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wqueft of Liicms, in the feeond century, a» mlfflonancs by 

 Eleutherius bilTiop of Rome, thc-fe churches had fo'lcwcJ 

 the rules of their firil mailers, without rc^ardinr the lubfe- 

 quent alterations prefcribed by the church"" of R^orre. But 

 pope Gregory, by appointing Autrutliu metropolitan of the 

 whole iflaud, had clai:ned junfdi5tion over the churches of 

 Wales ; and Ausfuftin was wcU inclined to fuppoit the 

 claim. Two confersnces were held on this bufmds ; br,th 

 of which were uniucccfsfuL At the feeond conference, fe- 

 veu Britifh bifhops attended, and m^uiy mo- '..s from ihe mo- 

 naftery of Bangor, under the diredion of thcirubbot Uinoth. 

 Diipoled as they were to pay all due refpect to the archie- 

 pjfcopal dignity of Auguftin, they took mcafures, ptevi- 

 oully to their meeting, for preventing a termination of their 

 contefts which would be unfavourable to their intercit. Ac- 

 cordingly they conlulted a hermit of acknov/L-do-ed ui-der- 

 ftanding, and requeued his opinion, whether they .Tiould 

 furreiider their independence, and their ancient customs and 

 privileges, to the pretenfions of Augu!liu. T!ie hermit, 

 probably apprized of the difpofitlon and charafler of the 

 metropolitan, gave them the following itiftrudtions : " If 

 this man follows the example of his nir.ller, who was meek 

 and lowly ot heart, he is a lervant of G.)d, and you ought 

 to obey him ; if not, his claim is not to be regarded : let 

 Auguilin and his brethren be firft feated in the place of 

 meeting ; if upon your entrance, he rife up to falute you, 

 honour him as a melTenger from God ; if he aegleft to fliew 

 you this civility, rejett his offers, for he has not taken upon 

 him the yoke of Chrift." When the liritifh bifhops and 

 monks entered the hall, Augultin, who had taken the chair, 

 received them fitting. Upon which, conformably to the 

 advice of the hermit, they declined complying with the 

 propofals of the haughty prelate, and difclaimed all fubjec- 

 tion to the fee of Canterbury, and virtually to that of 

 Rome. Auguftin, incenfed by their coudutt, took leave 

 of the affembly, and denouncetl up n the Britilh clergy this 

 menacing fentence : " If you will not accept of peace with 

 your brethren, receive war from your enemies; if ye will 

 not preach the way of life to the Englilh, fuffer death from 

 their hands." The event correfponded with the menace : 

 Ethelfrid, king of Northumberland, foon afterwards 

 marched with a' large army to Caerleon, and made a great 

 llaughter, in which near 1200 of the monks of Bangor 

 were put to the fword. The memory' of Auguftin has been 

 loaded with the infamy of having, to fatiate his revenge, 

 fulfilltd his own prophecy. Bifhop Godwin (De Prasful. 

 Angl. p. 43. ed. i6i6.) exclaims, " Excellent prophet! 

 who could predift what he knew fo well how to accom- 

 plifh :" and he afferts, upon the authority of an anonymous 

 manufcript, and of an old French annalift, that Auguftin, 

 refentino- the rejeftion of his propofal by the WeKh biftiops, 

 ftimulated Ethelbert to fall upon them, as a wolf upon a 

 flock of ftiecp, with a large army, borrowed in part from 

 Ethelfrid ; and that the biftiop himfelf joined the army of 

 Ethelfrid at Cheller, and aflifted him to gain a complete 

 vidory. In oppofition to this teftimony, however, it is 

 urged by the learned Wharton (Angl. Sacr. t.i. p. 89.), on 

 the credit of an ancient book cited by William Thorn, 

 that Auguftin and pope Gregory both died in the fame 

 year, that is, in the year 604, when it is certain Gregory 

 died ; whereas the (laughter of the monks happened, ac- 

 cording to Godwin (ubi fupi-a), in 605. Bede, who men- 

 tions this battle (l.ii. c. z.), adds, that it was fought after 

 the death of Auguftin ; and though this paftage has been 

 fufpefted of interpolation, the fufpicion has been founded 

 merely on the omiffion of it in Alfred's Saxon verfion, 

 though it is found in all the moft ancient manufcnpts ; and 



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on Augiiftln's having figncd a charter with EtheTbfrt, in 

