freed from this body, and obtain a crown of eternal glory. But you, my dearest son, carry on to perfection the founding of the churches which I began in Thuringia; complete the building of the church in Fulder, and may that be the resting place of my body, bowed down with years.'

He summoned up the remaining powers of his old age, which were invigorated by the inspiration of faith, traveled through Friesland in his seventieth year, with youthful vigor, preached, converted and baptized thousands, destroyed idolatrous temples, and founded churches.

The persons baptized had dispersed, and were all to assemble again on a certain day, in order to receive confirmation. In the meantime, Boniface and his companions had pitched their tents on the banks of the Burda, not far from Doclingen, on the borders of East and West Friesland. When the morning of the appointed day dawned, Boniface waited with anxiety for the arrival of his new converts. He heard the sound of an approaching multitude, but it was an armed host of infuriated pagans, who had sworn to murder on that day the enemy of their gods. The christian youths in the retinue of Boniface wished to defend, and were on the point of beginning the conflict; but, as soon as he heard the tumult, he went out, accompanied by his clergy, and said to the young men, "Cease fighting, for the Holy Scripture teaches us not to return evil for evil, but with good. I have for a long time earnestly desired this day, and the time of my departure is come.

"Be strong in the Lord, and bear with thankful resignation whatever his Grace sends. Hope in Him, and he will save your souls." To the clergy he said, "My brethren, be of good courage, and be not afraid of those who can kill the body, but can not kill the soul that is destined to eternal life.

66

Rejoice in the Lord, and cast the anchor of your hope on Him, who will give you immediately the reward of eternal happiness; endure steadfastly the brief moment of death, that you may reign forever with Christ."

Thus he died, a martyr, on the 5th of June, 755.

CHAPTER XX.

Auschar, the Apostle of the North.

HIS REMARKABLE VISIONS; EFFECT UPON HIM; BOLDNESS IN PREACHING THE GOSPEL IN THE FACE OF DANGERS; SUCCESS WROUGHT BY LOVE.

F WE compare Boniface and Anschar together, we shall again see an example of two of very different mental constitutions whom the spirit of God, that actuated them, employed as his instruIn the former there was a resemblance to the Apostle Peter; in the latter to the Apostle John; in the one, there was more of ardent, impetuous power; in the other more of quiet, active love.

ments.

Boniface was better fitted to produce great outward effects. It was Anschar's gift not to grow weary of small beginnings, but quietly, with persistive love, to cherish the inconsiderable germs which are important as the commencing point of a plantation that will advance to greatness.

He appears to have received his first religious impressions into his opening mind when a mere child, through the early influence of a pious mother whom he lost in his fifth year; when his father sent him to school, after her death, he fell into the society of rude boys, to whose influence he yielded so much as to forget his carly impressions of early piety. Yet still they remained unconsciously hidden in his soul, and in a vision of the night were recalled to him.

"It was as if he found himself in a slippery place, covered with mire, from which he was hardly able to find his way out. But near this place he thought he saw a pleasant path, and in this path he beheld a graceful female, handsomely adorned, and near her several other women in white garments, among whom was his own mother.

When he saw them, he wished to hasten to them, but he could not get out of that slippery place.

When these women were advanced nearer, he thought he heard one who stood at their head, very richly adorned, utter these words: "My son, wilt thou come to thy mother?” And when he answered her eagerly that he was anxious to do so, she said to him again: "If thou wishest to come to our company, thou must guard against all vain waywardness, and diligently pursue a serious course of conduct." After this dream a surprising change came over him, at which his own. companions could not sufficiently wonder. Instead of playing, he occupied himself with reading, thinking, and other useful employments. When he afterward became a monk in the French convent of Corbic, and gave himself up most entirely to a monastic life, he had another vision, in which the hidden life with Christ in God was represented. He seemed as if transported to the assembly of the blest. All had their faces toward the east, and celebrating in their hymns of praise, an appearance in the east; and their united songs filled the souls of the hearers with inexpressible delight.

