III.

CHAP. which, by the influence of Justinian, condemned the writings called the Three Chapters; that is, three books, or passages of books, one of which was the work of the pious Theodoret of Cyprus. The controversy itself was idle and frivolous; yet, how many pages of Church-history, so called, does it fill! But I can find no vestige of piety in the whole transaction. "Therefore eternal silence be its doom."

Several western bishops, because they refused to condemn the three chapters, were banished by the order of Justinian. What advantage was it to the Church, that Italy and Africa were recovered to nominal orthodoxy, and to the Roman empire, when she was thus oppressed by her pretended protector!

Justinian, in his old age, fell into the notion, that the body of Jesus Christ was incorruptible. Having once formed the sentiment, he drew up an edict, and, in his usual manner, required his subjects to embrace it. Eutychius, bishop of Constantinople, had the honesty to refuse the publication of it. "This, said he, is not the doctrine of the Apostles. It would follow from thence that the incarnation was only in fancy. How could an incorruptible body have been nourished by the milk of its mother? How was it possible for it, when on the cross, to be pierced by the nails, or the lance? It cannot be called incorruptible in any other sense, than as it was always unpolluted with any sinful defilement, and was not corrupted in the grave."

But the imperial mandate was stronger than the arguments of the bishop, however reasonable. He was roughly treated, was banished from his see, and died in exile: he acted however uprightly, and seems from his integrity to have been a Christian indeed. Anastasius, bishop of Antioch, resisted also with much firmness: he was a person of exemplary piety, whom Justinian in vain endeavoured to gain over to his sentiments. As he knew the emperor intended to banish him, he wrote a farewell discourse to his

VI.

people. He took pains to confirm the minds of CENT. men in just ideas of the human nature of Christ, and daily recited in the Church that saying of the Apostle : "If any man preach to you any other Gospel than that which ye have received, let him be accursed*." The example of a truly holy and upright person supporting a just cause is very prevalent. Most around him were induced to imitate. An opinion, directly subversive of the real sufferings of Christ, on which the efficacy of his atonement depends, appeared altogether unchristian. But God had provided better things for us, says Evagrius. While the old imperial pope was dictating the sentence of banishment against Anastasius and other prelates, he was smitten with the stroke of death. Let not profane persons exult over him; but let those who exercise their thoughts on religion, take care to study the written word with humility, prayer, and pious reverence, warned by the apostasy of a man, who for many years had studied divinity, and fell at last into an error, equally subversive of the dictates of common sense, and of Christian piety, and diametrically opposite to all Scripture: let us remember, however, that his follies and persecutions were the occasion of exhibiting some excellent characters even in the eastern Church, who showed that they bore not the Christian name without a just title to that best of all appellations.

* Gal. i. Evagrius, B. IV. toward the end.

CHAP. IV.

MISCELLANEOUS AFFAIRS TO THE END OF THE

CENTURY.

IV.

JUSTIN, the nephew of Justinian, succeeded t. CHAP. He recalled the bishops whom the late emperor had exiled, Eutychius, of Constantinople, alone

+ Evagrius, V. C. 3.

IV.

CHAP. excepted. The reason of this exception I cannot learn; but, after the decease of John, his successor, who held the see twelve years, Justin was prevailed on to restore Eutychius, whò continued bishop of Constantinople till his death. His integrity and piety should scarce be doubted after the long course of suffering which he sustained on account of the faith of Jesus. But, in his old age he embraced a whimsical notion, that our bodies after the resurrection become thinner than air. A notion which it would not have been worth while to have mentioned at all on its own account. But it is a specimen of the low state of Christian knowledge in the East, and of the predominancy of Origenism and Platonism, which had never been exterminated in Asia, since they had gained admission into the Church. For the opinion, though not so fundamentally erroneous as that of Justinian, originated from the same fanciful school: and we may see what a blessing it was to the West to have been instructed in the Christian doctrines of grace through Augustine, whence the purity and simplicity of the faith was preserved in a much superior manner, and fantastic notions could not so easily be received among them*.

Origin of

A. D.

446.

A number of Britons having been expelled from Britanny. their country by the arms of the Anglo-Saxons, who had entered the island in the year 446, crossed the sea, and settled in the adjacent parts of France. Hence the origin of the French province of Britanny. With them the faith of the Gospel was preserved, as well as with their brethren in Wales and Cornwall, and some parts of Scotland and Ireland, while the major part of England was covered with Saxon idolatry. Sampson, originally a Welshman, left his own country and came into Britanny. This man founded a monastery at Dol, and was bishop of

*

Eutychius, however, before he died, retracted his error.

VI.

Dol himself some years. He died about the year CENT. 565, and was renowned for piety and learning in his day. He had been educated in his native country A. D. by Heltut, who was said to have been the disciple of 565. Germanus, of Auxerre. Thus the seed sown in our island by that holy person brought forth fruit; and it is only to be regretted, that the accounts of these things are so slight and scanty. About the same time died St. Malo, who, to prevent his being appointed bishop of Winchester, forsook our island, and fled to the coast of France. To the west of Britanny there was an island called Aletha, now called St. Malo's, the greatest part of the inhabitants of which were Pagans. At the desire of the few Christians who were there, Malo laboured among them, till most of the inhabitants received the Gospel, and persuaded him to reside among them as their bishop, which he did till his death. Other British bishops are celebrated, who in the same age were distinguished for their piety and useful labours in Britanny.

Gildas, surnamed the Wise, another disciple of Heltut, was born at Dumbarton in Scotland; he preached with much success, in the best sense, so far as appears, in his native country and in Ireland. He afterwards came over into Britanny, and built the monastery of Buis, which is still called by his name, says my author. Two of his discourses on the ruin of Great Britain are still extant, in which he deplores the vices and calamities of the times, and, ascribing the desolations made by the Saxons to the depravity of his countrymen, he with honest vehemence exhorts six British princes to repentance. He addresses with much spirit the clergy of Great Britain, and rebukes them for their ignorance, avarice, and simony.

From these hints, in conjunction with what has been elsewhere related, these things are evident; Fleury, B. XXXIV. 14.

*

IV.

CHAP. namely, that there had been a considerable degree of pure religion among our ancestors before the invasion of the Saxons; that even after the declension and decay, there were still faithful pastors, who carried back into France that spirit of godliness which the latter country, by the means of Germanus of Auxerre, had brought over into our island; and that the poison of Pelagianism must have had a considerable influence in the production of that national decay of piety, which Gildas so feelingly deplores.

Colomban, an Irish priest in this century, came over into the northern parts of Scotland, and laboured with much success among the Picts*. The southern parts of Scotland had been evangelized long before by the instructions of Ninias, a British bishop, who had himself been instructed at Rome. Colomban lived thirty-four years after his passage into Britain. His disciples were remarkable for the holiness and abstemiousness of their lives. Thus, while the Gospel was rapidly withdrawing from the East, where it first arose, God left not himself without witness in the most distant parts of the West.

Radegunda, daughter of Bertharius, king of Thuringia, having been taken captive by the Franks in her infancy, fell to the lot of king Clotaire, who married her. This woman might have been added to the list of those pious persons of her sex, who were made highly instrumental in instructing mankind, had she not imbibed monastic ideas, the pest which infected godly persons, in general, in these times, and which, though it could not ruin their relation to God, cut off the greatest part of their usefulness. She obtained a separation from her husband, and followed the monastic rules with great austerity to her death. These rules were now grown stricter than ever; the

Probably they were originally Britons, who fled into Scotland from the arins of the Saxons, and were called Picts, because they painted their bodies, according to the custom of our barbarous ancestors.