Ethelbert's

according to the English way of reckoning, six hundred hides, divided from the other land by the river Wantsum, which is about three furlongs over, and fordable only in two places, for both ends of it run into the sea. In this island landed the servant of our Lord, Augustine, and his companions, being, as is reported, nearly forty men.

They had, by order of the blessed Pope Gregory, taken interpreters of the nation of the Franks, and sending to Ethelbert, signified that they were come from Rome, and brought a joyful message, which most undoubtedly assured to all that took advantage of it everlasting joys in heaven, and a kingdom that would never end, with the living and true God. The king, having heard this, ordered them to stay in that island where they had landed, and that they should be furnished with all necessaries, till he should consider what to do with them. For he had before heard of the Christian religion, having a Christian wife, of the royal family of the Franks, called Bertha, whom he had received from her parents upon condition that she should be permitted to practice her religion with the bishop Luidhard, who was sent with her to preserve her faith.

Some days after, the king came into the island and, sitting fear of magic in the open air, ordered Augustine and his companions to be brought into his presence. For he had taken precaution that they should not come to him in any house, lest, according to an ancient superstition, if they practiced any magical arts, they might impose upon him, and so get the better of him. But they came furnished with divine, not with magic virtue, bearing a silver cross for their banner, and the image of our Lord and Saviour painted on a board; and singing the litany, they offered up their prayers to the Lord for the eternal salvation both of themselves and of those to whom they were come. When they had sat down, pursuant to the king's commands, and preached to him and his attendants there present the word of life, the king answered thus: "Your words and promises are very fair, but as they are new to us, and of uncertain import, I cannot approve of them so far as to forsake that which I have so long followed with the whole English nation. But because you are come from far into my kingdom, and, as I

conceive, are desirous to impart to us those things which you believe to be true and most beneficial, we will not molest you, but give you favorable entertainment, and take care to supply you with your necessary sustenance; nor do we forbid you to preach and gain as many as you can to your religion." Accordingly he permitted them to reside in the city of Canterbury, which was the metropolis of all his dominions, and, pursuant to his promise, besides allowing them sustenance, did not refuse them liberty to preach. It is reported that as they drew near to the city, after their manner, with the holy cross and the image of our sovereign Lord and King, Jesus Christ, they sang in concert this litany: "We beseech thee, O Lord, in all thy mercy, that thy anger and wrath be turned away from this city, and from thy holy house, because we have sinned. Alleluiah." There was on the east side of the city a church dedicated The oldest to St. Martin, built whilst the Romans were still in the island, wherein the queen, who, as has been said before, was a Christian, used to pray. In this they first began to meet, to sing, to pray, to say mass, to preach, and to baptize, till the king, being converted to the faith, allowed them to preach openly and build or repair churches in all places.

The next great step in the conversion of England was taken about thirty years afterward, when Paulinus, a follower of Augustine, presented a letter from the pope to Edwin, king of Northumbria, who called a council of his leading men to consider the matter, as described by Bede.

church in

England

the conver

The king, hearing these words, answered that he was both 33. Bede's willing and bound to receive the faith which he taught, but account of that he would confer about it with his principal friends and sion of Northcounselors, to the end that if they also were of his opinion, they umbria (627) might all together be cleansed in Christ, the fountain of life. Paulinus consenting, the king did as he said; for, holding a council with the wise men, he asked of every one in particular what he thought of the new doctrine of the Deity that was preached. To which the chief of his own priests, Coifi, immediately answered: "O king, consider what this is which is now

Coifi's

argument

The parable of the sparrow

preached to us; for I verily declare to you, what I have learned for certain, that the religion which we have hitherto professed has no virtue, no usefulness in it. For none of your people has applied himself more diligently to the worship of our gods than I; and yet there are many who receive greater favors from you, and obtain greater dignities than I, and are more prosperous in all their undertakings. Now if the gods were good for anything, they would rather forward me, who have been more careful to serve them. It remains, therefore, that if upon examination you find those new doctrines, which are now preached to us, better and more efficacious, we immediately receive them without any delay."

