The Mediaeval Church in Great Britain and Ireland
A.D. 500-A.D. 1500
Section 1. _The Church of England._
[Sidenote: Trials of the English Church under the Saxons.]
We have seen (p. 74) that the native Church of England had not
succeeded in converting the Anglo-Saxon invaders who gradually took
possession of the country, and that such as remained of the Bishops and
Clergy had been compelled for the most part to take refuge in
mountainous, and therefore inaccessible, districts. It was, however,
only in A.D. 587, that Theonas, Bishop of London, and Thadiocus, Bishop
of York, retreated from their sees, and they were both living in exile
in Wales, when, ten years later, St. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory
to found a mission in England.
[Sidenote: Roman usurpation.]
It seems uncertain whether St. Gregory was aware of the previous
existence of a Church in these islands; at any rate, he acted as if
ignorant of the fact, by bestowing on St. Augustine a spiritual
supremacy over the whole country; and the good Italian missionary, when
brought into actual contact with the living representatives of a
national Church already five hundred years old, appears to have
considered himself justified in endeavouring to bring its {143} Liturgy
and usages into agreement with the Roman pattern. [Sidenote:
Consequent disputes.] All this was not unnatural, especially under the
circumstances of weakness and depression in which the Church of England
was then placed; but it was equally natural that such interference
should be felt to be an usurpation, and resented accordingly, and that
much misunderstanding and bitterness should be the consequence. There
probably was a recognition of the claims of the elder race of English
Bishops in the fact, that St. Augustine was consecrated to the see of
Canterbury rather than to that of London, of which the rightful
occupant was still living, and that neither the latter diocese, nor
that of York, appear to have been filled up until after the deaths of
Theonas and Thadiocus. [Sidenote: English independence partially
recognized.] It was also eventually found expedient to leave to the
English Church its own national Liturgy and ritual (originally derived
through a Gallican channel from that of Ephesus), instead of insisting
upon an exact conformity to Roman rites. [Sidenote: Some account of
the English Liturgy.] This ancient English Liturgy, revised in the
seventh century by St. Augustine, underwent a second revision at the
hands of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, about A.D. 1083; and, though
certain variations existed in some dioceses, the "Use of Sarum," as it
was called, became the general "use" throughout the southern portion of
England, and was even at length considered to be _the_ Liturgy of the
country. It is from this Sarum Use that our present Post-Reformation
Liturgy is derived.
A very considerable amount of new life and energy was infused into the
Church of England by the mission of St. Augustine. Though the native
Bishops and Clergy could not bring themselves to look cordially
on those {144} whose religious zeal was not always tempered with
justice or courtesy towards their predecessors in the field of their
missionary labours, still both foreigners and natives worked for the
same cause, each in their own way, and a new evangelization of the
freshly-heathenized population ensued[1]. [Sidenote: Amalgamation of
English and Roman successions.] By degrees the two lines of Bishops
became blended in one succession, which has continued unbroken until
the present day.
[Sidenote: English missionary zeal.]
The Church of England, thus strengthened and quickened, soon began to
give abundant proofs of its vitality by sending out missionaries to
convert the heathen in other lands. A large part of Germany and the
Netherlands owes its Christianity to English Bishops and Clergy, such
as Winfrith or Boniface, Willebrord, and a host of other less
well-known or altogether forgotten names. The eighth century was
especially distinguished by these missionary labours abroad, whilst, at
home, were to be found such good and learned men as the Venerable Bede
(A.D. 672 or '3-A.D. 735), an early translator of the Holy Scriptures,
and his friend Egbert (A.D. about 678-A.D. 776), Archbishop of York,
and founder of a famous school in that city, where the illustrious
Alcuin (about A.D. 723-A.D. 804) was a scholar.
[Sidenote: Invasion, and conversion of the Danes.]
In A.D. 787, the Church of England began to suffer severely from the
ravages of the heathen Danes or Northmen; but, by the wisdom and valour
of the good King Alfred (A.D. 871-A.D. 901), {145} they were for a
while subdued, and numbers of them settled as peaceable colonists in
England, where they gradually embraced Christianity.
