taken at the time. The building lay to the South-East of the forum, and was situated in the same insula. It consisted of a central nave with apse at the West end, two side aisles with transverse walls at each end, and a portico or narthex. The nave, porch and apse had a paving of red tesseræ. In a line with the chord of the apse and extending into the nave was a square pavement of more ornamental character, composed of black and white tessera with a border of lozenge pattern, alternately red and grey on a white ground, enclosed with lines of black. In a line with the entrance is a rough pavement of flints, in the centre of which is another, about 4 feet square of red brick. Beside it is a pit or well about 4 feet deep. Here we have a church of the basilican type. The basilica was a Roman court of justice, but the word was applied in the time of Constantine to buildings consecrated to Christian worship. It is, of course, within the bounds of probability that the origin of the building may have been secular, and that in later times it was adapted as a church. It has been pointed out that the space occupied by the square of ornamental pavement was occupied by the Christian altar, or, as I myself prefer to call it, the Lord's Table. The pavement at this part is in good condition and not worn, as though it had been covered by a mat. The celebrant standing in the apse would look East, facing the congregation. The platform of red brick at the entrance probably marks the site of a lavatory. The portico would form the narthex, the name given by Christian writers to the vestibulum in front of a basilica, to which the catechumens and penitents were admitted.

The building was a small one, its extreme length being only just over 40 feet. The number of Christians in Silchester must, therefore, have been few and Paganism probably still in the ascendant, as the remains of two large and two small Pagan temples were discovered.

With this glimpse of Christianity our survey of the Roman occupation ceases. We should much like to know what befell our Country when the Roman legions were withdrawn, but of the next 200 years we have no authentic history. We would fain, however, believe that amidst a time of unrule and disorder, some of those who followed Christ kept the lamp of truth alight, and still retained their faith when the Teutonic tribes invaded Britain, who enshrined the names of their gods in the days of our week. At the coming of Augustine, we enter the domain of reliable history, and Christianity is once more established in our Island. We are bound to state, however, that there had arisen in the meantime great changes of observance and ritual. Monasticism had arisen, and the practices of the Church were far removed from the simple observance of such as gathered in the 4th century in the little basilica at Calleva Attrebatum.

DISCUSSION.

Lieut-Colonel MACKINLAY said :-It is now my privilege to propose a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Dale for his excellent paper. The printed part gives the evidences of the facts which have evidently been most carefully weighed. As the historical data which we possess for the period under consideration in Britain is but scanty, archæological research has rendered reliable aid.

Mr. Dale refers to the Roman leaden ingots found in England, and he states that their weight is determined by the strength of ordinary pack mules, and this is doubtless correct. At the present time the weights of the guns of mountain artillery, carried on mules' backs in order to traverse narrow paths impossible for wheeled transport, are governed in the same way by the strength of ordinary transport mules, the most powerful being selected for the transport of the guns themselves. Mr. Dale refers to the use of lead for coffins, the reason doubtless being that this is a metal which resists oxidation far better than iron. One of the noticeable features in Pompeii is that the leaden pipes belonging to the old houses retain almost entirely the forms which they bore when first constructed, so well does lead resist the action of the weather.

The lantern slides claim our admiration and attention, particularly the first, of the coin with the Chi rho monogram stamped on it.

The carefully drawn plans of Silchester well show the high state of organisation and comfort in a Roman city in Britain. It is interesting to be reminded of the fact that at some time of the year the position of the principal streets can be clearly seen in the growing crops by the colour differing from that around them.

I conclude by asking you to accord by acclamation a hearty vote of thanks for this most interesting paper.

Mr. THEODORE ROBERTS thought that the evidence for the martyrdom of St. Albans was a little suspicious and enquired whether the name was not in some way connected with Albion, the Roman name of Britain, which would point to his being a mythical person.

With reference to Sir Henry Howorth's most interesting remarks he thought that it was the good emperors who were persecutors, not the bad. Nero only burnt a few Christians to draw off attention from himself, but Prof. Ramsay had shown that Vespasian was really the first persecuting emperor, and he instanced Marcus Aurelius, the very best of the emperors, as a persecutor. He thought the reason was that these good administrators recognized that the principles of Christianity were entirely opposed to their system and would ultimately destroy it.

He quite believed there were other martyrs in Britain, even if there were no St. Alban, but not in the time of Diocletian, as it

was Constantius Chlorus who was then the Cæsar in Britain, and he was favourable to Christianity .

