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SKETCH OF THE HISTORY

OF

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

CHAPTER I.

TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST.

condition of this church was first destroyed by heresy and vice, and then oppressed and overwhelmed by the arrival of the heathen Saxon, who in his turn became the civilized convert of the faith which he had once persecuted.

1. Outline of the history of the British church. 2. Evidence in favour of St. Paul's having preached in Britain. Other traditions without foundation. 3. King Lucius. St. Alban. Constantine puts an end to persecution. 4. British bishops at various councils. 5. Pelagianism. Schools. Gallican liturgy. 6. Conversion of the Saxons. 7. Augustin; his proceedings. 8. Progress of the conversion of the Saxons. Wilfrid. 9. Roman supremacy. 10. Danes. Tithes. 11. Alfred. 12. Odo. Dunstan. Wealth of the church. 13. Imperfection of this sketch. 14. Origin of the errors of the church of Rome. 15. Prayer for the dead. Purgatory. 16. Transubstantiation. 17. Mass. 18. Image worship. 19. Relics. 20. Pilgrimages. 21. Confession and penance. 22. Celibacy of the Clergy. 23. History of ecclesiastical establishments. 24. Progress of error. 25. Real danger of erroneous opinions. 26. Inadequate views of Christianity among the Saxons. THE early history of the British | further deference to Rome than that church, if it be regarded as a question which the younger sister ought to conof curiosity, may well claim the atten- cede to her elder. The flourishing tion of those who delight in such researches; but to him who seeks only for truths which may prove useful in the formation of his own opinions, any considerable investigation into the records which are left us, can offer little beyond labour, accompanied with very § 2. With regard to the details of trifling hopes of reward. The particu- these events, it will perhaps be deemed lars which are to be gleaned from our sufficient if the reader be referred to uncertain and unsupported histories, those authorities where he will find all may be briefly comprehended under the satisfaction which can be obtained, the following heads. The island was early blessed by the dissemination of Christianity, possibly through the preaching of St. Paul; and before the end of the second century the country had generally received the gospel. Episcopacy was from the first established among us, and the British church partook in the persecutions and heresies which agitated the rest of the Christian community, and appears to have had much connection with Gaul; but neither of these churches paid any

while only such particulars are mentioned as seem from their importance to merit our further attention. Eusebius asserts,' that some of the apostles preached the gospel in the British isles. Theodoret confirms this; and elsewhere, after having mentioned Spain,

1 Stillingfleet's Orig. Brit. 36.

2 · τινὰς δὲ ἤδη καὶ ἐπ' αὐτὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐλθεῖν τὰ ἄκρα, ἐπί τε τὴν Ἰνδῶν φθάσαι χώραν, καὶ ἑτέρους ὑπὲρ τὸν

'Ωκεανὸν παρελθεῖν ἐπὶ τὰς καλουμένας Βρεττανικὰς νήσους,

&c. &c. Euseb. Dem. Evang. lib. iii. c. 7, p. 112.

Paris, 1628.

3. Οἱ δὲ ἡμέτεροι ἁλιεῖς καὶ οἱ τελῶναι, καὶ ὁ σκυτοτόμος

says that St. Paul brought salvation to the isles which lie in the ocean.1 These testimonies of the fourth and fifth centuries are supported by an expression of Clement of Rome, who wrote before the end of the first, and who relates that St. Paul preached righteousness through the whole world, and in so doing went to the utmost bounds of the West. If these words are to be taken in their literal sense, little doubt can remain that this kingdom was converted to Christianity by the apostle to the Gentiles; yet such deductions must always be regarded with suspicion: and, though we may not hesitate in believing that our holy faith was planted in these islands at a period not far distant from the first preaching of Christianity, we shall hardly assign to this event a date so early as the reign of Tiberius, as some authors have done," from misunderstanding a passage in Gildas. The several traditions about St. James, Simon Zelotes, and Philip, are

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ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις τοὺς εὐαγγελικοὺς προσενηνόχασι νόμους. καὶ οὐ μόνον 'Ρωμαίους, καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ τούτοις τελοῦντας ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ Σκυθικά, &c.-καὶ Βρεταννοὺς καὶ ἀπαξαπλῶς πᾶν ἔθνος καὶ γένος ἀνθρώπων, δέξασθαι τοῦ στραυρωθέντος τοὺς vópos dvéreisay. Theodoreti Serm. ix. De Legibus,

p. 610, tom. iv. Paris, 1642.

