ht shining in dark places,
although deep and painful wounds existed, whose fatal consequences soon
became manifest.

Such was the state of the church when St. Augustine laid claim to the
supremacy of this country, towards the end of the sixth century.

This zealous missionary, according to Neander, would seem to have been
especially wanting in the Christian grace of humility, which no doubt was
the cause of the disputes between the early British church and the Romish
Anglo-Saxon that ensued, which, however, were settled by Oswys, king and
afterwards saint of Northumberland, who decided upon acknowledging the
Romish supremacy, and from that time the doctrines, ritual, Gregorian
chaunt and Latin service of the Romish church were adopted, and an
admirable old man, Theodore of Cilicia, who brought sciences with him
from Greece, occupied the see of Canterbury, A.D. 668-690. The thirst
for knowledge among the people at this time was ministered to by this
good old man, who, with his friend Abbot Hadrian, made a progress through
all England, seeking to gather scholars around him; and the instructions
thus communicated to the English church were soon after collected by
Bede, that simple and thoughtful, as well as inquiring and scientific
priest and monk, who says of himself, "I have used all diligence in the
study of the Holy Scriptures, and in the observance of conventual rules,
and the daily singing in the church; it was ever my joy either to learn,
or teach, or write something."

The history of the western church becomes merged henceforth in the papal
power, and we pass on to the era of Hildebrand, or Gregory VII., its
great representative. The struggles of this prelate to suppress simony,
and enforce the celibacy of the clergy, are among the most notorious
features of his reign; legates were despatched to all the provinces of
the west, over which he had already set up claim to supreme power,
stirring up the people against the married clergy; and in order at once
to strike at the root of simony, he forbade entirely the investiture of
ecclesiastics by civil authorities. He excommunicated five councillors
of Henry IV. of Germany, threatened Philip of France with the same
punishment, and would doubtless have carried out his plans with equal
rigour in England, but for the potency of the monarch with whom he had to
deal. William the Conqueror refused permission for the bishops to leave
the country when summoned to Rome, exer