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B, ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DIOCES'.N CHURCH SOCIETY, JULY 2d, 1874, BY FEAISiCie fpAETRIDGE, M. A., m..: I\ECTOR OF l\OTHESAY. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. SAINT JOHN, N. B. : PRINTED BY GEO. A. KNODELL, PRINCE WILLIAM STKEKT. i TO THK RIGHT REV. FATHER IK GOD, LORD BISHOP OF FREDERICTON, THE UNFLINCHING DEFENDER OP m ANCIENT FAITH OF THE CHURCH OF B5G1AH1I, ThU Dlgcouwe U, by Hi» Lordship's peiinisiion, iiueri:>»4 ar HIS HUMBLE SERVANT THE WRITER. Hi iPX^EiF^OE. l,Hs sermon was written in the midst of active duties, and without any icU^ Ihis bennon pretensions to either elegance or originality. u « . NO . UK, Iw>e»Ulccs by ample authorities. The writer »oul.t aeknow- fully and ably handled. Rothesay, July 8th, 1874. SER.3^0:tT. «* Thus saith the LORD, .*. Stand ye in the ways, and see. And a»*k for the old paths, where is the good way, And walk therein. And ye Bhall And rest for your souls." Jbr : VI. 16. If ever there was need that these words of the L(ird JEEIOVAH sboald be laid well to heart by Christians generally and by Churchmen in articular, that need is at the present time. I therefore make no apology br plunging at once into my subject, without inany preliminary remarks, t is, the Apostolic origin of the Church of England ; or, as I prefer to call t, the British Church. I think it is fair to regard such a Meeting as this as a time of refresh- ;ftg and edification both to clergy and people. There is perhaps no subject f such pressing importance to us as Churchmen which has been so little welt upon and enforced in the majority of our pulpits erors, and the first to make Christianity the religion of the PiUipire, was not only himself a Brit, ish Prince,* but by direct descent, on his mother Helen's side, immediate heir to that kingdom which nourished and fostered the Christian religion when first preached in Britain." That he was elected Emperor while in Britain, and was supported in his subsequent career of victory by British troops. Going back further still we find Britain supplying her share of noble martyrs during the persecution under Diocletian, among whom were many of her Bishop-s. The story of Alban the first British martyr of this period is familiar to you all. This persecution, out often which ravaged the other parts of the Church, was the only one which penetrated Britain. And why ? Because Christianity was at this early date the national religion of Britain, while elsewhere it existed only on sufferance. As we approach apostolic times, the testimony to the establishment of Christianity by apostles and apostolic men, by God's providence grows clearer and clearer ; till we can fix, with as great certainty as any event in remote history is capable of, its introduction, and the circumstances and persons connected | with it. Now I am going to a.sk your close attention while I endeavour to give you this historical evidence. I might have chosen a more popular theme, ] I could not have selected a more important one in its bearings on the mis aionary history of the Church. It furnishes a direct and complete refu- tation of that popular mistake of which I spoke at first. I WILL FIRST BRING TO YOUR NOTICE A FEW FACTS. The introduction of Christianity into Britain is claimed by the Romish Church for Augustine, who was sent by Gregory L Bishop of Rome, in (liHtinct ler own! ore the! the end} IVishopI abitunt«| Id the] rarchy, itions of] tier still, I place in t" ; and es could ^onstan • e first to i| fa Brit. j imediate ' religion while ini r British of noble ere many is period I the other I n. And | eligion of 1 approach | lanity by I clearer ; history is M)nnected ir to gire ir theme, I the mis- lete refu- the year 590, with a strong body of missionaries, to preach the gospel to Ethelbert the Saxon King of Kent, whc-e wife, a Fren(;ii princess, was already u Christian. But no historical evidence can be stronger than tho evidence for the fact that when Augustine arrived in Britain he found there a native Church, apostolic in doctrine and discipline, extending over England, as now so-called, and, as some suppose, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, thoroughly and pern:anently established, which rejected utterly and entirely his claims to be received as their Arch-bishop. He required them to conform to the llomiLh customs generally, and especially in tho matter of the keeping of Easter. This they flatly refused to do." This native Church had its Bishops, dioceses, colleges, parochial churches, endowments, kings for nursing fathers and queens for nursing mothers,^ genealogies of saints, (which still exist), immense and opulent religious institutions. The Arch-bishops of London and York had retired into their Sees, under the invasion of the Saxons, only ten years before Augustine's coming. ** It was at one with the church in Gau), to whom it always supplied its Arch-bishops.'