Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

PART VI.

THE

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF MORAY.

SECTION I.-The Heathen or Pagan Church-containing an Account of the Druids—their Office-Religion-Priests-Worship -Solemnities-Sacrifices and Ceremonies--Judges-- Vats Bards-Female Druids-Temples-Deities-Customs-Burials -the Origin of Druidism, &c.

SECT. II.—The first planting of Christianity in Scotland-the Origin of the Keledees-their Purity, &c.

SECT. III.-The Romish or Popish Church-the Regular Clergy -Abbeys, Abbey of Kinloss-Priories, Urquhart, Pluscarden, Kingussie-Convents, Black-Friars, Gray-Friars, Gray-Sisters -the Preceptory of Maison Dieu-St Nicholas Hospital-the Templars and Joannite Knights-the Secular Clergy-the Bishopric of Mortlich-the Bishopric of Moray-List of the Bishops of Moray-Extent of the Diocese-the Cathedral at Birnie, and at Spynie-the Cathedral at Elgin-Description and Dimensions of it-How demolished-the College of Elgin-the Bishop's Palace at Kenedar-the Palace of Spynie describedthe Revenues of the Bishopric-Dignified Clergy-Inferior Clergy -Government of the Church, &c.

SECT. IV.-The Protestant Church. First, Of the several changes in the Government of the Church, and the conduct of the Clergy since the Reformation. Secondly, Of the Bishops of Moray since the Reformation, their Jurisdictions and Revenues. Thirdly, The Ministers of the several Parishes, with an account of the Patron, Stipend, School, Mortifications, Chapels, and number of Catechiseable persons in each of them. And, Fourthly, The State of Religion in the Province since the Reformation in 1560, to the present time.

SECTION I.

The Heathen or Pagan Church.

IT cannot be doubted, that, in this Province, as, indeed, in all Britain, Druidism was the mode of the Heathenish Religion. The remaining vestiges of their places of worship, and of their superstitious customs, put this beyond question.

Both sacred and profane history testify, that, before Temples were built, the ancient places of worship were in shady groves, under spreading trees, and often in high places, Gen. xxi. 33; 1 Kings, xiii. 14; 1 Sam. ix. 12. "Olim quas vellent esse in Tutela sua Divi legerunt arbores; Quercus Jovi, et Myrtus Veneri placuit, Phœbo Laurea, Pinus Cybela, Populus celsa Herculi."*

And Virgil says of the gardens of the Hesperides, Æneid. IV.,
Hinc mihi Massylæ gentis monstrata Sacerdos,
Hesperidum Templi custos. epulasque Draconi,
Quæ dabat, et sacros servabat in arbore ramos.+

Of old, the deities chose such trees as they wished to be distinguished by. Thus, the Oak was sacred to Jupiter, Venus delighted in the Myrtle,---to Apollo was dedicated the Laurel-tree, the Pine to Cybele, and to Herculus the towering Poplar.

Then to me was shown the Priestess of the Massylian race, the keeper of the Hesperian Temple, whose duty it is to prepare the Dragon's food, and guard the sacred branches on the tree.

[ocr errors]

And in Priam's Palace, Æneid. II.,

Edibus in mediis, nudoque sub ætheris axe,

Ingens ara fuit, juxtaque veterrima laurus,

Incumbens aræ, atque umbra complexa Penates.*

The word Druid comes from the Greek, an Oak, or any wood, or from the Celtic Deru or Dru, an Oak; for they worshipped in groves, and under spreading trees. Druid was the general name of the sect or order; and their Literati were divided into Priests, Vates, and Bards, who were their Divines, Philosophers, Poets, Orators, Physicians, and Judges in all causes. The grand articles of their religion were :-

[blocks in formation]

III. To be intrepid. This last was enforced by the belief of the immortality of the soul, and of a future state.

66

They were the instructors of youth in the mysteries of Religion, Philosophy, and Morality, &c. They kept their Academies only in the sacred groves, retired from the noise of the world, and undisturbed from the hurry of business. Disciplina in Britannia reperta, atque inde in Galliam translata esse existimatur, et nunc, qui diligentius eam rem cognoscere volunt, plerumque illo, discendi causa, proficiscuntur. Magnum numerum versuum ediscere dicuntur; Itaque nonnulli annos vicenos in disciplina permanent; neque fas esse existimant ea literis mandare, quum in reliquis fere rebus, publicis privatisque rationibus Græcis literis utantur."+

They were called Semnothei, for their devotion (Suidas.) And acknowledged one only eternal and self-existent God, whom they

• In the midst of the Palace there stood a massy alter under the naked canopy of heaven, and close to it an aged Laurel-tree, whose branches overhung it, and shadowed the household deities.

