Drama of the Lost Disciples<\/a> by Jowett:<\/p>\nIn the year a.d. 170 Lucius founded the majestic church at \r\nWinchester, now known as Winchester Cathedral, and familiar to \r\nthousands of Canadian soldiers in World War II garrisoned at \r\nWinchester as the Battle Abbey of the British Empire. Therein \r\nrepose its greatest warriors and therein is preserved the elaborate \r\ncasket of the grandfather of Alfred the Great. Also the Round \r\nTable of King Arthur\u2019s fame is preserved in the County Hall. \r\n\r\nTwenty-seven years after Lucius had nationalized Britain in the \r\nChrisdan faith he sent his two emissaries, Medwy and Elfan, to \r\nRome to obtain permission of Bishop Eleutherius for the return to \r\nBritain of some of the British missionaries aiding Eleutherius in his \r\nevangelizing work within the Roman Empire, in order that he, \r\nLucius, could better carry out his expansive Christian programme \r\nin Britain. \r\n\r\nGildas, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Bede, Urban, John of Teig- \r\nmouth and Capgrave, referred to \u2018as the most learned of English \r\nAugusdnians whom the soil of England ever produced\u2019, support \r\nthe date of return of the emissaries of King Lucius from visiting \r\nBishop Eleutherius at Rome, as that given in the British annals, \r\na.d. 183, over a century and a half before the Roman Catholic \r\nChurch was founded. Cardinal Baronius not only denounces the \r\nAugustinian claim but in detail recites the whole record from the \r\nyear a.d. 36 onward. \r\n\r\nBishop Eleutherius, in his letter to King Lucius, a.d. i 83, plainly \r\nshows that he is aware that Lucius possessed all the necessary \r\nknowledge of the Christian teachings beforehand and needed no \r\nadvice from him, and that he had no part in the nationalizing of \r\nBritain in the Faith, or in converting or baptizing the British king, \r\notherwise he would have referred to the matter that had occurred \r\ntwenty-seven years previous to his letter. By this he shows how \r\nunjustified is the claim of the Church of Rome, let alone the Roman \r\nCatholic Church, which was not yet dreamed of. John Foxe, the \r\ntalented author of Acts and Monuments, reproduces the controver\u00ac \r\nsial letter as Eleutherius wrote it to King Lucius : \r\n\r\n\u2018The Roman laws and the Emperors we may ever reprove, \r\n\r\nbut the law of God we may not. Ye have received of late through \r\n\r\nGod\u2019s mercy in the realm of Britain the Law and Faith of Christ. \r\n\r\n1 Vide Capgrave, John of Teignmouth, Book of Teilo, and William of \r\nMalmesbury. \r\n\r\n\r\nGOOD KING LUCIUS NATIONALIZES THE FAITH 205 \r\n\r\nYe have within you within the realm both the parties of the \r\nScriptures. Out of them, by God\u2019s grace, with the council of \r\nyour realm, take ye a law that can, through God\u2019s sufferance, \r\nrule your kingdom of Britain. For ye be God\u2019s Vicar in your \r\nkingdom, according to the saying of the Psalm, \u201cO God, give \r\nThy Judgment to the King.\u201d \u2019 \r\n\r\nMedwy and Elfan returned to Britain with Dyfan and Fagan, \r\nboth British teachers who had first received their schooling at \r\nAvalon. \r\n\r\nElfan, Dyfan and Fagan were appointed Bishops in Britain. \r\nElfan succeeded Thcanus, first Bishop of London, who died a.d. \r\n185. The Welsh authorities state that he presided over a congrega\u00ac \r\ntion of Christian Culdees at Glastonbury (Avalon), before he was \r\nsent to Rome with Medwy. Pitsaeus, the Roman Catholic Canon, \r\nin his Relationes Ilistoricae de Rebus Anglicis, says that Elfan, \r\nknown as Elvanus of Avalon, was brought up at Glastonbury and \r\nwas educated in the school of St. Joseph of Arimathea, and that \r\nhe wrote an informative work concerning the origin of the British \r\nchurch. On being elected as the second Bishop of London, Elfan \r\nwas the first prelate to occupy the new church erected by King \r\nLucius in memory of St. Peter, a church which has remained \r\nfamous throughout the centuries of Christian history as St. Peter\u2019s \r\nof Cornhill, London. \r\n\r\nMedwy was made a Doctor of Theology by the king. \r\n\r\nIt seemed that the three newly-appointed Bishops shared Lucius\u2019s \r\ndeep affection for Avalon and sought to restore it to its original \r\nconception, as first founded by St. Joseph with his twelve com\u00ac \r\npanions. 