Bede, seems to have been John of Damascus. "In the doctrine of the Trinity, John appears to have been orthodox; in other respects, he was one of the most powerful supporters of error. He was an advocate for the practice of praying for the dead, which he regarded as effectual for the remission of sins." Then he goes on describing all the glorious missionaries who were martyred in the cause of their adorable Redeemer, and not-and oh! mark, my friends-not the hem of a garment of any reforming sect is either to be seen or heard of. Tell me again, Where lurked ye, O profound sleepers of antiquity! ye Lutherans and ye Calvinists! Well, gentlemen, we have got through the eighth century. Now we will go to the ninth century. The great Alfred was indeed raised up to defend his country against them. And one of his speeches, delivered to the soldiers before a battle, displays at once much good sense and a spirit of religion. "It is pleasant to see the ebullitions of genius and of strong sense in an iron age like this before us. Alfred would, doubtless, in more auspicious times, have appeared among the first of mankind. There seems no reason to doubt the sincerity of his piety. There is reason, however, to believe, that a devotional, and probably an evangelical spirit, prevailed in some parts of the British isles; for monks, in Ireland and Scotland, who gave themselves to prayer, preaching and teaching in the middle ages, were called Culdees; that is, Cultores Dei. They were first known in this country by that name, at St. Andrew's particularly; but were never settled in England, except at St. Peter's in York."4. Butler, vol. v. Dean Milner then proceeds to describe the different saints that beamed through the ninth century, shedding the kindly influence of divine light amidst nations of barbarian darkness; and, amongst others, pays a tribute to the virtues of St. Methodius, who flourished in the year 861; and of Bogoris, who gave up his crown about the year 880, and retired into a monastery; and of Haymo, a monk of Fulda, a scholar of Alcuin, who was chosen bishop of Haberstadt in the year 841. Page 464. He enters fully into the character of St. Anscarius, the illuminator of Denmark. (Page 465.) Listen to his words : "In the year 865 this apostle of the north was called to his rest. He had lived six years after the union of the dioceses of Hamburg and Bremen, and had applied himself to the duties of his office, both as a governor and a preacher of the Church, with indefatigable assiduity. A terror to the proud, and a comfort to the humble, he knew how to divide the word of truth, and to give to each of the flock his portion in due season. In all good works, and particularly in his care of redeeming captives, he was eminently distinguished. He erected an hospital at Bremen, in which passengers were relieved, and the sick were taken care of; which, in that rude age, was an uncommon instance of liberality and compassion. His example and authority had great influence even among those who sold captives to pagans, or kept them in slavery: they were induced by his exhortations to set the prisoners at liberty. He is said to have had the gift of miracles; and, though I cannot give full credit to the most plausible stories of this nature which are related of him, because of the super stitious credulity and fraudulent "Nelson is of the same opinion. Q. Does it seem probable, that it the conversion of infidels were attempted by men of honest and sincere minds, God would extraordinarily countenance such a design? 4. 'Tis agreeable to reason to think he would, and in no way contrary to Scripture. For as the wisdom of God is never found to be prodigal in multiplying the effects of his Almighty power, so it is never wanting to afford all necessary evidences and motives of conversion.'-Nelson's Festivals, p. 259. inventions of the times, I must con- | And, in those days, how few were fess, with Fleury, that if ever the not so! gift of miracles may be supposed to have existed after the first ages of Christianity, it may be believed most probably to have been vouchsafed to those who were concerned in the first plantation of churches. And it should be remembered, that Sweden and Denmark were, under God, indebted to Anscarius for the first light of the Gospel. This extraordinary person, however, was by no means disposed to value himself on miraculous powers: as he appeared to have been acquainted with an holy influence of a more excellent nature. (1 Cor. xii. last verse.) If I had favour with God,' said he, one day when he heard his miracles extolled, 'I should beseech him to grant me one single miracle, even his grace to sanctify my nature.' It is remarked of him, that he never did anything without recommending himself first to God by prayer. short fragment of an epistle to the bishops is the whole of his writings which I can find to be extant. beg your earnest prayers to God for the growth and fruitfulness of this mission among the pagans. For, by the grace of God, the Church of Christ is now founded both in Denmark and Sweden; and the pastors discharge their office without molestation. May God Almighty make you all partakers of this work in godly charity, and joint heirs with Christ in heavenly glory!' The centuriators have charged him with idolatry; but the only proof which they give, is his superstitious attachment to relics an evil so Patto, a Scotch abbot, was general, I had almost said UNI-appointed bishop of Verden by VERSAL, at that time, that it cannot Charlemagne. The