Clergy of Elphin may be collected from an address presented to him upon his removal from that Diocese, and how far he justified that opinion, his after-life gave ample evidence. In 1819, under the administration of Lord Talbot, he was translated to the See of Tuam. His first endeavour was to establish Clerical meetings, by inviting all his Clergy to meet at the Palace, once in every month. He prayed with them, read to them; and with that deep humility, which was the peculiar trait in his character, he instructed the youngest, while he meekly listened to those who possessed more knowledge and experience. It was in this way he became acquainted with the ability and piety of each individual; he saw the younger Clergy grow in knowledge, the elder strengthened and confirmed; he saw them together as brethren, highly esteeming their privileges and blessings, as members and Ministers of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ. He was indeed a man of God, a man of deep experience; and often were the aged and strong made to feel that in the Christian race he was far, far in advance. He spoke the things which became sound doctrine, but he did not stop there in all things he shewed himself a pattern of good works; his activity in behalf of the poor generally was felt an 1 acknowledged even by persons of a different creed; while those of the true Faith and Church of God were objects of his especial care. Often in the season of winter he went forth before daylight to visit unnoticed the abodes of wretchedness and poverty, and by personal inspection ascertained the demands on an income which, as a good steward, he administered bountifully. For many years of his life he rose each morning at five o'clock; and when the infirmity of increasing years required more support and indulgence he lay until six. The hours before breakfast were devoted to the refreshment of his own soul, in the exercise of prayer, and reading the Word of God; those immediately after breakfast were employed in the religious instruction of his children; and from twelve to five his time was at the command of any who wished to see him on business. Thus he lived, loving and beloved; and when he was called to join the spirits of just men made perfect, his last injunction to those who remained behind, was, in the words of the Apostle, "Be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." mortal remains were removed from Tuam to the churchyard of Creagh, near Ballinasloe, and carried to the family vault by his Clergy. The following inscription on a monument, in the Cathedral Church of Tuam, is expressive of their love and grief. ΔΟΞΑ ΕΝ ΥΨΙΣΤΟΙΣ ΘΕΩ. The Chief Shepherd, Whom he loved and served, in whom he now sleeps, Called away from the evil to come The Honourable and Most Reverend Power le Poer Trench, D.D.] etc. etc. etc. on the 21st of March, 1 "A lover of hospitality, a lover of good men." With a father's love He presided 19 years over this province; With unquenchable zeal promoted the spread of true religion; His With uncompromising fidelity opposed error; With inflexible integrity obeyed the dictates of an enlightened conscience; With unmingled meekness and dignity exercised his Apostolic office. To him, to live was Christ, to die was gain. Deeply mourning their bereavement, This Record of their grateful love. To commemorate His worth and their woe. BRITISH MONASTERIES.-BANGOR ISCOED. DEEMING it quite in unison with the objects of The Church Magazine, and withal likely to prove interesting to many of its readers, we purpose a series of articles illustrating the origin and constitution of some of the primitive monastic institutions of Great Britain, together with the character of some of their members, as far as the scanty materials on record will enable us.* We begin with the celebrated College of Bangor Iscoed, situated on the banks of the Dee, in the present county of Flint, which, from its importance, has been not unfrequently styled the Great University of North Wales. We may here remark that however just the appellation might be with reference to that immediate part of the country, the comparison will not hold good in a wider range, for the three principal Colleges, or Bangors, in the Isle of Britain, according to the Triads, were Bangor Illtyd, in South Wales; Cor Emrys, in Caer Caradawg, probably at Old Sarum; and Bangor Wydrin, at Glastonbury.† It is not decided when or by whom Bangor Iscoed was founded. Some maintain that it was originally a Druidical establishment of a date prior to the introduction of Christianity. This opinion can be corroborated by two or three circumstances: first, the situation on the banks of the Dee, a river much venerated by the Druids; secondly, the name Bangor (High Choir), for 'Cor' was a term generally used to denote the Druidical temples; thirdly, the prevailing custom amongst the early British Christians of converting such places. to their own use, when the people embraced the Gospel of Christ. Indeed, it appears that the idea of the sacredness of the river originally entertained by the Druids, was not subsequently abandoned by the Christians of Bangor, for it is recorded that the Abbot, previously to the engagement that proved so fatal to the monks, as well as to the institution itself, ordered the soldiers to kiss the ground in commemoration of the communion of the body of Christ, and to take up water into their hands out of the river Dee, and drink it in remembrance of his sacred blood, which was shed for them. It cannot be validly objected here that monasteries in other parts of Christendom were not so regularly organised at such an early period as is fixed upon by the advocates of the above hypothesis, for we learn from authentic sources that the Britons anticipated their continental neighbours in other ecclesiastical customs; a fact too much overlooked by historians in general. For