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A SERMON PREACHED IN ELY CATHEDRAL

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

A SERMON

riiEAfllFD IN

ELY CAT H E,D li A L »

AT THE FIFTH AXKUAL

DIOCESAN MISSIONARY MEETING.

(Under thf Presidenr;/ nf the Lord Bishop of Ely,)

ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1851,

■WHEN THE THIRD JCBILEF. OF THE

SOCIETY FOR THE PitOPAGATIOX OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PAUTS

WAS ALSO CELEBRATED.

THE KEY. LORD ARTHUR HERYEY, M.A.

Rector of Irkwo.ih.

fnbliijltPiJ at tljt rrqnpst nf i^i ■Btm.&iit i'lrrgi; prrjpnt.

LONDON:

HATCHARD AND SON, No. 187, PICCADILLY;

JACKSON AND FROST, 4, CHEQUER SQUARE, BURY ST. EDMUND's T. HILLS, ELY; AND ALL OTHER noOKSELLERS.

The Profits arising from the sale of this Sermon will he given to i..e Fund for the Endowment of a Bishopric at Sierra- Leone.

BURY ST. EDMUND S :

Printal by W. T. Jackson, Chequer Square.

VEPiY EEYEEEND THE DEAN OF ELY,

AND TO

€\)t (Dlngij,

WHO ATTENDED TilE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DIOCESAN MISSIONARY MEETING,

THIS SERMON,

PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST, IS INSCRIBED, WITH SINCERE RESPECT AND CHRISTIAN AFFECTION, BY THE AUTHOR.

(Ihj DinrtsnE 3tt&sinuan) 3M«tiiig.

The Ely Diocesan Missionary Meeting was insti- tuted A. D. 1847, for the following purposes : —

1. — To bring together, fVom all parts of the Diocese, those who desire to further the great work of preaching the Gospel of Christ to the world. 2. — To ofF^r up united Prayers, in the Cathedral Church of the Diocese, for the Divine Blessing on this holy work. 3. — To receive reports of contributions to the four Societies of the Church, which ars'engaged in the prosecution of Missionary operations, viz. : — The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, The Church Missionary Society, and The Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews. 4. — To take counsel together for the more eflectual support

of these four Institutions throughout the Diocese. It did not form part of the original design of the Diocesan Meeting to make a Collection for Missionary purposes ; but rather to excite and strengthen the Missionary spirit in all parts of the Diocese, and so promote the increase of local contributions. This good result has, in some measure, been attained : the Cathedral Church and the Clergy of the Diocese

B

have been drawn together into nearer union ; a spirit of Missionary zeal and liberality has been awakened, in the Cathedral City and other parts of the Diocese ; in many districts Missionary Secretaries have been appointed, where none existed before; and in several parishes, regular Missio- nary Meetings have been instituted, either for all, or one or more of the Missionary Societies.*

It was however felt, that many of those who meet together yearly in the House of God, to thank Him for past mercies, and to pray for future blessings on our Missions, would prefer not to appear before the Lord empty ; and that others, who are unable to be present, would be glad to testify their feelings of sympathy and co-operation by a contribution to the purposes of the Meeting. A Subscription list is kept open at the Bank of Messrs. Mortlock and Co., Cambridge and Ely, and at Mr. Hill's, Bookseller, Ely, for one month after the Meeting, under the name of the " Ely Diocesan Missionary Meeting."

The Clergy present always meet together in the Cathedral Library immediately after the conclusion of Divine Service.

l.—J. D. 1847. At the first meeting, on September 29th, 1847, in the Shire-hall, Ely, after morning prayers in the Cathedral, the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Ely in the chair ; Resolutions were passed for the holding an annual Diocesan Missionary Meeting, and recommending the appointment of Missionary Secretaries, wherever vranted, throughout the Diocese.

• It is to be observed that the plan of the Diocesan Meeting leaves each Society pcrjectly distinct and uncontrolled in its operations and funds, in every part of the Diocese, each working by its mm agents ; no previous arrangements are in any way superseded, or disturbed ; the only object of the annual meeting is to encourage and maintain a spirit of brotherly union and co-oneration in the work of Christ.

vu.

The Bishop of Ely presented a Bible and Prayer-book to the Bishop of Melbourne, Australia, as a memorial of the affectionate regard and esteem felt for him by his brethren in the Diocese of Ely, and of our earnest prayers, that the same Divine Blessing, -which has rested on his labours here, may prosper all his work in the Diocese of Melbourne.

Collection, £45, divided equally between the four Societies; the portion for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, being given as a special donation to the Diocese of Melbourne,

II.— ^.D. 1848.

At the second meeting, in the Shire-hall, after morning prayers in the Cathedral, the Rev. Professor Scholefield in the chair, a Resolution was passed, " that it be respectfully recommended to the Clergy of the Diocese, subject to the approbation of the Right Rev. the Bishop, to institute Parochial Missionary Meetings, and to form Missionary Libraries, •wherever it may be practicable."

Collection, £48 6s, 6d., divided equally between the four Societies.

III.— ^. D. 1849.

The third meeting on June 26, 1849, consisted of morning prayers in the Cathedral, a Sermon by the Rev. Professor ScHOLEFiELD, on Matthew x. 7, " y4nd as ye go, preachy saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand " : and the Meeting of the Clergy in the Library.

A Committee was appointed to consider whether a Diocesan Meeting could be held, for the home purposes of the Church, as well as for the Foreign Missions, either in connexion with this Meeting, or at another time of the year.

Collection, £27 Qs, Id., divided equally between the four Societies.

Vlll.

IV.— ^. D. 1850.

The fourth Meeting, on July 19, 1850, was the same as the last, the Sermon being preached by the Rev. Canon Selwyn, on Matthew xiii. 37, 38. " He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man ; the field is the ivorld,"

Collection, £26 %s. 3d., divided equally between the four Societies.

v.— ^.Z). 1851.

The fifth meeting, on October 15, 1851, was the same as before, the Sermon by the Hon. and Rev. Lord Arthur IIervey, on Ephesians ii. 11 — 13, " Wherefore remember, ^hatye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circtimcision in the flesh made by hands ; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonivealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world ; But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."

Resolutions were passed to request Lord Arthur Hervet to publish the Sermon preached this day ; and that the contributions at this meeting, as well as at the evening meeting at the Shire-hall, on Tuesday, October 14th, be given to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, (this being the Commemoration of the Third Jubilee,) as part of their Jubilee Fund.

N. B. — On this occasion a Collection was made, for the first time, after the Sermon in the Catliedral. The amount to this time, (Nov. G,) is £31.

S FJ R M O N .

EPHESIANS II. 11-13.

