the whole then (to use the words of that most acute investigator, Paley), if we may be allowed to suppose that St. Paul, after his liberation at Rome, sailed into Asia, taking Crete in his way; that from Asia, and from Ephesus, the capital of that country, he proceeded into Macedonia, and, crossing the peninsula in his progress, came into the neighbourhood of Nicopolis; we have a route which falls in with every thing.""I confess that the journey which we have thus traced out for St. Paul, is, in a great measure, hypothetic; but it should be observed, that it is a species of consistency, which seldom belongs to falsehood, to admit of an hypothesis, which includes a great number of independent circumstances, without contradiction." Hor. Paul. c. xiii. u 2.

III. It now remains, in the last place, to consider the testimony of the fathers, brought forward by Gibson. Dr. Lardner may lead us to determine, in what light is to be viewed that of Clemens Romanus, upon which Gibson lays the principal stress*." Whither Paul went, after he had obtained his liberty, has been debated. Some think that he went from Rome to Spain; others see not sufficient reason for that supposition. Among these are L'En fant and Beausobre, Basnage, and Cellarius, and Du Pin. That Paul went into Spain, has been argued from an expression of Clement, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, who there says of Paul, that having come to the borders of the West, and having suffered martyrdom, he went to the holy place;' which some have rendered, the utmost bounds of the West, and argue, that hereby is meant Spain. I rather think that Clement only meant Italy or Rome, where Clement was, and where Paul suffered. From a note of Le Clerc up. on the place, we learn, that Bishop L'EnFell so understood Clement. fant and Beausobre, in their general

Hist. Apost. &c, vol. II. p. 130,

Preface to St. Paul's Epistles, say, the bounds of the West signify nothing but the West. It is an expression, they say, borrowed from the Scriptures, in which the borders of a country denote the country itself, In a like manner, by those words, Clement intended Italy+."-Bishop Stillingfleet (whose arguments Gibson has condensed) in endeavouring to prove, that by Clement's expression," the utmost bounds of the West, the British isles were especially understood," quotes Herodo"the Celta tus as saying (lib. iv), are the most western of all the Eu"and ropeans." Stillingfleet adds; among these the remotest were the Britons +." Now, if Stillingfleet by this designed to inform us, that the Britons were Celts, the communication of a fact so well known, was certainly unnecessary; but if he conceived that either this communication, or the passage of Herodotus, would assist his argument, he ap pears to have been mistaken. For, in the first place, the Celts were very little known to the ancients, till long after the time of Herodotus; and Herodotus himself acknowledges all the countries beyond the Danube to be utterly unknown. Secondly, in the passage quoted, Herodotus is actually speaking of the Celts at the Southern extremity of Spain near the Promontorium sacrum (now Cape St. Vincent), which was then conceived to be the ne plus ulIn the same tra of the West. place, Stillingfleet further contends, that the utmost bounds of the West," must mean Britain, because, "before the discovery of Britain, the Morini, who lived over against it,

* Thus, too, it may be observed, the expression, "The isles of the Gentiles," by an Hebrew idiom, signifies, not only islands, strictly so speaking, but also any tract of country lying near the sea-side, and at some distance from Palestine,

Vide Stillingfl, Orig. Sacræ, p. 384. + Orig. Brit. p. 38.

Vide Pelloutier's Hist. des Celtes, vols. I. and III.

·

were said to be the utmost people of the histories of bishops and marthe earth. So Virgil calls them ex- tyrs,*" tremos hominum Morinos."" Unfortunately, this passage disagrees extremely with the Bishop's reasonings; and proves how little stress ought to be laid upon an unconnected expression. Virgil began to write the Æneid in the year B. C. 27; and the invasion of Britain by Julius Cæsar, had taken place twen, ty-eight years before. The existence, therefore, of a country beyond that of the Morini could not have been supposed unknown to him, even though no proof thereof had been extant. But Ecl. I. contains this line; written too before the passage in the Eneid, above cited.

Upon the particular point under consideration, Spanheim has delivered his opinion in another part of his workst, where, among these Apocrypha, he places the histories which relate, not only, that St. Paul brought the light of the Gospel from Spain to England, but that bishoprics were instituted and apportioned there, either by the apostles, or apostolic men, He rejects, as equally fabulous, the account of the three archbishoprics and twenty-eight bishoprics, established in the reign of king Lucius.

Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos.* It follows then, that, by a poetical licence, Virgil terms the Morini, extremos hominum; and he thus ceases to be an ally of the Bishop.

Clement, then, it appears, has been misunderstood; and with respect to the fathers who expressly name Britain, the judgment of Fr. Spanheim, which is also that of learned men in general, will probably be deemed sufficiently decisive. "It is," says he," beyond a doubt, that the ancient and authentic fathers made by far too great a use of apocryphal writings: of which, especially in Clemens Alex., Origen, Eusebius, &c. there are obvious examples+." In another place he says; "there is no end to the stories which these Apocrypha have either wholly invented, or have intermingled with the history of Christ, the apostles, the seventy disciples, and the founders of the churches throughout Italy, France, Germany, Spain, England, &c.; and also with

See also Georg. III. 25.

↑ Indubium tamen est Apocryphis plus atis deinceps usos esse genuinos et antiquos patres, cumprimis inde à Clemente Alexandrino, Origine, Eusebio, &c. exemplis ob

In the same apocryphal class, he places the visits to this country, of James the son of Zebedee, Jo

Nec finis fabellarum est quibus Christi, apostolorum, Ixx. discipulorum, fundatorum ecclesiarum per Italiam, Galliam, Germa niam, Hispaniam, Britanniam, &c. ita quoque tot episcoporum ac martyrum historias, vel conspurcarunt, vel de suo integras finxerunt hujusmodi Apocrypha.-Ibidem. Can. 10.

Defectus historiæ apostolicæ, ubi desinit Lucas in Actis. Unde alicubi J. Scaliger, à fine Actorum Apostolicorum ad tempora Plinii Juniors, nihil certi haberi in historiâ ecclesiæ. Dionysius Octavius in Rationar. de eodem intervailo, Pleraque fabulis et incertis narrationibus aspersa.

Ibid. Hist. Ch. Secul. 1. Sect. 6.-I have added this last quotation, because, as the case in question is, in some degree, reduced to an argumentum ad vere

cundiam, I was willing to bring forward some additional authorities. Many more might

be produced from Spanheim. This must also plead my excuse for the numerous quotations and references, which I have thought it necessary to make.

† Geograph. Sacr. et Eccles. Vol. I.pp.173, 174, 175.

Fox (Acts and Mon. p. 106. 4th Ed. 1583), in his hatred of Popery, is very unwilling to allow Lucius the honour of introducing Christianity into England, by means of Pope Eleutherius; and adduces, among other arguments against the fact, the cir cumstance, that the English and Scots, by the testimony of Bede, and the Abbot of Cluniac, celebrated their Easter, not after the Roman, but Greek manner. He inclines to believe, that the Gospel was brought hither, either by Joseph of Arimathæa, or by

seph of Arimathæa*, Simon Zelotes,
Simon Peter, Aristobulus, and Phi-
lip with his twelve disciples; and

some of the apostles or their disciples.
"Thus," he adds, "this realme and ileland
of Britaine was eftsoones reduced to the
faith and law of the Lord, according as was
prophecied by Esay, as wel of that, as other
ilelands mo, where he sayth, ch. 42. He
shall not faint nor geve over, till hee hath set
judgement in earth, and ilelands shall wait
for his law." Archbishop Usher, however,
who, in his Brit. Eccles. Antiq. has treated
this subject at large, quotes Gotcelinus, as
saying, that the customs and ceremonies of
the British church were received from Eleu⚫
therius, as well as from the disciples of the
apostles; and observes that Matthew Paris
and Matthew of Westminster assert the same.
Usher agrees with Bishop Godwin in sup-
posing that Lucius was king over a part
only of Britain, and in a quarter which had
been subdued by the Romans. He is said to
have been converted by Timothy, the disciple
of St. Paul, and son of Claudia, the native of
Britain; and it is added, that by means of
Faganus and Damianus (the instructors he
had requested of the Pope) three thou-
sand academics of Cambridge were
verted and baptized in one day. It must be
a miracle not likely
acknowledged that this
to be repeated. Bower (Hist. of Popes, Vol.i.)
says, that the history of Lucius rests upon
Bede's authority only; rejecting the monkish
annals, &c. of which Usher has made so
much use. Vide Maitland's London, pp. 498
and 580. Also H. Wharton's Hist. de Epis
copis et decanis Londinens.-Mr. Strutt in-
timates his opinion, that the Britons were
converted in the reign of Lucius; but pro-
bably the attention of this excellent anti-
quary had not been directed particularly to
this subject. Vide Horda Angel Cynnan..Vol.
I. p. 12.-Fabian (Chronicle, part iii. ch. 9.)
seems to have no doubt concerning the re-
ality of Lucius's reign and conversion. Hey-
lyn contends for Lucius, and gives his coat of
arms:-argent, a cross argent: in the dexter
quarter, a cross sable. This, with the story
related by Camden, of the inscription dug
up in Cumberland, seems to bear strong
marks of monkish fabrication,

