MEDLEVAL MISSIONS.*
MR. MACLEAn'El able essay is almost certain to arouse inquiries in the minds of his hearers which, strangely enough, his studies do not seem to have excited in his own. He tells with great calmness and with great impartiality the story of at once the strangest and the most successful of missionary enterprises, and when be has finished his tale seems to feel no astonishment 'either at the success of mediseval preachers or at the compara- tive failure of Protestant missionaries. That the first did succeed no one who penises Mr. Maclear's book can dispute. It is true that their labours extended over centuries, that much failure and -that many long delays have been forgotten ; but candid inquirers will scarcely deny that the task of turning heathen barbarians into Christians proceeded with a rapidity quite unknown to the annals of modern missionary efforts. Those who doubt this assertion should cast their eyes over the analysis of contents with which Mr. Maclear opens his work; conversion, it will then be -seen, proceeded in almost a regular and unbroken course. As cen- tury follows century, land after land of modern Europe is snatched from paganism, and if Prussia and Lithuania resisted the process -of conversion till the beginning of the fifteenth century, other lands of Europe had been rescued from paganism long before the first missionary set foot among the Wends. Moreover, even -if a success, measured by centuries, be accounted slow, what was wanting in rapidity was made up for in certainty. The advance of medireval missions is marked by a monotony of -triumph. First comes the solitary monk, then the first and -almost last conflict with heathenism which, though desperate, is comparatively short, and terminates in the conversion of Borne king, leading, as a matter of course, to the conversion of his people. The victories easily won were sometimes successes over which the religious men of the nineteenth century would find it difficult to exult. Clovis, though in the eyes of Gregory of Tours "a man after God's own heart," and though fully pre- pared to show his piety by the extermination of beresy, found it more easy to conquer Arians than to subdue his own lusts, and made up for the Christian orthodoxy of his creed by the heathen brutality of his practice. Still, if Clovis and many early con- verts did not lead the lives of saints, they, at any rate, gave the death-blow to heathendom, and conferred on pos- terity religious blessings which they themselves scarcely 'understood. Teachers who saw civilization which they valued much, and orthodoxy which they esteemed still more, take Toot and flourish, might be excused if they thought much of the greatness of the work achieved, and winked at the barbarism of the monarchs by whom the good work was performed. Mediaeval enthusiasts possibly erred when they winked at the errors of Clovis, and applauded the forcible means employed for the propagation of the Gospel by Charlemagne, but medimval enthusiasm has produced a work which the lapse of centuries has not destroyed, whilst the missionary labours of modern Europe have brought forth little other result than huge volumes of doubtful reports. Again and again the question recurs to the thoughts of intelligent critics—why is it that the teachers of the dark ages could accomplish feats unachieved by all the enlightened philanthropy of the nineteenth century or by the narrow fervour of Exeter Hall ? Whenever, indeed, a comparison is made between the slow progress of modern missionaries and the rapid spread of Christianity in the Apostolic ages, orthodox Protestantism finds a ready explanation in the • History of Christian Missions during the Middle Ages. By G. F. Maclear, MA. Macmil a 1. allegation that the first years, at least, of the Christian fig- pensation were times of miracle, and, moreover, modem preaches are not ashamed to confess, more or less indirectly, that they ' cannot be measured by the standard of Apostolic zeal. When, however, the same persons are asked to account for the fact that mediaeval monks achieved triumphs denied to English clergymen, they must find it, we suspect, difficult to reply to the impertinent inquiry. To assert that Saint Boniface or Saint Columba could work miracles, is not only to give credence to legends unsupported by evidence ; but is, moreover, to cast a slur upon Protestantism, since it is not easy to see why powers exercised by the superstitious zealots for a corrupt form of Christianity should be denied to the professors of a purer creed. As a matter of fact, the problem which divines find it hard to solve is not difficult of solution for persons who are willing to face considerations too often overlooked by the clerical leaders of religious societies. Modern preachers amongst the heathen lack many advantages which aided the labours of the men whose achievements have been recorded by Mr. Maclear. The Roman hierarchy possessed a tower of strength in the great name of the Roman Empire. It is, indeed, natural for students looking back on the course of history, to contrast the life and energy of the Teutonic invaders with the decay and the weakness of the Empire which the German races attacked ; but the assailants of Rome looked upon the Empire even in its decay with reverential admiration. To adopt the laws, the titles, and the religion of the Eternal city was the desire of the successful chieftains who had routed Roman armies. Hence, when missionaries met the invaders, the work of conversion was already half begun. The Church offered to royal converts the dignity for which barbaric kings sighed, and barbarian leaders bestowed upon the Church exactly that material strength of which she felt the need. Nor was missionary zeal compelled, in general, to struggle with the most unassailable power—a regularly organized religious creed. Modern preachers at Mecca or in Calcutta are forced to assail modes of belief sanctioned by the prescriptive honours of cen- turies, creeds which existed before the English monarchy arose, and which may, to all appearance, outlive the duration of English greatness. The soldiers of Clovis were indifferent heathens before they became indifferent Christians, and adopted a new religion with something of the calm stolidity with which they would have marched into a new country. Since they had already left the lands of their fathers, they found it no great effort to leave their fathers' faith. It may also be remarked that when at last Catholic Christianity met face to face with Eastern creeds, it, like its Protestant successor, failed. Raymond Lull, wandering about with his perfect method and his syllogistic proof of Christian truth, is the most grotesque figure among the whole series of mediseval missionaries, and found, alas! his peculiar form of Christian evidences as powerless to wring assent from Mahom- medan doctors as the best trained disciples of missionary colleges find their own applications of Paley. But while it is conceded that St. Augustine bad advantages in dealing with the heathen which are not possessed by St. Augustine's modern followers ; it must also be said that the men who fought the battle of Christianity in past centuries in some respects rose far above the moral and intellectual stature of the soldiers who, with equal zeal and under more unfavourable circumstances, rillw carry on the same contest. The circumstances of the time forced into the Church during the earlier part of the middle ages every man who had a talent for anything else than a career of arms. Learning, energy, and wisdom were to be found in the cloister. Hence there were giants in those days. Men have not grown less, but men's careers have grown much more numerous. Thus no one field possessesars did the medireval hierarchy, a monopoly of talent. Moreover, missionary enterprise was, as men felt, the one pursuit into which, if the world was to be civilized, human energy ought to be thrown ; when the heathen were occupying every corner of Europe, to convert the heathen became, as the phrase is, the question of thsiday. Honesty compels the confession that this is not now the case, To convert the heathen is good, but so also it is . kood to relieve the sufferings of our poor or to direct the policy os, our own nation. Good men and wise men may well differ about the comparative importance of the different fields of labour which lie open to their choice. But a fraction, therefore, - of the talent or fervour of the age will be, or ought to be, devoted to the conversion of Hindoos or the civilization of South Sea Islanders, and it were vain to expect from the divided energies of the nineteenth century the results which flowed from the con- centrated efforts of. the most powerful of Christian churches at the time of its highest power.
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