" Wherefore remember^ that ye being in time past Gentiles in the fleshy who are called Uncircum- cision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands ; That at that time ye were luithout Christy being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and ivithout God in the world : But noiu in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.'^

It has been often noticed that men who have risen by their own talents and exertions from a humble condition to one of greatness, and wealth, and power, and distinction, take a pecu- liar pride and pleasure in revisiting the scenes of their youth, and recalling the circumstances of by-gone days, so different from the present. The identity of place, the unchanged features of nature, the same hanging grove, or murmuring stream, or swelling hill, which had been witnesses

of days of poverty and obscurit}^ seem in their sameness to enhance the change in the fortunes of the man, at the same time that they recall by the force of vivid association, the memory of a thousand sorrows and hardships and difficulties and distresses, which it is pleasant to remember when one is so far removed from a recurrence of them. And if the man who has thus been raised to dignity and affluence is one who knows and loves God, and traces the hand of His never- failing Providence in all the events of life, these recollections will be mingled with lively grati- tude for such undeserved mercies, and with hearty resolves to devote to His honour and glory what has been received from His goodness and love.

And may not something of the same feel- ing be aroused in a nation and in a Church ? May not the contrast of past ignorance with present knowledge, of former darkness with existing light, stir us up to a more worthy appreciation of the privileges we enjoy as Chris- tian Englishmen, to a more solemn sense of responsibility for the use of them, and to more fervent thankfulness to our God and Saviour who has so lavished the bounties of His Provi- dence and His Grace towards us ? May not this venerable fabric, too, which has itself witnessed

so many and such mighty changes in the fortunes of our Church and nation, and which points back to yet earlier events in the annals of our race and of our land, assist by that powerful influence of which I have spoken, the admonitus locorum^ to awaken in our hearts this day memories and sentiments, which, with the aid of God*s Holy Spirit, may be for the fur- therance of the work to which our attention is now invited ? Any how, it shall be my endeavour this morning, in entire dependance upon God's Grace and Blessing, to place before your minds such historical recollections of former eras of our nation and of our Church, (especially such as cluster round the walls of this glorious edifice, and are suggested by the situation of this ancient city,) as to my own mind seem to contrast most vividly with our present unparalleled blessed- ness, and by the contrast to call most loudly upon us to pity those lands which are still lying in darkness, and to evangelize those races of mankind who are still living without Christ in the desolate regions of this evil world. If I can succeed in waking up the sleeping images of heathenism, and cruelty, and barbarous igno- rance which once lived and walked across the breadth of our native country, and can shew you how the preached Gospel of Jesus Christ, and

the laborious and dangerous toil of Missionaries sent hither with their feet shod with the prepara* tion of the Gospel of Peace, were the instruments in the Lord's hands of gradually bringing us to our present happy condition, surely I shall have done much to kindle a flame of Missionary zeal in your spirits, to remove all objections arising from the difficulties of the work, and to animate j'our eff'orts with the bright prospect of success.

And first, let us glance for a moment at the present aspect of England, not that we may boast with a foolish confidence, but that by con- trasting the present with the past, we may see the better what the Lord has done for us. As regards extent of dominion, take the description of an eloquent American, who speaks of the British Empire as " a power to which Rome in the height of her glory was not to be compared : a power which has dotted over the whole surface of the globe with her possessions and her military posts : whose morning drum-beat following the Sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth daily with one continuous and unbroken strain of its martial airs."* Recollect further that under the sceptre of Great Britain are subject men of every kindred, of every race,

• Webster's Spceclics, quoted in the Preface to .4ndersons History oj tlie Cliurrh of Eiit/lainl in the Colonics, p. xvii.

of every language, of every hue, of every form of religion. Negroes of Africa, Arabs of Malta, French of Canada, Greeks of the Ionian Islands, Spaniards, Dutch, Portuguese, in our various colonies in Asia, Africa, and America, wild Indians of America, savages of New Zealand, Hindoos, speaking the various languages of their vast territory, Malays, Hottentots, in the most opposite quarters of the globe, and everywhere the dispersed of Judah : Sikhs, Mahomedans, Brahminical Hindoos, Buddhists, and practisers of every wild form of idolatry, as well as the various denominations of Christians, swell the muster of British subjects.* And for the wealth of England : we may learn it from our colossal debt paid as punctually as the sun keeps his appointed stations in the heavens ; or we may stand on the banks of the Thames and see the huge forest of masts rising from its broad waters, and telling us of the world-wide commerce which the mighty ocean rolls up to the gates of London to enrich Great Britain and the world ; or we may take our station under the crystal vault which, mimicking the azure arch of the great blue sky, embraces the productions of every clime, and shelters men of every race beneath its

• See Appendix, Note A.

hospitable dome ; and seeing the labours of English hands, and the inventions of English minds placed side by side in amicable rivalry with those of the habitable globe, we may form no mean estimate of the height of social great- ness to which God has raised our native land.

Or to turn to yet greater glories, yet more distinguishing mercies, we may go into almost every cottage, as well as into every palace and mansion, and we may find thei'e the Bible, God's best gift to man. His living Word, the record of His Grace, the Gospel of His Salvation, the charter of our Redemption, the testimony of Jesus Christ. Or is this too great a boast? My reverend brethren here present, you know whether it is so in your own parishes — and if it is not so, might it not be so with a little more exertion on our parts. And then not only in our stately capital do a thousand spires mark the the place where Christ is preached, and His Sacraments administered, and God is wor- shipped ; not only in the divers cities of our land does the glorious cathedral, as here, assert the supremacy of religion, and mark the abode of the Christian Bishop, raised on high like the candle on the candlestick, to be a pre-eminent pattern of holy living and Christian faith to his whole diocese ; but in every obscure village and

retired parish, the Church stands witnessing for Heaven, and calling together the candidates for Heaven, to hear, and praise, and pray. And in the midst of every such company, whether they be the great, and learned, and mighty of the earth, or the industrious labourers of the soil, or the ingenious mechanics, or the manufacturers, whose labours contribute so much to our earthly glory, there dwells the Minister of Christ — the sworn champion of the Christian faith, the chosen witness of the Lord Jesus, the steward of the mysteries of God, the preacher of the ever- lasting Gospel, the expositor of God's revealed truth, the consecrated pattern and example of believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity — the shepherd of the flock of which the Holy Ghost hath made him an overseer — the husbandman of Christ's vine- yard— the builder of God's house — the Clergyman of the Parish. Look, too, at our schools, and colleges and universities for training up our youth in the knowledge of God and in the practice of Christian virtue. Count the hospi- tals, the asylums for orphans, for blind, for deaf and dumb, for idiots, the institutions for the relief of every kind of distress and affliction, the Missionary Societies, the glory of our Church, for the propagation of the truth of the

Gospel of Christ to the utmost ends of the earth, and if there be any other evidences and results of active Christian charity and zeal in the insti- tutions of Great Britain. Put all these things together, and much more which might be added to them, fill up in your minds the outline which has just been traced, and form a just estimate of the present condition of England, both in social and political blessings, and as to her share in the unsearchable riches of Christ.

