit of travelling abroad had already almost become a second nature.

The missionary bishops[33] of Britain accordingly set forth and traversed the Low Countries, Gaul, Switzerland, Germany, and even Italy.[34] The free church of the Scots and Britons did more for the conversion of central Europe than the half-enslaved church of the Romans. These missionaries were not haughty and insolent like the priests of Italy; but supported themselves by the work of their hands.

Columba.n.u.s (whom we must not confound with Columba),[35] "feeling in his heart the burning of the fire which the Lord had kindled upon earth,"[36] quitted Bangor in 590 with twelve other missionaries, and carried the Gospel to the Burgundians, Franks, and Swiss. He continued to preach it amidst frequent persecutions, left his disciple Gall in Helvetia, and retired to Robbio, where he died, honouring Christian Rome, but placing the church of Jerusalem above it,[37]--exhorting it to beware of corruption, and declaring that the power would remain with it so long only as it retained the true doctrine (_recta ratio_).

Thus was Britain faithful in planting the standard of Christ in the heart of Europe. We might almost imagine this unknown people to be a new Israel, and Icolmkill and Bangor to have inherited the virtues of Zion.

[33] They were called _episcopi regionarii_ because they had no settled diocese.

[34] Antiquo tempore, doctissimi solebant magistri de Hibernia Britanniam, Galliam, Italiam venire, et multos per ecclesias Christi fecisse profectus. (Alcuin, Epp. ccxxi.) In ancient times the most learned teachers were accustomed to come from Ireland to Britain, Gaul, and Italy, and to make numerous journeys among the churches of Christ.

[35] Thierry, in his _Hist. de la Conquete de l'Angleterre_, makes Columba and Columba.n.u.s one personage. Columba preached the Gospel in Scotland about 560, and died in 597; Columba.n.u.s preached among the Burgundians in 600, and died in 615.

[36] Ignitum igne Domini desiderium. Mabillon, Acta, p. 9.

[37] Salva loci dominicae resurrectionis _singulari prrogativa_.

(Columb. Vita, section 10.) Excepting by its peculiar prerogative the place of the Lord's resurrection.

Yet they should have done more: they should have preached--not only to the continental heathens, to those in the north of Scotland and the distant Ireland, but also to the still pagan Saxons of England. It is true that they made several attempts; but while the Britons considered their conquerors as the enemies of G.o.d and man, and shuddered while they p.r.o.nounced their name,[38] the Saxons refused to be converted by the voice of their slaves. By neglecting this field, the Britons left room for other workmen, and thus it was that England yielded to a foreign power, beneath whose heavy yoke it long groaned in vain.

[38] Nefandi nominis Saxoni Deo hominibusque invisi. (Gildas, De excidio Britanniae.) The execrable name of Saxon, hateful to G.o.d and men.

CHAPTER II.

Pope Gregory the Great--Desires to reduce Britain--Policy of Gregory and Augustine--Arrival of the Mission--Appreciation--Britain superior to Rome--Dionoth at Bangor--First and Second Romish Aggressions--Anguish of the Britons--Pride of Rome--Rome has recourse to the Sword--Ma.s.sacre--Saint Peter scourges an Archbishop--Oswald--His Victory--Corman--Mission of Oswald and Aidan--Death of Oswald.

[Sidenote: GREGORY THE GREAT.]

It is matter of fact that the spiritual life had waned in Italian catholicism; and in proportion as the heavenly spirit had become weak, the l.u.s.t of dominion had grown strong. The Roman metropolitans and their delegates soon became impatient to mould all Christendom to their peculiar forms.

About the end of the sixth century an eminent man filled the see of Rome. Gregory was born of senatorial family, and already on the high road to honour, when he suddenly renounced the world, and transformed the palace of his fathers into a convent. But his ambition had only changed its object. In his views, the whole church should submit to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Rome. True, he rejected the t.i.tle of universal bishop a.s.sumed by the patriarch of Constantinople; but if he desired not the name, he was not the less eager for the substance.[39] On the borders of the West, in the island of Great Britain, was a Christian church independent of Rome: this must be conquered, and a favourable opportunity soon occurred.

[39] He says (Epp. lib. ix, ep. xii.): De Constantinopolitana ecclesia quis eam dubitet apostolicae sedi esse subjectam? Concerning the church of Constantinople, who doubts that it is subject to the apostolical see.

[Sidenote: POLICY OF GREGORY AND AUGUSTINE.]

Before his elevation to the primacy, and while he was as yet only the monk Gregory, he chanced one day to cross a market in Rome where certain foreign dealers were exposing their wares for sale. Among them he perceived some fair-haired youthful slaves, whose n.o.ble bearing attracted his attention. On drawing near them, he learned that the Anglo-Saxon nation to which they belonged had refused to receive the Gospel from the Britons. When he afterwards became bishop of Rome, this crafty and energetic pontiff, "the last of the good and the first of the bad," as he has been called, determined to convert these proud conquerors, and make use of them in subduing the British church to the papacy, as he had already made use of the Frank monarchs to reduce the Gauls. Rome has often shown herself more eager to bring Christians rather than idolaters to the pope.[40] Was it thus with Gregory? We must leave the question unanswered.

[40] We know the history of Tahiti and of other modern missions of the Romish church.

