win, Paulinus extended his preach ing to the kingdom of Mercia, and erected a church at Lincoln. Pope Honorius had been an attentive observer of his progress, and rewarded it, at the recommendation of Edwin, with a Pall. The same Pope had remonstrated earnestly with that prince upon his reluctance to forsake idolatry, and had exhorted Edelburga to persevere in her prayers for the convertion of her husband. The presents which he transmitted to her majesty, some stuffs with ornaments of gold, an ivory comb in-laid with the same metal, and a silver mirror, prove, as has been observed by Mr. Burke, that the arts were at this time little cultivated among the Saxons. Bede, however, assures us, the administration of Edwin was so excellent that few offences were committed in any part of his dominions; that from love or from fear, he was universally obeyed, and that the peace and prosperity which he established became proverbial among his countrymen.

But the progress of Christianity was stopped by the unhappy death of the Northumbrian monarch, who fell in a battle against Penda, king of the Mercians. The Queen and Paulinus fled to Kent, where the latter was appointed bishop of Rochester, and died in that station. -The Churches that had been founded in Northumbria were entirely destroyed; that at Lincoln shared their fate, and the northern part of the Saxon territories relapsed into idolatry; to be delivered from it, however, shortly, from another quarter, under happier auspices, and with more permanent success.

The immediate followers of Ed. win were Heathens; but their reigns were disfigured with every description of cruelty, and they were slain at no distant period by the Britons. Oswald was then called to the throne; having been driven into banishment in his youth, by Edwin, he had spent many years among the

Irish and Scotch; and been con verted by them to Christianity. The victory which placed him on the throne is attributed by Bede to a miracle, and the scene of action was long famous for many imaginary virtues. But the better authenticated portion of his history informs us, that he lost no time in sending to the Scotch for instructors, who might recall his subjects to Christianity, and that he condescended to act the part of an interpreter between the missionaries and the people.

The inhabitants of that part of our island which was to the north of the Saxon conquests, are denominated Picts by Bede; and he tells us that the Northern Picts were converted by Columbanus, and the Southern by Ninias, or, as he was also called, St. Martin, whose principal church was dignified by the title of Candida Casa, and is to be recognised, according to the antiquaries, at Withern, in Galloway. Columbanus, on the other hand, was permitted to take possession of the Island of Hii, where he founded the famous monastery of Icombhill. Its abbots (in the time of Oswald, and even of Bede) were at the head of the Christian Church in Scotland, and it may be presumed that they owed their exaltation in some degree to the destruction of Candida Casa, which had fallen under the dominion of the English, and drawn with it the Church, if not the kingdom of the southern Picts.

Accordingly it was to Hii or Columbhill that king Oswald applied for missionaries: and the first choice of the monks appears to have been unsuccessful. Their brother returned to them after a short stay in Northumberland, and reported that the English were men of a cruel, barbarous, untameable disposition. The cause of the miscarriage, however, after some discussion, was found to be in the missionary himself, an austere and unconciliating

man; and Aidan, a monk, who had been the first to discover the circumstance, was unanimously requested to undertake the office of succeeding him; and, having been consecrated a bishop, was sent immediately to Oswald. The king allotted him the Island of Lindisfarne, (since called Holy Island,) at the mouth of the Lindis, as the seat both of a monastery and a bishoprick; and the splendid see of Durham was thus founded by Oswald, and Aidan had the first place on the list of its bishops. From the date of his arrival in England to the present time, Christianity has been professed in this country without any interruption.

The kingdom of the East Angles was converted about the same time by Felix, a Burgundian bishop, who in the year 636 was sent to Sigibert, the king of the country, by Honorius, Archbishop of Canterbury, and whose cathedral, first fixed at Dummoch, or Dunwich, in Suffolk, was subsequently removed to Norwich. Sigibert paid great at tention to the establishment of schools; and the university of Cambridge, with some plausibility, lays claim to him as her founder.

