French monarchs with the titles of Most Christian Majesty, and Eldest Son of the Church: for the kings of the other barbarous nations which occupied the Roman provinces were still addicted to idolatry, or involved in the errors of Arianism.

§ 6. Cœlestine, bishop of Rome, sent into Ireland to spread Christianity among the barbarians of that island, in the first place, Palladius, whose labours were not crowned with much success. After his death, Cœlestine sent Succathus, a Scotchman, whose name he changed to Patricius [Patrick], into Ireland, in the year 432; a man of vigour, and, as appears from the event, not unfit for such an undertaking. He was far more successful in his attacks upon idolatry; and having converted many of the Irish to Christianity, he, in the year 472, established at Armagh the see of an archbishop of Ireland.

5 See Gabr. Daniel's and the Abbé de Camp's Diss. de Titulo Regis Christianissimi; in the Journal des Sçavans, for the year 1720, p. 243. 404-448. 536. Mémoires de l'Acad. des Inscriptions, tom. XX. p. 466, &c.

See the Acta Sanctorum, tom. ii. Martii, p. 517, tom. iii. Februar. p. 131. 179, &c. Jac. Waræus, Hibernia Sacra, p. 1, &c. Dublin, 1717, fol. The same Ware published the Opuscula Sti Patricii, with notes, London, 1656, 8vo. The synods held by St. Patrick are given by David Wilkins, Concilia Magne Brit. et Hiberniæ, tom. i. p. 2, &c. [and thence republished in Harduin's Collection, tom. i. p. 1790. &c.] Concerning the famous cave, called the Purgatory of St. Patrick, see Peter le Brun, Histoire Critique des Pratiques Superstitieuses, tom. iv. p. 34, &c. [A full account of St. Patrick and his labours in Ireland, is given by archbishop Ussher, Ecclesiar. Britannicar. Primordia, cap. xvii. p. 815, &c. Tr.Rapin de Thoyras, in his History of England, (tom. i. b. ii.) remarks, that there were three Patricii or Patricks. 1. The elder, who died in the year 449, mentioned in the Chronicle of Glastonbury. The great, who died in 493, after governing the Irish church for 60 years; he is the one mentioned by Mosheim. The younger, who was a nephew of Patrick the Great, and survived his uncle some years. From his writings it appears, that St. Patrick was one of the most skilful men of the age in converting the heathen: yet that he used

2.

3.

unsuitable means to convert them.namely, fear, threatenings, and fictitious wonders or prodigies. The Irish will show the cave, which is called St. Patrick's Purgatory, in which he shut up gross transgressors to be punished. Inclosed in the cavern (which is 16 1-2 feet long, two feet wide, and not high enough for a man to stand in erect, and situated on an island 126 yards long, by 44 broad, in lake Derg, county of Donegal. Tr.) the culprits were exposed to distressing terrors, and reported that they saw infernal spirits, and various terrific objects. The Englishmen who have visited the cave in modern times, could find nothing there to excite their fears. It appears, therefore, that the terror was produced by artifices. The cavern had certain holes, by which fire might be thrown into it. And the wild Irishmen, believing that the torments they were to endure there were inflicted by the devil, were put into so great fear that they dared not commit any gross offences. Schl.-There is no probability that Patrick had any thing to do with the cave that eventually became so famous. This, in fact, some say, did not attain celebrity until the 12th century. Lough Derg is upon the bor ders of Tyrone county, and contains some spots called holy islands, which are little else than bleak and barren rocks, and of which the one frequented by pilgrims, is called Station island. It comprises about half an acre, and has been, even of late years, crowded almost to suffocation, no fewer than 2000 persons having been

Hence St. Patrick, although there were some Christians in Ireland before his day, has been justly called the Apostle of Ireland, and the father of the Irish Church, and is held in high veneration to this day..