^ Its missionary operations in Italy, . the very country of Augustine, and during his life, were greater than his triumphr among the Saxons. "The Lombards, in northern Italy, the barbarian conquerors of Rome, were evangelized by Columba and , his associates from the primitive colleges of Ireland."^" The British Church was essentially Eastern in origin. Her Christianity had come direct from Jerusalem. Many of her ceremonies and observances, among others the time of keeping Easter and the method of administering baptism, followed the example of the Eastern Churches, while the Western or Latin Church had to a certain extent departed from it. These usages alone would prove her independent and direct origin from the East. Her religious institutions were on an immense scale. The Abbey of Bangor Iscoed, supposed to have been founded by S. PauV^ and of which the cele- brated Pelagius was the twentieth Abbot,^^ was one of the largest and most opulent. Its ruins are described by William of Malmesbury, in his day, as those of a city, the most extensive he had seen in the kingdom. How is it possible to explain the existence of such a Church, plainly and undoubtedly an ancient institution, deeply fixed in the native mind and soil, in any other way than by frankly accepting its apostolic origin ? Let me read you the calm and dignified protest which the British Bishops and Abbot of Bangor in council assembled sent in answer to the claims of Augustine to their obedience as legate of the Bishop of Rome. " Be it known and declared that we all, individually and collectively, are in all humility prepared to defer to the church of God, aud to the Bishop of Rome, and to every sincere and godly Christian, so far as to i love every one ucconlin^ to his (l(;greo, in peiftict charity, and to assist tliem all by word and deed in boeoinin^ the children of God. Mut as for any other obedience, wo know of none that he, whom you term Pope, or IJishop of Bishops, cm doinnnd. The doferetiuo wo have mentioned we are ready to pay him, as to every other christian , but in all other respects our obedience is due to the jurisdiction of the Hishop of IJaerleon, who is alone, under God, our ruler to keep us right in the way (if salvation. ""' " From these and similar testimonies it is plain that Britain — 1. Was a distinct diocese of the Empire. 2. That it was subject neither to the patriarch of Rome, nor to any foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction, li. That it had its sovereignty witliin itself. 4. That it never consulted the Sec of Rome nor any foreign power in its rites, discnpline, government, or consecration of Bishops and Arch-bishops. 5. That it recognized no superior but God, to its own Arch-bishop of Caerleon."^* But the question has doubtless already arisen in your minds, "If this was so, what can be the reason that Christianity should have spread so rapidly in Britain ? The island was remote from civilization. It took iJOO years to reduce the proud necks of the Roman Emperors to the submission of the Cross. How then in Britain, so distant, so uncultivated, did the gos])el so speedily obtain a firm hold ? " Let me point out to you A F1^]W SECONDARY CAUSES. 1. Britain at the time of the crucifixion was the only free state in Europe. It was the only country which could afford security to those who were persecuted either on civil or religious, accounts. For many long years did that little island, alone, withstand all the power of the Roman Empire, which never subdued it. From ancient British historians can be «een the certainty, the universality, of that freedom and love of country which has characterized Britons in every age. To Britain therefore was naturally turned the thoughts of the Christian exile, hunted from Rome on account of his faith. There was an asj'lum unequalled for safety. By those noble Roman roads, one of which extended from Babylon on the eastern frontier to Calais on the western, protected by one common and powerful law which rendered his life and property perfectly secure while unproscribed, he could travel to the shores of the British Chanrel, where only a few miles of sea separated him from the land of freedc m. Can anylthing be more likely (even in the absence of evidence, which is abun- lant,) than that multitudes of Christians, in constant danger of their lives within the Roman domains, sought a)>d found a refuge in Britain ? 2. The religion of Britain, as of all the western nations of Europe, was Druidism. This syg:em has not received the attention and st..dy which ft t hem »r any lisliop ftro ts our who is l:i WaH to the That Sec of nt, or zed no If this read so )ok aoo missioii did the state in ose who iny long Konian 9 can be country fore was tn Home Jty. By ti on the mon and ire while >1, where m. Can i \a abun- heir lives rope, was Jy which its importance deserves. It w;\s undoubtedly the primitive! religion of man- kind. Under the form of Buddhism it still holds iti own among an im- mense population on the continent of Asia. " No religion," says the his- torian Hume, " has ever swayed tha minds of men like the Drnidie. " It was the religion of the descendant?