formed any ideas of aggrandizing their order, or of enriching the particular monasteries belonging to it.

So far were they from reckoning the connubial relation inconsistent with their character, that it seems to have been held in honour. For, even in the later period of their existence as a society, they, in some places at least, like the priests under the law, succeeded by inheritance. From the work last quoted, we learn that, in the church of St Andrews, the Culdees came into office hereditarily. In Ireland, also, where this body had great influence, there was a hereditary succession, in the bishopric of Armagh, for fifteen generations.' The Culdees at St Andrews, however, were not permitted, after they had entered into this monastic establishment, to keep their wives in their houses. But, perhaps, this ordinance was not framed, till, through the increasing influence of that system of superstition which "forbids to marry,"

mationem, et hominum traditionem, magis quam secundum sanctorum statuta patrum vivebant. Sed et adhuc similiter vivunt, et quaedam habent communia pauciora sciz. et deteriora; quaedam vero propria plura sciz. et potiora; prout quisque ab amicis suis aliqua necessitudine ad se pertinentibus, viz. con sanguineis et affinibus, vel ab iis quorum animae charae sunt, quod est amiciarum amici, sive aliis quibuslibet modis, poterit quis adipisci. Excerpt. Regist. Sti Andr. V. Pinkerton's Enquiry, i. Append. p. 462.

Mos pessimus inoleverat quorundam diabolica ambitione potentum, sedem sanctam obtentum iri haereditaria successione. Nec enim patiebantur episcopari, nisi qui essent de tribu et familia sua. Nec enim parum processerat execranda successio, decursis jam in hac malitia quasi generationibus quindecim, &c. Bernard. Vit. Maiach c. 7.

• Postquam Keledei effecti sunt, non licet eis habere uxores suas in domibus suis, sed nec alias; de quibus mala oriatur suspicio mulieris. Excerpt, ut

sup.

they were in so far forced to yield to the tide of popular prejudice in favour of celibacy. This is the more probable, as Alexander Myln, prebendary and official of Dunkeld, says, that the Culdees, who, "after the usage of the eastern church, had wives, abstained from them, when it came to their turn to minister."

Although it appears that they observed a certain institute, yet, in the accounts given of them, we cannot overlook this remarkable distinction between them and those societies which are properly called monastic, that they were not associated expressly for the purpose of observing this rule. They might deem certain regulations necessary for the preservation of order: but their great design was, by communicating instruction, to train up others for the work of the ministry. Hence it has been justly observed, that they may more properly be viewed as colleges, in which the various branches of useful learning were taught, than as monasteries. These societies, therefore, were in fact the seminaries of the church, both in North Britain and in Ireland. As the pres→ byters ministered in holy things to those in their vicinity, they were still training up others, and sending forth missionaries, whenever they had a call, or any prospect of success.

MS. V. Dalrymple's Collections, p. 244.

E

CHAPTER III.

Of the Ecclesiastical Government of the Culdees.-The Account given of this by Bede.-How explained by Bishop Lloyd.— Of Sodora.-Whether a Bishop always resided at Hii.-Usher's Testimony from the Annals of Ulster.-Goodall's reasoning on this Head.

In each college of the Culdees, there were twelve brethren, and one who was their Provost or Abbot. It has been supposed, that, as twelve priests accompanied Columba from Ireland, and settled with him in Iona, they afterwards retained this number, in imitation of the conduct of their founder; while it is by no means improbable, that, in this circumstance, he might allude to the apostolic college. The meaning of a passage, relating to this part of the subject, which occurs in the Extracts from the Register of St Andrews, has undoubtedly been misapprehended. It is there said of the Culdees, that there had been, in that church, tredecim per successionem carnalem, "thirteen by carnal succession." This has been understood as if it signified, that, before the time that this account was written, there had been thirteen suc

cessions of Culdees, at St Andrews, in hereditary descent. But the meaning obviously is, that, as the established number in the college, according to the original institution by Columba, was twelve, with their Abbot or Prior, the individuals succeeded their fathers, in the way of inheritance. There is every reason to believe, that this plan of hereditary succession had been unknown, till the Culdees, like other ecclesiastics, began to decline. "

They chose their Abbot or President from among themselves. Bede informs us, that "most of the preachers, who, during the reign of Oswald, [A. 635, and downwards] came from Scotland, were monks; and that the monastery of Hii," or Iona," had for a long time authority over almost all the

Habebantur tamen in ecclesia Sti Andreae, quota et quanta tunc erat tredecim per successionem carnalem, &c. V. Excerpt. ut sup. p. 31, 32. Several facts have been referred to, connected with this account, which deserve attention. They have been compendiously stated by an intelligent annotator. "Even till the council of Rheims in 1148, monks might marry; and it cost many a struggle to establish the popish system. And even till the time of the Reformation, it does not appear to have been completely adopted in Scotland, and other places, remote from the seat of ecclesiastical power. Nor is hereditary succession to the priesthood without example in the middle ages. It prevailed in Bretagne, whose inhabitants, themselves of a Celtic race, were converted by the Irish or Scots of these days, and followed their customs, and this among the rest, till it was abolished by Hildebert, archbishop of Tours, in his provincial council, in 1127. In the end of the same century, or beginning of the next, Giraldus Cambrensis, a zealous catholic priest, complains [of it,] as one of the disgraces of Wales, (where, as well as in Ireland, Culdees remained till his time,) that sons got the churches after their fathers, by succession, and not by election, possessing and polluting the church of God by inheritance. Keith, Preface. Pink. [Enquiry] part vi." V. Sibbald's Hist. of Fife, p. 177, 178, Note.

monasteries of the Northern Scots, and over all those of the Picts, and had pre-eminence in the government of their people."

By some it has been urged, and certainly not without great appearance of reason, that the government of these societies of Culdees bore a very near resemblance to the Presbyterian form. That there were some, who, in early times, were called "Bishops of the Scots," cannot be denied. But it would be the height of prejudice to object to the name, if rightly interpreted. It is as scriptural as any other. It is most evident, however, that these bishops, whatever they were, cannot be viewed as diocesan bishops.

So far were they from possessing the exclusive right of ordination, that it does not appear that they were themselves ordained by bishops. As far as our historical evidence extends, they were not only chosen, and sent forth, but ordained by the College of Culdees at Iona. These monks seem to have been mostly presbyters. It may well be supposed, that they are the persons whom Bede designs Majores natu Scottorum, when he says that King Oswald "sent to the Elders of the Scots, amongst whom, during his banishment, he had been baptised, that they might send him a bishop, by whose doctrine and ministry the nation of Angles, which he governed, might be instructed in the Christian faith.”

It is

• Hist. lib. iii. c. 3.

* Idem ergo Osuald, mox ubi regnum suscepit, desiderans totam cui præesse coepit gentem fidei Christianae gratia imbui, cujus experimenta permaxima