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cuit to understand why it chose a Boniface and not a Clement as the instrument for the formation of the German church.

Near this Clement stands Adalbert the Frank, who in knowledge and reflection was not to be compared to Clement. He was a forerunner of those mystical sects who opposed a certain internal religion of the heart to ceremonial service and human ordinances; but since they followed only their subjective feelings and their imagination, since Holy Writ did not stand by their side as a monitor to watchfulness over themselves, as a warning voice against the angels of darkness who clothe themselves as angels of light, as a waymark for the trial of the spirits, or because they wished to place themselves as masters above the Scriptures, instead of humbly following, hence fell into many dangerous self-deceptions of enthusiasm and often opposed the errors which they combated by errors of another kind. A sincere piety is expressed in this prayer of Adalbert's: "Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou who art the Alpha and the Omega (the beginning and the end of all existence), who art throned above cherubim and seraphim, supreme love, essence of all bliss, Father of the holy angels, thou who createst heaven and earth, the sea and all that is therein, on thee I call, to thee I cry, I invite thee to my miserable self; for thou hast graciously promised, Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name, that will I do.' Therefore now I desire thyself, for my soul confides in thee." He spoke also against the over-valuation of pilgrimages to Rome. But in other parts of the above prayer are found the names of various angels, which, besides other particulars, lead us to believe that Adalbert indulged in many enthusiastic notions, which if propagated among a rude people would be very injurious, especially when he was the object of an excessive veneration, though perhaps not desired by himself.

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Though on many points the mind of Boniface was cramped by the regulations of the Romish Church, yet at times the spirit of Christianity which animated him appears to have carried him above these limits. Thus he could not be satisfied when he heard that according to ecclesiastical law, the so-called spiritual relationship presumed to exist between sponsors was a bar to marriage between the parties; for how

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in this one case could the spiritual relationship be so great an obstacle to corporeal union, since by baptism all become sons and daughters of Christ, brothers and sisters of each other?*

But Boniface, at the advanced age of seventy years, was not willing to pass his last days in self-indulgent repose. When he could with confidence leave his follower Lull to carry on the work in Germany, Christian love impelled him to go where there was a deficiency of labourers, where severe conflicts for the gospel were still to be waged. The intention of labouring for the conversion of the inhabitants of Friesland, for whom nothing had been done since the labours carried on for fifty years by the zealous Willibrod, and the greater part of whom were still pagans; this intention had never left him, and now when there was nothing more for him to do in Germany, was revived with fresh vigour. He took leave of his follower Lull, saying: “I cannot do otherwise; I must go whither the impulse of my heart leads me, for the time of my departure is at hand; soon shall I be freed from this body and obtain a crown of eternal glory. But you, my dearest son, carry on to perfection the founding of the churches, which I began in Thuringia; earnestly recall the people from erroneous doctrines; complete the building of the church in Fulda (the favourite establishment of Boniface), and may that be the resting-place of my body, bowed down with years.” He commissioned Lull to get ready everything necessary for his journey, especially to lay a cloth in his book-chest (he always carried with him spiritual books, out of which he either read or sung as he was travelling), in which his body was to be wrapped when brought to Fulda.

He summoned up the remaining powers of his old age,

* In a similar manner Luther, the second apostle of the Germans, was brought to recognize the futility of these regulations of the Canon Law. In a letter of the year 1523 (De Wette's edition, vol. ii. p. 351), he says, "And it is to be considered that it is a very great thing that we all have one and the same baptism, the sacrament, God, and the Spirit, by which we all become spiritually brothers and sisters. Now this spiritual brotherhood does not prevent my taking a damsel to wife who has had the same baptism with thyself; why should it hinder that I have stood godfather to her, which is much less? The Evil Spirit has invented such regulations, to damage God's free rule."

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which were invigorated by the inspiration of faith, travelled through Friesland in his seventieth year with youthful vigour, preached, converted, and baptized thousands; destroyed idolatrous temples, and founded churches. The persons baptized had dispersed and were all to assemble again on a certain day, in order to receive confirmation. In the meantime Boniface and his companions had pitched their tents on the banks of the Burda, not far from Dockingen, on the borders of East and West Friesland. When the morning of the appointed day dawned, Boniface waited with anxiety for the arrival of his new converts. He heard the sound of an approaching multitude; but it was an armed host of infuriated Pagans, who had sworn to murder on that day the enemy of their gods. The Christian youths in the retinue of Boniface wished to defend, and were on the point of beginning the conflict; but as soon as he heard the tumult, he went out, accompanied by his clergy, with the relics which he had with him, and said to the young men: "Cease fighting, for the Holy Scriptures teach us not to return evil with evil, but with good. I have for a long time earnestly desired this day, and the time of my departure is now come. Be strong in the Lord and bear with thankful resignation whatever his grace sends. Hope in Him and he will save your souls." To the clergy he said: "My brethren, be of good courage, and be not afraid of those who can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul that is destined for eternal life. Rejoice in the Lord, and cast the anchor of your hope on him who will give you immediately the reward of eternal happiness; endure steadfastly the brief moment of death, that you may reign for ever with Christ." Thus he died a martyr on the 5th of June, 755.

