Page:Elizabeth Elstob - An English-Saxon homily on the birth-day of St. Gregory.djvu/71

 ''incline them to defend, than arraign him; and which ought never to be extinguish'd, or forgotten. I shall add but one thing farther on this Head. That this Misrepresentation of the Primitive State of the English Saxon Church, has not only been the Occasion of much Ignorance amongst our selves, and which has deprived us of a Capacity of making a most noble Defence for the Doctrine of the Reformation, but has likewise given occasion to the Papists, by our great Zeal and fierceness against St. Augustine: to believe that we are equally Enemies to the Christian Faith, and Sacraments, which it must be own'd, on all Hands, he introduced. Hence it comes to pass, that we find the Benedictines of St. Maur, in summing up their Account of our Conversion, to upbraid us in this manner: Let them ask the Father of their Faith, St. Gregory, and he will shew them; their Elders Augustine and his Assistants, and they will tell them; what Faith at the Beginning they embraced, how great Reverence, and Obedience, they paid to the Apostolick See; what Sacraments they once used, what Rites they were accustom'd to, in the Worship of God. Alas! those Altars, which they erected, have the Heterodox pulled down, and banish'd the Catholick Religion, of their Ancestors: having let in all manner of Errors and Impiety.'' God give them Repentance, to the acknowledging the Truth, that they may recover themselves out of the Snare of