Page:Historical Works of Venerable Bede vol. 2.djvu/193

 Rh  St. Vedast to the holy Archbishop Remedius. Mere he stayed, and acquired renown by the merits of his life and the example of virtue which he set. He was amiable and respected by all, for the religious dignity of his manners, his singular charity, his delightful brotherly love, the distinguished humility of his piety, his constant watchfulness in prayer, his modesty of language, his chastity of body, his sobriety in fasting, and the kind way in which he comforted the wretched. He never thought of the morrow, but trusting continually in the bounty of God, fed all who came to him with the bread of eternal life. He despised no one in narrow circumstances, but refreshed the sorrowful with the words of pious consolation; he injured no one, not even by a word; but deemed it sufficient to benefit all with brotherly love; wherefore, also, he was much frequented by many illustrious men, that by his most holy discourse they might receive consolation for any sorrows that afflicted them, or hear from him the pure truths of religion according to the practice of the church. Wherefore, also, many were rescued by his devout piety from the snares of the Devil, and with the aid of divine love entered on the road that leads to everlasting life.

CHAPTER V.

, many men, as we have said above, both nobles and commoners, came to see the man of God, to be comforted by the grace which abounded on his lips; and because from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, and because he loved all with brotherly love, he showed himself affable to all, thinking the salvation of others to be his own gain. Nor did he bury in the