1 From Winchester they journeyed to the Sacred Isle of \r\nAvalon, of which Geoffrey of Monmouth writes as follows : \r\n\r\n\u2018There, God leading them, they found an old church built, as \r\n\u2019twas said, by the hands of Christ\u2019s Disciples, and prepared by \r\nGod Himself for the salvation of souls, which Church the \r\nHeavenly Builder Himself showed to be consecrated by many \r\nmiraculous deeds, and many Mysteries of healing. And they \r\nafterwards pondered the Heavenly message that the Lord had \r\nspecially chosen this spot before all the rest of Britain as the \r\nplace where His Mother\u2019s name might be invoked. They also \r\nfound the whole story in ancient writings, how the Holy \r\nApostles were scattered throughout the world. St. Philip coming \r\ninto France with a host of Disciples sent twelve of them into \r\n\r\n\u2022 Lewis, Glastonbury, Her Saints, pp. 10-11. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n206 the drama of the lost disciples \r\n\r\nBritain to preach, and that there, taught by revelation, they \r\nconstructed the said chapel which the Son of God afterwards \r\ndedicated to the honour of His Mother; and that to these same \r\ntwelve were given twelve portions of land for their sustenance. \r\nMoreover, they found a written record of their doings, and on \r\nthat account they loved this spot above all others, and they also, \r\nin memory of the first twelve, chose twelve of their own, and \r\nmade them live on the island with the approval of King Lucius. \r\nThese twelve thereafter abode there in divers spots as anchorites \r\n- in the same spots, indeed, which the first twelve inhabited. Yet \r\nthey used to meet together continuously in the Old Church in \r\norder to celebrate Divine worship more devoutly, just as the \r\nkings long ago granted the said island with its surroundings to \r\nthe twelve former Disciples of Christ, so the said Phagan (Fagan) \r\nand Deruvian (Dyfan) obtained it from King Lucius for these \r\ntwelve companions and for others to follow thereafter. And thus, \r\nmany succeeding these, but always twelve in numbers, abode in \r\nthe said island during many years up to the coming of St. Patrick, \r\nthe Apostle of the Irish.\u2019 \r\n\r\nIn this manner, at Avalon, the beautiful past was renewed by \r\nFagan and Dyfan, following in the steps of the Noblis Decurio and \r\nhis twelve saintly companions, and the many others of the illustrious \r\ncompany of Christ. \r\n\r\nReturning to the famous letter of Eleutherius to Lucius, we note \r\nthe remarkable statement naming Lucius \u2018Vicar of God\u2019. This is the \r\nfirst time that title was ever bestowed on a king and that a British \r\nking and by the Bishop of Rome. By this act the church at Rome \r\ndeclared Lucius to be the head of the church and not they. \r\nHowever, Lucius did not accept or use this honourable title. He \r\nrecognized the admonition of the Bishops of the British church \r\nand of all Christian Britons inured in the faith, that Christ alone \r\nwas the Head of the Church and the true representative of the \r\nFather. Instead, Lucius was named, \u2018the most religious King\u2019, a \r\ntitle which every British ruler since who has sat on the British \r\nThrone has held. 1 \r\n\r\nLucius also established the three famous Archbishoprics at \r\nLondon, York and Caerlon on Usk. In the year a.d. 179 he built \r\nthe historic St. Peter on Comhill. This church is often referred to \r\nas the first Christian church erected in London, of which Elfan \r\nwas installed as the first Bishop. During the ensuing centuries this \r\nchinch was enlarged but was destroyed in the Great Fire of \r\n\r\n\u2019 Lewis, Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury, 6th edition, pD. 14-15. \r\n\r\n\r\nGOOD KING LUCIUS NATIONALIZES THE FAITH 20J \r\n\r\nLondon which almost completely levelled the ancient city. The \r\ntablet telling the history of this great church, embedded in the \r\noriginal walls, survived the Great Fire, and has since been preserved \r\nover the mantel of the fireplace in the vestry. It bears the following \r\ninscription: \r\n\r\n\u2018Bee it knowne to all men that the yeare of our Lord God \r\n179, Lucius, the first Christian King of the land, then called \r\nBritaine, founded the first church in London, that is to say, the \r\nchurch of St. Peter upon