96 FOURTH PEKIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
missionary, and returned with about fifty devoted followers to the field of the baffled labors of his youth among the Friesians, where a reaction in favor of heathenism had taken place since the death of Willibrord. He planted his tents on the banks of the river Borne near Dockum (between Franecker and Groningen), waiting for a large number of converts to be confirmed. But, instead of that, he was assailed and slain, with his compa nions, by armed pagans. He met the martyr's death with calm ness and resignation, June 5, 754 or 755. His bones were deposited first at Utrecht, then at Mainz, and at last in Fulda. Soon after his death, an English synod chose him, together with Pope Gregory and Augustin, patron of the English church. In 1875 Pope Pius IX. directed the Catholics of Germany and England to invoke especially the aid of St. Boniface in the dis tress of modern times.
The works of Boniface are epistles and sermons. The former refer to his missionary labors and policy, the latter exhibit his theological views and practical piety. Fifteen short sermons are preserved, addressed not to heathen, but to Christian con verts ; they reveal therefore not so much his missionary as his edifying activity. They are without Scripture text, and are either festal discourses explaining the history of salvation, espe cially the fall and redemption of man, or catechetical expositions of Christian doctrine and duty. We give as- a characteristic specimen of the latter, the fifteenth sermon, on the renunciation of the devil in baptism :
SERMON xv.
" I. Listen, my brethren, and consider well what you have solemnly renounced in your baptism. You have renounced the devil and all his works, and all his pomp. But what are the works of the devil? They are pride, idolatry, envy, murder, calumny, lying, perjury, hatred, forni cation, adultery, every kind of lewdness, theft, false witness, robbery, gluttony, drunkenness, slander, fight, malice, philters, incantations, lots, belief in witches and were-wolves, abortion, disobedience to the Master, amulets. These and other such evil things are the works of the devil, all of which you have forsworn by your baptism, as the apostle says :
I 25. BONIFACE, THE APOSTLE OF GERMANY. 97
Whosoever doeth such tilings deserves death, arid shall not inherit the king dom of heaven. But as we believe that, by the mercy of God, you will renounce all these things, with heart and hand, in order to become fit for grace, I admonish you, my dearest brethren, to remember what you have promised Almighty God.
II. For, first, you have promised to believe in Almighty God, and in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, one almighty God in perfect trinity.
III. And these are the commandments which you shall keep and ful fil: to love God, whom you profess, with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourselves ; for on these commandments hang the whole law and the prophets. Be pa tient, have mercy, be benevolent, chaste, pure. Teach your sons to fear God ; teach your whole family to do so. Make peace where you go, and let him who sits in court, give a just verdict and take no presents, for presents make even a wise man blind.
IV. Keep the Sabbath and go to church — to pray, but not to prattle. Give alms according to your power, for alms extinguish sins as water does fire. Show hospitality to travelers, visit the sick, take care of widows and orphans, pay your tithes to the church, and do to nobody what you would not have done to yourself. Fear God above all. Let the servants be obedient to their masters, and the masters just to their servants. Cling to the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, and communicate them to your OAvn children and to those whose baptismal sponsors you are. Keep the fast, love what is right, stand up against the devil, and partake from time to time of the Lord's Supper. Such are the works which God commands you to do and fulfil.
V. Believe in the advent of Christ, the resurrection of the body, and the judgment of all men. For then the impious shall be sepa rated from the just, the one for the everlasting fire, the others for the eternal lift. Then begins a life with God without death, a light without shadows, a health without sickness, a plenty without hunger, a happiness without fear, a joy with no misgivings. Then comes the eternal glory, in which the just shall shine like suns, for no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, no heart has ever dreamed, of all that which God has prepared for those whom he loves.
VI. I also remind you, my beloved brethren, that the birth-day of our Lord is approaching, in order that you may abstain from all that is worldly or lewd or impure or bad. Spit out all malice and hatred and envy ; it is poison to your heart. Keep chaste even with respect to your own wives. Clothe yourselves with good works. Give alms to the poor who belong to Christ; invite them often to your feasts. Keep peace with all, and make peace between those who are at discord. If, with the aid of Christ, you will truly fulfil these commands, then in this life you can