ENGLISH CHURCH HISTORY.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9704, 17 April 1897, Page 4

ENGLISH CHURCH HISTORY.

[Monograph 111., Section L, bt the Rev, R. F. Gabbett.]

The Anglo-Saxon Church,

The conquest of Britain by the Saxons wa3 not the work of a day, and well nigh 150 years passed ere their wars with the Britons drew to an end. Threatened with ..extermination, without the alternative of civilisation, the Britons seem to have recovered some of..their old spirit; bub in very murderous battles it is clear that, other things being equal, the foe that has behind it the largest recruiting grounds must eventually, obtain the mastery. Now the recruiting grounds of the Britons were limited to their own small insular territory, while those of their invaders, the Angles, Jute 3 and Saxons were- for " the work they had in hand well nigh inexhaus*tible, so that the Britons were overborne at last as much by Saxon numbers as by Saxon valour.

Gradually from six to eight small principalities sprung up on the conquered portions of the island, though seven was the number chosen to give a name to that period of Saxon rnle known as the 'Heptarchy. The most powerful prinoe for the time being was invested with a sort of lordship over the reat, with the title of Bret-walda. The first of these princes, according to tho AngloSaxon chronicle, was Ella, King of the South Saxons ; tlie second, Ceawlin, King of the West Saxons ; and the third, Ethelbert, King of the Kentish Men. This Prince's Bretvvaldaship brings us to that event in the history of the Church, that gave Rome, as anj ecclesiastical power, her first footing in Angle-land. The Pope at this time was the famous Gregory the Great, the first of many Popes of the same. name. Some years previously, when only a monk, as he was passing through the slave market in Rome, his eye was arrested by the fine appearance of some remarkably handsome boys, with ruddy checks and golden hair, that were being exhibited there for sale. Asking the dealer whence they came he was told that they were Angles. " Not Angles," replied Gregory, "but Angels *if only they would become Christians." From that moment he set his heart upon the conversion of Angle-land. In pursuance oi this desire he started from Rome, at the head of an expedition to accomplish his object. But sp highly was he valued by his fellow townsmfeu, that he had hardly called his first halt ere he was overtaken by messengers begging him to return- To their request Gregory reluctantly yielded. Not long afterwards, being raised to the Papal chair, he found himself in a position to carry out his heart's ambition. Selecting a band of forty monks from a monastery at Rome, and placing their Prior Augustine at their head, he despatched them as -missionaries to the land of the Angles. They had not gone far before, losing courage, they sent Augustine back to Gregory to paint, in vivid colours, the danger of their undertaking and to obtain his leave for their return-

Gregory would not hear of the abandonment of his long-oherished enterprise, and promptly replied by sending Augustine back again with his orders for them to proceed. Thus reprimanded, they continued. their journey. Now it happened that Ethelbert, though at this time still an adherent of the faith of his fathers, was married to a Christian Princess, Bertha, the daughter of Charibert, King of Paris. This prince, in consenting to the alliance, had made it a condition that his daughter should be allowed to enjoy the usages of Christian worship.. To tHu_ Ethelbert consented. An ancient British church, known as St. Martin's, bard' by tile City of Canterbury, was repaired for his bride's use. And the lady herself brought -with her, to her" husband's kingdom, a band cf clerks and a prelate of her own Church, oue Liudhard, Bishop of SenHs, as her Chaplain. Angas-ote's work'was -therefore 'comparatively . easy, seeing -that the faith he had come to teach was already hi the laud, planted- at the Court, "and tolerated by the

monarch. It is, therefore, to King Charibert and to Queen Bertha that the honour is due of having re-introduced the Christian faith into Angle-land. No doubt the arrival of Augustine accelerated the conversion of the Saxons, but the foundation of the Saxon Church was already laid, and it only remained for him to superintend the building of the edifice. The Queen's chaplain, Liudhard, was evidently one of those men who, to quote a witty saying of Lord Brougham's on auother ecclesiastic, preferred the snugnesses to the fastnesses of the Church, and it is easy to see that if, instead of being an easy going Court chaplain, he had been possessed of the missionary spirit of his a.c, with a proper jealousy for the reputation of his own name and Church, he never would have allowed himself to have been pushed aside by Augustine, but would have secured for his own Church and .country the honour of the conversion of. the .Saxons, of -Angledand. His*,-deficiencies in the qualities of a missionary gave Augustine and the Church he represented their opportunity, jusb as a thousand years later in another, though not wholly dissimilar, department of venture, the indifference of 'Henry VII. gave to Spain the fruits of the genius of Columbus. Augustine's "arrival happened to be welltimed, and in the reception accorded him we can easily discern the helpful though unobtrusive influence of Queen Bertha. Landing on tho Isle of Thanefc, off the coast of Kent, toward the close of the j'ear 596, or early in 597, Eohelbert on hearing from him the object of his coining, replied graciously, and made immediate arrangements for an interview. This took place on the island in the open air, and was as successful as Augustine could possibly have expected, for, not only was permission straightway granted i him to land and commence the work of the mission under the royal protection, but the Queen's church was also placed at his disposal. The devotion of this band of missionaries soon secured them converts, Ethelbert himself ere long embracing the faith, being baptised,' if tradition speaks truly, on the eve of Peutecost, in the spring of 597. After this success Augustine crossed over to' 1 Gaul, and paid a visit to Vigilius, Archbishop of Aries, from whose hands he received consecration as the first bishop of Angleland. He then sent a report of his mission to Gregory, and, returning himself to the scene of his labours, it is said that by "Christmas of the same year he had made and baptised 10,000 converts. Fixing his residence at Canterbury the Pope replied to his report by making him its first Archbishop, sending him at tho same time that special badge of this high office known as the pall, and with it authority over such British bishops as were still to be found in the land. But these British bishops had their own say in this matter, and declined to be dealt with in any such high-handed fashion.. Ib appears that at tliis .ime there were seven of these dignitaries presiding over their respective portions of the ancient British Church. Ethelbert used his influence to bring about a meeting between them and Augustine. Two conferences were held. At the first they parted without arriving at any agreement, and at the second the Welsh prelates determined to leave Augustine severely alone.

