his opinion by an appeal to the writings and arguments which he has deemed conclusive. We have frequently felt the inconvenience of this omission, while perusing "the Book of the Church;" and we believe that most readers will concur with us in lamenting it.

After a short introduction, remarkably well written, Mr. Southey commences with an account of the Druidical religion; and with a brief notice of the Roman which succeeded it, and arrives in a few pages at the great subject of his work. Without much discussion of the question by whom the Gospel was first brought into Britain, he inclines to the opinion that this honour is due to Bran, the father of Caractacus, who, having been led into captivity with his son, became a convert to the Gospel in Rome, and on his return instructed his ignorant countrymen.

For what reasons the arguments usually adduced to prove that the labours of St. Paul extended to this island are altogether omitted in this chapter, we know not; they certainly carry with them some probability; and although they may not be of sufficient weight to de. prive Bran of his credit, they are at least not undeserving of summary notice. The first church it is supposed was erected at Glastonbury; and the first martyr to the truth was Saint Alban. Those who are not well acquainted with his story will be glad to read it in the words of Mr. Southey.

"During the tenth, and most rigorous of the persecutions, which was the only one that extended to this island, a Christian priest flying from his persecutors, came to the city of Verulamium, and took shelter in Alban's house: he, not being of the faith himself, concealed him for pure compassion; but when he observed the devotion of his guest, how fervent it was, and how firm, and the consolation and the joy which he appeared to find in prayer, his heart was touched; and he listened to his teaching, and became a believer. Mean time the persecutors traced the ob ject of their pursuit to this city, and discovered his retreat. But when they came

to search the house, Alban, putting on the hair-cassock of his teacher, delivered himthe fugitive, and was carried before the heathen governor; while the man whom they sought had leisure and opportunity to provide for his escape. Because he refused either to betray his guest or offer sacrifices to the Roman gods, he was scourged, and then led to execution upon the spot where the abbey now stands, which, in after-times, was erected to his That memory, and still bears his name. spot was then a beautiful meadow on a little rising ground, seeming,' says the venerable Bede, 'a fit theatre for the There he was bemartyr's triumph.' headed, and a soldier also at the same time; who, it is said, was so affected by the resignation and magnanimity of this virtuous sufferer, that he chose to suffer with him, rather than incur the guilt of being his executioner." Southey, pp. 14, 15.

self into their hands as if he had been

Christianity soon after became the religion of the Roman empire. The corruptions which prevailed at. that period are well known, and the mischievous effect of them was felt in Britain. The invasion by the Saxons, who brought with them their own peculiar idolatry, proved to a great extent destructive even of the forms of Christianity; and, amidst the commotions of those disastrous times, Christianity as a public establishment disappeared. from the kingdoms of the heptarchy for about 150 years.

The conversion of the AngloSaxons was effected by a mission during the popedom of Gregory the Great, who had been much interested by seeing some young Englishmen exposed for sale like cattle, or Africans in the West Indies, in the market-place at Rome. Instead of discovering in. the countenances or manners of this saleable commodity, a proof that they were below the common standard of human intellect, and incapable of being Christianized, the good man came to an opposite. conclusion, and he determined to lose no time in obtaining leave to go and preach the Gospel in that miserable country. He set out upon the errand ; but being recalled before he had reached his destination, and being subsequently raised.

to the bishopric of Rome he was unable to enter upon the work in person. He dispatched, however, forty missionaries, who, with Augus. tine at their head, landed in the Isle of Thanet under very propitious circumstances; the Queen of Kent being favourable to the cause, and the King not indisposed to give them a hearing. A commencement being thus auspiciously made, the profession of Christianity gradually prevailed, till, in the course of eighty-two years from the arrival of Augustine, it became the religion of all the Anglo-Saxon states.

The character of Gregory was that of a truly pious and excellent man. He seems not to have regarded power for its own sake, but was anxious to fulfil the duties of his high station with faithfulness and zeal. The Church Missionary Society in this country might have adopted their excellent plan of Christian Institutions from the ex

ample set them by this great prelate. Certain it is that Gregory acted upon this principle. He sent an agent into France to redeem Anglo-Saxon youths from slavery, and to place them in monasteries, where they might be carefully educated, and thereby trained to assist in the conversion of their countrymen. How would this true Catholic have rejoiced could he have foreseen that future Christians of that country, which he thus laboured to instruct in the Christian faith, would one day adopt means of a similar nature, by training young persons rescued from the holds of slave ships, to enlighten and evangelize the yet more

"I cannot persuade myself," says Milner, "to call him pope; he pretended not to any thing like infallibility, nor did he ever attempt any thing like a secular domination. The seeds of antichrist were vigorously shooting indeed; and the reputation of Gregory doubtless contributed much to mature the poisonous plant: but idolatry, spiritual tyranny, and the doctrine of the merit of works, the three discriminating marks of the Papacy, had as yet no settled establishment at Rome." -Milner, Hist. of the Church of Christ, Cent. vi. c. 8.

ignorant and oppressed natives of the African continent !

