2. THE SPREADING OF CHRISTIANITY IN GERMANY. Now the time had come when the light of saving truth was to shine over Germany and dispel the night of heathenish darkness. For some time already the Gospel had been carried to Germany by Christian merchants and Roman prisoners, and thus it came to pass that at isolated places Christian congregations were founded; but the real spreading of Christianity began in the sixth century through missionaries from Ireland and England.--Among the first to visit Germany was the Irish monk _Fridolin_. Together with his companions he arrived in the Black Forest among the Alemanni. With visible success he preached the Gospel to these children of the forest. He died in 550, and was succeeded by _Columban_, who, together with twelve disciples, brought the message of salvation in Christ to the inhabitants of the present Alsatia. But meeting with much opposition he fled to Switzerland, and then to Italy, where he died in 615, a true Christian to the last.--His pupil _Gallus_ had remained in Switzerland and there had founded the farfamed cloister St. Gallus. Here he labored with signal blessing for the spreading of Christianity among the Swiss and Suabian tribes, until, in 640, the Lord called him to his reward. Besides these messengers of the faith others also preached the Gospel in Germany, _Emeran_ in Bavaria, _Kilian_ in Wuertemberg. The latter suffered martyrdom with his followers in 685. Twenty years after Kilian's death the English Presbyter _Willibrod_, with eleven assistants, went to the Frisians. At first the heathen king Radbod offered stubborn resistance, but in time he had Willibrod to baptize his own son. And after the king's death the mission work met with great success. Because of the multitude of fish Willibrod could scarcely haul in the net. After fifty years of faithful labor he died as bishop of Utrecht, in the year 739. These and other missionaries were the real apostles of Germany, and independent of Rome. Through their labors congregations were founded and flourished everywhere. Before long, however, a man came to Germany who subjugated the German church to the Pope. This was Winifred, also called _Boniface_. He carried on his work mainly in Thuringia, Hessia, Bavaria, and Frisia. In 755, together with his companions, he was slain by the heathen Frisians. The most stubborn resistance to Christianity was offered by the Saxons. Only after thirty years of continuous warfare were they finally conquered by Charles the Great, and the Gospel gained a foothold amongst them.--Thus the Gospel of Christ sped from people to people, and in the year 1000 great numbers everywhere in Germany confessed Christ Jesus and Him crucified. CHAPTER IV. Popery and Monkery.