Ethelbert, king of Kent, having married a Christian princess of Frank descent, the Roman bishop thought the conjuncture favourable for his design, and despatched a mission under the direction of one of his friends named Augustine, A.D. 596. At first the missionaries recoiled from the task appointed them; but Gregory was firm. Desirous of gaining the a.s.sistance of the Frank kings, Theodoric and Theodebert, he affected to consider them as the lords paramount of England, and commended to them the conversion of _their subjects_.[41] Nor was this all. He claimed also the support of the powerful Brunchilda, grandmother of these two kings, and equally notorious for her treachery, her irregularities, and her crimes; and did not scruple to extol the _good works_ and _G.o.dly fear_ of this modern Jezebel.[42]

Under such auspices the Romish mission arrived in England. The pope had made a skilful choice of his delegate. Augustine possessed even to a greater extent than Gregory himself a mixture of ambition and devotedness, of superst.i.tion and piety, of cunning and zeal. He thought that faith and holiness were less essential to the church than authority and power; and that its prerogative was not so much to save souls as to collect all the human race under the sceptre of Rome.[43]

Gregory himself was distressed at Augustine's spiritual pride, and often exhorted him to humility.

[41] Subjectos vestros. (Opp. Gregorii, tom. iv. p 334.) Your subjects.

[42] p.r.o.na in bonis operibus ... in omnipotentis Dei timore. (Ibid.

tom. ii. p. 835.) Disposed to good works ... in the fear of G.o.d omnipotent.

[43] We find the same idea in Wiseman, Lect. ix, On the princ.i.p.al doctrines and practices of the Catholic church. London, 1836.

Success of that kind which popery desires soon crowned the labours of its servants. The forty-one missionaries having landed in the isle of Thanet, in the year 597, the king of Kent consented to receive them, but in the open air, for fear of magic. They drew up in such a manner as to produce an effect on the rude islanders. The procession was opened by a monk bearing a huge cross on which the figure of Christ was represented: his colleagues followed chanting their Latin hymns, and thus they approached the oak appointed for the place of conference. They inspired sufficient confidence in Ethelbert to gain permission to celebrate their wors.h.i.+p in an old ruinous chapel at Durovern (Canterbury), where British Christians had in former times adored the Saviour Christ. The king and thousands of his subjects received not long after, with certain forms, and certain Christian doctrines, the errors of the Roman pontiffs--as purgatory, for instance, which Gregory was advocating with the aid of the most absurd fables.[44] Augustine baptized ten thousand pagans in one day. As yet Rome had only set her foot in Great Britain, she did not fail erelong to establish her kingdom there.

[44] Hoepfner, De origine dogmatis de purgatorio. Halle, 1792.

We should be unwilling to undervalue the religious element now placed before the Anglo-Saxons, and we can readily believe that many of the missionaries sent from Italy desired to work a Christian work. We think, too, that the Middle Ages ought to be appreciated with more equitable sentiments than have always been found in the persons who have written on that period. Man's conscience lived, spoke, and groaned during the long dominion of popery; and like a plant growing among thorns, it often succeeded in forcing a pa.s.sage through the obstacles of traditionalism and hierarchy, to blossom in the quickening sun of G.o.d's grace. The Christian element is even strongly marked in some of the most eminent men of theocracy--in Anselm for instance.

[Sidenote: BRITAIN SUPERIOR TO ROME.]

Yet as it is our task to relate the history of the struggles which took place between primitive Christianity and Roman-catholicism, we cannot forbear pointing out the superiority of the former in a religious light, while we acknowledge the superiority of the latter in a political point of view. We believe (and we shall presently have a proof of it)[45] that a visit to Iona would have taught the Anglo-Saxons much more than their frequent pilgrimages to the banks of the Tiber. Doubtless, as has been remarked, these pilgrims contemplated at Rome "the n.o.ble monuments of antiquity," but there existed at that time in the British islands--and it has been too often overlooked--a Christianity which, if not perfectly pure, was at least better than that of popery. The British church, which at the beginning of the seventh century carried faith and civilization into Burgundy, the Vosges mountains, and Switzerland, might well have spread them both over Britain. The influence of the arts, whose civilizing influence we are far from depreciating, would have come later.

[45] In the history of Oswald, king of Northumberland.

But so far was the Christianity of the Britons from converting the Saxon heptarchy, that it was, alas! the Romanism of the heptarchy which was destined to conquer Britain. These struggles between the Roman and British churches, which fill all the seventh century, are of the highest importance to the English church, for they establish clearly its primitive liberty. They possess also great interest for the other churches of the West, as showing in the most striking characters the usurping acts by which the papacy eventually reduced them beneath its yoke.

[Sidenote: DIONOTH AT BANGOR.]

Augustine, appointed archbishop not only of the Saxons, but of the free Britons, was settled by papal ordinance, first at London and afterwards at Canterbury. Being at the head of a hierarchy composed of twelve bishops, he soon attempted to bring all the Christians of Britain under the Roman jurisdiction. At that time there existed at Bangor,[46] in North Wales, a large Christian society, amounting to nearly three thousand individuals, collected together to work with their own hands,[47] to study, and to pray, and from whose bosom numerous missionaries (Columba.n.u.s was among the number) had from time to time gone forth. The president of this church was Dionoth, a faithful teacher, ready to serve all men in charity, yet firmly convinced that no one should have supremacy in the Lord's vineyard.

Although one of the most influential men in the British church, he was somewhat timid and hesitating; he would yield to a certain point for the love of peace; but would never flinch from his duty. He was another apostle John, full of mildness, and yet condemning the Diotrephes, _who love to have pre-eminence among the brethren_.

Augustine thus addressed him: "Acknowledge the authority of the Bishop of Rome." These are the first words of the papacy to the ancient Christians of Britain. "We desire to love all men," meekly replied the venerable Briton; "and what we do for you, we will do for him also whom you call the pope. But he is not ent.i.tled to call himself the _father of fathers_, and the only submission we can render him is that which we owe to every Christian."[48] This was not what Augustine asked.