VI. CHAP. ferring kingdoms, as he pleases. He exults in the prospect which he had too eagerly formed of a wise, just, and pious administration. He modestly hints at the great abuses of the late government, and ex horts Phocas to redress them, reminding him, "that a Roman emperor commands freemen, and not slaves*.". Such is the substance of his letter, in which I see nothing unworthy of the piety and patriotism of Gregory, but much of his wonted care for the good of the church and the public. Gregory wrote again to Phocas, to apologize for the want of a deacon, who should reside at Constantinople. Phocas had complained to him of this, and invited him to send one. The bishop informed him, that the severity of the late government had deterred all clergymen from going thither. But, as he now hoped better things, he sent him a person, whom he recommended to his protection. He beseeches Phocas to listen to his relation of facts, as he would thence learn more distinctly the miseries, which Italy had sustained without redress, for thirtyfive years, from the Lombardst. Is it at all surprising, that this language should be used by a man who sincerely loved his country, and knew little of the new emperor; who probably had received a false account of his actions and character, and who had so long been, on Christian principles, both patient and loyal to an oppressive government? In another letter to Leontia he is not to be excused from the charge of an unhappy superstition. He talks of Peter the Apostle, reminds her of the scripture-text, on the perverted use of which hangs the whole structure of the papacy ‡, and of his intercession in heaven. He prays, that she and her husband may be endowed with princely virtues, and expresses, I will not say with flattery, but with an expectation much too sanguine, his hopes of the blessings of the new administration. * B. XI. Ep. 36. + B. XI. Ep. 43. Matt. xvi. 18. VI. - Phocas was displeased with Cyriacus, the bishop CENT. of Constantinople, because he had generously interested himself in favour of the remaining branches of Mauritius's family; and while he courted the favour of Gregory and of the Romans at a distance, he tyrannized at home in an uncommon manner. But Gregory died the next year after Phocas's promotion, and had not, probably time enough to know his genuine character, and was himself also so bowed down with pains and infirmities, that he was unable to answer a letter of Theudelinda, queen of the Lombards. He had promised to do it, if his health was restored; but he grew less and less capable of business till he died. Had health and opportunity permitted, the vigour and piety of his character give me no room to doubt, that he would have rebuked the Roman tyrant in such a manner, as to have quite silenced the accusations, which, on this account, have been thrown upon him. That he should have opposed the usurpation of Phocas, will not be expected from those who consider the views of the primitive Christians, who intermeddled not with politics; but he, who plainly rebuked Mauritius, would certainly not have spared his successor, whose conduct was far more blameable*. CHAP. VII. GREGORY'S CONDUCT WITH RESPECT TO ENGLAND. THIS also has been a source of much accusation against the Roman prelate. Protestant writers, in their zeal against popery, have censured his domi Phocas took away the title of universal bishop from the prelate of Constantinople, and granted it to Boniface III, the next successor but one to Gregory. After Phocas's death, the prelate of the East re-assumed the title. The two bishops each preserved it, and with equal ambition strove for the pre eminence. CHAP. neering spirit with acrimony, as if the British ChrisVII. tians had been protestants, and the Roman Chris tians papists, accurately speaking. But Gregory was no pope, nor had the Britons separated from the general Church, and formed a purer establishment of their own. Superstition and ecclesiastical power, in the excess, adhered indeed to the conduct of the Roman prelate, as the fault of the age, not of his temper; and if he had perfectly avoided the fashionable evils of his time, he would have been, I had almost said, more than human. But the ideas, peculiarly popish, were not yet matured in the churches. Dissenting writers, I find, have been seduced by the same sort of prejudices as divines of the Church of England, and it is curious to observe, how different writers can find in the features of the British Church, the very figure of their own denomination. I ought. to profit by the mistakes of others; that is, to forget my own times and connections; to transplant myself into the age of which I write; to make liberal allowances for its customs and prejudices, and to enable the reader, from facts themselves, to form his own