1850.] The Roman Church. 201 tablished fact; and that Church was the only institution then standing, venerable for age, and of authority in the West. While other institutions had crumbled, while other cities were overthrown and lost, Rome had still kept something of her supremacy. She was still the great, the ancient, the sacred city. Her Church was the fountain-head of religious authority; her bishop was, more than any other, prince and defender of the state. His connection with the Eastern Church and empire had long been_weakened. From the first he was, far more than the Eastern primates, an independent ruler, even while nominally subject to the same state authority. He was, says Guizot, "not the servant of a present sovereign, but the vicar of an absent one." This compelled him to act more freely, on his own responsibility. Since the times when Leo had been left to defend the city from the Huns, and Gregory to save it from the Lombards, it was to the Bishop of Rome that the security of Italy was intrusted. Though nominally his choice must be ratified by the Emperor, yet really he was free; and when the sovereign tried to impose on the city a bishop it did not choose, a rebellion of the soldiers warned him not to carry his supposed authority too far. Discords and heresies in the East, and the great Mahometan invasion, which still hung threateningly, crippled the imperial power, year by year. And now, when the Lombards were crowding on the North, and a strong hand was wanting to fortify the position of the Church at Rome,to keep it safe at home, and back its great enterprises abroad, ― the readiest appeal was to the powerful chief of the Franks. The Pope wanted military defence, and the force of arms. The king wanted the prestige of legitimacy, and the force of law. So that equal alliance was established, which in the next generation crushed the Lombard kingdom, making the Pope a temporal prince, and for seven hundred and fifty years secured to the Church of Rome its spiritual supremacy, on the basis of political independence and sovereignty. This alliance, followed by so momentous consequences, marks the crowning point in the life of Boniface. He was now an old man of seventy-two. In the warm zeal of youth he had begun the great work, to which the energies of his manhood were so thoroughly conseVOL. XLIX. - 4TH S. VOL. XIV. NO. II. 18 crated. For forty years he had been the ambassador of Christ and the Church to the rude tribes that swarmed thick upon the outskirts of civilization. He had been a pioneer and conqueror in that bloodless and glorious campaign. The broad German land was brought into the family of Christian nations. Churches, monasteries, and schools were established, giving the religion a firm hold upon the mind of that barbarous people. He had his reward, in being archbishop and spiritual sovereign in the Christian metropolis he himself had founded, on the banks of the noble Rhine. Four or five great tribes, before hostile and dispersed, revered him as their teacher in knowledge and their guide in faith. He was the agent of the great spiritual dominion at Rome, and of the strong monarchy of the Franks,-perhaps more widely and deeply powerful than any other man then living. And now, it seemed, he had only to thank God for what had been accomplished, and spend the latter days of his life in peace. But the fire of his early zeal still burned in him undimmed, and he felt that there was still work in store for him. The Frieslanders, the fiercest and rudest of the tribes for which he had spent his life, who had scorned his mission and repulsed him fifty years before, were still unconverted, as they were always unsubdued. This cloud of Pagan darkness rested on the border of his Christian realm; and to dispel it must be the last effort of his life. So he besought the Pope to accept the surrender of his church dignity, and commission him afresh to his missionary work. Another was appointed archbishop in his place; and Boniface, whose higher dignity was as Apostle to the Germans, went forth again as simple pioneer of the faith. He had already been employed in restoring more than thirty churches, which the inconstant barbarians had destroyed by fire. His head was clear, and his heart strong; but this expedition he felt would be his last. "Know, my son," said he to his successor, "that the time of my death draws near. Hear your father's last request. Go on with the building of the churches I have begun in Thuringia; labor with all zeal for the conversion of the tribes; finish the church at Fulda, and when my time has come bury me there. And, that nothing may be wanting, do not forget with 1850.] Christianity and Mahometanism. 203 my books to send a winding-sheet." And with these words the old man left him weeping.