r souls to the
lesson of the Cross, and learned that they were not their own, but
were placed in power that they might use their strength in helping the
poor and needy.

22. =Dispute between Wilfrid and Colman. 664.=--The lesson was all the
better taught because those who taught it were monks. Monasticism
brought with it an extravagant view of the life of self-denial, but
those who had to be instructed needed to have the lesson written
plainly so that a child might read it. The rough warrior or the rough
peasant was more likely to abstain from drunkenness, if he had learned
to look up to men who ate and drank barely enough to enable them to
live; and he was more likely to treat women with gentleness and
honour, if he had learned to look up to some women who separated
themselves from the joys of married life that they might give
themselves to fasting and prayer. Yet, great as the influence of the
clergy was, it was in danger of being lessened through internal
disputes amongst themselves. A very large part of England had been
converted by the Celtic missionaries, and the Celtic missionaries,
though their life and teaching was in the main the same as that of the
Church of Canterbury and of the Churches of the Continent, differed
from them in the shape of the tonsure and in the time at which they
kept their Easter. These things were themselves unimportant, but it
was of great importance that the young English Church should not be
separated from the Churches of more civilised countries which had
preserved much of the learning and art of the old Roman Empire. One of
those who felt strongly the evil which would follow on such a
separation was Wilfrid. He was scornful and self-satisfied, but he had
travelled to Rome, and had been impressed with the ecclesiastical
memories of the great city, and with the fervour and learning of its
clergy. He came back resolved to bring the customs of England into
conformity with those of the churches of the Continent. On his
arrival, Oswiu, in =664=, gathered an assembly of the clergy of the
north headed by Colman, Aidan's successor, to discuss the point.
Learned arguments were poured forth on either side. Oswiu listened in
a puzzled way. Wilfrid boasted that his mode of keeping Easter was
derived from Peter, and that Christ had given to Peter the keys of the
kingdom of heaven. Oswiu at once decided to follow Peter, lest when he
came to the gate of that kingdom Peter, who held the keys, should