VI. 6.

The Miracles of St. Dunstan.

You

You conclude the present chapter with an account of the miracles" at the death of Dunstan." thus express yourself upon them: "Whether the "miracles at the death of St. Dunstan were ac"tually performed by the monks, or only averred

by them as having been wrought, either in their "own sight, or in that of their predecessors, there "is the same fraudulent purpose, the same audacity "of imposture, and the same irrefragable proofs "of that system of deceit, which the romish church "carried on every where till the time of the Reformation, and still pursues, wherever it retains "its temporal power or influence."

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This is a most serious charge :-In reply to it, I beg leave to refer you to what I have already said on the miracles performed in the roman-catholic church. I must add, that the period in which the miracles, attributed to Dunstan, were performed, was the darkest period in the roman-catholic history. The nation was then suffering grievously from the effects of the Danish ravages. The demolition of monasteries; the slaughter of their unoffending inmates, who were the teachers and scholars of the times; the consequential destruction of books, and of all public and private memorials of literature and art, "had occasioned," to use your own words, "the total loss of learning in the Anglo-Saxon

"church."

But the gospel of the Anglo-Saxons still remained, and was still read. It informed them of the miracles wrought by Christ; and of his promises, that, until the end of time, his disciples should perform similar miracles, and even greater: and they knew that the promises of Christ could not fail. Besides, -as doctor Lingard justly observes, "Man is taught by human nature to attri"bute any event to a particular cause; and, when "an occurrence cannot be explained by the known "laws of the universe, it is assigned, by the illite"rate in every age, and in every religion, to the

operation of an invisible agent. This principle "was not extirpated; it was improved by the know"ledge of the gospel. From the doctrine of a super"intendant Providence, the Saxon converts were "led to conclude, that God would often inter"fere in human concerns. To Him they ascribed

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every unforeseen and unnatural event; and either "trusted in His bounty for visible protection from "misfortune, or feared from His justice that ven66 geance, which punishes guilt before the general

day of retribution. Men, impressed with this "notion, would rather expect the appearance of "miraculous events. On many occasions, they would "be the dupes of their own credulity; and," (particularly as they had the Divine promises, mentioned by us, in full view),—" ascribe to the bene"ficence of the Deity, and the intercession of their

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patrons, those cures which might have been "effected by nature, or the power of the imagi"nation." Let us add, that, in this temper of

mind, it was likely that sometimes, like the Northmen, gifted with second sight, they would see what they did not see; and hear what they did not hear.

Do not these observations solve the whole difficulty? Do they not account for the abundance of miraculous relations, in the time of which we are writing? Do they not render it unnecessary,-we had almost said inexcusable,-to account for them by imputing "fraudulent purpose, audacity of imposture, or systematical deceit," as is done by you, to the persons concerned in them? "If there was

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a man," says a writer not unknown to you*, "who could truly be called venerable, it is he, to "whom that appellation is constantly paid, Bede, "whose life was past in instructing his own gene

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ration, and in preparing records for posterity." Yet, on the relations of the venerable Bede, does the truth of a great portion of the Anglo-Saxon miracles depend. In the present enlightened age, does not our own country abound with superstitions? Inquire of the village beadles and the village dames. Does a week pass without an advertisement in more than one of our newspapers of a child's caul? Is this surpassed by any Saxon superstition? You yourself have recorded the miraculous incidents in the life of John Wesley.

I beg leave to submit the following remark to your consideration. While you so learnedly, and so eloquently, bring forward in "the Book of the "Church," so much to the supposed discredit of the Anglo-Saxon church, should you not have

* Quarterly Review for the month of December 1811.

assigned a just proportion to what you yourself allow, to have been eminently praiseworthy and venerable? Should you not have bestowed some pages on the edifying holiness of St. Neot; the monastic sanctity and extensive learning of Bredfirth, the monk of Ramsay; the extensive erudition of Bede; and the royal virtues and piety of Alfred?

On themes like these, how much did justice call upon you to dwell! But, how little do you say upon them!

Permit me, before I close this letter, to notice a great, but I am sure an unintentional misrepresentation contained in your present chapter*. You eulogize the primate Theodore, for prohibiting divorce for any other cause than that which is allowed by the gospel. Here, you evidently allude to the council held at Hereford in 673, at which Theodore presided t. It does not allow, or even mention divorce; but enjoins, that "no one "should forsake his wife," --(that is, should cease "to cohabit with her),-unless, as the gospel "teaches, for fornication; and that, if any one "should have expelled his wife, joined to him in "lawful matrimony, he should marry no other, but "remain as he was, or be reconciled to her."

* Page 84.

+ Wilk. Conc. vol. 1, p. 41.

LETTER VII.

CHARGES AGAINST THE MONKS OF WITHHOLDING

KNOWLEDGE, AND OF A

DISPOSITION

INVESTITURES.

ΤΟ

SIR,

IN this letter I shall consider the principal charges, which you bring against the roman-catholic church, in the seventh chapter of your work. What respects the claim of the popes to temporal power, I shall make the subject of a future letter.

VII. 1.

Charges against the Monks of withholding Knowledge, and of a Disposition to immoderate Severity.

You begin this chapter by intimating, that, "if "St. Dunstan had been succeeded by similar talents " and temper, and England had remained undis"turbed by invasions, the priesthood might have "obtained as complete an ascendancy as in antient

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Egypt, or in Tibet, founded upon deceit, and "upheld by uncommunicated knowledge, and im"moderate severity." On these expressions I long paused in silent wonder.

I must attribute them to that hurry of composition, which sometimes leads even the ablest writers into inaccuracy. If, for a moment, you had looked into the stores of your own mind,-and ampler few possess, you would have seen, that, in the