The Church of England

Edward William Watson

Sujets

• Great Britain
• History of Christianity
• Church of England

Informations

• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 8
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

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THE LIBRARIESCHURCHTHE
OF ENGLAND
BY
EDWARD WILLIAM WATSON
Canon of Christ Church, and Rogius
Professor of Ecclesiastical
History, Oxford
J t
LONDON
WILLIAMS AND NOKGATEFIRST PRINTED APRIL, 1914
--3C:^
CONTENTS
rHTAPTKR
I The Anqlo-Saxow Periodkindred interest already publishedAmong the volumes cf in
this series are the fcllowing :
Missions. By Mrs. Creighton.60.
and Modern Times14. The Papacy (1303-1870). By
Dr. Wm. Barry.
Nonconformity. By Principal W. B. Selbie,60.
Religion. By Principal68. Comparative J, Estlin
Carpenter, LL.D.
Making of the New Testament.66. The By Prof. B,
W. Bacon, LL.D.
The Literature of the Old Testament. By84. Prof,
George Moore.THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND
CHAPTER I
THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD
The history of the EngHsh Church begins
with the conversion to Christianity of the
Enghsh people. There were already Chris-
tians in all parts of Great Britain ; where
the English had conquered and settled there
was a minority of serfs elsewhere; a Celtic
population that was either independent or
under English domination. But these Chris-
tians were to have, at the utmost, an influence
upon English Christianity ; they were not to
control its structure or its character.
The conversion of the English was not an
isolated event. It was part of a change
through allwhich the Teutonic races that
won new in whathomes had been the Roman
Empire had passed or were to pass. Latin
Christianity for them represented a higher
life, in morals and civilization, than that of
7THE CHURCH8 OF ENGLAND
their fathers. Its faith, preached as univers-
ally true and necessary for salvation, its
worship, impressively carried out, struck
their imagination gained theirand assent.
Christianity wasThis one. There was no
thought that Christians could Christianbe
in different ways, or as members of different
communions. Evenwhen there were disputes
misunderstandings, asand there were at
Englishfirst between and Celtic Christians
they werein England, at one in principle.
dispute was as toThe only the true following
of the rule which all agreed must exist ; they
would never have consented to differ in belief
or in the organization of their Church. This
unity was the lesson that had been impressed
upon Christians by great doctrinal struggles
through which agreement in faith had been
reached, and by the training in uniformity
of administration which they had received
from the Roman Empire, under which their
system had grown up and after whose pattern
it had been largely shaped. In theory and
in practice there was one faith and one
organization, though the former might not
always be intelligently held nor the latter
efficiently administered.
There was nothing strange in the resolution
of Gregory the Great to send a mission for the