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    desirous to learn to read , and gladly gave them daily entertainment without price , books also to read , and instruction freely ; she did also appoint , ordain , and consecrate thy bishops and priests ; and by the space of thirty years and above she maintained the primacy and pontifical dignity within thee , on the north side of the Thames , as Beda witnesseth .

    " And now , I pray , what recompense renderest thou now unto her that hath bestowed so many benefits upon thee ? Is it bondage ? Or such as Judaea rendered unto Christ , evil for good ? It seemeth no other thing * Thou unkind vine , how art thou turned into bitterness ! If thou couldst do as thou wouidst , thou wouldst draw thy mother , the Church of Scotland , whom thou shouldst honour with all reverence , into the most wretched bondage , &c .

    " Therefore , thou Church of England doest as becomes thee not ; thou thinkest to carry what thou cravest , and to take what * is not granted . Seek what is just if thou wilt have pleasure in what thou seekest . And to the end I do not weary others with my words , albeit I have no charge to speak for the liberty of the Church of Scotland , and albeit all the clergy of Scotland would think otherwise , yet I dissent from subjecting her ; and I do appeal

    unto the apostolical Lord , unto whom immediately she is subject , and if it were needful for me to die in the cause , here I am ready to lay down my neck unto the sword . Nor do I think it expedient to advise any more with my Lords , the Prelates ; nor if they will do otherwise , do I consent unto them ; for it is more honest to deny quickly what is demanded unjustly , than to drive off time by delays , seeing he is the less deceived who is refused betimes . "

    The historian , Petrie , adds , " When Gilbert had so made an end , some English commended the young clerk that he had spoken so boldly for his nation ; but others , because he spoke contrary to their mind , said , ' A Scot is naturally violent , ' and ' In naso Scoti piper . ' But Roger , Archbishop of York , which principally had moved this business , to bring the Church of Scotland unto his See , uttered a groan , and then , with a merry countenance , laid his hand on Gilbert ' s head , saying , ' Ex tua pharetra non exiit ilia sagitta . '"

    The immediate subject of dispute was not further stirred ; the Roman authorities being , as might be expected , perfectly satisfied with the recognition of their supremacy , and not troubling themselves about the claims of the English prelates . Iona and its colleges have long lain desolate and in ruins ; and the islands to which they ministered spiritual instruction have been left destitute in ignorance and obscurity , while the churches that once adorned them are

    levelled with the ground . He who dwells in prejudice or paradox may , if a Catholic , moralize on reformation and ruin , as fellow-travellers over the face of an unfortunate country ; if a Protestant , he may , perhaps , rejoice over the demolition of the holds of superstition , though purchased with the destruction of the very landmarks of religion . Whatever be his creed , the philosopher cannot , without pain , in days of cultivation , refinement , and reformation ,

    see desolation and ignorance presiding where knowledge , piety , and virtue had their dwelling-place , in days which we like to call days of darkness . * f The island , which was once the metropolis of learning and piety , has now mo school for education , nor temple for worship . " Yet , " perhaps , in the revolutions of the world , Iona may be some time again the instructress of t ! i $ Western regions , " and may speak with pity of the barbarous ages in which she was left to lie desolate , rained , and uninstructed : y .

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    The Culdees of Iona . 867

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1827, page 867, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1803/page/11/