THE CELTIC CHURCH IN SCOTLAND.

[BY PROVOST MACANDREW.]

(Continued.)

SUCH, then, was the Church established by St. Columba in Scotland in its outward aspect and organization. Of its internal economy and of the daily life of its members, as exhibited in the parent Monastery of Iona, we can, by careful reading, obtain a tolerably clear picture from Adamnan's life of the founder, written by an abbot of Iona, about eighty years after St. Columba's death. And, as Iona was the parent monastery, it was no doubt the pattern and example of the others. The monks in Iona lived together as one family, each having his separate house or bothy, but taking their meals in common. They lived in strict obedience to the abbot, they were celebate, they had all their property in common, and they supported themselves by their own labour. There are numerous notices of them labouring in the fields, bringing home the corn, milking cows, and so forth, and they had a mill and a kiln. Their food seems to have consisted of milk, bread, fish, the flesh of seals, and beef and mutton. They had numerous services in the church, they were much given to reading and repeating the Scriptures, and particularly the Psalms, and they were diligent scribes. There are repeated notices of their labours in writing;-the last labour in

which St. Columba was engaged was copying the psalter,—and, naturally, they became the teachers of the community. They were also much given to hospitality, for there are frequent notices of the guest chamber, and of the arrival of guests, and of additions made to the meals on account of such arrivals.

From this monastery, as a home, Columba's mission was conducted. As we have seen, he got a grant of the Island of Iona, either from the King of the Picts or the King of the Scots; and his method seems to have been to go in the first instance to the King or Chief of the territory in which he arrived, to interest him in his mission, then to obtain a grant of a village or rath, or dune with surrounding land, and then to establish a monastery, under the protection and patronage of the chief: in fact, to establish and endow his Church. Of this method we have an account in the Book of Deer, the contents of which, philologically, were so ably dealt with by Mr. Macbain last season. The monastery of Deer was, perhaps, the very last of the Columban foundations which retained anything of its original character, and in this relic of it which has come down to us we have the legend of its establishment, which admirably illustrates St. Columba's method.

Columeille, and Drostan, son of Cosgrach, his pupil, came from Hi, as God had shown to them, unto Abbordoboir, and Bede, the Pict, was Mormaer of Buchan before them, and it was he that gave them that town in freedom for ever from Mormaer and toisech. They came after that to the other town, and it was pleasing to Columeille because it was full of God's grace, and he asked of the Mormaer, to wit, Bede, that he should give it to him, and he did not give it, and a son of his took an illness after (or in consequence of) refusing the clerics, and he was nearly dead (lit. he was dead, but if it were a little). After this the Mormaer went to entreat the clerics that they should make a prayer for the son, that health should come to him; and he gave an offering to them from Cloch in Tiprat to Cloch pette meic Garnait. They made the prayer, and health came to him. After that Columeille gave to Drostan that town, and blessed it, and left as (his) word "Whosoever should come against it, let him not be many yeared (or) victorious." Drostan's tears came on parting from Collumeille. Said Columeille, "Let Déar be its name henceforward."

Having thus established a community, they were placed under

the superintendence of a subject abbot to prosecute their work of bringing the tribe among which they were established to a knowledge of the truth, and from the monastery thus established there branched out cill churches, anoit churches, and all the other subordinate establishments which I have mentioned, and there went forth pilgrims and teachers, and sometimes colonies of monks, to establish other monasteries. Columba's idea of the method of spreading Christianity seems to have been-first the establishment of a separate Christian community in the midst of the people to be converted, the leading by the members of this community of a pure and self-denying Christian life, practising the precepts which they taught, and exhibiting the effect on their own lives of a belief in the doctrines which they preached; and next, the reading and teaching of the Scriptures, and the preaching of its doctrines. That his influence long survived him, and that a pure and holy life was long characteristic of the clergy of his Church, is amply testified by Bede, who never mentions any of the clergy of the branch of the Church of Iona, which existed, as I have said, for 30 years in Northumberland, without— while deploring their ignorance and perversity in not observing Easter at the proper time—praising their chaste and self-denying lives. Thus he says of Colman, the last of the three abbots and bishops of this Church, who ruled at Lindesfarne, and who returned to Iona on the King and people adopting the Roman time of celebrating Easter :—

"The place which he governed shows how frugal he and his predecessors were, for there were very few houses besides the church found at their departure; indeed, no more than were barely sufficient for their daily residence; they had also no money, but cattle; for if they received any money from rich persons, they immediately gave it to the poor; their being no need to gather money, or provide houses for the entertainment of the great men of the world; for such never resorted to the church, except to pray and hear the Word of God. The King himself, when opportunity offered, came only with five or six servants, and having performed his devotions in the church, departed. But if they happened to take a repast there, they were satisfied with only the plain and daily food of the brethren, and required no more; for the whole care of those teachers was to serve God, not the world-to feed the soul, and not the belly."

