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---------POETRY.

MYFYRDOD A Yts MA \*i YSGOL.i

ERYRON.

[No title]

F, ol- ihe ivoi-th tvales…

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F, ol- ihe ivoi-th tvales Gazette. NUMBER III. THE Author of the 1 otlectanea Cambrica has selected many passages trom Gildas, in which he fancies be has discovered a marked attempt to advance the papal power, but which, upou enquiry will be found to have nusllch tenden cv. The first III the author's series of irrefra- gable arguments is the term, » venerabilis mater Ecclesia, which occurs 111 Gildas. which is undoubtedly as applicable to the British as to tiie Roman Church. In his opinion, howe- ver, none, but a professed Koiuanist would have used it; such a shadow of an argument needs no refutation. The next expression which is produced, as demonstrating- a design of establishlog popery, is that of recommend- ing a person -who is slyied, it Prmceptorem pene talius Brilannios elegantem magistrum." This person is supposed by the author to he St. Auslin, in which supposition there is what he calls-a small anachronism-small certainly ttheu compared wilh those of the Brut, Is it probable that the author of this supposed forgery could have conducted it so artfully, and yet he guilty of so gross an error as to recommend a person who came over to Britain many years after the death of Gildas ? The person alluded to by Gildas is, in all probabi liiv, liis own Preceptor flitilkis, wli,se ac-,ide my, it appears trom Leland, was attended by the most distinguished characters of lhat a^e or it might be Cadocus, who was living in thp time of Gildus, and established the monastery "t Llaucarvan, a person highly respected,and the preceptor of illulns. At all events, it t-,iiiiiot I)c Atistiii who I. alitided*lo, .,vii(i w-,iq posterior to Gildas The next irrefragable •argument is, that the British Clergy are ac Cii'-efi of usurping <he chair of St Peler dan r'etri iposl ili usurpantes" i e. ac < ording lo the author s translation, they con sHli'rt'd IL"ir OWl! mc!ropoli!all :'IS their head. a;id would not acknowledge ihe Pope." The context will admit of nosuch interpretation. Peter is here contrasted »ilh Judas, and Ihe British Clergy accused of tollowill lhe exam pie of the latter, under a pretence of obeying that of the former. Sedan Petri immundis pedtbus ussirpantes, sed merilu cujndilalis in Judas tradiloris peslilenfem cathedram deci denies." Mow peculiarly applicable Ihi* was, will appear from Hie lenor of the Epistle, in which he accuses thjm of excessive avarice of which Judas is one of the most awlul in stances in holy writ. A similar mode of ex p'-ession occurs respecting St. Paul. Si huuc apos'oli retmetis in omnibus affectum, ejus quoque cuthedrce legitime nisidere noseatis." I f lhe Papal cnair be the one allndod to in the first instance, it must be the same in the other. A few other passages are introduced, in which St, Peter is mentioned, bu! without lhe lenst reference to the Church of Rome. The exam pie of St. Paul is more frequenl ly insisted upon by Gildas than that of the apostles; all of whom are introduced in this Epistle, with 110 other intent than thai of impressing upon the Clergy the nercssih of reforming their lives, and confirming to the precepls of the Gospel There is nothing said ibroughoiit the whole of it respecting the Bishops ot HOine, or any jurisdiction in ecclesiastial affairs. In IIw hist extract from Gildas occurs the word schism. upon which the author dwells as affordi ng a complete proof of his hypothesis: which howe ver is a most convincing proot of his own pre cipilaucy. Gildas exculpates the Clergy from the charge of schism. The auMior maintains lhat there was no schism in the British Church at that time, Peiagianism having becíI sup- pressed. and, consequently, that the schism here alluded to, was a repugnance to lhe church of Rome. Tins is a complee tinstance of in consistency,' for according to such a sun- position, the British Clergy who are expressly I said to be free from this charge, must have acknowledged the Pope's supremacy, in the time of Gildas. The Pelagian Heresy mosi undoubtedly is that alluded to, which had been suppressed in the early par! of his life Such untenableconjeclucesare the irrefragable arguments by which the author endeavours ] to undermine the auihority of Gildas, So far from proving lhe general tenor of the hislory or Epistle to favour the interests of liie See of lie has not been able to produce a single pass'ige without perverting Ihe sense, in which there appears the most far-fe:ched allusion to the Church of Rome, the Pope bis succcssors or decrees. The sense, it milst be confessed, is not always clear, and the al- lusions frequenl ly unintelligible but to attri hute the whole composition to motives of an unprincipled imposition, nothing can be more preposterous and inconsistent. Few probahly will deny, but that the copies of Gildas may be very incorrect, but no one, 1 am confident, will be persuaded by the author's arguments, if he ever peruses the works themselves, lo consider them as the production of a Roman Ecclesiastic, under the fictitious name of Gil- das, labouring to advance the Papal nower." The author's hypo) hesis depends solely upon his own bare assertions, and a vast deal of pains have been bestowed with a view of up- holding a favourite Theory. Bangor. J.

ICURIOUS PROPHECY.