THE REV. R. B. PAUL'S LECTURE ON THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 89, 18 September 1852, Page 9

THE REV. R. B. PAUL'S LECTURE ON THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND.

------' It is impossible, in the absence of any authentic records, to pronounce with certainty by whom or at what period Christianity was first introduced into the British Isles. One fact, however, is undoubted, that before the close of the second century the Gospel had found its way into parts of the country so savage and trackless as to be inaccessible to the armies of the victorious Eomans. If then we take for granted, as we surely may, that the message of salvation was first proclaimed in those inhospitable wilds by missionaries from a church already established in some more civilized district of the island, there would seem to be no violent improbability in the statement of more than one ancient writer that the Gospel was first preached in Britain by some one of the Apostles, or at least by men on whom the Apostles had laid their hands. Be this, however, as it may, we have undoubted evidence that there existed in Britain long before the Saxon conquest a regularly constituted church, entirely independent of, and probably holding little or no intercourse with, the Church of Rome. We must not, however, forget that when the ancient Briton'sought refuge from his oppressor in the mountain fastnesses of Wales and the North of Scotland, he carried with him all that remained of Christianity in Bri-' tain, leaving Woden and Thor, and the oth6f dark and sanguinary demons of the Saxon mythology in undisturbed possession of the largest and -fairest portion of the Island. It was towards the close of the sixth century, when Christianity had entirely disappeared from the kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy, that Gregory the Great (the Pope mentioned in my former lecture as disclaiming any supremacy over his fellow Bishops) was one day walking through the slave market at Rome, when his attention was arrested by a group of children, whose fair hair and blue eyes bespoke them natives of some distant northern country. In answer to his enquiries the slave-merchant told him that the lads had been brought from Britain, where the people were still heathens. Upon asking further to what nation of Britain they belonged, he was told that they were Angles. "Angles?" "said the good man"— ' Well, indeed, are they so called—for they are as beautiful as angels —and angels they would be, if they were only Christians." Of what province were they ? he asked —and being told that they were from Deira (a portion of Northumbria lying between the Humber and the Tees) —rightly he says was the place so named, for they and their countrymen should soon, by the preaching of the Gospel, be delivered from God's wrath (de Dei ira). And when he was told that their King was named Ella—he replied, that Alleluiah should soon be sung throughout the length and breadth of his dominions. Strange and unseemly as this mode of treating the most solemn of all subjects must appear to modern readers, the language of Gregory was nevertheless the expression of a deep and serious feeling, which afterwards produced the most important results. He would at once have gone in person to preach the Gospel to the Anglo-Saxons, and had actually set out on his journey, when a peremptory message from the Pope compelled him to return. No sooner, however, was he himself raised to the Papal chair, than he dispatched Augustine at the head of forty missionaries to commence the good work of evangelizing Britain. In the year, 597, Augustine landed at the isle of Thanet in Kent, and making his arrival known to Ethelbert, king of that country, requested an audience, —which was immediately granted, probably through the influence of the Queen, who was herself a Christian, and had brought over with her from France, her native country, a household establishment of priests, who were permitted to officiate in an ancient chinch within the walls of Canterbury, which had been repaired and fitted up for her use. On receiving this permission the missionaries approached in solemn procession, two of their number earning a silver cross and a banner, on which was painted the portrait of our Saviour, whilst the remainder chanted a solemn litany in those simple but majestic tones which still bear the name of their inventor, Pope Gregory the First. The King having welcomed them to his dominions, and expressed bis re.uiiness to listen fc;> any communication which they might be inclined to make, Augustine ;U mice disclosed the purport oi his minion. H" hud come, he said, from a oi^auuaisd, to .'iF-v lo

their acceptance eternal happiness, if they would receive his words. God had manifested his love to the world, by sending into it his only Son, to become a man among the children of men, and suffer death upon the cross, as a propitiation for their sins. Christ had proved his divinity hy innumerable miracles. He had healed the sick, had raised the dead to life, had stilled the raging of the winds, and walked upon the waters of the sea. Finally he had himself risen from the grave, that we might rise through him, and had ascended into heaven, that he might receive us into his glory— and He would come again to judge both quick and dead for the deeds done in the body. The reply of the king was cautious, but by no means unfavourable. He could not at once assent to what they proposed, and abandon the faith of his fathers. But he would throw no obstacles in the way of their delivering to his peopb the message, for the sake of which they had encountered so many perils. Meanwhile a. lodging should be prepared for them, and permission granted them to officiate in the Queen's chapel at Canterbury. Soon after this conversation, Ethelbert made an open profession of Christianity, and immediately issued a proclamation inviting his subjects to receive the Gospel, but at the same time declaring that no man would be compelled to abandon the ancient religion, for he had learnt from the missionaries that the service of Christ must he voluntary. After this auspicious beginning the progress of Christianity was rapid in England, and within a few years was so firmly established that missionaries from the Anglican church left their own shores in crowds to preach the glad tidings of salvation to the savage inhabitants of Germany. Meanwhile Augustine, whose consecration as Archbishop of Canterbury had been approved by the Pope, had repaired to the borders of Wales, and sought an interview with the Bishops of the ancient British church. The place of their meeting seems to have been under the shade of a tree, afterwards known as Augustine's oak, somewhere on the banks of the Severn. Seven British Bishops attended the conference. On their way thither they had asked the advice of a hermit, famous for his wisdom and piety. " If," said the recluse, " Augustmebe a man of God, follow his advice." "But how," they enquired, "shall this be ascertained ?" " Nothing," s aid the hermit, « can he more simple. Our Lord hath said, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for 1 am meek and lowly of heart. Now let the stranger be at the place of meeting before you—if he shall rise at your approach, then you may know that he has learnt of Christ—but if he receives you sitting, retain your ancient usages." At the place of meeting Augustine, without rising from his chair, addressed the deputation to this effect, —" I only ask three things of you, one, that you should keep Easter as we do" another, that you should baptize according to the Roman ritual, a third, that you should join us in preaching to the Angle's. With your other peculiarities we will patiently bear." To this the Britons replied, ft We cannot agree to any of your proposals—much less can we receive as our Archbishop, one who will not even rise to salute us." From this period to the reign of Henry L, the English and British churches seem to have been two distinct communities, the former, under the presidency of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, comprehending the whole of England, properly so called, the latter being confined to the inhabitants of Wales who were subject to their own Metropolitan, the Bishop of St. David's. * What the position of the English church was at this tune with reference to the Church of Rome does not very distinctly appear. Probably the relation in which it stood was ill-defined and uncertain, depending rather on the accident of the day than on any fixed and settled rule. Appeals seem to have been now and then made to the Pope—but we must remember that the intercourse between the two countries was extremely difficult, and subject in those turbulent times to perpetfwl interruption. A journey to Rome in the seventh century was almost as tedious find far more dangerous than a voyage in the present day from England to New Zealand. There is an account still extant of a pilgrimage to Rome undertaken by one of the German Emperors, with his wife and child. As *he y advanced, we are told, through the pass of Mount Cenis. this forlorn party were exposed to all the horrors attendant on a" winter's journey across the Alps. Whilst the snow fell so thick as to render every step a work of iuprea.-