Mr. Southey's fourth chapter is on the causes which promoted the success of Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons.

In adverting to the progress of the Gospel, we would by no means undervalue secondary causes; which are so many instruments among the many employed by Divine Providence to accomplish his heavenly purposes. It is not merely creditable to the church, that kings should be its nursing fathers, and queens its nursing mothers, but examples of piety, or even of respect for the Christian religion, when thus exhi bited in the highest seats of earthly greatness, have doubtless a powerful influence upon multitudes of inferior station. We would be willing also to concede that the circumstances of the Anglo-Saxons, and the nature of their superstition may have held out a fairer prospect for Christian enterprise, than is to be found among the subjects of heathenism in many other countries: but the sophistries of Gibbon on topics of this sort have made us a little cautious lest we ascribe too much to secondary causes, and too little to the operation of God's Holy Spirit in the simple preaching of the Gospel; and although we by no means insinuate that Mr. Southey is chargeable with this error, yet we are not sure that some of his readers may not be led to adopt it.

He assumes at the beginning of this chapter, that the introduction of Christianity into heathen countries in later ages has been found so exceedingly difficult as at one time to be generally considered hopeless, and almost impossible without a miracle*. Such doubtless has

* The narrative of Augustine and his fellow-missionaries is not without miracles; which are said to have been instrumental in converting the King of Kent to Christianity. Joseph Milner, with a superfluity of caution, does not take upon himself wholly to deny them. Was this from an impression which somewhat widely prevailed even so late as his days,

been the conclusion at which men of acknowledged piety, as well as those who cared nothing about the matter, have sometimes arrived: but unless the attempt to introduce Christianity had been often fairly made, and had frequently failed, the conclusion was at least premature. It will scarcely be contended, except by a member of the Church of Rome, that the Roman Catholics in their missions have generally proceeded either exactly in the spirit, or according to the doctrines, of the Apostles; yet in many instances their efforts were attended

with great success. "In opposition to the ruling powers," observes Mr. Butler, in his recent work, The Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, "and often under severe persecutions, countless conversions have been made by Roman-Catholic missionaries in Madura, Cochin China, Tonquin, the empire of China, the peninsula of Corea; among the Hurons, Miamis, Illinois, and other tribes of North America; among the savages of Paraguay, Uraguay, and Panama; among the wild Moxos, Chiquits, and Canizians. All these countries have been watered with the blood of Roman Catholic Missionaries; and, to use the well known expression of Tertullian, their blood became the seed of the church.'" p. 51.

But suppose we attach little value to these conversions, and in some instances we fear that it was only the exchange of one superstition for another, yet the failure of a corrupt and secular religion can be urged as no argument against the probable success of the unadulterated Gospel and so far as the great truths of Christianity have been preached in modern days, the effect has been not inferior to reasonable expectation. Till times comparatively modern, the missionary spirit had not revived, or there were few

that miracles would probably yet be wrought for the conversion of heathens. -See his note on this subject, c. vii.

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channels of access to pagan countries. It is only within the last century, that for many ages we can look to any well regulated plans of this nature really conducted upon Christian principles; and how great has been the encouragement to proceed! To form a just estimate of what might probably have been achieved long ago towards lightening the heathen world, it may suffice to mention those hum- ble men who were among the first of the non-Catholic moderns, to lead the way in this labour of benevolence: we allude to the missions of the Moravians, or United Brethren. At a period when that community was reduced to about 600 persons, and had but just found a place of refuge from a wasting persecution, an asylum which seemed to promise little else than a peaceful habitation, and a quiet grave-instead of reposing in indolent security, or desponding about their own existence. as if it were a question whether their very name should not speedily become extinct, they determined, under the blessing and guidance of Almighty God, to light up the torch of Divine truth in heathen nations. They had no power to work miracles: they looked not to circumstances peculiarly favourable in the countries which they visited, and in some cases the difficulties were of a sort to reduce ordinary minds to despair; but so little did they calculate upon this fancied impossibility to convert the heathen without extraordinary assistance from Heaven, that in eight or nine years they had sent missionaries to Greenland, to the Indians in North and South America, to many of the WestIndia Islands, to Lapland, to Algiers, to Guinea, to the Cape of Good Hope, and to Ceylon,-and if some of these enterprizes failed, yet their success in others, as for instance in Greenland and the West Indies, among persons of the most hopeless description, might long since have proved that the simple "preaching of the Cross" is able,

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