centuriators fix any particular blot on the cha- only tell us, that he strenuously racter of Anscarius. I see no proof supported Popish of his having practised or encouraged image-worship. It is true, that he was devoted to the see of Rome. "Rembert, his confidant, was appointed bishop of Bremen, by the dying words of the apostle. He wrote the life of his predecessor, a treatise which seems to have furnished historians with the greatest part of their materials concerning Anscarius. Rembert himself presided over the church of the north for twenty-three years, and established their discipline and ecclesiIastical consistence. He was not unworthy of the confidence of his predecessor, and lived and died an example of piety. He began to preach among the people of Brandenburg, which hitherto had been altogether pagan, and made some progress towards their conversion. He died in 888. "Jeron, an English presbyter, went over to Holland in this century, and preached the Gospel there: and, so far as appears, with faithful ness. He was crowned with mar tyrdom about the year 849. corruptions and human traditions. But Crantzius, from whom they collected this account, would have informed them also of better things. Patto, it | be forgotten, my friends, that in appears, had great success among this tenth century there was many a the infidels, but was grieved to see bright exemplar of the sanctity of Christian professors disgracing the the church. St. Ephege and Ľanfaith by their vices. He faithfully franc, archbishops of Canterbury, rebuked them; and for his honest the prelates Burcard of Worms, zeal in preaching against the sins Fulbert, and Ivo of Chartres, Odilo, of nominal Christians was mur- an abbot, Algar, a monk, Guitmond, dered about the year 815. and Theophylactus. The crown was also now adorned with saints. In England shone St. Edward the Confessor; in Scotland," my reverend opponent's birth-place, St. Mar "Tanes, who had succeeded Patto in the Scotch abbey, after a time left his situation, and followed his countryman in Germany, not so much with a desire of martyrdom, garet; in Germany, St. Henry; in say the centuriators, as of obtaining Hungary, St. Stephen. The cloister a richer benefice. Uncharitable was also enriched with the Cistercian surmise! There is too much of this Order by St. Robert; the Carthusian leaven to be found in a work which, Order was founded by St. Bruno; in other respects, abounds in piety the Order of Valambrosa, by St. and industry. The same Crantzius John Gualbert.". informs us, that Tanes, in fact, laboured in conjunction with Patto, and, after a while, was appointed his successor to the see of Verden. Were the sufferings and hardships which Patto and himself had sustained among barbarians likely to render the bishopric of Verden an enviable object of ambition? "The reader, I hope, has seen, in this dark century, a clear demonstration that the Church of Christ still existed." Here, my friends, you hear an account of Scotch abbots, Scotch saints, Scotch missionaries, flashing with the cross in hand through the gloom of ages; all busied in their grand work, the propagation of Christianity amongst idolatrous infidels; and not a single trace of the Calvinist was to be found among them! But before we conclude this tenth century, hear Protestant Milner once more: "Such," says he, (page 476,) were the apostolic missionaries. Such in a good degree were the missionaries of the dark ages which we are reviewing." In the same page, speaking of Protestant England, he has these remarkable words : "With every advantage in our hands for the propagation of the Gospel, we have done very little indeed; and the annals of the several dark ages we have reviewed have exhibited a spirit of adventurous charity unknown to those who now boast themselves as the most enlightened and the most philosophic of mankind." Gentlemen, I have not time to record the names of Catholic missionaries in the eleventh century, Let us now hear what Protestant if we may believe Protestant Milner, Milner says of the tenth century. who were active in extending the "Infidel malice," says he, "has pale of the Church by their pious with pleasure recorded the vices and labours. I shall content myself the crimes of the Popes of this with one or two extracts, which century. Nor is it my intention to I must read with the utmost attempt to palliate the account of rapidity. their wickedness. But let it never "Boniface, in particular, and eighteen other persons, set out from his writings. Remove the rubbish Germany, to labour among the of superstition, and view the inward Prussians, and were massacred by man; and you see in Anselm all that barbarous people. They seem that is vital and essential in godto have been among the last of the liness. European nations who submitted to the yoke of Christ. In the zealous attempts made, however, for their conversion, though unsuccessful, we see abundant proofs that the spirit of propagating the Gospel, which was the brightest gem of these dark ages, still existed. "Nor can I doubt but many at this day who boast of their exemption from papal ignorance, and who call themselves enlightened, because they have been refined by philosophical and political knowledge, are themselves much inferior in Christian light and spirit to many who lived in the dark times of the eleventh century, under the benefit of such advantages of instruction as the canon before us afforded." He then comes to that solid, genuine, apostolical ornament of England, the immortal Anselm! "As a divine," says Protestant Milner, "he was the first of characters in this century, and will, therefore, deserve some attention." Now listen attentively to what this Protestant historian says further with relation to Anselm. "Thus did Anselm employ himself in the defence of divine truth and serious religion. His knowledge of the Scriptures was, I am persuaded, so sound, and his love of them so sincere, that if he had met with direct opposition, on these infinitely momentous subjects, from the court of Rome, he would have sooner pronounced the Pope to be antichrist than have parted with his evangelical sentiments and profession. 