order to confer with them on the question, how the gospel should be published to the heathen; and they resolved, unanimously, that nothing of a legal burden should be imposed upon them. And the apostle of the Gentiles boasted that he supported himself by the labour of his hands; this he did for the purpose of cutting away all occasion for charging the preachers of the gospel with self-interested views, and to show that only the man who was inflamed with the love of Christ ought to publish the gospel, as the Saviour himself charged his disciples: Freely ye have received, freely give.' If the easy yoke of Christ and his light burden were preached to the stiff-necked Saxons with as much earnestness as the restitution of tithes and penal laws against the most trivial offences are enforced, they would probably make no opposition to baptism. Lastly, let there be teachers of the faith formed on the example of the apostles-preachers, not robbers; let them trust in the grace of Him who said: Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes.' (Luke x. 4.)" Thus also he wrote to Archbishop Arno: "Be a preacher of godliness, not a tithe-collector. Tithes have ruined the faith of the Saxons. Why must a yoke be laid on these rude people which neither we nor our brethren have been able to bear? We trust, therefore, that through faith in Christ the souls of believers will be saved."

8. Lindger and Willehad.

We wish here to mention two men who in their ministry among the Saxons knew how to guard against the faults censured by the Abbot Alcuin, and to present the model of genuine missionaries. One of these was Lindger. He was by birth a Frieslander, and the seeds of Christianity were early sown in his heart. His grandfather was a distinguished man of that people, named Ado Wursing. He belonged as a Pagan to that class of persons of whom the Apostle Paul says, that they who have not the law, and yet by nature do the works of the law, are a law unto themselves :-those who, if they have received no other revelation, yet hear the voice of God in their consciences. He took care of the poor and oppressed, and was an upright judge. But by his zeal against all injustice, he drew on himself the enmity of Radbod, the

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Pagan king of the Frieslanders, and was obliged to take refuge in the adjacent kingdom of the Franks. He afterwards became a zealous Christian, and assisted Willibrord (who has been already mentioned, and who was called to the archbishopric of Utrecht) in his labours among his countrymen.

Lindger was a grandson of this pious man. When a child, he gave signs of his future destination. As soon as he began to read and walk, he collected pieces of leather and the bark of trees and made them into little books. When he found any dark juice, he tried to write with it, as he had seen older persons do. And when he was asked what he had done in the day, he answered that he had been writing or reading. And when further asked, "Who taught you that?" He replied, "God has taught me." He showed early a great thirst for knowledge, and entreated his parents to intrust him for education to some pious man. They placed him under the care of the Abbot Gregory. His desire of knowledge led him afterwards to resort to the renowned teacher of his age, Alcuin, at York. Enriched with acquirements and books, he returned to his native country, where he was welcomed by his former teacher, the Abbot Gregory. After his death, he laboured, amidst manifold dangers and difficulties, for the conversion of the Frieslanders and Saxons. He founded, first of all, a Christian church on the island dedicated to Fosite, one of the pagan divinities, which hence received the name of Heligoland. After the overthrow of the Saxons, the district of Münster became the settled scene of his ministry, and he was consecrated bishop of that place. His missionary zeal impelled him to seek a new sphere of labour, attended with greater danger. He wished to visit the wild Normans, who had struck the Christian nations with great terror, and among whom he could reckon on no support; but the Emperor Charles would not allow him to leave his diocese. Even in the illness which befell him not long before his death in the year 809, he struggled with his bodily weakness, in order not to interrupt the discharge of his spiritual duties. On the Sunday preceding the night of his death, he preached twice, to two different congregations in his diocese: in the morning in the church at Coesfeld; in the afternoon, about three o'clock, in the church at Billerbeck, where he

expended the remnant of his strength in performing mass. He expired, with his scholars assembled round his bed, on the night of the 26th of March.

