had a master beyond the Alps, and the great West was soon able to speak for itself in a free council. It was called by Charles, King of the Franks, and assembled at Frankfort, A. D. 794. It overruled Adrian and his officious pretensions, refuting Irene's council, corroborating, in fact, the testimony of the previous council of Constantine the Fifth. Of all councils not œcumenical, Frankfort comes nearest to being such; and it worthily and nobly brings to a close the period of the synodical testimony of the whole undivided Church.

7. THE RULE OF FAITH.

What then was the rule of faith recognized and established by all the Ecumenical Councils? The answer comes to us, as from that lofty seat on which the Gospels were enthroned at Ephesus and at Chalcedon, when Vincent of Lerins replies, “The Holy Scriptures." But when we come to interpretation, What is the rule? he answers, "What from the beginning has been received always, everywhere, and by all."

8. THE MAXIM OF VINCENT.

Such is the great principle established by Tertullian, in his "Prescription against Heretics." But, as I reminded you, it is convenient to quote it in the aphorism of Vincent; his test of catholicity being so terse in statement, so clear in application, and so conclusive in its force. It comes to us just

at the epoch that closed the Four Great Councils, and certifies us as to the whole spirit of their legislation in words that are "nails and goads." Observe then, (1) negatively, that no one bishop or see was of any decisive weight in the definition of doctrine. "No," says Vincent, quoting St. Paul, "nor an angel from heaven, should he teach anything that was not from the beginning." But (2) positively, catholic doctrine must be that which has been "always held"; (3) and that not merely in one church, see, or patriarchate, but "everywhere"; and (4) not merely everywhere, by some individual doctor, speaking his private opinion, or presuming to speak for others, but "by all," that is to say, with the Amen of the whole Church ratifying and confirming the same. Such was catholicity then, as understood by the undivided Catholic Church; and with this understanding we shall better comprehend the melancholy divisions we must soon consider.

9. THE COUNCIL OF FRANKFORT.

Let us dwell a little longer on the Council of Frankfort. It stands for the old landmark. I claim for it no secondary place in church history; it shows a far-reaching proleptical wisdom, of which God only could have been the author. Let it be praised for its invaluable testimony to the faith, as essentially unaltered at its date, and for its thunders of remonstrance against Irene's degenerate bishops: "We have no such custom, neither the churches of God."

The

It is gratifying to an Anglo-Catholic moreover, that he may identify in this epoch the first movement of the Church of England towards her present position in Christendom. Nobly had she earned her hegemony by the exceptional spirit of her history in this century so degenerate elsewhere. To her Winfrid, apostle and martyr of Saxony and the Rhineland, Charles knew that he and his Franks owed their origin as Christians. The "Low Countries" also, and their see of Utrecht, so honourably distinguished even in its decay, were the product of English missionary zeal and intrepidity. What Alexandria was at Nicæa, England was at Frankfort. What Athanasius was under Constantine, that our Alcuin was under Charlemagne. council was called by this great King of the Franks, without any idea of waiting for a summons from Adrian, the Roman bishop. Nor did Adrian interpose any remonstrance, even when it overruled him and nullified his obsequious and heretical consent to Irene's dogma. This all-important fact proves that the Roman patriarch was not yet a "pope." Nobody dreamed that he alone could summon councils; none held that his approbation decided doctrine, or that communion with him was the test of Catholicity. Charles conducted himself in this business, from first to last, as the imperial bishop,—the episcopus ab extra, — doing what Constantine had done before him. But in things spiritual Alcuin led the council, under the Holy Spirit.

IO. ALCUIN.

This great light of the eighth century was born at York, and nurtured in theology under Egbert, its learned and pious archbishop. Egbert is the link between Alcuin and Bede the Venerable, who seventy years previously had illuminated our Saxon forefathers with the sunbeams of his godliness and learning. A darker age was soon to follow; but Alcuin now did a work for England and for Christendom which enabled the immortal Alfred, in the succeeding century, to repel in some degree, by his own piety and genius, the ignorance and barbarism to which for a time his clergy were about to succumb. Alcuin had early attracted the admiration of Charles, who, while he yet signed "his mark" and could not write his name, invited him to the Frankish court, made him the preceptor of his household, learned all that he knew of science and theology under his mastership, and made him the conscience-keeper "whom the king delighted to honour." In defeating an attempt to revive Nestorianism he became conspicuously chief at Frankfort where for the second time he refuted the heresy of Felix, Bishop of Urgel. It is hardly to be doubted that Charles summoned the council at Alcuin's suggestion. And here let us note what more we owe to this illustrious light and glory of a degenerate age.

II. UNIVERSITIES, AND THEIR ORIGIN.

He was the parent of universities: he founded a school of learning in the palace at Aix-la-Chapelle,

and by his influence similar academies were instituted in France and Italy. When he modestly retired from the court to Tours in France, he there established a school in the abbey of St. Martin; but he kept up his influence with Charles by a constant correspondence.

Let me quote one of his letters,1 which throws a flood of light upon his work, upon his times, and upon the state of things among our ancestors in the England of that day. He says:

"The employments of your Alcuin in his retirement are suited to his humble sphere, but they are neither ignoble nor useless. Here I spend my time in teaching the noble youths about me the mysteries of grammar, and inspiring them with a taste for the learning of antiquity. I explain to them the system and revolutions of the starry hosts in the heavenly vault, and to others I open the secrets of divine wisdom contained in the Holy Scriptures. I endeavour to suit my instructions to the capacities of my pupils, hoping to make them ornaments of your court and of the Church of God. In this work I find great lack of many things which I enjoyed in my native country; particularly of those excellent books which could there be had under the care and expense of Egbert, my great master. May it please your Majesty, therefore, to allow me to send some of my pupils into England to get the books we want, that so, animated by your own most ardent love of learning, we may transplant the flowers of Britain into France. Thus their fragrance shall no longer be confined to York, but may perfume the palaces of Tours."

And so chiefly to him we owe the subsequent learning of Europe. He is described as an orator,

1 See Note R'.