[Sidenote: King Alfred.]
Alfred was very zealous in his endeavours to repair the spiritual and
intellectual losses which the Church of England had undergone during
the contest with the Danes, whose ravages had almost entirely swept
away all native scholarship. The king was especially eager to secure a
literature in the vernacular for his subjects, and himself translated
into "simple English" parts of the Holy Bible, and other religious
books. In these labours he was assisted by a small body of learned
men, including the two Aelfrics, Archbishops of Canterbury and York,
and Wulfstan, supposed to have been Bishop of Worcester. The
conversion of the Danes who had first settled in England to
Christianity prepared the way for the evangelizing of later colonists;
and when, through the crimes and weakness of the later Anglo-Saxon
princes, the country fell altogether into the hands of Danish invaders,
Canute the Great (A.D. 1016-A.D. 1033) not only embraced Christianity
himself, but secured for his native country the services of English
missionaries. [Sidenote: Evangelization of Scandinavia.] In fact, at
this time Scandinavia seems to have been the chief mission-field of the
English Church.
[Sidenote: Roman influence comparatively small under the Saxons.]
We can hardly be wrong in gathering from all this, that Roman influence
had only to a certain limited extent been introduced into the Church of
England by St. Augustine's mission, and that, as time passed on, the
foreign element had become absorbed in the national one. With the
Norman conquest of A.D. 1066, the {146} case was, however, altered.
[Sidenote: Much increased under the Normans.] The claims of the Popes
to temporal as well as to spiritual authority were by that time
definite and authoritative; the Conquest itself had been undertaken by
the permission of Alexander II., and the authority of the foreign
conquerors, (as the Norman and early Plantagenet kings continued to
be,) required foreign support. Hence the Bishops of Rome gained an
amount of political influence in England which was thoroughly
unconstitutional, and which could probably never have been attained by
any foreign power, had the English sovereigns immediately after the
Conquest felt themselves more firmly fixed upon the throne they had
seized.
[Sidenote: Denationalizing of the Episcopate.]
The appointment of foreigners to the highest ecclesiastical offices in
England, was one means by which the Norman sovereigns sought to secure
themselves against disaffection amongst their new subjects; but the
real result of this policy was to foster the claims of the Popes to
religious and secular supremacy in this country; for these foreign
ecclesiastics, though English Bishops, were not loyal subjects of the
English crown, nor were their interests identical with those of their
flocks. [Sidenote: Lanfranc.] Thus the Italian Lanfranc, when
appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by William the Conqueror (A.D.
1070), did not hesitate to obey the summons of the Pope to Rome for the
purpose of receiving the pall, and thus acknowledging that he held his
Bishopric from the Papal see. [Sidenote: St. Anselm.] His successor,
St. Anselm (A.D. 1093), also an Italian, and a man of great learning
and holiness, was prepared to carry out a similar line of conduct; but
the covetous and irreligious tyrant, William Rufus, was seeking at
{147} the same time to reduce Bishops to the state of mere nominees and
vassals of the crown, and a long contest ensued[2]. The dispute was
carried on into the next reign; and at length, in A.D. 1107, a
compromise was agreed upon, by which it was arranged that Bishops
should receive investiture from the Pope, and, at the same time, take
an oath of allegiance to the king. [Sidenote: St. Thomas of
Canterbury.] Anselm's unflinching advocacy of Papal claims cost him
years of exile from his diocese, and much suffering; but, in the
following century, similar conduct involved still more serious
consequences to St. Thomas à Becket, the then Archbishop of Canterbury.
The new question in dispute was the right of clerical offenders to be
tried in the spiritual courts, instead of coming under the jurisdiction
of the civil power; but, in reality, it was only another form of the
constant endeavours of the English monarchs to free themselves from the
foreign bondage which was, to some extent at least, self-imposed.
Becket fell a martyr to his own sense of duty and the king's
displeasure, A.D. 1170.