This was the cause of their determination: On their way to this conference the seven bishops called upcn a devout hermit, and asked him' for his counsel. He told thorn that if Augustine showed the grace of humility they were to co-operate with him, but if he treated them as his inferiors they might.then decline to recognise his authority. The test of this quality was to rest upon his bearing towards them as they approached him at the place of meeting. Would he rise to greet them *J if so, well and good, but if not they might then safely set him down as a proud man, from whose rule they would do well to keep their church free. Arriving purposely a few minutes' late at the spot chosen for the conference, they found Augustine seated. They drew near, but were received in silence. Taking their places quietly, Augustine, without first rising to welcome them, opened the' business of the meeting. On this they decided not to yield him the submission he demanded of them. Thus a fine opportunity was lost of the immediate union and co-operation of the two island churches, the ancient British with the new Saxon.

But the mission continued to prosper. More royal converts joined the Church, the second one being Sabert, King of the. East Saxons, who was a nephew ot Etheibert's, and the third, for a time at any rate, Redwald, King of East Anglia, though bis Queen remained unconverted.

Besides the See of Canterbury, Augustine' founded those of London and Rochester, consecrating Mollitus and Justus to be their respective occupants. His death took place on May 26th, in the year 605. He was succeeded by Laurentius, whom shortly before this he had consecrated to be the second Archbishop of Canterbury.

Laurentius marked his accession to office by addressing'conciliatory letters to the Welsh and Scotian, i.e. Irish, Bishops, but he could not prevail upon them to recognise the authority of the new Anglo-Saxon Church or to adopt any of its usages, even one so reasonable as the reformed cycle for computing the annual date of the Easter festival. The cycle in use among the British Christians at this time was one by -which the Jews had been wont to compute the day for their Passover festival. The Church of Rome also used this cycle for the first five centuries, when it adopted a more convenient one, that was eventually accepted by the whole Christian Church. Like most changes of the kind, it made its way slowly, and the British and Scotian Churches, with all the bigotry of insular prejudices, for a long time would have none of rt—indeed, to such a pitch did some individuals allow their feelings to be wrought up in this matter, that it is recorded of a Scotian Bishop named Dagan that he refused to eat with some Christian visitors from the* Church of Rome on account of this difference in their usage. Apart from these efforts of Laurentius there is nothing noteworthy to record in the way eff further progress between the death of Augustine in 605 and that of bin Royal .patron, King Efchelbe_fc # in 626. But the

funeral obsequies of this gracious Print* were no sooner ended than * the mission ra« ceived its first reverse.

Eadbald, his son and successor, according to the heathen custom of his people, married his father's widow; not, indeed, his mother but the wife that Ethelbert took to himself after the death of the Princess Bertha, Laurentius reproved him for this action, and the Prinoe taking umbrage thereat for a time declared himself against the Christian mission. At this juncture Sabert, King of Essex, died, and his three sons openly avowed the faith of their fathers. Retimed admission to the Saorament of the Lord'-* Supper by Mellitus, unless they first ruceiveel baptism, they compelled him and hij followers to quit their territory, . Not thinkim* himself safe with Laurentim at Canterbury this timid shepherd of Christ's flook persuaded Justus to fly with him to Franoe. The fate of tlie raißsian, now depended upon the firmness of Lauren, tius. He resolved to work upon J_ad.ald by artifice. Scourging* himself severely during a night's vigil in the church at Canterbury, he made his way next morning to Eadbald. See, said ho, as he exposed his lacerated shoulders to the astonished eyes oi tha Prince, the stripes laid upon mo only last night by the holy Apostlo, St. Peter. Tlie ruse succeeded. Eadbald, fearing that as much, or possibly more grievous. punishment might fall upon himself, abandoned idolatry, put away from him, as his wife, his father's widow, aud thenceforward threw the weight of his influence &r\b example into the scales of the Christina religion. _ 8?15