CENTURY X.

CHAP. I.

GENERAL STATE OF THE CHURCH IN THIS CENTURY.

THE famous annalist of the Roman church, whose partiality to that see is notorious, has, however, the candor to own, that this was an iron age, barren of all godliness; a leaden age, abounding in all wickedness; a dark age, remarkable above all others for scarcity of writers and men of learning.

Infidel malice has with pleasure recorded the vices and crimes of the popes in this century. Nor will any one attempt to palliate the accounts of their wickedness. It was as deep and atrocious as language can paint.

The general description of the church at this time can be little else than a very succinct account of the means made use of to oppose the progress of popery.

The decrees of the council of Frankfort against image worship continued to have some influence. in Germany, France and England. Opposition was also made by kings and councils to the authority of the pope. One of the most remarkable instances of this kind took place in the council of Rheims; where a bishop was deposed without the consent of the pope. A few words of the president of that council deserve to be distinctly quoted. "O deplorable Rome, who in the days of our forefathers producedst so many burning and shining lights! thou hast brought forth in our times, only dismal darkness, worthy the detestation

of posterity. What shall we do, or what counsels shall we take? The gospel tells us of a barren figtree, and of the Divine patience exercised toward it. Let us bear with our primates, as long as we can; and in the mean time seek spiritual food, where it can be found. Certainly there are some in this holy assembly, who can testify that in Belgium in Germany there may be found real pastors and eminent men of learning. What think you, reverend fathers, of this man, the pope, placed on a shining throne, glittering with purple and gold? Whom do you account him? If destitute of love, and puffed up with pride, he is Antichrist, sitting in the temple of God." He goes on to lament, that the princes of the earth were committing fornication with the Roman harlot, and giving their power to support her grandeur.

These and similar magnanimous struggles for Christian light and liberty were not wholly in vain. The Spirit of God evidently continued with the recent churches of Germany and the North; and France itself was, by no means, destitute of men, who feared God and served him in the gospel of his Son.

Rome continued to sink deeper in the mire of iniquity; and not only moral virtue itself, but even the appearance of it was lost in the metropolis. The "church was trampled on by the most unworthy preTates; and immersed in profaneness, sensuality, and 'lewdness. Otho I. of Germany went to Rome, and by the united power of the civil and military sword, reduced the capital into some degree of order and decorum. The effect of his exertions was, that the pope exchanged the vices of the rake and the debauchee, for those of the ambitious politician, and the hypocrite. Otho was a person of upright intentions and shining endowments; yet so ignorant were mankind, that the whole Western world, with Otho at their head, agreed to reverence the see of Rome as supreme. The popes were rebuked, condemned and punished;

God

but the popedom was revered as much as ever. had put it into the hearts of princes to accomplish his will, and to agree to give their power unto the beast, until the words of his prophecy should be fulfilled.

Notwithstanding Otho's subjection to the see of Rome, he made vigorous efforts to purify the church, promote learning, erect bishoprics, and propagate the gospel among barbarians.

In the mean time, the Normans, in the West, were committing the most dreadful outrages; and the Turks in the East were let loose on mankind, as a just Scourge for their iniquities. Such was the dismat

night of popery.

CHAPTER II.

PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.

DURING this century, the gospel was planted in Hungary, and that nation was almost wholly evangeli

zed.

Adalbert, archbishop of Prague, was uncommonly devoted to the service of God. He saw his predecessor dying in the most terrible agonies of conscience, on account of his avarice, and neglect of ministerial duties. Adalbert was appointed his successor, but with so little satisfaction to himself, that he was never known to smile afterward. Being asked the reason, he said, "It is an easy thing to wear a mitre and a cross, but an awful thing to give an account of a bishopric, before the judge of quick and dead." Bohemia, the scene of his labors, was covered with idolatry. He endeavored, in vain, to effect a reformation, and sighing over the wretched objecs of his charge, he left them, travelled as a missionary, and planted

the gospel in Dantzic. His labors seem to have been crowned with good success, and he is commonly styled the Apostle of Prussia. He visited other places, and was finally murdered by a barbarian in the year 937.

The work of God in Denmark met with a severe check in this century. King Gormo labored to extirpate the gospel there entirely. At length, Henry 1. called the Fowler, the predecessor of the great Otho, led an army into Denmark, obliged Gormo to promise submission, and prohibited his persecuting the Christians. Under the protection of Henry, Unni, archbishop of Hamburg, and a number of other faithful missionaries, went into Denmark. Providence smiled on their benevolent exertions, and numbers were induced to embrace the truth as it is in Jesus.

Unni, animated with success, determined to visit the kingdom of Sweden. Arriving in that country, he found, that the gospel had there become extinct. However, it pleased God to give great success to his ministry; and having preached the gospel in the most northern part of that region, he finished his glorious course in the year 936.

On the death of Unni, prince Eric procured other missionaries, whose labors were at first attended with a blessing. But the nobles of Sweden, enraged to find their licentiousness restrained, commenced a persecution against both the missionaries and the king. The former were beaten with rods and expelled from Upsal; the latter was murdered on account of his piety.

The son and successor of Eric trod in the steps of his father, and suppressed the persecuting spirit; he propagated Christianity among his subjects, and lived to see the good effects of his zeal and piety.

Harold, the successor of Gormo, king of Denmark, took every wise and salutary method to propagate divine truth among his subjects, and restrain vice and immorality. His son, Suen-Otho, formed a junction

with the chiefs of the country, murdered his father, and persecuted the Christians, with the greatest cruelty. Like another Manasseh, in his afflictions he knew that the Lord was God. Being expelled from his throne, and forced to live in exile, he was induced to remember the lessons of his childhood; and repent of his sins. Being restored to his throne, he labored to destroy the idolatry, which he had supported.

During this century, the light of the gospel penetrated into Norway, Iceland, and Greenland; and the triumphs of Christianity was complete throughout all Scandinavia.

Poland had hitherto remained in the thickest night of ignorance; and both an inland situation and barbarous neighborhood seemed to exclude it from the light of the gospel. At length a number of Poles, while transacting business among Christians, were penetrated with what they heard respecting Christianity, listened to the word of God, and received it gladly. Having embraced the gospel themselves, they every where recommended it to their countrymen; the happy infection spread from heart to heart; missionaries were sent to help forward the work; the glad news of salvation reached the ears of the king; and Poland soon became a Christian nation.

The Greek missionaries continued to labor in Russia, and gradually succeeded. The empress Anna, by her zealous importunity, prevailed on her husband to embrace Christianity. He was baptized in the year 987; and at that time Russia formed a Christian establishment, and has since considered herself a daughter of the Greek church.

Thus in an age of proverbial darkness, that illustrious prophecy continued to receive its accomplishment:"Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers."

The work of propagating the gospel is laudable in an extreme degree, and must appear so to all, who