before them, and diuerse mo. Who had vsed alwayes to celebrate the Easter, from the. xiiij. day of the moone, til the. xxviij. of the same. And speciallye for that, S. Iohn the Euaungelist at Ephesus, kept & obserued that daye, &c. On the other side was Agilbert bishop of Westsaxons, Iames the Deacō of Paulinus, aboue mencioned: Wilfride Abbat of Rypon, and king Alfride, Oswyes sonne, with his Queene, holding on the same side. The full contentes of which disputation here followeth, according as in the story of Beda at large is described, w^t their reasons & arguments, on both sides as insueth, &c.

MarginaliaEx Beda lib. 2 cap. 25.The question of Easter, and of shauing, and other ecclesiasticall matters being moued, it was determined that in the Abbey which is called Streneshalch, of the which Hilda a deuoute woman was Abbes: a conuocation shoulde be had and this question there determined. To the which place came both the kings, the father and the sonne. MarginaliaDisputation betwene the Romain bishops, and the Scottish bishops for the day of Easter and other ceremonies.Bishop Colman with his clergie of Scotland, Aigelbert with Agathon and Wilfride priestes, Iames and Roman were on their sides. Hylda þ^e Abbes with her companye was on the Scotyshe part. And the reuerent bishop Cedda was appointed Prolocutor for both parties in that Parliament. MarginaliaThe kyng beginnethKing Oswye began first with an oration declaring that it was necessarye for such as serued one God, to liue in one vniforme order, and that such as looked for one kingdome in heauen shoulde not differ in celebration of the heauenlye sacramentes, but shoulde rather seeke for the true tradition and followe the same. This sayd, he commaunded hys Bishop Colman to declare what the rite and custome was in this behalfe that he vsed, and from whence it had the originall. MarginaliaColman speakethThen Colman obeying his princes commaūdement, said: the Easter which I obserue I receaued of my auncestors that sent me hither a bishop. The which, al our forefathers being mē of god, did celebrate in like maner: and least it should be contemned or despised of any man, it is manifestlye apparant, to be the verye same, which the holye Euangelist S. Iohn (a Disciple especiallye beloued of the Lorde) did customablye vse, in all churches and cōgregations, where he had authoritie. When Colman had spoken many thinges to this effecte, the king commaunded Aigelbert to declare his opinion in this behalfe, and to shewe the order that he then vsed, from whence it came and by what authoritie he obserued the same. Aigelbert requested the king, that hys scholer Wilfride, a priest, myght speake for him: in as much as they both, with the reast of his clergie, were of one opinion herein: and þ^t the said Wilfride coulde vtter hys minde better and more playnlye in the english tonge, then he himself could. MarginaliaWilfride replieth.Then Wilfride at the kinges commaundement, began on this sorte, and said: The Easter which we kepe, we haue sene at Rome, where as the holy Apostles, Peter and Paule, dyd liue and teach, did suffer, and were buryed. The same also is vsed in Italie, and in Fraunce: the which countryes we haue traueled for learning, and haue noted it to be celebrated of them all. MarginaliaVniuersalitie alleged.In Asia also and in Africke, in Egypt and in Greece, and finallie in all the world, the same maner of Easter is obserued, þ^t we vse: saue onely by these here presēt w^t their accōplices, þ^e Pictes & the Brytaines: with þ^e which two (and yet not altogether agreing) they condescend and striue folishlye in this order agaynst the vniuersall worlde. MarginaliaColman agayn speaketh.To whom Colman replyed, saying: I maruell, you will call this order folyshe, that so greate an Apostle, as was worthy to lie in the Lordes lappe, did vse: whom all the worlde doth well knowe to haue liued most wisely. MarginaliaWilfride replieth.And Wilfride aunswered, God forbid that I should reproue S. Iohn of folye, who kept the rites of Moyses lawe according to the letter (the Church being yet Iewishe in many poyntes) and the Apostles not as yet able to abdicate all the obseruations of the lawe before ordayned: As for example, they coulde not reiecte I-mages inuented