episcopal palace, where they partook of a plentiful and splendid banquet (66). These ceremonies, attended by such numbers of distinguished personages, afforded the clergy favourable opportunities of obtaining the confirmation of their property, and privileges. At the dedication of the church of Rippon, St Wilfrid read from the altar a schedule of the lands belonging to the abbey, and called on the assembly to bear witness to the legality of the titles (67). At Ramsey, the ealdorman Alwin, the founder of the monastery, assembled at an early hour, the thanes of the neighbouring counties, read to them the charters of king Edgar and the other benefactors, and invited those, who conceived themselves intitled to any of the lands possessed by the monks, to come forward and advance their claim. As no one appeared, "I call then on you all,” continued the ealdorman, " to bear witness before God (66) The reader may perhaps be amused with the account of the dinner which St Ethelwold had on one of these occasions prepared for his guests. Fercula sunt admixta epulis, cibus omnis abundat, Nullus adest tristis, omnis adest hilaris. Nulla fames, ubi sunt cunctis obsonia plenis, (67) Ed. vit. St Wilf. c. xvii. Wolstan, p. 629. and his saints, that on this day we have offered justice " to every adversary, and that no man has dared to dis"pute our right. Will you after this permit any new "claim to be preferred against us ?" Several members delivered their sentiments, and the assembly decided umanimously in favour of Alwin. A volume of the gospels was immediately placed in the middle: and the ealdorman putting his right hand on the book, swore that he would maintain, till his death, the monks of Ramsey in the rightful possession of their property. He was followed by his sons; and their example was imitated by every other person in the assembly (68). At the dedication of the church of Winchelcomb, a more splendid scene was exhibited. Kenulf, king of Mercia, the founder of the, abbey, had invited to the ceremony all the thanes of the kingdom, ten ealdormen, thirteen bishops, the captive king of Kent, and the tributary king of Essex. At the conclusion, Kenulf mounted the steps of the principal altar, and calling for his royal prisoner, liberated him without ransom, in the presence of the assembly. He then displayed his magnificence in distributing presents to those, who had obeyed his invitation. To the bishops and the nobility he gave, in proportion to their rank, vessels of gold or silver, and the fleetest horses; to those, who possessed no land, a pound of silver; to each priest, a marc of the purest gold; to every monk and clergyman, a shilling; and a smaller sum to each of the people. All these particulars he enumerates in the charter, which he gave on the occasion, and declares that he has selected the church of Winchelcomb (68) Hist. Ram. p. 422, 423. for the sepulture of himself and his posterity for ever (69). But the revolutions of a few years defeated the projects of his vanity. In the next generation his family was extinguished: and within less than a century, the church of Winchelcomb was reduced to a heap of ruins. (69) Monast. Ang. tom. i. p. 189. CHAPTER VIII. Origin of prayers for the dead-associations for that purpose-de votions performed for the dead-funeral ceremonies-places of Sepulture. By the philosophers of antiquity, the immortality of the human soul was but faintly descried : revelation has withdrawn the veil, and unfolded that system of retribution, which reserves to a future life the rewards of virtue, and the chastisement of vice. But in the scale of merit and demerit, there are numerous degrees: and, if every stain be excluded from the celestial paradise, if the flames of vengeance be kindled for none but deadly offences, what fate, the inquisitive mind will anxiously demand, is allotted to him, who, though he presume not to claim the meed of unsullied virtue, has not deserved the severest punishment of vice? To this interesting question our ancestors unequivocally replied, that such imperfect christians neither enjoyed the bliss of heaven, nor suffered the misery of hell: that, during a limited period, they were detained in an intermediate state of purgation: and that their deliverance might be accelerated by the pious solicitude, and devotion of their friends. This was an opinion, which interested in its favour, no less the feelings, than the judgment of men. The religion, which teaches that death removes the soul beyond the influence of human exertion, teaches, at the best, a cold and cheerless doctrine. The mind quits with reluctance the object of its affections; it follows the spirit of its departed friend into the regions of futurity; and embraces with real con solation the means, which religion may offer, of meliorating its lot (1). The practice of praying for the dead remounts to the origin of christianity. That it had been universally adopted before the fourth century is not denied by the most violent, that it was in general use during the second, is admitted by the more candid of its adversaries (2). To the Anglo-Saxons it was taught with the (1) Here I cannot refuse to transcribe a part of the beautiful prayer, which St Augustine composed after the death of his mother. "Ego itaque laus mea, et vita mea, Deus cordis mei, sepo"sitis paulisper bonis ejus actibus, pro quibus tibi gaudens gra"tias ago, nunc pro peccatis matris meæ deprecor te: exaudi "me, per medicinam vulnerum nostrorum, quæ pependit in lig"no. Scio misericorditer operatam, et ex corde dimisisse debi"toribus suis: dimitte illi et tu debita sua, si qua etiam contraxit 66 per tot annos post aquam salutis. Namque illa, imminente die "resolutionis suæ, non cogitavit sumptuose contegi Non ista mandavit nobis, sed tantummodo memoriam sui ad "altare tuum fieri desideravit, unde sciret dispensari victimam salutis.... Sit igitur in pace cum viro, ante quem nulli, et "post quem nulli nupta est. Et inspira, Domine Deus meus, "inspira servis tuis fratribus meis, ut quotquot hæc legerint, me"minerint ad altare tuum Monicæ famulæ tuæ, cum Patricio quondam ejus conjuge." Confes. 1. ix. (2) The catholic may smile, the protestant may sigh, at the miserable evasions, to which the spirit of system has degraded such writers as Mosheim and Bingham. The former derives the custom of praying for the dead from the impure source of the Platonic philosophy (Hist. p. 144, 300, 393): the latter has expended much learning to establish the incredible hypothesis, that when the ancient christians besought the mercy of God to pardon the sins of the dead, they believed them to be already in a state of rest and happiness (Antiq. of the Christ. Church, vol. i. p. 758, vol. ii. p. 440). The fact was, indeed, too evident to be denied; but the theological Proteus could assume every shape to elude the grasp |