The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1910-05-26
MRS. FROST WRITES


you WISH 10 lupdfJ 10 Us WndI you
believe 10 be good and true, we do
not wish to modest you, nor do we
hinder you from joining all whom you
can to the faith OF your religion"
Accordingly the missionaries cross
ed the river, entered the town of
Canterbury, then went on up the hill
side outside the town 10 Queen
Bertha's little church where they held
service. Finally one June day the
queen had the JOY of seeing her hus-
band baptized and Of hearing him
declare that the Christian religion
should be he religion of his kingdom.
Thus, Christianity came to Eng
land and as we sat by the liGle
church on the very spot where st.
Augustine preached 70 King Ethelbert
and looked away to the spires of the
grea ca herbal and thought of how
this religion had spread over Eng
land and how a thousand years lat
er 1t was carried TO our own land
by the Pilgrim Fathers. ! felt a per-
sonal gra iude to s.. Augustine the
heroic missionary, 10 Queen Bertha
who prepared the way for him. and 10
King Ethelbert for his hospi able well
come 10 the new religion.
But back of II all was a deeper
gratitude to the great Pope who had
sent Augustine. Earnes Pro estan s
are not inclined TO dwell ON the vir-
tues of popes but as Dean Stanley
remarks: I'VE must give even Pope
his due and all people OF the
English race owe a special deb. of
gra itude 10 Pope Gregory the Great.
AS a young man. he was big heart
ed He helped everyone within his
reach. lie gave a dinner TO a dozen
bcggars every day. and in Rome now
they show you the table he spread
for hem. Once, when he heard of a
man in Rome who had arved 70
death, he set a heavy punishment up
on himself, because he felt il a per-
sonal disgrace that a man in his own
city should have starved 10 dea h.
He felt such compassion for some of
the noble Roman Emperors who had
died without hearing Christ that he
used to pray that in some way even
yet God would give them a chance to
know him.
One day he walked with a friend
down to the market place to see
load of merchandise ard slaves that
had just landed Dean Stanley in des-
cribing this slave marke., makes
the comment that no such scene can
now be witnessed in the civilized
world except in the Southern Sta cs
OF America hink The publishers of
the book ought to add foot note
/ to the effect that America is no long
I er a laggard in the civilized process
{ sion
Blu, to return to Gregory. He had
! for years used his influence against
/ the slave trade and had urged the
church az Rome TO sell valuable jewels
for the release OF capives; so when
he came o he market and saw the
slaves from all parts of the world,
it is no wonder that his feelings were
I touched. But when he came 10 three
boys with beautiful rosy cheeks and
blue eyes and flaXen eurls, he heav-
ed deep sigh. He asked the Jewish
slave trader about them, and he told
Gregory that the boys came from an
island far away where all the people
looked like that. He said they are
called Angles Gregory said TO his
friend: They ought to be called
Angels instead of Angles" He resolved
to go al once to the island carrying
the religion that should make the
people angels indeed.
lie got permission from the Pope
and set out. Blu when The people of
Rome heard that the man whom they
loved so much had LEFT the city,
they made such an uproar that the
/ Pope was compelled to send after
him The messenger overlook him on
the third day, and he bowed to the
order of the Pope. But he never for
got those slave boys, and when he
himself, became Pope he sem Angus
tine to carry out his long cherished
purpose,
1t is strange to the thought of an
Anglo Saxon of today thai any Of
his forefa hers were ever in a slave
market, and that a good mans pity
for those slaves resulted in bringing
our race its religion and lifting it
out Of barbarism.
The town of Can erbury locks much
as Il did in the middle ages, with
its quaint narrow streets and its
projecting houses nodding to each
other across the streets. We stopped
ia house that was built in 1884 and
Ia the evening as We read the Canter-
bury Tales, We could imagine our
selves to be the ancient pilgrims max