658 



Statistics, find the institutions of secret tribunals in the thir- 

 ^^yi^^ teenth century among the Swedes as well as among 

 Ecclesiasti- the Germans, merely because they were both Gothic 

 cal state. nations.'' In addition to this argument, Tacitus, it may 

 be mentioned, is totally silent on this subject. He re- 

 lates that Suetonius, after having vanquished the Bri- 

 tons in Mona, cut clown and destroyed the consecrated 

 groves of the Druids : but, in writing the history of the 

 ca.mpaign of Agricola in Scotland, he never once alludes 

 to this order ot men ; and as the Druidical institution 

 was so singular and so deserving of attention both in 

 a religious and political point of view, it would be im- 

 possible to account for the silence of Tacitus respecting 

 it, if it had really been known in the country which he 

 describes. Negative evidence is nearly all we can ob- 

 tain on the subject, and we hold the preceding as an 

 irrefragable argument in our favour. Nor is the exist- 

 ence of the well-known circle of stones any better 

 proof than the preceding that Druidism existed in 

 Scotland. " For Druidic antiquities," says Dr. Irving, 

 " it would be in vain to search ; instead of temples 

 and other edifices they consecrated the misletoe and 

 the oak on which it grew." Nihil habent Druidce visco 

 el arbore in qua gignaltir, si modo sit robur, sacralius. 

 (Plinii Nat. Hist. xvi. 95.) Besides, the greater num. 

 ber of these stone monuments, if not the whole, were 

 political and not religious structures, being used as 

 courts of election and of police. It is a matter of even 

 recent Highland tradition that the chiefs were elected 

 and invested in these circles, as was formerly the cus- 

 tom of Norway, where their erection for those express 

 purposes is historically recorded. 



To Druidism, then, Scotland owes no obligations. 

 Nor have we any intimations relative to the religious 

 belief of our ancestors previously to the introduction 

 of the Christian religion; an event which took place as 

 early at least as the beginning of the fifth century. 

 According to some writers this event should be referr- 

 ed to a much more remote date, nearly 200 years be- 

 fore the period just mentioned. But Bede (Hist. Eccl. 

 iii. iv.) the earliest writer on this subject, mentions 

 that Scotland was not freed from idolatry and heathen- 

 ism till the time of St. Ninian, bishop of Candida Casa. 

 Ninian was born near Leucophibia, the site of Candida 

 Casa, now Whithorn, in 360. He was educated 

 abroad ; and after being ordained at Rome bishop of 

 the Britons and instructed in monastic discipline by 

 St. Martin of Tours, he returned to his native land 

 about the end of the fourth or beginning of the fifth 

 century. He erected a church at Leucopfcibia, which 

 is emphatically mentioned by Bede as the first built of 

 stone, and as obtaining from this circumstance the ap- 

 propriate name of Candida Casa. But Ninian did not 

 confine his labours to Leucophibia and its neighbour- 

 hood, but, travelling north, he preached the gospel, we 

 are told, to the Picts who lived between the Gram- 

 pians and the Forth. What was the result of this 

 pious expedition we have no minute information, but 

 notwithstanding the characteristic zeal and perseve- 

 rance of Ninian, (who after a long life spent in teach- 

 ing the most important truths died in 432) we know 

 that the greater part of that people remained uncon- 

 verted till the time of St. Columba, when the king and 

 nobility having abjured paganism and received bap- 

 tism from the saint, the whole population were at once 

 reduced to follow so illustrious an example. 



St. Columba, born of royal parentage in 521, was a 



native of Ireland, where, before this period, Christia- 



. nity had been established. Having been educated 



SCOTLAND. 



under the most eminent monks, and having visited the Statistics, 

 continent of Europe, and, according to some, travelled v-"-v ' 

 to Jerusalem, he was seized with an ardent desire to Ecclesiasti- 

 propagate the gospel in countries where it was not ca * s 

 then known. Accordingly, attended by twelve friends 

 as assistants, he set out for the west of Scotland in the 

 year 563, and having landed on the island of Hi or lona 

 (called alsol-colum-kill, the isle of the cell of Columba) 

 founded a monastery there, which was afterwards so 

 distinguished, and justly denominated "the luminary 

 of the Caledonian regions." St. Columba, in conjunc- 

 tion with his followers, not only preached the gospel 

 in different provinces of the kingdom, but opened in 

 his institution in lona a seminary of education, parti- 

 cularly for the benefit of persons intended for the sa- 

 cred profession. ' His monastery," says Dr. Smith, 

 " was the chief seminary of learning perhaps in Eu- 

 rope, and the nursery from which not only all the 

 monasteries and churches which he himself had estab- 

 lished, but also many of those in neighbouring nations, 

 were supplied with learned divines and able pastors " 

 (Life of Columba, p. 18, 19.) The number of monastic 

 establishments founded by Columba is said to have been 

 exceedingly great, no less than a hundred according to 

 some writers ; while his churches have been reckoned 

 at three times that number. His jurisdiction extended 

 to the greater part of the mainland of Scotland, to a 

 large proportion of Ireland, and it was acknowledged 

 in different districts of England and Wales. 



As St. Columba emigrated from Ireland attended by 

 twelve of his friends as assistants, his monastic and li- 

 terary institutions consisted of twelve brethren, with 

 an abbot or superior who presided over them, a prac- 

 tice which may have been introduced from the east, as 

 Columba is supposed to have extended his travels to 

 Jerusalem. They were termed Culdees, a term sup- 

 posed to have been derived from two Irish words sig- 

 nifying servants of God. The doctrines and discipline 

 of the Culdees were drawn immediately from the scrip, 

 tures ; they were remarkable for their simplicity and 

 purity, and were quite distinct from those of the Ro- 

 mish church, and often contrary to them. They did 

 not practise auricular confession ; they denied the doc- 

 trine of the real presence ; they paid no idolatrous wor- 

 ship to saints and angels ; they did not inculcate celibacy 

 on their clergymen ; and in several other points they 

 were opposed to the Romish faith. One great accusa- 

 tion brought against them was that they neglected to 

 observe the statutes of the " Holy Fathers." The Cul 

 dees of lona indeed, obtained the name of the " Apos- 

 tolic Order," as their piety and purity resembled those 

 of the early Christian times ; " they preached," says 

 Bede, " only such works of charity and piety as they 

 could learn from the prophetical, evangelical, and apos- 

 tolical writings." The Culdees continued to flourish 

 for several centuries ; they were considerably reduced 

 both in number and influence in the twelfth century ; 

 and in Dunkeld and Monymusk they continued to 

 support a feeble existence for two centuries longer. 

 Their chief seat in Scotland, in addition to the two 

 places just specified, were at Dumblane, Brechin, 

 Montrose, Scone, Kirkcaldy, Culross, Melrose, Inch- 

 colme, and Dunfermline. 



" The first check to the celebrity and influence of 

 Jona was the invasion of the Norwegians and Danes, 

 in the beginning of the ninth century. By them it 

 was repeatedly pillaged and burnt, and its monks and 

 abbots massacred. Soon after it. came to be under 

 their settled dominion, together with the rest of the 