And now let us turn to a very different pic- ture. This island, as we all know, was once a land of half-naked savages, ignorant for the most part of the arts of agriculture, living on milk and flesh, lialf-clothed with the skins of beasts, with painted bodies, and long flowing hair, taking refuge in the woods in times of danger, and living in constant warfare among themselves.* In religion they were idolaters, venerating stones, and fire, and streams, and trees ; f arid their altars were often stained with human blood, and smoked with human victims burnt by fire. J Such they w^ere when Julius

• Ccpsar dc Dell. Gall. v. xiv. ; Tacitus Jul. Agric. Tlfa, xi. xii. For a fuller (lescription and fiii thi^r passages from ancient authors, see Camden's Britannia, — The Manners of the Britons.

f Davics' Celtic Researches, p. 151., and Gildas, who also speaks of the idols of Britain as exceeding in number those of Egypt; and Jcclares tliat some of these hideous jnonsters, with truculent visage might still be seen among the ruins of deserted British cities, in his days.

X C(P.sar de Bell. Gall. vi. 13—1(5. Tae. Jul Agric. Fit. xi. and Annul, xiv. 80.

Caesar, the rough pioneer to them of the light of civilization, first invaded them with his legions ; such they still were when the Emperor Claudius followed up the conquest. And their supersti- tions seem to have lingered amongst the popula- tion of Gaul till late in the 6th, and in Britain, as should seem by one of Canute's laws, down even to the 11th century. "* Let us remember, too, that in the wonderful structure of Stonehenge we have a monument surviving the lapse of ages to remind us that heathenism was once planted in our soil, and that British hands once built temples and offered sacrifices to false Gods. But though darkness thus covered the earth, and gross darkness the people, the time at length came for the Lord to arise upon Zion, and for His Glory to be seen upon Jerusalem. Just at the age of the world when two heathen Emperors in the lust of conquest came, as we have seen, to rifle the nest of the poor Celts of this remote island, a mighty King, a glorious Saviour came down from heaven to conquer the whole earth to God, to take to Himself the heathen for His inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for His possession : to be a light to lighten the Gen- tiles, as well as the glory of His people Israel.

• Davies' Celtic Researches, p. 151—152. See Appendix, Note B.

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Between the time of Julius Caesar and Claudius, God had hccome Incarnate, the Word had been made Flesh — the Son of God had been born at Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, in the likeness of sinful flesh. In flesh He had battled with sin, and condemned sin in the flesh — in the flesh He had fought with death and bell, and He had overcome death and hell. Yea, though He had tasted the dust of death, though He had gone down through the gates of hell, yet had He risen the Lord of Life and Glory : He had been the plagues of death, and the destruction of the grave : He had made atonement for sin, for the sin of the world : He had blotted out transgres- sion, He had brought in everlasting righteous- ness. He had made man's peace with God, He had purchased for His redeemed an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance. He had opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. This had He done, this mighty conqueror, the Prince of Peace, by His life of obedience, and His death of agony in the little land of Judah !

O thou glorious land of Judah ! trod by Messiah's feet, and watered by Messiah's tears and blood ! O ye precious sons of Zion, the first heralds of Gospel grace, the first preachers of our great salvation ! O ! Jerusalem, from whence the light of life beamed upon the darkness of a fallen world ! how are ye now despised and

11

forgotten by the world which owes to you its all ! You sit in dust, your light is quenched, your glory is departed from you, but we, in our ingratitude, regard you not. We have succeeded to your inheritance, we fatten in your green pastures, we sit under the shadow of your great Rock, we drink of the living water of your wells of salvation, we are built upon the foundation of your Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone, but we regard not you, we have no sympathy for your sorrows, no balm of Gilead wherewith to heal your wounds !

My brethren, let not the guilt of ingratitude to our Jewish benefactors lie at our door. And remember, that in all probability to Jewish Mis- sionaries directly we owe the first preaching of the Gospel of Christ in Britain. We have the express testimony of Eusebius that the Gospel was preached in the British Islands by some of the Apostles ; and that St. Paul was the Apostle particularly alluded to, seems almost certain from the expression of his contemporary, Cle- ment.* But at all events, even if St. Paul did not come himself, it is certain that Christ was preached in Britain in the first century.'l' And

• See Appendix, Note C.

f See Bishop Stilliiigflect's Origin. Brit(tmuc(P, cli. 1.

12

who should they be but Christian Jews who could be Missionaries to the Heathen at that day ? Doubtless, then, the Heathen ignorance, the idolatrous superstitions, the barbarous man- ners of our British forefathers, attracted the pity of the true-hearted Hebrew Christians of that day. In the midst of poverty and weakness (but they were strong in Jesus Christ, and I^ the power of the Holy Ghost,) they crossed an unknown ocean, they set foot upon shores where so many Roman warriors had found a bloody death, they penetrated into wilds where Roman armies had not penetrated, and they proclaimed salvation by Jesus Christ, and pardon of sins through His precious blood. Nor did they preach in vain. For at the opening of the 4th century we find British martyrs laying down their lives for Christ's sake and the Gospel's,* and British Bishops taking their seat among the assembled prelates of Christendom.')" And long before we have the boast of Tertullian and Origen that Christ reigned in Britain in tracts where the arms of Rome could not penetrate.^ Now, perhaps, if we knew the thoughts of the Christians at that time, when they saw the spread

• Bede's Ilidor. Eccles., lib. 1, cli. vi. vii. Gildas Dc Excid. Brit. t Orig. Britann., ch. ii. iii. X See Appendix, Note D.

13

of Christianity in Britain, and especially when the British-born emperor having put on the imperial crowns embraced the faith of Christ, and established Christianity in the empire, they thought that surely the time was come when Heathen darkness should no longer brood over British soil, nor British blood be shed by the i.v.iSecuting Pagan sword. They may have had bright visions of peace and righteousness for the nation, and expected tliat the kingdom of Christ would stand fast there for ever.

But what was the state of Britain little more than a century later, as described by the vene- rable author of the Ecclesiastical history of the English nation? "The Heathen con que* rors (the Saxons,) ravaged every city, and laid waste the whole country. None dared to resist them. They set fire to every place they came to, so that from the eastern to the western shores was one continuous blaze, which embraced the surface of almost the whole island. Public and private buildings alike fell to ruin ; the clergy were slaughtered everywhere amidst the altars ; prelates and people, without respect of persons, were destroyed with fire and sword ; nor was there any one to bury those who had been thus cruelly murdered. In some places a wretched remnant which had escaped to the mountains

14

>vere taken and slain in heaps. Others, lialf-dead with hunger, came forth from their hiding places of their own accord, and sold themselves to their enemies for bond-slaves, to procure a little food ; some fled across the sea to foreign lands. Others, clinging to their native country, led a miserable life among rocks, and woods, and mountains, in abject poverty and continual alarm."*

Such was the state of Britain about the middle of the 5th century. And the gross darkness of heathenism once again covered the island. Heathen temples, with idols, and all the accom- paniments of idol worship, priests and sacrifices, and charms, and spells, and feasts, and revelries, polluted the land we live in ; and in many instances we read that Christian churches were turned into Pagan temples.f And here, again, I cannot but observe that it seems quite providen- tial that we have such palpable memorials of the heathenism of our Saxon ancestors preserved among us, as the names of the days of the week still afford. Here are we at this very moment, in the midst of the light of the religion and civi- lization of the 19th century of the Christian era, assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

• Bedc's Ecdesiast- Il'tst., book i. ch. xv.

t See Kcmbk's Saxons in England, ch. xii., Dugdale's Hist, of SI. Paul's Cathedral, p. 4. See Appendix, Note E.