[Sidenote: Roman influence strongest in England.]
Papal usurpation in England reached its height when, in A.D. 1208,
Innocent III placed the kingdom under an Interdict, for refusing to
receive as Archbishop of Canterbury his nominee, Stephen Langton, who
was unacceptable both to king and people; and soon after proceeded to
excommunicate John, and depose him from his throne. The king's
cowardly and unconstitutional conduct in resigning his kingdom into the
{148} hands of the Pope's legate (A.D. 1213), and receiving it again at
the end of three days as a tributary vassal of the Roman see, caused
England to be looked upon for some years as only a fief of Rome.
[Sidenote: Kept up by the Friars;]
In the reign of Henry III. (A.D. 1216-A.D. 1272), Roman influence in
England was greatly sustained by the introduction of the Preaching
Orders of Franciscan and Dominican Friars, who, being many of them
foreigners, and all of them independent of any episcopal control, and
subject to Papal jurisdiction only, were very energetic in their
endeavours to maintain and extend the authority of the popedom.
[Sidenote: by the habit of appeals;]
By this time, too, appeals to Rome against the decisions of English
courts had come to be a great bar to national independence. Such
appeals had been altogether unrecognized in England until the days of
Stephen, and the practice was again forbidden in Henry II.'s reign by
the Constitutions of Clarendon (A.D. 1164); but, after Becket's death,
the prohibition was once more repealed. It is easy to see how
seriously this system of appeals must have delayed and interfered with
the regular course of justice in this country, and how capable it was
of being made a political engine in the hands of the Pope, or of those
who held with him. The exemption of most of the monasteries from the
supervision of the Bishops was also a serious evil, interfering as it
did with the Divinely-appointed functions of the episcopacy, and
opening the door to disorders which the distant and usurped authority
of the Popes had not power to remedy.
[Sidenote: by large money payments.]
In the fourteenth century another means was resorted to of increasing
the power of the Popes at expense of the monarch and people of {149}
England, by the payment of annates, or first-fruits, on the appointment
of each Bishop; and so heavy did this burden become, that between A.D.
1486 and A.D. 1531, 160,000 pounds (or about 45,000 pounds a year of
our money) was paid to Rome under the head of annates.
[Sidenote: All these evils borne under protest.]
It is not to be supposed that these encroachments of a foreign power
were accepted without a murmur or remonstrance on the part of the
people of England; on the contrary, there was a constant undercurrent
of discontent, which found occasional expression in some official or
popular protest. Such, on the one hand, was the statute of
_praemunire_, passed in the reign of Richard II. (A.D. 1389), to
prohibit Papal interference with Church patronage and decisions in
ecclesiastical causes; and, on the other, the irregular proceedings of
Wickliffe and the Lollards, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
which, though they eventually degenerated into seditious agitation, had
their rise in a feeling of opposition to Romish abuses and usurpations.
This feeling was increased by the fearful state of profligacy into
which Rome, and indeed all Italy, was plunged during the fifteenth
century, which effectually destroyed the character formerly enjoyed by
the Roman Church, whilst it could not but affect the spiritual health
of the other Churches over which Rome exercised so wide an influence.
Wiser and calmer men than Wickliffe saw the need of some reformation,
though they questioned, and, as the event showed, rightly, the wisdom
and the justice of the steps he took towards his object. Wickliffe's
teaching in the fourteenth century had, in fact, little or nothing to
do with the real Reformation of two hundred years later, except that
some of his dangerous theories on political matters took deeper root
than did his {150} religious peculiarities, and bore fruit in much of
the unprincipled licence which was an unhappy, though by no means an
essential, feature of the Reformation era.
[Sidenote: English longings for reformation.]
