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Did Paul Preach in Britain ?
The Bible gives an account of the life of St. Paul - except for a period between his trial and acquittal in Rome and his return to Rome and martyrdom there. In chapter 15 of his letter to the Roman brethren, Paul expresses his intention to journey into Spain.
Romans 15:24 ¶ Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company.
28 ¶ When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain.
The Sonnini Manuscript contains an account of Paul's journey in Spain, Britain and Gaul, following Paul's two years enforced residence in Rome, in his own hired house. The manuscript was found interleaved in a copy of "Sonnini's Travels in Turkey and Greece undertaken by order of Louis XVI, and with the authority of the Ottoman Court, by Sonnini, member of several scientific or literary societies of the Society of Agriculture of Paris, and of the Observers of Men." (Printed for T.N. Longman and O. Rees, Paternoster Row, 1801.)
This book was purchased at the sale of the library and effects of the late Rt. Hon. Sir John Newport, Bart., in Ireland. Sir John's family arms were engraved on the cover of the book, which had been in his possession for over thirty years. With the book was a document from the Sultan of Turkey, granting to C.S. Sonnini permission to travel in all parts of the Ottoman dominions. Sonnini translated the document from the original Greek manuscript found in the Archives at Constantinople, and presented to him by Sultan Abdoul Achmet.
The manuscript is of ancient origin and written in the style of the Acts of the Apostles. Capt. E. Raymond discusses below the evidence for St. Paul's journey to Britain. While the manuscript might be validation of Paul's travels in North Western Europe, some of its contents appear fanciful, and the manuscript should not be considered to be the 'lost 29th chapter of Acts'.
1 ¶ And Paul, full of the blessings of Christ, and abounding in the spirit, departed out of Rome, determining to go into Spain, for he had a long time purposed to journey thitherward, and was minded also to go from thence into Britain.
2 ¶ For he had heard in Phoenicia that certain of the children of Israel, about the time of the Assyrian captivity, had escaped by sea to 'the isles afar off', as spoken by the prophet, and called by the Romans Britain.
3 ¶ And the Lord commanded the gospel to be preached far hence to the Gentiles, and to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
4 ¶ And no man hindered Paul; for he testified boldly of Jesus before the tribunes and among the people; and he took with him certain of the brethren which abode with him at Rome, and they took shipping at Ostium, and having the winds fair were brought safely into an haven of Spain.
5 ¶ And much people were gathered together from the towns and villages, and the hill country: for they had heard of the conversion of the apostle, and the many miracles which he had wrought.
6 ¶ And Paul preached mightily in Spain, and great multitudes believed and were converted, for they perceived he was an apostle sent from God.
7 ¶ And they departed out of Spain, and Paul and his company finding a ship in Armorica sailing unto Britain, they went therein, and passing along the South coast they reached a port called Raphinus.
(Raphinus was the Roman name for Sandwich in Kent. In Saxon time there was still standing in Sandwich an old house called the 'House of the Apostles'.)
8 ¶ Now when it was noised abroad that the apostle had landed on their coast, great multitudes of the inhabitants met him, and they treated Paul courteously, and he entered in at the east gate of their city, and lodged in the house of an Hebrew and one of his own nation.
9 ¶ And on the morrow he came and stood upon Mount Lud; and the people thronged at the gate, and assembled in the Broadway, and he preached Christ unto them, and many believed the word and the testimony of Jesus.
10 ¶ And at even the Holy Spirit fell upon Paul, and he prophesied, saying, Behold in the last days the God of Peace shall dwell in the cities, and the inhabitants thereof shall be numbered; and in the seventh numbering of the people, their eyes shall be opened, and the glory of their inheritance shine forth before them. And nations shall come up to worship on the Mount that testifieth of the patience and long suffering of a servant of the Lord.
11 ¶ And in the latter days new tidings of the Gospel shall issue forth out of Jerusalem, and the hearts of the people shall rejoice, and behold, fountains shall be opened, and there shall be no more plague.
12 ¶ In those days there shall be wars and rumours of wars; and a king shall rise up, and his sword shall be for the healing of the nations, and his peace-making shall abide, and the glory of his kingdom a wonder among princes.
13 ¶ And it came to pass that certain of the Druids came unto Paul privately, and showed by their rites and ceremonies they were descended from the Jews which escaped from bondage in the land of Egypt, and the apostle believed these things, and he gave them the kiss of peace.
14 ¶ And Paul abode in his lodgings three months, confirming in the faith and preaching Christ continually.
15 ¶ And after these things Paul and his brethren departed from Raphinus, and sailed unto Atium in Gaul.
16 ¶ And Paul preached in the Roman garrisons and among the people, exhorting all men to repent and confess their sins.
17 ¶ And there came to him certain of the Belgae to enquire of him of the new doctrine, and of the man Jesus; and Paul opened his heart unto them, and told them all things that had befallen him, howbeit that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; and they departed, pondering among themselves upon the things which they had heard.
18 ¶ And after much preaching and toil Paul and his fellow labourers passed into Helvetia, and came unto Mount Pontius Pilate, where he who condemned the Lord Jesus dashed himself down headlong, and so miserably perished.