* of Juphet, us di^ifinguishcd from tiiox' of 8hem and Ham. As is well known, in the early ugi^s of the world, the f>riesthood was always vested in the first-born. The first-born of .Japhet were the (Jomeridii*, ((!ymry, Cimbri,) descendants of Gomer, eldest son of Japhet, who settled in Britain. Thus Britain was the centre of unity, the centre of government, to all Druidic countries. Here Druidism existed in its perfection. It.s purity had been preserved by the comparative in- accessibility of the island, its freedom from foreign invasion, its chanutcr of sanctity, and its possession by the heads of the race and of the systJMii. For two thousand long years before Christianity, it had been the establishctl religion, llemnants of its theology''' are left to our times. Some of ihem have been Lately discovered : and many more doubtless lie hiddcMi among the archives of eld Celtic families in Wales and Cornwall. The old Brit- ish tongue in which they are written, has stood unchanged during -*()(><» years more. And the known love and veneration of the people, their at- tachment to its rule, and the determined and persistent way in which they sacrificed themselves in its defence against the full power of the Jlouj-ni Empire for years upon rears, prove beyond i doubt that Druidism was a religion which could train a nation of heroes, moral, elevating, beneficent : a religion based on the grand principle, which it never belied, and never betrayed, " The Truth against the world. 'i'' The time would fail me to institute a comparison between Druidism and Christianity, and to show how the one was a preparation for the other. Suffice it to say that two of the leading doctrines of each were identical, viz : the immortality of the souV^ and vicarious atonement. '^ To these may perhaps be added a Trinity in unity of the Godhead. The most familiar name of the Druidic deity was " Yesu"; w ch was at once recognized in the preaching of Jesus as God. The nanuo of the Briton's God was never changed though his religion was.'^ 3. Again, Druidism was a religion of peace and toleration. The law of the Jew and the policy of the Pagan alike prescribed war to the death against opposing systems. But Druidism neither forced nor persecuted. In this consisted another point of identity with Christianity. 4. But perhaps there was one thing, which, as much as any oilier, con- tributed to the rapid reception of Christianity among the Britons. Their religion and that of the Christian experienced a common persecution at tho hands of the Roman government. To the worshipper of the immortal ill 10 i gods they were both equally hateful Druidism opposed a front no less firm than did Christianity itself to the whole system of the Iloman my- thology, '"hey became to a certain extent identified in the popular mind by the stern laves enacted against them. Fatting all these things together, which are capable uf much stronger development than time and space allow me to present now, you have a chain of secondary causes scarcely less than providential, why Christianity, while struggling so long, and at so lavish an expense of blood, for existence in civilized Rome, found its home and took deep root in a comparatively short time in the so-called barbarous Britain. As a preparation for Christianity, Druidism was superior to the Romau or Greek econo- mies. In no part of the world could be found a soil richer or better prepared for the preaching of the gospel. "We can do nothing against thy truth, but for the truth," as enunciated by S. Paul, would conciliate a Druid, and at once secure from him an attentive hearing. Druidism, humanly speaking, by its own tendencies, by its own genius, by the natural result of its own fundamental truths, melted into Christianity ; and the pc cr of God, distilling as the fruitful rains upon ground already thirsting, caused a fruit 4o spring up thirty, sixty, yea a hundred fold, throughout the land of our forefathers. I will now give as briefly as possible THE POSITIVE EVIDENCK A cotiseiisus of authorities fixes the national establishment of Chris- tianity in Britain somewhere about the middle of the 2nd century.** This leaves about 120 years for the gradual conversion of the nation. The first preacher of the Gospel of Christ in Britain la said t^ Lave been Joseph of Arimathoea.^* He, in company wich Laaaruc,® Martha, Mary, and others, were included in the first persecution of the Church by Paul of Tarsus, and in the dispersion which followed. The Sacred v* o^d says, (Acts VIII. 1.), "They were all scattered abroad except the Apostles. " As I have shown, Britain was the only place of safety, and to Britain they came.