* Coming into the Low Countries on the Rhine, he labored with such effectual zeal, that, as the account is, "he baptized the infidels by thousands, made them throw down their temples and build churches in their stead, and appointed a day for their confirmation; meanwhile sending each to his own home." His dwelling was on the river-side, where people thronged to him, as to John in the wilderness, to be baptized. On the appointed day, instead of the disciples he was looking for, appeared a turbulent band of armed barbarians, who fell upon his encampment. His servants were eager to beat them back; but he said, "Lay down your arms, my children; our religion bids us not render evil for evil. The day I have longed for is come. Trust in God, and for a few moments of this poor life he shall give you an everlasting kingdom." Then the pagans fell upon them, and slaughtered them, to the number of fifty-two. So died Boniface, seventy-five years old, the noblest of the early missionaries of the Church. His death, it was said, was presently revenged by a Christian army; and it was not long before the remnant of the tribe were ready to embrace his faith. The interval of a hundred and twenty-three years separates the death of the warrior-prophet of Arabia from that of the martyr-apostle of Germany. That interval is the period of the highest glory to the Saracen invaders in Mahomet's name, and of the deepest debasement (as is generally reckoned) to the mind of Europe. But in the almost utter absence of history, poetry, or science, there was yet the element of religious conviction, and an organizing force living enough and strong enough to lay the foundation of the European family of states: and to these a new career of freedom and intellectual activity is opening, while the Mahometan dominion is but a relic, decaying and frail, of that mighty power established by the sudden and fierce assault of a conquering horde. It is no purpose of ours to draw a parallel between either the religion or the polity of Mahometan and Christian nations; but we mark this single fact. * Bercastel. The thought and heart of the Moslem movement were all in one man, his best gift a poetic and devout enthusiasm, his mind untrained, his passions to the uttermost indulged; a man, save in the marvellous blending of fanatic fervor and invincible will, far inferior to the least among many who have given nobility to the Christian name. The two religions are no fair subject for comparison, in this sort, perhaps; indeed, one has often been treated as an offshoot or distortion of the other, rather than as strictly an independent faith. But when we think of the sudden conquest of the one, and the slow-maturing, long-enduring dominion of the other, we should not forget to do honor to those obscure but noble men, whose patient toils, so full of fruit for us (for we are also of the Teutons), are almost lost in the glare that lights up the story of the Arabian Prophet and his successors. J. H. A. ART. III. THE ORIGIN OF THE MINISTRY AT LARGE, AND ITS FREE CHAPELS.* We have never read a Report of the Benevolent Fraternity of Churches with more pleasure than we derived from the perusal of the last. It is full of valuable information, and to every one interested in the moral condition of the poor in our cities, we would recommend its careful perusal. We are happy to learn from it the good which has resulted from the labors of those faithful ministers, which cannot but continue whilst the same devotedness and Christian spirit shall characterize their efforts, which are so conspicuous in this Report. faith will never waver in the onward prosperity and success of this ministry, so long as it shall be carried on in the same spirit, and shall continue to rely for success on that Christian principle in which it had its origin, preaching the Gospel to the poor. Our Whilst reading this Report, we have been forcibly re *The Sixteenth Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the Benev olent Fraternity of Churches. Boston: J. Wilson. 8vo. pp. 36. 1850.] Young Men's Association. 205 minded of the small beginnings in which this noble work of philanthropy had its origin, and the remarkable success which has attended its progress. The readers of this journal have been wont to meet in its pages, during the last score of years, with occasional mention of the Ministry at Large in Boston, of its purposes, its efficient agents, and its effects. Notwithstanding the multitude of pamphlets and reports which it has called forth, and the many sketches of the labors of Dr. Tuckerman and others in this work, there are some very interesting facts connected with its "day of small things," that have not as yet found their way into print, in a connected form. In tracing out the history of this ministry, not long since, in our memory and from records, we found that in September, 1822, two young men were quite desirous that a Sunday school should be formed in a new school-house, then in process of erection, at the north part of the city. So interested did they become in the matter, that they called together some friends, made known their hopes and plans, and urged that some measures should be taken to carry them into effect. The first meeting was held in October, 1822, at which four persons only were present. On the suggestion of the plan, various religious topics were introduced. At an ad journed meeting, a committee was chosen to report some more specific plan to the meeting which was to be held the ensuing week. Such a meeting was held, and several others like it, but nothing more was accomplished; and although several gentlemen came together, who it was thought would greatly assist in promoting the excellent objects contemplated, especially that of the religious instruction of the poor, yet the brief records of two meetings at that time mention, "that they did not hold out much encouragement of success." And it is well remembered by us, that, whilst the subject was under consideration, one of the gentlemen, who was much interested in the matter, almost discouraged, left the room, and remarked, that he despaired of success. But the cloud passed away, and at a meeting not long after an association was formed, under the name of the "Association of Young Men for Mutual Improvement and the Religious Instruction of the Poor." The first of these objects the members aimed to accomplish by meeting on |