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Church in Britain, and spreading light and hope through the darkened land.

[A.D. 200.] There is every reason to believe that a hundred years after the Apostles were dead many churches had been built in Britain where the true God received praise and worship. It is interesting to know that the Claudia mentioned by St. Paul in the the twenty-first verse of the fourth chapter of the second Epistle to Timothy is supposed by some writers to have been a British lady of great beauty and wit, the Christian wife of Pudens, a soldier in the Roman army. Her brother is supposed to have been that same Cyllen, or Linus, mentioned by St. Paul in the same passage, and afterwards first Bishop of the Church of Rome.

There is also a story told (for the truth of which I cannot vouch), that in the year 173 Lucius, a British king, and grandson of this Linus, wrote to Eleutherus, then Bishop of Rome, to send some clergymen to teach his people. At all events we may believe what Tertullian, the great Christian writer, says about the year 200. He speaks of those parts of Britain "not yet conquered by the Romans, being yet subject to Christ;" so you see where the Roman arms could not penetrate, God's truth had made its way in.

In my second chapter I told you how much the heathen Emperors of Rome hated the Christians and their religion. A great many of them did all they could to find out the Christians, and when they refused to offer sacrifice, and worship the heathen gods, they put them to cruel deaths, hoping by this means to get rid of them altogether; but God, who so often brings good out of evil, caused many more to believe in the religion of these poor tortured, dying men, and the more the Emperors forbade it, the more the people persisted in saying their prayers to Christ.

In the year 298 the Roman Emperor Diocletian published an edict that all Christians who refused to worship idols should be put to death, and their churches burnt to the ground. Many of the best and holiest Christians gave up their lives rather than deny Christ; but it is generally supposed that not many in our country suffered in this last dreadful" persecution," as it is called. Do you remember the sentence in that fine old hymn, the Te Deum, you hear chanted so often in church, "The noble army of martyrs praise Thee?" Perhaps you may not know that these brave men and women, who died rather than give up their faith, are called "martyrs ;" and, as many of them expired with God's praises on their lips, so even now they join with us on earth, and with the angels, praising Him in heaven.

You will often read sad stories of these good martyrs; and although we may hope never in these days to suffer as they did, we may learn some very useful lessons from their courage and patience. I must not conclude this chapter without mentioning St. Alban. He is generally supposed to have been the first English martyr. He left his own country to fight for the Emperor Diocletian in the Roman army, and on his return to Britain, struck with the contrast between his own cruel religion and the patience and holiness of those who had become Christians, he secretly believed in the truth. We are told, however, that he was publicly brought to confess his belief by the holy example of a poor Christian priest he had sheltered under his roof. When the house was searched, Alban nobly exchanged clothes with the priest, in order that he might escape his enemies. This kind act led to his discovery; and when dragged away to the torture he boldly declared before all the army that he believed in Christ, and would worship only one God. His fate was sealed, and the Saviour he refused to deny on earth prepared for him a home of joy and happiness in heaven. There is a place in Hertfordshire named after this our first Christian martyr, and a fine old abbey, which has lately been restored, was afterwards built to his memory. You must think of him if ever you see it, and wonder if that is indeed the spot where St. Alban suffered nearly sixteen hundred years ago.

CHAPTER IV.

HOW THE CHRISTIAN FAITH TRIUMPHED UNDER CONSTANTINE-USE OF BISHOPS -PLAN OF THE BRITISH CHURCH.

[A.D. 306.] You will find, dear children, in reading history, that one of the most useful lessons we may learn is that God watches over and orders every event, and when things seem most dark, and evil appears all but to overpower what is good, He raises up some great or holy man to do the work He has in hand, and protect what is true. The spot is still shown at York where the Empress Helena, a British lady, is supposed to have given birth to the first Christian Emperor of Rome. The walls of the prætorium at York rang with shouts of joy when Constantine the Great was proclaimed Emperor of the world. As Englishmen we cannot but feel proud that our country should have given birth to so famous a man. When the Christian's last spark of hope seemed about to be put out, and

the heathen religion to prevail, God raised up Constantine to cherish the spark, until it became a great and living flame. During the reign of the wicked Emperor Diocletian, Constantius, the father of Constantine, together with his son, was appointed governor of our island; and this will in a great measure help us to understand why the Britons suffered comparatively little in the persecution. In the year 306 Constantine enters Rome in triumph as Emperor, and all cruelties against the followers of Christ cease. Christians are favoured, and their religion encouraged throughout the world. Our own little island shares in the general joy; churches spring up everywhere, and numbers join a religion which is favoured and upheld by the greatest sovereign of the world. A great Christian writer of the time thus describes the general joy. After speaking of the virtues and goodness of Constantine, he adds: "The Christians now no longer feared those who had so cruelly used them; they celebrated splendid and festive days with joy and hilarity; all things were filled with light, and all who before were sunk in sorrow looked at each other with smiling, cheerful faces. With choirs and hymns in the cities and villages they praised God, the universal King, and extolled the pious Emperor. There was perfect forgetfulness of former evil, and all past wickedness was buried in oblivion. There was nothing but enjoyment of present blessings, and hope of those yet to come. Edicts were published and issued by the victorious Emperor full of clemency, and laws were made full of charity and true religion." *

