James to Britain. But S. James was, no doubt, put to death by the sword of Herod before the Apostles left Jerusalem.

S. Peter is said to have preached in Britain, built churches, ordained Priests and Deacons, and then in the twelfth year of Nero to have returned to Rome. The authority for this statement is found in the Menology' under the 15th of March and 29th of June, a work, as Baronius says, which is often certainly in error, and therefore little credit can be given it.

Aristobulus (Rom. xvi. 10) by the same authority' is made first Bishop of Britain, having been consecrated and sent there by S. Paul. As this authority rests on no ancient writer, little credit can be attributed to what it says.

11.

Joseph of Arimathæat has been particularly regarded by many as the Apostle of Britain. There is

an ancient tradition that says that the
Jews, bearing particular hatred against
S. Philip, S. Joseph of Arimathæa,
Lazarus, and Mary Magdalene, Martha

Was S. Joseph

of Arimathæa vey the Faith to

the first to con

Britain?

and Marcella their servant, banished them out of Judæa, and put them out to sea in a vessel without sails or oars. The vessel drifted many days in the Mediterranean, being tossed by storms hither and thither, but ultimately arrived safely at Marseilles. S. Philip remaining in those parts, sent Joseph with a few companions to convert the Britons to the Faith. On their arrival they were hospitably received by Arviragus, the King of that portion of the country where they had landed. He gave them a desolate island then called "Ynus Wytrun," and "Ynus Afalau," called afterwards "Avalon," now Glastonbury. Here they built a small church of "hurdle work," and "here they watched, prayed, fasted, preached," converting many to the Christian Faith, "having high meditations under a low roof, and large hearts betwixt narrow walls."" Here S. Joseph and his faithful companions lived and died.

Now, that Glastonbury Church is the oldest Christian foundation in England is generally conceded. Archbishop Ussher says that this Church, called by the Saxons Glaston, is the oldest in Britain, and the mother Church of the British Isles. Fuller says that if credit be given to ancient authority, "this Church, without competition, was senior to all Christian Churches in the world." It is also worthy of notice that Archbishop Parker, in his letter to Calvin concerning the proposal of a union among Protestants, reminds him that the Church of England would "retain her Episcopacy; but not as from Pope Gregory, who sent over Augustin the Monk hither, but from Joseph of Arimathæa." Furthermore, the Norman charters of Glastonbury refer to many successions of ancient charters bestowed upon that Church by many Saxon Kings, and these Saxon charters relate the fact that grants were given to it in British times, on the strength of the testimony that Joseph had been there. It is true that the testimony of Joseph's coming to Britain and founding Glastonbury is not found in any writer before the Conquest; nevertheless, writers of this period refer to MSS. prior to it, from which they cited in favour of Joseph's Mission. It is also true that no writing extant, of Anglo-Saxon chroniclers, mentions the story; but this is an argument ex silentio, and does not destroy the strong authorities and probabilities in its favour, which cannot be lightly laid aside. At all events the substance of the story cannot be denied-there must be some truth in it.1

III.

We now come to S. Paul. Was he ever in Britain? If credit is to be given to many important authorities, the question must be answered in the affirmative. S. Paul, according to the unanimous It is not imvoice of ancient tradition and many paulisted that S.

2

Britain and there preached timonies in favour of this.

ancient writers, undoubtedly visited Gades in Spain. And it was no doubt the Gospel. Testhe place which S. Paul had in mind

when he spoke of "his journey into Spain." Gades

3

1

was at this time the commercial centre of Western Europe, the capital of the district of Baetica, and the old Tarshish of Scripture. His journey into Spain is mentioned, as if it were a well known historical fact, by S. Jerome, S. Chrysostom, and Theodoret. The second year of Nero is assigned by Eusebius and Jerome as the date of the first imprisonment of S. Paul. He was released after a period of about two years in the fifth year of Nero. His second imprisonment began with a persecution of the eleventh year ear of Nero, and his death, according to the writers mentioned above, took place about three years afterwards-the fourteenth year of Nero. This would leave a period of about six or eight years between the two imprisonments, an ample time to visit Gades, found a Church there, and make many converts; and he could have ample opportunities to make the journey thither easily and safely, along the road that connected Gades and Rome, in company with merchants or soldiers who frequently passed to and fro along it. All the probabilities are in favour of this; and his journey is mentioned, as we have already seen, as an "historical fact."

Let us go a step further. But before doing so, let us bear in mind that Gades was the commercial centre of the West, and that one of the routes of communication between Rome and Britain was via Gades; so that any one at Gades would have ample opportunities of visiting Britain in the crafts that plied between the two countries. If S. Paul founded a Church at Gades, there could hardly fail to be among his converts some who traded with Britain. Judging from all we know of the early history of the Church, and the mode of the progress of the Faith, and the agencies by which it was spread throughout the world, we may fairly say that the converts of Gades would sooner or later carry the glad tidings they had received from S. Paul over the British Channel. But did S. Paul himself take advantage of his stay at Gades to visit Britain? Many expressions of the Fathers would warrant us to answer in the affirmative.

Clemens Romanus, who is mentioned by S. Paul (Phil. iv. 3) as his "fellow labourer," and who had ample opportunities of conversing with him and being familiar with his journeys, was Bishop of Rome, and wrote Epistles from that city to the Corinthians, whilst he had, as S. Irenæus says, the preaching of the Blessed Apostles still ringing in his ears, and their traditions before his eyes. In them he describes with great minuteness the sufferings and labours of S. Paul. He speaks of his having "become the herald of God in the East and West"; of his "having preached