20th June: How the Gospel came to Britain
Speaker: Duncan Wyncoll
The Gospel which spread rapidly to the Western world has exerted a powerful influence over the nation for over 1500 years.
1 Tim 4:1-16 Who brought the gospel to Britain?
· 150 years after Christ’s death, Britain was a pagan nation, plus Druids –
· Long before the monk Augustine was sent from Rome in 597 – true, a strong Evangelical church was being planted throughout land
· Who brought gospel to Britain? How did it spread so rapidly? How did it fade away & succumb to the error of Rome?
Merchants
· 1st Christians may have been merchants from France, Greece, Turkey or Egypt
· No British Historian until 500AD – so rely on Roman Historians
· But’s it clear many Britons heard the news of Christ – repentance & belief followed
· 200 AD – Tertullian wrote: ‘parts of Britain were inaccessible to the Romans, but have yielded to Christ’
· 245 AD – Origen of Alexandria wrote: ‘the power of the Lord & Saviour is found even among those people who are separated from the Roman world in Britain’
· Did Joseph of Arimethea, or Paul, or Peter visit the shores of Britain?
Persecution
· 300 AD – Roman Emperor Diocletian, began persecuting Christians – several British Christians martyred. Among them Alban of Verulam (now St Albans)
Conferences
· Constantine 315 AD, achieves full control over divided kingdom & declares Christianity the official religion – but didn’t close many pagan temples
· However, Young Christians kept in touch with likeminded brethren across the seas
· Not in the ‘Roman system’ or under ‘outside control’
· Met in Arles, Fr. 314. Restitutus (London), Adelphius (Lincoln) & Elorius (York) - All agreed with orthodox, evangelical statements of faith
· To deal with heresies
· Arianism – “Jesus was created”, met Nicea, Turkey 325 Nicene Creed
“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God,] Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father”
· Pelagianism – “Original sin did not taint human nature”, met Carthage, Tunisia 418. Corrected by Augustine
· Pastors from Britain were present
House churches
No imposing buildings – wooden at best, plain inside & out
Held in homes of a wealthy person, possibly room set-aside for worship
Lullingstone
· Roman villa @ 350 AD, occupied by Roman settlers who became Christians
· Villa had been destroyed by fire & rooms had fallen into the stone-walled rooms of lower floor & thus preserved
· 1000’s of fragments of plaster were pieced together – 1949
· Date of 350 AD was confirmed by the finding of coins & pottery
· Pics of people praying, another showed a huge wreath of pink & blue flowers surrounding a Christian motif. An upper room, sealed off from the main house...
A little leaven
· Vulnerable to various errors, heresies had to be exposed
· Leaders kept an eye on what was taught, but not on what was done
· NT tendency to resist temptation & worldliness by taking up excessive, tough, & painful routines – i.e. leave no time for sin
· Beginnings of hermit & monks
1 Tim 4.1-3 - ‘Now the Spirit speaketh expressly (outspokenly/distinctly), that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, & doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, & commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe & know the truth.’
Col 2.20-23 - ‘Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments & doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, & humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh’
The germ of monastic life was present in the earliest days in Asia & by the end of the 4th century in Europe
Apparently so plausible - How did Evangelical Christians fall for it?
Didn’t follow the pattern left by the Lord & apostles, but what was just good & reasonable. Lessons in this today
Basil started monastery in Cappadocia, Greece – 355 AD
Studies scriptures, served in Hospital – looked good, but a shaky principle underneath
Another monastery opened in Tours, France 380 AD under Martin, an ex-Roman cavalry man – chiefly used as an evangelical missionary base
This ‘good idea’ turned out to be the biggest mistake of the young church – opening the doors to unsaved men & leading to its collapse
Ninian
· When the Romans withdrew form Britain; a young Britain went with them called Ninian. He left the Army & found his way to Tours
· Fully trained he went to Scotland in 397, & founded monastery in Whithorn
· Quite an evangelical work stretching to the far North of Scotland
· Did it last? Perhaps not – he over-stressed his liturgy, organisation & the monks, hiding the gospel
Patrick (Succat – celtic: victorious)
· Born 385/390 AD near Dumbarton in Scotland
· Patrick’s village ruled on Roman pattern. Father was a Christian pastor & also a councillor. Taught the scriptures & gospel message ® but no effect on heart
· Age 16, while playing on beach with his sisters, he was abducted by see-faring marauders from pagan king of Ireland
· Sold to a landowner to keep a pig herd
· Then he was converted as he reflected on God’s providence in his life – the teaching of his childhood eventually bore fruit
· 6 years later he was provoked by a dream to escape – ran to a port & boarded a trading boat. What happened then is unclear from history…
· Aged 46 began to fulfil his call from God
The call to Ireland
· Felt he was called to Ireland again
· At this time 431 AD, a missionary was sent to Ireland from Rome – but little headway was made – became ill & died
· So Patrick went without any authority & definitely no commission from Rome
· Great progress made by preaching the Word
The Irish Mission
· 350 bishops/pastors established – all founders of churches
· They had one Head – Christ; & one chief – Patrick
· Simple churches & evidence that they practiced baptism by immersion
War in Britain
· Just before Patrick went to Ireland in 432 AD, long & bitter struggle for supremacy began in Britain. Picts (NE Scotland) & Saxons (Germany) attacked northern shores
· Saxons took control, but eventually driven to the East of the country
David
· During this time names of Illtyd & David appear in Wales (Llantwit Major) – visited by Patrick
· Considerable activity marked the parts of the country reclaimed from the Saxons
Continental error now grows in Briton
· Christians were growing more enamoured with the French ways
· ‘Ranks’ of ministers, no longer local bishops, but lofty positions
· Not yet organised under a national hierarchy – let alone Rome
· Back in Ireland, 461 Patrick died, monastic ideas swept through
· Many sent to study @ monastery Whithorn – returning home with wrong ideas
· Celibacy, separation in monasteries, offering of set prayers to the clock & ranks of ministers
· Downward slide had started - but many evangelicals remained
New hope – Columba from Donegal, Ireland
· While this was going on in Ireland another great missionary was born – 521 AD
· Descended from royalty, haughty & stubborn – sent for training
· ‘Initially, probably no personal experience’ – set up as a church statesman founding monasteries
· More a Career… Travelled Ireland setting up monasteries. Meanwhile…
· Saxon conquest took place driving the Britons into Wales (Christianity with them)
Pagan once again
· Saxons divided country into sections (Essex, Sussex, Wessex) & pagan religion ruled once again
· A place for missionaries as it had been 300 yrs before. But God had a plan…
· 563 AD a small boat of 13 Christians set out from Derry in Ireland heading for the W coast of Scot ® landed @ Iona – headed by a changed Columba aged 41
· Rekindling the flame in England & the beginnings of conflict with Rome
The new community in Iona
· 3 miles by 1 mile, built a Christian community
· 13 - 150 men, huts & cultivated land
· Missionary college – ‘seniors’, ‘working brethren’ & ‘juniors’
· Focus on Bible & learnt Psalms by heart; Columba known as a man of prayer
· The most effective independent mission in the UKwas present in the earliest days in Asia & by the end of the 4th century in Europe
