powers of human society, it became assimilated with the things that lay around it, and thus afforded those strange exhibitions which well-nigh bewildered the world when the curtain rose in modern times.

How, or at what period this continent first received its inhabitants, we cannot conjecture. At one time, indeed, it was considered a heresy to believe that it was inhabited at all. Aye, more than this; for the doctrine of the earth's rotundity, though in the day of Augustine a matter of scientific demonstration, was looked upon as a dangerous heresy, worthy of the severest censure of the Church. Said the great and noble Bishop of Hippo:

"But they do not see that even if the world were round, it would not follow that the part (directly opposite) is not covered with water. Besides, supposing it not to be so, what necessity is there that it should be inhabited, since the Scriptures, in the first place, the fulfilled prophecies of which attest the truth thereof for the past, cannot be suspected of telling tales; and in the second place, it is really too absurd to say that men could ever cross such an immense Ocean, to plant in those parts a sprig of the family of the first man." (City of God, xvi. 9.)

Yet, however absurd the passage of this ocean may have appeared, it is highly probable that at the very time he wrote, the Chinese navigator, with the mysterious compass in his hand,1 which afterwards became known to Europe, had already crossed the watery waste, and established commercial connections with the great continent that now bears the name of America; while no sooner had the discoveries of Columbus been made known, than European ecclesiastics of all grades hastened to forget the "heresy " of a "round world," by vying with one another in their zeal to send the light of Divine Truth to whoever might " dwell therein.” This was the only satisfaction they could render for a long course of obstinate opposition to truth, the only amends they could make for following the unfortunate example given by such great men as Augustine, when, with a blind zeal against what in their opinion was science falsely so-called, they departed from the sphere of theology, and spoke as children rather than as Fathers, and in aiming blows at human progress, always missed their aim and came to the ground. It will be happy for us if we do not follow in the 1 Santarem renders this highly probable, but it is to be hoped that the archives of China may ere long be searched more carefully with reference to early navigation.

2 We hear much in our day of the persecution of Science in the person of Galileo, yet

same course.

Instead, therefore, of putting ourselves out of sympathy with science, let us seek to use and control it. But we must

return.

We find that when the ecclesiastics of Europe were at last fully assured of the existence of the new continent, and had crossed the sea in order to spread the faith among the inhabitants, a fresh surprise awaited them. Before their wondering eyes appeared on every hand doctrines, and symbols, and practices, which led them to believe that teachers of Christianity had already anticipated their arrival, and successfully made known the leading facts revealed in the Word of God. Christianity appeared to be conveyed in every rite and ceremony; the doctrine of Atonement seemed to be taught at every altar, while the sacred brass blazed forth on dwelling, temple, and tomb. Whence, therefore, was the anxious inquiry, came these things? The natives could not always tell, though clearly defined traditions related how, in former times, a venerable palefaced man came travelling from the North, and made known a strange ritual and a new faith. And early Spanish historians tell us that this faith was the same which was once delivered to the Saints, and seek to identify the Just zalcohuatl of the Mexi cans with the Apostle St. Thomas. Boturini speaks of the discovof some ancient crosses in America, one of which had been found by himself. He says:

ery

"I likewise possess some historical notices concerning the preaching of the Gospel in America by the glorious Apostle St. Thomas. They are contained in thirty-four sheets of Chinese paper, and I suppose assisted Don Carlos de Liguenza y Gongord, in the composition of his work on the same subject, which he entitled the Phoenix of the West,' which I have never been able to procure, as it never was printed." He

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says that he possessed a painting on linen, of another most holy cross of wood, which was drawn (by means of a machine made on purpose) out of an inaccessible cave of Mixteca Baxa, and which is at present venerated in the conventual church of Tonala, belonging to the Fathers of St. Dominic. This had been deposited in the cave since pagan times, and was discovered by the music of angels being heard in said cave on every vigil of the glorious Apostle. The above-mentioned preaching is so clearly indicated in the histories of the Indians, that it is even recorded in the paintings the Chontales, amongst whom a most miraculous cross was discovered, comparatively few ever remember how Columbus was hampered and delayed in his great work by theological scruples implanted within him by the teachings of narrow and ignorant priests.

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besides other crosses which the Spaniards found in the island of Potonchan, and in the city of Texcalam, to which the Indians offered adoration.” And again: "Many traces of the holy feet of the said Apostle have remained in different places of New Spain; and besides this, the abovementioned histories all declare that a white man preached among them a holy law, and the fast of forty days."

"Peter Martyr likewise says that when the Spaniards entered Yucatan, 'they saw crosses: and being demanded by Interpreters whence they hadde them, some say, that a certain man of excellent beauty, passinge by that coast, left them that valuable token to remember him. Other report a certane manne brighter than the sunne, dyed in the workinge therof. But concerninge the truth, there is no certainety knowne." (Dec. iv. c. 1.)

