The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1882-01-14

other early historians of the church. I'll
Welsh Triads, A. D., 5S: The "genealoe
/ OF saints in the ancient British languae
mention Aristobulus as the first Bishop
the Britons, and two early Greek author
, both record that he was consecrated on
+ OF the first Bishops of that church by S
} Paul. This give you as tradition only
no imam can either prove or disprove /
1t has no controversial value except a
an introduction to and possible explans
} ton OF certain incontrovertible fact
) which come later. At the council of Al
! les, held i'll France A. d., 314, there wer
present 600 bishops whose names hav
been preserved to this day and the die
cese from which they came. Amon
them are three bishops from Britain
This was 300 years before there was an,
pope, Tor as you know, the universe
bishopric" was not claimed until the be
ginning OF the seventh century in th,
| latter years OF Gregory the great, ane
| then not by the Bishops of Rome but b,
the Bishops OF Constantinople. Again
at the council of Sardica A. D., 347
British bishops attended. The DEGREES
and decisions of these councils were
signed by the British bishops with the
others. | have mentioned only these
two councils, but they are sufficient tc
establish the claim tnat the Anglican
church was founded very early in the
christian era and was for many centuries
independent OF Rome. An ecclesiastical
history which does not give these facts is
not worthy the name. In A. D., 500, Gre
CORY, bishop of Rome sent Augustine as
missionary to Britain. There were
then seven kingdoms in Britain, indie
pendent of each other and often engaged
in war; Ofthese the Southwestern king
doms We're most recent having driven
the inhabitants of the land to the north
and west. The new kingdoms were Pa
gans, the older ones Christian. Angus
tine landed in one of the Pagan king
dl.oms, and after converting its kingnego-
tlated with the bishops OF the British
church in the other Kingdoms to estab-
autonomy, but failed. The details of this
negotiation are preserved, and even the
words OF the final speech made on behalf
OF the British Church refusing consent
to Augustine's propositions. l would
copy this speech for you, but that it
would occupy too much space, while you
can easily find it for yourself in any good
ecclesiastical history. A long period OF
peace lntervened. There were inter
marriages between the various royal
families, and as the people before hostile
grew friendly, it became easier to unite
the churches. There was no particular
reason why they should not unite. Rome
was then pure, and so after awhile Au-
gustine succeeded in his laudable desire.
In Canterbury there is church vet
standing which was first built by the
early British church in the second or
third century, before the Saxon and Dan
ish invasions. 1t was partially destroyed
by the Saxons and rebuilt by Augustine.
About six feet of the chancel wall still
stands as built by the Britons centuries
before the coming of Augustine. / could
adduce very much more testimony to
prove this point-that the early British
church was Independent of Rome, but
the above is sufficient. When Augustine
had obtained the consent of the British
Bishops he was consecrated Bishop by |
Virgilius the 24th Bishop of Aries, and
3lst Bishop of Lyons, and
other bishops of that province, who trac-
ed their succession to st. John. Angus
tine became the first archbishop of Can |
terbury, and was 33d in succession from |
1t. John, (the S6 archbishop of Canter-
bury, John Moore, 1lS from st. John, |
was one OF the consecrators of our first |
.hree American bishops.) l will ask YOU
o remember that at this period and long
Utter the Roman church was pure in doc
rine. From this time on the British
bishops consecrated their own successors
Is they had always done before. An
occasional individual among them re-
eived conservation abroad, and an occa-
ional visiting bishop from Greece or
Arminia or Rome took u part in few
onsecrations in Britain, but the over
mass of ordinations were at
lome and among themselves Just as an
Methodist minister might be
rdained in England, or an occasional
english Methodist might take part in or
inations here, while the great mass of
lethodist ordinations is in American
lethodist succession so that every indi-
idual Methodist minister in this country
an trace his succession to John Wesley,
1ithout leaving the American Methodist
hurch. The succession of Rome as a
ee, does not intermingle with that of i
,ngland, hence the worthiness or UNI
'orthiness of any Pope, or the doubts as s
, the proper consecration of any Pope j
$ a Bishop, has nothing to do with the (
,nglish succession, no more than any 9
oubts as to proper Presbyterian ordi-
alton has to do with the validity of 4