GLASTONBURY ABBEY.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 353, 6 February 1937, Page 7

GLASTONBURY ABBEY.

First Christian Church In Great Britain. (Transcribed from the "National Message” by W.L.K.) Glastonbury Abbey occupies what is believed to be the site of the first Christian Church building in the world. The original church was built of wattle, and its siae was the< same as the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. Eusibius (A.D. 260-340), Bishop of Ca sarea and the father of Church history after the Sacred Canon closed says: "The Apostles passed beyond the Ocean to the Isles called the Britannic Isles.” Geidas the British historian (A.D. 516 570) says: “Meanwhile these islands received the beam of light —that is, the Holy precepts of Christ, the' true son of God —at the latter part, as w? know, of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.” "As we know” seems to refer to a generally accepted knowledge. This date would be at the latest A.D. 37, some seven years after the Crucifixion. This fits in decision of the Councils of Basle, JPisa and Constance that the British Bishops took precedence of the French and Spanish because our church was founded immediately after the Passion of Christ. There is an ancient MS in the Vatican Which states that’ St. Joseph, Laraius, Mary and Martha, and others were put into a boat off the Lerant and landed at Marseilles in A.D. 35. Cressy, the Benedictine monk and historian, tells us that St. Joseph of Arimathea died at Glastonbury on July 27, A.D. 82, and on his tombstone was written, in Latin, "After I had buried the Christ, I came to the Isles of the West; I taught; 1 entered unto my rest.” Another point about the Brit' h Church. It was one throughout tne Kingdom—no chisms, no divers : ons, throughout its history, t il Augustine came to England round about A.D. 597—Aristobulus, the fellow-worker of St. Paul j was associated with

‘ Glastonbury. There is testimony from the- Eastern Church that ; Aristobulus. was the first Bishop of the Britons, and that St. Paul chose him as such. St. Paul appointed | Aristobulus (Rom, XVI. 10), one of * the 70 disciples, faCher-in-law of St. I Peter, as first Bishop of Bi’Lain, St. i Paul chose him as such. He also I made Linus first Bishop of Rome. * Linus was the son of Caractacus, the ■ British King, who.-was taken prisoner ’ to Rome, and it must have been ! Linus and Gladys (who changed her j name to Claudia on being adopted by | Claudius, the Emperor), who foundI ed the church in Rome, as. we know j that neither St. Peter or St. Paul did I so. ♦ j When St. Paul went to Rome as '■ a prisoner he found Linus and J Claudia there, both of them Christ- : inns from Britain, where they had ; been converted by Joseph of Arima- | thea, hence the British church is ’ older than the church of Rome. j fit is.; interesting to observe that : Pudens, Linus and Claudia are men- 1 i tioned by St. IPaul in his second 1 j Epistle to Timothy (IV. 21), which * Epistle the Apostle wrote when he I was himself a prisoner in Rome and | a friend of these British Christians. | Tradition has it that St. Paul himj self came to Britain, and he himself i promised to go to the “uttermost j bounds of the West,” and St. BarJ nabas, Simon Zelotes, Aristobulus, I Joseph of Armathea, and that these j last two died at Glastonbury. j Perhaps the most wonderful tradiI tion of all is that our Lord actually j came as a boy, accompaning Joseph | of Armathea on one of his expedi- | tions to, seek metal, he being a rich I merchant in metals’, the tin and copper mines in Cornwall then being the richest in the world. Joseph of Armathea being the uncle* of the Virgin Mary. It is obvious that William Blake, the poet, had heard thih ’ tradition when be immortalised it in

his “Jerusalem.” ‘‘And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England’s mountains green? And was the Holy Lamb of God In England’s pleasant pastures seen? And did the countenance Divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among those dark Satanic -mills? Bring me my bow of burning gold’ Bring me my arrows of desire! Bring me my spear! Oh clouds, unfold ’ Bring me my chariot of fire! I will not cease from mental fight! Nor shall my sword sleep in my • hand | Till 1 have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land.”