.....and did they observe the Sabbath?

I was looking up some history and came across the following:

"For many centuries there existed two separate schools of thought regarding church history in Britain. Many have assumed that prior to the Reformation, the only church in Britain (apart from the Church of God) was the Catholic Church.

There existed, however, until Saxon times, the British or Celtic church, along with the Church of Rome. These two churches often differed in their general approach
and also on many doctrinal points. By about the time of King Alfred, however, Catholic influence within England the Celtic church had increased to the point that the
British church as a separate body had virtually ceased to exist.

The British Church for many centuries held the view that the apostolic origin of the church in Britain was a point of historical fact - not mere tradition. Early Catholic writers such as Bede, placed the origin of Christianity in Britain in the second century, under King Lucius.

The Catholic position seems to have been based not so much on theology or history as on political considerations. During the "Holy Roman Empire" period one of the major foundations of papal authority was the antiquity of the Roman Church.

The first century church at Rome was claimed to have been the "Mother Church" or headquarters Church for Europe and the West. Other churches in the West
were said to have been established from Rome. The British view, based on the statement by Gildas that Christianity arrived in Britain during the last year of the
reign ofTiberius (A.D.36-37), proved an embarrassment to Catholic writers. This date is over twenty years before the arrival of the Apostle Paul in Rome.

One of the major problems relating to the history of the Church of God in Britain during the early centuries is an almost total absence of local written records. Prior
to about A.D. 542, one is forced to rely on the testimony of foreign writers regarding Christianity in Britain. In that year, Gildas, often said to have been the first
British historian, wrote the amazing statement that

"We certainly know that Christ, the True Sun, afforded His light, the knowledge of His precepts, to our island in the last year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar." (1)

The words "We certainly know" is an indication that in the time of Gildas, the date of AD. 36-37 for the establishment of Christianity in Britain was more than just speculation or tradition; it was the commonly accepted view of the time.

Gildas wrote primarily as a historian rather than a theologian. Although a Catholic himself, he seems to have had nothing but contempt for the clergy of his day. He describes them in the following terms:

"Britain has priests, but they are foolish; a multitude of ministers, but they are shameless; clergy, nay, crafty ravishers; shepherds as they are called, but they are wolves, ready to slay souls - teaching the people, but showing them the worst examples, vices and wicked manners."

This writer, although probably not the first British historian was certainly the first that we have any record of to commit his thoughts to paper. He was aware of the
British identity, as part of the "ten lost tribes of Israel."

Commenting on the Saxon invasions which were in progress at the time he stated that the reason why God allowed such events were:

"to the end that our Lordmight in this land try after His accustomed manner these His Israelites, whether they loved Him or not."

Gildas was personally affected by the troubled times in which he lived. It was said that on one occasion he was forced to seek refuge from pirates on an island in the Bristol Channel, near the site of the modern town of Weston-Super-Mare.

Itis important to realize that before the time of Gildas the British language (there was no "English" language prior to Saxon times) was primarily a spoken rather than written language.

Jackson, an authority on the subject, mentions that

"It would not occur to anyone to write in British, nor would they know how to do so."

Celtic, Pre-Roman Europe and Britain passed on law, genealogy, story, song and myth in oral but not written form. This does not mean that all first century Britons
were uneducated. Oral communication was considered to be superior to the written word. Education was primarily a matter of memorizing a vast accumulation of knowledge.

"They (scholars) are said there to learn by heart a great number of verses; accordingly some remain in the course of training twenty years. Nor do they regard it lawful to commit these to writing."(2)

Some sources state that by the time of graduation students were expected to have committed to memory the staggering total of 20,000 verses. It is probable that
such material was arranged in allegorical or poetic form to aid the memory.

The knowledge of church history, in common with knowledge in general, was passed on by word of mouth from teacher to student, father to son. In process of time
such information as remained extant took the form of traditions.

There must have been a tendency, human nature being what it is, for each generation to add a little "colour" before passing on the story. Someone once described tradition as the "accumulated common sense of centuries."

When the empire-wide persecution of the Christian church under Diocletian reached Britain about A.D. 300, church buildings, Bibles, and other written records were put to the torch. Any records that survived almost certainly perished in the Saxon invasions of the following centuries."http://www.ensignmessage.com/GodsTrueChurch.html

Now if it was brought by the first Christians around the time of Paul, they would have taught that church the Sabbath and other truths, makes you wonder...

Apologies for not mentioning this a while back..., as I'm British, and the recently-retired editor of Stanborough Press - the SDA publishing house - has written a book about this history of Sabbath keeping in ancient Great Britain and Ireland.

The Celtic Connection is the title of his book, from about 15 years ago, now.

This is of special interest to me, especially since the late Bible teacher at Newbold College in England, Leslie Hardinge, told me about some of his findings in connection with the doctoral thesis he was writing at the University of London.

He was working on documents he had found indication how the Celts, who were the first Christians in Ireland, had to flee because they were being persecuted by the Roman Catholic invasion of Ireland. And there you have the history of Columba, settling on the island of Iona, from where he went on missionary trips to Scotland and England.

What was of special interest to me was his discovery of further persecution of these Celts, making them first, as far as I recall, fleeing to the Shetland Islands, and as persecution reached there, they had to flee again, and went to Iceland, because they were Sabbath keepers. Further investigation show that not only were they keeping the Sabbath, but they also ordained women as pastors, which they had learned from the Apostles.

On a recent historic trip here in Iceland our guide was telling us who had lived on various farms we passed,, even back more than a thousand years.

- On this farm we had three brothers who were Celts, and they were Christians already long before the Norse Vikings accepted the Christian faith.

Quite a bit of this history is still oral traditions, and I suppose we have a number of people who only sneer at such information, because it may oppose the traditions they have accepted in their way of thinking.