sister, Martha. Her last domestic tie was now snapped asunder, her own favourite Patty was numbered with the dead, and she, who of all the five sisters had been the feeblest in bodily constitution, was left, a lonely wanderer in this valley of tears. Martha had been her companion and coadjutor in all her benevolent schemes, into their own language immediately on their return | into deep distress by the death of her only surviving home. While thus caressed and flattered by multitudes, not merely of the most illustrious of her countrymen and countrywomen, but also by various foreigners of distinction, Mrs More was visited with an alarming illness, in which she was deprived of the kind attentions of her sister Martha, who was also at the time lying dangerously ill. The distressing condition of the two sisters is thus described in a letter from Mrs H. More to her friend Mr Wilberforce. "Lest you should hear circuitously, and not hear truly, as was lately the case, I sit bolstered up in my bed, to write you a line. On Sunday, poor Patty was seized suddenly in the most alarming manner-a violent shivering fit, intense pains, and a half sort of delirium, praying for the poor Queen, whose want of spiritual attendance sat heavy upon her. She felt as if it was a struggle between life and death; she continued in this state all day and night, only her head became perfectly clear. We had yielded to the kind importunities of Mr Harford, and had promised to go to him the next day. I made a great effort in the evening to read to the family, Fawcett's beautiful sermon, on " Boast not thyself of to-morrow." A few hours after Patty's seizure, I was attacked in nearly the same mannera shivering fit of many hours, with such intense pains in my body and limbs, that my flesh seemed lacerated, as if cut with knives. After several hours the freezing fit (as might be expected) became a burning one, and I seemed to feel the pains of dissolution-with extreme nausea and giddiness. At length it resolved itself into a bilious fever, such as I have often had. I have been in bed the whole week, the pulse is quite reduced, and the worst symptoms, thanks to a merciful God! subsided. Patty was out of bed yesterday; though she sleeps in the next room, we had not seen each other since the beginning of the week. Pray for us, my dear, very dear friend, that these useful warnings may not be neglected by us, but that they may answer the end for which they are generally sent to quicken our repentance and preparation. My whole life, from early youth, has been a successive scene of visitation and restoration. I think I could enumerate twenty mortal diseases from which I have been raised up, without any continued diminution of strength, except the last, ten years ago, which remained nearly two years; yet (let me gratefully remember this,) at near sixty, after this hopeless disease, I was restored to strength (physical strength) sufficient to write ten volumes-such as they are; —and in that long affliction, though at one time I very seldom closed my eyes in sleep for forty days and nights, I never had one hour's great discomposure of mind, or one moment's failure of reason, though in health very liable to agitation. I repeat these mercies to you, in order to impress them on myself as motives of never-ceasing gratitude to that merciful and longsuffering Father to whom I have made much unworthy returns. Patty, though emerging from this trial, is a poor shattered creature.' In consequence of this state of matters, their friends were unwilling to intrude upon their retirement at Barley Wood, and the result of the quiet and leisure thus enjoyed was in the highest degree favourable to the recovery of Mrs Hannah. She rapidly regained such a degree of vigour and activity, both of mind and body, as to resume her wonted literary avocations. In a few months, accordingly, she gave to the world another work, entitled 'Moral Sketches,' which passed in a short time through several editions. had often, amid her trials and persecutions, cheered and animated her by her lively and playful sallies, and in her hours of sickness had nursed her with the utmost tenderness and affection. But now the kind, the amiable, the lively Patty was no more, and the stroke was felt the more keenly that it was sudden, and therefore unexpected. She had been long subject to an internal disease, which was likely to terminate in death, but her last attack continued only for four days. Though left alone at the age of seventy-five, with the responsibility upon her of superintending the numerous schools which had so long flourished under the care of herself and her sisters, Mrs More carried forward her plans with undiminished zeal. In the year following Martha's death, however, Mrs More's health was observed to be sinking rapidly. Various attacks of illness, in the course of the summer and autumn of 1820, threatened ere long to cut short her valuable life. A few extracts from her remarks during this sickness may be interesting, and we sincerely trust they will be useful, to our readers. "She never, when able to speak, forbore long from breaking forth into a repetition of some of the most beautiful and applicable parts of the