19 ¶ And immediately a torrent gushed out of the mountain and washed his body broken in pieces into a lake.
20 ¶ And Paul stretched forth his hands upon the water, and prayed unto the Lord, saying, O Lord God give a sign unto all nations that here Pontius Pilate, which condemned thine only begotten Son, plunged down headlong into the pit.
21 ¶ And while Paul was yet speaking, behold there came a great earthquake, and the face of the waters was changed, and the form of the lake like unto the Son of Man hanging in an agony upon the cross.
22 ¶ And a voice came out of heaven saying, Even Pilate hath escaped the wrath to come, for he washed his hands before the multitude at the blood-shedding of the Lord Jesus.
23 ¶ When, therefore, Paul and those that were with him saw the earthquake, and heard the voice of the angel, they glorified God, and were mightily strengthened in the spirit.
24 ¶ And they journeyed and came to Mount Julius, where stood two pillars, one on the right hand and one on the left hand, erected by Caesar Augustus.
25 ¶ And Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, stood up between the two pillars, saying, Men and brethren, these stones which ye see this day shall testify of my journey hence; and verily I say, they shall remain until the outpouring of the spirit upon all nations, neither shall the way be hindered throughout all generations.
26 ¶ And they went forth and came unto Illyricum, intending to go by Macedonia into Asia, and grace was found in all the churches; and they prospered and had peace. Amen.
COMMENTARY BY CAPT. E. RAYMOND
Verse 9 speaks of St. Paul speaking on Mount Lud. It is noteworthy that one of the earliest of the Pauline British traditions tells of Paul preaching to the Druids on the same mount.
Verse 10 contains a remarkable prediction that "...nations shall come to worship on the Mount that testifieth of the patience and long-suffering of a servant of the Lord." One cannot fail to see that this prediction has had striking fulfillment in the magnificent edifice (St. Paul's Cathedral), which stands on the site of Mount Lud. It bears the Apostle's own name, and has been the meeting place for men of other nations who have come to worship before the Lord.
While it may seem incredible to some Bible scholars that Paul preached in Britain, there is Biblical justification for such a mission. This would have been but a continuance of the commission Christ gave the original Apostles; "... ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
Note that the expression is 'part', singular – not parts, which indicates it must have been a particular geographic location like the others listed -- Judea, Samaria. But does the phrase ... the 'uttermost part of the earth' refer to the British Isles?
One clue is given us by Agricola, the Roman governor of Britain (A.D. 37-93). He declared that he sailed up the east side of Britain and discovered 'Ultima Thule', an expression well known in the Roman world, and applied to the remotest parts of the north and west of Europe.
Galgacus, one of the chieftains of Caledonia, or Scotland, renowned for his valour in resisting the Romans, in rallying his people said: "the extremity of the earth is ours. Defined by our situation, we have this day preserved our honour and the rights of men. But we are no longer safe in our obscurity. Our retreat is laid open. This is the end of the habitable world, and rocks and brawling waves fill all the space behind."
Further evidence that 'the uttermost part of the earth' is intended to refer to Britain is found in the Scottish Declaration of Independence, which was drawn up in 1320 in protest against the attempt by Edward I to conquer Scotland with the help of the Pope.
This document is deposited in the National Registry at Edinburgh, and states: "The nation of the Scots ... passing from the greater Scythis through the Mediterranean Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and sojourning in Spain among the most savage tribes through a long course of time, could nowhere be subjugated by any people, however barbarous; and coming thence one thousand two hundred years after the outgoing of the people of Israel ... acquired for themselves the possessions of the West. In this kingdom, one hundred and thirteen kings of their own royal stock, no strangers intervening, have reigned, whose nobility and merits ... shine out plainly enough from this, that the King of kings, even our Lord Jesus Christ, after His passion and resurrection, called them, though situated at the uttermost part of the earth, almost the first, to His most holy faith."
THE SCOTTISH DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
The Declaration of Arbroath
To the Most High Holy Father in Christ and Lord, the Lord John, by divine providence Supreme Pontift of the Holy Roman and Universal Church, his humble and devout sons Duncan, Earl of Fife, Thomas Randolph Earl of Moray, Lord of Man and of Annandale, Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, Malise, Earl of Strathearn, Malcolm, Earl of Lennos, William, Earl of Ross, Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney and William, Earl of Sutherland; Walter, Stewart of Scotland, William Soules, Butler of Scotland, James, Lord of Douglas, Roger Mowbray, David, Lord of Brechin, David Graham, Ingram Umfraville, John Menteith, Guardian of the Earldom of Menteith, Alexander Fraser, Gilbert Hay, Constable of Scotland, Robert Keith, Marischal of Scotland, Henry St. Clair, John Graham, David Lindsay, William Oliphant, Patrick Graham, John Fenton, William Abernathy, David Wemyss, William Mushet, Fergus of Ardrossan, Eustace Maxwell, William Ramsey, William Mowat, Alan Murray, Donald Campbell, John Cameron, Reginald Cheyne, Alexander Seton, Andrew Leslie, and Alexander Straiton, and the other barons and freeholders and the whole community of the realm of Scotland send all manner of filial reverence, with devout kisses of his blessed feet.