Birinus, a Roman bishop, landed in the West of England in 634, and preached the Gospel with success. Oswald came into that country about a year after his arrival, and by the joint influence of this monarch and the bishop Birinus, Kingil, king of the West Saxons, embraced the Christian faith, and founded a cathedral at Dorchester.

Thus was a considerable proportion of the Island converted nearly at the same period, from various and unconnected quarters; and those institutions, principles and projects, which had so great an influence upon succeeding times, became firmly fixed on English ground, and may be distinctly traced through the following history.

The first was the establishment of Monasteries; for which the exREMEMBRANCER, No. 41.

ample and extraordinary virtues of Aidan, may be said to have paved the way. The second was the institution of schools of learning; which were patronised by all the leading Prelates of the age, and especially by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Aldhelmus, Bishop of Salisbury. The third was the gra dual subjugation of the Church of England, to the usurped authority of the Pope-of which, Wilfrid, Bishop of York, an ambitious and very able Prelate, was the principal and successful instrument. The more detailed consideration of the two last will be resumed hereafter; but the present sketch must not conclude, without a more particular notice of Archbishop Aidan, who is spoken of by Bede in the following terms.

The distinguishing feature of his life, and the grand recommendation of his doctrine was, that as he taught, so he lived. He neither sought nor loved the things of this world. He delighted in distributing among the poor whatsoever he had received from the rich. He traversed all parts of the country, and principally on foot, instructing every one whom he met-inviting the unbeliever to repent and be baptized; comforting the disciples of Jesus, and exhorting them, both by precept and example, to the prac tice of good works.

So far was he from indulging in the indolence by which future ages were disgraced, that on his journeys, and wheresoever he might happen to be lodged, he and all his attendants were incessantly occupied in reading the Scriptures. He fasted rigorously twice a week. Neither hope nor fear prevented him from reprehending the vices of the great-he never courted them by gifts; but freely divided all his property among the poor, orl aid it out in redeeming slaves, whom he instructed in religion, and raised in several instances to the Priesthood. We may rely more entirely upon O o

When I addressed my first letter to you, I anticipated not this controversy. I am, unwillingly on my own part, and, I think, unhandsomely on that of Mr. Owen, forced into it, by his prejudiced construction of the tone which he thought proper to think deserving his animadversions; and I am convinced that the subsequent taunts and sneers with which he has honoured me proceed from the pride of mortified vanity. Why else should he intrude upon the world an unnecessary defence of what he himself acknowledges to be erroneous, and which his committee have unanimously corrected? Why send into the world a pamphlet, unfairly and partially concealing the arguments of his opponents? Why announce that I am searching for more errors in his Society's Bible, and conceal from his party that I have discovered one of the most glaring nature?

Is it possible to imagine greater inconsistency than appears in Mr. Owen's conduct? He begins by declaring, that he is far from approving the manner in which the disputed passage is translated in the Bible Society's French Bible; he then attempts to defend the error, by producing authorities in its favour, but ends with preferring the more literal translation, and tells us that his committee agree with him, and have ordered the passage to be corrected in all future editions of their French Bible.

In one paragraph, he regards me as a "benfactor:" in the next, he taxes me with hostility. He professes his "readiness to profit by my reproof," and then accuses me of precipitancy and injustice. He acquits me, in one line, of hostile intentions, and, in the next, expresses his fears that " my old prejudices" against his society "are not worn off," solely, as he states, because I have expressed an intention to search for more corrupted translation, though he had promised to "be ever ready to pay a becoming

attention to those who admonish the Society of its errors."

Mr. Owen thinks my conduct was "precipitate." It was not for me to wade through the earlier editions of Ostervald, for the purpose of setting the Bible Society right, or to hunt for the source of its errors. This I left to its committees and its secretaries. I took their edition, ushered into the world with the assurance of careful correction and revision, and I proved my belief in their veracity, by consulting it; but I was deceived in my generous reliance upon this self-commending Society; and, though its most able defenders have acknowledged the error which I discovered, they honour me with the appellation of " precipitate," and taunt me with " prejudices," instead of thanking me for my being the means of removing at least one objection, which so many wise and good men make to their society." Pro gratiâ odium redditur."