judgment. For near a century and a half the Gospel of Christ had been declining in Britain, and for the greatest part of that time had been, as we have seen, confined to Wales and Cornwall, or to the mountains of Scotland. Ireland too still preserved something of the light, while the Angles or Saxons, our ancestors, destroyed every evangelical appearance in the heart ' of the island. No barbarians were ever more ferocious or more idolatrous; and the Britons, who escaped their ravages, oppressed one another with civil broils. Being favoured with some cessation from their wars with the Saxons, they lost by degrees all traces of former piety, though the form of Christianity still remained. One proof among others, which the old historian Gildas gives of their entire want of Christian zeal, is, that they took not the least VI. pains for the conversion of the Saxons. Seven Saxon CENT. kingdoms, called the Heptarchy, were now formed, altogether ignorant and idolatrous, while the few British churches were inattentive to the propagation of Christian truth in the island. And the Saxons continued, some of them for a century, others more than two centuries, immersed in darkness *. One cannot form any agreeable idea either of the piety or of the knowledge of the British Christians, from these circumstances. Nor are the excuses, which our protestant historians are inclined to make for their want of zeal, at all satisfactory. It has been said that, "The hostilities of the Angles would cause such attempts to be arduous;" but let the reader only reflect how such difficulties were surmounted by zealous and charitable Christians in former ages. I cannot but therefore subscribe to the testimony of our antient historians, "that much worthier pastors were sent by the divine goodness, through whom, those, whom God had foreknown, might believe to salvation." A testimony as evangelical in its language, as it is solid in fact. Mission to It was about 150 years after the arrival of the Gregory's Saxons in Britain, that Gregory sent his famous Britain. mission into our island, toward the close of the sixth century. It was no sudden thought, but the effect of much deliberation. Even before his consecration at Rome, walking one day in the forum, he saw some very handsome youths exposed to sale. Asking of what country they were, he was informed they were of the island of Britain. "Are the inhabitants of that island Christians or Pagans?" They are Pagans, was the reply. Alas! said he, deeply sighing, that the prince of darkness should possess countenances so luminous, and that so fair a front should carry minds destitute of eternal grace. What is the * Bede. † See Warner's Eccl. Hist. toward the beginning. Bede. VII. CHAP. name of the nation? Angli, it was said. "In truth they have angelic countenances, and it is a pity they should not be coheirs with angels in heaven. What is the province from which they come?" Deira, that is, Northumberland, he was told. It is well, said he,, De irâ, snatched from the wrath of God, and called to the mercy of Christ. "What is the name of their king?" Ella, was the answer. Playing upon the name, "Alleluia should be sung to God in those regions*." Impressed with the importance of the object, he earnestly entreated the then Roman bishop to send a mission to the island, offering himself as one ready for the task. Nothing but the officious benevolence of the Roman citizens prevented the work at that time. Gregory was too much beloved at Rome, to be allowed to leave it. It was the character of Gregory to pursue with unwearied attention any plan or scheme of piety or discipline, which he had once conceived. After his consecration, in the year 595 he directed a presbyter, whom he had sent into France, to instruct some Missions to young Saxons of seventeen or eighteen years of age, England. in Christianity. He intended to prepare them for A. D. the mission into our island; and in the year 597 he 597 actually sent missionaries thither. They were a number of monks, at the head of whom was one named Augustine. In obedience to Gregory's directions, they proceeded on their journey; but their hearts failed them, when they reflected on the difficulties and * I leave to fastidious sceptics, such as the historian Hume, to sneer at Gregory's want of taste in these several allusions. The candid reader will impute them to the times, not to the man; and the devout and charitable will adore the goodness of God, which was beginning to provide such precious benefits for our country; benefits, which call for ceaseless gratitude to the Author of all good, and should endear the memory of the Roman prelate to our latest posterity. An elegant epigram on Milton, by a countryman of Gregory, turns on the same conceit: Ut mens, forma, decor, facies, mos, si pietas sic, |