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THIS little book cannot claim to be either “high-church” or low-church.” It is written in the belief that both those party terms are becoming obsolete, and that the Churchman of the future will be content to be a faithful Christian, and an honest man, thinking highly of the Church and lowly of himself. The writer hopes, however, that it will be found to have a certain breadth, since one cannot have a real Catholicism without catholicity; and if there is a word in it which is not Evangelical, he would wish it withdrawn by this preface. He has kept in mind, throughout, the friendly cheer which comes to us in these happier days from our separated fellow-countrymen on the one side and from the Orthodox Churches of the East on the other ; nor has he been forgetful of the debt we owe both to the Roman Church of earlier days, which sent the Gospel to our Western Islands, and with it the service-books from which our own is so largely derived, and also
to the Lutheran and other Reformers, who won for us some part of our Christian freedom. “Excellent courage our fathers bore.” Only to those on each side he would plead that, if anything in these pages displeases them, they should remember the other side. Everyman’s History of the Prayer Book is written for Everyman; and, after all, the Master whom we are each trying to follow is above all our divisions, rebuking our uncharities, and blessing every step we take along that Gospel way which is narrow to us only because we come so far short of God’s infinite breadth.

Everyman’s History of the Prayer Book is for Everyman, endeavouring to present that amount of matter which Everyman ought to know something about. The author has already written a very small introduction to the subject, called The Prayer Book, What it is, and he has avoided repeating from that little work more than seemed necessary, so that it may be taken, with one or two pamphlets, as a manner of appendix, completing what he has tried to say.

THE PURPORT OF THE FOLLOWING PAGES is to exhibit, in one view, the various features of the ancient Church of Cymru during its metro-political existence. A work of this nature was always desirable, but the want of it was never, perhaps, so much felt as now, when ecclesiastical antiquities are so generally canvassed among Christians.

It is true that we are already in possession of several treatises relative to the religion of our Catholic ancestors; and the learned authors who bequeathed them to us ought not to be mentioned except in terms of respect and gratitude. Still we are free to confess that their researches are not of a form sufficiently systematical, plain, and comprehensive, to suit the cravings and capacities of the ordinary reader. Subjects of main interest only, such as the origin, government, or independence of the Church, have been expressly investigated, whilst particulars, apparently of minor importance, have been left wholly untouched, or but incidentally and subserviently noticed.

Some of the writers may have conducted themselves also more as advocates in support of their respective positions, than as candid and impartial historians. Some have couched their facts and opinions in a language inaccessible to the community at large. And all have more or less confounded the character of the Cambrian with that of its sister Churches in the northern and southern provinces of Britain.

Further, those who have endeavoured to describe the historical progress of early Christianity in
the island, have either stopped with the mission of Augustine, or else deviated in an Anglican direction, overlooking afterwards not only the distinctive character, but even the very existence of the Church of Wales.

Hence it was necessary, that, whosoever wished to be fairly acquainted with any of its details, should cull his information, by a laborious process, from different and scattered fields. These considerations denote that the accounts which hitherto we have of the ancient British Church are far from complete. The present volume is therefore intended, not by any means to supersede them, but in some measure to supply their deficiencies, and that with especial reference to Cymru.

The Church of the Cymry is selected, not merely because former writers have delineated it less correctly than its neighbours, but rather inasmuch as it was the original, and therefore the legitimate communion of the land. For thus may be truly applied to that people as a Church, what was said of them as a nation: “No one has any right to the isle of Prydain but the tribe of the Cymry, for they first settled in it,” i.e. as Christians. Possessing the primary see, their archbishops could justly claim patriarchal jurisdiction over all the dioceses in the island.

MY objects in writing this little book are to contribute a modicum of help to the movement in favour of vacation schools and school. excursions which has become so marked a feature of recent educational development, and to further the study of local history as part of the school curriculum, so far as the regulations of the Board of Education, at present, admit.

It is, happily, unnecessary to expatiate upon the benefits, mental and physical, which may be reaped by our children (evidenced by the excellent results already attained) by the judicious use of vacation schools and school journeys and excursions, because the subject has been thoroughly dealt with in vol. xii; of the series of Special Reports on Educational Subjects, issued in 1907 by the Board of Education.

With regard to the study of local history, there are, I believe, two methods which, combined, may enable school authorities and teachers to get good results. A book dealing with the subject can be selected as the continuous reader, which, supplemented by reference to large scale map by the teacher’s own comments, will give the children a general idea of the history of the country round about them, and, perhaps, though this depends more on the teacher than on the book, they may gather a little enthusiasm for the subject and some desire to know more about it.

The notion that there are interesting things to be found out about the towns, villages, and countryside by looking into their past story, having thus got into the children’s minds, excursions, under the power given by the Board for a Limited number of outdoor lessons in the course of each year, may be made to places of interest within a few miles of the school. The result will be that the children, coming into actual contact with existing historical monuments, handling, seeing, sketching, and measuring them (for they should be encouraged to do all these; of course, to do them in intelligent fashion), will apply the ideas got from the book to the concrete objects before them; and the end of all education, the development of their powers of observation, of putting two and two together, of drawing inferences, of weighing evidence, will be greatly furthered.

The following pages cannot supply more than an outline sketch of Durham history, and, perhaps, I may be allowed to suggest that Durham teachers would find help in this work of teaching local history if they were to get a first-hand acquaintance with, by visiting, again and again, the ancient churches- and buildings in their immediate neighbourhoods, and were also to read such a book as Parker’s Introduction to Gothic Architecture, with his glossary of Gothic Architecture at hand for reference, and Boutell’s English Heraldry. Then they might go on to digest what is to be found in Surtees’ History of Durham and Billing’s Architectural Antiquities of Durham about the places visited.

The picture on the front of this tract depicts the visit of the Duchess of Kent, to the Vatican. It is now twelve months since her Royal Highness became a convert to Rome. She was the first member of the Royal Family to do so.

This event, provoked some Roman Catholic Clergy to comment with some jubilation, that the Duchess of Kent’s conversion signalled the conversion of the British Throne back to Vatican Rule! They may be a little bit premature in their celebrations; But there is no doubt that there is a move in our Nation both Politically and Religiously, and this move is leading us back in to the Roman Fold.

Rome has a tradition that those who are non-Catholics and especially if they are women, that they must dress in black if they are having an audience with the Pope. This no doubt is to convey their inferiority to the Pope, who claims to be Christ’s earthly representative.

When anyone, whether they be Royalty or not, who submit to the authority of the Pope they are upholding one of the great errors of the Church of Rome; which is the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility and the Papal claims that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ. There is a clear lesson to be learned. No one can turn away from the truth without being engulfed in a greater error.

Papal Infallibility is not only unscripturable but it is also repugnant. But the claim that the Pope is Christ’s Vicar, is blasphemous. No one who has had a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, (who is the real Vicar of Christ) could ever countenance such a blasphemy.

We were all saddened by the Duchess of Kent’s conversion to Roman Catholicism; but when you consider the attitude of her former church; which was the Church of England, and the comments which emanate from its leaders. It is all too obvious that they have already one foot in Rome.