Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/33

 and Justus Bishop of Rochester. These places formed new centres whence the light of the Gospel might throw around its beams into the districts clouded over by the blackness of heathenism. The object of these new Bishops was, first of all, to get the hearing of the kings of these districts. These two Missions, however, were attended with only partial success.

Now let us pause a moment to ask ourselves what had become of the old British Church which was driven into the mountains of Wales and Cornwall. It was still in existence in those places, and, to an extent, was in a flourishing condition. When its Bishops heard of the work of Augustine and his allies, they were roused up to inquire into their success. They were, in fact, brought into contact with Augustine. Augustine had written to Gregory to ask how he ought to deal with the old British Bishops, and, in reply, he was told that they were under his authority. We shall see what the British Church thought of this decision. Two Conferences were held between Augustine's Mission and the representatives of the old Church, to discuss over certain ecclesiastical customs. The first took place on the banks of the River Severn in the year 603. There Augustine accused them of heresy. He said that they did many things which were contrary to the Church. This roused the spirit of the British and they would have nothing to do with S. Augustine. The second Conference was held, but met with no greater success. Some of the British bishops on their way to the Council asked a hermit whether they should abandon their traditions and obey Augustine. "Yes," the hermit said, "if