Report of meetings for i907 i75 



piety, and moderation, zealous in the cause of God. On the 

 arrival of the bishop, the King appointed him his episcopal 

 seat in the isle of Lindisfarne, as he himself desired. From 

 that time many from the region of the Scots came daily into 

 Britain, and with great devotion preached the Word of God 

 to those provinces of the English over which King Oswald 

 reigned."* Aidan's rule at Lindisfarne extended to 651; and 

 if we are to accept that date, on the testimony of Simeon of 

 Durham, as also the occasion of the reception of Cuthbert 

 into the brotherhood of Old Melrose, it is probable that the 

 foundation of the sanctuary there was laid during the course 

 of his episcopate, and with his express sanction. One of his 

 own disciples, Eata, was appointed its first abbot; and Boisil, 

 the sub-prior and master of the novices in 651, may have 

 been another; and "it is hardly likely," says Rev. Professor 

 Cooper, D.D., Glasgow, "that either would have been 

 advanced to a position so responsible before 645. Between 

 that year, therefore, and 650, the foundation of Old Melrose 

 may with some certainty be placed, so that Melrose 

 was younger than lona only by some ninety-two years."! 

 At the death of Aidan, a vision of his triumphal entrance 

 into heaven was granted on the moorland drained by the 

 Leader, to a peasant engaged in pastoral pursuits, but 

 practising the cultivation of a heavenly frame. Privileged 

 to behold in part the glory of the spiritual world, he 

 determined to devote himself still further to its contemplation, 

 and in a place of sanctity to attain some measure of 

 perfection. In spite of the attractions of shrines at a distance, 

 Cuthbert repaired to Melrose, and on the recommendation of 

 Boisil was set apart by Eata, and shared the fellowship of 

 the brethren of the congregation. "A zeal for God according 

 to knowledge" marked his whole deportment, so that while 

 practising the rigour of his order in respect of drink, he did 

 not so abstain from food as to render himself unfit for labour 

 in the cloister, or among the haunts of men. A brief residence 

 at Eipon in the retinue of Eata, to whom had been given 



* Bede, Ecclesiastical History, ui., 3. 



t Transactions of Scottish Ecclesiological Society, Vol. n., Pt. i., 

 1906-7. 