§ 7. The causes which induced all these pagan nations to abandon the religion of their ancestors and profess Christianity, may be gathered from that which has been already said. He must lack discernment, who can deny that the labours, the perils, and the zeal of great and excellent men dispelled the clouds of darkness from the minds of many; and on the other hand, he must be shortsighted, and not well versed in the history of this age, who cannot see that the fear of the vengeance of man, the hope of temporal advantages and honours, and the desire of obtaining aid from Christians against their enemics, were prevalent motives with many to abandon their gods. How much influence miracles may have had it is difficult to say. For though I can easily believe, that God was sometimes present with those pious and good men who endeavoured to instil the principles of true religion into the minds of barbarous nations: it

there at one time. The majority of the pilgrims appear to be women. Sensible Romanists are, however, growing ashamed of the scenes on this spot, and in its vicinity. Hence these pilgrimages are on the decline. Patrick's connexion with Rome is at best perfectly uncertain; or, perhaps, rather it is utterly improbable. Prosper, the chronicler, the friend, counsellor, and panegyrist of Pope Celestine, recommended him to send, in the year 431, a Roman bishop, named Palladius, to Ireland, which already contained some Christian societies. The experiment proved a total failure, Palladius being obliged to retire after a stay of not many weeks,-it has been said of not more than three. His mission, however, is commemorated in the chronicle of Prosper: not so that of Patrick, an omission so strange on the papal hypothesis, that Romish controversialists have been driven to contend that Prosper gives intelligible intimations of it, although he says nothing direct upon the subject. Such as have a bias against Romanism, and are, therefore, indisposed for mere inferences and assumptions in its favour, prefer that version of Patrick's history which he gives himself in his Confession,-an interesting document VOL. I.

E E

admitted as genuine by the best critics, and first published by Sir James Ware, from an ancient MS. From this we learn that Patrick was born in Britain, educated in Gaul, and led into Ireland by an irresistible impulse to evangelize the country, having been first consecrated at home. During the remainder of his life, he was haunted by constant yearnings for visits both to his relatives in Britain, and to his early friends in Gaul; but a sense of duty detained him on the scene of his labours in Ireland. He appears never to have been in Italy at all, or to have been any way connected with the Roman bishop. Hence, probably, the silence of Prosper. That chronicler could commemorate the brief experiment of Palladius, abortive as it proved, because it had a papal origin: but Patrick seems never to have been thought of; probably because his mission, though successful, shed no lustre on the Roman see.- -The Case of the Church of Ireland, stated in a Letter to the Marquess Wellesley, p. 70. Dublin, 1824. Hall's Ireland, iii. 272. Ed.]

[There is a remarkable passage concerning the miracles of this century, in the Theophrastus, seu de Immortalitate Anima, of the acute Eneas Gazæus,

is notwithstanding certain that the greatest part of the prodigies of this age labour under suspicions. In proportion to the simplicity and credulity that generally prevailed, was the boldness of crafty men in contriving impositions : nor could the more discerning expose their cunning artifices with safety to their own lives and worldly comfort. It is commonly the case, that when great danger attends the avowal of the truth, then the prudent keep silence, the multitude believes without inquiry, and the architects of imposition triumph.

CHAPTER II.

THE CALAMITIES OF THE CHURCH.

§ 1. The evils suffered by the Christians in the Roman empire.—§ 2. Attempts of the pagans against them.-§ 3. Their persecutions.-§ 4. In Persia.-§ 5. Individual enemies of Christianity.

§ 1. IT has been already observed, that the Goths, the Heruli, the Franks, the Huns, the Vandals, and other fierce and warlike nations, who were for the most part pagans, had invaded and miserably rent asunder the Roman empire. During these commotions the Christians at first suffered extremely. These nations were, it is true, more anxious after plunder and dominion than for the propagation of the false religions of their ancestors, and therefore did not form any set purpose to exterminate Christianity; yet the worshippers of idols, who still existed every where scattered over the empire, neglected no means to inflame the barbarians with hatred against the Christians, hoping by their means to regain their former liberty. Their expectations were disappointed, for the greatest part of

p. 78, ed. Barthii. Some of these miracles, he tells us, he himself had witnessed.-p. 80, 81.

8 The Benedictine monks speak out freely on this subject, in the Histoire Littéraire de la France, tom. ii. p. 33. It is a fine saying of Livy, Histor. lib.

xxiv. c. 10, § 6: "Prodigia multa nuntiata sunt, quæ quo magis credebant simplices ac religiosi homines, eo plura nuntiabantur."

9

Sulpitius Severus, Dial. i. p. 438, ep. i. p. 457. Dial. iii. cap. ii. p. 487.

the barbarians soon became Christians themselves; yet the followers of Christ had every where first to undergo great calamities.