England, in common with the other nations of Europe, was willing to
hope for great benefit from the councils of the Church held in the
fifteenth century; and, at each of them, we find English Clergy making
grave and urgent protests against the abuses which they saw around
them, and pleading for a return to purer and better ways. Thus, at the
Council of Pisa, A.D. 1400, one of the English Bishops who attended it
presented a memorial which complained of the evils resulting from the
want of episcopal control over the monasteries, from the practice of
appeals to Rome, and from the ease with which dispensations for
non-residence and pluralities were obtained[3]. Again, at the Council
of Constance (A.D. 1415) a sermon was preached by Dr. Abendon, an
Oxford professor, which painted in very strong language the worldliness
and covetousness of the non-resident Bishops and Clergy; and these
protests were followed up by an official appeal to the Pope for a
reformation, on the part of the Kings of France and England, A.D. 1425,
as well as by official instructions given to the English deputation
despatched to the Council of Basle (A.D. 1431), to use their influence
for the same end.
{151}
Section 2. _The Church of Ireland._
The Church of Ireland was not, like the Church of Great Britain, to
which it owes its foundation, a prey to the depressing influences of
the heathen Saxons; and, at the time of the mission of St. Augustine,
the daughter was in some measure enabled to repay to the mother the
benefits which the British St. Patrick had conferred on the scene of
his missionary labours. A constant intercourse was kept up between the
numerous monasteries of Ireland and those of Wales and Scotland, some
of the abbeys in the latter countries being founded and frequented by
Irishmen. [Sidenote: Early reputation of Ireland.] Ireland, in the
sixth and seventh centuries, had a great reputation for learning and
missionary zeal, both of which were called into play to help in the
reconversion of a large portion of England, as well as to encourage the
efforts of English Churchmen in retaining in the National Church the
national characteristics, with the loss of which it was threatened from
the large admixture of foreign elements introduced by St. Augustine.
[Sidenote: Irish missionary work in England and elsewhere.] Nor were
their missionary labours confined to England: they shared in the toils
and honours of the conversion of Germany, and are believed to have
penetrated as far as Iceland and Greenland. [Sidenote: Unjustifiable
conduct of England.] The aid given by Irish ecclesiastics in preserving
the religious liberty of the Church of England was ill requited in the
twelfth century, when the English, having taken possession of Ireland,
forced the Irish Church to abandon her distinctive Liturgy by a decree
passed at the synod of Cashel, A.D. 1173. The state of anarchy and
restless discontent into which {152} Ireland was thrown by the presence
of English invaders, had a very unfavourable effect on the Church of
the country, as had also the appointment of Englishmen to Irish
bishoprics, and the consequent non-residence of the Bishops. It is
curious that the influence of English conquerors should have tended to
extend Roman authority in Ireland, much as the policy of Norman
conquerors produced the same effect in England. Before the
Reformation, the state of the Irish Church had become thoroughly
unsatisfactory, and was felt to be so by many of the Irish themselves.
Section 3. _The Church of Scotland._
[Sidenote: St. Columba.]
The country of the Southern Picts, christianized by St. Ninian (see p.
76), having fallen into the hands of the heathen Anglo-Saxons,
something like a fresh evangelization became necessary; and this was
accomplished by the labours of St. Columba and his successors, who,
having crossed over from Ireland (first about A.D. 560) for the purpose
of preaching to the Northern tribes of Scotland, extended their mission
southward. [Sidenote: Irish or Scotch missionaries in England.] The
monastery of Iona, or Icolmkill, was for some time inhabited by Irish
missionaries, and became the chief source of missionary labour not only
in Scotland, but also in the North of England, the Scotch or Irish
missionaries using all the weight of their influence to uphold the
independence of the National Church against the Roman tendencies of St.
Augustine and his successors. St. Aidan (died A.D. 651), Bishop of
Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, and the head of the mission for the
conversion of the Saxon kingdom of Mercia, was a monk of Iona. His
diocese included {153} Yorkshire, and extended to Scotland; and, in
consequence of this, the Archbishops of York long laid claim to
exercise metropolitan authority over the whole of North Britain.