Comehill. And hee founded there an \r\nArchbishops See and made the church tire metropolitane and \r\nchief church of the kingdome; and so indured the space of 400 \r\nyears unto the coming of St. Austin the Apostle of England, the \r\nwhich was sent into the land by St. Gregoire, the doctor of the \r\nchurch in the time of King Ethelbert. And then was the Arch\u00ac \r\nbishops See and Pall removed from the forsaid church of St. \r\nPeter upon Comehill into Dorobemia that now is called Canter\u00ac \r\nbury and there it remaincth to this day. And Millet a monke \r\nwhich came into this land with St. Austin, hee was made Bishop \r\nof London and his See was made in St. Paul\u2019s church. And this \r\nLucius king was the first founder of St. Peter\u2019s church upon \r\nComehill. And hee reigned in this land after Brute 1245 yeares. \r\nAnd in the yeare of our Lord God 124, Lucius was crowned \r\nking and the yeares of his reign were 77 yeares.\u2019 \r\n\r\nAmong other wonderful churches King Lucius founded was the \r\nchurch at Llandaff and the church at Cardiff, known today as \r\nSt. Mellors, which is still referred to as Lucius\u2019s Church. He also \r\nfounded the beautiful church of St. Mary de Lode in the city of \r\nGloucester, where he was interred. In later year, a.d. 679, this \r\nchurch was enlarged and beautified by the Christian king of the \r\nBritish Mercians, Wolphen. \r\n\r\nIt is commonly stated that the Emperor Constantine was the \r\nfirst to have the coin of the realm stamped with the sign of the \r\nCross. The statement is an error. King Lucius, the ancestor of \r\nConstantine, was the first to mint his coins displaying the sign of \r\nthe Cross on one side and on the other side his name \u2018Luc\u2019. In the \r\ncollection in the British Museum exist two coins depicting the reign \r\nof King Lucius, bearing the motifs as stated. Of interest is the fact \r\nthat Arviragus, maternal ancestor of Lucius, was so bitterly opposed \r\nto all that was Roman that he made acceptance, or circulation of \r\nRoman coins among the British, a capital offence. This refusal to \r\naccept Roman coinage by the British lingered well into the reign \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n208 \r\n\r\n\r\nTHE DRAMA OF THE LOST DISCIPLES \r\n\r\n\r\nof Lucius. From Claudius, whom Arviragus first opposed on the \r\nfield of battle, to the reign of Emperor Hadrian, no coins of inter\u00ac \r\nvening Roman Emperors are to be found in Britain. From Hadrian \r\nonwards complete series of Roman coins are found. An examination \r\nof the coinage exhibit in the British Museum substantiates these \r\nfacts and the notable omission. The coins of Arviragus are con\u00ac \r\nsidered to be the most magnificent minted. An eminent numismatic \r\nexpert made the remark : \r\n\r\n\u2018Wherever a coin of the British King Arviragus is shown in \r\nany coin collection, it stands out as a gem.\u2019 \r\n\r\nThe coins of Cunobelinus bear the inscription on one side of his \r\nname \u2018Cuno\u2019, on the reverse side a galloping charger and the plume \r\nof three ostrich feathers. \r\n\r\nThe interesting part is that the coins of these three famed British \r\nkings were all minted at Colchester. Historians pay little attention \r\nto this ancient city. Focus is all on the great centres such as London, \r\nWinchester, York, Edinburgh, Canterbury and others. Few are as \r\nsteeped in British tradition, where so many notable events had their \r\nbeginnings, events that are milestones in the destiny of nations and, \r\nin particular, Christianity, as we shall see as we pursue our story. \r\n\r\nColchester is a quiet little city today, but what a mass of startling \r\nhistory it contains for those who have the energy to part the \r\ncurtains of time and examine the records. \r\n\r\nOf all the great disciples of Christ, King Lucius is in all proba\u00ac \r\nbility the least known. To the average person his name has no \r\nmeaning. All he did to solidify the Christian foundation is not even \r\nconsidered, let alone remembered. Historians by-pass him as though \r\nhe never existed, in spite of the wealth of information describing \r\nhis life and achievements at hand. The talented Foxe, in his Acts \r\nand Monuments, wrote: \r\n\r\n\u2018The said Lucius after he had founded many churches, and \r\ngiven great riches and liberties to the same, deceased with great \r\ntranquillity in his own land, and was buried at Gloucester.