And again of Aiden, the first of these bishops, he says:

"I have written thus much concerning the person and works of the aforesaid Aidan, in no way commending or approving what he imperfectly understood in relation to the observance of Easter; nay, very much detesting the same, as I have most manifestly proved in the book I have written, "De Temporibus ;" but, like an impartial historian, relating what was done by or with him, and commending such things as are praiseworthy in his actions, and preserving the memory thereof for the benefit of the readers; viz., his love of peace and charity; his continence and humility ; his mind superior to anger and avarice, and despising pride and vainglory; his industry in keeping and teaching the heavenly commandments; his diligence in reading and watching; his authority becoming a priest in reproving the haughty and powerful, and at the same time his tenderness in comforting the afflicted, and relieving or defending the poor. To say all in a few words, as near as I could be informed by those that knew him, he took care to omit none of those things which he found in the apostolical or prophetical writings, but to the utmost of his power endeavoured to perform them all."

As I have said, the Columban monks naturally became the teachers of the community, and there are numerous notices of persons of distinction residing in the monasteries for the purpose of being instructed. Oswald, the King of Northumbria, when driven into exile, lived for several years in Iona, and was there instructed. The clergy had a great reputation for learning, and Bede tells us that many of the nobles and princes of the English resorted to them for instruction. In what their learning consisted is an interesting question. That they wrote Latin well is evidenced by writings which have come down to us, and we are told that when Columbanus, in the year 590, went to Gaul, he was able to converse freely in that language. It would also appear that he had some knowledge of Greek, for he talks about the meaning of his own name in that language. It does not appear, however, that, previous to their coming in contact with the outer world, they had any knowledge of Roman or Greek literature, or of the writings of any of the fathers of the Roman, Greek, or Eastern Churches. And Bede more than once, as in the passage I have read about Aidan, mentions that they taught only what was contained in the Scriptures, The literary remains of the Church

which have come down to us, consist entirely of the lives of saints, with the exception of an account of the holy places, written by Adamnan, from information given to him by a bishop of Gaul, who was driven to Iona by stress of weather, and resided there for a winter-some letters of Columbanus to the Pope, and to a Council of the clergy of Gaul; and there are some hymns and poems attributed to St. Columba, but whether any of them are authentic seems doubtful. That he wrote poetry, and was a friend and patron of bards, is beyond all doubt, and Bede mentions that writings of his were said to be in existence in his time. It would rather appear, therefore, that as the lives of the Columban clergy were an effort to translate its teaching into practice, so their learning consisted in a knowledge of the Bible, the transcribing of which was one of their chief occupations.

Their architecture was of the simplest and rudest, and if their general state of culture were to be judged by it, we should pronounce it of the lowest. Their churches were constructed of wattle work of branches, covered with clay. We frequently hear of the cutting of branches for the building or repair of churches;and Bede tells us that when Aidan settled at Lindesfarne he built a church there, after the manner of his country, of wood thatched with reeds. The monks, as has been said, lived in "bothies," and these seem to have been erected by the occupants, and to have been of slight construction. In the Irish Life of St. Columba, we are told of his asking, when he went to a monastery for instruction, where he was to set up his bothy, and in another place mention is made of a bothy being removed from one side of a river to another. But, as we should commit a grievous error if we judged of the general intelligence aud culture of our own peasantry by the houses in which they live, so we should commit a like error if we judged of the culture of these monks by their churches and dwellings. That they had examples of more substantial and elaborate structures we know, and the poorness of their buildings was probably only one mode of expressing the highest thought that was in them, that taking for themselves no more of this world's goods than was necessary for existence, they should teach and illustrate their religion not by stately edifices, but by pure and holy lives.