Psalms, as the xxviith, much of the xlvith, and the xeth; and one day after she had been thus solacing her weary spirits, she remarked, 'Tis perhaps a low idea of heaven, but one not void of comfort to me who rest so very ill in general, to think that there will be no night there-also it is a land the inhabitants of which will no more say I am sick.' She one day observed, that such lengthened sufferings showed how greatly she needed purification;' and being told of the death of a neighbour, a very amiable and worthy man, after a short illness, she said, ' Ah, how many more stripes I have needed than he! a few days' suffering carried him to his rest, while I have required many, many months!' She then added, but I have been favoured with so many more talents and opportunities than he enjoyed!' Speaking of her state of burning fever, she said, Nothing but the last icy hand will cool me-poor Patty! I shall very soon rejoin her!' and added, how short is the longest suffering! eternity is long enough to be happy in; a thousand years are to Him but as one day! I trust I have' not a wish or a hope, but that the Lord should do as it seemeth good unto him. I hope I shall feel the same penitence and submission as dear Patty did. I have great comfort and quietness in my mind, and except in the anguish of extreme suffering, when the body will be disturbed, I hope it may be said, I bear my sickness patiently. What a treasure are the Psalms of David for his harp should furnish material for the devotion of sucChristians in every age!-That a shepherd boy with cessive generations to the end of time! 'Be strong, and He shall comfort your hearts;' and put ye your trust in the Lord. Oh, tarry thou the Lord's leisureHe himself is the portion of my inheritance, and of my cup! When we are upon the brink of eternity, how do all earthly things shrink into their merited littleness! this is the point from whence to view them. 'O God, thou art my God, my soul thirsteth after thee. And again, About a month, however, after the publication of this work, and while the plaudits of an admiring public were still sounding in her cars, Mrs More was thrown | of "In the course of conversation, she spoke of the joys! heaven, and said, 'It is delightful to know that they will be unspeakable and full of glory: rest in the bosom of God and the Saviour, and a full enjoyment of his presence, chiefly present themselves to my mind. The meeting with dear friends will, I should think, constitute a part of our felicity, but a very subordinate one; like Whitefield, I think we shall be apt to say, 'Stand back, and keep me not from the sight of my Saviour.' Important as doctrines are,' she observed, yet except the leading ones, for which we ought to be ready to be led to the stake, they yield much with me to the purifying of the inward hidden man of the heart. Conformity to God, a walking in his steps, spiritual-mindedness, a subduing the old Adam within us--here is the grand difficulty, and the acceptable offering to God! It is observable,' she remarked, 'that in the introductory verses to almost all St. Paul's Epistles he says, 66 Grace, mercy, and peace," peace comes after grace and mercy.' It pleased the Lord to raise her up again from her bed of sickness and apparent death, and to restore her for a short interval to a state of partial health. The respite, however, was brief indeed, for in the spring of 1822 she was seized with a severe attack of inflammation of the chest. The symptoms were of a very alarming charac ter, but if her sufferings were great, her resignation and patience were equally great. Occasionally she was apprehensive that this illness might terminate fatally, and her greatest anxiety was that she might not disgrace the Christian profession. Yet though brought to the very gates of death, she was restored, in the course of a few months, by the kindness of Providence, to nearly her former state of health. Barley Wood once more became the favourite resort of her admirers and friends. It was a place hallowed in the minds of all who were acquainted with Mrs More, whether personally or by her writings. Her restoration to health she regarded as a fresh call upon her to labour in promoting the cause of Christ with greater ardour and perseverance than ever. She felt that her life was fast drawing to a close, and every new attack of illness was only gradually breaking down her naturally feeble frame. The summer of 1824 saw her again laid upon a bed of sickness. Some of her edifying observations during this illness we extract. Somebody speaking of a very fine house they had recently seen, she said, 'Do they ever suspect that so mean a thing as death can enter amongst all that finery? take physic, pomp;' and then raising herself in her bed with surprising energy, though obliged to pause for breath between her words, she repeated, Oh, insolence of wealth, with all thy store, How durst thou let one worthy man be poor." "On another occasion she thus broke forth: What sinful vile miserable bodies we have, and yet we can be proud, and dainty, and fastidious.' When she heard the bell toll for the funeral of her late medical attendant, she exclaimed, Happy Mr James, he has escaped before