Roman influence gradually made itself felt in Scotland, in great
measure through the monastic system, which received a great impetus
under David I. (A.D. 1124-A.D. 1153). [Sidenote: Longings for
reformation.] The constant wars with England, and the confusion and
bloodshed they entailed, had a very unfavourable effect on the
prosperity and spiritual activity of the Church of Scotland, so that
from Scotland, no less than from England and Ireland, there arose that
cry for a return to older and purer ways, which ended in the
Reformation.
[1] The native Clergy seem to have laboured chiefly in the north, where
they were aided by Scotch and Irish missionaries. St. Aidan, Bishop of
Lindisfarne, or Holy Island (who died A.D. 651), may be mentioned as a
successful agent in the conversion of Northumbria and Mercia.
[2] This dispute between St. Anselm and the English king was another
form of the long strife between the Popes and the Emperors of the West,
which is known as the War of Investitures.
[3] Many of the Bishops, at this time, were foreigners, who lived away
from their sees, and did not even understand the native language of
their flocks. The Kings of England and the Bishops of Rome seem to
have equally abused their powers of patronage in this respect.
{155}
INDEX
Abendon, Dr., at Constance, 150
Abyssinia, Church of, 82
Africa, Church in, its early history, 80
------, Church in, its mediaeval history, 120
Aidan, St., 144, 152
Alban, St., his martyrdom, 73
Albigenses, 122
Alexandria, Church of, 80
------, School of, 81
Altar, its arrangements in Eastern and Early English Churches, 54
Ambrosian Liturgy, 123
"Angels" or Bishops, The Seven, 49, 52, 85
Annates, Payment of, 149
Anselm, St., 146
Anti-Popes, 109
Antioch, Church of, 23, 28, 84
------, St. Paul and St. Barnabas at, 28
"------ St. Peter's Throne at," 28
------ first sends Missionaries to heathen, 29
Antioch disturbed by disputes about circumcision, 34
Antioch, Probable visit of St. Peter to, 36
Apocalypse, The, 52
"Apology against Heathenism," The first Christian, 32
"------ Judaism," The first Christian, 20
Apostle, St. Matthias chosen to be, 8
Apostles, extent of their labours, 43
------ trained by our Lord, 5
------ taught by the Holy Ghost, 5, 6, 48
------, Commission given to the, 6
------ a living Gospel, 12
------ Creed, an instance of traditional teaching, 13
------ St. Paul and St. Barnabas complete the number of, 30
------, how they differ from Bishops, 31
------, their deaths, 43
Apostolic office, Nature of, 5 _n._
------ Doctrine, 12
------ Fellowship, 18
Apostolical Succession in England, 144
Appeals from England to Rome, 148
Arabia, Church of, 86
Arianism, 68, 81
------ in Greece, 79
------ in France, 78
------ of the Goths, 77
------ prepares for Mahometanism, 88
Arles, Council of, 78
Armenia, Church of, 85
Athanasius, St., 70, 72, 81
Athens, its intellectual pride, 39
------, St. Paul at, 39
Augustine, St., 82
------, and Church of England, 142
Authority of the Jerusalem Council, 36
Avignon, The Popes at, 108, 123
Baptism, Nature of, 2, 3, 4
------, its necessity, 26
------ of St. John different from that of our Lord, 7 _n._
------ of the Three Thousand, 10
Barchochebas, 83
Barnabas, St., Conversion of, 11
------, ordained Apostle, 30
Basil, St., 111
Basle, Council of, 110
Becket, St. Thomas à, 147
Benedictine rule, The, 111
Bible, The, in Middle Ages, 117
Bishop, Meaning of the word, 33 _n._
------ and Priest originally one office, 5 _n._
Bishops, Consecration of, by the Apostles, 33
------ rarely appointed at first, 46, 47
