was the most convenient summary even for a German scholar to use. The German work was inferior in every respect. But more remarkable even than this is the manner in which the results of modern science and thought have been accepted-accepted, not by the prominent examples of single individuals, but by the general modifications of opinion throughout the clergy as a whole. The English Church has assimilated the results of modern geology and the theory of evolution, in spite of the fact that the latter was only too often brought before it in anti-Christian garb. It is at present face to face with an even more difficult problem, that of Old Testament criticism, and it shows every sign of being willing to approach it in a bold, cautious, and reverent spirit, without any desire to reject what may be true, and firmly convinced that the foundations of the great Christian verities will not be shaken. This is the work of the Church of England for the last thirty years, thirty years which have been spent in strengthening its grasp on Catholic tradition, without losing its hold on the intellect of the country.

But the relation of learning to religion brings us face to face with a general problem of greater difficulty. What is to be the attitude of the Church towards free learning and research? We can only, in the small space that is left to us, touch upon this point. We might illustrate with ease the two most extreme and, we believe, equally erroneous views from the writings of Cardinal Newman and Mark Pattison. Both look upon progress as a contest between dogma and reason, between oppression of opinion and freedom of opinion, and each takes a different side. All the evils of the world are due to disregard of authority, says the one; all the evils of the world are due to suppression of opinion, says the other. We make the following suggestions: That it is quite true that the suppression of opinion by force, by State influence, by any means except reason, is disastrous; but equally is it true. that a Church is bound to have a system of teaching which must be expressed in formulas, and to make these a condition of membership. These two principles acting and reacting will, we believe, be found to work out the desired result-that men should hold the truest possible opinions in the truest possible way. Supposing the Church were to do what sections of it have done, oppose undeniable truth or allow erroneous teaching to prevail, immediately reason and learning will begin to assert themselves, and, unimpeded by legislative hindrances, make their way. The section of the Church which allowed these erroneous views to prevail must reconsider its position in order

to defend its true doctrines. More than that, the danger of opposition will compel all men to hold their own views as intelligent and rational beings. On the other hand, the dangers of inadequate teaching will be avoided, because most men will be taught according to the system which is believed most nearly to represent truth. No man will hesitate to make his teaching prevail by any legitimate means; all will fear to do sa by illegitimate means. We suggest that in this way it is possible to steer between the Scylla of Romanism and the Charybdis of free thought.

We have said enough to enable our readers to judge of the scope and aim of Mark Pattison's life; we have hinted what we believe to be the defects both of his character and his teaching; we have dwelt strongly on his merits. We send all our readers to these volumes of his Essays and his other works, trusting that they may catch something of the devotion to learning which inspires them.

ART. VI.-THE ORIGINS OF IRISH
CHRISTIANITY.

1. The Tripartite Life of Patrick. Translated by WHITLEY STOKES, D.C.L., LL.D., for the Master of the Rolls. (London, 1887.)

2. The Life of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland. By WILLIAM BULLEN MORRIS, Priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. (London, 1888.)

3. The Holy Scriptures in Ireland One Thousand Years Ago. Selections from the Würzburg Glosses. Translated by the Rev. THOMAS OLDEN, M.A., M.R.I.A. (Dublin and London, 1888.)

FOR the first time all the original sources of information on the origins of Irish Christianity are given to the public in a collected form, and with the advantage of being edited by a first-rate scholar. Of these documents some, as the Tripartite, are in Irish, so old as to be intelligible only to a few undaunted scholars. Others are in Latin, but in some cases the texts in which they are accessible swarm with misprints and blunders, and, besides, can only be consulted in publications not to be

found in ordinary libraries. It is, therefore, difficult to overestimate the value of these volumes of the Rolls Series to the student of the early ecclesiastical history of these islands. The originals of all the Irish pieces are given with literal translations, and all, Irish and Latin, are edited with scrupulous accuracy and a learning which may be well described as unique.

Up to a recent period the authorities for Irish Church history were chiefly the writers of the Anglo-Norman period, from the twelfth century onward, who were presumed to be safe guides on the subject; and yet, paradoxical as it may seem, their knowledge was very superficial. Several reasons may be assigned for this: first of all, they were of the conquering race, and looked down on the natives and their institutions as barbarous; again, they were fully persuaded that nothing could be right that was not in accordance with English, then equivalent to Roman, usage; and, once more, they saw the Irish Church in its decline, when it was disorganized and enfeebled by centuries of Danish persecution. The great institutions which had once sent forth a stream of learned men to teach in the schools of the Merovingian kings, or to evangelize the heathen occupants of Western Europe, now lay in ruins, and the countless volumes penned by their scribes had been almost wholly destroyed by the ruthless invaders. Thus when these ecclesiastics, knowing and caring nothing for the history of the past, found in Ireland an impoverished and ill-educated clergy ministering at the altars with rites in their eyes strange and irregular, they disdained to inquire into the origin of the system, but treated it as one to be superseded with all convenient speed. It is obvious that these circumstances precluded any real knowledge on their part of what the Church of Ireland had been in its best days. And even had they desired to investigate the subject the native language was a barrier, for it was not an attractive one to listen to, much less to learn. Bæde has a story of a Saxon king who was so tired (pertasus) of the language of his bishop, who, though a Saxon, had been educated in Ireland, that he took the first opportunity of superseding him. A somewhat similar state of feeling in the nineteenth century is shown in the following description of it by Archbishop Whately :

'It is a barbarous jargon in which the discordant sounds of the farm-yard are mixed up. There is the drawling running of one note into another of the cock's crow, the squall of the peacock, the cackle of the goose, the duck's quack, and no small admixture of the ass's bray.'

