King Oswy was the first to speak: "As servants of one and the same God, we hope all to enjoy the same inheritance in heaven; why then should we not have the same rule of life here below? Let us inquire which is the true one, and follow it."... "Those who sent me hither as bishop," said Colman, "and who gave me the rule which I observe, are the beloved of God. Let us beware how we despise their teaching, for it is the teaching of Columba, of the blessed evangelist John,[76] and of the churches over which that apostle presided." [76] Ipsum est quod beatus evangelista Johannes, discipulus specialiter Domino dilectus. Beda, lib. iii. cap. xxv. "As for us," boldly rejoined Wilfrid, for to him as to the most skilful had bishop Agilbert intrusted the defence of their cause, "our custom is that of Rome, where the holy apostles Peter and Paul taught; we found it in Italy and Gaul, nay, it is spread over every nation. Shall the Picts and Britons, cast on these two islands, on the very confines of the ocean, dare to contend against the whole world?[77] However holy your Columba may have been, will you prefer him to the prince of the apostles, to whom Christ said, _Thou art Peter, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven_?" [77] Pictos dico ac Brittones, cum quibus de duabus ultimis oceani insulis, contra totum orbem stulto labore pugnant. Ibid. [Sidenote: SORROW OF THE BRITONS.] Wilfrid spoke with animation, and his words being skilfully adapted to his audience, began to make them waver. He had artfully substituted Columba for the apostle John, from whom the British church claimed descent, and opposed to Saint Peter a plain elder of Iona. Oswy, whose idol was power, could not hesitate between paltry bishops and that pope of Rome who commanded the whole world. Already imagining he saw Peter at the gates of paradise, with the keys in his hand, he exclaimed with emotion: "Is it true, Colman, that these words were addressed by our Lord to Saint Peter?" "It is true." "Can you prove that similar powers were given to your Columba?" The bishop replied "We cannot;" but he might have told the king: "John, whose doctrine we follow, and indeed every disciple, has received in the same sense as St. Peter the power to remit sins, to bind and to loose on earth and in heaven."[78] But the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures was fading away in Iona, and the unsuspecting Colman had not observed Wilfrid's stratagem in substituting Columba for Saint John. Upon this Oswy, delighted to yield to the continual solicitations of the queen, and above all, to find some one who would admit him into the kingdom of heaven, exclaimed: "Peter is the doorkeeper, I will obey him, lest when I appear at the gate there should be no one to open it to me."[79] The spectators, carried away by this royal confession, hastened to give in their submission to the vicar of St. Peter. [78] John xx 23; Matth. xviii. 18.