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English Correspondence

St Boniface, tr. Kylie, 1911

Letter 5: Daniel, Bishop of Winchester, Instructs Boniface as to What Means He Should Use…

To Boniface, honoured and beloved leader, Daniel, servant of the people of God.

Although, my beloved brother and fellow-priest, I rejoice that thou dost deserve the first reward of virtue, who trusting in the might of the faith hast boldly attacked the stony and hitherto barren hearts of the heathen, and working them tirelessly with the plough of gospel-preaching dost strive to change them by daily toil into fertile harvest-fields, so that the words of the prophet and of the evangelist may be applied to thee, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness”¹ and the rest, yet a portion of the second prize will come, not unjustly, to those who give what aid they can to such holy and saving work, and supply the needs of the preachers with the corresponding means of strength, that they may be eager to take up the task of preaching thus begun and to beget spiritual sons for Christ.

Hence, out of devotion and goodwill, I have sought to make to thy prudence a few suggestions, that thou mayst know, how best in my judgment to overcome promptly the obstinacy of ignorant minds. Thou shouldst not offer opposition to them concerning the genealogy of their false gods. Thou shouldst suffer them rather, to claim that they were begotten by others through the intercourse of man and woman; then thou canst show that gods and goddesses who were born after the manner of men were men rather than gods, and in that they existed not before, had therefore a beginning.

When they have learned perforce that the gods had a beginning, since some were born of others, they must be asked whether they think this universe had a beginning or was always in existence. If it had a beginning, who created it? For certainly they cannot find for the gods begotten before the establishment of the universe any place where these could subsist and dwell; by the universe I mean not merely the visible earth and sky, but the whole extent of space, which the heathen themselves can grasp with the imagination. But if they maintain that the universe always existed without a beginning, seek to refute and convince them by many arguments and proofs; if they go on contending, ask them: Who ruled it? How did they reduce beneath their sway and bring under their jurisdiction a universe that existed before them? Whence and by whom and when was the first god or goddess constituted or begotten? Do they suppose that the gods and goddesses still beget other gods and goddesses? If they do not, when or why have they ceased? If they do, the number of the gods must now be infinite; and who is the most powerful among so many and such great beings, is unknown to mortals, so a man must be on his guard for fear of offending the strongest. Do they think the gods should be worshipped for temporal and present blessings, or for an eternal and future reward? If for a temporal, let them show in what respect the heathen are happier than the Christians. What again do the heathen mean to confer by their sacrifices upon their gods, who have all things under their sway; or why do the gods leave it in the power of those subject to them to decide what tribute to offer? If they need such things, why could they not themselves have made a better choice? If they do not need them, the people are wrong to suppose that the gods can be appeased with such offerings of victims.

These questions, and many like them, which it would take too long to enumerate, thou shouldst propose to them in no irritating or offensive manner, but with the greatest calmness and moderation. And from time to time their superstitions should be compared with our, that is Christian, dogmas, and touched upon indirectly, so that the heathen more out of confusion than exasperation may blush for their absurd opinions, and recognize that their detestable rites and legends do not escape our notice.

It would also be natural to infer that if their gods are omnipotent and beneficent and just, not only do they reward their worshippers, but punish those who despise them. But if they do both in the temporal order, why do they spare the Christians, who turn nearly the whole world from their worship and overthrow their statutes? And these too, that is the Christians, possess the fertile lands and the provinces fruitful in wine and olives and overflowing with other riches, and have left them, that is, the heathen with their gods, only the frozen lands in which these latter, banished from the whole world, are wrongly thought to hold sway.

There must be constantly brought before them the supremacy of the Christian world: by comparison, those who persevere in the old-time vanity are very few.

And that they may not boast of the sway of the gods over these people as legitimate and existing always from the beginning, point out to them that the whole world was given over to the worship of idols until, illuminated by the knowledge of the Omnipotent God, its creator and ruler, it was vivified through the grace of Christ and reconciled to God. For when among Christians the children of the faithful are baptized daily, what do they do but purify themselves singly from the uncleanness and guilt of paganism in which the whole world was once involved?

These things I have sought out of love for thee to bring to thy notice, though I am so weakened by bodily illness, that I can fitly say with the psalmist: “I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness has afflicted me.” Wherefore do I the more earnestly entreat thy reverence to pour out, together with those who with thee serve Christ in the spirit, prayers and entreaties for me, that the Lord who made me drink the wine of sorrow may hasten with His tender mercy; that as He punished justly so He may graciously pardon, and of His goodness suffer me to sing with rejoicing the verse of the prophet: “According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart Thy comforts have given joy to my soul.”² I pray that thou mayst fare well in Christ and remember me, dear fellow-priest.

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