believe that the king and his retinue would have been much better pleased if he had remained away, but they were afraid to refuse his offer, and accordingly within a few days he presented himself at the king's palace, ready to preach the Gospel and confute the Druids.
Amid all the extravagances and impossible miracles with which the story of his preaching at Tara has been embellished, it is easy to recognise the general drift of the arguments used on that occasion. Patrick did not deny the power of the Druids. He would have been entirely too far in advance of his age if he had not believed that all ministers of the false religions were more or less in league with the devil, and were able with his assistance to work many wonders. But though he admitted the power of the Druids, he contended that their power was limited, and that the great God, whose religion he proclaimed, was able to protect those who trusted in Him 'from every hostile savage power, the incantations of false prophets, the black laws of heathenism, the spells of witches and smiths and Druids, the knowledge that blinds the soul.'
He also seems to have urged that the Druids could use their powers only for destruction and evil, whereas the power of God was a manifestation of goodness. The heathen priests could bring calamities of different kinds—they could turn summer into winter and light into darkness; but they were unable to reverse the process. Even the evils which they were able to inflict they were powerless to remove. But the almightiness of God was not only infinitely beyond any power wielded by the Druids—it was different in kind. It brought light and healing and blessing instead of cursing and destruction.