* They were kindly and courteou'?ly received by Arviragas king of the Cim- bri, and assigned, with true Druidic toleration, a dwelling and a subsistence at the Coroi AvJllon, afterwards called Glastonbury. Here their pure and holy lives won many converts, including the royal family, which ever afler steadily maintained its christian character. The Church they there built is allowed by all historians, British,^ Gallic, and Je^ At, to be thus the oldest Church in the world. Its ruins still remain. This was sir years previous to the consecration of Linus, brother uf Claudia, aud both men- Uoned iu the epistle to the Romans, as PVshop of Rome by S. Paul himself Thus missio single pondei JRg frc journe synipa Jc it is rec eified ii Ah.'bi ing Ch Joseph Sepeliv bol of t know r At expedit sojourn I been we I thing in I he bad I Spain. Rome of Clem Btill ren Delayec sent Ai Bishop At Senate carried war is, t sion on ipeatedl iken ) less I my- mind onger lave a ianity, stence itively on for econo- better otbing would earing, ius, by ianity ; already d fold, fCbris- » This ive been ary, and PTarsus, ts VIII. 3 I have J came.* Lhe Cim- bsistenc-e pure and iver after kere built thus the sir years oth men- I himself 11 Thus the British is the oldest existins:^ Church. Hail the drst Cliri.stian missionaries cotno from Jtomo, their lives would not have been safe one single day. The struggle between the power of Home and British inde- pendence under C.'/.actaeus or Caradoc was now at its height. No one com- ing from the hated city would have been spared to tell the object of his journey. But to n-^tives of the casL, suffering from the same iron tyrannyt fiympathy and kindness were readily accorded. Joseph of Arimathoea was probably frllowed by Simon Zeloto>», of whom it is recorded in a way that admits not a doubt that he preached and was cru- cified in Britain.''^ The mode of his deatii shows at whos-) hands he .suffered. Ah ! brethren, these men found their sole satisfaction and reward in preach- ing Christ, coring little for fame, and less for memorial. The epitaph*"' of Joseph of Arimathoea at Aviilon, "Ad Britannos veni po.st Christum Sepelivi. Docui. Quievi :" (1 taught, I have entered on my rest), is a sym- bol of the life of many a ^uiet worker for Christ, of whom we would fain know much more. At this period Britain*' was in everybody's mouth. Expedition after expedition had been launched against her, and had failed. " S. Paul, sojourning in all countries, mixing in every kind of society, must have been well acquainted with Britain and British events." There was every- thing in the work to attract him thither. We know from Scripture that he had Western Europe in bis mind. He speaks of his intention to go to Spain. Britain could be reached quite as easily. He intends to call at Rome on his way further. Testimonies outside of Scripture,'* notably that of Clement, mentioned by S. Paul, and whose epistles to the Corinthians Btill remain, tell us that he went to th** extreme boundary of the west®. Delayed in this intention by his arrest ana first imprisonment at Rome, he sent Aristobulus* before him into Britain, having first consecrated him Bishop, as he sent Timothy to Ephesua and Titus to Crete. At this time, Caractacus, whose career and speech before the Koman Senate are familiar to every school boy, was a prisoner at Rome. He had carried on the war in Britain against the Romans for many years. This war isjthough unnoticed and unsung, the noblest resistance against oppress sion on the page of history. The best and most skilful generals^ had re- peatedly fallen before his prowess, and it was only by treachery that he was ken at last But he was now to fall before a mightier, even the King of ings. While in Rome, accompanied by Bran, or Brennus, his father, ho was his hostage, he became actiuainted with S. Paul. It is certain Tom his own epistles that the Apostle was on ii timate and affectionate ermg with the whole ^amily.^ And there is oo reasonable doubt fhat aractacui^ himself was begotten at this time of the apostle in the gospel hrough hi? bonda Br&n, with Manaw, Bid, and Cyndaw, accompanied 12 m- 'i Aristohiilus to Britain, having been liboratoil some years before raraJoc. The niirfaion was establish-id on the spot in Ghiniorgansliire known tVom that period till the present as " Llan-lliil'^ Of the saint.sof this "Llan," froni Hid down, there are catalogues in tlie "genealogies of the Saints of Britain.""'* Just at the time S. Paul was set free, Caradoc was liberated on con- dition of not again bearing arms against the llomans. Si.t years of S. Pauls life reujain unaC(!ounted for between this time and his second im- j)risonment and death. He now aceompanied Caradoc, his son in the faith, to his island home, and .set things in order in the Churches of Britain. Writings of S. Paul are extant in the ancient British tongue,-^'' which attest his pre-ience in Britain, to say nothing of other testimony to the Sdme effect. The chain of evidence is now complete. My brethren and fellow churchmen, do you at all appreciate the impor- tance of tliis hi>toricaI position of our beloved Cliurch? It is a very strong one. Thoroughly Catholic in the true sense of the w^ord, thoroughly anti- fanatical, thoroughly anti-papal. T'»e historic njonuments on whicli it rests withstand all criticism. "'Around the ancient faith," says an elo- quent writer, " rose hoary Cathedrals, Churches, Abbeys, Colleges, imper- ishable stones of witness that this Church was the primitive apostolical Church of Britain ; that the papacy, with all its claims, was a novelty, an intrusion, an invention, a fable. That there never was a time when the eyes of the Christian pilgrim did not rest, in that island, on vast evidences bespeaking a Church subject to no other Church on earth, built on its own apostolic foundations, and recognizing the apostolic scriptures alone for its rule of faith." What if this pure and scriptural and apostolic faith, handed down to us in our creeds, and which, please God, we will hand down, un- touched, unimpaired, as the most precious heritage we can leave to our pos- terity, did succumb to the pres.