How the Gospel came to Briatin #5
Some clear historical records
THE EARLY CHURCH IN BRITAIN PERHAPS this is a good point to sum up what we have learned so far. We have shown that the Twelve Apostles were commissioned to preach the gospel of the Kingdom,1 to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,2 and we have seen that their commission took them "unto the uttermost part of the earth",3 to the British Isles. We have seen that Paul himself with a similar commission "to bear [Christ's] name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel",4 also came "to the utmost bounds of the West".5 We have shown that even before these arrived in Britain, Joseph of Arimathaea had been sent here by the Apostle Philip, and that twice within the first quarter century after the Resurrection the faith of Christ had received Royal patronage in these islands. We have shown also that while there was a true company of God's people in Rome to whom Paul wrote,6 there was also in that city a counterfeit church which has come down to us today as the Roman Catholic Church. Some years ago the B.B.C. in a schools' broadcast stated that St.Augustine was the first person to introduce Christianity to Britain in A.D.597. Augustine was sent to Britain by Pope Gregory I, and so it has become a matter of general belief that Britain was always Roman Catholic until the time of the Reformation. However, NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. Britain was the FIRST of all peoples NATIONALLY to embrace the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. The national conversion of Britain to Christianity may perhaps be attributed to King Lucius. We do NOT suggest that the PURE faith was widely maintained in the centuries that followed. Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom",7 and Paul warned that "after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock".8 It has always been the REMNANT within the 'Church' which has sought to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints"9 Nevertheless, Britain had become a Christian nation LONG before Augustine reached these shores, and in fact, long before there was a 'pope' in Rome. (The bishops of Rome were never styled 'popes ' until the sixth century). When Augustine landed on these shores he was met by bishops of the British Church who told him: "Be it known and declared that we all, individually and collectively, are in all humility prepared to defer to the Church of God, and to the Bishop of Rome, and to every sincere and godly Christian, so far as to love every one according to his degree, in perfect charity, and to assist them all by word and in deed in becoming the children of God. But as for any other obedience, we know of none that he, whom you term Pope, or Bishop of Bishops, can demand. The deference we have mentioned we are ready to pay to him as to every other Christian, but in all other respects our obedience is due to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Caerleon, who is alone under God our ruler to keep us right in the way of salvation" (Spelman, Concilia, pp.108-9). We may well ask, if Augustine introduced Christianity to these islands, who were these bishops by whom he was met? The fact is, the gospel had been preached in this land for five-and-a-half centuries already. There was a flourishing Church in Britain; indeed hundreds if not thousands of British Christians were martyred during the Diocletian persecution when the Roman Emperor determined to exterminate Christianity. Today, the City of St.Albans is named after the best-known martyr of that period. Gildas (516-570), the noted historian, tells us: "There were martyred in Britain, Stephen and Argulius, both Bishops of London; Socrates, Bishop of York; Amphibalus, Bishop of Llandaff; Nicholas, Bishop of Penrhyn; Melior, Bishop of Carlisle; St.Alban; Julius and Aaron, priests of Caerleon; and 889 communicants in different grades of society" (De Excidio Britanniae, Sec.10, p.10). So there was a British Church at that time, but it was not Roman Catholic! The word 'catholic' means simply universal. The Church in this land was 'catholic' in-as-much as it embraced the universal faith of the gospel. That faith has its origin in the New Testament Scriptures and not in Rome. The Church in Britain could also claim to be 'apostolic', i.e. it was founded by the original Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. It can, in fact lay far more claim to being truly apostolic than can the Roman Catholic Church which, as we explained, was not founded by Peter but by an imposter masquerading as the apostle of Christ. Then today the Church of England is also described as 'protestant,' i.e. it is opposed to the claims of the Pope and protests against them. However, protestantism is no mere nega- tive belief but a positive assertion that the Scriptures contain all that is requisite for salvation, that "by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast ".10 Unhappily, we are living in days of deepening apostasy so that many of these distinctions have been deliberately ignored, and the very truths for which men gave their lives are being compromised and treated with contempt. We mentioned the Diocletian persecution in which so many died, but the Church has always thrived in persecution: the blood of the martyrs has ever been the seed of the Church. Within ten years the British Church was sufficiently flourishing as to send three bishops, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelfius of Caerleon, to the Council of Arles, convened in A.D. 314 by the Emperor Constantine. British bishops were also present at the Council of Nicaea in 325 (when the Nicene Creed was formulated), at the Council of Sardica in 347, and the Council of Ariminium in 359. Now notice the testimony of the greatest Church historians of early days. Tertullian(155-222) informs us: "The extremities of Spain, the various parts of Gaul,the regions of Britain which have never been