A Mirror of Faith :: :: University of Virginia Library

King Edwin sat among his thanes;
and council sage held they,
If they should cast to bats and owls
their fathers' gods away:
Strangers had gone throughout the land,
in hovel and in hall
Preaching one faith in God on high,
the Father of us all:

The King, by Wessex men assailed,
to God had vowed a vow,
If now his enemies should fail,—
if he should vanquish now,
And so return, in wealth and peace,
to rule Northumbria's state,
By water at the Holy Font
to be illuminate.

Up riseth Saint Paulinus first;
“ye know how, day by day,
With tears I have besought this land
to ponder what I say;
How I have preached of One Great God,
by all to be adored;
And of one Saviour, Jesus Christ,
His Only Son our Lord:
And that He came with humbleness
His blood for us to shed;
But He shall come with majesty,
to judge the quick and dead;
And of the Holy Ghost on high,
and of the last great Doom;
The Resurrection of the Dead,
and of the Life to come.”

Then out and spake old Coiffi,—
Thors' priest renowned was he:
“Long at the altars of our gods
I've bowed my aged knee;
I never missed our fathers' rites;
I worshipp'd every day,
When others came inconstantly,
or turned with scorn away;
Yet these be they that thrive in power,
and grow in riches still,
While I, for all my services,
have met with grief and ill;
Wherefore, my sentence, lords and thanes,
adviseth to forsake
The gods that of their worshippers
so ill observance make.”

Then out and spake an ancient thane,
sat at the king's right hand:
“Full oft, O King, in winter night,
when frost is o'er the land,
And in thy hall, around the fire,
we sit and make good cheer,
A small bird seeks the light and heat,
a moment tarrying here;

Out of the darkness it escapes,
and into darkness darts;
But whence it cometh none can tell,
nor whither it departs:
So in the brightness of this life
hath man a little share,
Coming—our wise men say not whence,
to go—they know not where.

“Wherefore, if aught these strangers preach
can chace the doubt and fear
That hangeth o'er the future life,
in God's Name, let us hear!”
Then up rose good Paulinus,
and blessing Him above
That gave them ears to hear that day,
he spake the words of love:
Of temperance, of righteousness,
and of the Crown on high,
That shall be won by actions done
in this life virtuously;
And how the wicked, after death,
have heritage in hell,
In chains, and fire, and darkness, there
eternally to dwell.

Then out and spake old Coiffi,—
“a horse and arms!” he cried:
(Priest that before that day had touched
or horse or arms had died):
He rideth forth, he turneth north;
the crowd press on with speed;
At Thor's old shrine, Godmundingham,
he reined his foaming steed:
Forthwith, with mighty force, he hurls
his javelin in the wall:
The crowd, aghast, stand back to see
the god's great vengeance fall.
“Down with the walls,” at length they cry,
“reared first for power and pelf,
Down with the temple of the god
that cannot help himself!”

They gave their idols to the wind;
their vengeance they despised:
The Bretwald of Northumbria
believed and was baptized;
The priests were at the river-side
from morning on till eve,

Into the Ark of Holy Church
fresh converts to receive;
And churches rose in hill and vale,
and matin strains were sung,
And woods, and caves, and desert moors,
with hermits' vespers rung:
And good Paulinus sat, renown'd
for fasting and for prayer,
First of a line of Blessed Saints,
in York's Cathedral Chair.

Bretwalda, that is, Wielder of Britain,—a title of honour given to certain of the most powerful Saxon princes.

For King Edwin's seat was at York; and the Church in Britain, as elsewhere, generally followed in her divisions and territorial distinctions those of the state.