notices respecting the inmates of this monastery we are chiefly indebted to Rees's "Essay on the Welsh Saints." ↑ Triad 80, first series; and 84, third series. Myf. Arch, vol. ii. In the next place, the foundation of Bangor Iscoed is ascribed to Lles ab Coel, or Lucius, about the middle of the second century. This opinion, no doubt, forms a part of the popular fiction respecting the conversion of the whole island through the influence of the above personage. As we cannot give credence to such a wild theory in general, so we neither can in particular admit that the seminary in question was established by him. Lucius was only a regulus exercising a limited authority, in Siluria, which comprises a part of the present South Wales; and as Bangor was without his dominions, we have no reason whatever to suppose that he took any part in the foundation thereof. The last opinion, and probably the correct one, is, that it was founded by Dunawd, in the sixth century, assisted by his sons Deiniol, Cynwyl, and Gwarthan. This circumstance might have imparted to it the name of Bangor Dunawd, which it frequently bears. The institution was endowed with lands by Cyngen ab Cadell, the Prince of Powys, who had received Dunawd under his protection, when fortune frowned upon him, as shall be shewn hereafter. As the endowment must have been considerable to provide for the numerous members of the establishment, so must likewise the range of buildings, which cannot however at this remote period be exactly ascertained. William of Malmsbury, who lived in the reign of Stephen, says, that so many demolished churches and other ruins could hardly be found any where as were here seen in his days.* Even now there are traces of extensive buildings observable; amongst which are those of two gates, respectively called Porth Clois, and Porth Wogan, which are a mile distant from each other, and intervened by the river Dee. The number of monks at this monastery amounted to two thousand four hundred, who were divided into twenty-four classes of one hundred each, under their respective rectors or superintendents. Each class spent an hour daily in devotional exercises, which was done in regular rotation, so that the whole twenty-four hours were employed in acts of devotion, or divine worship, by one part or other of the community. This method of conducting divine worship was not the effect of caprice, or such contingencies as gave rise to the nocturns in other churches, but was the development of a scriptural principle; "And they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.' The service was always choral, as it was indeed in all those places that went under the name of Cor or Bangor. The rest of the time of each class was regularly spent between sleep, literary pursuits, and agricultural, manual, or mechanical labour. Neither did they forget the poor and helpless. If it be true that Pelagius received his education within the walls of this college, his classical attainments would tell favourably of the course of instruction pursued therein. But if we allow Pelagius to have been a member, we must also affix an earlier date to its foundation than the last mentioned, for Pelagius lived about a century before Dunawd. Over the whole establishment an abbot presided, who saw that every thing was properly and regularly performed. He seems also to have exercised chor-episcopal authority over the members of his college, subject, nevertheless, to his diocesan. A striking and peculiar feature in the early British monasteries was nonenforcement of celibacy upon the inmates. This should have been particularised as an exception by a learned prelate when he said, "It is a thing universally known, that one of the primary and most essential laws and constitutions of all monks, whether solitary or associated, whether living in deserts or in convents, is the profession of single life, to abstain from marriage themselves, and to discourage it all they can in others." (Bishop Newton on • Camden. the Prophecies, chap. 23.) It is to be remarked that almost all those persons designated in British annals by the name of saints belonged to the order of monks, and curiously corroborative of their aversion to that badge of apostacy is the fact, that almost the only notices we have of them have been transmitted under the title of "The Genealogy of the Saints." We scarcely nced add that family or hereditary saintship constitutes the most prominent feature of this document. Dunawd, abbot of this monastery, was himself a married man, and his wife, Dwywe, is ranked with the saints. As there were no nunneries connected with the primitive Church of Great Britain, we infer that the female saints dwelt within the same walls, under the protection and in the society of their husbands, brothers, or other relatives or friends, to whom, as well as to the community in general, they ministered, apart from their devotional studies, in those domestic duties which are the peculiar province of a woman. (To be continued.) THE FALLING STATE OF DISSENTERS, AND THE GLORIOUS THERE is one broad and important view to be taken of dissent and dissenters, which ought to be deeply impressed upon the minds of all Christians, as well calculated on the one hand to deter them from the slippery and downhill paths of heresy and schism, and on the other hand to fill them with gratitude for the great and blessed privileges which they enjoy in communion with the Church of Christ. Those at all acquainted with the rise and progress of the numerous sects which swarm in the land, cannot but have observed that compared with the belief and sentiments of their respective "fathers and founders," they have one and all been gradually and perceptibly "waxing worse and worse " (2 Tim. iii. 13), and going further and further downwards through the streams of schism and heresy into the gulf of Socinianism, through