How Laurentius, being reproved by the Apostle Peter, converted King Eadbald to Christ; and how the king soon recalled Mellitus and Justus to preach the Word. [617-618A.D.]
LAURENTIUS, being about to follow Mellitus and Justus, and to
quit Britain, ordered his bed to be laid that night in the church
of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, which has been often
mentioned before; wherein having laid himself to rest, after he
had with tears poured forth many prayers to God for the state of
the Church, he fell asleep; in the dead of night, the blessed
chief of the Apostles appeared to him, and scourging him
grievously a long time, asked of him with apostolic severity, why
he was forsaking the flock which he had committed to him? or to
what shepherd he was leaving, by his flight, Christ's sheep that
were in the midst of wolves? "Hast thou," he said,
"forgotten my example, who, for the sake of those little
ones, whom Christ commended to me in token of His affection,
underwent at the hands of infidels and enemies of Christ, bonds,
stripes, imprisonment, afflictions, and lastly, death itself,
even the death of the cross, that I might at last be crowned with
Him?" Laurentius, the servant of Christ, roused by the
scourging of the blessed Peter and his words of exhortation, went
to the king as soon as morning broke, and laying aside his
garment, showed the scars of the stripes which he had received.
The king, astonished, asked who had presumed to inflict such
stripes on so great a man. And when he heard that for the sake of
his salvation the bishop had suffered these cruel blows at the
hands of the Apostle of Christ, he was greatly afraid; and
abjuring the worship of idols, and renouncing his unlawful
marriage, he received the faith of Christ, and being baptized,
promoted and supported the interests of the Church to the utmost
of his power.
He also sent over into Gaul, and recalled Mellitus and Justus,
and bade them return to govern their churches in freedom. They
came back one year after their departure, and Justus returned to
the city of Rochester, where he had before presided; but the
people of London would not receive Bishop Mellitus, choosing
rather to be under their idolatrous high priests; for King
Eadbald had not so much authority in the kingdom as his father,
and was not able to restore the bishop to his church against the
will and consent of the pagans. But he and his nation, after his
conversion to the Lord, sought to obey the commandments of God.
Lastly, he built the church of the holy Mother of God, in the
monastery of the most blessed chief of the Apostles, which was
afterwards consecrated by Archbishop Mellitus.