211 . 



to the uses of a pure spiritual worship ; no other nunneries admitted 

 it, yet these estabUshments became so numerous, as to c^irn the espe- 

 cial consideration of the synod of Saint Patrick.* - - - 



Certain writers, particularly of Scotland,"!" have endeavoured to 

 prove that in this period, and under the especial patronage of no less 

 a personage than Columba, a particular class of believers existed in 

 Ireland and in the celebrated monastery of lona, to whom the name 

 of Culdees (quasi cultores Dei) has been given, and of whom it is 

 necessary to add a few words. They are spoken of as having many 

 peculiarities both in discipline and doctrine, and are upheld by their 

 historians as the pure depositories of Christianity ; but the great dis- 

 tinction (the touchstone of Scotch enthusiasm on the subject) is, that 

 they are said to have elected their own superiors without consecration, 

 a datum which once conceded, greatly facilitates the inference that 

 the primitive government of the Christian Church was Presbyterian ; 

 Lloyd,;]; however, has demonstrated the absurdity of this opinion. 

 Buchanan speaks largely of their sanctity :§ and Doctor Jamieson 

 writes a quarto on the subject, very culpably compounded on the 



• " Virgo, qu« voverit Deo, permaneal casta, et si postea nupserit camalem sponsum, 

 excommunionis sit donee convertatur. Si conversa fuerit et dinjiserit adulterum, pceniten- 

 tiam agat, et postea non in una domonec in una villa habitent" — Spelman's Concilia, vol. 1. 

 p. 53. con. 17. 



f See Hect. Boelh. lib. 6. But Boethius so abounds in errors, as to be the object of the 

 following epigram of Leland : 



" Hectoris historic! tot quot mendacia scripsit, * ' ,«|'^ . 

 Si vis ut numerem, lector amice tibi. 

 Me jubeas etiam fluctus numerare marinos, 



Et liquidi Stellas commemorare poli." uqo i. 



i On Church Government, c. 7. 



§ "Multi ex Brittanibus Christiani, saevitiam Diocletian! timentes, ad eos confugerant; e 

 quibus complures, doctrina et vitae integritate clari in Scotia substiterunt, vitamque solitariam 

 tanta sanctitatis opinione apud omnes vixerunt, ut viti functorum cellae in templa commuta- 

 rentur. Ex eo quoque consuetudo mansit apud posteros, ut prisci Scot! templa cellas vocent; 

 hoc genus monachorum Culdeos appellabant." — Rer. Scot. Hist. lib. 4, xxxv. Rex. 



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