«ure of the Homish power in the middle ages? That is no disgrace to us. Tell me if you can, the institution or the race tha?^ did not hend beneath it^ yoke ? K the national Church of Britain yielded to the storm, it was because she had indifference and sin among her members, and traitors in those who bad sworn lo defend her. And yet to the thoughtful studen'. of history, those very occasions which are u.sudly decried as usurpations of the State power over the Church, present a very different appearance. They are, and they ought to be regarded as, the rigorous protests of the old British spirit, on behalf of their ancient faith and Church, against a domineering and grasping foreign power, to which they owe neither their origin nor their allegiance.^ But no sooner was it brought about, under God's providt^nce, that opportunity offered for the restoration of the old faith to its original purity and proportion, than th s Church of Britain, under wise and skilful and learned and godly reformers, 13 began to re-poliHh the old stones which time and false doctrine had encrusted, till they shone out once more with renewed lustre. Once and yet again had she to defiend herself against attacks very opposite in their character and tendency. Again did she remain true to the old paths. God grant that we, her children, may follow this noblo example in these days of no less trial and difficulty. I believe that the danger to the Church now, lies, not in complying with or following the additions to the faith which modern Ultramontanism has imposed, so much as in yielding to the clamour of a plausible sectarianism the vital principles of our Apostolic faith and ministry. I abstain from alluding to those without the Church, to the modern phases of old errors which the Church has rejected again and again. The Church of Britain has always been protestant. Cir- cumstances have ever made her so. She received the sacred deposit of the faith, which she has never once lost. The creeds are the same to day that they always were, unincreased, undiminished. Dimmed once and obscured, they now shine forth in unclouded brightness. Be it ours to guard them in- tact. In the midst of the growth of an insidious Jesuitism on the one hand and of appalling infidelity on the other, I ask intelligent men what is to stand in the gap? Is it the old faith, which has ever been the bulwark, or the chaos of the creedless, with no outward point of unity whatever? No, An historic unity is needed. This is the only restful principle. " Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein. And ye shall find REST for your souls. ' ' Yes, brethren, REST. Rest for the intellect, tossed and wearied in the vain search for Truth ; and rest for the soul, which can buffet the waves and storms of life, and float peacefully through the dark valley of the shadow of death, into the haven of Everlasting Peace, upon the safe and steady bark of a changeless Faith. I have detained you already too long. But my head and heart are full of this subject. Under the present circumstances of danger, and on the present occasion, than which there is none more favorable in the whole year, I thought I might depart a little from the beaten track, and bear my humble testimony to the pressing need, now above aH times in the his- tory of the Church, that we should stand to the "old paths and the good way." This congregation ever was in heart and intention true to the Church. And we all rejoice to knowthat an increasing zeal and love fo»' the Church of our fathers is prompting not only this, in some respects the leading, certainly the wealthiest pi rish, but the whole Dioce«je also. Afflictiou leavens the lump. Beating off the sparks, which hiss and flame as they fall, moulds the mass. And so the Church of God is being leavened and mould- ed. This Diocese, a small unit in the great whole, was never iu better 14 working order. Never were her clergy more alive to the only purpose for w^'ich the Church exists, the extension of the Redeemer's Kingdom on earth, and the winning of souls to God. Contributions flow in readily. The true principles of giving are becoming more clearly recognized. The handsome amount raised in this Parish will be crowned to night by a liberal offering in aid of domestic missions. We are humble, and take courage for the future. Finally, brethren, be true to your God, and you will be true to your Church ; true to the principles contained in her Prayer Book. Yield not. Swerve not from the old faith to the right hand nor to the left. Then come danger, come false doctrine, come sneers and persecution from without, and disloyalty from within; yea come the enemy in like a flood : Christ's premise stands true: — "Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the world."