\u2019 \r\n\r\nKing Lucius died December 3, in the year a.d. 201, after a long \r\nreign of seventy-seven years. The learned Alban Butler 1 states that \r\nLucius was buried first at St. Mary de Lode, the lovely church he \r\nfounded at Gloucester, then later was reinterred in the other church \r\nhe built, St. Peter\u2019s upon Cornhill, for which church he had a deep \r\naffection. Much later, his remains were again translated to Glou- \r\n\r\n1 The Lives of the Saints (1756). \r\n\r\n\r\nGOOD KING LUCIUS NATIONALIZES THE FAITH 20g \r\n\r\ncester, where they were placed in the choir of the 1' ranciscan \r\nchurch by the Earls of Berkley and Clifford, which church, the \r\nChurch of the Grey Friars, was founded by these two famous \r\nfamilies. \r\n\r\nThere is another record concerning the death of King Lucius, \r\nchronicled in the Roman Martyrologics, which states that Lucius \r\nabdicated his throne and with his sister, St. Emerita, travelled as \r\na missionary through Bavaria, Rhoetia and Vindelicia, meeting a \r\nmartyr\u2019s death near Curia in Germany. According to an old \r\ntranscript recorded circa a.d. 685, Lucius, king of the British, and \r\nhis sister Emerita, arc buried in the crypt of the old cathedral at \r\nChur (Coire), the capital of the Grisons Canton, Switzerland. \r\nCressy the Benedictine, who wrote following the Reformation, \r\nquoting from these old chronicles, recites the above in his book \r\nChurch History of Brittany. Students of the life of the illustrious \r\nKing Lucius state that the Roman Martyrologies have the British \r\nking confused with the religious Bavarian King Lucius, who was \r\nmartyred near Curia in Germany. \r\n\r\nIn A Guide to the Cathedral, compiled by the Rev. H. Haines \r\nin 1867 at Gloucester, he writes : \r\n\r\n\u2018King Lucius was baptized on May 28, a.d. 137, and died \r\non December 3, 201. His feast has been kept on both these days, \r\nbut the latter is now universal. \r\n\r\nThere exists a wealth of material extolling the exemplary life of \r\nGood King Lucius, among which are the writings of Bede, Nennius, \r\nElfan, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Cressy, William of Malmesbury, \r\nUssher, who states he had consulted twenty-three works on Lucius: \r\nRees, Baronius, Alford, The Book of Llandaff, Welsh Triads, The \r\nMabinogion, Achau Saint Prydain, and many other reliable works, \r\nall of which pay noble tribute to this famed Christian monarch, \r\nwho devoted his entire life as a disciple in Christ\u2019s service, to the \r\nbenefit of the Christian world which has forgotten him. \r\n\r\nThe lasting benefits of the wonderful achievements of King \r\nLucius on the realm endured for well over one hundred years after \r\nhis death. The people and the land thrived in peace and prosperity. \r\n\r\nThe Venerable Bede, writing a.d. 740, sums up the picture in a \r\nfew brief words, but in his characteristic eloquence : \r\n\r\n\u2018The Britons preserved the faith which they had nationally \r\nreceived under King Lucius uncorrupted and entire, and con\u00ac \r\ntinued in peace and tranquillity until the time of the Emperor \r\nDiocletian\u2019 (Bk. 1, ch. 4). \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n210 THE DRAMA OF THE LOST DISCIPLES \r\n\r\nThe savage Diocletian persecution broke the peace and produced \r\nthe conquering Constantine, known to history as the Emperor \r\nConstantine the Great, a direct descendant of Lucius, Arviragus \r\nand Caractacus, a stalwart champion and disciple of the Christian \r\nfaith. \r\n\r\nThe seed never perished, enduring from one generation to \r\nanother. In times of peace its strength coursed beneath calm waters, \r\never ready to crash to the surface in stormy conflict to defend the \r\npriceless heritage as circumstances demanded. In every case it was \r\na prince of the royal blood who stalwartly and often heroically \r\nstood forth to meet the challenge of battle oppression. And in each \r\ncase the Defender of the Faith was a true lineal descendant of those \r\nvaliant British kings and queens of so many centuries ago, even as \r\nis today Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the British \r\nCommonwealth.<\/pre>\n <\/p>\n
From “Celt, Druid and Culdee” we share this relevant excerpt:<\/p>\n
