CONTENTS

OF

VOL. I.

CHAP. I.

§. 1. GENERAL outline of the history of the British church

before the Saxon invasion.

2. England early converted to Christianity; possibly by St.

Paul: other traditions without any foundation.

3. King Lucius. Early persecutions; the Dioclesian. St. Alban,

Constantius Chlorus. Constantine puts an end to persecu-

tion.

4. British bishops at early councils ; Arles, Nice, Sardica, Ari-

minum.

5. Pelagian heresy. Germanus, Lupus, and Severus. Schools

established. Illutus and Dubritius; Banchor; Gallican li-

turgy

6. Saxons converted by St. Augustin ; Ethelbert, Britha. Gre-

gory I. instrumental in this event.

7. Augustin, archbishop of England. Christian festivals accom-

modated to the heathen feasts. Ecclesiastical establishment.

Union with the British church attempted. Easter ; Roman

method of keeping it adopted by Oswi.

8. Theodore made archbishop. Adrian. Parish churches esta-

blished. Bishoprics divided. Wilfred appeals to the pope.

Sussex converted.

9. Wilfred's appeal to Rome; superiority of Rome over Saxon

England. Council of Cloveshoo.

10. Union of the heptarchy. The Danes attack monasteries.

Ethelwulph's grant to the church: tithes had been previously

mentioned: they are sometimes spoken of as due by divine

right.

11. Alfred educates England; he translates many books into

Saxon ; his general information ; establishes a school for his
son; foreign kinys educated in England; sends an embassy

to the Syrian Indians.

12. Odo and Dunstan. The Danes incorporated with the Eng-

lish. Wealth of the church.

13. Imperfection of this sketch ; materials defective ; the subject

one of curiosity rather than utility. Errors of the church of

Rome generally those of human nature.

14. Debt due to Rome; probable date of the perversions of

doctrine, and their introduction into England.

15. Prayers for the dead ; in early use : history of the doc-

trine of purgatory; common to many religions: prayers for

the dead not necessarily connected with it. Traces of the

doctrine among the Anglo-Saxons. Popular notions of it in

the time of Bede and Alcuin.

16. Transubstantiation. Waterland's account of the history of

it; probably not received by the Anglo-Saxons. Elfric's ho-

mily. Bertram.

17. Mass; believed to be a sacrifice for the living and dead.

18. Pictures and images. The decrees of the second council of

Nice rejected by the British church. Image worship esta-

blished in England before Alfred's time. Prayers addressed

to saints about the same period. The doctrine of the Saxon

church.

19. Relics ; natural respect for them ; sent by Gregory to Au-

gustin. The devotions paid at the tombs of the archbishops of

Canterbury produce disputes about the bodies of the pri-

mates.

20. Pilgrimages; early made by the English to Jerusalem and

Rome. Many Saxon kings visit Rome. Abuses arising from

pilgrimages; the Penitential Canons enjoin them.

21. Confession ; penance. Difference between the churches of

Rome and England with regard to auricular confession.

Penances ordinarily imposed. Commutation of penance.

22. Celibacy of the clergy. The council of Nice endeavoured

to impose it. Custom of the Greek church. Early established

in England; but generally evaded. Evils arising from it.

23. Early ecclesiastical establishments. Monastic establish-

ments useful at first; favourable to civilization ; attacked by

the Danes. Most of the clergy married during these times

of disturbance; dependence on the apostolic see arising from
celibacy. Holy water. Service in Latin. Lights in churches.

Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Gospel, explained to the people.

24. Progress of errors in the church of England. Purgatory

and transubstantiation first believed, and then made profitable

to the priesthood. Errors introduced into the Anglo-Saxon

church by degrees from Rome.

25. How far the errors of the church destroyed Christianity.

When errors in doctrine destroy the hopes of salvation. Evil

tendency of errors in faith.

26. Inadequate view of the atonement. Correct faith in the Tri-

nity. Expressions marking false notions of good works.

The Anglo-Saxon church much corrupted in doctrines, and

the way prepared for greater errors.

CHAP. II. P. 47.

51. There existed a continued struggle between the church and

state. We must regard churchmen as advocating the rights

of their order.

52. William I. was possessed of full power over the church.

Ecclesiastical property subjected to civil service. Most of the

English clergy ejected. Papal legates introduced into Eng-

land. The ecclesiastical courts separated from the civil.

53. The influence of Rome arose from the vices of our kings.

The clergy a balance between the crown and aristocracy, and

beneficial to the lower orders. Rome interfered to support

the just rights of the church, and so gained power. Anselm

and William II.

54. Anselm appeals to Rome illegally. William admits the au-

thority of the pope, and the legate confirms Anselm. Inves-

titures.

55. Henry recalls Anselm ; the dispute between them compro-

mised. Celibacy of the clergy insisted on in vain.

56. Stephen increases the power of the pope by his injustice.

The bishop of Winchester summons the king before him.

Perjury promoted by dispensations. The miseries of Eng-

land.

57. Henry II. accepts a grant of Ireland from the pope. Becket.

Exemption of ecclesiastics from civil jurisdiction. Constitu-

tions of Clarendon. Becket is persecuted, and flies.

58. He is received by the court of France and the pope ;

Henry very violent; Becket equally so; an outward recon-

ciliation is made in vain.

59. Becket murdered; miracles at his tomb. Henry submissive

to the church. Becket's character.

60. Heresy first punished, 1160. Gerhard and his followers,

their opinions uncertain.

61. Interference of Rome. Convent at Hackington; at Lam-

beth. Tax imposed on the clergy by the pope.

62. John. Dispute about the election of an archbishop of Can-

terbury; Stephen Langton appointed by the pope. England

laid under an interdict, and John excommunicated.

63. Philip of France proceeds to depose John; the barons dis-

contented; John submits to the pope. The pope adverse to

magna charta. The council of the Lateran declares transub-

stantiation to be a tenet of the church.

64. Papal power. Further exactions from the clergy refused.

65. Greathead opposes the papal usurpations; esteems the pope

antichrist.

66. Edward I. Increased power of the clergy. Statutes for

trying clerks by a jury, and of Mortmain. Heavy taxes im-

posed on the clergy. The bull to free ecclesiastical property

from taxation was inefficacious.

67. Growth of the papal power.

68. Disputes between the crown and the church on temporal

rights drove the church into the arms of Rome, and then

induced the crown to submit to the authority of the pope.

69. The church taxes itself; the oppression of the crown in-

duces churchmen to acquire temporal power, which could

alone defend their property.

70. Source of the power of Rome; a centre of combination for

churchmen, and of defence against the oppression of the

crown. The vices of Rome its only weakness.

CHAP. III. P. 72.

101. Abuses must become galling to the people before they

create any great anxiety to remove them.

102. Political abuses connected with the church of Rome; at-

tempts to limit the papal power, not to destroy it; injustice

of the exclusive jurisdiction of the clergy.