have a Baptism, and a Supper, and Officers among them, abominably resembling those of our Lord."[1]
It is obvious to anyone who considers the matter that the conversion of the heathen tribes of Great Britain must have been a long process. Kings and nobles might follow the new religion, but for the mass of the people Christianity must have been a mere veneer for several centuries. As Christianity took a firmer and firmer hold, the old paganism was either more and more relegated to country places and to the lower classes of the community; or else by dropping the gross forms, its ritual remained as rustic festivals patronised by the Church.
I give here, in chronological order, extracts from various sources showing the historical continuity of the ancient religion. The laws became stricter as Christianity increased in power.
Strabo says that, in an island close to Britain, Ceres and Proserpine were venerated with rites similar to the orgies of Samothrace.[2] Dionysius states that the rites of Bacchus were duly celebrated in the British Isles.[3] This is evidence that fertility rites were celebrated in Britain which had a close resemblance to those of Greece and Asia Minor. The conversion of Britain took place during the 7th century; and the Christian ecclesiastical writers, from whom our knowledge of the consecutive history of the period is derived, write with a bias in favour of their own religion, ignoring the existence of the underlying paganism. But the following extracts from contemporary documents show its continuance:
7th cent. Liber Poenitentialis of Theodore, Archibishop of Canterbury.
1. Sacrifice to devils.
