lieving that in various
places, such as St. Paul's, London, St. Peter's, Cambridge, and St.
Mary's, Ribchester, Christian worship did actually thus succeed Pagan
on the same site.

F. 9.--Thirdly, as Lanciani points out, the earliest Christian
churches were simply the ordinary dwelling-houses of such wealthier
converts as were willing to permit meetings for worship beneath their
roof, which in time became formally consecrated to that purpose. Such
a dwelling-house usually consisted of an oblong central hall, with
a pillared colonnade, opening into a roofed cloister or peristyle on
either side, at one end into a smaller guest-room [_tablinum_], at the
other into the porch of entry. The whole was arranged thus:

Small Guest Room. P P e e r r i Central Hall, i s with pillars
s t on each side t y (often roofless). y l l e e Porch of
Entry.

It will be readily seen that we have here a building on the lines of
an ordinary church. The small original congregation would meet, like
other guests, in the reception-room. As numbers increased, the hall
and adjoining cloisters would have to be used (the former being roofed
in); the reception-room being reserved for the most honoured members,
and ultimately becoming the chancel of a fully-developed church, with
nave and aisles complete.[435] It _may_ be, therefore, that some of
the Roman villas found in Britain were really churches.[436]

F. 10.--This, however, is a less probable explanation of the absence
of ecclesiastical remains; and the large majority of Romano-British
church sites are, as I believe, still in actual use amongst us for
their original purpose. And it may be considered as fairly proved,
that before Britain was cut off from the Empire the Romano-British
Church had a rite[437] and a vigorous corporate life of its own, which
the wave of heathen invasion could not wholly submerge. It lived on,
shattered, perhaps, and disorganized, but not utterly crushed, to
be strengthened in due time by a closer union with its parent stem,
through the Mission of Augustine, to feel the reflex glow of its own
missionary efforts in the fervour of Columba and his followers,[438]
and, finally, to form an integral part of that Ecclesia Anglicana
whose influence knit our country into one, and inspired the Great
Charter of our constitutional liberties.[439] Her faith and her
freedom are the abiding debt which Britain owes to her connection with
Rome.

INDEX

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