— "AND THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PRE- VAIL AGAINST HER!" 'v*/a^§\95\S^e/T»^ NOTES. At 1. Concil. Arelat. Labbe, I. 1430. (The council of Aries wai convened by Constantlne to legislate against the Douatists.) The following subscriptions are attached to the records : Eborius, Episcopus de civitatc Eboracensi provincia Britannia. Bestitutus, Episcopus de civitatc Londinensi, prov. suprascriptS. Adelphinus, Episcopus de civitate colonia Londinensium. (ColomaLindU Lincoln. BinghamlX. 6. Cave,Hi8t. Lit. 1. 350,) exinde Sacerdos, Presbyter, Arminius, Diaconus. From this it is evident that there were in A. D. 314, in Britain the three orders of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. The fact of Constantlne being a British Prince will account fcr his taking care to summon British representatives to the councils called by him. Compare Usher, Brit, eccles. antiq. p. 73. 2. S. Athanas. Apol. II. init., Bingham IX. 15. 3. Snip. Sever. H. S. II. ad Jin. 4. " It is well known that the great Constantlne received his Christian Edu- cation in Britain." Sozoraen E. H. Lib. I. c. v. "Helen was unquestionably a British Princess." Melancth, Ep. p 109. " Christ showed to Constantlne the Briton the victoi'y of the cross to his scepter." Pope Urban. Brief Brit- "Constantlne, born in Britain, of a British mother, proclaimed Emperor in Britain beyond a doubt, made his natal soil a participator in his glory." Pol. Vergil Hist. Brit., p. 381. 5. See appendix A. 6. "At illi nihil horum se facturos neque ilium pro Archi-episcopo hubituros esse respondebant." Bede, lib II. p 112. For the controversy respecting the keeping of Easter see Usher, Belgian of the ancient Irish, cap. IX. passim, 7. How remarkably was this prophecy fulfilled in the case of Britain, Isaiah XLIX. 23. Compare Is. LXVI. 19. 8. Their names were Theon and Tediac. Churton, p. 20. 9. Chron. Tungrensian. 10. Morgan, p. 180. 11 . " Its discipline and doctrine were certainly known as the *nile of Paul' {regula Pauli) and over each of the four gates was engraved his precept 'If a man will not work, neither let him eat.' The Abbots were generally of the blood royal. Bede and other authors state the number of monks in it at 2,100. The scholars amounted to many thousands." Morgan, p. 204. Others however, as Churton, Early English Church, ascribe its foundation to S. Oermanus, who was invited to England about A. D. 429, to combat the Pelagian heresy. 12. " Felagius heresiarchus ex Britannia oriundus famatiillius collegii Bangor- 16 If ; : 1 i ! iensis prsepoHitus crat in quo christianorum philosophorum 2,100 militabaut 8Uu* rum niunuutu luboribus, juxta Pauli doctrinam victitanteH." Vita Pelagii, p. 3. 13. Ilengwrt MSS; Humphrey Llywd; Sebright 3ISvS. ; Cottonian Library (British Museum), Cleopatra, E. 1. 1. Usher. 14. Morgan, 8. Paul in Britain. Spolmanoi Concilia; Sir Roger Twysden, Historical Vindication ; Brerewood p. 113 ; Collier, Vol 1, p. 6. UiHhop Lloyd's Government, Ac, Ac. 15. See Appendix B. 16. •* Y Gwir erhyn y Byd," literally " against all being." 17. " The Druids make the immortality of the soul the batjls of all the::* teaching, holding it to be the principal incentive and reason for a virtuous life." Ccesar^s Com. Lib. V. 18. " The Druids teach that by no otl:er way tlian by the ransoming of man's life by the life of man, is reconciliation with the divine justice of the immortal gods posHible." Ibid. 19. " Hesus, Taranis, Belenus, unustantummodo Deus, Unum Deum Dominum universi Druidos Solum agnoscunt." Pi'ocopius, de Goth. lib. III. " To the human mind, tliough not in himsolf, he necessarily represents a triple aspect in relation to the past, present and fiiture ; the creator as to the past, the saviour or conserver as to the present, the renovator or re-oreator as to the future. This was the Druidic Trinity, the iliree aspects of which were known as Beli, Taran, Esu or Yesu." Morgan, p. 6.5. 20. Lucius, the King who first established the Church, was baptized by Timo- theus, the son of Pudens and Claudia, who was brought up on the knees of the Apostles. Claudia was sister of Linus, first Bishop of Rome, and daughter of Caractacus or Caradoc, King of tlie Silures, a prisoner at Rome during the time of S. Paul's first imprisonment. 21. See Appendix C. 22. " The only account we have of Lazarus outside of Scripture is in a very ancient British Triad. (Triads of Primitive Britain.) ' The Triad of Lazarus, the three counsels of Lazarus : Believe in God who made thee ; love God who saved thee; fear God who will judge thee.' How could the name and counsel of Lazarus find their way into these peculiarly British memorials, but by his pre- sence and teaching in Britain?" 