Ancient British History.

to give a short account of the rise and progress of Christianity in Britain . In St . Paul ' s affecting second " epistle to Timothy , chapter iv , verse 2 . 1 , written ou the cveiling iJ-i ' oro his execution by Nero , he states— " Eubulus greetcth- ' thee and "Pudcns and Limis and Claudia and nil the brethren . " Now , Linus was tho second son of Caractacus , the heroic British king , who having been taken prisoner by the Romans , addressed to the senate that

speech which forms a prominent feature hi classic history . Claudia ivas , his daughter , and Pudens , a Roman , was her husband ; this was in the year A . D . 67 . In the previous year Linus had been consecrated by St . Paul , Bishop of Rome , " and the first church in Rome was the palace on the declivity of the Mons Saccr , in which Caractacus and his family resided , and which being afterwards devoted to the of a church b

purposes y his daughter Claudia , may yet , I believe , be seen in Rome , under the name of the church of St . Pudentiana . AVhen this Caractacus , after waging , according fco the Eoman account , thirty pitched battles against them , ultimately , by treachery , became their prisoner , the Romans believed that Britain ivas at length subjugated : but as in so many subsequent instances , out of onr temporary trials ancl disasters the national

character has come forth , as from au eclipse , wifch greater power and brilliancy . The accidental presence at Rome of this illustrious captive , and his meeting St . Paul in the Roman prison , may not unreasonabl y be regarded as the means appointed by the Almighty for the establishment and diffusion of Christianity . His son Linus , as we have seen , ivas the first Gentile bishop , and it was bhis famil that the first church was established at

y y Rome , and for two centuries afterwards there maintained itself against the continued efforts of the Roman Emperors to extirpate it . Titus succeeded in extinguishing the Hebrew church by the most blood y extirpation recorded in history—the destruction of Jerusalem ; and ifc was in Britain alone that Christianity found refuge under the royal auspices thus providentially secured lor it by St . Paul himself . '

It was in the year 5 C that St . Paul first came to Rome , and in the following year that Bran , the father of Caractacus , Caractacus himself , ancl the other members of the royal family of Britain , then at Rome , were converted and baptised by him . In 59 Anstofaulus , the brother of St . Barnabas , the father-in-law of St . Peter , was ordained by St . Paul first bishop of Britain , and returned with Bran Caractacus to this country , where they were visited it is

, as now confidently alleged by these who arc engaged m excavating this portion of our history in the following year b y St . Paul himself . The first church in Britain , it is also asserted , was established by Joseph of Arimathea , namely , at , Glastonbury , in Somersetshire ; and tradition has preserved as the epitaph on his tomb , the following words— "I came to the Britons after I buried Jesus ChristI taught them and rested "

; . Ihese Christian influences manifested themselves in the year 155 by the formal adoption of Christianity as the national ' relig ion—this was effected by King Lucius ' , at a great national Council , held at Winchester , ancl which was conducted in strict accordance with the ancient customs and laws of the realm . Thenceforth Druidism ceased to exist ; the High Druidic Courts m each tribe and county becoming iscopal

so many ep sees , and the Archdrnicls afc London . York , and Oaerlcon , accepting t-Im new title and dignity of Archbishops . lih'om tins period to the elevation of Constantino to supreme authorit y in Rome , there existed no other spot on earth , so far as is known , in which Christianity ivas recognized or even permitted by the temporal power ; and ifc was hy this British prince Constantino ,, ; ustly known to history as Constantino the Great . Emperor ot and founder of

Lome Constantinople , that the Cross was permanently planted throughout the Roman world on the ruins of Heathenism . This was in the years ? , 0 (> -33 G ; and referring for the career of this illustrious man to the pages of Gibbon , I will - merely quote , m the words of one of his own edicts , the great objects of his life , .- " AVe call God to witness , the Saviour of all men , that in assuming the reins of government ire have never been influenced b

y other than these two considerations—the uniting of all . our dominions in one faith , ancl restoring peace to a world torn to pieces by the madness of reli gions persecutions . " Ihe church in England was for ages rc-cognixed by Latin historians as the " Royal Church , " Ucyia Domus . or Royal Temple being the title b y which it was distinguished from all other churches ; and Genebrard Italian historian of states

