Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/137

 The A ' The Monks and tJie Conversion of the Germans 101 For there is no doubt that it is impossible to efface every- The heathen thing at once from their obdurate minds, because he who should be endeavors to ascend to the highest place rises by degrees |raduaUy or steps and not by leaps. Thus the Lord made himself weaned from known to the people of Israel in Egypt ; and yet he allowed th< l ir old them to use the sacrifices which they were wont to offer to the devil in his own worship, commanding them in his sacrifice to kill beasts to the end that, changing their hearts, they might lay aside one part of the sacrifice, whilst they retained another; that whilst they offered the same beasts which they were wont to offer, they should offer them to God, and not to idols, and thus they would no longer be the same sacrifices. Bede relates the story of the conversion of Northum- bria to the Roman Catholic form of faith, as follows : [Edwin, king of Northumbria, urged by his Christian 41. Bede's wife, Ethelberga, and by the bishop Paulinus,] answered that he was both willing and bound to receive the new faith, sioVof" which the bishop taught, but that he wished, nevertheless, to Northum- confer about it with his principal friends and counselors, to the end that, if they also were of his opinion, they might all be cleansed together in Christ, the Fountain of Life. Paulinus consenting, the king did as he had said ; for, hold- ing a council with the wise men, he asked of every one in particular what he thought of the new doctrine and the new worship that was preached. To which the chief of his own priests, Coifi, immediately answered: "O king, consider what this is which is now preached to us ; for I verily declare to you that the religion which we have hitherto professed has, as far as I can learn, no virtue in it. For none of your people has applied him- self more diligently to the worship of our gods than I ; and yet there are many who receive greater favors from you, and are more preferred than I,)and who are more prosperous in all their undertakings. Now if the gods were good for any- thing, they would rather forward me, who have been more