introduced into Britain at a very early period, when nations nearer to Judea had not yet heard the joyful sound, seems probable; but that the thirty-seventh year of Tiberius, or the fourth after the death of Christ, was, as some affirm, the auspicious æra, we will not venture to maintain, for it is not credible. When the ancient ecclesiastical historians observe, that Christ walking on the waters was a type and pledge of his hastening to our isle; and that his disciples' occupation of fishermen was designed to facilitate the event, we are amused, but not instructed. Yet we remember that the sublime prophet represents Messiah as saying, ages before his incarnation, "listen, O isles, and hearken, ye people from afar*." To Peter, James, and Paul, among the twelve; to Simon Zelotes and Aristobulus, apostolic men, has been given the title of apostle to the British isle, with equal strength of confidence and want of prooff. But the monkish legends assign this honour to Joseph of Arimathea, who was long supposed to have founded the church at Glastonbury, and planted its holy thorn. It is, however, more lately affirmed, that Caractacus, being conquered by the Romans, and carried captive to Rome, with his father Bran, or Branus, his wife and children, had there an opportunity of hearing the Gospel. Bran and others of the family became converts to the Christian faith, and on their return, introduced it into their native country. On this account Bran is called one of the three blessed sovereigns of Britain, and Cyllin, son of Caractacus, who is supposed to have received the Gospel at this time, is styled St. Cyllin. Eigen, the daughter of Caractacus. *Isaiah xlix. 1. + Fuller's Church History of Britain, book I. is recorded as the first British female saint. This noble family is said to have returned from Rome in the seventieth year of the Christian æra, and to have brought over Ilid, a Christian Jew, and Cyndav, a brother, to assist in propagating the Gospel in Britain *. We still, however, leave this question in the uncertainty in which it is likely always to remain; for whoever was the first herald of mercy to this isle, probably came without pomp or noise; and having scattered the first seeds of divine truth, left them to be watered with the dew of heaven, and departed to find his name in a nobler volume than that of fame, "the Lamb's book of life." But why should every thing be ascribed to the efforts of one individual ?-· Might not the intercourse maintained between this country and Gaul, by means of the travelling merchants, have brought hither Christians at different periods, who might contribute to diffuse the Gospel in various parts of our isle? Wonders are related of the numbers and dignity of the first Christian converts. The Claudia, mentioned by Paul†, is said to have been a British Christian, wife to Pudens, a Roman senator: but this, if it were true, proves nothing concerning the history of religion in Britain, as she might have believed on Christ by hearing his Gospel at Rome. The second century of the Christian æra furnishes no materials for the religious history of our country; except the supposed conversion of Lucius, a British king, be thought worthy of attention. But his king *This is asserted on the authority of the Welsh Triads. ship, if not imaginary, was very diminutive, amounting to little more than a provincial government under the Romans. His conversion is said to have been effected by the lustre of miracles, and by means of an embassy from Rome; both which render it suspicious*. And though it is triumphantly asserted, that the example of this royal convert was so effectual, that, in a little time, not an unbeliever remained†, we know what kind of converts they are that are caught by shoals in a day. Real Christians are comparatively few, and won with difficulty; but they are" the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold," and when their hearts are once united to the Saviour, neither time nor death shall dissolve the bond. ན་ The subsequent age commenced auspiciously; for Christians had now filled the Roman empire, being found in all the cities, villages, and camps, Tertullian and Origen glory that places in Britain, which, separated from the world, had been inaccessible to the Roman arms, yielded to the triumphant banner of the cross. Several of the Roman emperors were either liberal enough to leave the Christians, to what they thought, their obstinate humour, or too much absorbed in their pleasures, to find leisure to persecute a despised sect. At other times, when persecution raged furiously in Gaul, our sequestered isle was the asylum of religious liberty. Such may it ever prove! Diocletian boasted of having blotted out the Christian name; but Gildas, our most ancient historian, only says, "in that bloody time, Christianity almost disap* Spanheim. Ita ut in brevi nullus infidelis remaneret. BEDE. peared in some parts;" and we shall shortly see, that, after this desolating period, there were many in Britain who bore the Christian name. At this time, the Gospel is supposed to have been first introduced into Scotland, or Ireland; and king Donald to have been converted. Now, also, the Popish legends tell us, St. Ursula and eleven thousand virgins were martyred for the Gospel. But St. Alban is called our proto-martyr. His kindness in sheltering a Christian preacher from the fury of persecution, by giving him an asylum in his house at Verulam, a Roman colony, was rewarded by his conversion to the faith of Christ. He sealed his profession with his blood, and the earliest historians of the event, among other miraculous circumstances with which they embellish the story, affirm that the eyes of the executioner dropped from his head, while giving the fatal blow. The town was afterwards called St. Alban's, in honour of this martyr*. Though the persecution which raged in Britain was short; heavy complaints are made of the places of worship being demolished, the sacred Scriptures burned, and the ministers of religion forced to hide themselves from the storm. But toleration was soon restored, and Constantius, the father of Constantine the great, though induced to execute the Imperial decree for persecution, seems to have reigned in Britain with gentle sway. It is related that he tried the fidelity of his officers to their principles, by commanding them all to sacrifice to the heathen gods, when those, who obeyed against their conscience, were dismissed with ignominy, as men who, false to + Fuller. * Spanheim. their God, could not be supposed faithful to their prince. Helena, the wife of Constantius, is renowned as an eminent saint; but not till after her departure from Britain, and the supposed conversion of her son. Our country has been pronounced happy beyond all others, in giving birth to Constantine, the first Christian emperor. It is not, however, pretended that he became a believer during his residence in Britain. Having hastened to York, to receive the injunctions of his dying father, he was there invested with the imperial purple, and shortly after marched to Rome, to meet Maxentius, who opposed his elevation. On the eve of the decisive battle, he is said to have seen in the heavens the figure of a cross, with the inscription, "by this conquer." But in the edict which he shortly after published, in favour of the Christians, he not only makes no acknowledgment of being converted by such a miraculous sign, and the subsequent victory which he obtained, but he even avoids any declaration of his own religion, giving only complete liberty of worship. Indeed, after all that has been said on both sides, it still remains an awful doubt, whether Constantine ever possessed any other than a political religion. In the latter part of his reign, while his own conduct was stained with crimes, he more completely established the Christian religion, and loaded its professed friends and ministers with worldly honours, Some have been enraptured with this civil establishment of Christianity, as á most auspicious fulfilment of the prophetic vision: "I saw the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, adorned as a bride for her husband." But others, seeing the church from that day amalga |