THE ROMAN WALL IN NORTH BRITAIN. 



261 



Discussion. 



The Chairman said the subject before us was one of great interest. 

 The Roman occupation of Britain was, at the first, military. The 

 Roman roads, we can still trace, were made for the transport of 

 soldiers in the first instance, and it was not until the third and 

 fourth centuries, when the native tribes were largely brought under 

 subjection, that peaceful occupation began. The early days of the 

 Roman period in Britain were coeval with the birth of the Christian 

 Church. The first invasion was made by the Emperor, who com- 

 manded all Jews to depart from Rome, and thus brought Aquila and 

 Paul together. An ingot of lead from the mines of Mendip was found 

 near Winchester, which bore the stamp of Nero, before whom the 

 apostle himself was brought, and so the interesting question arose 

 as to whether the gospel of Christ reached our shores thus early. 

 The evidence in the affirmative is of the slenderest character. It is 

 true there were saints in Nero's household, but it seemed fairly 

 certain that most of the legions which came to our country were 

 drawn from the more outlying portions of the Empire and did not 

 come from Rome. If facts are thus wanting, there is still room for 

 the imagination. Above all we are thankful that the great apostle 

 of the Gentiles was brought into contact with the military power 

 of the Empire, and that chained to a soldier he was able to give us, 

 from looking at soldiers, such as we should hear of to-day, the 

 immortal description of a Christian clothed in the whole armour of 

 God — his loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate 

 of righteousness, his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of 

 peace. Over all taking the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts 

 of the wicked one, and taking the helmet of salvation and the sword 

 of the Spirit which is the Word of God. It was this armour that 

 appealed to John Bunyan, who clothes Christian therewith and 

 gives him the victory in his fight with the foul fiend in the Valley 

 of Humiliation. 



One more association may be mentioned. There is a well-known 

 passage in Pliny referring to the early Christians in Rome. It is, 

 he says, Their habit on a fixed day to assemble before daylight 

 and sing by turns a hymn to Christ as God and to bind themselves 

 with an oath, not for any wickedness, but not to commit theft 

 robbery or adultery, nor to break their word, nor to deny a deposit 

 when claimed." The word " saoramentum " here used cannot 