+ Their learning having been found in Britain, it was thought to have been carried thence into Gaul, and even now, those who wish more scientifically to study this kind of knowledge, travel thither for the sake of learning it. They are said to learn a great number of verses, and, therefore, some remain under instruction for twenty years. Nor are they permitted to commit these things to writing, though in almost all other matters, both public and private, they may use the Greek manner of writing,

[ocr errors]

worshipped without any images or statues. They owned the immor-
tality of the soul, and a future state of retribution. They taught a
warm devotion to God, and the strictest virtue and equity among
men. They offered sacrifices and oblations daily, and used ablutions
and purifications. In a word, the Druids were at first held in great
veneration, and much admired for their piety, virtue, and morality;
but, afterwards, they degenerated greatly. By the Greeks and Ro-
mans they were led into Polytheism, gross idolatry, superstition,
human sacrifices, &c., which made Lucan write with a sneer,
Et vos Barbaricos ritus, moremque sinistrum,

Sacrorum, Druidæ, positis repetistis ab armis;
Solis nosse Deos, et Coeli numina vobis,

Aut Solis nescire datum.*

They committed no part of their religious inysteries, or natural philosophy to writing; but the Bards turned these into clenching rhymes, and repeated them on all proper occasions. Moral precepts, called Teagasg na Bard, and Foghlam na Filidh, i. e. 'the instructions of bards and philosophers,' are to this day repeated, in the Highlands, by old men.

The transmigration of souls, taught, though not at first, by the Druids, seems to have given rise to a notion among many ignorant and superstitious people,-viz. that when one dies of a consumption, the Fairies steal the soul out of the body before death, and animate some other person with it.

Possibly the way in which the Druids explained the immortality of the soul, and a future state, occasioned the common saying, 'that, at death, one passes into the Saoghal hal. i. e. 'the yonder world,' fancying, as the Americans do, that souls departed, go to pleasant regions beyond the mountains.

[ocr errors]

And you, ye Druids, ye have exercised your barbarous ritual, and infamous sacrifices,---pretending that to you alone was known the will of the gods, and that you alone were permitted to communicate with the powers of heaven.

The Druid priests were the ordinary ministers of religion, and an arch-priest, chosen out of the college of priests, presided in their meetings.

Their worship was either stated and ordinary, or annual and more solemn.

Their stated worship consisted in sacrifices and oblations, performed in pleasant groves, and commonly on a level plot of ground, upon which they erected one or more circles of stones, all on end; and in the centre stood the Altar, which was a broad stone, laid horizontal on four stones as pillars; and on this sacrifices were offered. No sacrifice, however, was to be made without leaves and branches of the Misseltoe; and before they entered the circle to offer, they made a tour about it Sun-ways; and the like they did when they had done offering. These circles, or remains of them, are found in every country. I cannot but mention the circle at Classernis, in the Isle of Lewis. It consists of twelve stones, each seven feet high, and two broad. At south, east, and west, three stones are erected in a line without the the circle; to the north point is a lane, nineteen stones in a line on each side, six feet distant from one another, the lane eight feet broad; one stone stands in the entry of the lane; and in the centre of the circle, a stone, thirteen feet high, cut in the form of a rudder. The circle denotes the sun; the twelve stones the twelve signs; the stones to the south-east and west, the cardinal points; the nineteen stones in the lane, the lunar cycle; the stone in the entry closes the cycle, and then it begins a-new in the other line; the rudder shows, that the Temple was dedicated to Anvona, the deity of the sea.

In Durris, at the end of Lochness, is a Temple of three concentric circles; the Altar-stone is taken away, but near to where it stood is a hallowed stone, either a laver to wash in, or a basin to receive the blood of the sacrifices; a lane leads through the circles to the centre ; in the area of the outer circle, probably stood the spectators; in the second, the offerers; and at the altar, the priest and servants.

« AnteriorContinuar »