He thought the historian, J. R. Green, and others, had gone too far in seeking for the origins of our nation wholly in Germany, and believed that although it was true that the Anglo-Saxons conquered the British, they mingled with them much as the Normans afterwards mingled with the Saxons.

Dr. SCHOFIELD having to leave early made the following remarks on a paper which was read at the discussion:-There can be no doubt of the value and interest of this much too short paper. It is well established that there was in Great Britain an organised Christian church for some hundred years before the Anglian (Danish) invasion in 449. It must be remembered that Constantine the Great, son of Queen Helena, was crowned. at York in 306. That the first Christian Council at Nice was held under him in 325, and also that Paganism had been suppressed and made illegal through the whole Roman Empire 27 years before the Romans finally left England in 418, when they left a flourishing English church, and no sign of British or Roman idolatry (Encyclopædia Britt.) then existed.

The Danish conquest swept all this away, and was a heathen triumph, and when 100 years later St. Augustine in 597, brought Christianity again into England, it was in no way founded on the ancient British-Roman church.

It must be remembered, too, that Christianity in England never came from British sources. Romans planted Christianity here twice over. Its earliest introduction is unknown; but there is in my mind little doubt that He who knew all from the beginning, referred to this country in the last words He spoke cn earth, when he spoke of the " uttermost parts of the earth" (the well-known "Ultima Thule" of Rome-the then name for Great Britain).

Christianity may have been introduced as early as Apostolic days, but certainly flourished in the third and fourth centuries from its connection with Rome, only to be so thoroughly and almost completely destroyed by the English or Angles (Danes) in the fifth century.

In

All through our history, after the Apostolic age, Rome planted the truth here, and it never came from a British source-first of all during the rule of the Cæsars, and after under the Popes. a peculiar sense Christianity in this country is the daughter of the Romish Church, long before the Roman Catholic Church that we know was founded. Only in 597, by Augustine's mission here, was this introduced and finally organised in 690, to be overthrown many hundred years later as the Established religion of this country at the Reformation.

Remarks from Prebendary Fox on Mr. Dale's paper has an interesting note in the prolegomena of 2 Timothy on Claudia. He goes

fully into the evidence of the possibility of her being a British Christian. He does not come to definite conclusion, but merely leaves it as a probability.

Mr. DALE said in reply that he had been most anxious to present to the audience only reliable information on the subject. For this reason he had not quoted the author of "St. Paul in Britain." At the same time he was well aware that there were many who went further than he had felt justified in doing.

640th ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING,

HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM В,

THE CENTRAL HALL, WESTMINSTER, on 20th March, 1922, at 4.30 p.m.

Monday

ALFRED T. SCHOFIELD, ESQ., M.D., IN THE CHAIR.

The Minutes of the previous Meeting were read, confirmed and signe and the HON. SECRETARY announced the election of the following gentle men since the last meeting:-As a Member, Avory W. Holmes-Forbes, Esq. and as Associates, the Rev. P. B. Fraser, M.A., the Rev. J. M. Pollock, M.A., and J. H. Clifford Johnston, Esq.

The Chairman then called on the Rev. F. F. Horton, D.D., to introduce he Discussion on Sunday Observance.

DISCUSSION ON SUNDAY OBSERVANCE.

Introducing Dr. Horton to the meeting, the Chairman said:We are pleased to welcome here Dr. Horton, who is a man with a special knowledge of the subject before us this afternoon. It is to be hoped that this Institute will be able to voice an utterance on the subject of Sunday Observance that may influence some of those around us, and the leaders of thought in this Metropolis.

The Rev. Dr. Horton said:-Dr. Schofield, Ladies and Gentlemen,-I shall approach the question this afternoon not from the standpoint of religious ordinance or dogmatic rule, but entirely from the standpoint of practical utility as experience has demonstrated it. In fact, my own view is that the ordinance of the Sabbath by the Jewish law is strictly practical; that it was enjoined upon the people on hygienic grounds, and that the ordinance of the Sabbath day was for the good of men. Our Lord said, The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath."

66

It is generally conceded that an interval of rest is necessary to all efficient work. It has been proved by long experience that the interval should be about one day in seven, and wherever that idea has been violated the first experience has been to return to the institution of the seventh day.

During the war, you remember, an effort was made to continue the making of munitions during a seven-day week, but it was suspended entirely on the ground that the munitions were not produced so well as when there was a seventh day of rest. And perhaps a more significant thing was the experience of the French Revolution, when in the hatred of dogmatic institutions the Revolution abolished the Sabbath, and yet found it necessary to have