1 Ὕστερον μέντοι καὶ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐπέβη, καὶ εἰς τὰς Σπανίας ἀφίκετο, καὶ ταῖς ἐν τῷ πελάγει διακειμέναις νήσοις Tùv impédclav пpoońveyke, &c. In Psalm. cxvi. tom. i. p. 871.

Απολογισάμενος ὡς ἀθῶος ἀφείθη, καὶ τὰς Σπανίας κατέλαβε, καὶ εἰς ἕτερα ἔθνη δραμὼν τὴν τῆς διδασκαλίας λaunáda пpoonveyke. In Tim. iv. 17, tom. iii. p. 500. 2 Cave's Life of St. Paul, 80.

3 Παῦλος—κήρυξ γενόμενος ἐν τε τῇ ἀνατολῇ καὶ ἐν τῇ δύσει δικαιοσύνην διδάξας ὅλον τὸν κόσμον, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ Tépμa Tñs dúσews Explor, &c. Clemens Rom. ad Cor. p. 8. Oxf., 1633.

Tertullian, who wrote about A. D. 200, and Origen, 240, both speak of Christianity as fully

established in Britain.

In quem enim alium universæ gentes crediderunt, nisi in Christum qui jam venit? Cui enim et aliæ gentes crediderunt; Farthi. &c. -Hispaniarum omnes termini et Galliarum diverse

nationes, et Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca,

Christo vero subdita, &c. Tertullianus adv.

Judæos, p. 212. Paris, 1634.

Virtus Domini Salvatoris et cum his est qui ab orbe nostro in Britannia dividuntur, &c. Origenis Hom. vi. in Lucam, p. 939, iii. Paris, 1740.

Quando enim terra Britanniæ ante adventum Christi in unius Dei consensit religionem? Quando terra Maurorum? Quando totus semel orbis?

Nunc vero propter ecclesias, quæ mundi limites tenent, universa terra cum lætitia clamat ad Dominum Israel, et capax est bonorum secundum fines suos. P. 370. H. in Ezech. iv.

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destitute of any ancient testimony; and that in favour of St. Peter is of a very late date. The fable about Joseph of Arimathea, and his having founded Glastonbury Abbey, would have been unworthy of notice, had not Queen Elizabeth and Archbishop Parker1o ventured to claim him as the first preacher of Christianity in England; but the absurdity of the whole story is fully established by Stillingfleet."

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§ 3. Many English writers refer the conversion of this country to the reign of King Lucius, of whom the old book of Llandaff says, that he sent Eluanus and Medwinus to Eleutherius, the twelfth bishop of Rome, requesting that he might be made a Christian through his instruction; and that, on the return of these messengers, Lucius and the chief of the Britons were baptized, and bishops consecrated for the dissemination of Christianity. So many improbabilities have been engrafted on this relation, that the very existence of such a king, and the whole tale, has, without much reason, been questioned. The circumstance of his sending ambassadors to request instruction corresponds with the supposition already made, that the country had before received the truths of Christianity; and the disagreement between the two relations is the less important, as it amounts only to this, whether we suppose that the Christian religion was now first established, or that, having made but little progress, since its first foundation, it was now reformed and renewed; and the want of any sufficient testimony must preclude the idea of deciding this question. We may nevertheless assume, as an undoubted fact, that Christianity was established here very generally before the end of the second century 13 for Tertullian says, that the kingdom of Christ was advanced in Gaul and Britain, and that Christ was solemnly worshipped by the inhabitants. From this time we meet with little concerning the British churches till we learn that England 'was not free from

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the trials to which Christianity was subjected during the third century, and the fate of Julius, Aaron, and St. Alban, who has transferred his name to Verulamium, where he suffered, proves that the Diocletian persecution extended thus far into the provinces which were subject to the Roman power.