To trace the history of the Culdees from the days of St. Columba\r\nis a comparatively easy task; to find their origin is more\r\ndifficult. In the minute examination which such an investigation\r\ninvolves the name Culdee is discovered to have quite a different\r\norigin from that usually assigned to it.\r\nThe obscurity of the origin of the Culdich (Anglicized Culdees)\r\nhas led many writers to assume that their name was derived from\r\ntheir life and work. The interpretations 'Cultores Dei'\r\n(Worshippers of God) and 'Gille De' (Servants of God) are\r\ningenious but do not go far to solve the problem. Culdich is\r\nstill in use among some of the Gael, of Cultores Dei and Gille De\r\nthey know nothing.(1)\r\nJohn Calgan, the celebrated hagiologist and topographer,\r\ntranslates Culdich 'quidam advanae' - certain strangers(2) -\r\nparticularly strangers from a distance; this would seem an\r\nunaccountable interpretation of the name for these early\r\nChristians were it not for the statement of Freculphus(3) that\r\ncertain friends and disciples of our Lord, in the persecution\r\nthat followed His Ascension, found refuge in Britain in A.D.\r\n37.(4) Further, here is the strong, unvarying tradition in the\r\nWest of England of the arrival in this country in the early days\r\nA.D. of certain 'Judean refugees'. It seems impossible to\r\navoid the conclusion that Colgan's Culdich, 'certain strangers',\r\nwere one and the same with these refugees who found asylum in\r\nBritain and were hospitably received by Arviragus (Caractacus),\r\nking of the West Britons or Silures and temporarily settled in a\r\nDruidic college. Land to the extent of twelve hides or ploughs,\r\non which they built the first Christian church, was made over to\r\nthem in free gift by Arviragus. This land has never been taxed.\r\n49\r\nOf the twelve hides of land conferred by Arviragus on this\r\nchurch, the Domesday Survey, A.D. 1088, supplies conformation.\r\n'The Domus Dei, in the great monastery in Glastonbury. This\r\nGlastngbury Church possesses in its own villa XII hides of land\r\nwhich have never paid tax.(5)\r\nIn Spelman's 'Concilia'(6) is an engraving of a brass plate which\r\nwas formerly affixed to a column to mark the exact site of the\r\nchurch in Glastonbury.(7) 'The first ground of God, the first\r\nground of the Saints in Britain, the rise and foundation of all\r\nreligion in Britain, the burial place of the Saints.'(8) This\r\nplate was dug up at Glastonbury and came into Spelman's\r\npossession.\r\nFrom a 'mass of evidence' to which William of Malmesbury gave\r\ncareful study, the antiquity of the Church of Glastonbury was\r\nunquestionable. He says:\r\n'From its antiquity called, by way of distinction, \"Ealde\r\nChirche\", that is the Old Church of wattlework at first,\r\nsavoured somewhat of heavenly sanctity, even from its very\r\nfoundation, and exhaled it all over the country, claiming\r\nsuperior reverence, though the structure was mean. Hence,\r\nhere assembled whole tribes of the lower orders, thronging\r\nevery path; hence assembled the opulent, divested of their\r\npomp; hence it became the crowded residence of the religious\r\nand the literary. For, as we have heard from men of elder\r\ntimes, here Gildas, an historian, neither unlearned nor\r\ninelegant, captivated by the sanctity of the place, took up\r\nhis abode for a series of years. This Church, then, is\r\ncertainly the oldest I am acquainted with in England, and\r\nfrom this circumstance derives its name. Moreover there are\r\ndocuments of no small credit, which have been discovered in\r\ncertain places, to the following effect: No other hands than\r\nthose of the disciples of Christ erected the Church at\r\nGlastonbury .... for if Phillip the Apostle reached to the\r\nGauls, as Freculphus relates in the fourth chapter of his\r\nsecond book, it may be believed that he also planted the\r\nword on the hither side of the channel.'(19)\r\nThe first converts of the Culdees were Druids. The Druids of\r\nBritain, in embracing Christianity, found no difficulty in\r\nreconciling the teaching of the Culdees, or 'Judean refugees',\r\nwith their own teaching of the resurrection and inheritance of\r\neternal life.