The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1868-03-25
FoR The CENTRAL PRxsBrTERIAS.
The Csldss Church.
PoPERY IN SCOTLAND.

Having given evidence to prove tina
Christianity was planted in Scotland very
near to, if not during the lives of th'
Apostles, and from an ASiatic and not
European source, from the Chu ches min
istered so by Paul and John, and not tn,
Church of Rome; and that this primitiv,
Church of the Culdees, was not PopiSf
or Prelatic, but essentially Presbyterian
aetuated by the same spirit, and holding
substantially the same doctrines and or.
der with the Reformation Church of Scot,
land, we wish now to trace its existence
during the reign of Popery in Scotland,
and to show, that there is good reason to
believe that this old, primeval faith nev
er died out among the people IF Scot
land, and that this fact alone can ex-
plain the peculiarities of their history.
We have traced this primitive Presbyte-
rian Church down to the date of its con-
tact with Popery in England, whence it
was expelled by force, only TO renew the
contest in Scotland, where POpery sought
to make further aggressiOns, and after a
long and bitter struggle succeeded in sup
pressing for the time, the old Culdee
Church.
Our next proposition then is, that 'OheH
Popery ,cas established as the recognized
religion Of Scotland. At '0as the forei6le
act Of the government, and not the vOl's''-
tary act Of the people.
There is something exceedingly int,
resting in the gallant struggle of this old
Culdee Church, with the gigantic power
of Rome, continuing as it did f,r ae4rIy-
500 years. The particulars of the strug-
gle are too numerous to detail in our brief
space, and we can only state the general
facts, referring for the authorities on
which these statements are made, to the
elaborate works of such standard writer's
as McLauchlan, Jameson, Ebrard and
others, who give them in full.
We have noted the first struggle of
Culdeeism with Rome about A. D., $50.
1t continued until the establishment of
Popery by David 1. in A. D. 1850, and
indeed for some time afterwards, for the
final overthrow did not take place until
the suppression of the Culdees of st.
Andrews, A. D. 1897. Alexander says,
iona, D. u.s. "As ROmish influence
advanced it became necessary to silence
the continual protest which these men
(the Culdets) maintained against the doc
trines and pretensions of the ROmish
Church and for this purpose, all those
means by which religious body may be
annihilated were systematically resorted
to. By corrupting those who could be
tempted by the bribe of ecclesiastical
rank and wealth, by expeling from their
monasteries those who obstinately adher
red to the belief and practice of their
fathers, by vexatious and iniquitOus law
suits, by dazzling the eyes of the people
with a more splendid ritual than that fol-
lowed by the simple presbyters of the
COLUMBIA order, by eliminating their
character, and affecting superior stand
ard of mOrals,-in short by all the means
by which an adroit, determined and un-
scrupulous party may enfeeble the inAu
ence and paralyze the resolution Of a
sect it had resolved to destroy, did the
adherents of the Romish Church labor
to sweep from the land all vestiges Of
the Culdees. 1t was not, however, until
the thirteenth century that they entirely
succeeded, and even then they only sup
pressed the Colleges of the Culdees and
dispersed their members. The latter still
continued TO labor as individuals, and in
many remote parts of the country kept
alive the fame of pure Christianity,
long after the whole land seemed to have
sunk under Papal darkness, so that, to
use the words of DR.. Smith, Life of
Columbia, p. 1881 the reign of error in
these lands was very short, and the dark
ness of its night was intermixed with the
light of many stars. ."
The mere efforts of ecclesiastics would
probably never have succeeded in sup
pressing this tough old Church. 1t was
done at the last by ScOtO-Saxon Kings,
and by English influence. Malcolm Can
more, who ascended the Scottish throne
in A. D. 1858, married Margaret, the
daughter of William the Conqueror, a
religious zealot, who would probably have
been an abbess had she not been a queen.
She determined to do for the Scottish
Church, what her father had done for the
English people, and as her husband had
been educated in England, she found no