15

on the day which bears the name of Woden. Tiw, and Thor, and Fricga, and Ssetere, give their names to our other week days, and the greatest solemnity of our Christian year, when we cele- brate the Passion and the glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, is called after the Saxon goddess, Eastre, whose sacred rites were celebra- ted in that month.* Surely these things should make us remember that in time past we were Gentiles in the flesh, and were then without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of pro- mise ; having no hope, and without God in the world. Let us remember, too, that God did not leave us thus. Again did the love of Christ in the heart of Christian missionaries bring amongst the savage Saxons the preachers of salvation, the teachers of the true God. From Ireland, from Gaul, from the oppressed British Charch itself, missionary bishops and preachers of the word came forth and took an active part in that great work of converting the Angles to the faith of Jesus Christ, which was so powerfully aided by the famous mission of Augustine and his successors in Kent.t By degrees, in one king- dom and in another, the darkness passed away,

* Kemble's Saxons, (as above,) Beda dc Temponim Rai'ione, ch. xy. t Sec Bcntham's Hist, of Elij Calked., sect. iii. iv. and Bede passim.

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and the true light sliined. And yet how impor- tant it is to notice the many checks and retrograde movements in the progress of the Gospel at that time : retrograde movements, apostacies, back- slidings in converts, outbreaks of persecution, which, though we look back upon them now as nothing, tried the faith and patience of the missionary then, as sorely as the inconsistencies or apostacies of Hindoo converts try the faith and patience of our missionaries now. When we make so much of the slow progress of Chris- tianity in India now, have we forgotten that upwards of six centuries elapsed from the first preaching of Christ in Britain, till the general establishment of Christianity in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms? When we are ready to lose heart, and draw back our hand, and to give up all hope, at every reverse or disappointment in any of our modern missions, should we not do well to re- member that those early missionary bishops, McUitus and Justus, had actually left our shores in despair and returned to Gaul, and that Laurentius was, literally, on the very eve of his departure too, when a favourable turn in the mind of King Eadbald induced him to change his pur- pose and call back his brethren to the work ? *

• Thiorry's Conq. de VArrit. i 7(», Bcde's Ecclcs. Hist. ii. v. vi. See, too, Southey'" Hook n/ fhv Church, ch. iil

17

Do not the pages of Bede tell us of many an instance of hesitation and half conversion : how the worship of idols was kept up by some who yet made profession of the Christian faith:* how some relapsed into Paganism,']' and others became Christians from merely interested motives ?J And yet God's work went on — idolatry was extirpated at last, and, by the grace of God, we are now a Christian people. And, my brethren, the arm of the Lord is not waxed short, nor is the word of Christ less mighty now than it was then. The idols of India, the heathenism of China, the whole power of the devil, in every place where devil- worship prevails, and Christ is not known, shall in due time fall to the ground before the power of the word of God. At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to Him. But we have need of patience. It is only just three jubilees since the first attempt was made by our reformed church to carry the Gos- pel of the grace of God into foreign parts — and scarcely so long since the first Protestant effort for the conversion of Hindoos to the faith of Christ was made by the Danish government, and the first copy of the New Testament in their native tongue was given to them in Tamul, by

* Eccles. Hist. ii. xv. f Eccles, Hist. iii. ch. i. xxv. J Lib. iii. cli. xxi.

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the devoted Evangelist Ziegcnbalg.* And can we wonder, especially considering how feeble our attack has been, that so elaborate a system as that of the Brahmins, consecrated in the affections of the people by a possession of three or four thou- sand years, connected with a literature which rivals that of Greece and Rome, and with no mean pitch of civilization, has not yielded at once to the labours of our missionaries ? Surely it argues a sad lack of historical knowledge, of due consideration of the circumstances, and what is far worse, of faith in God's revealed will, to be backward in helping our Church's missions either to Jews or to Heathen, because the success is not more rapid, nor the result more decisive. But to return once more to England. Could some of the stones of the ancient buildings around us speak, they could, perhaps, tell us of fresh reverses in the fortunes of Christianity in this then unhappy island. f They could tell us how two hundred years after the piety of the sainted Etheldreda had founded a house for God's glory and the cultivation of holy living, safe, as she deemed, from danger in this isle of Ely, sur- rounded on all sides by water or inaccessible fens, the heathen Danes came like a desolating

• Life of Sicarlz, p. 12—22. + Sec Appendix, Note F.

19

north wind, and destroyed everything before them : how, coming- up the river with their fleet, they landed on this isle, and having put the inhabitants to flight after a bloody battle, came to Etheldreda's monastery, put all the monks and nuns to the sword, slew all they found of every age, and sex, and condition, plundered every- thing of value they could lay hands on, and then setting fire to the church and all the buildings, leapt into their ships again, laden with spoil, to go and ravage other districts, and violate other sanctuaries of the Christian faith.* Indeed I know nothing scarcely in history more touching and more appalling than the ravages committed by the Danes at this time, when, beginning from the north, they carried fire and sword, terror and desolation before them : pillaging the towns, massacring the inhabitants, and above all, with fanatical fury, burning to the ground churches and monasteries. t

In the course of one year the monasteries of Coldingham, of Lindisfarne, of Whitby, of Croy- land, of Peterborough, as well as those of Ely and Soham, and many others, were plundered and ravaged by these furious Pagans, and in every instance the churches and monastic houses

* Bentham's Hist, of Ely Cathecl, p. 07, G8. I Thierry's Coiiqufte de V Anglet. vol. i. ji. 107.

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were burnt down, with all their literary treasures, and the helpless monks and nuns were ruthlessly put to the sword. At the sacking of the monas- tery of Peterborough, (or Medeshamstead,) the Danish chief killed with his own hand eighty-four monks ; then after rifling tlie very tombs in search of treasure, and breaking down all the or- naments of the church, he made a pile of all the deeds and charters, and the books of their noble library, and set fire to tliem, and thus con- sumed the church and all the buildings. The fire is said to have burnt during a fortnight without intermission.

