worship (25). Succeeding generations inherited the sentiments of their fathers: the veneration of relics was diffused as far as the knowledge of the gospel; and their presence was universally deemed requisite for the canonical dedication of a church or an altar (26). With this view Gregory the great, as soon as he heard of the suc cess of the missionaries, was careful to send them a supply of relics (27): and scarce a pilgrim returned from Gaul or Italy, who had not procured by entreaty or purchase, a portion of the remains of some saint or martyr. But the poverty of the Saxon church was quickly relieved by the virtues of her children; and England became a soil fertile in saints. Scarcely was there a monastery, that did not possess one or more of these favourites of heaven : their bodies lay richly entombed in the vicinity of the principal altar; and around were suspended the votive offerings of the multitudes, who had experienced the efficacy of their intercession. In the hour of distress or danger, the afflicted votary threw himself at the foot of the shrine with an avowal of his unworthiness, but ex

1

(25) @noaupos alunos. Act. St Ignat. c. vi. Compare this passage with that in the acts of St Polycarp. Τιμιωτερα λιθων πομυζέλων και δοκίμωτερα υπερ χρυσιον. Act. c. xviii.

(26) Bed. I. v. c. 12. Wilk. con. p. 169.

(27) Hence we are informed by Carte, that the veneration of relics was introduced into England by the Roman missionaries, but was unknown to the Scottish bishops Aidan, Finan, and Colman (Carte, hist. voi. i. p. 241). Yet Finan ordered the bones of his holy predecessor to be taken out of his tomb, and placed on the right side of the altar, juxta venerationem tanto pontifice dignam, Bed. l. iii. c. 17: and Colman, at his departure, carried with his into Scotland a part of the relics of the same saint. (Bed. l. iii. 26.) See also Bede on St Oswald, 1. iii. c. 11, 12.

pressed an humble confidence that the Almighty would not refuse to the merits of the patron, what he might justly deny to the demerit of the suppliant (28). Suc cess often attended these petitions: the clergy of each community could appeal to a long list of preternatural cures, owing to the intercession of the saints, whose bodies reposed in their church; and the crowds of visitants, whom these miracles attracted, added to their reputation and importance (29).

4. That the Deity has, on particular occasions, inverted or suspended the ordinary laws of nature, is a truth unequivocally admitted by all, who profess to believe in the gospel. But whether these celestial favours were confined to the fervour of the first christians, or continue to be bestowed on their less worthy successors, is a point which has been fiercely argued by religious controvertists. Without engaging rashly in the dispute, I may be allowed to observe, that it must be extremely difficult to assign any period, at which the gift of supernatural powers

(28) Bed. 1. iv. c. 31.

(29) Hence, if we may believe Dr Henry, arose a new species of monastic excellence, entirely unknown to the founders of the order. To become a perfect monk, it was necessary to acquire dexterity in the art of stealing relics; and he, who had been so fortunate as to purloin the little finger of a celebrated saint, was esteemed the greatest and happiest man among his brethren (Henry, vol. p. 305). This information he professes to derive from the life of St Aldhelm, by Malmsbury. Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 39. But if the reader consult the original, his curiosity will be disappointed. He will only learn that, when the treasures of Queen Emma were pillaged, one of her servants secreted the head of St Owen; and afterwards scrupling to retain it, deposited it with his brother, a monk of Malmsbury. Ang. Sac. ibid.

was withdrawn from the church. The testimony of each particular generation as forcibly claims our assent, as that of the preceding; and no argument can demonstrate, that if miracles were necessary at the commencement, they became inexpedient during the progress of christianity. To have doubted their continuance at the period when England was converted, would have exposed the sceptic to the severest censures: the supernatural privilege was confidently claimed by the missionaries; and the voice of the people sanctioned the belief, that it had descended to the more holy among their successors. The works of the Saxon writers are embellished, and sometimes disfigured, with narratives of extraordinary events, which their piety taught them to consider as evident interpositions of the Divinity. Of these there are many, which it will require no small share of ingenuity to disprove, and of incredulity to discredit (30): but

(30) Even an adversary must pity the perplexities, into which the miracles of St Augustine have plunged the scepticism of Dr Enfield. That both St Gregory and St Augustine ascribed the success of the mission in a great measure to the miracles, which had been wrought in its favour, he willingly acknowledges: that any miracles had really been performed, he as confidently denies. In the search of expedients to reconcile these apparent contradictions, he dances from one unsatisfactory hypothesis to another, till at last he rests, though with some reluctance, in the idea, that the pontiff and the missionary had engaged in a conspiracy to deceive the Saxons, by the artifice of imaginary miracles (Aikin's Gen. Biog. vol. i. p. 474). But in such a supposition, would not these religious jugglers have dropt the mask in their private correspondence? Would Gregory have so earnestly and pathetically warned his disciple against the suggestions of vanity and presumption? Was it necessary that the deception should be propagated as far as Alexandria, and that Gregory should acquaint the patriarch of

there are also many, which must shrink from the frown of criticism. Some may have been the effects of accident

or imagination; some are more calculated to excite the smile than the wonder of the reader; and some, on whatever proof they were originally admitted, depend at the present day on the distant testimony of writers not remarkable for sagacity or discrimination. But are we then to ascribe the belief of these miracles to the policy and artifices of the clergy, anxious to extend their influence over the minds, and to enrich themselves by nourishing the credulity of their disciples? The odious charge has often been advanced, but cannot be supported by the authority of any ancient writer: nor were it difficult to derive the easy faith of our ancestors from a more natural and a less polluted source. Man is taught by nature to attribute every event to a particular cause; and when an occurrence cannot be explained by the known laws of the universe, it is assigned by the illiterate, in every age, and under every religion, to the operation of an invisible agent. From this persuasion arose the multitude of deities, with which the ignorance of mankind had crowded the pagan mythology. The principle was not extir. pated, it was improved by the knowledge of the gospel. From the doctrine of a superintendant providence the converts were led to conclude, that God would often interfere in human concerns; to him they ascribed every unforeseen and unusual event; and either trusted in his

that metropolis, with the signs and wonders which accompanied the preaching of the missionaries? Tantis miraculis vel ipse vel hi, qui cum eo transmissi sunt, in gente eadem coruscant, ut apostolorum virtutes in signis, quæ exhibent, imitari videantur. Greg.

bounty for visible protection from misfortune, or feared from his justice that vengeance, which punishes guilt before the great day of retribution. Men impressed with these notions, would rather expect, than dispute, the appearance of miraculous events. On many occasions they would necessarily prove the dupes of their own credulity, and ascribe to the beneficence of the Deity, and the intercession of their patrons, those cures which might have been effected by the efforts of nature, or the powers of the imagination. It was their misfortune, that their knowledge was not equal to their piety: of their censors perhaps it may sometimes be said, that their piety is not equal to their knowledge.

5. The mortal remains of the saints are necessarily confined to particular places: their likenesses, by the aid of the pencil or the chisel, may be multiplied to gratify the curiosity and animate the piety of thousands. But the innocence and utility of employing paintings and images in religious worship, has been often doubted, and as often maintained, by hostile controvertists. To determine with precision the limits of that liberty, which should be granted or denied to the imagination of the multitude, is certainly a matter of no small difficulty. A worship, which appeals not to the senses, must insensibly sink into langour and indifference; and too studied an attention to ceremony may give birth to superstition and idolatry. To hold with a steady hand the balance between deficiency and excess, is the duty of those to whom is intrusted the government of the church; and their conduct should be guided by the genius of the people, the circumstances of the times, and the method of public instruction (31). During the three first centuries

(31) Sed illud ante omnia constituendum, imagines ex illorum