t was so wild and desolate, that it is described
as a fearful and terrible place, which no one could approach after
nightfall without great danger. In this island there had been an ancient
Roman temple, consecrated to Apollo. And Sebert, perhaps on account of the
seclusion which Thorney afforded, resolved to build a church on the site,
and he dedicated the fabric to St. Peter the Apostle. This church is now
Westminster Abbey; the busy city of Westminster is old Thorney Island,
that seat of desolation; and the bones of Sebert yet rest in the structure
which he founded. Another great church was built by Sebert, in the city of
London, upon the ruins of the heathen temple of Diana. This church is now
St. Paul's Cathedral; and Mellitus being appointed the first Bishop by
Ethelbert and Sebert, the succession has continued to the present day.

_Influence of Christianity._

Before a century had elapsed, Christianity was firmly and sincerely
believed throughout Anglo-Saxon Britain; and, in the state of society
which then prevailed, the establishment of the true religion became the
means of conferring the greatest temporal advantages upon the community. A
large proportion of the population consisted either of slaves or of churls
or of villains, who were compelled to till the ground for the benefit of
their masters. These classes immediately gained the comfort of rest, one
day in seven; and they whose labour had hitherto been unremitted, without
any pause, except when fainting nature sunk under incessant toil, could
now expect the Sabbath of the Lord, as a day of holiness and of repose. So
strictly did the temporal laws protect the observance of the seventh day,
the right and privilege of the poor, that the master who compelled his
slave to work on the Sunday, was deprived of the means of abusing his
power,--the slave obtained his freedom.

A tenth part of the produce of the land was set apart for the maintenance
of the clergy, and the support of the destitute. Charity, when resulting
from the unaided impulses of humanity, has no permanence. Bestowed merely
to relieve ourselves from the painful sight of misery, the virtue blesses
neither the giver nor the receiver. But proceeding from the love of God,
it is steady and uniform in its operation, not wayward, not lukewarm, not
affected by starts and fancies, and ministering to more than the bodily
wants of those who are in need.

Paupers, such as we now see, then rarely existed. Ba