English, and, by the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed, to excite men to religion."

It would have been gratifying to have given a distinguished place in the noble army of martyrs to Boniface, the Devonshire monk or missionary of 718, who carried the knowledge of Christianity to the Germanic tribes, and met his death in the year 755, whilst attempting to win them to the cause of the Church. But the extant records of his writings show that he had no higher motive or ambition than to extend the dominions of his sovereign the Pope.

Alcuin, the most learned man of the eighth century, and a native of York, where he was born about the year 735, belongs more to France than England; for his chief works were written either during his residence at the Court of Charlemagne, or in his retirement at the Abbey of Tours, where he died in 804. He was unquestionably a man of deep personal piety, of devout habit, and of large Scriptural knowledge. But his voluminous writings seldom display the progress of his own inner life. For sixteen years he superintended, at York, the college in which he had been trained. It is refreshing to think of the young man opening his literary career by a Scriptural defence of the worship of Christ, and of the old man closing it by a revision of the Latin text of the Bible.

Alcuin, in his instructions to Christian missionaries, requires them to teach the doctrine that our Saviour came into the world for the salvation of the human race; but he accompanies it with the direction that the pagans should be previously informed for what sins they would

have to suffer everlasting punishments, and for what good deeds they will enjoy unceasing glory with Christ.*

The same writer urges on his correspondents the paramount duty of studying the Scriptures. To one he says, "Write the Gospel in your heart;" to another, “I wish the four Gospels, instead of the twelve Æneids, filled your breast;" "Read diligently, I beseech you, the Gospels of Christ." Still more explicitly he writes-"Study Christ as foretold in the books of the prophets, and as exhibited in the Gospels; and when you find Him, do not lose Him, but introduce him into the home of thy heart, and make Him the ruler of thy life. Love Him as thy Redeemer and thy Governor, and as the Dispenser of all thy comforts. Keep His commandments, because in them is eternal life."+ The dedication of his Notes on Genesis to his friend Sigulf acquaints us with his mental activity, and serves to show that the scholars of that day were no mean students of Holy Scripture. It is as follows:"As thou, my dearest brother, hast so long been my inseparable and faithful companion, and as I know with what ardour thou studiest the Holy Scriptures, I have collected and dedicated to thee a few questions upon the Book of Genesis, which I remember thou hast at different times proposed to me. I have done this that thou mayst always have at hand a means of refreshing thy memory, which often loses that which it should retain, if we do not preserve those things we desire to remember, in writing. This is especially the case with us, whose thoughts are Turner's "Anglo-Saxons," vol. iii., p. 487. + Ibid., p. 498.

distracted by temporal business, and who are frequently exhausted by the fatigue of long journeys. As we cannot encumber ourselves with ponderous volumes, we must provide ourselves with abridgments, that the precious pearl of wisdom may be lightened, and the weary traveller possess something wherewith he may refresh himself without fatiguing his hand with too heavy a burthen. There are, however, in this book, many difficult questions, which at present I am neither willing nor able to solve, and concerning which thou hast not desired information. Those which are here treated of are chiefly historical, and for which a simple answer will suffice: the others, on the contrary, require more profound investigation, and a more copious explanation." The object of the work is to point out the connexion between the narratives of Genesis and the doctrines of redemption and life of Christ. In his homage to the Divine Saviour, he allows his fancy to run riot in search of types and analogies; but the scope of his teaching is usually correct and valuable.

One of the capitularies of Charlemagne (probably indited by Alcuin) is, "Let preaching always be performed in such a manner that the common people may be able to understand it thoroughly.” * One of Alcuin's letters to Charlemagne relates to the mode of the atonement, and is a reply to the inquiries and suggestions of a subtle Greek on this vital subject. The Anglo-Saxon gladly recognized and taught the universal scope of the offer of salvation made in revelation. His works abound

* Guizot, "History of Civilization," Lecture 21.

in proofs of his ample knowledge of the springs of human action, but they are somewhat deficient in the full appreciation of higher things.

The vitiated atmosphere of earth sadly distorts the images of heavenly things seen through its medium. We must wait for the clear vision of the future ere we can know as we are known; but still it remains true that the effect of the religion of Christ, on the personal standing and character of every one who receives it, is real and decisive for eternity.

In the dissensions which arose between the advocates of the newly-established form of Christianity imported from Rome and the partisans of the ancient British faith, we first discern the workings of the good and evil of the medieval church institutions. On the one side there lies the grand dominant idea of the Papal Church ;—that of a society united in spiritual bonds, independent of all nationalities, and of time itself, rising in its unity triumphant over differences of race, manners, language, and political government; accepting one symbol; bowing before one general council; submitting to the rule of one officer as God's sole vicegerent and interpreter; promoted by agents whose passports insure universal introduction. On the other, we see in the suppression of the right of private judgment, abundant proof that this much-vaunted unity was external only; that, in fact, it extinguished the true unity which our Lord bequeathed to his followers, for the sake of a hollow territorial uniformity. When the Primacy, with congenial taste, accroached to itself political power, it immediately turned it into an

engine of oppression against those whom, but for political considerations, it would most have cherished. The temporal views of the Papacy were fatal to true religious union.

The proverbs of King Alfred show that he held in high regard the person and work of Christ, towards whom he enjoins love and reverence, for "He is Lord of life." His translation of portions of Scripture, Extracts from St. Augustine, and other works, exhibit remarkable discernment. From his introduction to his translation of Gregory's "Pastoral Care," we learn that personally, and almost alone, he promoted the diffusion of Scriptural knowledge in the mother-tongue of his people. He aimed at filling the pulpits throughout the land with earnest ministers who should be able to preach intelligibly. He wished to create a nation of readers and a literature founded on the Bible. His Will shows that though not free from some superstitions then inwoven with the form of religion, yet he possessed, and chiefly valued its substance. We cannot recover all the lost sentences of the religious journal which we are told that he kept, but we know that it indicated communion with God by the one Mediator and a humble reliance on heavenly aid.

Theodolph's capitular, in 994, enjoins the priests to be prepared to teach the people by preaching to them the Scriptures. No priest can excuse himself from teaching, "for every one of you has a tongue by which he can reclaim some."

True it is, that in the presence of the superstitious perversions of Scripture then prevalent, Divine truth could exert only a precarious influence; but doubt