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Untitled Article
After the return of Bran and hi 9 fellow exiles ^ the gospel appears to have been zealously and diligently promulgated among our ancestors ; and to adopt the language of the Evangelist , " the word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied greatl y , and ( as it is said of
the Jewish priests ) a great company of the Druids were obedient to the faith . 9 > How long things continued in this favourable state cannot now be said i , but in the space of a hundred or six-score years , that is , toward the latter part of the second century , a great languor and declension seems
to have taken place . At that time Lleurwg ( otherwise Ueuver mawr and Lies ab Coel , ) commonly called king Lucius , the great-great-grand-son of Bran , ruled over the Silures , by the favour or permission of the Roman Emperor , as has been already intimated . This prince , like his good and
memorable ancestor , being a zealous Christian , and very anxious for the revival and vigorous propagation of Christianity among his countrymen , thought proper to send to Rome for missionaries to assist in so worthy and laudable an undertaking . What mioht induce him to send to Rome
on such an occasion , rather than any where else , cannot now be said with any degree of certainty ; but that he actually did send thither , seems to admit of no doubt . As a king , he mi ght suppose and conclude that Christianity , as well as every tiling eise that was useful or valuable , could not fail of being found in the utmost possible perfection ¦
^ m a- min the great metropolis of the Roman empire , and of the civilized world . However that was , his application to Rome met with the desired success . His messengers returned , accompanied with the missionaries , who soon entered upon their work in good earnest ; their names were Dyvan , El van , Fagan , and Medwy . A remarkable and worthy saying of Fagan is still commemorated ; < c Where God is silent , it is not wise to speak . * ' He is supposed to have settled in Glamorgan , or to have successfully laboured , and
been much venerated in that district , where there is a church dedicated to his memory . These missionaries were , probably , all British Christians who had settled at Rome . Dyvari was evidently of that description ; he appears to have been a-kin to king Lucius , and a descendant of Manawydan , the son of Llyr . If they
were all of the same nation , which seems most likely , they would of course , be the fitter for the service in which they were here to be employed . Through their exertions , aided
Untitled Article
294 Thejirst Introduction of the Gospel into Britain .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1807, page 294, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2381/page/6/
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