------ especially subject to persecution, 65
Bohemia, Church of, 129
Boniface, St., in Germany, 128
Books, Christian, kept hidden, 63
Bread, The Breaking of the, 7, 13
Breakspear, Nicholas, 106
Bulgaria, Conversion of, 136
Canute, Conversion of, 145
Cashel, Synod of, 151
Catacombs, Use of the, 63
Corinthians, Heresy of the, 50
Chalcedon, Fourth Council of, 71
Charlemagne, 122, 124, 128
China, Church of, 87
Chrysostom, St., 84
Church, Definition of, 1
------, a Kingdom, 1
------, the fruit of the Incarnation, 2
------ the New Jerusalem, 8
------, its gradual development, 47, 48
------, its Divine Foundation proved by persecution, 62
Church, Growth of, unchecked by persecution, 62
Church Militant, a preparation for Church Triumphant, 4
------, Outward recognition of the, 66
------ Government modified by persecution, 65
Churches, Primitive, their arrangement, 53
Circumcision, Apostolic Decision respecting 35
------, Wish to impose it on Converts, 27, 34
Columba, St., 76, 152
Confirmation by the Apostles, 22, 24, 32, 37, 40
Continental Churches, their early history, 76-80
------ in Middle Ages, 120
Constance, Council of, 110
Constantine, his English parentage, 73
------, Conversion of, 66
------, Council summoned by, 69
Constantinople, Creed of, 70
------, Building of, 67, 80
------, Second Council of, 70
------, Fifth Council of, 71
------, Sixth Council of, 71
------, Fall of, 138
Conversion of the Three Thousand, 10
------ Five Thousand, 11
------ of Gentiles, Obstacles to, 29
Conversions after appointment of Diaconate, 17
Corinth, its luxury and unbelief, 40
------, St. Paul at, 40
Cornelius, Conversion of, 25, 26
Council of the Church, First, 35
------, Second, at Jerusalem, 46
Councils, General, their nature, 69 _n._
------ guided by the Holy Ghost, 36
Creed, Apostles', 13
Crusades, 113, 125
------, Effect of, in the East, 137
Cyprian, St., 82
Cyril, St., 81
Danes, Conversion of, 145
------ and Church of England, 144
Deacon, Meaning of the word, 17 _n._
Deacons, their work, 18
Decretals, The false Papal, 103
Denial of Cup to Laity, 119
Denmark, Church of, 133
Development, Intellectual, in the Church, 72
Diocesan system, its late development in Ireland, 75
Dioclesian, his false boasting, 62
Discipline, its strictness increased by persecution, 64
------ relaxed, 68
Division between East and West, 95
Docetae, Heresy of the, 50
Domitian's persecution, 49, 59
Eastern Church, 83
------, its want of missionary zeal, 136
East and West, Division of, 94
Elders. _See_ Priests.
Endowment of Church, 67
England, Church of, its early history, 73
------, in Middle Ages, 142
------, its Liturgy, 143
English Bishops at early Councils, 74
Ephesus, St. John at, 49
------, Heresies at, 50
------, Council of, 85
------, Liturgy of, 124
------, Third Council of, 71
Episcopacy, its permanent organization, 46
Ethiopia, Church of, 82
Eucharist, Daily, 7, 13
------, the chief act of worship, 14, 56
Eucharistic Sacrifice, 2, 3, 13, 14, 56
Eutyches, his heresy, 71
Expectation, Days of, 7
Fathers, value of their writings, 72
Ferrara, Council of, 110
Florence, Council of, 110
Forty Days, The teaching of the, 6
Foundation of Church, its Divine Origin, 4, 7
France, Church of, its early history, 77
------, its mediaeval history, 124
------, its Liturgy, 78
French Bishops from Asia, 77
French interference in Papal affairs, 107
Friars, Franciscan and Dominican, in England, 112, 148
Gallican Liturgy, 124
General Councils, 69-71
Gentiles called into the Church, 26
Germany, Church of, 127