The second person to whom we have referred was Willehad, from Northumberland. By the report of what other missionaries had effected among the Frieslanders and Saxons, he was impelled to follow their example. He laboured first of all in the district where Boniface had met with martyrdom. Many persons were baptized by him; many of the better class intrusted their children to him for education. But when he betook himself to the province now called Gröningen, where idolatry still predominated, the fury of the pagan population was so excited by his exertions that they sought to murder him. But by the advice of one of the more moderate among them, they agreed first to inquire of their gods, by casting lots. And since even superstition must serve the will of God, Providence so ordered it that the lot was in favour of his preservation, and he was able to leave unhurt. He now proceeded to the district of Drenthe. His discourses here had begun to meet with much acceptance, when some of his scholars suffered themselves to be led away by intemperate zeal, and hastened to destroy the idolatrous temples, instead of first banishing by the power of Christ the idols from the hearts of their worshippers. This roused the wrath of the Pagans. They rushed upon the missionaries, and Willehad was loaded with blows. One of the infuriated mob aimed a stroke at him with a sword, intending to kill him, but the stroke only cut a thong by which the box in which, according to the custom of the times, he carried relics, was fastened about his neck, and thus he escaped. The prevalent notions of the times led persons to see in this incident, not the universal providence of that Being who numbers the hairs of our heads, and without whom a sparrow does not fall to the ground, and who can make use of every means for his holy purposes as he pleases,--but rather a proof of the protective power of relics. Even the pagans were induced by it to abstain from their attacks on Willehad, whom they believed to be protected by a higher power. When the Emperor Charles heard of Willehad's undaunted zeal for the propagation of the gospel, he sent for him, and assigned him his post in the district which afterwards form

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the diocese of Bremen. He was at first to labour as a priest among the Frieslanders and Saxons, and to perform every part of the pastoral office till a bishopric could be founded. After a while, his successful ministry was interrupted by a fresh revolt of the heathen population. He believed that it was his duty to follow his Lord's command (Matt. x. 23), and not needlessly to risk his life. In order to preserve his life for preaching the gospel still longer, he availed himself of the opportunity offered to him for flight.

He afterwards found a quiet place of refuge in a convent founded by Willebrord at Afternach (Epternach), which also became a rendezvous for his scholars, who had been dispersed by persecutions and wars. He spent two years at this place, occupied with teaching, reading the Scriptures, and the multiplication of transcripts of them.

At last, after peace had been restored among the con. quered Saxons, the bishopric intended by the Emperor Charles was founded at Bremen, and Willehad was installed in it. While on one of his visitation journeys, which he was obliged to take frequently on account of the peculiar character of his new diocese, he fell ill of a violent fever in the year 789, at Blexem on the Weser, not far from Wegesak, so that there were apprehensions of his speedy death. His scholars stood weeping round his bed. One of them, who was on very intimate terms with the bishop, broke silence, and with tears expressed the pain they would feel if their spiritual father were taken from them, and their anxiety for the bereaved congregations, which were scarcely won over to Christianity. "Oh, venerable father," he said, " do not leave those so soon whom you have but lately gained for the Lord. Leave not the congregations and the clergy destitute, who by your zeal have been brought together, that the weak flocks may not be given up to the attacks of the wolves. Do not withdraw your presence from us, your poor scholars, that we may not wander about like sheep without a shepherd." Willehad replied, with deep emotion, "Oh, do not wish, my son, that I should be any longer detained from the presence of my Lord; do not force me to remain any longer in this wearisome earthly life. I do not desire to live here any longer, and I am not afraid to die. I will only beseech my God, whom I have always loved with my whole heart, whom 1

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have always served with my whole soul, that he would grant me such a reward of my labour as it may please him. But the sheep which he committed to my care, I trust in him to preserve them; for if I have been able to do any good, I have accomplished it through his power. The grace of him with whose mercy the whole earth is full, will not be wanting to you."

9. Anschar, the Apostle of the North.

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If we compare Boniface and Anschar together, we shall again see an example of two of very different mental constitutions whom the Spirit of God that actuated them employed as his instruments. In Boniface there was a resem blance to the Apostle Peter, in Anschar to the Apostle John: in Boniface there was more of ardent, impetuous power; Anschar, more of quiet but active love. Boniface was more fitted to produce great outward effects; it was Anschar's gift not to grow weary of small beginnings, but quietly, with persistive love, to cherish the inconsiderable germs which are important as the commencing-point of a plantation that will advance to greatness.

Anschar appears to have received his fresh religious impressions into his opening mind when a mere child, through the early influence of a pious mother, whom he lost in his fifth year. When his father sent him to school after her death, he fell into the society of rude boys, to whose influence he yielded so much as to forget his early impressions of piety. Yet still they remained unconsciously hidden in his soul, and in a vision of the night were recalled to him. "It was as if he found himself in a slippery place, covered with mire, from which he was hardly able to find a way out. But near this place he thought he saw a pleasant path, and on this path he beheld a graceful female, handsomely adorned, and near her several other women in white garments, among whom was his own mother. When he saw them, he wished to hasten to them, but he could not get out of that slippery place. When these women were advanced nearer, he thought he heard one who stood at their head, very richly adorned, and who appeared to be the Virgin Mary, utter these