The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1868-03-25

profession of which could issue in no use
full result. The same persecution which
tended to perpetuate the hidden faith
would also prevent the record of any evl
dence of its secret existence. But tina
| it did exist is the conclusion of the ables
scholars who have looked into the history
of that period of darkness and confusion
There were Reformers before the he
formation in nearly every other country
in Europe, and it were passing strange i
they did not exist in that country where
the last and longest protest against Rom
ish usurpation existed, the country where
the pure and primitive faith of the Apos
tolic Church had maintained an uncon
quered existence for nearly thousanc
years. That such witnesses Tor the truth
did. exist IN Scotland, the continuation o.
the old Culdee Church, is the testimony
of the most impartial judges.
In the History of the Lollards, pub
lished by the Religious Tract Society ot
London, body which it would be ridicu
lous to suspect of Presbyterian predilec
tions, or of sectarian bias of any kind
we have the following statements, Up
334, SIN Scotland, as well as in Eng
land, the glad tidings of salvation through
Christ Jesus were made known by the
Apostles, or more probably by their i'm
mediate disciples" Then follows an ac
count of the early Scottish Church pre-
cisely as we have given it from other
sources, and need not therefore be re-
peated. After reciting the struggle with
Popery in England, already described, ii
is added, (p. 1867 "In England, the
Romanists speedily prevailed; but their
encroachments, which included severa
other points, were more firmly resisted in
Scotland; many left the North of Eng
land, where they were settled and took
refuge among their Scottish neighbors
rather than give way to such proceed,
ings." Matters went on from bad to
worse, till at length, by degrees, in Scot
land, as in other countries, darkness
covered the land, and gross darkness the
people," A number, however, still were
found who refused to bow their knees to
the Baal of Romish superstition and pow
er. Pope John XXI. in his bull for
amounting King Robert Bruce, A. d. 1924
complained that there were many here
tics in Scotland. Some,' as Alcuin and
others, resisted the, doctrine of transub;
-tantiation. and the Popish errors in eAn-
eral, and were declared heretics after
their decease." "The scattered
remnant of the flock of Christ was then
subjected to persecution. Historians do
not furnish the full particulars, but that
such people existed, is clear from the
evidence even of Popish writer's, who, in
their account of the Waldenses, relate,
that individuals in that sect, and follow
ers of Wicklifr, were found in Scotland,
as we'll as in England, doubtless they ex-
perienced similar treatment" After an
account of the martyrdom of James Ris-
by, A. D. 1922, and Paul Craw, A. D.
1881, for holding these doctrines, it is
added, Up. 337, "The romantic noun
tains and valleys of Scotland, however,
afforded shelter to scattered remnant OF
Gods heritage. In her glens, as well as
in the valleys of Piedmont, small assem-
blles were found, who looked to Christ
Jesus as the only Mediator between God
and man. In the year 1894, thirty per-
sons called The Lollards of Kyle" a
district of Ayrshire, were accused of va
rious heresies before the King, and his
council, by Blacater, Archbishop of Glas-
gow." The names and doctrines of these
persons are then given, from which their
identity with the Culdee Church of other
days is very clear, after which the histo-
ry is carried on to the establishment of
the Reformation in A. D. 1850.
Hetherington in his History of the
Church of Scotland, (ch. l and p gives
the facts at some length, and states as the
conclusion to be drawn from them that
"Popery had not been able wholly to ex-
terminate the purer faith and simpler
system of the ancient Culdees, especially
in Ayrshire, aud perhaps also in Fife
the districts adjacent to st, Andrews and
Iona,-the earliest abodes and the latest
retreats of primitive Christianity in Scot
land" y and that, "the doctrine
of the Culdees continued to survive long
after the suppression of their forms of
Church government" (p. ~
McLauchlan, the latest and perhaps
ablest historian of the Culdee Church,
states as the conclusion of the whole in
vestigation so exhaustively set forth in
his pages, "It requires but little ac-
quaintance with Scottish history to OBJ
serve that the principles Of the old Cul-
dee Church never were eradicated; that
during the reign of the Roman Church
in the kingdom they continued to exist,
exhibiting themselves occasionally in
such outbreaks as the letter of King