as he bears the yoke of Christ himself, he will impose no other upon you: but if he shew himself haughty and proud, that affords you proof that he is not of God, and "But you are therefore not to give heed to him." how," they again asked, "shall we be able to make the distinction?" To this, the holy man replied; "When you meet him at the place appointed for holding the synod, if he rises up to you on your approaching him, be assured of his being a servant of Christ; and it behoves you, therefore, to attend to him with deference. If, on the contrary, he treat you with scorn, and rises not up to salute you, seeing you are the greater number,, then let him be despised by you." They resolved to act according to this advice. Augustine, when they approached him, instead of rising to greet them, kept his seat. When they perceived his pride, they became so angry that they rejected every proposal he made to them. They were told that in many things they acted opposite to the established custom of their church, and the whole Catholic church: but, said he, if ye will but submit to me in three things, to observe Easter at the proper time; to administer baptism by which we are born again, agreebly to the rite of the Roman church; and to join with us to preach the gospel to the English nation; ye shall be borne with in other respects in which ye differ from us." But they told him they would consent to none of those things, nor would they have him for their archbishop. If, said they, he will not now as much as rise up to us, what can we expect, when we become subject to his authority, but to be set at nought by him. Augustine, upon this, told them in a threatening tone, that if they would not be at peace with their brethren, they must expect war from their enemies, and look for the vengeance of the English, towards whose conversion they refused their co-operation.

is

Even this account, given by Bede, an Anglo-Saxon, furnishes us with sufficient proof of the high and scornful spirit of Augustine. In his address, it is evidently implied, although not expressly stated, that he required the absolute submission of the British clergy to his authority, which they appear very well to have understood; and their answer to him was suitable to what they per ceived to be the main purport of the conference on his part. But in our British historians we have a more ample account of this matter than is extant in Bede, who very sparing, as Stillingfleet justly remarks,* in what concerns the British affairs. But from them we learn, says Leland, that Dinoth did at large dispute with great learning and gravity, against receiving the authority of the Pope, or of Augustine. He defended the power of the archbishop of St. David's; affirming it not to be for the British interest to own either the Roman pride, or the Saxon tyranny. He finds fault with Gregory for not admonishing the Saxons of their gross usurpations against their solemn oaths; and adds, that it was their duty, if they would be good Christians, to restore the power to those from whom they had so unjustly and tyrannically wrested it: for Dinoth, out of his great learning, could not but know that the Pope, under the pretence of bringing in the true faith, could not confirm them in their unjust usurpation; for if that could be admitted, no princes would be safe in their dominions. "And no doubt," says Stillingfleet," the British bishops looked upon this attempt of Augustine upon them, as adding one usurpation to another: it was this which made them so averse from any communication with the missionaries, which otherwise had been inexcusable.”

In a British manuscript, examined by Sir Henry Spel

* See Stillingfleet's Origines Brit. ch. 5. p. 359.

man, we have it related, that the abbot of Bangor, in the name of the British churches, declared, that they owed the subjection of brotherly kindness and charity to the church of God, and to the pope of Rome, and to all Christians but other obedience than that they did not know to be due to him whom they called pope; and, for their parts, they were under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Caerleon upon Usk, who was, under God, their spiritual overseer and director.*

Thus nobly did the Cambro-Britons stand up for the independency of their churches; and refused to submit to the encroachments of the bishop of Rome, and his legate Augustine the monk. But if we can suppose the proposal made to them to join in preaching the gospel to the Saxons, to have been any thing more than a snare to entrap them; it was to be lamented that any ceremonial differences should prevent their engaging in a work of that kind. What encouragement, if any, they had for such an undertaking, before the coming over of Au gustine, history does not inform us: but we have already observed that, from the complexion of the times, there is too great reason to infer they were rather backward than ready to enter upon any mission, for the purpose of converting their enemies to the Christian faith.

Augustine now forgot the advice given him by Pope Gregory, that it was not necessary that all churches should exactly use the same external ceremonies; for he was a man of a different spirit from the pontiff, and evinced too much of that temper which has, in subsequent

* The seat of the Welsh primate had been translated to Menevia by St. David, after whose name it went in subsequent times. This, we are told, was not generally agreeable to the Welsh clergy; on which account, as well as from the celebrity of Caerleon in the Roman times, some might still chuse to denominate the primacy after the name of the ancient see of Caerleon.

ages, marked all the proceedings of the Roman pontiffs and their adherents. The time was now come when the saying of that prelate and martyr was fulfilling, who, being asked if it were proper to administer the sacred ordinance in wooden vessels, replied, We once had golden priests, who made use of wooden vessels; but now we have wooden priests, who make use of vessels of gold.

As the British divines peremptorily told Augustine that they would not have him for their archbishop, and complained of the injustice done to them by the Saxons, with whom they wished to have no intercourse until they restored to the native Britons what they had gained by unjust usurpation; the haughty prelate related all this to Ethelbert his patron and defender.* The king was not unwilling to see the Cambro-Britons chastised: he, therefore, instigated Ethelfrith, the king of Northumberland, to march an army into the territory of Brochmael, prince of Powys, within whose dominion the synod had been held.

The furious king was advancing towards the Dee; and the monks of Bangor, intimidated by the approach of such an army, headed by a Pagan, remembering the threats of Augustine, fled to prince Brochmael for refuge, his troops being collected together at Chester. But the army of the Northumbrian king was composed of so vast a number of men, that Brochmael was soon routed; and the poor ecclesiastics were left in a defenceless state. The king seeing a number of persons of a singular appearance, and without arms, enquired who they were, and then unmercifully ordered his men to fall upon them; for being given to understand that they were engaged in praying for the success of their coun

* See Brut y Brenhinoedd.-The British History.

trymen, the monarch said, "If they cry to their God against us, they then fight against us with their prayers." Of these defenceless men, it is said there were twelve hundred, all of whom, except about fifty, were consigned to slaughter.*

The consequence of the battle of Chester was, that the monastery of BANGOR ISCOED fell into the hands of the conqueror, and felt all the effects of his rage. That noble institution never after raised its head. This was the largest of all the Bangors, or religious houses, , among the Britons; but even the very ruins cannot now be traced. Giraldus Cambrensis mentions that, in his day, the vast pile of ruins then to be seen bore testimony to the ancient fame and extent of this monastery.† But we have now only the name of this once celebrated place, which is said to have contained accommodations for seven courses of monks, containing three hundred in each course.

The name of its founder was Dunod, or Dinoth, the son of Pabo, an unfortunate prince, who spent his last days in the isle of Mona; and his sons Dunod and Daniel became men of celebrity among the Welsh ecclesiastics; the former being the founder of Bangor iscoed, in the lordship of Maelor on the Dee; while the other was founder of Bangor on the Menai, under the auspices of Prince Malgon. If Dinoth were indeed abbot at the time of the famous synod we have been

* It is hardly probable that the numbers were so great. Saxon annals mention only 200.

The

+ Leland says, "The cumpace of the abbay was a wallid toune; "and yet remaineth (in Henry VIIIth's reign) the name of a gate caullid "Porth Hogan by north; and the name of another, Porth Clais by "south.-Dee syns changing the bottom rennith now thorough the “mydle, betwyxt thes two gates; one being amile dim from the other." Itinerary. Turner, Vol. I. 135.