Constantius Chlorus, when he was declared emperor, put an end to these persecutions; and upon his death, which took place at York in the year following, his son Constantine the Great began his reign, in which it pleased God that most of the outward miseries of his Christian servants should terminate. (A. D. 307.)

and Ariminum," is more clearly established;10 and it is related, with regard to this latter council, that the British bishops generally refused to receive the allowance made to them from the emperor, while three of them only accepted it; a proof at once of the number and wealth of the British bishops who were there.

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$5. The introduction of Pelagianism, which took place about the same time,12 filled the church with tumult and distraction. The opinions connected. with this heresy were generally diffused in England; and so strongly were its advocates fortified with arguments, or so weakly were they opposed, that the § 4. The British church seems to British divines, finding themselves unhave flourished at this period; for, at equal to the task of convincing their the council of Arles, there were three heretical adversaries, were twice forced English bishops present; and it may be to call13 in the assistance of Germanus, observed, that the manner in which that a Gallican bishop. He was accompacouncil communicated its canons to the nied in his first visit by Lupus, and in bishop of Rome, proves that the repre- his second by Severus, and on each ocsentatives of the churches there assem-casion successfully refuted the errors bled esteemed themselves quite independent of his authority.5

It seems probable that there were English bishops at the council of Nice in Bithynia, but the subscriptions preserved are so imperfect, that no names of British bishops can be distinguished. Their presence, however, at Sardicas

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5 Stillingfleet, 84.

6 The council of Nice was assembled by Constantine against the Arians, 325. The anathema of it is, "The catholic and apostolic church anathematizes all who say, that there was a time when the Son did not exist, that he had no existence previous to his birth, and that he was created out of nothing; or who say that he was formed or changed from another substance or essence, or that he is capable of change:" see Pearson on the Creed, p. 134. This council did not make the Nicene Creed as it now stands, which was published at the first council of Constantinople, 381; it settled that Easter should be held the first Sunday after the fourteenth day of the ecclesiastical new moon. The doctrines of Arius seem to have made some progress in England.

7 Stillingfleet, 89.

This council was assembled at Sardica in Thrace, 347, to judge between the Arians and Athanasius: see Collier, i. 30, &c., where more

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of his opponents. As the best means of putting an effectual stop to these heresies, St. German seems to have attempted to introduce into the island the study of sound learning and theology;15 and his disciples, Illutus and Dubritius, established schools famous in their generation. The monastery of Banchor,16 near Chester, was probably a seminary

arguments against the right of appeals to the pope may be found.

9 Stillingfleet, 135.

10 Fuller, 24.

11 The Pelagian heresy had its origin from Morgan, who is generally called a Welchman, but probably was Scotus, i. e. a native Irishman. (Stillingfleet, p. 181.) His name in the old British language signifies sea-born, and from hence is derived his classical appellation. He was of considerable rank, and possessed much learning and natural genius; his life was exemplary. He travelled to Rome, and from thence to Africa, and died somewhere in the East. (See Collier, i. 41.) He denied the doctrine of original sin, and the necessity of grace, and asserted that man could attain to perfection. His opinions were opposed by St. Augustin, bishop of Hippo, and condemned in the person of Coelestius, his disciple, at councils held at Carthage and Milevum in the year 416: no less than thirty councils are said to have been held concerning them. As the doctrines of Pelagius are of such a character that every man's own heart will naturally suggest them, unless he be guided by the grace of God, we need not wonder at their general reception. Pelagius taught and gave a name to that to which all of us are of ourselves disposed-" self-reliance in spiritual things."

12 Stillingfleet, 187.
13 Ibid. 194.
15 Ibid. 204.

14 Ibid. 189. 16 Ibid. 205.

These bishops are said to have brought with them into the British churches the use of the Gallican liturgy, which was derived probably from St. John, through Polycarp and Irenæus. The principal differences between this and the Roman liturgy are stated to be followed in the Common Prayer Book of our church; so that the reformers, when they translated and made selections from the services of the church of Rome, really reduced back the form of prayers to a nearer conformity to our more ancient liturgies.

