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    cipal establishment at Iona suffered great vicissitudes . It was burnjt , by the Danes in 797 ; a second time by the same enemies in 801 ; . and again , by other means , in 1069 * In . , 805 , the family of Iona ( to the number of sixtyeight ) was destroyed by Danish pirates ; and in 985 , the same parties rifled the monastery and killed the Abbot with fifteen of his disciples . But it survived in its principal and many other great Scotch establishments . Iona was considered the great European school of theology , and its votaries were long

    the luminaries of this extremity of the globe , and carried their light thence into all parts of Europe ; the Scotchmen being for several centuries the most eminent cultivators of the sciences as then pursued . The peculiarities of the Culdee establishments in doctrine and discipline have been the subject of much angry controversy . To a certain extent they , in common with all the British churches , undoubtedly differed from the Church of Rome , and were consequently regarded by it with jealousy and opposed with vigour . Finally , ( though probably not wholly till the fourteenth century , ) they merged in the overwhelming influence of the Western Church , and are heard of no

    more . But the fame of their piety , zeal and learning has survived , and commanded the respect and gratitude of those at teas * who reflect on the precious services rendered by those sanctuaries which formed the resting-places and retreats of science , however rude , during the storms of barbarism , warfare ^ and ignorance . On the remotest corner of the known world , among the storms of the northern seas , learning seemed to have fled for refuge to seats

    which it might be thought cupidity itself would not envy , and there she flourished till brighter days returned , and she could once again resume her abode in fairer spots and with more extended prospects of usefulness . With strong feelings of grateful respect and veneration , Dr . Johnson coramerno * rates his visit to the ruins of this holy establishment , " We were now treading , " says he , " that illustrious island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions , whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion . To abstract the

    mind from all local emotion would be impossible , if it were endeavoured , and would be foolish , if it were possible . Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses ; whatever makes the past , the distant , or the future , predominate over the present , advances us in the dignity of thinking beings Far from me and from my friends be such frigid philosophy , as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground which has been . Signified by wisdom , bravery , or virtue . That man is littte to be envied * whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon , or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona . "

    Gibbon has also in his peculiar strain , and with the qualifications to be expected from him , borne a testimony to the merits of this establishment . ** Iona , " he says , " one of the Hebrides , which was planted b y the Irish ' ibon'ks , diffused over the northern regions a doubtful ray of science and Superstition . This small though not barren spot , Iona , Hy , or Columbkill ,

    only two miles in length and one mile in breadth , has been distinguished , 1 st , by the monastery of St . Columba , founded A . D , 566 , whose Abtypt exercised an extraordinary jurisdiction over the bishops of Caledonia ; 2 d , b y a classic library , which affordqd some hopes of an entire Livy i ana 3 d , by the tombs of sixty kings , Scots , Irish , and Norwegians , who reposed in .

    holy ground . ** Touching this library a good deal has been told which inquirers will be apt to consider apocryphal . The Story of Boetbiw is , that Fergus II ., assisting Alaric the Goth in the sacking Qf Rome , brought away

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    858 Tfte Culdees of Iona .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1827, page 858, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1803/page/2/