Particularly interesting are the details of the destruction of Croyland Abbey. " When the news was brought to the monastery, of the total rout of the Saxons, and the approach of the Pagan arm}'^, it was just the hour of matins, and all the monks were assembled in the choir. The aged abbot thus addressed them, * All you who are young and strong escape quickly and carry with you to some safe place the holy relics of the saints, our books, our writings, and our valuables. I will stay here with the old men and children ; perhaps, by God's mercy, the enemy will pity our helpless weakness.' About thirty of them laded a boat as they were desired, and took refuge in the fens. There

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only remained in the choir the abbot, a few infirm old men, of whom two had attained the age of a hundred years, and a few children who were being brought up in the monastery.* They sung the usual Psalms ; and when the hour of mass came the abbot stood at the altar in his sacerdotal robes. AH present received the holy communion of the body and blood of Christ. They had scarcely done so, when the Danes rushed into the church sword in hand. Their chief imme- diately killed, with his own hand, the old abbot at the foot of the altar ; the soldiers put the rest to the torture to find out where the treasure was, and, when they would not speak, cut off their heads, and only one child, saved by the pity of a Danish chief, escaped the universal massacre. "f And all this was in our own England ! And shall we forget that such things have been? Shall we forget that it is to the progress of Christianity that we owe, under God, not only our hope of eternal life, but also our peace, our order, our righteous laws, our mild and equal government, our unparalleled liberty, our safety and security, the sanctity of our domestic hearth, our social blessings and comforts, our pre-emi- nent place among the nations of the world ?

• See Appendix, Note G.

t See Bentham's Hist, of Ely Cathed., p. 6i--67. Conqiiete de VAnglct. vol. i. p. lOi— 108.

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Can we contrast such piteous scenes as we have been considering with the spectacle which at the present moment is astonishing Europe and the whole civilised world, of our humblest and poorest citizens assembling by a hundred thou- sand at a time in the midst of the choicest and rarest and most precious productions of the ha- bitable globe, without the slightest breach of order, without the slightest confusion or miscon- duct of any kind, and not feel our bosoms swell with love and thankfulness to God, who has not only rescued our land from Pagan darkness, but has given us in such purity and such fullness and such power the knowledge of his saving truth. These walls can tell us by many an unmistake- able token the strange vicissitudes by which, at length, we got at that blessed union of evangeli- cal lioht with ecclesiastical order which the Church of England now enjoys, and which, by God's grace, we trust she will hold fast to the end, that she may not be ashamed when her Lord shall appear in his glory. But telling us this, they tell us also of present duty and present responsibility for the use of such great gifts. While they point to our own past, they point to the present of other regions which are still where we were more than a thousand years ago. And while they point to our present, they speak

23

to us surely, to all of us, to bishops priests and deacons, to la3'men, to rulers and subjects, to rich and poor, to old and young, to fathers and mothers and children, with a voice of irresistible persuasion and authority, and bid us unite with one heart and with hands all firmly knit together in the bonds of Christian love, to use our present mighty means and implements for diffusing to every corner of the globe where there is an open door, to Jew and Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free, the Gospel of that adorable Sa- viour, by whose precious blood those who are furthest off may be brought nigh to God ; by faith in whom those who are now aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, may be made fellow- citizens with the Saints, and of the household of God, and be built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone.

My brethren, may we have grace to fulfil our part faithfully as a Missionary Church. As we have freely received, may we also freely give. The children whom God has given to us in every quarter of the globe cry to us for bread ; let us not give them a stone. We have such means as no other church ever

24

had of evangelizing the world ; shall our answer to our Lord and Master, when he says, Whom shall I send? and who will go for us? be that of the prophet : Here am I, send me : or shall it be that of Moses, Send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send ? — by any one rather than by me. But do not fresh causes of encouragement reach us every day ? Is not the abolition of suttee, for instance,* in so many of the independent states of Hindostan a most strik- ing proof of the silent inroads which Christian morality, at least, is making on the native mind of India? Does it not indicate a loosening of the hold of Satan and his bloody tyranny upon the souls of that long-enchained race ? When a battery is made to play against the solid masonry of some strong wall, for a long time it seems to mock the fury of the cannon balls, and to throw them off like pebbles, unhurt and unscathed by them. But let but one stone give way and be forced out of its place, and soon you will see each stroke begin to tell ; and when once a breach is made, it will soon all crumble to the ground. It will be so, I believe, with the idola- tries and superstitions of India. Though three jubilees since serious efforts were first made for

• See Quart VI ly firv., No. 17R.

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•

the conversion of the natives of Hindostan to the faith of Christ have passed with comparatively small results, yet I think there are clear indica- tions that our labours and example are beginning to tell. And if once the fabric of idolatrous super- stition begins to give way, we may hope it will rapidly crumble to pieces, and a pure Church of Christ be erected in its stead. The same may be said of our missions to the Jews, and of our missions to other heathen nations, though ia many instances we have much more than hope for the future, we have the joy of actual results in the gathering of lost sheep into the fold of Christ. But whatever may be the inscrutable pur- poses of Almighty God towards the whole or any portion of mankind before the second advent of the Lord of Glory, we cannot, at any rate, doubt what is our commission as those who are put in trust with the gospel of Christ. We are accurately acquainted with the locality and moral condition of every family of the human race sprung from the loins of Adam, and scat- tered through the various regions of the earth. Our ships sail into every port, our merchants traffic with every tribe, our armies brave the dan- gers of every climate, our travellers penetrate into every land, our naturalists search out every remote tract, our antiquarians risk the contact of

26

every barbarous horde, our linguists study the speech of every kindred and every race of men, gathering wealth or knowledge, and may be giving wealth or knowledge in return. But in all this men's souls are not saved, sinners are not converted to God, life is not imparted to men's spirits, sin is not plucked up by the roots, the name of Jesus Christ is not exalted and glorified. And has Christ our Lord, then, no servants among those whom He has redeemed, to go forth in His name, and proclaim His great salvation ? Are there no hearts glowing with love to Him, and charity to a perishing world, to go forth, and impart imperishable riches and hea- venly knowledge to the sons of men ? Has the Christian preacher alone, of all classes of mankind, no errand to the distant quarters of the earth, w here the track of Satan is marked in lust, and falsehood, and blood ? Why, perish all the science and all the wealth of the 19th century, perish our gigantic empire, and all the trophies of Britain's glory, rather than that the love of Christ should wax cold amongst us, or that the gospel of God's grace should lose its value and its power in our eyes. But no, my brethren, this shall not be, God being our helper. Our church, by God's grace, shall send forth, in still growing numbers, her

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missionary band ; you will unitedly labour with them by many prayers and offerings of love ; the electric stream of holy zeal shall flow from England to India, to China, to Africa, and to the isles of the sea; God will, let us devoutly trust, pour out His Holy Spirit, as in days of old, and the whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

APPENDIX.

Note A. — In Gibraltar and the West Indian Islands^ as well as in our settlements in Honduras^ Yucatan^ and elsewhere, a considerable number of Spaniards must have come under the sceptre of Great Britain. At the Cape of Good Hope, in Ceylon, in vai'ious parts of India, large Dutch possessions passed over to England by conquest or treaty. In India, many Portuguese settle- ments have passed into the hands of the British. In some places, as for example Malacca, there was a mixed population of Dutch and Portuguese, as well as the native Malays. Singhapoor, Malacca, Labuan, and almost Sarawak, may be mentioned as affording examples of Malays become British subjects.

