early missionaries were thoroughly Biblical. Colum- ba's life by Adamnan represents him in almost every page as iamiliar with the Word of God, and ready to quote it on all occasions as of supreme authority." . . . ** The great subject of their teaching was the simple truth of the Gospel of salvation. It was ' verbmn Dti^ * the Word of God. Adamnan says of Colnmba that from Ills boyhood he was instructed in the love of Christ.*' ^*The spirit of the Culdean Church may suitably and rightfully be described as an evangelical spirit, because it was tcee and independent of Rome ; and when it and the papal Church came into contact, it always and obstinately repudiated its authority, un- der appeal to the single and supreme authority of holy Scripture ; but, above all, because in its inner life it was penetrated throughout by the main prmciples of the evangelical Church. The Culdees read and un- derstood the Scriptures in their original texts. Wher^ ever they came they translated them orally and in writing hito the language of the country, explaining them to the inhabitants, exhorting them to diligent and reg^r Bible reading. But the Scriptures were more to them than a codex of authoritative doctrines of fiuth. They were the living word of Christ. In the most earnest manner they preached the natural, inborn inability of man for gocd ; the atoning death of Christ ; justification without all merit of works ; the worthlessness, especially, of all mere outward works ; and the necessity of the new birth" (Ebrard). These views of life and doctrine reveal sufiiciently the rea- son why the Culdees were missionaries rather than monks. The truths of the Gospel, pure and simple, just as they warmed the hearts of the apostles, had possession of them, and all their work was to make men feel and accept them. Their theory of Church government was very simple. The institution at lona was under the presidency of a presbyter called a pres- byter abbot, who had associated with him twelve oth- er presbyters. In case of a vacancy in the headship, these brethren elected their abbot. That he was a presbyter simply there can be no doubt. Bede, who belonged to the Romish Churdi, himself mentions it as a very strange thing " that a man who is merely a presbyter should govern a diocese, and have even bish- ops under him." The truth is, that the missionaries sent out fh>m these Culdee seminaries were appointed and ordained pastors of the churches they founded ; and the pastor of the church was the overseer of it, L e. the bishop. The presbyter abbot, therefore, had or^ dained an elder, but, by appointment to a parish, had made him a bishop. They evidently knew nothmg of the distinction between the order of presbyter and that of bishop. After the success of Augustine and his monks in England, the Culdees had shut themselves up within the limits of Scotland, and had resisted for centuries all the efforts of Rome to win them over. At last, however, they were overthrown by their own rulers. Margaret, the daughter of William the Con- queror, the queen of Malcolm Canmore, devoted to the cause of Rome, notable for piety, of powerful mind and skilful in the management of others, set her heart upon exchanging the Culdee for the Romish Church in Scot- land. She got the Culdee presbyters together, and for three days discussed the matter with tiiem in per- son. She succeeded by persuasion and artifice. This was in the latter part of the 11th century. It was not, however, tiU the 18th century that Culdeeism was completely overturned and Romanism established. Nay, it is more than probable that Culdeeism, with its simple and powerful Gospel influence, oontinned to live in the hearts of the people long after its forms and public ministrations had been buried beneath the finery of triumphant Romanism. There was a readiness among the Scotch to embrace the Reformation when it came, which, together with their sturdy evangelical character, reminds the historical reader of Culdeeism. Z;d«ratere.— McLauchlan, The Early Sootiiih Cbwrch^
CULON
602
CUMESr
ftt>m the iBt to the 12th centimes (Edinb. 1865, 8yo) ; Alexander, Tona (Edinb. 1866) ; Ebrard, Kirchen-^md Doffmengetdkichte (4 vols., vol. ii); Zeitschr.f, d, kUi. Thed. 1862, 1863 ; King, The Cvldees and their Remaku, 1864 ; Meth, Quart, Rev, Oct. 1861 ; BrU, and For, Ev, Rev. Jan. 1866 ; Princeton Rev. Jan. 1867 ; The Ckurck of lonay by the Bishop of Argyll, 1866. See Iona.
Colon (KovXov V. r. KovXd/i, Jerome Cavlon\ the fifth named of the group of eleven cities added by the Septuagint to those in the mountains of Judah (be- tween ver. 59 and 60 of Josh, xv) ; thought to be the modern KuUmeh^ a trace of which appears in the no- tice of the Crusades (Wilken, Gesch. der Kreuz. iv, 509), a village with ruins about IJ h.W. of Jerusalem towards Jaffa (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 805) ; but, as this lay beyond the border of Judah (Schwarz, Palest. p. 118), the authenticity of the names in the Sept. be- ing, moreover, dubious (Wilson, Bible Lands, ii, 266 n.), the place perhaps only represents some station or Co- Ionia of the Romans (Robinson, Later Res, p. 158).
CnltUB. See Worship.