\r\nNumerous writers have commented upon the remarkable coincidence\r\nwhich existed between the two systems - Druidism and\r\nChristianity. (Amongst the Druidic names for the Supreme God\r\nwhich they had in use before the introduction of Christianity\r\nwere the terms: 'Distributor', 'Governor', 'The Mysterious One',\r\n'The Wonderful', The Ancient of Days', terms strictly of Old\r\nTestament origin.(10)\r\n50\r\nTaliesen, a bard of the sixth century, declares :\r\n'Christ, the Word from the beginning, was from the beginning\r\nour teacher, and we never lost His teaching. Christianity\r\nwas a new thing in Asia, but there never was a time when the\r\nDruids of Britain held not its doctrines.'(11)\r\nFrom 'Ecclesiastical An Antiquities' of the Cymry we learn that\r\nthe Silurian Druids embraced Christianity on its first\r\npromulgation in these islands, and that in right of their office\r\nthey were exclusively elected as Christian ministers, though\r\ntheir claims to national privileges as such were not finally\r\nsanctioned until the reign of Lles ap Coel (Lucius), A.D. 156.\r\nEven so all the bardic privileges and immunities were recognized\r\nby law before the reign of this king.\r\n'And those Druids that formerly had dominion of the Britons'\r\nfaith become now to be helpers of their joy and are become\r\nthe leaders of the blind, which through God's mercy hath\r\ncontinued in this Island ever since through many storms and\r\ndark mists of time until the present day.'(12)\r\nA Welsh Triad mentions Amesbury (Avebury) in Wiltshire as one of\r\nthe three great Druidic 'Cors' or colleges of Britain, and one of\r\nthe earliest to be converted to Christian uses. In the church\r\nattached to this college there were two thousand four hundred\r\n'saints', that is, there were a hundred for every hour of the day\r\nand night in rotation, perpetuating the praise of God without\r\nintermission. This mode of worship was very usual in the early\r\nChurch.(13)\r\nThe Christian king Lucius, third in descent from Winchester, and\r\ngrandson of Pudens and Claudia(14) built the first minister on\r\nthe site of a Druidic Cor at Winchester, and at a National\r\nCouncil held there in A.D.156 established Christianity the\r\nnational religion as the natural successor to Druidism, when the\r\nChristian ministry was inducted into all the rights of the\r\nDruidic hierarchy, tithes included.(15)\r\nThe change over from Druidism was not a mere arbitrary act of the\r\nking, for, according to the Druidic law, there were three things\r\nthat required the unanimous vote of the nation:\r\ndeposition of the Sovereign, suspension of law, introduction of\r\nnovelties in religion.(16)\r\nArchbishop Usher quotes twenty-three authors, including Bede and\r\nNennius, on this point and also brings in proof from ancient\r\nBritish coinage.(17) So uncontested was the point that at the\r\nCouncil of Constance it was pleaded as an argument for British\r\nprecedence.\r\n'There are many circumstances', writes Lewis Spence,\r\n51\r\n'connected with the Culdees to show that if they practised a\r\nspecies of Christianity their doctrine still retained a\r\nlarge measure of the Druidic philosophy, and that indeed\r\nthey were the direct descendants of the Druidic caste....\r\nThe Culdees who dwelt on Iona and professed the rule of\r\nColumba, were Christianized Druids, mingling with their\r\nfaith a large element of the ancient Druidic cultus. . . .\r\nBut all their power they ascribed to Christ - Christ is my\r\nDruid, said Columba.'(18)\r\nToland says that:\r\n'...the Druidical college of Derry was converted into a\r\nCuldee monastery. In Wales Druidism cease to be practised by\r\nthe end of the FIRST century, but long after the advent of\r\nSt.Patrick the chief monarchs of Ireland adhered to\r\nDruidism...\r\nLaegaire and all the provincial kings of Ireland, however,\r\ngranted to every man free liberty of preaching and\r\nprofessing the Christian religion if he wished to do\r\nso.'(19)\r\nThe cumulative evidence of early historians leaves no shadow of\r\ndoubt that Britain was one of the first, if not THE FIRST country\r\nto receive the Gospel, and that the apostolic missionaries were\r\ninstrumental in influencing the change whereby the native\r\nreligion of Druidism merged into Christianity.(20)\r\nIt is a remarkable circumstance that while statues of gods and\r\ngoddesses prevail throughout the heathen sites of Egyptian,\r\nGreek, Roman, Hindu and other idolatrous nations, NOT A VESTIGE\r\nof an IDOL or IMAGE has been found in Britain.