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    An Account of St. David. 627

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    A Sketch Of The State Of Christianity In...

    tended to extol or magnify his superior wisdom and sanctity Except perhaps his nephew , king Arthur , no one among the good people of Wales ever acquired so much popular fame as did St _, David . That fame , however , has been much on the dedid St . David clinenowforsome ages j and his memoryat presentis as little

    regarded in Wales as in England . _Among all the tales fabricated respecting him , one of the most remarkable is that which states , that in order that his countrymen , especially those of his diocese , might be forewarned and prepared for their approaching dissolution , he prayed to God that _corpse candles and funereal apparitions * _^ ht precede

    every death that should happen through all succeeding generations ; which pious request wa _$ readily and instantly granted . At least so goes the story ; and though it is at present in a great measure forgotten _^ as far as it relates to St . David , yet the firm belief of the existence or reality of funereal apparitions and corpse candks still obtains among the greatest part of the inhabitants , dissenters as well as churchmen , who deem the tales

    that are told about & uch pretended sights to be as true as the gospel , and are ready to class all who disbelieve _^ or are m any doubt concerning them , among infidels _, Sadducees or atheists . The disbelievers of them are chiefly found among heretical Arminians _, Arians and Socinians , whose disbelief serves only

    to confirm the others the more m their stupid credulity . Here let not the English exult over the superstitious weakness of their Welsh neighbours : they themselves also have their weak side , and are as often the dupes of blind creduli ty _^ and artful imposition , as the Welsh or any other _peoplef

    As St . David was nearly related to the chief rulers of the country , being the brother-in-law of Meirig ab Tewdrig , comjnonly called Uthyr Pendragon _^ and uncle to Arthur , it must have given him a decided advantage over his opponents in the relioious contest he had with them . Nor is it to be doubted

    that he owed to that , in a great measure , the successful issue of tkat contest . Their being the national or established clergy must also have placed him and his brethren on a strong ground ,

    * The torpsi the night-tirne , bury Ing-yard _, by the _£ host of | jo near enough candle is said to be a small light A , like that of a candle , proceeding , in from the house or place where a person is to die , to the church or It is also commonly thought that this same candle is carried along the person that is to die , who might be seen if any had courage to > while the candle is passing . funereal _apparition is the exact ap ~

    pearancc of a funeral that is soon to happen , which exhibits the ghost of everything that will appear at that funeral , to the very bier , or hearse and horses : the very colour of the latter and Qt £ the people ' s clothes , they say , have been often , perceived . f Witness the facility with which tficy arc _generally taken in by . quack cfoctor « _^ uack panons , a » d quack statesmen * witJl tl * _£ _hcaveij-born Pkt , at their head _.

    An Account Of St. David. 627

    An Account of St . David . 627

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1807, page 627, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121807/page/7/