Page:Three introductory lectures on the study of ecclesiastical history.djvu/64

56 least help us to appreciate such events in former times, and to remember that we, too, are parts of the Ecclesiastical History of our country.

Finally, this leads us to the reflection that there will be probably many amongst my hearers who are looking forward to an active life in the various ministrations, near and distant, of the English Church. They, too, will have in their different localities, in those from which they came hither, in those to which they will go hence, the same atmosphere of ancient times surrounding them, wherever their lot be cast. Our Ecclesiastical History is not confined to Oxford, or to any one sacred city. Everywhere we shall find the wellsprings and the streams of the Christian history of England running beneath our feet; everywhere something to keep alive in our recollections the growth and spread of the Christianity of this great country. Almost every church and churchyard has its own antiquities. Almost every parish and every sect has its own strange spiritual experiences, past or present. In almost every county and province we may study those august trophies of Ecclesiastical History—instructive beyond those of almost any other country—our cathedrals. I need name but one,—the most striking and the most obvious instance,—the cradle of English Christianity, the seat of the English Primacy,…my own proud cathedral, the Metropolitical Church of Canterbury.

But, beyond any mere antiquarian interest, there