Another of the king's chief men, approving of his words and exhortations, presently added: "The present life of man on earth, O`king, seems to me, in comparison of that time which is unknown to us, like the swift flight of a sparrow through the room wherein you sit at supper in winter, with your commanders and ministers, and a good fire in the midst, whilst the storms of rain and snow prevail abroad; the sparrow, I say, flying in at one door and immediately out at another, whilst he is within is safe from the wintry storm; but after a short space of fair weather he immediately vanishes out of your sight, into the dark winter from which he had emerged. So this life of man appears for a short space, but of what went before, or what is to follow, we are utterly ignorant. If, therefore, this new doctrine contains something more certain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed." The other elders and king's counselors, by divine inspiration, spoke to the same effect.

But Coifi added that he wished more attentively to hear Paulinus discourse concerning the God whom he preached; which he having by the king's command performed, Coifi, hearing his words, cried out: "I have long since been sensible that there was nothing in that which we worshiped; because the more diligently I sought after truth in that worship, the less I found it. But now I freely confess that such truth appears in this preaching as can confer on us the gifts of life, of salvation, and of eternal happiness. For which reason I advise, O king, that we instantly abjure and set fire to those

temples and altars which we have consecrated without reaping any benefit from them."

heathen

In short, the king publicly gave his license to Paulinus to preach the gospel, and, renouncing idolatry, declared that he received the faith of Christ; and when he inquired of the high priest who should first profane the altars and temples of their idols, with the inclosures that were about them, he answered: "I; for who can more properly than myself destroy those things which I worshiped through ignorance, for an example to all others, through the wisdom which has been given me by the true God?" Then immediately, in contempt of his The profanaformer superstitions, he desired the king to furnish him with tion of the arms and a stallion; and mounting the same, he set out to sacred destroy the idols; for it was not lawful before for the high places priest either to carry arms, or to ride except on a mare. Having, therefore, girt a sword about him, with a spear in his hand, he mounted the king's stallion and proceeded to the idols. The multitude, beholding it, concluded he was distracted; but he lost no time, for as soon as he was near the temple he profaned the same, casting into it the spear which he held; and, rejoicing in the knowledge of the true God, he commanded his companions to destroy the temple, with all its inclosures, by fire. This place where the idols were is still shown, not far from York, to the eastward, beyond the river Derwent, and is now called Godmundingham, where the high priest, by the inspiration of the true God, profaned and destroyed the altars which he had himself consecrated.

Christianity was soon spread among the Northumbrians, but after the death of Edwin it again declined and the people generally returned to heathenism. When it was reintroduced it was by missionaries from Scotland, for the northwestern part of the island had remained Christian from Roman times, and its clergy had recently undertaken active missionary efforts. Bede goes on to tell of this conversion under the new king of Northumbria, Oswald.

The recon

north by missionaries from Scot

land (635642)

The same Oswald, as soon as he ascended the throne, being version of the desirous that all his nation should receive the Christian faith, whereof he had found happy experience in vanquishing the barbarians, sent to the elders of the Scots, among whom himself and his followers, when in banishment, had received the sacrament of baptism, desiring they would send him a bishop, by whose instruction and ministry the English nation which he governed might be taught the advantages and receive the sacraments of the Christian faith. Nor were they slow in granting his request, but sent him Bishop Aidan, a man of singular meekness, piety, and moderation; zealous in the cause of God, though not altogether according to knowledge; for he was wont to keep Easter Sunday, according to the custom of his country, which we have before so often mentioned, from the fourteenth to the twentieth moon; the northern province of the Scots and all the nations of the Picts celebrating Easter then after that manner.

34. Conver

sion of the East Angles

The introduction of Christianity into East Anglia and the higher intellectual interests which it brought with it are brought out clearly in Bede's short account of the conversion of that kingdom.

Edwin was so zealous for the worship of truth that he likewise persuaded Eorpwald, king of the East Saxons and son of Redwald, to abandon his idolatrous superstitions and with his whole province to receive the faith and sacraments of Christ. And indeed his father Redwald had long before been admitted to the sacrament of the Christian faith in Kent, but in vain ; for on his return home he was led astray by his wife and certain perverse heathens, and turned back from the sincerity of the faith; and thus his latter state was worse than his former; so that like the ancient Samaritan he seemed at the same time to serve Christ and the gods whom he had served before; and in the same temple he had an altar to sacrifice to Christ, and another small one to offer victims to devils.

The kingdom of the East Angles after the death of Eorpwald, the successor of Redwald, was subject to his brother Sigebert,