penetrated by Roman arms have received the religion of Christ" (Tertullian Def. Fidei, p.179). Eusebius (265-340), the Church's first great historian, says: "The Apostles passed beyond the ocean to the isles called the Britannic Isles" (De Demonstratione Evangelii, Lib.111). Chrysostom (347-407), who was the Patriarch of Constantinople, tell us: "Though thou shouldest go to the ocean to the British Isles, there thou shouldest hear all men everywhere discoursing matters out of the Scriptures with another voice, but not another faith, with a different tongue but the same judgment" (Chrysostomi Orat. O Theos Xristos). Gildas (516-570), whom we have already quoted, writes: "Christ, the True Sun, afforded His light, the knowledge of His precepts, to our island during the height of [or, the last year of] the reign of Tiberius Caesar" (De Excidio Britanniae, Sec. 8, p.25). Tiberius Caesar died in A.D.37, and, as we have shown in Chapter Two ... in this year that Joseph of Arimathaea came to Britain. Theodoret; writing in A.D.435 Says: "Paul, liberated from his first captivity at Rome, preached the Gospel to the Britons and others in the West. Our fishermen and publicans not only persuaded the Romans and their tributaries to acknowledge the Crucified and His laws, but the Britons also and the Cymry" (De Civ. Graec. Off., lib. ix). Bede (670-735) in his "Eclesiastical History of the English Nation," tells us: "The Britons preserved the faith which they had received, uncorrupted and entire, in peace and tranquility until the time of the Emperor Diocletian" (J.M.Dent Everyman's Edn., p.9). Bede was, of course, a Roman Catholic, and he has given us a most telling account of the faith of the Church in Britain at the coming of Augustine: "For they did not keep EASTER Sunday at the proper time, but from the FOURTEENTH to the TWENTIETH moon; which computation is contained in a revolution of eighty-four years. Besides, they did several other things which were against the unity of the Church . ... After a long disputation, they did not comply with the entreaties, exhortations, or rebukes of Augustine and his companions, but preferred their own traditions before all the churches in the world ... They could not depart from their ancient customs without the consent and leave of their people" (J.M.Dent, Everyman's Edn., pp,65-66). This testimony is most important, since it shows us again that the Church had been in existence in Britain long the coming of Augustine in 597, and also because it reveals the British Churches' refusal to accept the rule of Rome. The Church of this nation would from its earliest days have observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in common with Eastern Church. The Roman Catholic 'Easter' which was later introduced had its origin in paganism. Thus the evidence is irrefutable, The Church in Britain ante-dates the coming of Augustine by more than five-and-a-half centuries. Moreover, it is only in comparatively recent times that the great antiquity of the British Church seems to have been lost sight of. The primacy of the Church in Britain was taken for granted until the matter was raised by ambassadors of France and Spain in 1409, and then at four successive Church Councils, Pisa 1409, Constance 1417, Sienna 1424 and Basle 1434, the French and Spanish churches conceded that they must yield precedence to the British. Archbishop Ussher(1581-1656) informs us that the basis of the British claim was the burial of Joseph of Arimathaea at Glastonbury, and the donation by Arviragus of the twelve hides of land. Ussher, who is best remembered for his system of Bible Chronology incorporated in the margin of many Bibles even today, tells us: "The Mother Church of the British Isles is the Church in Insula Avalonia, called by the Saxons 'Glaston'". Robert Parsons, the Jesuit, states in his "Three Conversions of England": "Christian religion began in Britain within fifty years of Christ's Ascension". Polydore Virgil (1470-1555), Archbishop of Wells, who was from a literary family, was steeped in English history, and had special access to sources of the Glastonbury tradition, tells us: "Britain, partly through Joseph of Arimathaea, partly through Fugatus and Damianus [Fagan and Dyfan], was of all kingdoms the first that received the Gospel". Sir Henry Spelman in his 'Cancilia,' wrote: "It is certain that Britain received the faith in the first age from the first sowers of the Word. Of all the churches whose origin I have investigated in Britain, the Church of Glastonbury is the most ancient ... we have abundant evidence that this Britain of ours received the faith and that from the disciples of Christ Himself, soon after the Crucifixion of Christ". Cardinal Pole said: "The See Apostolic [Rome] from whence I come hath a special respect to this realm above all others, and not without cause, seeing that God Himself, as it were, by providence hath given to this realm prerogative of nobility above all others, which to make plain unto you, it is to be considered that this island first of all islands received the light of Christ's religion". The occasion of this speech was the Assembly of the Lords and Commons before Philip and Mary in Whitehall for the Act of Reconciliation, the acceptance by the British Church of the Pope of Rome. In a speech made the following day at Westminster Abbey, Cardinal Pole said: "Once again God hath given a token of His special favour to the Realm, for as this nation in the time of the primitive Church was the first to be called out of the darkness of heathenism, so now they are the first to whom God has given grace to repent of their schism". Having then established the fact that the Church in Britain can lay claim to apostolic foundation, 11 and does not owe its origin to Augustine, it will be profitable for us to say a few words about the native Church in the earliest centuries. During the first three centuries of the Christian era there were bands of Christians in various parts of