Note B. — The passage from Davies' Celtic Researches is as follows : " The interdict of Gallic Councils would of itself prove the lingering obstinacy of Druidism amongst the people of Gaul to the end of the 6th century." Veneratores lapidum, accensores facularum, et excolentes sacra fontium et arborum admonemus. — Condi. Turon. a. d. 567, In Britain it continued still

29

longer, as appears from the law of Canute, ProLi- bemus etiara serio. . quod quis acloret ignem vel fluviura, torrens (qu. torrentes ? in tlie original, wyllas — Avells — fontes,) vel saxa, vel alicujus generis arborum ligna. — Wilkins' Leg. Ang. Sax. p. 134.

[The passage from Canute's Laws is quoted at length at the end of Eask's Anglo-Saxon Grammar. Trans- lated by B. Thorpe.]

Note C. — I give here the original passages from Eusebius, and Clement of Rome, as they are referred to by Bishop Stillingpleet, in his first and second chapters, as well as one or two other testimonies from ancient writers : —

K7)pVTTeiV B' €19 TTaVTaS TO TOV 'It^ctov ovofia, KaX TOis irapaZo^ovs irpd^eis avrov 'Kara, re aypovs Kot Kara iroXtv BtBd(rK€iv' Kal rovs jxev dvrwv rrjv Pco/xatcov dpxV'^ '^'^^ dvjrjv re t^v ^aa-LKiKcordTrjv ttoXlv viifJbaa-Oai,' tovs Se to Ilepcrcov, tovs 8e to 'ApfxevlooVf €Tepovs 8e TO HdpOxov edvos, koI dv irdXiv to ^kvOcou, TLvds he rjSr] Kal ctt' duTa T^y ocKovfiepTjs iXdetv rd cLKpa, eTTi re ttjv 'Iv8cov (pOdaac '^^copav, Kal eTepovs virep tov flKeavbv irapeXOecv^ eVt ray KdXovfMeva^ BpeTTaviKas vrjaovs, TavTa ovkgt' iyaiye riyov/xat KaT dvOpcoTTOV ilvai, pui^Tiye KaTa evTeKels Kai ihiWTas, TToWov Bet KaTa TrXdvovs Kal yorjTas. — Demonstrat. Evangel, lib. iii, v. (p. 112.)

" But to preach to all mankind the name of Jesus, and " teach them His wonderful works, going about from city

• Compare Venantiiis Fortunatus's "Transit et oceanum," quoted below p. 31, and Jerome's " ut usque ad Hispanias tenderet, etab oceano usque ad oceanum currcret " of St. Paul. Comm. in Amos. eh. v. {Oper. vol. iii. p. 1412.)

F

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" to city, and from village to village : and to parcel out *' tlie whole vrorld among tliemsclvcs, some taking the " Roman Empire and Rome itself for their province, "others going to Persia, some to Armenia, some to "Parthia, some again to Scythia ; and to reach, as some " did, the very ends of the habitable world, and penetrate " as far as the land of the Indians, while others crossing " the ocean came to the so-called British islands ; this, in " my opinion, was scarcely the work of mere men, much " less the work of common and ordinary men, least of all " the work of deceivers and impostors."

Aia ^rjXou Kot 6 IldvXos VTrofiovrjs ^pa^hou VTricr^ev, kiridKLs Becrfxd (f)opiaas, (fivyaSevdels, 'KiOaaOels, Krjpv^ <yev6/jievos ev re rfj dvaroXfj koX iv rfj Svcret, to yevvdiov rrjs irlorrews dvrov KXios 'iXa/Sev, SiKaioauvrjv ScSd^as o\ov top Koaiiov, koX eirl TO Tepjxa ttjs Bvaecos iXOcoi', Koi fiapTvpyjcras €7rl Tau '^yovfievcoVf ovtco9 dTrrjWdyr) tov koct/xov, Kat €Ls TOV ayiov tottov eiropevOr}, vTrofiovrjs yevo/xepos fiiyi(TTos vTToypa/jbfMos.'^ — S. Clement, ad Corinth, v.

" It was on account of wrath (the unjust wrath of his " persecutors,) that Paul was constrained to enter the " arena of suffering, being seven times loaded with

• Observe particularly that Clement places St. Paul's coming to the bounds of the West, as the event of his life immediately preceding his martyrdom at Rome. This exactly tallies with the idea that his visit to Spain and Britain was after his imprisonment, recorded in Acts xxviii. And by noticing this historical order, the force of the criticism which would prove to Ttpua iri<i tvatui; the bounds of the West, to mean Italy, because it is connected with i^apTvp-^Tcii in) tuv ^yovfAivuv, (liaving borne testimony before rulers,) is entirely broken. The words to ytfyaiov T^< isi<rT(i.'i avTov -^'/.tof tXaQiv seem to be misplaced. They would come in belter between inipfvQ-zj and v7rfl/xov^<, if we supply another nai.

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" chains, banished, stoned : and becoming a herald of " salvation both in the East and in the West, became " famous for his faith : then having taught the doctrine " of righteousness to the whole world, and having come " as far as the utmost bounds of the west, and having '' borne testimony before rulers, so departed this life, and " went to the holy place, having been a most eminent "example of fortitude."

Theodoret says expressly of St. Paul eis ras XTravias a<piKero, koI rats iv raJ TreXdjeo BtaKei/xivats vi]croLs rrjv oi)(f)e\€cav Trpoarjve^Kev. " He came to Spain, and imparted also the blessings of Christianity to the Islands in the ocean." (Theod. in Ps. cxvi. quoted in note to the above passage in Clem. Rom. in Jacobson's Patr, Apostol.) He must have meant the British Islands, which are frequently connected by the ancients with Spain. Thus Tacitus, in his life of Agricola, speaks of the proximity of South Wales to Spain as favouring the notion that the Silures were a colony of the Iberi :

Silurum colorati vultus, et torti plerumque crines et posita contril Hispania,* Iberos veteres trajecisse, easque sedes occupasse, fidem faciunt. Vit. Agric. cap. xi.

" The peculiar complexion of the Silures, their curl- "ing hair, and the fact that the coast of Spain lies "exactly opposite to them, makes it probable that the " ancient Iberi may have crossed over and settled there."

• Compare the expression of Pliny, Nat. Hist. lib. iv. c. xxii. Ex adverso Celtiberira complures sunt insulae Cassiterides dictae Graecis a fertilitate plumbi, &c. " Over against the coast of Spain lie several islands called by the Greeks Cassiterides, or the ' tin islands.' "

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Cedreuus, quoted by Camdeu, [Britan. p. Ixxii.) says absurdly of Alexander the Great, eKeiOev 8e irpos Taoeipa koI ra Bperravv/jaia eOvq yevofxevos, k. t. \. And wc liave precisely the same juxta-position of Gades and Britain in those lines of Venantius Fortunatus, quoted in Camden, and after him by Fuller and Bishop Stilliug'fleet, -who says of St. Paul, —

Transit et oceanum, vel quc\ facit insula portum, Quasque Britannus habet terras, quasque ultima Thule: "Which may be translated thus : —

" Where Gades^ Island, earth's extremest verge, " Shields the calm harbour from tli' Atlantic surge ; " Where Britons dwell, and Thule hides her face, ''Paul came and preached the Gospel of God's grace."* For the expression "vel qua facit insula portum," does, I think, certainly mean Gades, (or Cadiz,) whose harbour is made by the island now called Isla de Leon, on the extreme point of which Cadiz stands. To trans- late the lines as they are translated in Gough's Camden's Britannia —

" The ocean crossing, visited each port, Each part of Britain, and remotest Thule,"

• The v.liole passage is as follows : —

Quid sacer ille simul Paulus tuba gentibus ampla, Per mare per terras Cbristi praeconia fundens, Europam atque Asiani Libyam sale, dogniate compleus, Et quii Sol radiis (endit stilus \ ille cucurrit, Arctos, ineridics, hinc j)leuus vesper, ct ortiis. Transit et oceanum, vel quil facit insula portum, Quasque Britannus babet terras, quasque ultima Tliulc.

