Bede's Ecclesiastical History of EnglandBede, the Venerable, Saint
History
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England
Bede, the Venerable, Saint
England -- Church history -- 449-1066
Justus, bishop of the church of Rochester, immediately succeeded Mellitus
in the archbishopric. He consecrated Romanus bishop of that see in his own
stead, having obtained authority to ordain bishops from Pope Boniface,
whom we mentioned above as successor to Deusdedit: of which licence this
is the form:
“_Boniface, to his most beloved brother Justus._ We have learnt not only
from the contents of your letter addressed to us, but from the fulfilment
granted to your work, how faithfully and vigilantly you have laboured, my
brother, for the Gospel of Christ; for Almighty God has not forsaken
either the mystery of His Name, or the fruit of your labours, having
Himself faithfully promised to the preachers of the Gospel, ‘Lo! I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world’;(201) which promise His mercy
has particularly manifested in this ministry imposed upon you, opening the
hearts of the nations to receive the wondrous mystery of your preaching.
For He has blessed with a rich reward your Eminence’s acceptable course,
by the support of His loving kindness; granting a plentiful increase to
your labours in the faithful management of the talents committed to you,
and bestowing it on that which you might confirm to many generations.(202)
This is conferred on you by that recompense whereby, constantly
persevering in the ministry imposed upon you, you have awaited with
praiseworthy patience the redemption of that nation, and that they might
profit by your merits, salvation has been bestowed on them. For our Lord
Himself says, ‘He that endureth to the end shall be saved.’(203) You are,
therefore, saved by the hope of patience, and the virtue of endurance, to
the end that the hearts of unbelievers, being cleansed from their natural
disease of superstition, might obtain the mercy of their Saviour: for
having received letters from our son Adulwald,(204) we perceive with how
much knowledge of the Sacred Word you, my brother, have brought his mind
to the belief in true conversion and the certainty of the faith.
Therefore, firmly confiding in the long-suffering of the Divine clemency,
we believe that, through the ministry of your preaching, there will ensue
most full salvation not only of the nations subject to him, but also of
their neighbours; to the end, that as it is written, the recompense of a
perfect work may be conferred on you by the Lord, the Rewarder of all the
just; and that the universal confession of all nations, having received
the mystery of the Christian faith, may declare, that in truth ‘Their
sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the
world.’(205)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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