§ 2. The friends of the old religion, in order to excite in the people the more hatred against the Christians, while the public calamities were daily increasing, renewed the obsolete complaint. of their ancestors; That all things went on well before Christ came; that since he had been every where embraced, the neglected and repudiated gods had let in evils of every kind upon the world. This puny shaft was shivered by Augustine, in his Books on the City of God, a copious work, crowded with various erudition: at his suggestion, also, Orosius wrote his Books of history, to show that the same, nay, even greater, calamities and plagues had afflicted men, before the Christian religion was published to the world. In Gaul, the calamities of the times drove many to such madness that they wholly excluded God from the government of the world, and denied his providence over human affairs. These were vigorously assailed by Salvian, in his Books on the government of God.

§ 3. But the persecutions of the Christians deserve to be more particularly noticed. In Gaul and the neighbouring provinces, the Goths and Vandals, who at first trampled under foot all the rights both of God and man, are reported to have laid violent hands on innumerable Christians. In Britain, when the Roman power was overthrown, the British race was most miserably harassed by its ferocious neighbours, the Picts and Scots. Wherefore, after various calamities, in the year 445, Vortigern was chosen for its king; and he, finding himself unequal to drive his enemy away, in the year 449, called the Anglo-Saxons from Germany to his aid. But these, having landed troops in Britain, produced far greater evils to the inhabitants than they endured before; for the Saxons became intent upon subduing the old inhabitants, and reducing the whole country under their own power. Hence arose a most sanguinary warfare between the Britons and the Saxons, which continued with various fortune during 130 years, till the Britons were compelled to yield to the Anglo-Saxons, and take refuge in Batavia and Cambria. During these conflicts, the condition

of the British church was deplorable; for the Anglo-Saxons, who worshipped exclusively the gods of their ancestors, overthrew it almost entirely, and butchered with extreme cruelty a great multitude of Christians.2

§ 4. In Persia the Christians suffered grievously, in consequence of the rash zeal of Abdas, bishop of Suza, who demolished the Pyræum, or temple dedicated to fire. For, being commanded by the king, Isdegerdes, to rebuild it, he refused to comply; for which he was put to death, in the year 414, and the churches of the Christians were levelled to the ground. This conflict, however, seems to have been of short duration. Afterwards, Vuraranes, the son of Isdegerdes, in the year 421, attacked the Christians with greater cruelty, being urged to it partly by the instigation of the Magi, and partly by his hatred of the Romans, with whom he was engaged in war. For as often as the Persians and Romans waged war with each other, the Christians resident in Persia were exposed to the rage of their monarchs, because they were suspected, and perhaps not without reason, to be favourably disposed towards the Romans, and to betray their country to them.3 A vast number of Christians perished under various exquisite tortures during this persecution. But their tranquillity was restored when peace returned between Vararanes and the Romans, in the year 427.5 The Jews, also, who were opulent and in good credit in various parts of the East, harassed and oppressed the Christians every way that they could. No one of them gave more trouble,

See Bede and Gildas, among the ancients; and among the moderns, Ja. Ussher, Britannicar. Ecclesiar. Antiquitates, cap. xii. p. 415, &c., and Rapin de Thoyras, History of England, vol. i. b. ii. [The Saxons were not directly persecutors of the Christians, but only involved them in the common calamities of their slaughtered and oppressed countrymen. Tr.]

Theodoret, Hist. Eccles. 1. v. c. 39. [where is a full account of the conduct of Abdas, and of the sufferings of the Christians during the persecution. Tr.] Bayle, Dictionnaire Historique, article Abdus, vol. i. p. 10. Barbeyrac, de la Morale des Peres, p. 320. [An account of the manner in which Christianity obtained free toleration and an extensive spread in Persia at the commencement of this

century, through the influence of Maruthus, a bishop of Mesopotamia, who was twice an ambassador to the court of Persia, is given by Socrates, Hist. Eccles. 1. vii. c. 8. Tr.]

Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Oriental. Vaticana, tom. i. p. 182, 248. [See also Theodoret as above. The most distinguished sufferers in this persecution were Abdas, the bishop of Suza; Hormisdas, a Persian nobleman, and son of a provincial governor; Benjamin, a deacon; James, who apostatized, but repented; and Sevenes, who possessed a thousand slaves. Tr.]

5 Socrates, Hist. Eccles. 1. vii. c. 20.

6 Socrates, Hist. Eccles. 1. v. c. 23, and 16; and Coder Theodos. tom. vi. p. 265, &c.