spaired. "When the British Christians were driven from their old homes, a few fled to Gaul, but the greater portion who survived the struggle maintained in the West a vigorous Chris

A. D. 450-480.

tianity. They divided the land that remained to them into ecclesiastical districts, with a Bishop, a Cathedral Church, and a College attached to each. These latter became the centres of religious thought, and the depositories of such literature as they were able to preserve and copy, as well as training schools for fresh generations of Evangelists and Teachers."1

IV.

A. D. 597-604.

Sufficient evidence has now been produced to show that the Christian Faith planted in Britain in the days of the Apostles did not cease to live throughout this period among the Celtic

nations. It survived the Pictish invasions from the North and the Saxon's from the South, and at this

date was flourishing both in Wales, Ire

Christianity, therefore, could land, and Scotland. In the face of such

not have been

ain for the first

brought to Brit- testimony as this, how say some that time by S. Au Christianity was brought to the British

gustine.

Isles for the first time by S. Augustine? All honour be to the great and good Gregory, so tender and so profuse in Christian charity, the greatest and noblest and humblest of all the great and good Pontiffs who have graced the See of Rome -all honour to him for sending us Augustine, and all

1 Illustrated Notes on Eng. Ch. Hist., vol. i. cap. iii. pp. 3438, Lane. 2 Bright, ii. 37.

honour to Augustine for coming. But let us not rob others of the honour due to them by conferring what is not due upon Augustine. Christianity was in Britain, and was absolutely independent of Rome for five hundred years' before the good Gregory was born, and Augustine with his devoted band of Evangelists had arrived. Nevertheless, blest be Gregory, blest be Augustine, and blest be his devoted fellowworkers, and

"Blest be the unconscious shore on which ye tread
And blest the silver cross, which ye, instead
Of martial banner, in procession bear." 3

4

Now the Saxon shall be conquered by the very Faith he had scouted and despised. The British Christians had already begun their work of conquest in the North, the Italian Christians now begin theirs in the South. The proud Saxon must yield. He is hemmed in between the two. Long and fierce was the struggle. But Christianity won: and the Saxon Christian thus conquered became the means of blending into one the Celtic missions of the North and the Italian missions of the South.1 Of this union, brought about in times of mutual necessity by the Providence of God, there have sprung many children who have been trained "in the fear and nurture of the Lord." "These Christian sons and daughters have ultimately built up the greatest Christian Empire the world has ever seen, of which their common Faith has been the surest bond."2

A. D. 787-1042.

3

It is only necessary here just to refer to the invasion of the Danes. The Danes, although they destroyed churches and slew the clergy and pillaged monasteries, were not quite so ferocious as the Saxons. But as the Saxons were converted to the Faith by the British and Italian missions, so they in their turn were converted by the Saxons whom they conquered.

The next invasion of Britain was by Christians. In the Norman Conquest no Bishop was slain, no church destroyed. There was no interA. D. 1042-1071. ference with the continuity of the Christian Faith. But there were many changes in the reorganization of sees and in the transference of all high positions both in Church and Realm from English to Norman holders.

4

From this time onward the continuity of the Faith in the British Isles is but too manifest.

1 Newell, cap. xix.

2

\ " Lane, Illustr. Nts. Eng. Ch. Hist., pt. i. c. iii. p. 44.

We have now reviewed very briefly the history of the Christian Faith in the British Isles for a period of a thousand years. And we have seen that from the day it was first planted there it never ceased to live. It survived the ravages of the Picts, the ferocity of the Saxons, and the cruelties of the Danes. It survived the wars of the British among themselves, their wars with the Picts and Scots, and their terrible and awful struggle with the Saxons. And out of this confusion it brought peace, blending this bewildering mass of conflicting and antagonistic elements into one grand whole. "Esto perpetua!"

CHAPTER IV.

The Constitution and Organization of the Church in the British Isles.

can Church is

I.

Now as we cannot conceive a Christian Faith without a Christian Church, it would be well to ask here, Of The Constitu- what nature was the Constitution of this tion of the Angli- Church in the British Isles, and whether at one with, and the present Church there, commonly the same as, that designated as Anglican, is one with planted in Brit- this ancient Church planted in Britain, as we have seen, in Apostolic times?

as continued

of the Church

ain in Apostolic times.

There is not the slightest doubt that the Constitution of the present Church in the British Isles corresponds exactly to the Constitution of the Church there in A. D. 314, when three British Bishops were present at the Council of Arles.' This Con

1 Called by Constantine to consider the schism of the Donatists. This schism originated in an opposition to the election of Cæcilianus into the See of Carthage. The Numidian Bishops accused his consecrator, Felix, of being a traditor, that is, one who had delivered Sacred Books to the magistrates in the Dioclesian persecution to be burnt, and hence they denied, being thus guilty of deadly sin, that his consecration was valid.

To the Acts of this Council are attached, among others, the following subscriptions :

Eborius, Episcopus de civitate Eboracensi, provincia Britannia.Restitutus, Episcopus de civitate Londinensi, provincia suprascripta.-Adelphinus, Episcopus de civitate colonia Londinensium

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