On looking back at the rules which were laid down for the British Church, it is interesting to find that in many important respects it is very like our own English Church of the present day. First of all, there were the bishops at its head. Of this fact we are certain, beause in the year 314 three British bishops were present at a large meeting of different foreign bishops held at the town of Arles, in France. These meetings, which are generally called "Councils," did good in many ways. First, they gave the bishops an opportunity of talking over matters together, and consulting as to what was best for the good of their people; and then they helped one another by proposing new and useful plans, which some might not have thought of. It may have happened, too, that while they were separated at their different homes, they disagreed about various things, and felt aggrieved and angry with other bishops, who could not think as they did; but when they came to meet together and talk over the matter calmly, they often found that, after all, * Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, p. 419.

there was not so much difference in their ideas, and they would agree to decide the point amicably by each giving way a little. Again, there were often matters of religion which people could not agree about, and as this difference of opinion sometimes caused a great deal of quarrelling and ill-feeling among Christians, many were glad when the bishops met together and decided the point, which they often tried to do fairly, and for the benefit of all parties; indeed the chief object of these early Councils was to preserve the true faith from being corrupted, and to give the bishops an opportunity of protesting against any false or unscriptural doctrine. But like many other things, good in themselves, these meetings became very much abused in after ages; laws were made which would fain have compelled the people to believe a great deal more than the first Christians taught, or God has told us in the Bible, and which therefore could not promote their welfare.

Now that we are talking about the British bishops, I must just explain what duties they had to perform, and in what way they were a benefit to the Church. Suppose that at this time England was at war with some foreign country, and the Queen wanted to send out a large army of soldiers to fight the enemy, think for a moment what kind of men would be required to make the army complete. First of all would come the soldiers of the line, brave fellows, ready to fight for their sovereign and country; then come the officers, whose duty it is to superintend their different regiments, and last of all, and most necessary of all, the commanding" officer," or "general," who decides all matters of importance, and to whom the whole army look for guidance and advice in the hour of danger. Imagine the hopeless state of confusion the army would be in without such a chief at its head. Probably just when all depended on every one acting together, and being of the same mind, each officer would be trying to carry his own point, and the enemy would have but little difficulty in conquering a foe so divided amongst themselves.

Bishops in God's Church are like commanding officers; they hold together and watch over the members of Christ's Church committed to them; and although there have been bad, tyrannical bishops, as well as unworthy generals, it would be wrong in either case to say they were not needed because some failed to do their duty.

I told you, in my second chapter, that before the Apostles died, they ordained bishops to supply their places. Besides ruling the Christians committed to their charge, the bishops appointed, as they do now, a certain number of earnest men to assist them in teaching and preaching to the people. At the

time of which I am speaking, many of the clergymen so ordained lived a good many together in large houses, called monasteries, and as they were almost the only people who could read and write, they established schools in these houses, where children were taught all that was good and useful; and in times of war or famine the poor distressed people could always find a refuge within these friendly walls.

Some of the clergy married, and lived in different villages about the country, where they taught their people from the parish church.* The British bishops and clergy were very anxious that those over whom they were placed should know and understand the Scriptures; the clergy were well instructed in the sacred volume, written copies of which in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin were freely circulated in the monasteries, and several of the prayers we use now were offered up by the British Christians in their churches.

CHAPTER V.

HOW THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND BECAME CHRISTIANS-STORY OF ST. PATRICK -FALSE TEACHING OF PELAGIUS-THE FRENCH BISHOPS CONVINCED THE PEOPLE OF THE TRUTH-INVASION OF THE SAXONS, AND DISTRESS OF THE BRITONS.

[A.D. 373-426.] IF you look at the Map of Europe, you will see on the West of England the island you have so often read of, called Ireland, and you remember when we speak of England, Scotland, and Ireland, all together, we call it Great Britain and Ireland.

Now that I have told you how the Christian Church was planted in Britain, I will try and relate how the heathen people of Ireland, and afterwards of Scotland, came to know and worship the true God.

Through the wild forests and over the shaggy mountains of Ireland wandered a friendless, solitary captive. Taken from his happy home in North Britain at the age of sixteen, the youth Succat had no companions but his herd of swine, and the fierce savages who surrounded him. But you know, dear children, God sends us trouble and sorrow that we may learn our duty, and trust entirely to His guidance; and you will see in the case of Succat how He brought good out of all this seeming evil and injustice. Like many others, Succat, before his trouble came upon him, had set a very light value on God's blessings. What Bede, Ecclesiastical History, p. 16.

*