me! Pray sing the Funeral Hynn at family prayer this evening. Upon those about her answering that nobody had spirits to raise their voice in song, she said, Why not, it will raise your hearts in love.' In a moment of particular suffering, she exclaimed, Can my friends wish such a state as mine to be prolonged? death would be the greatest mercy-but it is all best. I am not yet fit, I want a few more stripes, or I should not have them, for He does nothing without design.' She once or twice remarked, with grateful emotion, upon the affecting beauty of that expression, 'God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes;'-not only that they should be wiped away, but that God himself should wipe them away." In the course of her recovery from this severe sickness, she employed herself in extracting from all her later works, her thoughts on prayer, which strung together, with a few additions and a preface, she published as a separate volume. This little work, entitled, the 'Spirit of Prayer,' passed through three editions in the course of three months. Mrs More's health was at this time better than it had been for many years past, though she had reached the advanced age of eighty-two. Her visitors daily increased in number; and such was her kindness of heart, that she was readily accessible to all. Among others, she was favoured with a visit from the pious and eccentric Rowland Hill; and, for the gratifi cation of our readers, we extract an account of the interview, as described by Mrs More's friend, Miss Frowd:You cannot imagine how delighted we were with dear old Rowland: instead of a coarse, quaint being, disposed to deal out his witty sarcasms against all, however good, who were not of his particular genus, we found a mild mellowed Christian, of a liberality which really astonished us! He quite overflowed with amiable and truly pious conversation, and this was so seasoned with point, humour, and a delightful oddity, which was all his own, that we were beyond measure entertained as well as edified by his company, and it made the three hours he spent with us, appear no more than half an hour. He talked with cordial love of Wilberforce, and spoke very highly of Archbishop Magee. He is an excellent hater of Antinomian doctrines, and I was glad to see such a soundness of Christian principle in the good old man. Upon the question being put to him, How many persons he had vaccinated with his own hand?' Mrs M. said, 'I have heard, so many as six thousand.' Yes, Madam,' he replied, nearer eight thousand.' We talked of every body, from John Bunyan to John Locke, and he really showed an excellent discrimination and tact in character. But the most beautiful feature of all, was the spirit of love and charity which was eminently conspicuous in this Christian veteran. I cannot express to you how interesting a spectacle it was to see these two already half-beat fied servants of their common Lord, greeting one another for the first, and probably the last time on this side Jordan, preparatory to the consummation of an union and friendship which will last for ever in the regions of eternal felicity. I do suppose, that no two persons, in their own generation, have done more good in their respective ways than Hannah More and Rowland Hill. Both have exceeded fourscore; both retain health and vigour of intellect; both are on the extreme verge of eternity, waiting for the glorious summons, Come, ye blessed of my Father.' He concluded this very interesting visit with a fine prayer, which was poured forth in an excellent voice and manner. I really don't know that, upon any occasion, I have been more gratified." Since the death of her sisters, Mrs More was under the necessity not merely of attending to her literary occupations, but to the management of her household affairs. She had never been remarkable for exactness in her pecuniary arrangements; and now that the whole burden of them devolved upon her, she became the prey of rapacious and dishonest servants. Though the greater number of them had been long connected with her household, they now took advantage of her solitary condition and of her gentle temper, to defraud her to a vast amount. In consequence of this, she came to the resolution of selling Barley Wood. Having dismissed all her domestics, by whom she had been so cruelly treated, she prepared to quit the place which had been so long endeared to her as the scene of her highest earthly enjoyments, as well as of her severest earthly trials; and as she entered the carriage which was to convey her from Barley Wood to Clifton, she cast a longing, lingering look to the beautiful scenery, saying, "I am driven, like Eve, out of Paradise; but not, like Eve, by angels." Towards the unworthy individuals who had been the cause of this change, she harboured no resentment. "People exclaim," she said, "against their ingratitude towards me, but it is their sinfulness towards God that forms the melancholy part of the case." The period of Mrs More's removal from Barley Wood may be considered as the close of her intellectual and active career. She entered upon her new residence at Clifton on the 18th of April 1828, at the age of eighty-three. From that time her