266 DR THOMAS A. WISE ON SOME OF THE 



of Kintore, of the wood of Crechie, and, most probably, of many others which have 

 been destroyed. It is probable, therefore, that the erect stones, with the sacred 

 pagan symbols of the Deity, were prepared during the first century. 



At an early period, a remarkable change occurred in the religious opinions of 

 the Caledonians. They became believers in Christianity. This we know from the 

 crosses they erected still retaining peculiar ornaments, and pagan symbols; 

 proving that they had not entirely rejected their ancient opinions ; as druidical 

 monuments were supposed to be purified from the contamination of heathenism, 

 by being carved with the figure, or altered in the shape of the cross. This change 

 of faith must have been facilitated by the Buddhist doctrine of the Trinity, and 

 the liberality of their sentiments regarding other religious creeds, which is still so 

 marked a peculiarity in Buddhist countries. " We find," writes M. Hue, " many 

 of these Buddhist priests (lamas) attach the utmost importance to the study and 

 knowledge of truth ; and we find the same men coming, again and again, to seek 

 instruction from us in our holy religion."* It appears to be this same liberality 

 of sentiment which is now opening a way to the Christianizing of the great Chinese 

 Empire, which produced a corresponding effect in the conversion of the Caledonians. 



Such conversions must have been made at an early age, as Tertullian, who 

 wrote his celebrated Treatise against the Jews (a.d. 209), affirms, as a known 

 truth, that " those parts of Britain where the Romans had no access were sub- 

 jected to Christ," or had become Christians.! Those early converts could not 

 communicate with their neighbours, in consequence of the constant warfare 

 with the Romans and other tribes which were not able to conquer the great 

 Pictish kingdom north of the Forth. Even the Mseatae, or Midland Britons, were 

 still idolaters when the Caledonians were Christians, which explains why the 

 Scottish deputies, in the famous debate regarding the independence of their 

 kingdom before Pope Boniface VIII. , declared that the Christian missionaries, 

 who converted the Caledonians in the primitive ages, came directly from the 

 east ; $ and the account by Bede of the dispute between Bishop Colman and 

 Wilford.§ When the Bishop alleged the example of St John the Evangelist, 

 with all the churches over which he presided, for adhering to the Jewish custom 

 of keeping Easter, Wilford declared that wherever the Church of Christ is spread 

 abroad the western form was kept, " except only these and their accomplices in 

 obscurity ; I mean," said he, " the Picts and the Britons, who foolishly, in these 

 two remote islands of the world, and only a part even of them, oppose all the 

 rest of the universe." || Their missionaries seem to have proceeded directly 

 from one of the then congregations of Asia Minor, which were most probably in- 



* Travels in Tartary, Tibet, and China, vol. i., p. 65. 



f Britannorum inaccessa Eonianis loca Christo vero subdida. Contra Judseos, c. vii. 



I Innes' Critical Essay, p. 620, and Civil and Eccl. Hist., p. 14. § a.d. 662. 



II Bede, Eccl. Hist., b. iii., ch. 25. 



