A sermon preached in Ely Cathedral, at the fifth annual Diocesan Missionary Meeting, on Wednesday, October 15, 1851, when the third jubilee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was also celebrated

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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.

10

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.

16

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.

18

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.

20

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

21

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.

22

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.

25

•

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

27

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

30

" 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.

31

" 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.' "

32

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.

33

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.

34

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

35

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

36

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.

37

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

38

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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