Most Holy Father and Lord, we know and from the chronicles and books of the ancients we find that among other famous nations our own, the Scots, has been graced with widespread renown. They journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage tribes, but nowhere could they be subdued by any race however barbarous. Thence they came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to their home in the west where they still live today. The Britons they first drove out, the Picts they utterly destroyed, and even though very often assailed by the Norwegians, the Danes and the English, they took possession of that home with many victories and untold efforts; and, as the historians of old time bear witness, they have held it free of all bondage ever since. In their kingdom there have reigned one hundred and thirteen kings of their own royal stock, the line unbroken by a single foreigner.
The high qualities and deserts of these people, were they not otherwise manifest, gain glory enough from this: that the King of kings and Lord of lords, our Lord Jesus Christ, after His Passion and Resurrection, called them, even though settled in the uttermost part of the earth, almost the first to His most holy faith. Nor would He have them confirmed in that faith by merely anyone but by the first of His Apostles by calling though second or third in rank the most gentle Saint Andrew, the Blessed Peter’s brother, and desired him to keep them under his protection as their patron for ever.
The Most Holy Fathers your predecessors gave careful heed to these things and bestowed many favours and numerous privileges on this same kingdom and people, as being the special charge of the Blessed Peter’s brother. Thus our nation under their protection did indeed live in freedom and peace up to the time when that mighty prince the King of the English, Edward, the father of the one who reigns today, when our kingdom has no head and our people harboured no malice or treachery and were then unused to wars or invasions, came in the guise of a friend and ally to harass them as an enemy. The deeds of cruelty, massacre, violence, pillage, arson, imprisoning prelates, burning down monasteries, robbing and killing monks and nuns, and yet other outrages without number which he committed against our people, sparing neither age nor sex, religion nor rank, on one could describe nor fully imagine unless he had seen them with his own eyes.
But from these countless evils we have been set free, by the help of Him who, though He afflicts yet heals and restores, by our most tireless Prince King and Lord, the Lord Robert. He, that his people and his heritage might be delivered out of the hands of our enemies, met toil and fatigue, hunger and peril, like another Maccabaeus or Joshua, and bore them cheerfully. Him, too, divine providence his right of succession according to our laws and customs which we shall maintain to the death, and the due consent and assent of us all have made our Prince and King. To him, as to the man by whom salvation has been wrought unto our people, we are bound both by law and by his merits that our freedom may still be maintained, and by him, come what may, we mean to stand.
Yet if he should give up what he has begun, and agree to make us or our kingdom subject to the King of England or the English, we should exert ourselves at once to drive him out as our enemy and a subverter of his own rights and ours, and make some other man who was well able to defend us our King; for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
Therefore it is, Reverend Father and Lord, that we beseech your Holiness with our most earnest prayers and suppliant hearts, inasmuch as you will in your sincerity and goodness consider all this, that, since with Him Whose vice-regent on earth you are, there is neither weighing nor distinction of Jew and Greek, Scotsman or Englishman, you will look with the eyes of a father on the troubles and privations brought by the English upon us and upon the Church of God. May it please you to admonish and exhort the King of the English, who ought be satisfied with what belongs to him, since England used once to be enough for seven kings or more, to leave us Scots in peace, who live in this poor little Scotland, beyond which there is no dwelling place at all, and covet nothing but our own. We are sincerely willing to do anything for him, having regard to our condition, that we can, to win peace for ourselves.
This truly concerns you, Holy Father, since you see the savagery of the heathen raging against the Christian, as the sins of Christians have indeed deserved, and the frontiers of Christendom being pressed inward every day; and how much it will tarnish your holiness’s memory if (which God forbid) the Church suffers eclipse or scandal in any branch of it during your time, you must perceive. Then rouse the Christian princes, who for false reasons pretend that they cannot go to the help of the Holy Land because of wars they have had with their neighbours. The real reason that prevents them is that, in making war on their smaller neighbours, they find quicker profit and weaker resistance. But how cheerfully our Lord the King and we too would go there, if the King of the English would leave us in peace, He from Whom nothing is hidden well knows; and we profess and declare it to you as the vicar of Christ and to all Christendom.
But if your Holiness puts too much faith in the tales the English tell and will not give sincere belief to all this, nor refrain from favouring them to our prejudice, then the slaughter of bodies, the perdition of souls, and all the other misfortunes that will follow, inflicted by them on us and by us on them, will, we believe, be surely laid by the most High to your charge.
To conclude, we are and shall ever be, as far as duty calls us, ready to do your will in all things, as obedient sons to you as His Vicar; and to Him as the Supreme King and Judge, we commit the maintenance of our cause, casting our cares upon Him and firmly trusting that He will inspire us with courage and bring our enemies to nought.
May the Most High preserve you to His Holy Church in holiness and health and grant you length of days.
Given at the monastery of Arbroath in Scotland on the sixth day of the month of April in the year of grace thirteen hundred and twenty and the fifteenth year of the reign of our King aforesaid.