This chaff of the witty Archbishop was gravely replied to by an indignant patriot. The disadvantage under which former writers laboured from want of acquaintance with the language has been lessened by the translations which have appeared of late years, and is now further diminished by this noble edition of the Tripartite.

Not the least interesting feature in the learned Introduction is the summary of evidence for the existence and individuality of St. Patrick; for he has been so divided and subdivided into several Patricks by perplexed theorists that many were inclined to doubt his existence. It is not many years since the present writer heard a dignitary of the Irish Church at a dinner party say to his neighbour, 'Do you believe there ever was such a person as St. Patrick?' Mr. Stokes has now, however, restored the saint safe and sound to his Church by an array of evidence beginning with the fifth century and ending with the thirteenth, and derived from native and foreign sources. It is classed under each century, and places for ever beyond doubt his real existence as well as his fame at home and abroad. The difficulty of previous writers has been to reconcile the absence of Patrick for thirty years from Ireland with other statements in the Lives. But the fact is it cannot be reconciled, and Mr. Stokes prefers to follow the authority of Probus and deny it altogether. The result is that there is no need to assume a plurality of Patricks or a duality of Palladii, or to attribute the acts of one to the other.

His mode of conducting his mission is not without instruction for us at the present day; for some would tell us that the Church should go forth in poverty and look for maintenance to those whom she desires to evangelize, but he seems to have come to Ireland well provided with funds. 'I paid,' he says in his Confession, the hire of fifteen men that you might enjoy me and I you always in the Lord.' Again, I gave rewards to kings, for I gave hire to their sons who travel with me, and thus they abstained from seizing me with my companions.' He always refused gifts when offered by his converts, and he even incurred the disapprobation of his companions by doing so. One of the stories told in the Tripartite is that he asked of God as much gold and silver as his nine companions could carry, to be given to the Gael for believing; that is, we may presume, that, like St. Paul, he might not be burthensome to them. A dialogue may be also

1

1 Trip. vol. ii. p. 372.

2 Ibid. vol. i. p. 31.

quoted as evidence that he was known to have money. An owner of land said to him, 'What wilt thou give me for that land ?’ 'Life eternal,' he answered. Thou hast gold,' said the other; 'give me some for it.' Patrick replied, 'I have given my gold to all, but God will give me other gold." This money appears to have been contributed by the Gaulish Church, from which, as the Introduction shows, he had his mission.

A singular member of his staff was his champion, or strong man, who bore him over rivers and difficult places, such as the morasses which abounded in Ireland.

'Once as Patrick was coming from Clogher, from the north, his champion, Bishop MacCairthinn, lifted him over a difficult place. It was an effort, and he groaned aloud, "Oh! oh!" "It was unusual for thee to utter that word," said Patrick. The Bishop replied, “I am now an old man and infirm, and thou hast left my comrades in churches and I am still on the path." "I will leave thee, then, in a church," said Patrick, "that shall not be very near, lest thou be contemned; and shall not be very far, so that mutual visiting between us be continued." He then left him in Clogher, and gave him the [silver reliquary called the] Domnach Airgid.'

This remarkable work of art is still in existence, and in the safe keeping of the Royal Irish Academy, together with its enclosure, a copy of the Gospels so old that its leaves are agglutinated together and cannot be separated. This provision of 'a champion' may be contrasted with the mode in which Bishop Selwyn conducted his mission in New Zealand. It is said that when the Maoris offered to bear him across the rivers on his visitation tour he declined, adding that he would never consent to make such fine fellows beasts of burthen, and accordingly he waded or swam over. Surely we are not so far behind the primitive Church after all in these latter days.

Another suggestion made recently is that the dress and ways of the natives should be imitated as far as possible by Christian missionaries. Here also a story in the Tripartite may be referred to, which is on other grounds of great interest. Patrick and his companions were sitting by a well in the early morning, when two daughters of the king, who were receiving their education with a Druid who lived near, went early to the

1 Trip. vol. i. p. 95.

2 Vol. i. pp. 176-7. The Domnach Airgid is an oblong box nine inches by seven and five inches in height. It is composed of three covers, of which the first or inner one is of wood-yew-and no doubt is the one given by Patrick; the second, or middle one, of copper plated with silver; and the third, or outer one, of silver plated with gold. The work on the second indicates a period from the sixth to the twelfth centuries. The ornament on the outer cover is that of the fourteenth century.