conclusion to which the Apostle's question leads; when he asks, What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? To escape from this mortifying summons to the surrender of all right to boasting, mankind will always lend a favourably prejudiced ear to the most empty arguments, offered by mouths that will not be stopped, against the fact of all the world having become guilty before God.

Under this temptation many of the British Christians fell away from the faith, as it had been received, and was still acknowledged by the general church. Perhaps too, when they had heard what a considerable name their countryman, Pelagius, had made for himself in Italy, Africa, and Asia, by opposing the scriptural account of human corruption, the British Clergy felt something of a foolish vanity in sharing his celebrity; which made them willing, for this cause also, to pay to his sophistry the respect due to sound reasoning.

429.

The progress which the Pelagian heresy made in Britain, soon attracted the notice and pity of the neighbouring Christian nations. Two bishops, Germanus and Lupus, came over from Gaul with A. D. the charitable purpose of confirming the wavering, and using their best endeavours to reclaim those who had been seduced. But the account of their pious labours, which has come down to us from Bede, was written long after their deaths; and in an age when an evil custom had crept in, of endeavouring to excite undue veneration for the character of any person who had served the cause of religion, by connecting with his history numerous miracles, often exceeding those wrought by the Apostles, or their Lord. Hence, it is difficult to decide how much, of what we are told respecting these bishops, deserves to be credited. They appear, however, to have been respectfully received;

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and their kind advice seems to have had a salutary effect.

How ignorant of the true spirit of Christianity the historian of their labours was, may be gathered from his saying, that "by their own merits, and the intercession of the departed martyr St. Alban, they procured a tranquil voyage home." Germanus had twice left his home for a foreign land, solely to check the dangerous error of believing that man could claim aught from his Maker, on the ground of merit. It may be hoped that, as a master of Israel, he had not forgotten that there is but one Mediator between GOD and man*, who ever liveth to make intercession for ment. Could he, therefore, have anticipated, that such language, as has been quoted, would ever be used in speaking of his services, and of the mercies shewn to him, he would doubtless have grieved to think that God should thus be robbed of his honour; and would have poured from his heart the Psalmist's prayer, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.

4

CHAPTER IV.

Britain deserted by the Romans, and invaded by the Saxons.

THE division of the empire was by this time begun. The Roman authority had ceased in Britain about the year 409.

Whilst civil wars and foreign invasions were weakening the power of the imperial government in every quarter, the legions which garrisoned Britain had, latterly, chosen to give to one favourite officer after

⚫ 1 Tim. ii. 5.

+ Heb. vii. 25.

another, the title of emperor. They were always willing to march into the richer provinces of the South of Europe, to support the claims of their candidate; and in these expeditions, the desire of adventures, and the hope of booty, naturally induced the bravest of the British youth to accompany them. By the repetition of such measures, the Roman province in Britain was drained both of its appointed, and its natural defenders; whilst the independent tribes in the northern part of the island had received an increase of strength, from the addition to their number of the hardy race of Scots. These people passed over from Ireland, their earlier abode; and fixed themselves in the territories of the antient Caledonians, or Picts; eventually giving to their new country the name of Scotland. From time to time, like ravenous beasts breaking in upon a herdsman's folds, these wild warriors crossed the now ill guarded wall; and carried off the corn and cattle, which they were at once too indolent and ignorant to raise in abundance at home; or those useful productions of the commonest arts of civilized life, which they had neither skill to make, nor means to purchase. If driven back, occasionally, with the loss of many lives, before the few disciplined troops remaining in South Britain, the warriors, with the spirit which actuates the gambler, were still ready, again, to stake their lives upon the hopes of plunder and escape. The uncertain fear of these sudden invasions from a restless foe, produced amongst the Britons a feeling of insecurity gradually destructive of all those numerous sources of wealth, comfort, and maintenance, which spring from labour, employed in the expectation of a distant return.

The hope, too, of protection became, from the declining state of the empire, as uncertain as the predatory attacks of the Picts and Scots; so that the inhabitants of the Roman province could no longer

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place any confidence in a government, whose disor ders had a constant tendency to keep their subjects in a state of incapacity for self-defence; and which sometimes wanted the will, and at others the power, to relieve them from invaders. Whilst the latter, by an harassing warfare, desolated the country, of which they were too weak to take possession.

A. D.

409.

At a moment, therefore, when a treacherous minister of the emperor Honorius, had encouraged the surrounding barbarous nations to invade the empire on almost every accessible side; and when the Roman troops had quitted the island, to support the rebellion of an adventurer, the Britons threw off their yoke; deposed the imperial magistrates; and seizing arms, with the spirit of a people aspiring to liberty, and fighting for their own property, drove back their northern invaders.

410.

The following year Honorius sent letters to the British cities, exhorting the inhabitants of A. D. the late Roman province to provide for their own safety. Thus did he, virtually, renounce all claim to any farther authority over them. As this revolution, had been brought about by an universal consciousness of the necessity of the case, and not by the management of any distinguished individual, there was no one person prepared to assume, or to whom the nation was generally disposed to concede the authority, which had thus been relinquished by the Roman emperor. It became, therefore, a common prize, to be disputed for in each city, or district; and whoever had least diffidence, or was least scrupulous about the means employed in the contest, would be most likely to rise to a short-lived power.

The result seems to have been, that the country was soon divided into a great number of petty independent states; whose chieftains, having been elevated by fraud and violence over their late equals,

or fellow-townsmen, next employed the same sinful instruments in continued efforts to gratify their ambition, by subjugating each other.

Under such rulers, some vices were directly encouraged; and many others must have been left unrestrained. With wicked princes and a lawless people, the vacant churches would too frequently be allotted to ignorant or profligate clergy. Amidst such forgetfulness of GOD, a pestilence visited the island, sweeping off the wicked to judgment, and mercifully shortening the trials of the faithful. The weakness to which all these evils reduced the divided nation, encouraged the Picts and Scots to re new and extend their ravages.

A.D.

Forty years of this misrule, and consequent degradation of the British people, had elapsed, when three Saxon vessels, which might, perhaps, contain each a hundred men, appeared off 449. the isle of Thanet. They were commanded by two bold adventurers, Hengist and Horsa; and opened a career, which terminated in the conquest of that part of our island, henceforward to be called England.

The people to whom it owes the name of Englelond, or England, were the Angles; previously inhabitants of the district of Anglen, in the dutchy of Sleswick. From them we are called by the French, Anglais. But by our Welch fellow-subjects, the English are still named Saxons; from the most powerful of the combined tribes who subdued their British ancestors. In the Saxon confederacy were likewise comprehended the Jutes; whose name is still preserved in the Danish province of Jutland. The Saxons, properly so called, inhabited the country near the mouth of the Elbe; but the modern kingdom of Saxony, whilst it retains their name, shews that they subsequently moved southward, and took possession of the country higher up the course of that river.