con

Joseph is said, in the legends of the cloister, to have made divers voyages; at one time, in a ship without sails or oars, and at another, upon the skirt of his own coat. The Jews, being offended with him for burying the body of our Lord, made an opening in the wall of Jerusalem, and inclosed him in

terms them "fictions invented by
monks, for the purpose of exalt-
ing the credit of their respective

it, where he was miraculously preserved and
fed, till the destruction of Jerusalem by
Titus, when he sallied forth, and made the
best of his way to Ireland. After perform-
ing to the Irish the good office of ridding
their country of all venomous animals, he
proceeded to England, where he founded the
abbey of Glastonbury. His body, says
monkish writer, is supposed to be buried
at Hamden Hill, in that neighbourhood;
and with it two phials full; "sudore Christi
sanguineo," which he brought with him
from the Holy Land. Whenever his bury-
ing-place shall be discovered, an harvest of
miracles is to grow upon the spot. The
abbey of Glastonbury is also said to have
owed its origin to the Irish apostle, St.
Patrick, Circ. A. D. 425; but Bishop Stil-
lingfleet rejects his charter, mentioned by
William of Malmesbury, and printed in the
Monasticon. St. Dunstan was afterwards
the superior of this abbey; of whom so
many absurd tales have been invented
monks.-Tan-
and propagated by the
ner observes (Pref. Notitia Monastica)
"The original of Monks in Britain may be
dated from the first plantation of Christianity
therein, if we may credit a very learned
gentleman (Sir G. Mackensy, in his de-
fence of the Royal Line of Scotland), who
tells us, it is probable that some of the
Druids, having been converted from the
pagan religion, whereof they were the priests,
became our first monks, being thereunto
much inclined, by the severity of their for
mer discipline.' But, however, 'tis just to
suppose, that several Christians, to avoid
the heat of the persecution which raged so
fiercely here in the reign of Dioclesian
(A, D. 302), did withdraw into solitary
places, and there accustoming themselves to
live, were our first ascetics."
Bingham,
however (Christ. Antiq. B. 7.), distinguishes
between monks and ascetics, who have
frequently been confounded together, and
dates the first introduction of the former,
from the Decian persecution, about the
middle of the third century, when many
people fled for safety to the deserts and
mountains of Egypt.-Here St. Anthony
became the first anchoret; and from the
East were derived the earliest practices of
our British monks. Vide the rule of Pacho-
mius, in Fosbrooke's British Monachism,
vol. i. Some modifications and indulgences
were, however, found necessary in the west.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. In the interpretation of the famous prophecy of our Lord, contained in Matt. xxiv. Mark xiii. and Luke xxi. it is well known that two very different systems have been adopted by two opposite classes of commen

The one refers the whole of it to the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and the matters immediately connected with those events, thence deeming the advent of Christ in the clouds of heaven to mean only a figurative adsent for the purpose of taking vengeance on his enemies the Jews.

The other esteems it a chronological prophecy, including indeed the destruction of Jerusalem, but extending likewise through the long period of the dispersion of Judah to the tremendous political convulsions which will synchronize with his restoration, and reaching even to the proper second advent of the Messiah.

Writers of the former class, though they sometimes allow the destruc