CHAP. VII.

THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.

XII.

THE pale of the visible Church was still farther CENT. extended in this century among the idolatrous nations; and, though the methods of propagating divine truth were too often unchristian, some missionaries seem to have been actuated by an apostolical spirit. The articles under this head are only few, but well deserve the reader's attention.

Boleslaus, duke of Poland, having taken Stetin the capital of Pomerania, by storm, and laid waste the country with fire and sword, compelled the remaining inhabitants to submit at discretion. What right he had to make war on the Pomeranians at all, and if he had a right, how far he confined himself within the bounds of justice and humanity, are inquiries not easy to be answered, on account of the scantiness of our information. From such inauspicious beginnings, however, Pomerania was introduced to an acquaintance with Christianity. The conqueror endeavoured, for three years, to procure pastors and teachers from his own dominions, to instruct his new subjects; but could find none. He then engaged Otho, bishop of Bamberg, in the work. The duke of Pomerania met the bishop on his approach, and received him with much respect. Otho's The savage inhabitants, however, were with diffi- mission te culty prevented from murdering him. Otho was firm, and by Christian zeal, patience, and meekness, 1124. laboured to efface the disadvantageous impressions which the military executions of Boleslaus could not fail to make on their minds. The duchess of Pomerania, with her female attendants, received the Gospel. So did the duke with his companions, and he gave this evidence of sincerity, that he was

Pomerania.

A. D.

VII.

CHAP. prevailed on by the instructions of Otho to dismiss
his concubines, who were twenty-four in number.
This missionary was afterwards fiercely assaulted by
some of the inhabitants, and escaped with great
difficulty. But he bore the injury so meekly, and still
persevered in his labours with such evident marks
of probity and charity, that he at length established
the form of Christianity among them. He had
entered on his mission in the year 1124, and from
his success was styled the apostle of the Pomera
nians. After he had carried the Gospel into
Noim and other remote districts, he returned to the
care of his own flock at Bamberg, where he died
in 1139 ‡.
That the work, however, was very
slight among this people, appeared too plainly by
the event. The Pomeranians soon after ejected the
Christian pastors, and re-established the idolatry of
their ancestors.

Otho re

turns to his

flock at Bamberg

and dies,

A. D. 1139.

At

The inhabitants of Rugen, an island which lies in the neighbourhood of Pomerania, were remarkable for their obstinate opposition to Christianity." Eric, king of Denmark, subdued them, and, among other conditions of peace, imposed on them the necessity of receiving his religion. But they soon relapsed into the idolatry of their ancestors. length Waldemar, king of Denmark, having subjected them again by his arms to the Danish crown, obliged them to deliver up to him their idol, called Swanterwith, an account of which we have seen in the history of the tenth century. Waldemar ordered it to be hewn in pieces, and burned. He compelled the vanquished also to deliver to him all their sacred money: he released the Christian captives whom they held in slavery, and converted the lands which had been assigned to the pagan priests, to the support of a Christian ministry.

* Cent. Magd. Cent. XII. p. 16.

Baronius, Cent XII. See Magd. Cent:
Butler, Vol. VII.

He did

XII.

some mea

also something which was of a more salutary nature and tendency, whatever were his own motives of conduct. He furnished the ignorant savages with pastors and teachers. Among these shone Absalom, archbishop of Lunden, by whose pious labours, at length, the Gospel received an establishment in this island, which had so long baffled every attempt to evangelize it. Absalom * ought to be classed among those genuine benefactors of mankind, who were willing to spend and be spent for the good of souls. Even Jaremar, the prince of Rugen, received the Gospel with great alacrity, and not only taught his wayward subjects by his life and example, but also by his useful instructions and admonitions. Sometimes he employed menaces, but to what degree, and with what circumstances, I know not. Certain Rugen in it is, that the people of Rugen from that time were sure evanin some sense, at least, evangelized. No people gelized, had ever shown a more obstinate aversion to the A. D. doctrines of Christianity. Nor were the military 1168. proceedings of Eric and Waldemar calculated to soften their animosity. In this article, however, as in the last, the characters of the missionaries ought to be distinguished from those of the princes; for, in the accounts of both the missionaries there appears very good evidence of a genuine propagation of godliness. These events in Rugen took place about the year 1168 †. When I distinguish the characters of the princes from that of the missionaries, I am by no means certain that the conduct of the former was unjustifiable. The people of Rugen were a band of pirates and robbers; and it is not improbable, but that the right of self-preservation might authorize the Danish expeditions.