 605 ; whereas the cuftom of figning written indrumenls is 

 not older than the year 700. It is not eafy to d'.-cide 

 with any degree of certainty, whether Auguftin aHlftcd m 

 the war agaluft Wales ; but however th;s be, he cannot 

 be exculpated from the charge of having cntertaij-td frnti- 

 meuts of r--.engc pgainft the Wtifh bifhop., and he may 

 be juftly fufpecUd of having at Icaft adviud the ho'.lility, 

 which, in the idue, proved fo fital to the monks. (Set 

 Cave Hift. Lit. t.i. p. 549.) Auguftin, after liaviij sp. 

 pointed Laurence fr his fucccfTor \n the fee of Cantci'ouT, 

 died, as fomc fay, and particularly Wharton, w'... ; i 

 good realons for his opinion, in the yc-ar6c4, and ace: 

 to others, in 60S or 614. The reinainij of tiiij prelate wc.e 

 depofited firft in the monaftery, and afterwards in the ca- 

 thedral of Canttrbury. In 1091, fome of them were fc- 

 curcd by an abbot in a ftnall urn, guarded by iron and 

 lead, and hid in a wall, left the precious treafurc ftiould fall 

 into the facrilegious hands of tile Danes and Normans. 

 Alter the lapfe of another centur)', what yet remained of 

 the holy flcull was by another abbot cmamcnted v/itJr 

 gold and precious ftones, and repofitcd by itfclf; and in 

 the year 1300, a third abbot laid what he could find of 

 the holy rehcs in a marble tomb adorned with beautiful 

 carved work, and bearing an infcription of the following 

 jiiigIing\couplet : 



" Ad tumulum laudis patris almi ductus amore. 

 Abbas hnnc tumulum Thomas didlavit honore." 



As to the miracles afcribed to St. Auftin, thc\' are an- 

 thentidatcd merely by lying legends, to which no credit is 

 due. Befides reftoring a blind man to fight, for tlie purpofe 

 of eftabhftiing his authority atjd vindicating hij claims iu 

 the firft conference with the Britifh biftiops, he ia faid to 

 have left the print of his foot on the ftone which received 

 his firft ftep on his landing in the ifle of Thantit; to have 

 caufed a fountain of water to fpring up for baptizing; and 

 to have called up firft the corpfeofan excommunicated man 

 to make coufefiion of having rcfufcd the payment of tyihfs, 

 and then that of the pricft who had excommunicated him, 

 to give him abfolution, in the prefence of the people; after 

 which both of them returced to their graves! 



" As the apoftlc of the Englifh, Auguftin may deferve 

 to be remembered with honour, as the immediate agent in 

 the difperfiou of Pagan fuperttition, and the introduction of 

 a purer fyftem of religion; but other fuperftitions, it muft 

 be confefled, were introduced in the room of tnofe which 

 were removed, and the people, under the dominion of Chrif- 

 tian priefts and monks, ftill remained in a ftate of mental 

 vaftalage. The perfona! merit of this n.i(rionar%' will bear 

 no comparifon with that of the firft Chriftian apollles. 

 Whife Paul and his brethren, in their journeys for the pro- 

 paCTation of the gofpel, expofed themfelvcs to innumerable 

 perils, without any prcfptft of temporal advantage, thig 

 apolUc travelled under the proteftion of princes, enjoyed the 

 iupport and afTiftance of the ci%Hl power, and found his 

 fpiritual labours the direfl path to worldly honour and emo- 

 lument. A pope was his mafter: a king was firft hit 

 patron, and then his difciple; and the fole government of 

 his new church, with all the advantages of fupiemacy in a 

 well-arranged hierarchy, was his rccompencc. That which 

 decifively lixes the reproach of inordir.atc ambition upon his 

 charafter is, that he not only eagerly feized the metropo- 

 litan dignity in the Englifti church before it was well 

 formed, but endeavoured to bring the ancient and inde- 

 pendent Britifti churches under his yoke; and that, meeting 

 with more rtfiftance than he expected from the free fpint 

 of the ancient BiitoiiSj his haughty temper could not bruolc 



tke 



