and from his Letter to Coroticus. and have quoted his hymn in extenso. These are the only extant works, and they speak for themselves. We have no contemporary evidence that he held any other beliefs. One thing is quite certain: the man who wrote such works as these was one who exalted Christ, and preached Christ, and realized the abiding presence of Christ, and knew well what was the great hope to place before perishing sinners.
Having dwelt at such length on Saint Patrick's preaching at Tara, it is not necessary that we should pursue his career any further. He went through the length and breadth of the land, but his method of procedure was always the same. He appealed in the first instance to the chiefs, and obtained from each one when possible a site on which to found a religious establishment. Here he left a small community, who continued the enterprise after he had gone; these in turn became centres of life and light; and thus the good work was carried on and strengthened. The accounts of his success may possibly be greatly exaggerated; but there can be little doubt that before his death there was scarcely a district in which the Gospel had not been preached, and few places where there were not some found who gave themselves up to the work of evangelization. Many—perhaps the great majority—may have been converts only in name; but even the mere outward profession brought them under the influence of Christian teaching; and doubtless it must have often happened that the man who had accepted baptism without much thought of its real import, was led afterwards to a true consecration of heart and mind to the Saviour.
