A.D . 664 . KOTO EBCONBEBT DIES. fore, to seek together to ascertain which is the more correct tradition, and then they ought all to observe it faithfully." Then Colman said, " This Easter, which I have been accustomed to keep, I received from my ancestors, who sent me hither as bishop, and all our ancestors, so beloved by God, are known to have kept it in the same manner. And that it may not appear incorrect to any one, I may add, that it is the very same manner in which the Evangelist John is said to have kept it in all the churches over which he presided.*' And when he had spoken for some time in this manner, the king commanded Wilfrid, the priest, to speak, who began and spoke thus : " The Easter which we Romans, Italians, Gauls, and Greeks keep, is the same which the whole church, universally diffused over the whole world, keeps in common, with the exception of the Picts, Scots, and Britons, who foolishly contend against the whole world. For when the Lord said to Peter, the chief of the Apostles, * Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,' can you, after that, Ο Colman, prefer our an . cestors, the Picts and Scots, to the chief of the Apostles, to whom the Lord committed the regulation of the whole church,?" When the king heard this, he said, " Are those things, Ο Colman, which Wilfrid says, true ?" And he replied, " My lord king, they are true." " If, then," said the king, " you both of yon agree in this, that these words were said to Peter in his character of chief of the Apostles, then I say to you that he is an officer whom I am not disposed to contradict. But as far as lies in my power, I desire to obey his regulations, lest, perchance, when I come to the doors of the kingdom of heaven, there may be no one to open them to me, if he is averse who is proved to have the keys." When the king said this, all those who were sitting around lifted up their hands to heaven applauding him ; and leaving the less perfect custom, they adopted that which they ascertained to be the better. ' A.D . 664. King Erconbert died, and Egbert, his son, succeeded him in the kingdom of Kent. The same year, Colman, bishop of Lindisfarne, returned with his priests back to Scotland, and Tuda was ordained bishop in his stead. The same year, an eclipse of the sun took place in the month of May, and an unheard-of mortality ensued. Deodatue, archbishop of Canterbury, died, and the see of Canterbury was vacant