Chapter XL: Section 3: The Church of Scotland

The CHURCH OF SCOTLAND may, perhaps, like the Church of England, trace its foundation to the labours {76} of St. Paul, and seems to be included in Tertullian's mention of the far-off limits to which Christianity had reached in his days. [Sidenote: St. Ninian the first authenticated missionary in Scotland.] Little is, however, known of very early Church history in Scotland until the beginning of the fifth century, when St. Ninian, who is said to have been the son of a British chief, preached to the Southern Picts, A.D. 412-A.D. 432. We have already seen that St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, was a Scotchman, and the fruits of the benefits thus conferred on the one country were reaped by the other in the next century, when St. Columba went from Ireland and founded the celebrated monastery of Iona in one of the isles of the Hebrides. [Sidenote: Intercourse between Irish and Scotch Churches.] Iona, like the Irish monasteries of the same period, sent out many missionaries, and the monks of the two countries appear to have kept up friendly communications with each other.