health was evidently in a declining state, and though she maintained an uncommon degree of cheerfulness, she was exposed to very frequent attacks of illness. During the five years and a half which she passed at Clifton, she was subject to occasional inflammatory affections of the chest; and it was only by the most unremitting care and attention, that the symptoms were averted. Her intellectual vigour was gradually diminishing, and her bodily frame becoming more enfeebled. It was not, however, till towards the end of 1832, that a change for the worse, both in body and mind, was observed to take place. It was painful to witness the almost imperceptible waning of her intellectual splendour; but her friends were consoled with the continuance of her amiable, and gentle, and kindly dispositions. To the peevishness and fretfulness of old age she was a total stranger; and it was obvious to all, that though the body was decaying day by day, the soul was rapidly advancing in every Christian grace, and maturing for those blessed mansions which await the righteous beyond the grave. In the course of the spring and summer of 1833, Mrs More's strength became much impaired; and at length, towards autumn, very unfavourable symptoms began to display themselves. Her last days were characterized by the same piety and resignation which had marked her former seasons of suffering. Her once brilliant mind often wandered; but on religious subjects she was coherent to the last. A few of her dying remarks will not be unacceptable: "She said to those who surrounded her- Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is all in all, God of grace, God of light, God of love. Whom have I in heaven but thee?' When very sick she said, What can I do? What can I not do with Christ? I know that my Redeemer liveth. Happy, happy are those who are expecting to be together in a better world. The thought of that world lifts the mind above itself. My God, my God, I bless thy holy name. Oh the love of Christ, the love of Christ! Mercy, Lord, is all I ask! I am never tired of prayer. Pray, pray that the dear mistress of this house may be supported in her last hours. I pray to God to forgive my many offences, to make me humble, and looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Lord, stablish, strengthen us! The heavens declare the glory of God,'-how I love that psalm! O eternal, immortal Lord, I prostrate myself before thee, utterly unworthy of thy mercy! Holy Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit! into thy hands I commend my unworthy self-unworthy, but penitent!' Upon being asked if anything could be done to make her more comfortable, she said, Nothing, but love me, and forgive me when I am impatient.' Upon her servant's proposing to read a chapter to her, she said, What are you going to read?' and upon being told the resurrection of Christ, she said, If we meet at his feet we shall be equal!' She said to her attendant, who had been repeating some psalms and hymns, You cannot have your mind too much stored with these things; when you get old, or are in solitude, they will supply you with comfort. After repeating the doxology, she said to her servant, 'the word Trinity, you know, means three. I once lived in a street called Trinity Street; I do think it very wrong to give such sacred names to common things." She often exclaimed, Lord, have mercy upon me! Christ, have mercy upon me, and make me patient under my sufferings! Take away my perverse and selfish spirit, and give me a conformity to thy will. May thy will be done in me, and by me, to thy praise and glory: I desire only to be found at the foot of the cross. Lord! I am thine, I am not my own, I am bought with a price, a precious price, even the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord have mercy dom! Jesus, my Saviour and my friend!' She talked upon me, grant me an abundant entrance into thy kingmuch of the many mercies of God to her, through her very long life. To an intimate friend she said, she hoped they should meet in glory; for herself she had but one object in view, and that was to wait the Lord's time. 'Lord! strengthen my resignation to thy holy will. Lord! have mercy upon me, a miserable sinner. Thou hast not left me comfortless. O Lord! strengthen me in the knowledge of my Saviour Jesus Christ, whom I love and honour. How many parts of Scripture speak of the necessity of our being born again! Raise my desires purify my affections, sanctify my soul. To go to heaven-think what that is! to my Saviour, who died that I might live! Lord, humble me, subdue every evil temper in me. May we meet in a robe of glory; through Christ's merits alone can we be saved. Look down, O Lord, upon thy unworthy servant with eyes of compassion.' A friend said to her, Our good works will not save us;' she said, Our good works are nothing, but without them sins may be forgiven me for Christ's sake.' After rewe cannot be saved. You must pray for me, that my peating the fifty-first Psalm, she said, 'Pour out such a measure of thy grace upon me, that I may be enabled to serve thee in spirit, soul, and body, and that loving thee, I may come unto thee through Jesus Christ. Oh! my Saviour, forsake not