either by Chance, or the Divine Providence so ordering it, that my Head and Hand, which in fal ling, I had clapt to my Head, hit upon that Stone, So that my Thumb being broken, and my Skull crack'd, I lay, as has been faid, like one dead. It was about the seventh Hour of the Day, and having lain still, and as it were dead from that Time till the Evening, I then reviv'd a little, was carry'd home by my Companions, and lay Speechlefs all the Night; but vomited Blood, because Something was broke within me by the Fall. The Bishop very much griev'd at my Misfortune, and expected Death, for he bore me extraordinary Affection. Nor would he stay that Night, as he was wont, among his Clergy; but spent it all in Watching and Prayer alone, imploring the Divine Goodnefs, as I imagine for my Health. Coming to me in the Morning early, and having faid a Prayer over me, he call'd me by my Name, and as it were waking me out of an heavy Sleep, ask'd, Whether I knew who it was that spoke to me. opening my Eyes, faid, I do; you are my beloved Bishop. Can you live, said he ? I answer'd, I may through your Prayers, if it shall please our Lord. He laying his Hand on my Head, with the Words of Blessing, return'd to Prayer; and coming again to see me in a short Time, found me fitting and able to talk; and, being induc'd by Divine Instinct, as it soon appear'd, began to ask me, whether Iknew for certain that I had been baptiz.d? I answer'd, I knew beyond all doubt, that I had been wash'd in the Saving Laver to the Remission of Sins, and nam'd the Priest by whom I knew mySelf to have been baptiz'd. He reply'd, If you were baptiz'd by that Priest, your Baptism is not perfect; for I know him, and that having been I ordain'd Priest, he could not by reason of the Dulness of his Understanding, learn the Ministry of catechizing and baptizing; for which reason, I commanded him altogether to desist from his prefumptuous exercising of this Ministry, which he could not regularly perform. This faid, he took care to catechize me at that very Time, and it hapned, that he blowing upon my Face, I presently found myself better. He call'd the Surgeon, and order'd him to close and bind up my Skull where it was crackd, and having then receiv'd his Blessing, I was fo much better, that mounting on Horseback the next Day, I travell'd with him to another Place; and being foon after perfectly recover'd, 1 receiv'd the washing of Life. He continu'd in his See thirty three Years, and then ascending to the Heavenly Kingdom, was bury'd in St. Peter's Porch, in his own Monastery, call'db Inderawood, : CC2 bi. e. In the Wood of the Deiri, it is now call'd Beverly in Yorkshire. This Church of St. John of Beverly was Ja esteem'd in those Times, that King Æthelstane gave it vask Priviledges by this Grant, Als free make I thee As Heart can think, or Eye may fee. He was bury'd, Bede tells us, in the Porch of his Church, which afterwards took its Name from him. And in the Year 1664, on the 24th of September, upon opening a Grave they found a Vault of Freestone fifteen Foot long, and two broad; At the Head and at the Feet a Foot and a balf broad; within it a Sheet of Lead four foot long, and in that the Ashes, and fix Beads, (whereof three crumbled to Dust upon touching them,) of the remaining three, two were Juppos'd to be Cornelian's; with three great Brass Pins, and four large Iron Nails. Upon the Sheet was a leadon Plase with this Inscription, + Anno in the Year from the Incarnation of our Lord, 721. For being by his great Age become unable to govern his Bishoprick, having ordain'd Wilfrid, his Prieft, Bishop of the Church of York, he retir'd to the aforesaid Monastery, and there ended his Days in Holy Conversation. + Anno ab Incarnatione Domini, MCLXXXVIII, combusta fuit hæc Ecclefia in Mense Septembri, in sequenti Nocte poft festum Sancti Matthai Apoftoli, & in Ann. MCXCVII, 6. Idus Martii facta fuit Inquifitio reliquiarum beati Johannis in hoc loco & inventa funt hæc Offa in orientali parte Sepulchri & hic recondita, & pulvis cemento mixtus ibidem inventus eft & reconditus. 4 : 4 i. e. In the Year of our Lord 1188, this Church was burnt in the Month of September, the Night after the Feast of St. Matthew, the Apostle, and in the Year 1197. the 6th of the Ides of March there was a Search made for the Relicks of the blessed John in this Place, and these Bones were found in the East Part of the Sepulchre, and here repinc'd, and Dust mix'd with Cement was replaced where it as found. Upon it lay a Box of Lead seven Inches long, fix broad, and five high, wherein were several Pieces of Bones mix'd with * Little Dust, and yielding a sweet Smell, all these were rein terr'd in the middle Ally of the Church. : CHAP. CHAP. VII. How Cedwal King of the West-Saxons, went to Rome to be baptiz'd; and ború bis Succeffor devoutly repair'd to the fame Church of the Holy Apostles. I N the third Year of : : the Reign of Aldfrid, Ceadwal, King of the West-Saxons, having most honourably govern'd his Nation two Years, quitting the Crown for our Lord, and the everlasting Kingdom, went to Rome; being defirous to acquire this peculiar Honour of being baptiz'd in the Church of the Blesled Apostles, having learnt that in Baptifm alone, the Entrance into Heaven is open'd to Mankind; and hoping at the same Time, that laying down the Flesh, as foon as baptiz'd, he should immediately pass to the eternal Joys; both which Particulars, according as he conceiv'd in his Mind, by the Blessing of our Lord, came to pass. For coming to Rome, at the Time that Sergins was Pope, he was baptiz'd on the Holy Saturday before Easter Day, in the Year from the Incarnation of our Lord, 689, and being still in his white Garments, he fell fick and departed this Life on the rath of the Kalends of May, and was associated with the Blessed in Heaven. At his Baptism, the aforefaid Pope had given him the Name of Peter, to the end, that he might be also united in Name to the most Blessed Prince of the Apostles, Cc4 stles, to whose most holy Body a pious Affetion had brought him from the utmost Bounds of the Earth. He was likewise bury'd in his Church, and by the Pope's Command an Epitaph written on his Tomb, wherein the Memory of his Devotion might be preserv'd for ever, and the Readers or Hearers might be inflam'd with Religious Defire by the Example of what he had done. The Epitaph was thus: 1 Culmen, opes, fobolem, pollentia regna, triumphos, 11 Hic : |