of this description, rather than one some time prevailed throughout the formed after the model introduced from island, and the marriage of Ethelbert, Egypt, in which the monks were bred king of Kent, with Britha, daughter of up to labour, and in ignorance; for Bede, Charibert, king of Paris, had prepared who is not generally favourable to Bri- the country for its reception. She was ish establishments, confesses that it was allowed the free exercise of her religion; furnished with learned men at the com- and her chaplain, a French bishop, had ing of Augustin into England. openly performed the ceremonies of the church, thus softening down that animosity towards Christianity, which a bloody struggle against its professors had excited in the minds of the Saxons. Nor, in speaking of their conversion, must we neglect to take into account the growing dissatisfaction which heathens, as they advance in civilization, must always feel towards their former superstitions, even when they continue to observe them; a disgust which the Saxons seem frequently to have displayed. Gregory I. came to the papacy in 590, and soon put into execution a determination which he had formed while in a private station. He had been struck with the personal beauty of some English slaves whom he happened to see at Rome, and made the resolution of trying to convert their fellow-countrymen; an attempt which he would have begun in his own person, if cir cumstances had not prevented him. I was in order to fulfil this benevolent design, that he afterwards despatched. St. Augustin with forty monks, who, having obtained interpreters in France, landed in Kent, and was permitted to settle in Canterbury, and to undertake the conversion of the inhabitants.

§ 6. The arrival of the heathen Saxons overturned the ecclesiastical as well as civil government, and their barbarity spread such devastation through the land, that Christianity was confined to those mountainous districts where the Britons still retained their liberty. But the records of these times furnish little more than the mere detail of uninteresting events.

Christianity was again introduced into England, now become Saxon, by the arrival of St. Augustin, in 596. The comparative tranquillity which had for

1 The first monks were persons who, in solitude, and afterwards in private houses of their own, led more pious and retired lives than their neighbours.

The wild fancies of certain visionaries who esta

blished themselves in Egypt can hardly be accounted the origin of the later institutions of this sort. Such instances of fanaticism and ignorance, often combined with some portion of knavery, are common to all periods and religions, and among Christians might have tended to pervert the minds of those who aspired after the highest degrees of sanctity. Individuals first dedicated themselves to the service of God in this manner: societies were afterwards formed, who lived under a head or abbot, and conformed to certain rules. They were originally mere laymen, but subsequently many of them were adopted among the clergy, and rose to the highest offices in the church. 2 Stillingfleet, 216.

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§ 7. The success of these missionaries was so great that Augustin was consecrated archbishop of England, by the archbishop of Arles, and more ecclesiastics were sent to his assistance, accompanied with presents of books,"

6 Turner, i. 231.

7 Wanley has given a catalogue of the books sent by Gregory. These were-1. A Bible, adorned with some leaves of a purple and rose colour, in two volumes. 2. The Psalter of St. Augustin, with the Creed, Pater Noster, and several Latin hymns. 3. Two copies of the Gospels, with the Ten Canons of Eusebius prefixed; one of which Elstob believed to be in the Bodleian library, and the other at Cambridge, p. 42. 4. Another Psalter, with hymns. 5. A volume containing legends on the sufferings of the apos

Johnson's Can., Pref. xv., who doubts of this. 4 These consisted in a confession of sins, wherewith the service began; in proper prefaces, which were introduced for certain days before the conse-tles, with a picture of our Saviour in silver, in a cration of the elements; in several expressions which mark that the doctrine of transubstantiation had not then been received; and in the attention to singing paid in the Roman church. Stillingfleet, 232.

posture of blessing. 6. Another volume on the martyrs, which had on the outside a glory, silver gilt, set round with crystals and beryls. 7. An Exposition of the Epistles and Gospels, which had on the cover a large beryl surrounded with

and other articles of which they might stand in need; and among these, relics were not forgotten. They received at the same time orders from Rome, which directed them to accommodate, as much as possible, the festivals of the church to the seasons of heathen amusement and feasting. The scheme of an ecclesiastical establishment, which was to consist of two archbishops, each having under him twelve suffragans, was also transmitted to them, but seems never to have been adopted."