Vita Sll Mai (ini lib. ir.

7 Stilus is, T presume, for the Greek (Tti/auj, with reference to Cxal. ii. 'J. Comp. Clciit. ad Cor, E.

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is mauifestly absurd. Anxious to be confirmed in my view that Gades was raeant^ I consulted Pr. Donaldson, "who kindly gave me the following ingenious reasoning in proof of it : " The intention of the writer is to vindi- cate three points of extreme distance in navigation. The three points so described by the Latin poets, are first, the ultimi orbis Britanni. Hor. I. Carm. xxxv. 29, 30, Virgil Bucol. i. Q7, (toto divisos orbe Britannos.) second, Ultima Thule. Georgic. i. 30. cf. Juven. Sat. XV. 112., and tJiird, Gades. . hominum finem Gades.. Sil. Ital, i. 141. Now your writer mentions the first

" And what of Paul, that trumpet to the world, " Who through all lands his Master's flag unfurl'd. " O'er earth's wide hosom sprinkled salt divine, *' Shed gospel light where'er the sun doth shine, " Stretched North, and South, and East, and West his line, " Reach'd old Gadira's ocean-stemming strand, " Trod Britain's shore, and Thule's distant land." Although it must be confessed with Camden and Stillingfleet, that the poetical turn of the passage rather impairs the weight of the evidence of the writer, and though there is some truth iu Fuller's remark, that " less credit is to be given to Britannus because it goeth in company with ultima Thule, which being the noted expression of the poets for ' the utmost bound of the then known world,' seems to savour more of poetical hyperbole, than historical truth," still I think the expression in the mouth of a Bishop of Poictiers, and agreeing, as it does, so exactly with Theodoret's statement, (which he had probably never seen, for at an advanced time of life he is known not to have read any of the fathers, See Ceillier,) falling in, too, with Jerome's statement that St. Paul, after his first imprisonment at Rome, preached the Gospel in the parts of the West, (in occidentis qnoque partibus,) where it had not been preached before, and corroborated by the known fact that Christianity was intro- duced into Britain in the first century, is something more than a random poetical flourish, and makes it probable that either St. Paul, or some of his companions — some members of his Missionary staflT — may have set foot on British soil. The complete destruction by fire, or otherwise, of all the old British records, of which Gildas complains, makes it impossible to arrive at any certainty.

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two by name, and his description applies exactly to the third. (See Pliny, Hist. Nat. iv. ch. 32, sec. 120.) Consequently he must have referred to Gades."

I have been the more particular in vindicating the true sense of these lines, because Venantius Fortunatus is the earliest AA^riter who says in so many words that St. Paul came to Britain, ha\dng written his life of St. Martin, of Tours, before the year 57G; (See Ceillier,) and because, as Bishop of Poictiers, he must have had good information concerning the origin of the British Churches, whose close communication with those of Gaul is well known; and because the passage in question throws a strong light on the more general expression of Theodoret above referred to. For other passages show- ing the connexion between Spain and Britain, (which I take to have been as old as the time of the Phoenicians, who, doubtless, touched at their own colony of FaBeipa, or Gades, on their way to the Cassiterides for tin, and which even gave rise possibly to the strange connexion in mythology between the garden of the Hesperides and the Hyperborei,) see Bishop Stillingfleet, Oriff. Brit. ch. i. : See, too, the order in which TertuUian enumerates the nations mentioned in the passage quoted in Note D.

Note D. — (In Christo crediderunt,) etiam Getulorum varietates et Maurorum multi fines, Hispaniarum omnes termini, ct Galliarum diversa3 nationes, et Britannorum inaccessa llomanis loca, Christo vero subdita, et Sarraa- tarura, et Dacorum, et Germanorum er Scytharum, et abditarum multarum gentium, et provinciarum et insu- larum multarum, nobis ignotarura, ct quae enuraerarc

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minus possumus. In quibus omnibus locis Christi nomen qui jam venit regnat. — Tertul. adv. Jud. cap. vii.

" The following nations have also believed in Christ : " the various tribes of the Getuli, the different districts "peopled by the Moors, all the provinces of Spain, the " sundry nations of Gaul, tracts of Britain where the " arms of Rome could never penetrate, but which have "been subdued to Christ, and the countries of the " Sarmatse and Dacce and Germans and Scythians, and " many unexplored regions, and many islands and pro- " vinces unknown to us, and which we cannot therefore " well enumerate. In all which places Christ, who is " come, reigns." See also chapter viii.

The tract Adversus Judceos was written about a.d. 200.

Origen says, " When did Britain before the coming of Christ consent in the worship of one God?" In Ezek, Homil. 4.

And in the 6th Homily on St. Luke, ch. 1 ., he says that the power of Christ " was seen in Britain as well as in Mauritania."

Origen was born about a. d. 185.

I subjoin the passage from Gildas, quoted by Bishop Stillingfleet, ch. 1. After speaking of the revolt under Boadicea, he says, Interea glaciali frigore rigenti insulge, et veluti longiore terrarum recessu, soli visibili non proximo, verus ille non de iirmamento solum temporali, sed de summa ctiam ccelorum arce terapora cuncta excedente, universo orbi prtcfulgidum sui corus- cum ostendens tempore (ut scimus) summo Tiberii

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CiEsaris (quo absque ullo impedimento ejus propagabatur rcligio, comminatri, seuatu nolente, h principe morte delatoribus militum ejusdem,) radios suos primum indulget, id est sua praccepta Christus.*

" In the mean time, that true sun which shines not " merely in the temporal firmament, but in the eternal " height of the heaven of heavens, and which caused his " most glorious light to shine upon the whole world in " the latter part of the reign of Tiberius, when his religion "was propagated without the slightest opposition, the "Emperor having, in spite of the Senate, threatened " death to all informers against Christians, that true Sun " I say, which is Christ, visited with his beams, that is " His holy doctrine, this remote island so coldly shined " upon by the visible sun, and for the most part hard " with frost and ice."