66 Indeed, every precious fundamental of Christianity appears in a Anselm was one of these. Amidst the gloom of superstition with which he was surrounded, he was yet enabled to describe and vindicate every fundamental of evangelical doctrine; though papist, he appeals to the Scriptures: he expounds them, by opening the plain grammatical sense of St. Paul; and it behoves men who call themselves Protestants, or who boast of the superior light of this age, to confute his arguments, or at least to own that they do not believe the Scriptures to be divine. "It is allowed, even by his enemies, that his life was in the right and all the true holiness of practice which has appeared in the world has ever originated from such doctrines as he professed." We are now arrived at the twelfth century. How does the Protestant historian commence it? Listen. "A great luminary strikes our attention at the entrance of this century-the famous Bernard, abbot of Clairval. As the general scene of our history still continues dark and gloomy, let us stick close to the splendid object. At least I would wish to exhibit a just estimate of the life, character, and writings of this renowned saint. For the subject may not only throw a considerable light on the religion and manners of this century, but will also illustrate that connexion between Christian doctrine and practice which it is the principal design of this work to explore from age to age. "The love of God appears to have taken deep root in his soul, and seems to have been always steady, though always ardent. His | prove, by Protestant as well as by charity was equal to his zeal; and Catholic historians, that you are his tenderness and compassion to indebted solely for the seeds of Christian brethren went hand in Christianity to the missionary hand with his severity against the efforts of your Catholic ancestors; heretical, the profane, and the that to them is attributable all the vicious. In humility he was truly piety that reigns in this country; admirable; he scarce seems to have that to them we owe all those felt a glimpse of pleasure on beautiful prayers of true and heartaccount of the extravagant praises stirring unctuous devotion which every where bestowed upon him." run through some of your ProNor does this Protestant his-testant books, especially your Litorian, Milner, defraud the Church turgy. The great Jeremy Taylor, of its due sanctity in the thirteenth that bright metaphysical writer, century. He enumerates the saints whatever there is of sanctity in as usual;-a St. Arsenius, bishop his beautiful works, it is pilfered of Constantinople; John Scot, an from the pages of our Catholie Englishman, Archdeacon of St. priests. His brilliant metaphors Andrews; the famous St. Francis are his own, but that is all. To them of Assisium, founder of the Minor-you owe every thing; and ought you friars; and his contemporary St. not, constrained by a feeling of Dominic, founder of the Order of gratitude, to suppress these murthe Dominicans :-and then Pro- murings against your spiritual benetestant Milner is most copious in factors, your fellow Catholics? Why panegyrizing the great St. Lewis, do you take delight in hearing king of France. such virulent invectives as are incessantly being poured forth against them from this room; excluding them from the beatitude of heaven, as if they were addicted to idolatry and crime? And, oh! my friends, whilst you thus have the opportunity of hearing these arguments and illustrations, look narrowly and observantly, I beseech you, for the remaining years of your life, at the practice of the Catholic religion. I do not mean thereby the practice of those who merely preach Catholicity, and call O glorious Catholicity, how in themselves so, without cherishing every age dost thou not extort the an inward love and veneration for praises of thine enemies! You its practices: but look ye at those thus see, my friends, that it is most who approach our holiest altars, indisputably evident from this labo- and who feed on the heavenly rious reading; though I would rather be exerting my lungs another way, and, like my learned friend, rather have indulged my little vein of oratory than have read so much. But I thought it was necessary to With great pleasure," says he, (page 567,) "I dwell on a character so singularly excellent." He then launches out into the most enthusiastic encomiums on the character of Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln. Page 571. Lastly, in the fourteenth century, an Englishman named Bradwardine, archbishop of Canterbury, and St. Eleazar, count of Arian, in Naples, call forth the unbounded admiration of the Protestant historian, Milner. manna of Divine love; look on the conduct of the men and women with whom ye may become acquainted, if placed within reach of those who are in the habit of frequenting our holy sacrament; and then |