V. PART I

favour of the Franks: and Clovis, faithful to his CENT.. engagement, received baptism at Rheims [m], towards the conclusion of that same year, after having been instructed by Remigius, bishop of that city, in the doctrines of the gospel [n]. The example of the king had such a powerful effect upon the minds of his subjects, that three thousand of them immediately followed it, and were baptized with him. Many are of opinion, that the desire of extending his dominions was that which contributed principally to render Clovis faithful to his engagement; though some influence may also be allowed to the zeal and exhortations of his queen Clothildis. Be that as it will, nothing is more certain than that his profession of Christianity was, in effect, of great use to him, both in confirming and enlarging his empire,

The miracles, which are said to have been wrought at the baptism of Clovis, are utterly unworthy of the smallest degree of credit. Among others the principal prodigy, that of the phial full of oil said to be brought from heaven by a milk white dove, during the ceremony of bap, tism, is a fiction, or rather, perhaps, an impos ture; a pretended miracle contrived by artifice and fraud [o]. Pious frauds of this nature were very commonly practised in Gaul and in Spain

at

[m] See Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, lib. ii, cap. xxx. xxxi. Henry count Bunau's Historia Imperii Ro mano-Germanici tom. i. p. 588. De Bos' Histoire Critique de la Monarchie Francoise, tom. ii. P: 340.

[n] The epitomiser of the history of the Franks tells us that Remigius having preached to Clovis, and those who had been baptized with him, a sermon on the passion of our Saviour the king, in hearing him, could not forbear crying out, " If I "had been there with my Franks, that should not have hap "pened."

[o] The truth of this miracle has been denied by the learned John James Chiflet, in his book De ampulla Rhemensi, printed in folio at Antwerp, in the year 1651; and it

CENT. at this time, in order to captivate, with more V. facility, the minds of a rude and barbarous people, who were scarcely susceptible of a rational conviction.

PART I.

Of the

Irish.

The conversion of Clovis is looked upon by the learned as the origin of the titles of Most Christian king, and Eldest son of the church, which have been so long attributed to the kings of France [p] For, if we except this prince, all the kings of those barbarous nations, who seized upon the Roman provinces, were either yet involved in the darkness of paganism, or infected with the Arian heresy.

VI. Celestine, the Roman pontiff, sent Palladius into Ireland, to propagate the Christian religion among the rude inhabitants of that island.

This

has been affirmed by Vertot, in the Memoires de l'Academie
des inscriptions et des Belles Lettres, tom, iv. p. 350. After
a mature consideration of what has been alleged on both sides
of the question, I can scarcely venture to deny the fact I am
therefore of opinion, that in order to confirm and fix the
wavering faith of this barbarian prince. Remigius had pre-
pared his measures before hand, and trained a pigeon by vast
application and dexterity, in such a manner, that, during the
baptism of Clovis, it descended from the roof of the church
with a phial full of oil Among the records of this century, we
find accounts of many such miracles. There is one cir-
cumstance, which obliges me to differ from Dr. Mosheim
this point, and to look upon the story of the famous phial ra-
ther as a mere fiction, than as a pious fraud, or pretended
miracle brought about by artifice; and that circumstance is,
that Gregory of Tours, from whom we have a full account
of the conversion and baptism of Clovis, and who from his
proximity to this time, may almost be called a contemporary
writer, has not made the least mention of this famous miracle.
This omission, in a writer whom the Roman Catholics them
selves consider as an over-credulous historian, amounts to a
proof, that, in his time, this fable was not yet invented.

upon

P.

[p] See Gab. Daniel et De Camps, Dissert. de titulo Regis Christianissimi Journal des Sçavans, for the year 1720. 243. 336. 404. 448. Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p. 466,

V. PART I.

This first mission [9] was not attended with much CENT. fruits; nor did the success of Palladius bearany proportion to his laborious and pious endeavours. After his death, the same pontiff employed in this mission, Succathus, a native of Scotland, whose name he changed into that of Patrick, and who arrived among the Irish in the year 432. The success of his ministry, and the number and importance of his pious exploits, stand upon record as undoubted proofs, not only of his resolution and patience, but also of his dexterity and address. Having attacked, with much more success than his predecessor, the errors and superstitions of that uncivilized people, and brought great numbers of them over to the Christian religion, he founded, in the year 472, the archbishoprick of Armagh [r], which has ever since remained the metropolitan see of the Irish nation. Hence this famous missionary, though not the first who brought among that people the light of the gospel, has yet been justly intitled, The apostle of the Irish, and the father of the Hibernian church;