Gnosticism, Simon Magus the author of, 22, 51
------ at Corinth, 40
------ at Ephesus, 51
Gospels, Holy, great reverence shown to them, 54
"Grecians," Who meant by, 16
Greek Church, What meant by, 80 _n._
------, its early history, 79
------, its mediaeval history, 135
------ under Turkish rule, 139
------ Empire, End of, 139
Greeks, their liability to heresy, 79
Greenland, Conversion of, 135
Gregory, St., 103
------, and Church of England, 142
------ VII., 106
"Hebrews," Definition of, 17
------ and Grecians, Dispute between, 17
Hegira, the Mahometan Era, 89 _n._
"Hellenists" or "Grecians," Definition of, 16
Heresy, how opposed, 69
Hilary, St., 102
Hildebrand, 105
Hincmar, 104
Hungary, Church of, 131
Iceland, Church of, 133
Iconoclast controversy, 95, 121
Ignatius, St., 84
Ignorance, Causes of, in Middle Ages, 115
Incense, its burning made a test, 59
------, its use in heaven, 55
India, Church of, 87
Indulgences, 109, 118
Innocent III., 107
Inquisition, Origin of, 107
Interdict, England placed under, 147
Investiture, Disputes about, 106, 147
Iona, Monastery of, 76
Ireland, Church of, its early history, 74
------, its Liturgy and customs, 78, 151
------, its mediaeval history, 151
------, English influence in, 152
Irenaeus, St., 78
Irish missionary labours, 151
Italy, Church of, its early history, 76
------, its mediaeval history, 121
------, its Liturgy, 123
James, St., the Great, his martyrdom, 27
------ the Less, first Bishop of Jerusalem, 27, 35, 83
------ presides at the First Council, 35
Jerusalem, The Apostolic Church in, 27, 83
------, First Council at, 35
------, Second Council at, 46
------ taken by Saracens, 113
Jewish Worship, and scheme of Redemption, 4, 56
John, St., his special work in the Church, 45, 47, 49
------, his sacramental teaching, 47, 52
------, his universal patriarchate, 51
------, his writings, 51
------, his Epistles, 52
------, his Revelation, 52
------, his martyrdom in will, 57 _n._
------, King, Unconstitutional conduct of, 147
Judicial powers first exerted in the Church, 16
Julian the Apostate, 83
Koran, The, 90
Labours, Apostolic, Extent of, 43
Lanfranc, 146
Langton, Stephen, 147
Lapland, Conversion of, 135
Latin, Use of, in Middle Ages, 116
Law, Christ's obedience to the, 15
Lay investiture, Disputes about, 106
Letters of Peace, 64
Lollards, The, 149
Love of the First Christians, 13
Luke, St., joins St. Paul, 37
Macedonius, his heresy, 70
Mahometanism, 88
------ in Spain, 127
Martyrdom, seeking it forbidden, 63
Martyrs, Immense number of the, 61
Matthias, St., chosen to be Apostle, 8
Mediaeval Church, its true state, 119
Meletian schism, 81
Middle Ages, Learning in, 117
------, Religion in, 116
Ministry, Christian, Three-fold nature of, 2, 5 _n._
------, Jewish, replaced by Christian, 4
Miracles, Gift of, 11
Monastic Orders, The, 111
Monasticism, its good results, 112
Moors in Spain, 126
Moravia, Church of, 128
Mozarabic Liturgy, 127
Music, its use in heaven, 55
Nero's persecution, 49 _n._, 59
Nestorius, his heresy, 71, 82
Nicaea, Council and Creed of, 70
Nicolas of Antioch, 18
Ninian, St., his mission in Scotland, 76
Norman influence on English Church, 146
Northmen, Conversion of, 124
Norway, Church of, 134
Ordinances or traditions, 13 _n._
Paganism not revived by persecution, 62
Papal supremacy, its dangers, 101
------ Supremacy in France, 125
------ aggression, The first, 102
Parochial system, its late development in Ireland, 75
Parthia, Church of, 85
Passover replaced by Eucharist, 3
Patrick, St., his mission to Ireland, 75
Paul, St., Conversion of, 23.
