images of the Deity, which by their nature have no need of it, we have established a third order of Gods on the earth in the statues and images of the gods, and the worship by which we honour them serves to render the gods themselves favourable to us. For just as they who revere and honour the statues of princes endeavour thereby to win their good-will and their favour, although this homage adds nothing to the happiness of the princes, so the worship paid to the images of the gods, who, by their nature, have no need of it, does not fail to procure for him who pays it the favour and protection of these same deities. It is the distinguishing mark of a truly religious soul to pay eagerly all the honour we can to the Deity. Although God wants nothing, it does not follow that for that reason, man ought not to offer him anything. For if He does not stand in need of the honour we pay Him by songs and hymns, does it follow that we ought to deprive Him of that also? Neither, therefore, ought we to refuse Him that which men pay to Him by the work of their hands, or abolish a worship which has been established, not only for three thousand years, but from the remotest antiquity, among all the nations of the world. "We are not so blind as to take the works of our hands for gods. Looking at the statues of the gods, therefore, we neither consider them as mere wood and stone, nor as being really gods. In fact we do not consider the statues of princes as mere pieces of wood, as mere masses of stone or of bronze, neither do we regard them as being our kings or our princes; but as being their effigies, their images. Whoever loves his prince, therefore, sees the representation of him with pleasure; the father who loves his son, and the son who loves his father, look with pleasure on whatever recalls their features to them. For the same reason, he who loves the gods contemplates their images and likenesses with pleasure, revering with religious awe the invisible gods whose eyes are fixed upon him. "These statues, made by men's hands, can be destroyed, but those which the gods have made as living images of their invisible substance, those celestial bodies which roll above our heads, are incorruptible and eternal images of the Deity. Nevertheless, not only the statues of the gods, but their temples, their altars, even their priests, deserve our respect." "There is no one," says Celsus, "so foolish and absurd as to believe that these things are really gods, and not the symbols which we adore in honour of the Deity." In Arnobius, the 1 Orig. Contra Cels., 1. vii. Pagan says to the Christian: "You deceive yourselves, for we do not believe that the brass, the gold, and the silver which compose the statues are God, but we serve God in them, and we venerate the gods as dwelling in them by means of consecration." 991 Maximus of Tyre speaks of "the God, the Father and Founder of all that exists, older than the sun, older than the heavens, greater than all time, than all ages, and than all the works of nature! No words can express, What are we to say no eye can see Him. The following passage from Plato's Republic (1. ii) also shows that the philosophers were far from admitting the possibility of the visible appearance of God. He says: "If God were to become metamorphosed, He would assume a more or less perfect form. Now it is ridiculous to say that He can assume a more perfect form, for in that case there would be something more perfect than God, which is absurd. It is impious to admit that He can change Himself into something less perfect, for God cannot degrade Himself; besides, He would appear in a form other than His own, He would lie, because He would appear to be that which He was not. We must, therefore, conclude that he remains in His own simple form, which is Beauty and Perfection.” 1 L. vi, p. 229, ex. edit. Frol. Lact. 1. ii. CHAPTER II. CYNAN GARWYN succeeded his brother Tyssiliaw as King of Powys. He gave land to St. Beuno at Meivod, where he built a church, which was dedicated to St. Tyssilio. Many of the Royal family of Powys were subsequently buried in this church. King Cyngen likewise gave land to St. Beuno at Gwyddelwern, where he built a church, which is placed under Beuno's invocation; and on his death-bed Cynan gave Beuno a sceptre of the value of sixty cows. This king had two sons-1, Selyff Sarff Cadau; and 2, Enghenel, who, although but young, commanded the British forces under his grandfather at the memorable battle of Chester in 612, when they were defeated by Ethelfrith, king of Northumberland. This prince founded the church of Llanenghenel in Môn in 620. King Cynan had also a daughter, named Avandred, who was married to Cadvan, king of Gwynydd. In 612 or 613, Cadvan was elected, in a congress of Welsh princes held at Caer Lleon (Chester) immediately after the defeat of Ethelfrith, to the paramount sovereignty of Britain. Cadvan died in 630, and was buried at Eglwys Ael, or Llangadwaladr, in Môn, which is not far from his chief residence at Caer Segont, Segontium, or Caer yn Ar Von. A monumental stone is still in existence, being now used as the lintel of the south door of the church of Llangadwaladr, which has the following inscription CATAMANUS REX SAPIENTISIMUS TISIMUS OMNIUM REGUM.1 1 Williams's Eminent Welshmen. OPINIA TRAWSGANU CYNAN GARWYN. CAN O WAITH TALIESIN. KYNAN cad gyffred Cant gorwydd cyfred In 625, a sanguinary battle was fought between the Britons, under the command of Prince Cadwallawn, son and heir of Cadvan, King of Britain, on one side, and the Saxons, under the command of Edwin, King of Northumberland, on the other, in which Cadwallawn was totally defeated. This was called the battle of Digoll, and is recorded in the Triads as one of the causes of" the three discolourings of the Havren or Severn". From an elegy written upon Cadwallawn by Llywarch Hên, that prince appears to have been encamped on Cefn Digoll for some time: 1 "Lluest Cadwallawn Glodrudd, The Camp of Cadwallawn the Illustrious, During seven months seven battles daily. In 632, however, Cadwallawn, who had succeeded his father, King Cadvan, in 630, totally defeated and slew Edwin, who was the first Christian King of Northumberland, at the battle of Hethfeld in Yorkshire. Edwin was succeeded by Osrick, who was slain in 634, when he was succeeded by Oswald, son of that Ethelfrith, King of Northumberland, who had massacred the monks of Bangor is y Coed. This Oswald, King of Northumberland, who was a Christian convert, attacked Penda, King of Mercia, but was defeated and slain by him, and his mangled body was exposed on three wooden crosses at a place called, in Welsh, Maes Nevawl, and in English, Hevenfeld, but now, in consequence of what happened to King Oswald, Oswald's tree or Oswestry. In the year 637 Oswald became King in Scotland, and upon him also Cadwallawn made war after the others, and drove them from the uttermost limits of the land as far as the wall which the Emperor Severus made between Britain and Scotland. And after that Penda went, and the most part of his army with him, to that spot to engage him. And while Penda was watching him in the plain called in Saxon Hevenfelt, and in Cymric the Heavenly Field, Oswald in the night set up there the Cross of the Lord, and besought his fellow-knights and companions to say : "Let us bend our knees, and pray to the living God Almighty to deliver us from the haughty host of the Britons, and from their accursed king Penda; for He knows that we are fighting rightfully for our nation." And thereupon all of them did as they were besought. And so when it became day they met their enemies, and because of the merit of their faith they gained the victory. And when this was made known to Cadwallawn, he was enraged, and gathered a great army and pursued |