The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1871-09-06
For THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.
NOTES OF FOREIGN TRAVEL.


| HIGH DAY IN ST. GILES OF EDINBURGH.
Yesterday, August, was a high day ii
Edinburgh. The British Association is il
session, and has drawn hundreds of the lead
ing scientific men of England and the cont
nent to this northern capital; the Centenary
of Sir Walter Scott is on next Wednesday,
and multitudes are gathered beforehand fol
its celebration. So,tbecbuscheshavep putforth
their choicest preachers, aud the preachers
are prepared to do their worthiest. Glanc,
ing over Saturdays Scotsman, I seemed tc
be reading the religious column of the Nea
York Herald or the Baltimore Sun After
the usual orthodox announcements came the
following: "Sir Walter Scott-tbe Lessons
of his Life, by Rev. - Rev. w. A,
will deliver a lecture ON Lessons from the
Life, Times and Centenary of Scott "Sn
John Bowring will give lecture on the as
poets Of the Times in connection with Uni
tartan teaching" "Dr. W., will preach the
Gospel" &C., &c. Surely old Edinburgh is
getting sensational too 1t was also an
nounced that Rev John Card, D. D., would
preach at the High Church, St. Giles's Ca
thedral, in the morning, and l determined
60 hear him. DR.. Caird was brought promi-
nently before the public some years ago by
a sermon. which he preached in the presence
of the Queen. He is now Professor of Di-
vinity in Glasgow, and ranks as the very
first among all the ministers of the Estab-
lished or Free churches. l am told that he
is about to resign his Professorship, having
lately been presented to the richest living
in the Church of Scotland.
ST. Giles is in the High Street, in the old
part of Edinburgh; so that my route lay
along some of the most important thorough
fares of the City. was struck with the
quietness, the Sabbatic stiffness which pre-
vailed everywhere. All the stores were
shut; few vehicles were to be seen; even the
High Street had hidden some of its squalor
and filth, while groups of well-dressed fami-
lies, parr lren, were demurely
wen9 diFerent churches
W.
o.r
and d stOod of many cen
turies the 0ld 1oiUsoth-the Heart of
Midlothian stands St. Giles Cathedral
I gaze upon the building with awe, for around
it, more than any other structure in Scot
land, saving the Castle, revolves the history
of her neblest and basest life. The Church
and the State, the religious and the political
life of Scotland have always been intimately
blended together. Especially was this the
case in the eventful epoch of the Reforma-
non, and in those days when John Knox
Numbered from the pulpit of St. Giles, and
made Queen Mary culver with anger down
there in Holyrood; when she was like to
ding the pulpit in blads and flee out of it, p"
as he denounced the fierce hard headed, sell
FISH Scottish mobiles, and the other leaders of
The congregation for their disloyalty to the
Church of Christ, and in impassioned elo-
quenoe warned the people of their danger.
know that it is the habit now to decry
Knox, to stigmatize him as a narrow minded,
rascjble, gloomy fanatic I know that he
made the beautiful, i'll starred Mary Stuart
weep with baflad rage in her own Cabinet,
because he refuse ed to take back his bitter,
truthful words concerning her marriage with
Darnley. But woman tears and rawlings,
however beautiful or high-born she be-
cannot weigh down purity and truth, and
duty to God and man. Knox was states
man as well as preacher-more clear-sig ghted
and far-sighted than any of his cOntempora-
ries, with all the political acumen of Matt
land, aud with none of his double-dealing,
and standing with the good Regent Murray
alone among the public leaders of his gener-
alton in uuimpeachable integrity. One Of
the most striking facts in Froude's great
History is the justice he does to Knox's po-
Iiteal insight and loyalty to the best inter
ests of Scotland. There was poetry too in
some of KnOx's addresses and biting jest
On that same occasion when he made Mary
weep and was ordered from her presence, as
le passed in the Audience Chamber, gorge
ously-apparelled courters, male and female,
drew back from him in disdain and coldneSs
An, fair ladies, he said, chow pleasant
we're this life of yours, if it should ever
abide, aud then in the end we might pass to
heaven with this gear But 6e on that
knave-Death-that will come whether ye
will or no; and when he hath laid on the
arrest, then foul worms will be busy with
this flesh, be it never so fair and tender; and
the silly soul shall be so feeble, l fear, that
it can carry with it neither gold, garnishing,
pearl, nor precious stones -
KnoxS pulpit is preserved in the Antigua
riau Museum, with Jenny GeddeS' stool
which she hurled at the head of the Dean of
81. Giles, when on July 23d, 1857 he began
TO read the Liturgy in this church The
house III which Knox lived from 1559-1572,
and died, aged ST, still stands, a short dis
sauce below the church on the High Street
very old and dingy looking with curious