of the deuill, the which all men that beleue in Christ ought of necessitie to forsake, and deteste: least they should be an offence to those Iewes þ^t were amongst the Gentiles. MarginaliaWhy Paule circumcised Timothy.For this cause dyd S. Paule circumcise Tymothe: for thys cause dyd he sacrifice in the temple, and did shaue hys head with Aquila and Priscilla at Corynthe: all which thinges were done to none other purpose, then to eschue the offence of the Iewes. Hereupon also sayd Iames to Paule, thou seest brother how many thousand Iewes do beleue, and all these be zelous notwithstanding, of the law. Yet seing the Gospell is so manifestlye preached in the worlde, it is not lawfull for the faythfull to be circumcised, neyther to offer sacrifice of carnall thynges to God. Therfore Iohn accordyng to the custome of the law, the. xiiij. daye of the firste moneth at euening, did begyn the celebration of the feast of Easter: nothyng respecting whether it were celebrated in the Sabboth, or in any other feriall day. MarginaliaExample of Peter alleaged, but no proofe brought therofBut Peter when he preached at Rome, remēbryng that the Lord did arise frō death on the first daye after the Sabboth gyuing therby an hope to the world of þ^e resurrectiō: thought good to institute Easter on that day, and not after the vse and preceptes of the lawe (that was) the xiiij. day of the first moneth. MarginaliaPeter & Iohn did not agree in the celebrating of Easter.Euen so Iohn lookyng for the Moone at night if it dyd arise, and the next day after were Sonday, which was then called the Sabboth, then did he celebrate the Easter of the Lord in the euenyng, like as we vse to do euē at this day. But if Sonday were not the next day after the xiiij. day, but fell on the xvi. day, or xvij. or on any other daye vnto the xxi: he taried alwayes for it, and did begyn the holy solemnitie of Easter, on the euenyng next before the Sabboth. And so came it to pas that Easter was alwayes kept on the Sōday, and was not celebrated but from the xv. day vntill the xxi. Neither doth this traditiō of þ^e Apostle breake the law, but fulfilleth the same. In þ^e which it is to be noted, that Easter was instituted from the xiiij. day of the firste moneth at euenyng: vnto the xxi. daye of the same moneth at euening, the which maner all S. Iohns successors in Asia, after his death did folow, & the catholicke Church throughout the whole worlde. And that this is the true Easter, and onely of all Christians to be obserued, it was not newly decreed: but confirmed by the coūcell of Nice, MarginaliaIn the councell of Nice no such matter appeareth.as appeareth by the Ecclesiasticall hystorie. Wherupon it is manifest that you (Colman) do neyther folow the example of S. Iohn as ye thinke, nor of S. Peter whose traditiō ye do willingly resist, nor of þ^e Church nor yet of the Gospell, in the celebration of Easter. For S. Iohn, obseruing Easter according to the precepts of the lawe, kept it not on the first day after the Sabboth. But you precisely kepe it, onely on the first day after the Sabboth. Peter did celebrate Easter from the xv. day of the Moone to the xxi. day: But you kepe Easter from the xiiij. vnto the xx. day, so that you begin Easter oftētimes the xiij. day at nighte: of the whiche maner neyther the law nor the Gospell maketh any mencion. But the Lord in the. xiiij. daye eyther did eate the olde Passeouer at night, or els did celebrate the sacramentes of the newe Testament in the remembraunce of hys death and passion. You do also vtterlye reiecte from the celebration of Easter the. xxj. day, the which the lawe hath chiefly willed to be obserued. And therefore as I sayd in the keping of Easter, you neither agree with S. Iohn, nor with Peter, nor with the lawe, nor yet with the Gospell. MarginaliaColman agayn aunswereth.Then Colman agayne answered to these thinges, saying: Did then Anatholius a godly man and one much commended in the foresayd ecclesiasticall historye, agaynst the lawe and the Gospell? who writte that the Easter was to be kept from thex. xiiij. daye vnto the. xx: or shal we thinke that Columba our reuerent father and hys successours being mē of God who obserued the Easter after thys maner, dyd agaynst the holy Scripture? where