her whom thou hast redeemed.' Feeling herself lingering long in ber sickness, she said to a friend, My dear, do people never die? Oh glorious grave! I pray for those I love, and for those I pity and do not love." She said, 'It pleases God to afflict me, not for his pleasure, but to do me good, to make me humble and thankful; Lord, I believe, I do believe with all the powers of my weak sinful heart. Lord Jesus, look down upon me from thy holy habitation; strengthen my faith, and quicken me in my preparation! Support me in that trying bour when I most need it! It is a glorious thing to die!' When one talked to her of her good deeds, she said, Talk not so vainly, I utterly cast them from me, and fall low at the foot of the cross.' The closing scene of this eminent Christian is thus affectingly described by one who witnessed that melancholy event: 6 To go “On Friday, the 6th of September 1833, we offered up the morning family devotion by her bed-side; she was silent, and apparently attentive, with her Lands devoutly lifted up. From eight in the evening of this day, till nearly nine, I sat watching her. Her face was smooth and glowing. There was an unusual brightness in its expression. She smiled, and endeavouring to raise herself a little from her pillow, she reached out her arms as if catching at something, and while making this effort, she once called, Patty,' (the name of her She fell last and dearest sister) very plainly, and exclaimed, Thus have we traced the most prominent events in the life of one of the most amiable and accomplished, most pious and useful of her sex. Though in her early days the world had acquired an undue ascendancy over her heart, she was led by divine grace to turn her thoughts to far higher and purer objects than any which this world can present; and no sooner was her fine enthusiastic mind directed to Religion as the chief good, than her whole efforts were put forth to recommend the Gospel of Christ to the attention of others. And in this she was eminently successful. By the institution and judicious management of schools for the instruction of the poor, she was instrumental in the introduction of Christianity into many a peasant's cottage where it had been, till then, unknown; and by her numerous writings, she was the means of gaining a place for Christianity in the circles of the fashionable and polite, from many of which it had been, till then, excluded. If "they who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever," bright, indeed, will be the glory of this most estimable woman. Multitudes now on earth, and multitudes more now in glory, have, we doubt not, been indebted to Hannah More, not merely for their first impressions, but for their matured views of divine things; and if, by the rapid sketch which we have given of her life, we shall induce any one carefully to study her works, or to imitate her varied excellencies, our object is gained. A SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN SCOTLAND. sixty years after his death; and in the materials from which it was drawn up, there was, in all probability, a mixture of truth and falsehood, which the writer might be either unable or unwilling to separate. Nor do these remarks derogate from the genuine merit of this eminent individual. On the contrary, any attempt to bedaub his character with gaudy colouring, or to surrom d it with tinsel ornaments, may please or astonish the minds of the vulgar, but it will infallibly disgust men of taste and discernment. Columba was born in the year 521; and as he grew up, his parents observed his attachment to divine things, and so directed his education as to fit him for the office of a minister of Christ. His biographers give us a list of his instructors, one of whom is said to have thought that he had received in Columba an angel from heaven, as his pupil or rather companion. It is no exaggeration to state, that all of them found him to be a youth of great capacity and application, and discovered, in his rapid improvement, ample promises of future greatness. The last, and by all accounts the best, of his preceptors, was St. Ciaran, under whose instructions his know ledge was greatly increased, and for whom he ever afterwards entertained the strongest affection. It might have been useful, even in our times of improved education, had we been able to give a full detail of the course of instruction by which Columba was fitted for the mighty task of interpreting the Scriptures, and of preaching the Gospel. The heroes of Homer are not only presented to our view fully equipped for the battlefield, and ready to engage in the deadly contest, but the poet also shows them to us in the tent, as they are in the very act of putting on their armour, and making all preparation for meeting the foe. The writers of Columba's life have exhibited him in his struggles with idolatry and unbelief; but they have left us ignorant of that mental training, of that intellectual discip line by which he was enabled successfully to encoun ter the enemies of the Church of God. Various motives are assigned for Columba's leaving Ireland, and settling in the island of Hii. Some of his panegyrists say, that he was actuated by a pure zeal