Denmark was fatal to Eric, and, for a time, to the new religion, which the next king prohibited. But this time was a brief one; for the prudence of Anscar, who now returned from Sweden, fully repaired the disaster. The ecclesiastics whom he sent to both countries he enjoined to imitate the example of St. Paul,—to labour for their own maintenance, so as to be chargeable to no one. It was probably this necessity of manual labour that rebutted many, even more than the persecutions they endured; for during the whole of his pontificate, he had great difficulty in providing the infant churches with pastors.”[128] [Sidenote: 865 to 889.] The work which Anscar had so well commenced, was as well continued by his disciple, his companion, his friend, his biographer, _St. Rembert_, who immediately after his death succeeded him in the archiepiscopal dignity, with the full approbation of the pope and the Germanic sovereign. He had, indeed, indicated to the clergy the propriety of electing his friend, to whose merits he had borne this splendid testimony:—“Rembert is more fit to be archbishop than I am to be a humble deacon.” To the success of this prelate’s labours, ample testimony is borne by writers nearly contemporary. He founded several churches, not in Sweden and Denmark only, but among the Slavi. His virtues equalled his zeal. To redeem Christian captives from pagan thraldom, he sold the very plate of the altar. One day, for the redemption of a virgin, he gave the horse on which he was riding. His time was always occupied; scarcely did he allow himself leisure for eating or sleep. During the twenty-three years that he presided over the united sees of Hamburg and Bremen, he was no less zealous than he had been in company with his predecessor. Towards the close of his life he chose as his coadjutor _Adalgar_, a monk of New Corbey, whom he wished to succeed him.—Of this eminent ecclesiastic, as many miracles are recorded as he himself had related of his predecessor, St. Anscar. That he believed them is certain; that his biographers believed those recorded of him, is equally so. We should have been glad to perceive them wrought for nobler occasions. With all their zeal, Anscar and Rembert left few native Christians in Sweden,—few, we mean, compared with the population, and scarcely perhaps with the advantages they possessed. But to them be due praise! If they did not effect all that we could wish, probably they effected all that they could. Their sense of responsibility was strong enough; but their diocese was too extensive, their duties too numerous, to allow of their devoting as much time as they would otherwise have done, to the Northern mission. Nor must we omit the inveterate bigotry of some pagans, the indifference of others, and (a still worse evil) the hardness of heart which a vicious system of religion had engendered. [Sidenote: 889 to 936.]