23. Freculphus says they were invited by Druid teachers : " Negotium habuit cum Druidis quorum primi praecipuique doclor*^B erant in Britanria." Apud Godwin, p. 10. Morgan. 24. Fuller, Spelman, Usher, Forcatulus, Publius Discipulus, Allord. Charters of the church of St. Joseph at Glastonbury, exist from Kmg Arthur to Edward III. *' This is the city which was the fountam and origin of Christ's religion in Britain, biiilt by Christ's disciples." Charter of Ina or Ivor. 26. DorothoDUs, Bp. of Tyre (A. D. 300). " Simon Zelotea traversed all Mauri- tania and the regions of the Africans preaching Christ. He was at last crucified, Slain, and buried in Britain." Synod, de Apost. 26. Hearne's Antiquities of Glastonbury ; Leland, Ibid.; John of Tynemouth, Ad. Jos. Arim. Morgan p. 145. 27. Horace, Carm. 1, 21, 35; III, 4. 5. ; IV, 14. Epod. VII. 28. Capellus, {Hist, of the Apostles.) well gives the general conclusion, " I scarcely know of one author, from the times of the fathers downwanls, who 11 docs not maintain that S. Paul, after liis liberation, preached in every country of western Europe, Britain included." 29. Compare Horace's expression "Ultimos orbis Britannos" with Clement's assertion. 80. See Appendix C. 31. " Magni duces, egrcgii oxercitus." Tacituit^ Ann. lib. Ill, c. 24. 32. All ecclesiastical historians agree that the palace of Claudia was the home of the Apostles in Rome. Even Robert Parsons, the Jesuit, admits it. "Claudia was the fii'st hostess or harbourer both of S. Peter and S. Paul at the time of their coming to Rome." Three conversions of England, Vol I. p. 16. This dwelling, called the Titiihi:-, afterwards S. Pudentiana, became a Church, which still retains its ancient name. 33. Morgan, p. 157. " We thus have two centres of Christianity In Bniain, that of Joseph in Avalon, and that of the Llan-llid, called also Cor-Eurt. u, from Eurgain, daughter of Caradoc, established by Aristobulus." 34. Achau Saint Prydain. Achau means a genealogy, Llan a cousv^crated enclosure. 35. See Appendix D. Triads of Paul the Apostle. The ancient MS. in Merton College Library, Oxford, which purports to contain a series of letters between S. Paul and Seneca, has more than one allusion to S. Paul's residence in Siluria. Theodoret, De Civ-Grcec. Off. lib. IX. " Paul, liberated from his first captivity at Rome, preached the gospel to the Britons and others in the west." Again Comment, on 2 Tim.' IV. 16. "Paul travelled, after being acquitted, into Spain, and thence extended his excursions into other countries, and to the islands surrounded by the sea." There is much more testimony as to the existence of pure British Christianity in veiy early times, but this expressly mentions S. Paul. 36. I allude especially to such cases as the imprisonment of Wilfrid of York, by Egfrid, King of Northumberland, for appealing to Rome, about A. D. 680. To the constitutions of Clarendon; to the ^^rticuli Clcri, 9 Edw. II. 1315: to Statutes for the clergy, 14 and 18 Ed. Ill i540, 1344: to the Statutes of JPro- visors, 25 Ed. ni. 1350; to 38 Ed. III. 1363, and 13 Rich. II. 2, c. 2, 1389, (Gib- son's Codex:, pp. 65,69, 71); to Praemunire, 27 Ed. III. c. 1; 'for purchasing of bulls from Rome; the Crown of England subject to none.' 16 Rich. II, c. 5, 1392: and to the numberless enactments of Henry VIII, in the same direction. These yfosvcpuhlic and legislative enactments. And it is the opinion of the soundest English lawyers, (as e. g. Coke), that they were not operative but declaratory acts; ho new laws, but only vindicating and enforcing the old. Wordsworth^ p. 185. '''-*-^s^\9g\§^e/^N.' i* \ 18 I- 8 ft •s CQ o o C 5P O r— ( O a- O M IT* O B on ^ S M it:^ C P 00 O >. o go SB K, fl ca 3 n a> 0) 3 3 3 <» o 5; 3 • w S -i ,3 313 -S b o « a «1? . . . .^ qocQqqoq <^ 35 3 -3. cs 3 o en 3 si -+- CO a O O 3 •43 I 3 >. ft N w H tx o o J a. c c (0 +-' w c o O 19 Appendix B. DRUIDIC TRIADS. The following arc u few Druidlc Triads, selcotcd from " Triads of Ancient Britain." They will give ii slight idea of the tendency of Druidie teaching. 1. "Th(4'e are three men all should love: he that loves the fiu^e of his mother Nature; he that loves rational works of Art; he that looks lovingly on the faces of little Children." 2. ** Three duties of every man : Worsliip God ; be just to all men ; die for your country." 3. The three things God alo^c car do: Endure tlio eternities of Infinity, participate of all being without chans- -g, renew everything without annihi- lating it. 4. Three things decrease continually : I)arkness, p]vil, and Death. Three things increase continually: Light, Truth, and Life. These will finally prevRil over all. 5. Three states of existence : The Cycle of 'Ceugant,' where there is nothing of living or dead but cJod, and God alone can traverse it; the Cycle of *Abred,' where all natural existence originates from death, this man has traversed; the Cycle of 'Gynfyd,' where all existence is from life to life, this man will traverse in the ' Nevoedd,' (changes of life in heaven). G. Three things wherein man necessarily differs from God : Man is finite, God infinite; Man had a beginning, God had none; Man unable to sustain 'Ceugant' (infinity of space and time), must have in ' Gwynfyd' eternal change, cycles of existence ; God sustains 'Ceugant' unchanged. 