Iona still held out. The orders of the Pictish king, the example of his subjects, the sight of that Italian power which was devouring the earth, had shaken some few minds; but the Church still resisted the innovation. Iona was the last citadel of liberty in the western world, and popery was filled with anger at that miserable band which in its remote corner refused to bend before it. Human means appeared insufficient to conquer this rock: something more was needed, visions and miracles for example; and these Rome always finds when she wants them. One day towards the end of the seventh century, an English monk, named Egbert, arriving from Ireland, appeared before the elders of Iona, who received him with their accustomed hospitality. He was a man in whom enthusiastic devotion was combined with great gentleness of heart, and he soon won upon the minds of these simple believers. He spoke to them of an external unity, urging that a universality manifested under different forms was unsuited to the church of Christ. He advocated the special form of Rome, and for the truly catholic element which the Christians of Iona had thus far possessed, substituted a sectarian element. He attacked the traditions of the British church,[102] and lavishly distributing the rich presents confided to him by the lords of Ireland and of England,[103] he soon had reason to acknowledge the truth of the saying of the wise man: _A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth it prospereth_. [102] Sedulis exhortationibus inveteratam illam traditionem parentum eorum. (Beda, lib. v. cap. xxiii.) By his frequent exhortations, he converted them from that inveterate tradition of their ancestors. [103] Pietate largiendi de his quæ a divitibus acceperat, multum profuit. (Ibid. cap. xxvii.) He did much good by the pious distribution of those gifts which he had received from the rich. [Sidenote: MONKISH VISIONS.]