etc. Other writers mention the Goddess " Andraste," the Goddess of Victory; "Hu," the Mighty; "Beal," probably "Baal" of the Phoenicians; and "Taranis," the God of Thunder, as worshipped.1

It is interesting to know that at the present day the Welsh name for thunder is "Taran." Their system of religion was Druidism, which was, as we have seen, Polytheistic in character. The Druids were their prophets and priests, and were conspicuous for knowledge; they were freed from war and taxes, and were held in great honour by the people. Druidism comprised the doctrine of transmigration of souls, vicarious sacrifices, and the doctrine of the Supreme God above all other gods. It propitiated Heaven with human sacrifices of a very revolting kind, and as a superstition, gained such an ascendancy over the Celts as no other worship ever could." Next to the Druids in honour were the bards and poets, who were the historians of the people.

Such is a very brief account of the Keltoi when the Roman Legion first trod the soil of Britain.

The Romans exterminated Druidism and planted in its stead a superstition more refined, perhaps, but not the less cruel: a superstition which was emptied of all the reality that might have been in the old faiths of Rome; which utterly disregarded morality and decency, and canonized vice in the persons of such as Neró. But by its utter profligacy it nevertheless

1 Hore, 18th Cent. Ch. in Engl., p. 16. Fuller, booki. §i. Bede cap. i. Roman Brit. Scarth, cap. i. pp. 14-17. Guest's Orig. Celt. vii. 1-35.

Vid. Lucanus' Pharsalia, i., the lines beginning "Et vos barbaricos."-Trans. by Rowe.

prepared men's minds to look for a purer faith of a character superior to outward circumstances of life; unpolitical in its structure; that appealed to definite facts, such as the Resurrection and Eternal Life, and not to mere speculations and theories, propounded by philosophers of vicious lives, of which men's hearts were sick-a pure faith that appealed to all conditions of men alike and purified them. "Instead of those inarticulate babblings, as from the frivolous million, and instead of those doleful murmurs of the desponding, the ear now catches the intelligible utterances of men who say that they have come into the possession of certainty and of hope."

And by the civilizing influences of Rome, Britain was also prepared to receive the glad tidings of joythe Holy Incarnation.

Let us, now that we have seen that Britain was not a "Terra Incognita" to the ancient world, nor to the world in the first centuries of the Christian era-but that it was well known-pass on to consider the introduction of Christianity to its shores.

IV.

There can be no doubt but that there were many forces in the first century of the Christian era that would tend to facilitate the speedy introduction of the faith to British shores.

The efficient

government and commercial en

terprises of the Roman Empire brought nations subject to it into close relation

(1) Britain being far removed from the seat of government, and being a safe harbour from the storms of the earliest persecutions of the Christians, ship.

might invite some to its shores to preach Christ without hindrance.

(2) The Roman civilization of Britain, specially of its southern parts, where colonies had been planted and cities erected, with the wonderful system of Roman roads for the conveyance of commerce and the movements of the army, would greatly facilitate the early introduction of Christianity to its shores.1

Britain was coveted by Rome not merely from a lust of power, but from its commercial value to the Empire. There must have been a considerable traffic between Rome and Britain; men and women going and returning in great numbers in the transportation of tin, iron, copper, cattle, and other merchandise, either along the famous road through Gaul, or by the Mediterranean and up to Cades, and thence to Britain. Juvenal mentions the fact that the epicures of Rome were particularly fond of the oysters of Kent. These must have been speedily transported, otherwise they would be worthless.

The wonderful system of recruiting the Roman Legions in foreign lands, and stationing them permanently in various countries, more like colonists than soldiers on foreign service-so that a Legion stationed _ at York, for instance, would be recruited perhaps from Asia Minor, and one stationed in Asia Minor from Britain-must also have been a powerful factor in the propagation of the Faith. We know from the New Testament what influence for good some of the officers of the Roman army exercised.

The British army at the present day is a most active

1 Fuller, book i. § i. 6. Vid. also Restoration of Belief, pp. 38-60, ed. 1855.

2 Sat. iv. 140. He mentions their coming from "Rutupino.” Retupinus was a town in Kent.

agent in disseminating the opinions current at "Home," the movements of the day, the theories, the discoveries in science and art, throughout an Empire of an immense magnitude.

One remarkable instance of this agency, for the propagation of opinion, is known to history. Within thirty years of the foundation of the Wesleyan body in England, a few soldiers on marching orders founded a Methodist Society in New York in 1765, which has grown so rapidly that it has become one of the most powerful sects in the country.1

The commerce, military system, and civilization of Rome must have been powerful factors in the progress and propagation of the Faith throughout the length and breadth of the Empire. From these forces we learn that Christianity could be introduced into Britain soon after the ascension of our Lord. There is nothing impossible in this. Christianity was deeply rooted in Rome about this period, and in Asia as well. These forces would tend to facilitate its "speedy and convenient waftage over" to Britain, and no doubt this was the case, as we learn from Gildas.

3

But by whom was Christianity introduced? The probabilities are in favour of a very early introduction. But who was the first planter? This leads us on to deal with those whom several authors affirm were the first planters of the Christian Faith in these Islands.

1 Stoke's Ireland and the Celtic Church, pp. 7-9. Hore, 18th Cent., p. 16.

• Specially so to Britain, being so well known, and by this time partially civilized. It was not so in Germany. • British Historian, A. D. 564.

CHAPTER II.

Theories of the Introduction of Christianity.

I.

It would be convenient to divide the theories of the introduction of Christianity into Britain into different groups.

Simon Zelotes is first mentioned by Dorotheus,' who was Bishop of Tyre under Constantine the Great in A. D. 320. He makes Simon to be the

and Aristobulus.

Theories in reference to Si- first Apostle of Britain; that he mon Zelotes, S. James, S. Peter, preached there and received the Crown of Martyrdom by crucifixion. But in all probability Simon Zelotes was martyred in Persia after the dispersion of the Apostles. And Baronius, in his "Annals," gives very little countenance to the testimony of Dorotheus, because it is not mentioned by "any ancient writer."

S. James is first mentioned, as having carried the Faith to the Britons, by Isidore, A. D. 580. But as there was an early tradition that S. James visited Spain, which was then generally known as Iberia, Isidore may have been led astray by the similarity of the names denoting Ireland and Spain, and mistaking Iberia for Ierne, attributed the visit of S.

1 Ex. Pseudo-Dorothæo. Also Fuller, book i. § i. pp. 10-11. 2 Isidorus Hispalensis, Bishop of Hispalis in Spain, a celebrated writer, and author of the xx Libri Originum.