[9] From the fragments of the lives of some Irish bishops, who are said to have converted many of their countrymen in the fourth century, Archbishop Usher concludes, that Palladius was not the first bishop of Ireland, (see his Antiquities of the British Church.) But it has been evidently proved, among others by Bollandus, that these fragments are of no earlier date than the twelfth century, and are, besides, the most of them fabulous Dr. Mosheim's opinion is further confirm ed by the authority of Prosper, which is decisive in this matter. [r] See the Acta Sanctor. tom. ii. Martii, p. 517. tom. iii. Februar. p. 131. 179. Jac. Waraei Hibernia, Sacra, printed in folio at Dublin, 1717. This latter published at London, in 1656, in 8vo. the Works of St. Patrick. The synods, that were held by this eminent missionary, are to be found in Wilkin's Concilia Magna Brit. et Hiberniæ, tom.i. p. 2. With respect to the famous cave which is called, the Purgatory of St. Patrick, the reader may consult Le Brun, Histoire Critique des partiques. superstitieuses, tom. iv. p. 34.

CENT. church; and is still generally acknowledged and V. revered in that honourable character.

The causes of these

conversions.

PART I. VII. The causes and circumstances by which these different nations were engaged to abandon the superstition of their ancestors, and to embrace the religion of Jesus, may be easily deduced from the facts we have related in the history of their conversion. It would, indeed, be an instance of the blindest and most perverse partiality, not to acknowledge, that the labours and zeal of great and eminent men contributed to this happy purpose, and were the means by which the darkness of many was turned into light. But, on the other hand, they must be very inattentive and superficial observers of things, who do not perceive that the fear of punishment, the prospect of honours and advantages, and the desire of obtaining succour against their enemies from the countenance of the Christians, or the miraculous influences of their religion, were the prevailing motives that induced the greatest part to renounce the service of their impotent gods.

How far these conversions were due to real miracles attending the ministry of these early preachers, is a matter extremely difficult to be determined. For though I am persuaded that those pious men, who, in the midst of many dangers, and in the face of obstacles seemingly invincible, endeavoured to spread the light of Christianity through the barbarous nations, were sometimes accompanied with the more peculiar presence and succours of the Most High [s]; yet I am equally convinced, that the greatest part of the

[s] There is a remarkable passage, relating to the miracles of this century, in Eneas Gazeus' Dialogue concerning the Inmortality of the Soul, &c. intitled, Theophrastus, p. 78, 80, 81, edit. Barthii. See the controversy concerning the time when miracles ceased in the church, that was carried on some years ago, on occasion of Dr. Middleton's Free Inquiry, &c.

V.

I

the prodigies, recorded in the histories of this age, CENT. are liable to the strongest suspicions of falsehood or imposture. The simplicity and ignorance of PART L the generality in those times furnished the most favourable occasion for the exercise of fraud ; and the impudence of impostors, in contriving false miracles, was artfully proportioned to the credulity of the vulgar []; while the sagacious and the wise, who perceived these cheats, were obliged to silence by the dangers that threatened their lives and fortunes, if they detected the artifice [u]. Thus does it generally happen in human life, that, when the discovery and profession of the truth is attended with danger, the prudent are silent, the multitude believe, and impostors triumph.

CHAP.II.

Concerning the Calamitous Events which happened to the church during this century.

1.

IT

in the Ro

man em

Thas been already observed, that the Goths, The Chris the Heruli, the Franks, the Huns, and the tians suffer Vandals, with other fierce and warlike nations, for the most part strangers to Christianity, had pire. invaded the Roman empire, and rent it asunder in the most deplorable manner. Amidst these calamities, the Christians were grievous, nay, we may venture to say, the principal sufferers. It is true, these savage nations were much more in, tent upon the acquisition of wealth and dominion, than

[t] This is ingeniously confessed by the Benedictine monks, Histoire Litteraire de la France, tom. ii. p. 33. and happily ex, pressed by Livy, Hist. lib. xxiv. cap. x. sect. 6. Prodigia multa nuntiata sunt, quæ quo magis credebat simplices et religiosi homines eo plura nuntiabantur.

[u] Sulpitius Severus, Dial. i. p. 438. Ep. i. p. 457.-Dial iii. cap. ii. p. 487.