Augustin before his death, which took place about 605, tried to bring the churches of the British into unity with that over which he presided, and insisted on three concessions only. That they should keep Easter at the Roman time, should use the forms of that church in baptizing, and preach to the Saxons. His efforts, however, were unavailing, and he was rejected for a supposed want of apostolical humility, though he is said to have performed a miracle in attestation of his ministry. The point at issue seems really to have been, whether the British prelates should submit to Augustin and Rome. The question about the time of observing Easter was also discussed in the council of Whitby, where Oswi decided it in favour of the Roman method, because both parties agreed that St. Peter kept the keys of heaven, and that he had

crystals. Augustin also brought Gregory's Pastoral Care, which Alfred translated. See Elstob, p. 39-43; and Wanley, p. 172, whose description is taken from Thomas de Elmham, a monk of Augustin's Abbey, in the time of Henry V. See also Cave, Hist. Lit. p. 431. Turner's Ang.-Sax. i. 332.

This circumstance may account for the retention of many Saxon names in matters connected with religion. Thus Yule, the old name for Christmas, is derived from Jule, a Saxon feast at the winter solstice; and Easter from the goddess Eostre, who was worshipped with peculiar honours in April. Lent signifies spring. From the deities Tiw, Woden, Thunre, Friga, and Saterne, are derived the names of the days of the week. See Turner's A.-S. i. 213. Superstition has probably borrowed from the same source. Luck probably comes from a Saxon deity, Loke; (Turner, i. 226, 216, 13; Deuce from certain demons called Duci by the Gauls. Ochus Bochus, a magician and demon, and Neccus, a malign deity who frequented waters, may be the origin of the names Hocus Pocus and Old Nick. The common derivation of Hocus Pocus, from a rapid pronouncing of hoc est corpus, is hardly admissible.

2 Lingard, Ang.-Sax. Church, 14; Henry, Hist. Eng. iii. 194.

Collier, i. 75. 5 Collier, i. 95.

* Bede, ii. 2.

used the Roman method of computing." (A. D. 664.)

$ 8. In 668, Theodore, a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury, on the nomination of Vitalian the then Pope; a step which he was induced to take on the death of Wighart, who, with most of his companions, was destroyed by the plague at Rome, where he had been sent in order to be consecrated. Theodore was very serviceable to the British church by the learning which he, and his friend Adrian, introduced, and is said to have advanced the establishment of parish churches, by allowing founders to become the pastors of them. He divided also some of the larger bishoprics, which, as they were then generally co-extensive with the kingdoms to which they belonged, were frequently enormous in point of size. Wilfrid, archbishop of York, whose diocese compre

long agitated the Christian community. The The question of the time of keeping Easter Eastern church kept it according to the Jewish ritual, on the fourteenth moon of that lunation it were Sunday or no: in 197, Victor, bishop of which occurred after the vernal equinox, whether Rome, excommunicated them for so doing. They were in consequence called quarto decimani. In order to avoid any coincidence with the Jews as to the day of keeping this feast, most of the.Western churches ran into the opposite extreme, and in those years in which the passover occurred on the council of Nice (325) decided that it was to a Sunday, they kept the Easter-day on its octave. be kept on a Sunday, but as the British church which received its canons kept Easter on the fourteenth, when it happened to be a Sunday, it seems probable that the expression of the Nicene canon was originally so general as not to decide this point, and that the great nicety in avoiding the day of the Jewish passover originated with Rome. The Church, at the same period, generally adopted the Metonic cycle of nineteen years, by which Easter was newly calculated in the Tables of Eusebius of Cæsarea, and rejected the cycle of eighty-four years, which was very faulty, and derived from the Jews. The question in England was the general one of keeping Easter as the Roman church did. The difference consisted in two points: the British churches seem not to have used the same cycle, probably that of eighty-four years, and to have kept Easter on the fourteenth, if that day happened to be a Sunday. (Fuller, p. 68.) This had arisen from the separation of the British church from the rest of the world, during the troubles in England, which succeeded the council of Nice, of which they had adopted, in all probability, merely the general rules. The churches of Northumbria having been converted by Scotch missionaries, retained the British forms. See a note in Johnson's Canons, 673, i. d. The Syrians on the coast of Malabar have another method of finding Easter, which is given in Le Bas' Life of Middleton, i. 291, note 1. See also Newman's History of Arianism, p. 14. 7 Collier, 100.

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