In the east itself was seen a wonderful splendor, an unchangeable light of surpassing brilliance, from which the most beautiful colors shone forth. All the companies of saints, who stood exulting on all sides, drew joy from the sight. "It was such unbounded splendor," says Anschar, “that I could see neither beginning nor end of it. And when I had looked around on all sides, I could see only the superficial appearance, and not what dwelt within the centre of this light. Yet I believe that He was there, whom the angels desire to look upon; for from it proceeded an inexpressible glory, by which the whole length and breadth of the assembly of the blest was enlightened. He himself was, in a certain sense, in all, and all were in Him; He himself surrounded all from without, and He was inwardly among them; He satisfied all their wants, and He was their guiding soul. He hovered over them protectively; He was the support which bore them up from beneath. Neither sun nor moon gave light there, nor was heaven or earth to be seen. And dazzled the eyes of the

yet it was not a brightness which

beholders, but one that imparted to them a pleasurable

sensation. There was nothing corporeal, but the contrary. It was something inexpressible."

When his two guides, Peter and John, had led him in front of this boundless light, a voice, as from the Divine. Majesty, which appeared represented to him by this immeasurable, unchangeable light, sounded forth to him, full of inexpressible sweetness: "Go hence, and return to me with the crown of martyrdom." At these words the whole host of those who were praising God were dumb, and then with reverent looks they prayed. But Anschar saw not the face of Him from whom the voice came. "After these

words," he says, "I was sad, because I was obliged to return to the world; but, quieted by the promise that I should return from it again hereafter, I went back with my guides. On my return, as well as on my way thither, they said nothing to me, but gave me such a look of tender love as when a mother gazes on her only son.

"And thus I returned again to the body. In going and returning, there was no effort and no delay; we were immediately where we wished to be. And although I have expressed something of such blessedness, yet I admit that my tongue can never express what my soul experienced.

"But my soul itself felt it not, as it actually was, for it appeared to me to be what no eye had seen, nor ear heard, nor had entered into the heart of man to conceive."

We have represented this vision according to Anschar's own description, because it gives us so deep an insight into the Divine life of a simple christian soul. This vision made a powerful and indelible impression upon him.

It awoke him to a new earnestness in the christian life, and it animated him henceforward with the thought that he was called to die the precious death of a martyr for the faith. Two years after he had another remarkable vision. He had been engaged in prayer in a small chapel to which he was often used to retire for secret devotion, and when he rose from prayer, there entered at the door a person of noble countenance in a Jewish dress, whose eyes shone as if full of light. He immediately thought it was the Lord, and

threw himself at his feet. As he lay prostrate, the apparition called upon him to stand up; and when full of awe he stood before Him, and was not able to look on his countenance for the excessive splendor of the light which beamed from his eyes, the Lord said with a kind voice to him, "Confess thy sins, that thou mayst be justified." He answered, "Lord, why need I say it to thee? thou knowest all; nothing is hid from thee." The Lord said, "I indeed know all things, but yet it is my will that men should confess their sins to me in order that they may receive forgiveness." Thereupon he made confession of sin and knelt down to pray. The Lord then said, "Fear not; I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions." With these words he vanished, and Anschar woke with joyful confidence that his sins were forgiven.

At a later period he was sent with some other monks from the monastery of Corbie as a colony for spreading christianity on the Weser, where he had to conduct a school, and to preach to the people. Under the various difficulties with which this monastery had to combat in a wild and poor district, he had an opportunity of exercising himself in christian patience, and certainly this was a good preparation for his missionary calling. When the Jutland king, Harold, who was baptized at Ingleheim, in the year 826, was returning home from a visit to his ally, Emperor Lewis the Pious, that emperor wished a zealous preacher of the gospel to accompany the Danes, to confirm and promote their faith, and to spread it more widely. It was difficult, however, to find one who was not alarmed by the reports of the wildness of those northmen, and of the evil character of their idolatry. the Abbot Wala, of the monastery of Corbie, to which Anschar had then returned, informed the emperor that he knew a man of glowing zeal for the cause of God, who even longed to suffer for it. Anschar was called, and was ready to go immediately with Harold to Denmark.

But

While his abbot visited the court, Anschar prepared himself in the retirement of a vineyard, by reading the Scriptures and prayer for his great calling. He appeared always serious and in deep thought, so that those who could not look