Various suggestions have been made, from time to time, to explain the existence of these resemblances to Christian faith and ritual, yet not always with large success. Lord Kingsborough wrote his magnificent work on Mexican Antiquities, to demonstrate that the rites observed, and the opinions held among the singular Central American tribes, were vestiges of the Jewish faith, brought thither at an early period by Abraham's sons. This effort, however able and learned, does not powerfully force conviction; while such explanations in regard to the origin of the cross, as have been offered in connection with its appearance in Peru, where it is said to have been suggested by the constellation of the cross hung in the sky, are flimsy in the extreme. No symbol, perhaps, has had a wider distribution over various ages and countries than that of the cross, and wherever it appears its existence demands a rational explanation. Yet it is not too much to say that its early use on this continent has never been satisfactorily accounted for, while much less have we the explanation of its origin. The Spanish missionaries were at best poor judges of the question. Impelled by a zeal that far outran their knowledge, they went on forming opinions and making deductions, with little regard to reason and sober sense. Yet it is not strange, that in the presence of such striking facts they should have given loose rein to the imagination, until at last it was an easy task to find the very spot upon which the Apostle Thomas stood when declaring the faith in Peru, while they esteemed it a privilege to lay a finger in the depression of the stone worn by his weary feet.

And even though we treat this subject as we may, there will

still remain facts that we cannot explain, and which open a broad field for conjecture, bringing us face to face again with the question of the peopling of America.

Here, therefore, we may pause to inquire into the ground of the opinion held by some, that Christianity was first introduced into America by the Irish. That the Irish were active on the Western Ocean long before any other people, we have most abundant proof. They even anticipated the Northmen in Iceland, and long before the worshippers of Odin reached that ice-bound isle, the pious Culdee had there found a home in which to be alone with God. Yet it cannot be demonstrated that they ever reached the Continent of America, much less that they settled in the Carolinas or Florida. That such a place as Ireland the Great, or "Whiteman's Land," really existed during, and possibly before the tenth century, can hardly be doubted. Humboldt tells us (see "Examen Critique"), that the Arabian Geographer mentions it, while we acquire no inconsiderable information about this place in the Icelandic chronicles of the North. We find that in the year 928, according to the "Landanama-Bok," the Icelander, Are Märson, "was driven by a storm to White-man's Land, which some call Ireland the Great, lying in the Western Ocean, opposite Vinland, six days' sail west of Ireland. Are," it is said, "was not allowed to go away, and was baptized there."

We next hear of White-man's Land in the Gyrbygyid Saga, where it is related that one Biorn Asbrandson, in the year 999, left Iceland and sailed southward, without being heard of for a long time, until one Gudleif, by stress of weather, was also driven in his ship into the Southern Ocean, and forced to take refuge in the harbor of an unknown land. Here they found a people whose language resembled the Irish, and saw Gudleif, the lost mariner, who addressed them in their native tongue, and the next season sent them home with valuable presents.1

Upon these facts, Prof. Rofu has constructed the theory of an Irish Christian community in the Southern States. His efforts, however, savored too much of haste and zeal.

In the first place, the Saga says that this White-man's Land lay six days' sail west of Ireland, which, of course, could not reach to the Carolinas or Florida. Again, it is said that this place was

1 The narrative of these transactions may be found in the original, and in Rofu's Antiquitates Americanæ.

opposite Vinland, which antiquarians are unanimous in making identical with Massachusetts and Rhode Island. And as regards the baptism, it is not said by whom it was performed, whether by the people of the place, or by some Christian man who may have been in Märson's company.

Rofu cites a Shawanese tradition, to the effect that their ancestors, who at one time lived in Florida, came from over the sea. Rofu, to carry his point, would have us believe that the Shawanese were the descendants of Christian Irish who dwelt there. He forgets, however, to tell us why these alleged descendants of Christian Irish had not even the faintest Christian tradition, but were bitterly opposed to the faith. We therefore have here a flimsy foundation upon which to elevate a Christian community established on the American coast. Where this White-man's Land actually was, we cannot say, but Schöning, a very competent authority, inclines to the belief that it was at the Azores; yet, wherever it may have been situated, the people appear to have had horses,1 which were unknown in America until introduced by the Spaniards.

It is possible that the Icelandic accounts of White-man's Land furnish the foundation of the story told in Broughton's “Monastikon Britannicum," (pp. 131-2, 128-8), of St. Patrick sending missionaries to the "Isles of America," though, of course, "America" is a post-Columbian word.

But whichever way we turn, obstacles stand in the path of inquiry; and it is not until near the beginning of the eleventh century of the Christian era, that we find any solid ground upon which to base a history. And, then, we must abandon the vague accounts of White-man's Land and the Irish. We must leave the sunny plains of Mexico and the rainless skies of Peru, and look again to those imperishable monuments of literary genius furnished the Icelandic historian, in which, at a later day, we find a basis of solid truth, and which afford indubitable evidence that the American continent was consecrated to the Christian faith in the ages long preceding the period of Columbus.

So great has been the change of sentiment wrought by historical study during the last twenty-five years, that it is no longer necessary to enter a serious argument in proof of the voyages and

1 When Gudleif saw Biorn Asbrandson in White-man's Land, he appeared riding towards him surrounded by a numerous retinue. The Icelandic word used to describe the action, is that used in the case of a man riding horseback.