\r\nIf Mithraism is argued to contest this statement it should be\r\nobserved that invaders were not free from idolatry. Mithra\r\nworship was a Roman importation. The British were entirely free\r\nfrom all forms of idolatry; they never adopted Mithraism.\r\nThe Druids' invocation was to ONE all-healing and all-saving\r\npower. Can we be surprised that they so readily embraced the\r\ngospel of Christ?\r\nFurther support for the early introduction of Christianity to\r\nBritain is gathered from the following widely diverse sources:\r\nEUSEBIUS of Ceasarea speaks of apostolic missions to Britain as\r\nmatters of notoriety. 'The Apostles passed beyond the ocean to\r\nthe isles called the Brittanic Isles.'(21)\r\nTERTULLIUS of Carthage, A.D.208, the embodiment of the highest\r\nlearning of that age, tells us that the Christian Church in the\r\nsecond century extended to 'all the boundaries of Spain, and the\r\ndifferent nations of Gaul and parts of Britain inaccessible to\r\nthe Romans but subject to Christ.'(22)\r\n52\r\nORIGEN, in the third century states: 'The power of Lord is with\r\nthose who in Britain are separated from our coasts.'(23)\r\n'From India to Britain', writes St.JEROME, A.D.378, 'all nations\r\nresound with the death and resurrection of Christ.'(24)\r\nARNOBIUS, on the same subject, writes: 'So swiftly runs the word\r\nof God that within the space of a few years His word is concealed\r\nneither from the Indians in the East nor from the Britons in the\r\nWest.'(25)\r\nCHRYSOSTOM, Patriarch of Constantinople, A.D.402, supplies\r\nevidence in these words: 'The British Isles which lie beyond the\r\nsea, and which lie in the ocean, have received the virtue of the\r\nWord. Churches are there found and altars erected. Though thou\r\nshould'st go to the ocean, to the British Isles, there thou\r\nshould'st hear all men everywhere discussing matters out of the\r\nScriptures.'(26)\r\nGILDS, the British historian, writing in A.D.542, states: 'We\r\ncertainly know that Christ, the True Sun, afforded His light, the\r\nknowledge of His precepts, to our Island in the last year of the\r\nreign of Tiberias Caesar, A.D.37.'(27)\r\nSir HENRY SPELMAN states: 'We have abundant evidence that this\r\nBritain of ours received the Faith, and that from the disciples\r\nof Christ Himself soon after the Crucifixion',(28)\r\nPOLYDORE VERGIL observes: 'that Britain was of all kingdoms the\r\nfirst that received the Gospel'.(29)\r\nThe fact that Lucius established Christianity as the State\r\nreligion excludes the claim of the Latin Church to that eminence.\r\nThat this early establishment was acknowledged beyond the\r\nconfines of Britain is well expressed by Sabellius, A.D.250.\r\n'Christianity was privately expressed elsewhere, but the first\r\nnation that proclaimed it as their religion, and called itself\r\nChristian, after the name of Christ, was Britain';(30) and Ebrard\r\nremarks, 'The glory of Britain consists not only in this, that\r\nshe was the first country which in a national capacity publicly\r\nprofessed herself Christian, but that she made this confession\r\nwhen the Roman Empire itself was pagan and a cruel persecutor of\r\nChristianity.'\r\nThe writer of 'Vale Royal' states: 'The Christian faith and\r\nbaptism came into Chester in the reign of Lucius, king of the\r\nBritons, probably from Cambria, circa A.D.140.'(31)\r\nMissionaries are said to have come from Glastonbury, only thirty\r\nmiles distant, to instruct the Druids of Amesbury in the\r\nChristian faith. When the Druids adopted and preached\r\nChristianity, their universities were turned into Christian\r\n53\r\ncolleges and the Druid priests became Christian ministers;\r\nthe transition was to them a natural one.\r\nIn the days of Giraldus Cambrensis (twelfth century), as a result\r\nof Roman Catholic doctrine, martyrdom and celibacy were much\r\noverrated, and it was thought a reproach to the Druids that none\r\nof their saints had 'cemented' the foundation of the Church\r\nwith their blood, all of them being confessors, and not one\r\ngaining the crown of martyrdom.(32)\r\nAn absurd charge, blaming the people for their reasonableness,\r\nmoderation and humanity, and taxing the new converts for not\r\nprovoking persecution in order to gain martyrdom.