7. Three things came into being at the same moment : light, man, and moral choice. 8. The three causes of man falling into 'Abrcd': neglect of knowledge, aversion to good, love of evil. Occasioned by these three, man declines to his congenial state in 'Abred,' whence as before he re-ascends to humanity. " The saying of Taliec;in, the Prince-Bard Hud Druid, conveys a great historic truth, though over-strongly expressed: — 'Christ, the Word from the beginning, was ft'om the beginning our teacher, and we never lost his teaching. Christianity was a new thing in Asia, but there never was a time when the Druids of Britain held not its doctrines.' ^■—Morgan. Appendix C. l..~EvMence for the introduction of Christianity into Britain by Joseph of Arimathcea. Gildas, the British Historian, states (A. D. 520-5G0) that Christianity was intro- duccd in the last year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. " Tempore, td scimuSf summo Tiberii Cacsaris." (Usher calls Gildas " auctor veracissimus"). The last year of Tiberius would be his 22nd. The crucifixion took place in the 17th 20 II ; year of Tiberius. Ilcncc, if Gildas is right, Clirintiunity was iutroduced into Britain tive yi^ars after tlie crucifixion, tliat is, A. 1). 38. Tlie following testimonies corroborate this assertion : — 1. Gregory of Tours. (544-o95). History of tlie FraulfH, p. 133. Tills is Gallic testimony. 2. The Pseudo-Gospttl of Nicodemus, ad flnem, Hupposed to bo of 4th century. (Oriental.) 3. Maelgwyn of Llandaff, uncle of S. David. (About 4r)0). " Joseph of Arimatluea, the noble decurion, received his everlasting rest with his eleven associates in the Isle of Avalon. He lies in the southern angle of the bifurcated line of the Oratorium of the a-lorablo Virgin.'' This is the testimony of one who knew the very spot where Joseph rests. 4. The Vatican MS, quoted by Baronius, (Roman Catholic) in his "Eccle- siastical Annals," ad annum 35, (the year of the tirst dispersion), records that in this year Lazarus, Maria Magdalene, Martha, her handmaiden Marcella, Maximin, a disciple, Joseph the Decurion ol Arimathu^a, against all of whom the Jews hr.d special enmity, were exposed to the sc^a in a vessel without sails or oars. The vessel drifted to Marseilles, and they were saved. From thence they passed into Britain, and after preaching the Gospel there, died. 6. The Ghronicon of Pseudo-Dexter, the Fraffmenta of Haleca, Archbishop of Saragossa, rreculphus,and Forcatulus, deliver the same statement professedly from primitive sources of unknown date. Cressy, Pitsoeus, Sanders, Alford (or Griffiths, next to Baronius to the most learned of the Roman Catholic writers), concur with Gildas in the year, and with the abdve authorities in holding Joseph of Arimathcea to have been the first who preached Christ in Britain. Add to this the evidence of the antiquity of the Church of Glastonbury, and the proof becomes exceedingly strong. I> • II. — Evidence of jiristobutiis^s Mission. 1. The Martyrologics of the Greek Churches : — "Aristobulus was one of the seventy disciples, and a follower of Paul the Apostle. He was chosen by S. Paul to be the Missionary Bishop to the land of Britain. He was there martyred, after he had built Churches and ordained Priests and Deacons for the Island. {Greek Men: ad 15 March). 2. " The memory of many martyrs is celebrated by the Britons, especially that of S. Aristobulus, one of the seventy disciples." — Halecce Frag, in Mar. 3. "Aristobulus, who is mentioned by the Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans, was made Bishop in Britain." Dorothoeus, (303), Synopsis in Arist. 4. Adonis Martyrologia :—" Natal day of Aristobulus, Bishop of Britain, brother of S. Barnabas the Apostle. He was sent to Britain, where, after preach- ing the truth of Christ and forming a Church, he received martyrdom. {In diem Martii 17). 5. The Brittsh Achau, or Genealogies : — •• These came with Bran the blessed from Rome to Britain ; Arwystli Hen, {senex) Hid, Cyndaw, men of Israel ; Maw, ojr Mauaw, son of Arwystli Hen. 21 Into lis Is r 4th "According to the genius of the British tongue, Aristobulua hocoraes Ar- wystli. A district in Montgomcrysliire, on the Severn, perpetuates by its namp (Arwystli) the scene of ids martyrdom. The Britons must have liad Arwystll in person among tliem; tliey must liave l)een strucli l)y the age of the venerable missionary, or tlie cpitliet senex would not have become a part of his name." JMorgan. ' rest gle of ;s. Eccle- hat in Kimin, vs hr.d . The t;d into ibishop essedly Alford rriters), Joseph ry, and Appendix I>. TRIADS OF PAUL THE APOSTLE. There are three sorts of men: the man of God, who renders good for evil; the man of Men, who renders good for good and evil for evil; aud the man of the devil, wlio renders evil for goo