Note E. — Bentham {Hist, of Ely Cath. p. 7, note 1,) quotes from Matthew of Westminster the following passage, applying to the Saxon invasion : —

Siqua Ecclesia, terra subjugata, illaesa servabatur,

• I have since consultetl the original as given in the Bihliotheca Patrum et vet. Doct.Eccles. Paris, mdcxxiv. and find the passage, as there given, incapable of being translated as I have in the text translated Bishop Stilling^eet's version of it, and incapable of Bishop Stillingfleet's explanation. It runt, thus : Intere^ glaciali frigore rigent (leg. rigenti,) insulae quae velut longiore terrarum secessu soli visibili non est proxima, verus ille non de firmamento solum temporali, sed de summa etiam ci3elorum arce, teinpora cuncta excedente, universe orbi priefulgidum sui lumen ostendeus, Christus suos radios id est sua praccepta indulgct, tempore' ut scinms sumnio Tibcrii Caesaris, &c., which necessarily means that Christianity was introduced hilo Britain in the end of Tiberius's reign. I do not know which of the two is tlie rea<ling of the best MSS.

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hoc magis iid coiifusionem nominis Clu'Isti quam ad gloriara faciebat. Nempe ex eis Deorum suorum templa facienteSj profanis suis sacrificiis sancta Dei altaria pollueruiit.

" If by chance any Church happened to escape \iniu* " jured amidst the general destruction which ensued on '' the subjugation of the country, it turned out rather " to the greater dishonour than to the glory of Christ'3 '* name. For they immediately converted the building " into a temple for their own gods, and polluted the holy " altars of God with their heathenish sacrifices/^

Dugdale quotes an ancient MS. History of West* minster as describing a similar apostacy after the Diocletian persecution : " Rediit itaque veteris abomii nationis ubique sententia : k sua Britones expelluntur patria ; immolat Dianee Londonia, thurificat Apolloni suburbana Thorneia."

" The ancient abominations everywhere regained ''their old empire. The Britons were expelled from theii* " country, London again sacrificed to Diana, and " Thorney (Westminster,) offered incense to Apollo.'^*

Note F. — Benthara believes that considerable re- mains of the old conventual Church, built a. d. 673, and repaired a. d. 970, are still standing, (p. 34) but others

• Fuller says of the Britons, " Three paramount idols they worshipped above the rest — Apollo, Andraste, Diana. This last was most especially reverenced, Britain being then all a forest, where hunting was not the recreation but the calling, and venison not the dainties but the diet of common people. There is a place near St. Paul's in London, called in old records, Diana's Chamber, where in the days of King Edward I. thousands of the heads of oxen were digged up ; whereat the ignorant wondered, whilst the learned well understood them to be the proper

G

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ascribe a much later date, and a difterent use to the buildings in question, thinking thorn to be a part of the infirmary. However this may be, some of the materials of the older buildings are probably still in existence ou the spot.

Note G. — It was the fashion of the day for pei*sons to send their children to be educated in monasteries. Thus it is related of Etheldreda's convent at Ely, that persons of the noblest families brought their children to be educated and devoted to religion in her monastery. {Hist. ofElyCath.^. 57.)

In the Edinburgh Review of July, 1851, (No. 191,) "The Romans in Britain/' there is a curious account of the strangely mixed population Avhich the Homan military system in Britain introduced and settled in our island — and the consequent medley of religious creeds. As the passage is interesting, and may perhaps throw light on Gildas's statement concerning the idolatry of the Bri- tons referred to above, (page 8,) I give it here at length. Speaking of the towns along the line of Hadrian's wall, the writer says, " No two consecutive towns belonged to people of the same nation. If we begin with Vindolana, we have a town of Gauls, then one of Asturians, next a town of Dalmatians, and so in

sacrifices to Diana, whose great temple was built thereabout. This renderctli their couceit not altogether unlikely who will have London so called from Llau-Dian, which siguifieth in British, the temple of Diana." The account of the ox heads is also found in Camden's Brit. and in Dugdale's History of St. Paul's. There is an interesting account of the religion of the .\ncitnt Britons in llie first uhapter of Soulhey's Bca'i' of the Church.

39

succession D;icliins, Moors, Lei'gi, Spuniurtls, ;ur1 Thni- ciaiis. Most of tlieni seem to have brought with them the rehgiou and worship which they had learnt from their forefathers, and strange indeed must have been the variety of rehgious creeds existing contempora- neously in this island under Roman s^va3^ Excavations on Roman sites have in general been rich in monuments of religious worship. Almost every town appears to have had its temples and altars to the chief deities of Rome; but with these we find a singular mixture of Eastern deities, and gods from Africa, from Germany, from Gaul, and from other countries. We learn from an inscription at York, that a legate of the sixth legion built in Eburacum a temple dedicated to Serapis. The same place has also contributed a monument rela- ting to the worship of Mithras, and another dedicated to the DecB Matres, or popular deities ' of Africa, Italy, and Gaul.' The god Belatucadrus, (probably a Syrian deity, if not the same as Mars,) was adored on the banks of the Irthing, in Cumberland, and at Netherbj^, in Westmoreland. At Chester there was a god who is described in the inscription, by a mixed Roman and Barbaric name, Jupiter Tanaros, supposed to be the Teutonic Thunr or Thor. A cohort of Dacians in Cum- berland worshipped a deity named Cocidius. An altar has been found at Netherby, dedicated Deo Mogonti ; and one or two in the county of Durham, dedicated Deo Vitiri, whom Tlorsley calls a local deity, M'orshipped in this country. At Corstopitum have been found altars inscriljed in Greek to the Tyrian Hercules and to Astarte. . .Altars to Jupiter, INIars, INIincrva, &c. prevail cvcrvwhcrc, and all nations seem to have agreed in

40

giving the first honour to them, ns the deities of all- conciuering Rome. . iAt Birdoswakl^ (Amboglanna,) tlie liunters of the Dacian cohort liad ereeted an altar to Silvanus, the divinity of the woods. An altar found at Rutchester, was dedicated to the gods of the moun- tains— others at Tliirlwall castle, and at Benwell, were dedicated to the god Vitres, or Yiteres, which is ex- plained as perhaps referring to the Scandinavian Vithirs, or Odin — another informs us of the existence of a Dea Hamia."

The writer proceeds to notice the singular fact that amongst all the monuments of " almost every religion of the heathen world, we find not the slightest trace of Christianity," and argues thence that in spite " of the bold averments of the old Ecclesiastical writers, who would lead us to imagine that the Romans left Britain covered with churches, and divided into Bishops^ sees," " the faith of the Gospel had not established itself in Roman Britain." But surely it is neither safe noi" reasonable to make this negative evidence outweigh the positive and detailed testimony of so many trustworthy witnesses, especially as the absence of Christian monu- ments may well be accounted for, partly by the fact that during 300 years of tixC 400 of Roman dominion in Britain, Christianity was more or less a persecuted religion, and therefore not likely to make much monu- mental display, and partly by the consideration that the Diocletian persecution, and the Saxon invasiouj probably destroyed whatever Christian monuments may have existed. For a fearful enumeration of the cruelties of Druidical worship, see Herbert's Cyclops. Chris, p. 234

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