my blessed parent; she taught me the lessons of mercy, and though years of bitterness and sorrow have intervened since they fell on my ear, they shall now be practised :-Saxons, you are free! Come, share our humble meal."

St. Augustine, lifted his streaming eyes to Heaven, ejaculating: "Wonderful are thy ways, O God! perfect the work which thou hast so auspiciously commenced."

The prisoners were immediately set at liberty, and food-the flesh of the wild boar, and forest herbs-was placed before them. The saint sojourned some days in the forest, and happily completed the work which war and trouble had interrupted. The old man was easily persuaded to renounce his heathen gods, and ere the saint departed, he was baptized with the whole of his tribe, every one lending a willing ear to the word of truth; and in the depths of the forest where the dark rites of paganism so lately held their gloomy reign, the torch of Christianity now shed light and glory around. Augustine, ever attentive to the temporal as well as the spiritual interests of the people, prevailed on Ethelbert to pardon the converted Britons and to assign them lands, where they hereafter dwelt in peace and happiness, exemplary in all that constitutes good subjects.

The saint pursued his course northwards, and preaching and converting numbers as he went along, arrived in Yorkshire. Here he reaped a more abundant harvest than had in any other place rewarded his labours, for it was not by tens or by hundreds, but by thousands that the people came to be baptized. Abiding for a short time in a populous neighbourhood on the banks of the Swale*, the converts became so numerous that the sacred rite which introduced them into the Christian Church, could not be performed so fast as necessity required. The holy man knelt down in the river, and implored the blessing of heaven on the waters: a snow-white dove flew slowly by the saint, dipping its spotless wings into the stream: Augustine then directed the people to enter the water, and pronounced over then his benediction: in this manner ten thousand people were baptized in one day.

We have before stated, that some remains of Christianity lingered among the Britons who had preserved their independence their bishops were now invited to a conference by Augustine, to assimilate their rites with those which he himself introduced, the course of time having caused them to differ on some minor points, principally ceremonial, from their brethren

* A river of Yorkshire.

of Italy and the continent. They met on the borders of the county of Worcester, and a tree, which stands on the spot, has ever since borne the name of Augustine's oak. The heads of the British church were not very willing to acknowledge the authority of Augustine. To prove that his mission was divine, the saint desired them to place before him an afflicted person : they brought him a blind man, and once more he appealed to heaven, and power was given him from on high: the blind man opened his eyes, and the assembly reverently yielded to the authority of Augustine, and received his instructions for accomplishing the work which they had met to perform. The people, however, persuaded by the inferior clergy, refused to abide by the decision of their superiors, or even to aid in the spread of the Christian religion. For their pride and their obstinacy a fearful punishment was awarded them: the King of Northumberland led an army into Wales, and twelve hundred monks and priests were slaughtered in one day. After this, the holy bonds of peace united the churches, and heaven smiling upon their labours, the light of Christianity soon shone in every corner of Britain. The companions of Augustine laboured worthily in the vineyard of the Lord, and great was their hire and rich their reward. Britain, as we have before stated, was at this time divided into several kingdoms; St. Wildred, as we have also seen, converted the inhabitants of Sussex: the kingdom of Northumberland was converted by Paulinus; that of Wessex by Birinus; Mercia, and the other states of the Heptarchy, by other companions of Augustine.

Force was in no case employed; nor were the people violently severed from their old faith; all the ceremonies which could be retained without sin were permitted to exist, and, to the blessings conferred by the change, was added the happy and peaceful manner in which it had been effected. Full of years, and full of glory, after having seen his labours blessed by the conversion of a whole people to the true and holy faith, and from savage to social life, St. Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, and so justly styled THE APOSTLE OF ENGLAND, laid down his life in the land which he had taught to know the true God, whose servant he was, and who now bestowed on him His abundant reward in the house of many mansions.

THE THEOLOGIAN. No. I.

THE EXCELLENCY OF TRUE RELIGION.

"Thou art the source and centre of all minds,
Their only point of rest, eternal world!
From thee departing they are lost, and rove
At random without honour, hope or peace.
From thee is all that soothes the life of man,
His high endeavour, and his glad success,
His strength to suffer, and his will to serve.
But oh, thou bounteous giver of all good,
Thou art of all thy gifts thyself the crown!
Give me what thou canst, without thee we are poor;
And with thee rich, take what thou wilt away."

COWPER.

