The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-23 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury. By W.
Farquhar Hook, D.D., Dean of Chichester.
Vol 1. Anglo-Saxon period. Bentley.
This is the opening volume of a work of great
historical and literary value, and one which, if the
writer should be enabled to complete, will be a
standard contribution to our national literature. Of
the early history of the English Church but little is
known among us; indeed, the general knowledge of
our secular history at the Anglo-Saxon epoch is
somewhat superficial and uncertain. Yet the
Romans, is their palmiest days, cherished the song
and legend, however fabulous, that told of the
valour of the barbarians who founded their city,
and it ill becomes us, from the pinnacle of our
modern greatness, to look with scorn or lack of
interest on the achievements of our Saxon fore-
fathers. In them, whatever their disasters or lack
of unity and civilization, we may trace the sturdy
independence of character which has made us what
we are. We find the same intolerance of foreign inter-
ference, and watch the influence of some of the great
principles which have rendered our constitution in
every age the object of wonder and admiration.
The mere outline of events, indeed, and the names
of the principal monarchs, we may gather from
our school histories, but of the internal jurisdiction
of the country, and the feelings which animated
the populace, and still more of the constitution of
the Church in the Anglo-Saxon period, very
little is generally known. This ignorance or indif-
ference Dr. Hook has undertaken to disperse. He
remarks that to the national history subsequent to
the Norman invasion, an especial interest is im-
parted by our chief historians, through the art
with which they have grouped their facts round
one central figure, and have pourtrayed the leading
features of the age in connection with the characte-
ristics of the monarch. Following the example of
Hume and his successors, Dr. Hook has selected
for his principal personage the Primate of our
Church, intending "to connect with his biography
the ecclesiastical events of his age, and thus asso-
ciate facts which are overlooked in their insignifi-
cant isolation, and customs, which abstractedly
considered, are valued only by the antiquary."
From an early period of his life he has, he tells us,
entertained this idea, but arduous duties
in the manufacturing districts demanded all
his energies, and only allowed him to make the
study of ecclesiastical history his recreation. Now,
however, the increased leisure of advancing years
has enabled him to resume his favourite pursuit, and
we trust he may be spared for the full accomplish-
ment of his laborious but lofty project; a project
fbr which he is eminently qualified, not only by a
clear and luminous style, and a vast fund of anti-
quarian knowledge, but by a spirit of comprehen-
sive benevolence, founded on an enlightened tolera-
tion for the weaknesses and inconsistencies of frail
human nature, which is rare among the best writers,
and is seldom the especial qualification of digni-
taries of the Church. In his interesting introduc-
tory chapter this characteristic is particularly ap-
parent, when he discourses on the failings and errors
of our predecessors, and cautions us against rash
judgments or hasty censures, by reminding us of the
malignity of modern controversialists, and the fana-
ticism of many branches of our own religious world.
The early history of our Church, he warns us, is a
history of its gradual corruption in doctrine, in
ritual, and discipline; its foundation having taken
place at the time when the Western Church, of
which it was a branch, was in a state of transition
From its primitive simplicity to the complicated
and uncertain doctrines of a later time. Its origin,
as is wen known, is due to Gregory the Great; and
the chief of the first band of missionaries, an(l. trot
Archbishop of Canterbury, was Augustine, who has
been styled " The Apostle of the English." Of
this great man, the author, though admitting his
eloquence and ability, does not take so high an esti-
! mate as some others have done. But although he
is always ready to make allowances for the spirit
of the age and the conflicting opinions of the time,
his duty, as a fair and candid historian, prevents
him from awarding equal praise to all the holders
of the archiepiscopal dignity. That his opinion of
the successive archbishops, is impartial and unex-
travagant the following passage affords evidence :
"Among the archbishops there are a few eminent men
distinguished as much for their transcendent abilities as for
their exalted station in society; but, as a general rule,
they have not been men of the highest class of mind. In
all ages the tendency has very properly been, whether by
election or by nomination, to appoint safe men,' and as
genius is generally innovating and often eccentric, the
safe men are those who, with certain high qualifications,
do not rise much above the intellectual average of their
contemporaries. They are practical men rather than
philosophers and theorists, and their impulse is not to per-
fection, but pada nen movere. Prom this very circum-
stance their history is the more instructive, and, if few
among the archbishops have left the impress of their mind
upon the age in which they lived, we may, in their
biography, read the character of the times which they
fairly represent. In a missionary age we find them
zealous, but not enthueiaatio ; on the revival of learning,
whether in Anglo-Saxon times or the fifteenth century,
they were men of learning, although only a few have
been distinguished as authors. When the mind of the laity
was devoted to the camp or the chase, and prelates were
called to the administration of public affairs, they dis-
played the ordinary tact and diplomatic skill of profes-
sional statesmen, and the necessary acumen of judges; at
the Reformation, instead of being leaders, they were the
cautious followers of bolder spirits; at the epoch of the
Revolution, they were anti-Jacobites rather than Whigs ;
in a latitudinarian ago they have been, if feeble as gover-
nors, bright examples of Christian moderation and charity."