for the glory of God in propagating the Gospel; while others aflirm, that he was compelled to leave his own country in consequence of interfering with political matters, and of raising, by his influence, very serious disturbances among the people. A real or supposed indignity was resented by himself and his relatives to such an extent, as to occasion the shedding of blood. The clergy were so exasperated, as to threaten him with excommunication. Dr Smith refers to this circumstance in a note, and gives the account of the matter from Odonellus, which he justly considers as more curious than satisfactory. The truth is, it has been the great mistake of Columba's biographers to hold him up as a perfect character; but the historian, who dispassionately views all the bearings of this charge, may admit that it is not without some foundation in truth. The pride of youth and of rank, as well as inexperience, may have led to consequences, that were neither foreseen nor intended, and that were afterwards In the year 563, a new era commenced in the history reviewed with the bitterest repentance. In his future of Christianity in Scotland. This was the arrival of life, his greatest enemies could find, comparatively speakColumba in the island of Hii one of the budæ. He ing, little to blame. If pride at one time obtained the was a native of Ireland, and of royal extraction. The mastery over his spirit, it speedily lost its dominion, wonders that are told of him, commence as usual before and humility and self-denial were substituted in its he was born, but they bear too close a resemblance place. Whatever might be the cause of his leaving to similar tales that are told of some other illustrious Ireland, he set out in the year 563, accompanied with individuals. In the marvellous circumstances that are twelve companions, in a vessel of the rudest construcsaid to precede the birth of great men, there is a sustion. It is remarkable, that as thirteen individuals landpicious sameness, and the writers betray great poverty ed on the island of Hii, the same number was assigned of invention. In the case of Columba, these circum- to the different Culdee colleges. These men instructed stances may possibly be true, but the reader naturally inquires how the writers of his life came by their information. The earliest biography of Columba was written Minister of Gilcomston Parish, Aberdeen. FROM A. D. 563 To 601. *They are generally termed Monasteries, but the world conveys a wrong meaning. The Culdees married, and brought up families; on this account the term College is preferred, the Picts in the art of writing; and as a useful preliminary, it may be presumed, they also taught them to read. We must not forget, that before they could instract the people, it became necessary for themselves to acquire the language of the country. On their first arrival, they were not understood; and when Columba preached, it was necessary to employ an interpreter. The life of Columba, in general, is too much of a religious romance, in which he is spoken of as working miracles, uttering prophecies, and removing difficulties by a word of his mouth, or by a movement of his hand. On the contrary, when he arrived at Hii, he experienced the usual difficulties which Missionaries ought to expect, and which are only surmounted by steady perseverance, humble prayers, and trust in God. In the buda, the Druids had remained unmolested; they were unscathed by the storms which had swept away their institutions in Britain; and they naturally opposed the exertions of Columba. The inhabitants were rude and barbarous; and so far from giving him a kindly reception, they more than once attempted to murder him. The king of the Picts, whose name was Brude, ordered his gates to be shut against him. The country was woody and mountainous, and infested with wild Deasts, so that no one could travel in it alone and unarmed without imminent danger. The greatest vigour of mind, and steadiness of purpose, were required to encounter the difficulties and dangers with which he was surrounded. But he was carried through them all in triumph; for he was the soldier of Him who sends no one a warfare at his own charges. Notwithstanding the greatest opposition, the persevering exertions of Columba were crowned with success. The college of Hii, or Iona, became a centre, around which those employed in religious operations revolved. Those who were to be the ministers of the Gospel received instructions ander the superintendence of Columba. Iona, and the neighbouring islands, were taught the way of salvation by Christ, and many parts of Scotland profited by the labours of his disciples. It is much to be regretted, that the course of instruction pursued in the college at Iona has not been described by any writer on whom we can depend. What sciences were taught, besides theology, we are not very accurately informed. Columba was well skilled in medical science; and it is probable that his followers were instructed in it, as being calculated to procure for them the favour and confidence of the people. There is some reason to believe, that they studied the laws, customs, and history of nations. They were not ignorant of the learned