The Anglo-Saxons were very grateful to Gregory, that he had thought with pity on them while they were in heathen darkness, and sent to them the light of God's blessed Word. On one day of each year they called to mind his kindness; and when churches were rebuilt in England, and the worship of the true God became general, the sermon or homily, from which I have just extracted a short piece, was read, to remind the hearers to whom they were indebted for the first introduction of Christianity among them. The poet Wordsworth celebrates the day on which Augustine landed, as one for which we should all be grateful : "For ever hallowed be this morning fair, Blest be the unconscious shore on which ye tread, Sung for themselves, and those whom they would Rich conquest waits them :-the tempestuous sea Of ignorance, that ran so rough and high, Ethelbert showed his gratitude to the missionaries, by giving up his own palace to them. He also enlarged the church of Canterbury, where Queen Bertha had once worshipped apart from her husband. Augustine was made Bishop of Canterbury, having travelled to Arles to be consecrated. Further additions were made to the church in after times, till it became a spacious and handsome building. Some hundred years later than the days of Ethelbert it was destroyed by fire. The present cathedral of Canterbury was built after the fire, in the eleventh century, by Lanfranc. The kingdom of the East Saxons, or Essex, at that time included London. Ethelbert had great influence over its king, Sebert : he was his nephew, and King Ethelbert soon induced him to allow Augustine to come to London, and to send his teachers to other parts of Essex. London had been first one of the small settlements of the Ancient British, or Celts: they had chosen the spot for one of their rudely-built collections of huts. The Romans, in their time, made a town, with solid and handsome dwelling-houses, public buildings, baths, and a heathen temple dedicated to Diana. It was walled round like other Roman towns for safety, and the extent of it was only that part now called the "city." The country beyond the wall, now for many miles covered with buildings, was then either bare and marshy, or covered with a growth of wood. One great district to the northeast still bears the name which described its state then,-it is called Moorfields. The thickets were to the west, and a little island about two miles from the "city," formed by streams of the Thames, was named by the Saxons Thorney Island, from the abundancy of its thorn-trees and brambles. The Romans had built a temple to Apollo on this lonely island. This part of London is now called Westminster. Sebert, Ethelbert's nephew, when he became a Christian, pulled down the heathen temple and built a church, dedicated to St. Peter, on this secluded spot. It is now Westminster Abbey. The temple to Diana in the "city" was pulled down, and the cathedral of St. Paul founded by the same king, A.D. 604. Mellitus, one of Augustine's companions, was made Bishop of London. CHAPTER XI. FURTHER PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL. EDWIN, KING OF DEIRA. - TREACHERY OF EOMER.-DEVOTION OF LILLA TO HIS KING. MISSION OF PAULINUS. SUCCESS. HINDRANCES.-EFFECT OF THE GOSPEL.EXTRACT FROM SIR F. PALGRAVE'S HISTORY. THAT division of England called Deira was not visited by any Christian missionary till Ethelbert, King of Kent, and Augustine, first Bishop of Canterbury, were both dead. Justus, the second Bishop of Canterbury, was one of Augustine's first companions. Other clergy had been sent from Rome; and among them Paulinus, who was now sent by Justus to Deira.. Edwin, King of Deira, had gone through perils and adventures in his early days. He was but three years old when his father died. The Anglian chief of the neighbouring kingdom of Northumbria seized his throne, and little Edwin was carried for safety into North Wales. Here he was protected while |