fore the judge, who happened to be engaged in an idolatrous festival, St. Alban was first asked to join in the heathen worship, and, upon his refusal, was immediately tortured with scourges, and afterwards beheaded. Two miracles, according to St. Bede, were vouchsafed at the time of his death; the former of which led to the conversion of a person named Heraclius, who had been engaged to perform the office of his executioner; and another, who was found ready for the same unholy work, was instantaneously struck with blindness, his eyes falling to the ground at the same moment with the head of his victim. Many of the spectators, according to Harpsfield, were brought over to the faith on the spot by the sight of the holy Martyr's constancy, and of the miracles which accompanied his sufferings; and, following St. Amphibalus, St. Alban's guest and spiritual father, into Wales, received the Sacrament of Regeneration at his hands. Shortly afterwards, and during the same persecution, St. Amphibalus suffered martyrdom at Redbourne, not far from St. Alban's; and SS. Aaron and Julius, at Caerleon on the Usk. There were also, according to St. Gildas and St. Bede, many other cases of martyrdom at the same time. The survivors took shelter in deserts and caves of the earth." For seven years the persecution raged with unabated fury; many churches were levelled with the ground, and others converted into heathen temples. Among those who, about this time, received the crown of martyrdom, or confessorship, were St. Stephanus, and St. Augulus, successive Bishops of London.

Peace was at length restored to the Church under Constantius, who, in conjunction with Galerius, assumed the imperial purple when Diocletian and Maximian abdicated. Constantius, to whom the administration of

4

Britain had been specially entrusted during the preceding reign, continued his charge under a new title, and with independent authority. The British Church speedily felt the effects of his clemency; the Christians issued 5 from their retreats; the churches were rebuilt; chantries erected in honour of the Martyrs; festivals restored, with the solemn rites of worship; and the voice of joy and gladness once more heard throughout the land. Constantius died at York, fifteen months after his succession to the empire, in the year 306.

The British Church was certainly represented at the Council of Arles in 314, and some consider, at that of Nicæa also, eleven years afterwards, though this appears very doubtful. The names of the British Bishops at Arles were Eborius, Restitutus, and Adelfius; of whom Eborius and Restitutus filled the thrones respectively, of York and London. The see of Adelfius is more questionable; by most it is considered to have been Colchester, or rather Maldon; but Bishop Stillingfleet decides in favour of Caerleon, while other learned writers incline, and with much apparent reason, to Lincoln.

At the Council of Arles, it was determined that Easter should be kept on the same day in all parts of the Church. This canon was directed against such Orientals as followed the Quartodeciman rule.6 It was also resolved to degrade those of the clergy who had surrendered to heathens, during persecution, any of the sacred books belonging to churches, or of the vessels employed in the "offering" of the Holy Sacrifice. Other canons, chiefly

4 Gibbon, c. xiii.

5 S. Gildas de Excid. Brit. § 13; and S. Bede, H. E. lib. i. c. 8. 6 The question about keeping Easter which afterwards arose in Britain, and which shall be noticed in its place, appears to have been of slighter importance.

on points of discipline, were passed; and the decrees in general were forwarded to St. Sylvester, the reigning Pope, to be circulated by him throughout the Church.7

At the disastrous Council of Ariminum, in 359, the British Bishops were betrayed with the rest into signing the heretical Confession. On this occasion we are told that the Arian Emperor Constantius offered to supply the assembled prelates with lodgings and entertainment at the public expense, but none of them could be found to accept the suspicious boon, except the three from Britain, who, being too poor to provide for themselves at their own charges, and too independent to lay themselves under an obligation to the other Bishops, fell in with the Emperor's proposal, and were accordingly maintained out of the imperial exchequer.

An ancient author commends the Bishops of Britain for refusing to be burthensome to their brother prelates; but it is rather to be feared, observes Bishop Stillingfleet," that the Emperor's kindness was a snare to their consciences." On the whole, there seems reason to apprehend that the British Church suffered, with others, from the Arian infection, though whether its declension into heresy were the cause, or the effect, of the unhappy step taken by its representatives at Ariminum, is more questionable. To the fact of this corruption, however, whether greater or less, and whensoever, or wheresoever, originating, the testimony of St. Bede is but too explicit.8

7 The words used in addressing the Pope, were as follows:Placuit etiam antequam a te, qui majores dioceses tenes, per te potissimum omnibus insinuari.

Ariana vesania, corrupto orbe toto, hanc etiam insulam extra orbem tam longe remotam veneno sui infecit erroris, et, hâc quasi viâ pestilentiæ trans oceanum patefactâ, non mora, omnis se lues hæreseos cujusque, insulæ, novi semper aliquid audire gaudenti, et nihil certi H. E. lib. i. c. 8. firmiter obtinenti, infudit.

We have seen that the British Bishops were too poor to maintain themselves at Ariminum. The necessitous condition of their Church at this time, might have arisen from the combined effects of persecution and internal wars; the former had probably deprived the Church of her lands and stated revenues, while the latter had impoverished the country, and so tended to lessen the amount of the people's offerings. It is said that king Lucius made over to the Church the lands which had formerly belonged to the heathen temples, and bestowed upon it many gifts and privileges besides. If so, it is evident that great losses must have been sustained before the Council of Ariminum, where the Bishops of Britain were found unequal to a charge commonly borne by the different Churches of Christendom, in behalf of their representatives at General Councils. And for these, the combined operation of the persecution under Diocletian, and of the harassing wars with the Scots and Picts, will sufficiently account.

CHAPTER IV.

THE BRITISH CHURCH.-VISITS OF ST. GERMANUS.

A.D. 359-A.D. 520.

IN the fifth century, the British Church received much damage from the inroads of the Pelagian heresy. Some have inferred from St. Bede's words, that Pelagius himself, after his condemnation at Rome, returned to Britain, of which he was a native, and poisoned the Church with his baneful doctrine. But the more immediate author of the mischief in our own island appears to have been not Pelagius, but Agricola, son of Severianus, a Bishop,1 who had fallen into the heresy. This Agricola came over from Gaul about the year 425, and laboured, among others, to corrupt the Church in this country. His attempt was, as it seems, but too successful in many quarters; at length, the Bishops of Britain resolved upon laying their grievances before their brethren in Gaul, and asking for help. The spiritual necessities of our island were likewise, at this time, an object of anxious interest to Pope St. Celestine, who had lately sent SS. Patrick and Palladius to preach the Gospel in Ireland, and in the northern parts of Britain. On hearing from Palladius, of the danger which threatened the southern provinces of the island from the progress of Pelagianism, the holy Pontiff was no less eager to counteract the spread of the

1 S. Bede, lib. i. c. 17. 2 Vide Stillingfleet, Orig. Brit. c. 4.