5. Gregory, Abbot of Utrecht.

Boniface took a peculiar interest in the young, and, in this instance, sowed the seed which after his death brought forth abundant fruit. He left behind him those who having been educated and trained by him, continued to labour in different spheres, in the same spirit. Among these, his scholars, the Abbot Gregory distinguished himself. The manner in which Boniface first became connected with him,

GREGORY, ABBOT OF UTRECHT.

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shows in a remarkable manner with what power he could operate on youthful minds.

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When Boniface left his first field of labour in Friesland, and was travelling to Hesse, he came to a nunnery, situate on the Moselle, in the territory of Triers, where he was hospitably received by the Abbess Addula. It was a custom of the times to read a portion of the Scriptures during meals. For this office the abbess chose her grandson, a lad of fifteen years old, just returned from school. After Boniface had pronounced the blessing, the youth read out of the Latin Bible. Boniface thought he observed marks of intelligence in his countenance, and when he had finished, said: You read well, my son, but do you understand what you read?" The youth, who did not catch Boniface's meaning, said that certainly he well understood what he had been reading. "Then tell me," said Boniface, "how you understand it." The youth began to read it over again. Boniface then said: "No, my son, that is not what I mean: I know very well that you can read it; but you must give me in your mothertongue what you have read." The youth acknowledged that he was not able. “Shall I then tell you what it is?" said Boniface; and when the youth requested him to do so, Boniface let him read once more the whole distinctly, and then he himself translated it into German, and preached upon it before the whole company. And as Lindger, a scholar of the Abbot Gregory, who is the narrator of this incident, tells us, "it was evident from what source these words came; for they pressed with such power and rapidity on Gregory's mind, that at a single exhortation of this teacher, hitherto unknown to him, he forgot parents and native land, and at once went up to his grandmother and said, that he wished to go with this man and learn from him to understand the Holy Scriptures." The abbess tried to keep him back, and represented to him that this person was an entire stranger to him, and that he knew not whither he was going. But many waters cannot quench love." (Cantic. viii.) Gregory was firm to his resolution, and said to his grandmother: 66 If you will not give me a horse to ride with him, I will follow him on foot." When his grandmother saw that something heavenly touched the youth's heart, she gave him a horse and servant, and allowed him to go with

Boniface. Lindger says, respecting it: "It appears to me that at that time the same Spirit was working in this young man which inflamed the apostles, when, at the word of the Lord, they forsook their nets and their father, and followed their Redeemer. This was the work of the Supreme Artificer, that same Divine Spirit who works all in all, imparting to every one as he will."

Gregory from that time followed Boniface wherever he went, amidst all his dangers and toils, as a most faithful scholar. He travelled with him at a later period to Rome, and brought back Bibles with him, which he used in the instruction of youth. He also accompanied him on his last journey to Friesland, and after his teacher's martyrdom laboured much for the spread of Christianity and Christian education in Friesland, as abbot of a monastery at Utrecht. He took great pains especially in preparing missionaries and teachers. Young men from France, England, Friesland. Saxony, Suabia, and Bavaria were here united by the bond of holy love, and formed into a nursery for the kingdom of God; and from this spot preachers of the gospel went forth in various directions, among tribes that were still pagan, and such as were newly converted to Christianity. Early in the morning he sat in his cell with paternal anxiety, and expected each one of his scholars would come to him, to whom he would address out of the Word of God what was exactly suited to the wants and peculiar disposition of each individual. Frequently in his sermons he impressed on his scholars that the new man could make no progress unless the old man was continually dying; and with this reference he often quoted the words of the Prophet Jeremiah: "I have set thee to root out and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant;" and connected with it, as an encouragement to the conflict, the promise: Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him."

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In his seventieth year, three years before his death, Gregory had a stroke of palsy on the left side; but he retained his cheerfulness, went about among his scholars, or was carried by them; he continued to expound the Holy Scriptures, and to preach to them or to distribute

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