XXII. How under King Sigbert, through the preaching of Cedd, the East
Saxons again received the faith, which they had before cast off [653 A.D.]
CHAP. XXII. How under King Sigbert, through the preaching of Cedd, the East
Saxons again received the faith, which they had before cast off [653 A.D.]
AT that time, also, the East Saxons, at the instance of King Oswy, again
received the faith, which they had formerly cast off when they expelled
Mellitus, their bishop.For Sigbert,who reigned next to Sigbert surnamed The
Little, was then king of that nation, and a friend to King Oswy, who, when
Sigbert came to the province of the Northumbrians to visit him, as he often did,
used to endeavour to convince him that those could not be gods that had been
made by the hands of men; that a stock or a stone could not be proper matter to
form a god, the residue whereof was either burned in the fire, or framed into
any vessels for the use of men, or else was cast out as refuse, trampled on and
turned into dust. That God is rather to be understood as incomprehensible in
majesty and invisible to human eyes, almighty, eternal, the Creator of heaven
and earth and of mankind; Who governs and will judge the world in righteousness,
Whose eternal abode must be believed to be in Heaven, and not in base and
perishable metal; and that it ought in reason to be concluded, that all those
who learn and do the will of Him by Whom they were created, will receive from
Him eternal rewards. King Oswy having often, with friendly counsel, like a
brother, said this and much more to the like effect to King Sigbert, at length,
aided by the consent of his friends, he believed, and after he had consulted
with those about him, and exhorted them, when they all agreed and assented to
the faith, he was baptized with them by Bishop Finan, in the king’s township
above spoken of, which is called At the Wall,because it is close by the wall
which the Romans formerly drew across the island of Britain, at the distance of
twelve miles from the eastern sea.
King Sigbert, having now become a citizen of the eternal kingdom, returned to
the seat of his temporal kingdom, requesting of King Oswy that he would give him
some teachers, to convert his nation to the faith of Christ, and cleanse them in
the fountain of salvation. Wherefore Oswy, sending into the province of the
Midland Angles, summoned the man of God, Cedd, and, giving him another priest
for his companion, sent them to preach the Word to the East Saxons. When these
two, travelling to all parts of that country, had gathered a numerous Church to
the Lord, it happened once that Cedd returned home, and came to the church of
Lindisfarne to confer with Bishop Finan; who, finding that the work of the
Gospel had prospered in his hands, made him bishop of the nation of the East
Saxons, calling to him two other bishops to assist at the ordination. Cedd,
having received the episcopal dignity, returned to his province, and pursuing
the work he had begun with more ample authority, built churches in divers
places, and ordained priests and deacons to assist him in the Word of faith, and
the ministry of Baptism,especially in the city which, in the language of the
Saxons, is called Ythancaestir,as also in that which is named Tilaburg. The
first of these places is on the bank of the Pant, the other on the bank of the
Thames. In these, gathering a flock of Christ’s servants, he taught them to
observe the discipline of a rule of life, as far as those rude people were then
capable of receiving it.
Whilst the teaching of the everlasting life was thus, for no small time, making
daily increase in that province to the joy of the king and of all the people, it
happened that the king, at the instigation of the enemy of all good men, was
murdered by his own kindred. They were two brothers who did this wicked deed;
and being asked what had moved them to it, they had nothing else to answer, but
that they had been incensed against the king, and hated him, because he was too
apt to spare his enemies, and calmly forgave the wrongs they had done him, upon
their entreaty. Such was the crime for which the king was killed, because he
observed the precepts of the Gospel with a devout heart; but in this innocent
death his real offence was also punished, according to the prediction of the man
of God. For one of those nobles that murdered him was unlawfully married, and
when the bishop was not able to prevent or correct the sin, he excommunicated
him, and commanded all that would give ear to him not to enter this man’s house,
nor to eat of his meat. But the king made light of this command, and being
invited by the noble, went to a banquet at his house. As he was going thence,
the bishop met him. The king, beholding him, immediately dismounted from his
horse, trembling, and fell down at his feet, begging pardon for his offence; for
the bishop, who was likewise on horseback, had also alighted. Being much
incensed, he touched the prostrate king with the rod he held in his hand, and
spoke thus with the authority of his office:
"I tell thee, forasmuch as thou wouldest not refrain from the house of that
sinful and condemned man, thou shalt die in that very house." Yet it is to be
believed, that such a death of a religious man not only blotted out his offence,
but even added to his merit; because it happened on account of his piety and his
observance of the commands of Christ.
Sigbert was succeeded in the kingdom by Suidhelm, the son of Sexbald, who was
baptized by the same Cedd, in the province of the East Angles, in the royal
township, called Rendlaesham,’ that is, Rendil’s Dwelling; and Ethelwald,king of
the East Angles, brother to Anna, king of the same people, received him as he
came forth from the holy font.
