be the effusions of their more ancient feelings; and CHAP. fragments, or mutations, of some part of their pagan hymns. I. From the uproar of hell ; The Transcendent Eternal ! world! Among the holy society Creator of the heavens ! Rewarder of all ! To behold the banquet Of the bliss of our renovation. glorious support, It is the Lord of heaven Is to deserve a recompence by Who hath the power meditating on him. To free us from vice even after For the value thou hast given me, its extremity. Hearken! O mortal man, I give thee counsel free from ma- lice. To divest thee of thy present form, Before I am in my sepulchral And from the dwelling of dread May the gift of his treasures of Among the graves, light be upon thee. Before the period of the bitter tales approaches, O loftiest First Principle ! Before the sighing for my sins Thy government is my refuge, returns upon me, Lord of all wealth ! God in his kind love Luminary of the world ! Will preserve me in the cities of heaven, Creator of heaven, God will hear my voice ; Strength from thee, For my thoughts ascend to Him. That in due time I may behold Thy banquet of felicity without end. Sovereign of heaven and earth Benign Lord course Grant me, BOOK X. But all the religious systems of the ancient pagan world were naturally perishable, from the Hear me, Of the radiating emanation ! Mighty Leader! The Governor of the blissful man- I implore strength from thee, I love to praise thee, Greatly splendid, mysterious One ! The Governor of the host of earth Protect me from sorrow. Christ! thou mysterious One, May I be retired and gentle Before Prepare for me from the four elements, A genius, penetrating and un- daunted, light, Self-causer of motion ! Mysterious One! Thou column of tranquillity! O Son of Mary! Prepare for me A pure fountain of intellect Before iniquity affects it. Lord of the course of the wind CYNZELW. For my proportioned honour To his blissful kingdom, To his grace, to his own dominion. DAFYDD Y COED. The mysterious One! I. quantity of false opinions, and vicious habits and CHAP. ceremonies and bad morals that were attached to them. Human judgment may, for a time, be deceived, corrupted, or overpowered; but its tendency to right action is so strong, and so indestructible, that no error can be permanent. The reign of what is untrue or unjust may be longer or shorter, according to the pressure of incumbent circumstances; but the mind is always struggling to attain every attainable good, and therefore to appropriate to itself every new truth that becomes visible. Hence, as we have before remarked, it had begun to discern the imperfections of its Saxon paganism before Christianity came within its reach ; and as soon as this new system was presented fully to its contemplation, the Anglo-Saxon mind discerned its superiority, and was not unduly tardy in adopting it. It was impossible for Christianity to be presented to the world, and for idolatry to exist in credit against it. Hence polytheism fell in Greece and Rome, as it is now declining in India and the South Sea Islands. The fountain of love ! O Regulator! moon ! CASNODYN. Thousands in concert earth, BOOK X. It has been remarked of the Christian religion, that it neither arose from ambition, nor was propa. gated by the sword. It appealed unoffendingly to the reason, the sensibility, the virtue, and the interest of mankind; and in opposition to all that was venerated or disputed, maintained by power, or believed by the populace, it peaceably established itself in every province of the Roman empire; as, by the same means it is now penetrating every region of the globe. Among the Anglo-Saxons, its conquest over the fierce paganism which our ancestors upheld, was not begun till both Ireland and France had submitted to her laws; but it was accomplished in a manner worthy of its benevolence and purity, as we have already detailed in the reigns of Ethelbert and Edwin. GENUINE piety led the first missionaries to our shores. Their zeal, their perseverance, and the excellence of the system they diffused, notwithstanding some peculiarities which, in conformity with their own taste, and with that of their age, they attached to it, made their labour successful. How long the Saxon paganism continued among individuals in each district, after it ceased to be the religious establishment of the government, there are no materials for ascertaining. It was too irrational to have maintained a protracted contest with Christianity; but though it may have ceased to have had its temples and priests, or any visible existence, yet the influence of its prejudices, and of the habits it had generated, continued long to operate. These became insensibly mixed with so much of Christianity as each understood, and produced that motley character in religion and I. morals, which was so often displayed in the Anglo- CHAP. Saxon period. But Christianity was a positive benefit to the nation, in every degree of its prevalence. Wherever it has penetrated, like the Guardian Angel of the human race, it has meliorated the heart and enlightened the understanding; and hence has become the religion of the most cultivated portions of the globe. Every part of its moral system is directed to soften the asperities of the human character, to remove its selfishness, to intellectualise its sensualities, to restrain its malignity, and to animate its virtues. If it did not eradicate all the vices of the Anglo-Saxon by whom it was professed, it taught him to abandon many. It exhibited to his contemplation the idea of what human nature ought to be, and may attain. It gradually implanted a moral sense in his bosom, and taught his mind the habit of moral reasoning, and its application to life. It could not be known unless some portion of literature was attained or diffused. It therefore actually introduced learning into England, and taught the Anglo-Saxons to cultivate intellectual pursuits. On the enslaved poor of the country its effects were most benign. It was always contributing to their emancipation, by urging their lords to grant this blessing as an act beneficial to their state after death; and while slavery continued in the country, the master was humanised, and the bondmen consoled, wherever Christianity was admitted and obeyed. The effects of Christianity, in diminishing the superstitions of the day, were also considerable. |