languages, as appears from their writings, and Adomnan is said to have written a Geography of the Holy Land. Columba and his followers had a clear and thorough knowledge of Christian doctrine, as it is taught in the Scriptures. They were entirely untainted with the errors that had begun to creep into the Church of Rome, and they would not bow to the spiritual dominion of the Roman bishops. Many attempts were made, if not in the lifetime of Columba, at least soon after his death, to bring them to adopt the observances and ceremonies of the Church of Rome, but without effect. Venerable Bede has a dislike at any who should presume to question the infallibility of the Pope, but he would fain frame an excuse for the Scots. "In the remote part of the world," says he, " in which they lived, they were unacquainted with the Roman decrees, and only taught their disciples out of the writings of the evangelists and apostles." In these words Bede has unwittingly pronounced a panegyric on the ministers of religion in Scotland, which may be considered sublime. Bede felt pity for the ignorant barbarians, who only taught from the New Testament, but their ignorance was the best and highest knowledge. Churches and colleges were established by Columba over different parts of Scotland, but an exact enumeration of them cannot now be given, as their records have perished. It is certain that he planted churches throughout the Ebuda, and in the territories of the ancient Scots and northern Picts. He founded the Church of Dunkeld, the College of Inchcolin in the Firth of Forth, and of Govan on the Clyde. The names of his followers are found still interwoven with the names of many of our parishes, but the precise period of their establishment, it is, perhaps, now impossible to trace. From Iona was spread the knowledge of Christ and of him crucified, and it is delightful to think, that the torch of religious truth which was kindled by Columba in an inconsiderable island of the western ocean, has never been entirely extinguished in the land of our fathers. The character of Columba, even when stripped of the marvellous circumstances which have been sometimes appended to it, claims the admiration of every lover of religion, and of every friend of truth. In whatever light we view it, we are invariably led to the same result. As a man of genius, of intellectual attainments, and of profound and extensive knowledge, he will be found to stand conspicuous among those who hold the first rank in the annals of mankind. His courage, firmness, and perseverance, were manifested in surmounting the difficulties which obstructed his progress on his first arrival in lona. His moral qualities shone with unsullied brightness during a long and eventful life, and his benevolence was uniformly directed to the welfare, temporal and spiritual, of his fellow-men. But what is most remarkable in his character is that which worldly men are least able to appreciate, the fervour of his piety and the ardour of his devotion. By day and by night his prayers ascended to the throne of the Eternal, he saw and acknowledged God in all the events of providence, as well as in the salvation of his soul, so that it may be said of him as of Enoch-he walked with God. His death took place on the 9th of June 597. He expired in the act and attitude of prayer, and passed from the Sabbath on earth to an everlasting Sabbath in the heavenly state. He Contemporary with Columba was Kentigern, called also Mungo, from his courtesy and affable disposition. He is said to have been the grandson of Lothus king of the Picts, whose daughter Thamis was his mother. The circumstances connected with his birth are related by Usher, but their truth is extremely doubtful. was educated by St. Servanus, and seems to have been carefully instructed in all that was necessary for a minister of the Gospel. The scene of his labours was what was then called the kingdom of Strathclyd, now Clydesdale. The chief place of his abode was Glasgow, where a church was built, and there he taught the inhabitants of that district the doctrines of the Gospel. His mode of life is spoken of by historians as extremely abstinent; and one writer observes, that when he lived in Glasgow, he practised all the rigour and selfdenial of John the Baptist. From every account he was truly primitive, both in his mode of living and in the truths which he taught. He was the means of converting sinners, and of restoring heretics and apostates into the bosom of the Church. The occurrence of such incidental expressions proves, that he had, in all probability, to contend with some remains of the Pelagian heresy. He every where, in that district, discountenanced idolatry, built churches, marked out the boundaries of parishes, and visited, with his staff in his hand, the surrounding country, doing the work of an evangelist. Like he Apostle Paul, while he was engaged in the service of his heavenly Master, he wrought with his own hands and took his part in the labours of the field. A life of usefulness and purity, such as that of Kentigern, might have escaped persecution froin men in power. But he was made to experience, like those who had gone before him, that integrity of life and |