, an authority , , * . Ihe glory of Britain consists not only in this , that she was the i f ° !}^ y , Wnc ' i" a national capacity publicly professed herseli Christian , but that she made this confession when the Koinan empire itself was yet pagan and a cruel persecutor of Christianit . v . " L

I must again apologise for detaining you with these details oi our early Christian history ; they arc chiefly interesting as affording the only intelligible explanation of the intense hostility with ivhich the annals of our early history have ever been regarded hy the papacy and by every church which bases itself upon the pretensions of Rome . Offering to you these facts with that view , I can only hope that some of my hearers may he thereby ledto

make such investigations for themselves as will not only justify tlie earnestness with which I press the subject upon your consideration , but will strengthen their confidence and faith in those principles of Christian independence and that unyielding resistance to all other claims to authority but such as are based upon the Bible , which , known to us under the name of Protestantism , can thus be proved by our own British annals to be coeval with

Christianity itself . As I approach the necessary limits of this lecture I cannot hut feci the imperfection of my humble efforts iu treating on so vast and important a topic , the only result which I can desire or expect being to stimulate inquiry further into otu * national pedigree ; and for this purpose I must further ask your attention to such facts as do directly connect us as Englishmen with this earlBritish race . . For this purpose I

y must exceed for a lew sentences the chronological limit ivhich . 1 prescribed for myself , of the Norman conquest . ' You will remember that I commenced 1113 * narrative with the Trojan era , which terminated with the Roman invasion and commencement of the Christian era . The Romans then have our

attention for four hundred years , and six hundred years more of Saxon domination and influences—hardly entitled to be called a national system of government—brings us to the Norman conquest and the Plantagenet era . This terminated in the year 1485 b y the restoration of the ancient British sovereignty in the person of Henry the Seventh . During all these centuries tho AA elsh had full y preserved iu unbroken succession , not only

thc ancient laws , language , and traditions of Britain , but the ancient royal race—ancl Henry the Seventh ivas its lineal representative . The history of AVales is a portion of British history ivhich , though not essential to establish the fact that ive as Englishman inherit the honours of our British ancestry , is of great interest in connection with this restoration in the person of Henry the Seventh of the ancient British sovereigntyfor it is a fact

; well recognized at the time , that by his victory . at Bosworth Eield the ancient British dynasty was ' restored to the throne , and tho nation may thus far be said to have discarded all remains of either ] Roman , 'Saxon , or Norman dominion . It cannot but be gratifying to every lover of the existing laws , constitution , and government of our country to be certified of the fact ( as undoubtedly it is ) that in our present beloved Sovereign we

recognize no trace of rule or dominion imposed by foreigners ; that , subject to such modification as the laws of nature or the ivill of the people has ordained , our Queen Victoria ( accidentally bearing ; the same name as the heroic Queen of Britain , commonly known as Boadicea ) . is the rightful representative of British sovereigns who reigned in this land one thousand years before the invasion of the Romans . And thus recognizing iu Her Majesty the most

ancient reigning dynasty in the world , we also may fairly assume to ourselves as Englishmen no small share of national honour in having braved and surmounted with national front still unbroken the vicissitudes and the trials of three thousand years . It is due to our fellow countrymen of AAfiles to point out their especial claim to share in this national honour . For one thousand five hundred years , namely , from the first

invasion of the Romans to the accession of Henry the Seventh , the ark of this , our national covenant , was nobly preserved b y that portion of the ancient British race , occupying as they did the natural fortresses of the western part of the island known as Wales . They there retained the ancient language in its ori ginal purity , and cherished with extreme devotion and affection many of the primitive institutions and customs of Britainas to this day

, may be seen and appreciated . But I think I can answer for them that they claim no other historical preeminence amongst their fellow countrymen of England than the credit of having clone justice to fche common name and character of Britons , in tho maimer iu which they rendered available during these fifteen centuries the natural advantages of their' district repelling as theydid the successive waves of foreign invasion as they broke at

times most heavil y , but in the end , as we have seen , harmlessly ,, against them . _ Sir John Price , an eminent Weslh historian , thus describes the views of the AVelsh as to the restoration of their royal race in , Henry the Seventh . "Until our race , " he says , "had placed their ancient blood 011 the throne , there ivas no quiet for either themselves or the English , but since that time they have aban-