ALL religion is at best ceremonial, and without any vital essence or effect, unless accompanied with a firm belief in the infinite goodness of God; and so far from any one being able to accomplish the first and paramount duty he is enjoined by his Saviour to perform, viz, "to love his God with all his heart, with all his mind, with all his soul, and with all his strength," it is morally impossible he can love him at all, unless his heart be fully impressed with an absolute conviction of his love and goodness. In every community of Christians, there are it is feared many who fall under the denomination of "the unfortunate;" and the rest are ignorant how soon they may be called to join them. The prosperity of no man on earth is stable and assured. Dark clouds may soon gather over the heads of those whose sky is now most bright. Hence, to a thoughtful mind, no study can appear more important, than how to be suitably prepared for the misfortunes of life; so as to contemplate them in prospect without dismay, and, if they must befal, to bear them without dejection. RELIGION effects this, for it prepares the mind for encountering with fortitude, the most severe shocks of adversity. Worldly men enlarge their possessions and say in their hearts "my mountain stands strong, and I shall never be moved," but so fatal is their delusion, that instead of strengthening, they are weakening, that which can only support them when those trials come. How different is a truly good man's condition in those trying situations of life. RELIGION had gradually prepared his mind for all the events of this inconstant state. It had instructed him in the nature of true happiness. It had weaned him from the undue love of the world, by discovering to him its vanity, and by setting higher prospects in his view. Afflictions do not

attack him by surprise, and therefore do not overwhelm him. He was equipped for the storm, as well as the calm, in this dubious navigation of life.

RELIGION-taking it for that vital and practical principle which is alone worthy the name-is a devotedness of the heart to God. This is unquestionably the essence of religion, but in the present state of mankind it is a certain and awful fact, that the heart is not naturally devoted to God, and he hath himself told us that the heart "is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.

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To devote the heart to God therefore, is the work of his spirit, or in other words, it is the effect of Divine Influence. The heart is the spring of moral action. A devotedness of heart implies, therefore, a course of obedience to God's revealed will, and a cordial acquiescence in his method of salvation, so far as it is understood. This is the "one" or only true religion. Not that this is the only doctrine of importance in Christianity; for the atonement holds a station of no less prominence and importance in the system of revelation. Nor is the profession of this religion to be confined to one form or mode of religion; for the most perfect form of religion, without the work of the Holy Spirit upon the_heart, is but the form of godliness without the power. True Religion may therefore be said to derive its pedigree from heaven, it comes from heaven and constantly moves towards heaven again: it is a beam from God, as every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of light, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning." God is the first truth and primitive goodness: true religion is a vigorous efflux and emanation of both upon the spirits of men, and therefore is called "a participation of the divine nature." Indeed God hath copied out to himself in all created being, having no other pattern to frame any thing by but his own essence; so that all created being is umbratilis similitude eutis increati, and is, by some stamp or other of God upon it, at least, remotely allied to him: but true religion is such a communication of the Divinity, as none but the highest of created beings are capable of, whilst sin and wickedness are of the basest and lowest original, as nothing else but a perfect degeneration from God and those eternal rules of goodness which are derived from him. Religion is a heaven-born thing, the seed of God in the spirits of men, whereby they are formed to a similitude and likeness of himself. A true Christian is every way of a most noble extraction, of a heavenly and divine pedigree, being as St. John expresses it "born from above."

Titles of worldly honour in heaven's heraldry are but only tituli nominales; but titles of divine dignity signify some real thing, some real and divine communications to the spirits and minds of men. All perfections and excellencies in any kind are to be measured by their approach to that primitive perfection of all, God himself; and therefore participation of the divine nature cannot but entitle a Christian to the highest degree of dignity: "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."

By RELIGION, then, we understand a spiritual principle, influencing all the mind of man. The Divinity of the principle, as emanating incontrovertibly from the Deity, is demonstrated in its perpetuity and consistency. Considered therefore as a spiritual principle, in its legitimate and scriptural import, it possesses an influence as universal as irresistible.-It might be argued from its author-God: but it is most obviously established by its results. To trace these, will be our future and delightful occupation: but primarily to advert to the principle, is as much an act of caution as of gratitude: if the latter demands that we should not withhold the tribute due to the Benefactor, the former requires that we should not fall into error upon a subject so infinitely interesting. This life-giving and sanctifying principle, is that which our Lord means, when he says "Ye must be born again." It is the same, to which the apostle alludes, when he says you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sin." Where then was conscience? and reason? and the moral sense? the one asleep, the other darkened, the last depraved. Ah! it required the omnipotent arm of the Creator to new model his own work, and repair what sin had ruined! "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one!"—"With man it is impossible; but not with God: for with God all things are possible." It belongs to man to decorate that which is external-with God to cleanse whatever is radically and internally impure. RELIGION must be con

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sidered the basis of morals; for as morals relate to God as well as to man: as they respect God, they are called religion : but our duties to our Maker, and our duties to our fellow men, are inseparable and indivisible. That man is not, therefore, a strictly moral man, whose actions will not bear the scrutiny of the omniscient and omnipresent God. To this test the moral law subjects the creature: and to this high standard of eternal right, did the most illustrious and pious characters of old, constantly advert. "Thou God seest me," gave Hagar her courage. "How shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"