444
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book i.
of the earth by fire could present no difficulties to
those who had heard of Surtr and the Twilight of
the Gods, or of Allfather’s glorious kingdom, raised
on the ruin of the intermediate divinities. A state
of happiness or punishment in a life to come was
no novelty to him who had shuddered at the idea
’of Nastrond : Loki or Grendel had smoothed the
way for Satan. Those who had believed in runes
and incantations were satisfied with the efficacy of
the mass; a crowd of saints might be invoked in
place of a crowd of subordinate divinities ; the holy
places had lost none of their sanctity ; the holy
buildings had not been levelled with the ground,
but dedicated in another name ; the pagan sacrifices
had not been totally abolished, but only converted
into festal occasions, where the new Christians
might eat and drink, and continue to praise God :
HreSe and Eostre, Woden, Tiw and Fricge, Dunor
and Sætere retained their places in the calendar of
months and days: Erce was still invoked in spells,
Wyrd still wove the web of destiny; and while
Woden retained his place at the head of the royal
genealogies, the highest offices of the Christian
church were offered to compensate the noble class
for the loss of their old sacerdotal functions. How
should Christianity fail to obtain access where Pa-
ganism stepped half way to meet it, and it could
hold out so many outward points of union to pa-
ganism ?
We dare not question the decrees of omnipotence,
or enquire into the mysterious operations of omni-
scient God ; it is not for us to measure his infinite
cs. XII.] HEATHENDOM. CONCLUSION. 446
wisdom by the rules of our finite intelligence, or to
assume that his goodness and mercy can be appre-
ciated and comprehended by the dim, wavering
light of our reason ; but rtlan feels that in every
age man has had a common nature, a common
hope and a common end of being ; and we shall do
no wrong either to philosophy or to religion, if we
believe that even in the errors of paganism there
lay the germs of truth ; and that the light which
Iighteth every one that comcth into the world, was
vouchsafed in such form and measure as best to
subserve the all-wise, all-holy, and all-merciful ob-
jects of creation !