\r\nIt is not contended that every individual Druid and bard accepted\r\nChristianity on its first promulgation in Britain Even after\r\nChristianity had become a national religion, petty kings, princes\r\nand the nobility retained, in many instances, Druids and bards.\r\nDruidism did not entirely cease until almost a thousand\r\nyears after Christ.\r\nHad the large collection of British archives and MSS deposited at\r\nVerulum as late as A.D.860 descended to our time, invaluable\r\nlight would have been thrown on this as on many other subjects of\r\nnative interest.\r\nWe read in an historical essay, 'The Ancient British Church', by\r\nthe Rev.John Pryce, which was awarded the prize at the National\r\nEisteddfod of 1876, these words:\r\n'In this distant corner of the earth (Britain), cut off from\r\nthe rest of the world, unfrequented except by merchants from\r\nthe opposite coast of Gaul, a people who only conveyed to\r\nthe Roman mind the idea of untamed fierceness was being\r\nprepared for the Lord. Forecasting the whole from the\r\nbeginning and at length bringing the work to a head, the\r\nDivine Logos unveiled Himself to them in the person of\r\nChrist, as the realization of their searching instincts and\r\nthe fulfilment of their highest hopes. It would be difficult\r\nto conceive of Christianity being preached to any people for\r\nthe first time under more favourable conditions. There was\r\nhardly a feature in their national character in which it\r\nwould not find a chord answering and vibrating to its touch.\r\nTheirs was not the sceptical mind of the Greek, nor the\r\nworn-out civilization of the Roman, which even Christianity\r\nfailed to quicken into life, but a religious, impulsive\r\nimagination - children in feeling and knowledge, and\r\ntherefore meet recipients of the good news of the kingdom of\r\nheaven.\r\nTo a people whose sense of future existence was so absorbing\r\nthat its presentiment was almost too deeply felt by them,\r\nthe preaching of Jesus and the Resurrection would appeal\r\nwith irresistible force.\r\n54\r\nThere was no violent divorce between the new teaching and\r\nthat of their own Druids, nor were they called upon so much\r\nto reverse their ancient faith to lay it down for a fuller\r\nand more perfect revelation.\r\nWell has the Swedish poet, Tegner, in 'Frithiofs Saga',\r\npictured the glimmerings of the dawn of Gospel day, when he\r\ndescribed the old priest as prophesying\r\n'All hail, ye generations yet unborn\r\nThan us far happier; ye shall one day drink\r\nThat cup of consolation, and behold\r\nThe torch of Truth illuminate the world,\r\nYet do not us despise; for we have sought\r\nWith earnest zeal and unaverted eye,\r\nTo catch one ray of that ethereal light,\r\nAlfader still is one, and still the same;\r\nBut many are his messengers Divine.'\r\n1. Rev. T. McLauchlan, 'The Early Scottish Church,' p.431.\r\n2. Trias Thaumaturga, p.156b.\r\n3. Freculphus apud Godwin, p.10. See Hist. Lit.,II,18.\r\n4. Baronius add. ann. 306. Vatican MSS. Nova Legenda.\r\n5. Domesday Survey Fol., p.449.\r\n6. See Epistolae ad Gregorium Papam.\r\n7. See Joseph of Arimathea, by Rev.L.Smithett Lewis.\r\n8. Concilia, Vol.I, p.9.\r\n9. Malmes., 'History of the Kings,' pp.19,20.\r\n10.G.Smith, 'Religion of Ancient Britain,' Chap. II, p.37.\r\n11.Morgan, 'St.Paul in Britain,' p.73.\r\n12.Nath. Bacon, 'Laws and Government of England,' p.3.\r\n13.Baronius ad Ann 459, ex. Actis Marcelli.\r\n14.Moncaeus Atrebas, 'In Syntagma,' p.38.\r\n15.Nennius(ed.Giles), p.164. Book of Llandau, pp.26,68,289.\r\n16.Morgan's 'British Cymry.'\r\n17.Ussher (ed.1639), pp.5,7,20.\r\n18.'The Mysteries of Britain,' pp.62,64,65.\r\n19.Dudley Wright, 'Druidism,' p.12.\r\n20.Holinshed, 'Chronicles,' p.23.\r\n21.'De Demostratione Evangelii,' Lib. III.\r\n22.'Adv.Judaeos,' Chap. VII. Def. Fidei, p.179.\r\n23.Origen, 'Hom. VI in Lucae.'\r\n24.'Hom. in Isaiah,' Chap. LIV and Epist. XIII ad Paulinum.\r\n25.'Ad Psalm,' CXLV, III.\r\n26.Chrysostom, 'Orat O Theo Xristos.'\r\n27.'De Excidio Britanniae,' Sect. 8, p.25.\r\n28.'Concilia,' fol., p.1.\r\n29.Lib. II.\r\n30.Sabell. Enno, Lib. VII, Chap. V.\r\n31.King's 'Vale Royal,' Bk. II, p.25.\r\n32.Topograph. Hibern Distinct. III, Cap. XXIX.\r\n<\/pre>\nMore on these books:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nLes culdees \u00e9taient les premiers chr\u00e9tiens, \u00abDrame des disciples perdus\u00bb de George F. Jowett<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n