------, his fitness for the Apostolate, 24
Paul, St., ordained Apostle, 30
------, the Chief Apostle of the Gentiles, 31
------, his first Apostolic journey, 31
------, his second Apostolic journey, 36
------, his third Apostolic journey, 40
------, a prisoner, 42
------, in England, 73
------, Martyrdom of, 43
Pelagianism, 78
Pella, Flight to, 83
Penances, their severity, 64
Pentecost, The Day of, 8
------, The effects of, 9
Persecution, Causes of, 57
------ under Herod Agrippa, 27
------, Progress of, 11, 57
Persecutions, Nature and extent of, 61
------, Table of, 60
------, Effect of, on the Church, 63
------ cease under Constantine, 66
Persia, Church of, 85
Peter, St., results of his first Sermon, 10
------, his special work in the Church, 45
------, his first Apostolic journey, 24
------, his imprisonment and deliverance, 28
------, Martyrdom of, 43
Peter the hermit, 125
Pharisees, their opposition to the Gospel, 19
Philip, St., the Deacon, 21
Pisa, Council of, 109
------, English Bishops at, 150
Poland, Church of, 132
Pomerania, 130
Popes of the Middle Ages, 102-111
------, Worldliness of the later, 110
------ and anti-Popes, Disputes between, 109
Portugal, Church of, its early history, 78
------, Church of, its mediaeval history, 126
Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons, 77
Praemunire, Statute of, 149
Presbyters. _See_ Priests.
Priest, Meaning of the word, 32 _n._
Priests, First ordination of, 32
------, their functions, 33
Prussia, Church of, 129
Purgatory, 118
Reformation, what it was, 102
------, Longings for, 123, 131, 150
Reunion between East and West attempted, 137
Ritual, Early Christian, 53
------ checked by persecution, 63
------, Heavenly, as shown in the Apocalypse, 53
------ developed in prosperity, 67
Roman Empire, its decay, 77
Roman influence in Middle Ages, 118
------ influence in Germany, 131
Rome, St. Paul at, 42
------, its influence in extending the Faith, 67
Russia, Church of, its foundation, 80, 139
------, Church of, its independence, 140
Sacrifice, The Christian, 2, 3, 13, 14, 56
Sacrifices under the patriarchal dispensation, 3
------ under the Mosaic dispensation, 3
Sadducees, their opposition to the Gospel, 12, 19
Samaria, Conversion of, 21
Sarum Use, 143
Satan, his enmity against the Church, 58, 62
Saul of Tarsus, 19
Saxon and English Church, 74, 142
Scandinavian Churches, 133
Schism, The first, in the Church, 16
------ between East and West, 98
------, The forty years', 109
Scotland, Church of, its early history, 75
------, its mediaeval history, 152, 153
------, Saxon influence in, 152
------, Roman influence in, 153
Seven Churches, The, 84
Simon Magus, his unbelief and end, 21, 22
Sin, First deadly, in the Church, 16
Spain, Church of, its early history, 78
------, Church of, its mediaeval history, 126
------, Church of, its Liturgy, 127
Stephen, St., ordained Deacon, 18
------, his preaching and inspiration, 19
------, results of his Martyrdom, 21
Supremacy, Papal claims to, 100
Sweden, Church of, 133
Table of "Fields of Apostolic Labour," 44
------ Persecutions, 60
------ Councils, 72
Teaching of the Church, Reserve in, 49, 63
------ its gradual development, 49
Temple Services, Attendance of the Apostles on, 13, 15
Temporal power of the Popes, its rise, 100
"Theological Gospel," The, 47
Theotokos, 71
Timothy, St., his circumcision, 37
------, Bishop of Ephesus, 33, 41
Titus, St., Bishop of Crete, 33, 41
Tongues, The gift of, 9, 11
Tradition, its value, 13
"Traditores," 64
Turkey, European Church in, its early history, 79
------ in Europe, Church in, its medieval history, 135
Turks, their inroads in the East, 138
"Universal Bishop," Title of, 95
Universities in Middle Ages, 117
Vernacular Bibles in Middle Ages, 116
Visigoths, Arianism of, 79
Waldenses, 122
Wales the refuge of British Clergy, 74
Wickliffe, 149
Worship, Jewish and Christian, 3