WHEN the Romans overcame the Britons, not many years after Christ was born into the world, it seemed a sad thing for them to be in the hands of very powerful conquerors, who treated them as they liked; but God, who delights to bring good out of evil, allowed it in order that the heathen of these islands might hear the good news that there was a living God who dwelt in the heavens and loved His creatures, and had sent His Son to make His goodness known.
After a great deal of fighting the Romans subdued some of the British tribes and sent some of their chiefs to Rome to prove what they had done, and to show to their own countrymen what kind of men these heathen were. Amongst those sent was a Welsh chieftain named Brian, who was in Rome whilst the Apostle Paul was in prison there.
Whether he ever met the apostle is not told, but he heard the news that had turned the world upside down, that the Son of God, even Jesus, had walked amongst men for thirty-three years, healing their diseases, and teaching them of His Father, God, and that He had died for them, and had risen again from the dead, and had been carried up into heaven in the sight of His disciples, and received into the glory at God's right hand.
When Brian came back to England he brought these, wonderful tidings with him, and the good news spread over the country and into Wales and Scotland; and everywhere little companies were found who had given up their idols and heathen customs and worshipped the living God.
About the year 377 A.D. a little boy named Succath was born at a place called Bonavern, on the banks of the Clyde in Scotland. His father was a farmer, a simple-hearted Christian man. As the boy grew up his father, but still more his mother, Conchessa, told him the glad news that Brian had brought; that God lived in heaven above him, that Jesus, His Son, was also there at God's right hand, that He had been into the world and died to win men's hearts for Himself; and that He now wanted Succoth’s heart for His own.
But, sad to say, Succath would not listen with his heart and mind; he heard the words his mother said, but they had no effect on him at all. He only wanted to play with the boys he knew, and think his own thoughts, and go his own way, often getting up to mischief and being very naughty. This made his parents very sad, and no doubt they often said, "Oh, when will Succath give his heart to the Lord?" And day by day they taught him the scriptures—told him many things which he could not help remembering, though he did not want to in the least.
One day when he was about sixteen years old and playing with his sisters on the seashore, a boat full of men pulled in, and seizing hold of Succath and his sisters carried them to the boat and rowed away with them across the sea:
The cruel man who was at the head of this mischief was an Irish chief called O’Neal, and he returned to Ireland with the three children, where he sold them to his friends. Succath was sold to a farmer, who made him look after his pigs.
Now at last he began to attend to what his parents had taught him.
“I was sixteen years old," he says, " and knew not the true God, but in that strange land the Lord opened mine eyes; and although late, I called my sins to mind and was converted to the Lord my God, who regarded my low estate and had pity on my youth and consoled me as a father consoles his children. During the night, in the forest and on the mountains where I kept my flocks, the rain and the snow and the frosts which I endured led me to seek God.”
After six years of this loneliness in slavery Succath managed to get away to France, where he found his parents, who had relations there, and had gone to see them after losing their children.
But though it was a great joy to him to be with his parents again, he often thought of the Irish folk he had lived amongst for six years, and he decided to go back and teach them about Jesus.
He set out for Ireland with a few possessions and amongst them a big drum. On arriving in a village he would start beating his drum, and the people would follow him, wondering who this strange man was, and when he had collected a big crowd he would stop in some open place and preach to them Jesus.
In this way he held meetings every day. An Irish chief named Benignus gave himself to the Lord and helped Succath to make known the good news to his people and encouraged him in every way.
When Succath first landed in Ireland he decided he would go to Antrim and find his old master, named Milcha, and tell him what God had done for him and for men everywhere, but Milcha hearing of his coming, and no doubt thinking that he wanted to revenge himself, took his own life before he arrived.
This was a great pity, as Succath came with a heart full of God's love, forgiving all his past cruelty, even as Christ had forgiven him.
Succath, who was called Patrick by the Irish, lived and preached among them for thirty years, and numbers of men, women, boys and girls gave up their cruel customs and their false gods, and, like the Thessalonians, turned from them to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven.
God answered the prayers of Succath's parents; but because he would not listen to them at home, he was taken into slavery and misery, very much as the prodigal son in Luke 15, that he might know the joy of having his sins forgiven and the delight of receiving the Father's kiss, and the robe, and the ring, and be able to preach the love of God to others who had never heard such wonderful things.