come, sooner or later. They fancy gods in their own likeness; and then at last they make out those gods as bad as themselves.

The old English and Danes were fond of Thor and Odin; they fancied them, as I told you, brave gods, very like themselves: but they themselves were not always what they ought to be; they had fierce passions, were proud, revengeful, bloodthirsty; and they thought Thor and Odin must be so too.

And when they looked round them, that seemed too true. The Thunder storm did not merely melt the snow, cool the air, bring refreshing rain; it sometimes blasted trees, houses, men; that they thought was Thor's anger.

So of the wind. Sometimes it blew down trees and buildings, and sank ships in the sea. That was Odin's anger. Sometimes, too, they were not brave enough; or they were defeated in battle. That was because Thor and Odin were angry with them, and would not give them courage. How were they to appease Thor and Odin, and put them into good humour again? By giving them their revenge, by letting them taste blood; by offering them sheep, goats, horses in sacrifice and if that would not do, by offering them something more precious still, living men.

And so, too often, when the weather was unfavourable and crops were blasted by tempest, or they were defeated in battle by their enemies, Thor's and Odin's altars were turned into slaughter-places for wretched human beings— captives taken in war, and sometimes, if the need was very great, their own children. That was what came of worshipping the heaven above and the earth around, instead of the true God. Human sacrifices, butchery, and murder.

English and Danes alike. It went on among them

both; across the seas in their old country, and here in England, till they were made Christians. There is no doubt about it. I could give you tale on tale which would make your blood run cold. Then they learnt to throw away those false gods who quarrelled among themselves, and quarrelled with mankind; gods who were proud, revengeful, changeable, spiteful; who had variableness in them, and turned round as their passions led them. Then they learnt to believe in the one true God, the Father of lights, in whom is neither variableness nor shadow of turning. Then they learnt that from one God came every good and perfect gift; that God filled the sun with light; that God guided the changes of the moon; that God, and not Thor, gave to men industry and courage; that God, and not Wodin, inspired them with the spirit which bloweth where it listeth, and raised them up above themselves to speak noble words and do noble deeds; that God, and not Freya, sent spring-time and cheerfulness, and youth and love, and all that makes earth pleasant; that God, and not Seator, sent the yearly wonder of the harvest crops, sent rain and fruitful seasons, filling the earth with food and gladness.-Rev. C. Kingsley.

HOW THE FALSE GODS WERE PUT AWAY.

ANOTHER great evil afflicted the people of England in those days. Slave-merchants used to take boys and girls from every country in Europe, and sell them to be slaves in some land far away. Many an English mother mourned for the children whom she was never to see again. Yet, out of this great evil, God was pleased to

bring good; as you will find in reading the following story:

One day three English boys were standing together in the slave-market of Rome, waiting till some one should buy them. Slaves from other lands stood there with them, but these three children were distinguished amongst their companions by their beauty, the fairness of their skins, and their long, flaxen curls.

A kind-hearted Roman monk, named Gregory, came through the market, and stopped to look at the slaves. "Who are these children?" said he. "They are Angles," replied the slave-merchant. "Angles," repeated Gregory; "Angels they should be, for they have the faces of angels." And when he knew that they were heathens, the sons of men who worshipped false gods, he was deeply grieved, and could not rest till he had been to the Bishop of Rome, and obtained permission to go to England and preach the Gospel there.

He set out with a few friends, but he had not gone more than three days' journey when messengers came in haste to bid him turn back again. The people of Rome loved Gregory so much for his goodness to them in a time of pestilence, that they would not suffer him to leave them.

He was obliged to wait until he became Bishop himself, and then he sent a friend of his, called Augustine, with several other missionaries, to England. They were very much afraid to go at first, for in those days the people who lived in the south of Europe thought that our island was a land of fierce savages, who would murder any missionaries that might be sent to them. But Gregory did not believe this, and he reminded Augustine and his companions that it would be shameful indeed to turn back from the work which God had set before them. He told them also that they might hope to find a friend in

the king of Kent, for he had married a French princess who was a Christian.

Then Augustine and his friends took courage and came on. They landed in Kent, at a place in the Isle of Thanet, which is called Ebbe's Fleet. No one could land there now, for the sea has gone back, and green fields cover the spot which was washed by the waves in Augustine's time. The king of Kent was at Canterbury, and when he heard that Christian priests had landed in his country, he sent them word that they must come no farther, but remain where they were till he should come to see them, and hear what they had to say. He said also that he must see them out of doors, for the English believed that men of a different religion from their own had some magical power to hurt them under a roof, but could do them no harm under the open sky.

The king's name was Ethelbert. He came at the end of a few days, and seated himself under a great oak-tree, with his soldiers standing around him. When Augustine knew that the king was arrived, he came up from the shore with his friends. They were forty in number, and as they walked along they sang solemn prayers to God. Augustine spoke to the king in Latin: Ethelbert could only speak English; but some of the missionaries were Germans, and they interpreted Augustine's speech. To make it more easy for the king and his people to understand what he said, Augustine had brought with him a large cross, and a picture of our Saviour.

He told them how God had loved sinful men, and given His own Son to die upon the cross for them; and he entreated them to listen to the words of God, and to believe in Jesus Christ, that they might have forgiveness of their sins, and everlasting life.

Ethelbert listened attentively while Augustine was speaking, and when he had finished, said "Your words

promise good things, and they have a pleasant sound; but as they are all new to me, and I am not sure that they are true, I cannot give up my own religion which I have learned from my fathers. But, as you are strangers, and believe these things to be true, and wish to do us good, we will not hurt you. I will give you such things as you need, and you may teach any of my people who like to listen to you."

After this meeting, Ethelbert allowed Augustine to come to Canterbury, and often heard him preach. And before long he became sure that the new things which the Christian missionaries taught were indeed true; and was baptized, the first of all the English, on the feast of Whit-Sunday, in the year 597. The first church in which Ethelbert and his queen worshipped God together stood on the spot where the beautiful little church of St. Martin stands now. And because there was no other building in Canterbury which was sufficiently large, the king gave his own house to the missionaries, that they might live there, and teach the people continually. Canterbury Cathedral stands now where that house stood.

Some of Augustine's friends went to Rochester and London, and preached the Gospel there; and, in time, Christian missionaries spread themselves through all England. And some of the Britons returned good for evil, and became missionaries to the English, who had taken their native land from them.-Readings from English History.