The Finlanders were of the same character with the people of Rugen, and infested Sweden with their incursions. Eric, king of this country, van

* Mosheim, XII. Cent. 351. Cent. Magd. XII. Cent. 13. + Butler, Vol. X.

VII.

CHAP. quished them in war, and is said to have wept, because his enemies died unbaptized. As soon as he was master of Finland, he sent Henry, bishop of Upsal, to evangelize the barbarians. The success of the missionary was great, and he is called the apostle of the Finlanders, though he was murdered at length by some of the refractory people. How far the censure of Mosheim, on his severity to them, may be well founded, I cannot decide. The missionary seems, however, to have been pious, and to have had good intentions. The laudable conduct of his sovereign also deserves to be celebrated. Eric was excellent both as a Christian and a king. His piety provoked the derision of some impious malcontents, by whom he was attacked, while employed in public worship. The remainder of the festival, said he, I shall observe elsewhere. It was the feast of the Ascension, which he was celebrating. He went out alone to meet the murderers, that he might prevent the effusion of blood, and he died Murder of recommending his soul to God. He was slain in 1151; and his tomb still remains, at Upsal, undefaced*. It may be proper to add, that Henry was an Englishman, who had taken considerable pains among the barbarous nations, before the period of his labours in Finland, and that he was stoned to bishop of death at the instigation of a murderer, whom he had endeavoured to reclaim by his censures. His death happened in the same year as that of his royal master. This person is highly extolled by John Olaus, in his work, De rebus Gothicis .

Eric,

A. D.

1151.

Henry,

Upsal, mur.

dered in

the same

year.

The Sclavonians were remarkably averse to the Gospel of Christ, and much exercised the patience and charity of Vicelinus, who preached thirty years in Holsatia and the neighbouring parts. He was

Mosheim, Cent. XII. 552. Butler, Vol. V.

+ His life was written by Benzelius Monum. Suec. p. 33. Butler, Vol. II. B. 19. C. 3. See Baron, Cent. XII.

XII.

character,

years

vonians.

at length appointed bishop of Oldenburg, which CENT. See was afterwards transferred to Lubec: and the fruits of his ministry were solid and glorious*. He Vicelinus, a died in 1154. All the accounts of antiquity are ver very shining full of the praises of Vicelinus; and his character who labouris briefly, but very strongly celebrated by Mosheim, edthirty with such unqualified commendations, that I cannot among but wish that very learned historian had favoured the Scla us with an abridginent of his life and actions, He died. taken from the sources of information, which he A. D. quotes, but which seem to us inaccessible. I have 1154.. consulted the Centuriators, and find matter there sufficient to excite, but not to satisfy our curiosity. The little to be collected from them shall be mentioned in the next chapter. And here is an instance of that which I have had but too frequent occasion to remark, namely, an extreme scantiness of information on subjects most worthy of our researches. How willingly would the evangelical reader have excused the omission of many pages in Mosheim, if he had gratified us with an orderly account of one of the best and wisest Christian missionaries of the age t.

The propagation of religion in Livonia will not deserve any detail. It took place in the latter part of this century: violent and secular methods were principally used, and the wretched inhabitants were compelled to receive baptism ; but I know no fruits that appeared in this century worthy of the Christian name.

Baron, Cent. XII.

See Cent. Magd. 16. Mosheim, Cent. XII. 554. The authors quoted by Mosheim are the Cimbria literata of Mollerus, and the Res Hamburg. of Lambecius.

* Cent. Magd.