Ireland. However, it is to Patrick that the conversion of Ireland is usually attributed. The centuries have obliterated every clue as to the birthplace of Patrick, but it seems likely that he was born in Western Britain, a Roman citizen of Christian parentage. The date may have been 385. When he was about 16 years of age he and his family were taken captive to Ireland by raiders who came in from the sea. After seven years he escaped to Britain but later returned as Bishop of Ireland in 432. Patrick now evangelised the whole of Ireland, and from schools founded by him, missionaries took the light of the gospel to every part of Europe. Patrick died on 17th March, 461. It was from Ireland that Columba passed into Scotland. Columba was born in Ireland on 7th December, 521. He was of royal parentage, his father being a member of the reigning house in Ireland, descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the king who was reigning in Ireland at the time when Patrick had been brought from Britain as a slave. His mother Eithne belonged to the royal house of Leinster. Thus Columba might well have been King of Ireland had not divine providence decreed otherwise. In circumstances which need not concern us here, Columba left Ireland in May, 563, and came to Iona, the tiny island off the Atlantic coast of Scotland. From here he converted almost the whole of Scotland, and missionaries were sent forth into the north of England and much of Europe. The number of churches which Columba founded in Scotland alone is variously estimated at from 53 to more than 300. He died in 597, the very same year that Augustine arrived in Britain. Here we should explain that during the fifth and sixth centuries, Britain had been invaded by pagan Jutes, Saxons and Angles - all Israelite people nonetheless - with the result that the native British Church had been driven into the West and North. It was now the Celtic Church, the legacy of such as Patrick and Columba, which was destined to rekindle the light of Christ, and not the Augustinian mission which met with little success outside of Kent. Oswald, King of Northumbria had become a Christian during a period of exile on the island of Iona. Aidan was now sent from Iona to aid Oswald in the conversion of his people, and estab- lished himself on the island of Lindisfarne which now became a wellspring of Christianity in the North. Aidan has been called the apostle of the English. Thus it was the Celtic Church which was responsible for the evangelisation of these islands, becoming the lantern of the West, and sending forth missionaries all over Europe. During the seventh century Iona was at the height of its fame. It was during this century however, that Roman influence, first introduced by Augustine (who had died in 604) began to make itself felt. As we have seen from the statements of Bede already quoted, there was marked resentment on the part of the British Church to the encroachment of Rome. In 664. a Synod was convoked at Whitby, presided over by Oswy, King of Northumbria, for the purpose of settling the date of Easter. This ended with the defeat and resignation of Colman, Bishop of Northumbria. Roman usage was accepted on three points, and the Church now moved towards Rome, thus paving the way for that complete domination which lasted until the middle of the sixteenth century. The native Church, both British and Celtic, which until this time had been distinguished for its piety and evangelistic zeal, now began to acquire centralised control, and a unified system of Church Government was established under Theodore of Tarsus who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 667. But this usurpation by Rome was long resented, and four centuries later we find William, the Norman Conqueror of England, refusing to acknowledge the claims of the Pope, "Fealty I have never willed to do, nor will I do it now. I have never promised it, nor do I find that my predecessors did it to yours". We have told but a little of the wonderful story of the early Church in Britain. From its earliest days it has been bound up with the origin, the growth and the development of the nation. The rival kingdoms existing in these Isles at the time of Christ - were brought into spiritual and national unity. The pagan Jutes, Saxons and Angles became peace-loving and civilised. And in the centuries which followed, it was the Church which established schools where children might be taught, and hospitals and alms-houses where the sick and aged might be cared for. It covered the land with cathedrals and churches of unexampled beauty. It translated the Scriptures which are able to make men "wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus".12 It made the Bible an open book, and taught successive generations the knowledge and love of God. Thus it was the Church which became the strongest element in the formation of the national character. The respect for authority, the concept of service, the love of freedom - ideals which were to become Britain's greatest contribution to the world - were fostered by the Church. But this moulding of the national character, the preparation of the British people for a role in which they were destined to bless the world, could never have taken place unless the faith which was planted here in Bible days had been preserved continuously all down the centuries. This island home of ours can truly claim that its Church was founded by the Apostles, that it recognises the Scriptures as its sole rule of faith and doctrine, and that it is subject to no other Church on earth. Moreover, it has reason to believe that the Saviour of the world Himself visited the place of its foundation. This shall be the subject of our next Chapter. 1.Matthew 4:23 2.Matthew 10:6 3.Acts 1:8 4 Acts 9:15 5 1 Clement 3:14 6.Romans 1:7 7 Luke 12:32 8.8.Acts 20:29 9.Jude 3 10.Ephesians 2:8-9 11.Ephesians 2:20 12.2 Timothy 3:15 ................. TO BE CONTINUED |
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