St. Augustine's success was extraordinary, and he
was fortunate in being warmly supported by
Ethelbert, King of Kent, who had married a Chris-
tian princess, daughter of Charbert, King of Paris.
It had been stipulated that she should enjoy the
exercise of her faith, and she came to England
attended by her chaplain. The way was thus pre-
pared for the Italian missionaries, and the conversion
of the King and establishment of the Christian
church in Kent soon followed. The conversion
of Northumbria was not so lasting in its results.
It was accomplished in the reign of Edwin, one of
the most powerful of the northern monarchs, and
its chief instrument was Paulinus, first Arch-
bishop of York. He accompanied Ethelburga,
sister of Eadbald, King of Kent, to the Court of
Edwin, whose wife she became, and he succeeded
in persuading the King to favour the new faith.
It was impossible, however, to establish it in his
domains without the consent of the witan, which
was accordingly convoked. The following passage
is interesting, as showing the support which the
new religion met with from those who might have
been expected to be its fiercest antagonists, and
also from the proof it affords of the antiquity of
free discussion among us :--
"The Witenagemot was held. The account of its pro-
ceedings is preserved in Bede, and is deeply interesting
as the earliest report in existence of a parliamentary de-
bate. The first speaker was Coil, the chief priest of the
Northumbrians. It was to this effect 0 king, con-
sider what this is which is now preached tows ; for I
verily declare to you that as to my own experience, the
religion which we have hitherto professed has no power
nor utility in it. For none of your people has applied
himself more diligently to the worship of our gods than I ;
and yet there are many who receive greater favours and
higher honours from you than I do, and are more prospe-
rous in all their undertakings. Now if the gods were good
for anything, they would rather assist me who have
been most careful to serve theme If, therefore, upon
examination you find those new doctrines which are
preached to us, better and more efficacious, it only remains
for us immediately to receive them without any delay.'
"This speech is of much importance, since it enables us
to account for the subsequent renunciation of Christianity,
which was as sudden and complete as its reception.
"Paulinus had made a grand mistake by encouraging
Edwin, Coil, and the other converts to believe that the
merits of a religious scheme were to be tried by the tem-
poral advantages whichfollowed its reception. Success in
battle, the attainment of political power, the acquisition of
wealth,—these were the rewards held out by Paulinus,
from his first interview with Edwin, at the palace gate of
Redwald, until his late victory over the West Saxons and
Cuichelm their king. Edwin at that time promised to
embrace the Christian faith if ho obtained a victory, and
the victory was claimed by Paulinus as an evidence of
Christianity. We perceive the effects of :his teaching in
the speech of Coifi, who had evidently conferred with the
archbishop; and we shall see hereafter that the overthrow
of Christianity in Northumbria, on the defeat of Edwin, is
attributable to this error, one into which enthusiasts have
frequently fallen.
" We are gratified by the wiser speech of one of the
witan, who may be regarded as the representative of those
who are converts from higher motives, and who, when the
time of trial came, were c faithful found amidst the
faithless.'
" ' The present life of man upon earth, 0 king I seems
to me, in comparison of that time which is unknown to us,
like to the swift flight of a sparrow through a room wherein
you sit at supper in winter, with your ealdormen and
thanes, a good fire having been lit in the midst, and the
room made warm thereby, whilst storms of rain and snow
rage abroad; the sparrow, I say, flying in at one door, and
immediately out at another, whilst he is within, is safe
from the wintry storm; but after a short space of fair
weather, soon passed over, he immediately vanishes out of
your sight ints the dark winter from which he had emerged.
Co this life of man appears for a short space ; but of what
went before, or what is to follow, we are utterly ignorant.
If, therefore, this new doctrine contains something mere
certain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed.' The
other rulers, tend king's counsellors, spoke to the same
effect."
Before many years ii N 1 elapsed, however, King
Edwin lost both his croon and his life in an
adverse field, and the tad extirpation of the
Northumbrian Church followed. Paulinus had
made a grand mistake in his teaching; he bad, as
the author observes, " based the evidence of Chris-
tianity on the Jewish principle, making temporal
success the test of truth. What was the fearful
inference which men who acted on the
principle
of Coifi were to deduce from the fatal fight on
Hatfield Chase ?"
The feeling expressed in the
beautiful saying of Bacon, that " Prosperity is the
blessing. of the Old Testament,
and adversity of
the New," seems to have been either unknown or
wilfully overlooked by most of these early tenhers.
Dealing with barbarians, they endeavoured to
render their teaching comprehensible, by reducing