which they too often pass into the dead sea of infidelity. To shew this more distinctly we will just take a brief sketch of the principal and oldest of the sects whose histories are before us, and fresh in the minds of men. The "three denominations" shall first have our attention; and of these the Presbyterian sect stands foremost. These Presbyterians as they now wish sometimes to be called, and at other times Unitarians, were formerly called nonconformists; because on passing the Act of Uniformity, shortly after the dissenting rebellion, they refused to conform to the Church; and built for themselves a number of conventicles, or meeting-houses, in various parts of the country. Most of these meeting-houses are still in existence, and many of them have been endowed with a regular income for the teachers who become the stated ministers. Those who built them differed comparatively very little indeed from the Church; and many of them sometimes attended the services of the Church, and received the Sacraments at the hands of the real ministers of Christ, and were consequently styled "occasional conformists." They were all, however, sound in their belief of the great doctrine of the Trinity, and of every other doctrine of the Gospel; and only differed with the Church about the use of the surplice, and the cross in baptism, and two or three things of that kind, considered even by themselves to be matters of indifference. But as dissent is sin, and cannot therefore have the blessing of God, these nonconformists kept departing further and further from the Church and the Gospel of Christ until they imbibed the Sabellian and Arian heresies; and at last became, as they have now long been, Socinian blasphemers of the Son of God. And it is a deplorable fact, sufficient to frighten every considerate Christian from even the appearance of dissent, that out of about two hundred and fifty-three meeting-houses, in which a purer faith was once preached, two hundred and thirty-five, or thereabouts, have become pest-houses of the awful heresy of Socinus. So that there is now not one out a dozen of these congregations that holds the truth. Is not this a lamentable but a strong proof that the blessing of God does not accompany dissent? And ought it not to make us cling so much the closer to "the Church of the living God which is the pillar and ground of the truth." Another of "the three denominations" is the sect of Anabaptists, who were a portion of the old nonconformists, but who differed from the Church on the article of baptism much more widely than their brethren; from whom also they differed on the same subject. And though this sect have not degenerated from the faith of their forefathers to such an extent as the Presbyterians, they still have greatly degenerated; for there are almost all degrees and shades of heresy and schism amongst them; and whole congregations have sunk into the quagmire of the Socinian heresy. Consequently this sect also furnishes abundant cause of thankfulness to the Churchman that he has been preserved within the Church of Christ, and from being tossed to and fro by the various and conflicting winds of dissent. The remaining one of " the three denominations" is the sect of the Brownists, or Congregational Independents, who owe their origin to the "immoral and infamous Robert Brown." Of this sect the Anabaptists are a branch, as they also are Congregational Independents, and have the same heresiarch to their "father and founder." These Congregational Independents, generally called Independents, or as they were originally and would more properly be designated Brownists, are more numerous than both the Presbyterians and Anabaptists put together; and they are as a body much more influential in point of worldly respectability and intelligence than any other sect in the country; except perhaps the Socinians, who comprise a number of wealthy and clever men, who are however extremely ignorant on religious subjects, and like that religion best which allows them to live without much restraint in the indulgence of their worldly ambitions and carnal propensities. The Independents, or Brownists, are also very hot, violent, and dangerous, as it regards their politics, which are decidedly republican and revolutionary. Their "churches" as they miscal them, and their congregations, whatever appearance they may wear in the estimation of some who know little of them, are religio-political clubs-banded together by religious ties, but using their united powers and influence in violent opposition to the constitution, and the best interests of the people of England. In reference to the Church and Monarchy and Constitution of the country, they hold and avow the same abominable principles by which two hundred years ago they trampled our ancient constitution under their feet, and murdered the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and thousands upon thousands of the ministers of Christ and the people of the land; and erected over the heads and consciences of free-born Englishmen a despotism and a tyranny which thrust the iron into the very souls of the people, and galled them to the quick. The quotations which we gave in our November Number, from their principal organ the Evangelical Magazine, and from other sources, shew clearly enough what manner of spirit they are now of; and that if they only had the power they would persecute the Church of Christ and the ministers of the Gospel as cruelly and as unrelentingly as ever. The duty of every Christian therefore to oppose to his utmost the movements of this dangerous sect, is very obvious, and ought to be unflinchingly performed. In religious matters this sect has greatly degenerated from what it was, or pretended to be, a hundred years ago, and especially within the last twenty years. Many of their principal teachers are becoming mere rationalists, and |