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MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER
The flowers of history, especially such as relate to the affairs of Britain. Vol. I. B.C. 4004 to A.D. 1066.
page 484
A.D. 946. ΠΓΓΕΒ?ΒΕΤΑΤΙΟΕ~ 07 ST. DTJKSTAff's DEE AM. 475
king of Cumberland, and had placed all that district in security, he proceeded southward with his friends. And this noble king, inferior in no respect to bis predecessors, loved the blessed 'Dunstan with such ardent affection, that he entrusted all his treasures to his guardianship. In the meantime the blessed JSlfeg, bishop of the city of Winchester, who had invested Dunstan with the orders of monk and priest, departed this life. And the king, wishing to appoint Dunstan in his place, treated with him on the subject by the intervention of the queen, his mother. But Dunstan replied, " I entreat you, my mistress, to give up entreaties of this kind, and to be assured that I will not be a pontiff in the days of the king your son." But the man of God said this because he loved the king, and was unwilling to be compelled to absent himself from his councils, because of the duties of the pontificate. But on the following night he had a vision, in which he seemed to himself to have gone to Borne, and having adored the Apostles, to have immediately returned home again ; and when he had come to the Mount of Joy, behold Saint Peter met him, with the apostles Paul. and Andrew, each of them holding a sword in his hand, and offering it to him with outstretched hands. On the sword of Saint Peter was written, "· In the beginning was the Word ; " and the swords of Saint Paul and Saint Andrew were inscribed with their own names. Then Saint Peter, the apostle, sang to him in a sweet voice, " Take my yoke upon you, and you shall find rest for your souls." Then, reproving him, he lifted up the rod which he held in his hand, and, striking him a slight blow on the hand, he said, " Take this as a warning not to persist any longer in refusing the yoke of the Lord." On this, the man of God woke, and in the morning related the vision to the king, who marvelled at it And the king said to him, " As the swords which you have received by the bounty of the Apostles, denote the armour of the Holy Spirit, you may know for certain by the sword of Saint Peter, inscribed as it is with the Word of God, that you are to be presented, by heavenly invention, with the dignity of archbishop; by the sword of PainVyou may know that you will receive a simple bishopric ; and by the sword of Andrew, that you will receive another bishopric, over which you are to exercise the rights of government." And afterwards, in accordance with the interpretation of his dream, he ruled the church of Can
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