sing toil, avalanches descended from time to time with the roar of a thunder-storm, threatening to bury them beneath the ruins of trees and fragments of locks, which were detached from the sides of the mountains, and came rushing down within a few paces of the affrighted travellers. Nor were the terrors of their situation greatly diminished, when a severe frost rendered the narrow pathway so slippery that they were compelled to creep on hands and feet or slide down the glaciers to avoid being dashed to pieces, the precipice in many places going sheer down to the depth of many hundred feet on one side of a road scarcely a yard wide, whilst a wall of rock rose on the other. The horses, unable to retain their footing, were bound with ropes and lowered over the edge of the precipice by peasants, whilst the Queen and her infant, wrapped in an ox's hide, were dragged along the slippery causeway, their rude sledge being steadied by men, who walked beside it, whenever the nature of the ground rendered such a support necessary. And even supposing that the traveller reached Rome in safety, there were still perils in store for him. "At Rome," says an old writer, "you will find broiling heat, putrid water, coarse unwholesome victuals, air so thick that you may grasp it in your hands, myriads of mosquitoes, store of serpents. The whole city is undermined, and in the hollows of the earth lurk poisonous vermin, which start into life with,the first heat of summer." Under such circumstances we may well understand that a journey to Rome for the sake of gaining religious knowledge was rarely undertaken and that in those days it was reckoned a labour of no ordinary merit. It was at best a weary way, and not unfrequently was beset with dangers from man as well as from the elements. Thus, for instance, if a sovereign wished to prevent an appeal to the Pope from the clergy of his kingdom, he seldom scrupled to waylay the deputies and keep them in safe custody until the storm had blown over. On one occasion, when a general council was summoned to meet at Rome for the discussion of some matters in dispute between the Emperor and the Pope,no less than twenty-two shiploads of bishops and clergy were captured by command of the former, so that no Council could be held. Such being the difficulties attendant on the intercourse with Rome, the Church of England was fora long while left (as the Church in New Zealand seems now to be left) pretty much to itself. And in one respect this was no inconsiderable advantage; for the nation, thus thrown on its own resources, acquired a spirit of independence in ecclesiastical matters which afterwards stood it in good stead, when resistance to the overstrained authority of Rome became a duty; and at the same time gave to the king, and especially to synods of the clergy, an authority which they might not otherwise so easily have obtained. Still there was much in the Anglo-Saxon Church which required reform. So imperfect, indeed, had become its discipline, that, according to the historian Bede, there was, shortly before his time, only one canonically ordained bishop in all England. It was determined therefore that a priest, chosen by the Saxon kings and approved by the Church, should be sent to Rome, to be there consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury. From this time the Anglo-Saxon Church seems to have been modelled according to the Roman fashion, as regarded ceremonies and observances, but probably with little or no change in the articles of her belief. Indeed, if we except prayers and offerings for the dead, we have no sufficient evidence that any of the errors in doctrine, against which the reformed churches now protest, were at that time established even in the Church of Rome herself. Gregory the Great (as we have before seen) disclaimed the authority which has since been assumed by the Bishops of Rome ; and in his letters he strongly expresses his disapprobation of the honour paid to images. The practice invoking saints was still unknown. In a word, with the exception to which I have alluded (prayers for the dead) there seems to have been no essential difference in doctrine between the Anglo-Saxon Church of the seventh century and the Church of England as she has existed since the Reformation. By what steps the Church of our own country declined from error to error, until like the other branches of the western church, she had so overlaid the pure and simple religion of the Gospel, as to leave but few traces of it discernable, it would be a waste of time now to enquire, the subject, as regards a similar fermentation of the Romish leaven in Germany,

having been discussed in my. former lecture. One remark however may not be out of place, —I mean, that the Reformation in England is not to be regarded as a sudden event which took the nation by surprise. It was rather the bursting forth of a volcano, the fiery materials of which had been smouldering for ages in our own as well as in other countries of Europe. (To be continued.)