I suspect that all this angry feel. ing arises from severe mortification. The boasted infallibility of the Bible Society has received a blow, which all the ingenuity of its partizans could not parry, and they now en deavour to vent their spleen upon me, because I have detected their

errors.

How much more dignified would it have been, to have at once promised correction of the corrupted passage; but simplicity of conduct suits not the fondness of display which the Bible Society creates amongst its followers, and its zealous Secretary could not resist the opportunity of giving to newspaper notoriety one pompous statement more of its immaculate and liberal proceedings.

Mr. Owen wishes "to speak of me with all due respect, and to give me the benefit of a disavowal of hostility." I am not anxious to be made acquainted with the degree of the former, neither can I accept the full measure of the latter, though I

certainly wished to disclaim a mere captious opposition to the Bible Society.

My object was truth; and I pointed out what I found erroneous in its French version of the Scrip. turcs, in order that it might be corrected in future; but my opinion of the general tendency of the Bible Society, more particularly in its home operations, remains changed.

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Mr. Owen "is tempted to fear that my old prejudices are not worn off." What these prejudices were it is for him to explain. But, if to teach the doctrines of our Established Church, with honest zeal, and to the best of my ability, was a prejudice, I plead guilty to the charge. If to use every attempt to bring up the children committed to my care, in the way which our Church directs they should go, and to prevent their departing from it, when advanced in life and exposed to the machinations of the numerous societies which are actively employed to seduce them; if to think the principle of these societies directly opposed to all this, then my "old prejudices" are not worn off, and I pray that they may cling round my heart, till it shall beat no more!

It is a matter of perfect indiffer. ence to me, in what light "the resident at Hertford" was considered by Mr. Owen. My own conscience reproaches me not; and, during my humble services in the discharge of parochial duties, in the cause of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge; and in furthering the national system of education among the poor, I received the approbation of the only ecclesiastical superiors by whom I submit to be judged; namely, the bishop of the diocese, and two successive archdeacons.

I lament the necessity of saying so much of myself, and I feel how foreign to argument will be a continued reference to personal feeling or conduct. Let us seek truth with humility; and, when it is found, let

party feeling vanish before it. The sacred cause of Christianity, and the correctness of biblical translation are of more importance than our opinion of each other. To our own Master we must both stand or fall. The Christian world will think but little of the Secretary of the British. and Foreign Bible Society, and "the recluse of Caen," when weighing the momentous concerns of Gospel truth, and the welfare of our venerable establishment, against the corruptions of paraphrastic translators, and the levelling principles of those who have no partialities, even for the Church of which they are members!

I agree with you, Sir, in thinking that the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge has been unnecessarily dragged into this controversy, though I am happy it has been the means of correcting an error; but Mr. Owen cannot, for a moment, suppose that the mistake of one society is any palliation of another.

I am not here called upon to defend or explain the proceedings of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and I place the utmost reliance upon the part which it will take in this matter. It will confess the error, and not subsequently defend it; it will ingenuously acknowledge a misplaced confidence, and not attack Mr. Owen for having noticed it; its Committee will promise future correction of corrupted passages, and its Secretary will not afterwards accuse Mr. Owen of mere wanton fault-finding, or hiut at the possibility of his preferring "the praises of Jesuits and Freethinkers" to "the blessing of those who are ready to perish for lack of spiritual, knowledge."

I reckon among my acquaintance in this country, many who are neither Jesuits nor Freethinkers, and I would guard them and all their countrymen against versions of the Scripture, which have a tendency to teach unsound doctrine. I witness too many instances of dogmatical presumption here, not to feel dis