The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-07-04

the heights Where Ia Old eAAtle still ~
mains. A dcssn battle fslds are In sight
Wallace, and BEuee, And james, Ant
Mary, and Knox, and = bost Of othsEs
Ehpls names are famous Tie world over
Onos moved amid tbsSe- soenss, and th'
zane L trns Il EainboFe'. This PsoPli
have, mads for themselves ; bistoFI
Ehieh tie human rAcs cannot Afford Il
forget, snd which Il vii no. safer to Pasl
into ohliTiop.
LuERATtEE
And the literary assoeiStions Of ihii
land are renarkable: Rdihbor0 b Olten
pIGyiully called tie ModSru Athens. Thil
z partly because Of The Gttsupt 70 imiIGil
The Aefopolis on Calton Hin, By certain
work. Of art. But L we'll nigh deserves
the name on account Of IL literary cul'
tara. Il b said that the test Of Gn Edin'
boro. Gudienes OF Of Edinb0ro readers /,
much NOSE severe than any which 4 uH'
dergone In LOBdon. Whether this b true
or not, The ancient capitAf0t the country
has rejoioed In \ gllGEy Of authors such
as would adorH the history Of any city
And al over the land We meet with tbs
hAunls Of those who have distinguished
themselves in this sphere! No man can
visit Scotland to proper advantage unleaI
he l. well acquainted with modern Eng
lish Literature.
RELIdIoX.
To attempt 10 mention the peculiarities
Of this country and not 70 speak Of the
type Of religion that obtains, and the large
place il flls In the ifIirs Of the people,
would b an objectionable overnight, In
no other country in Europe was the work
Of The Reformation 30 complete aa il was
here. Scarcely even 4 Cathed remains.
That at Glasgow Is the oniJ one which
has any reputation. II may be that In
some cases the religious opinions and
practices Of the people were carried 70 an
extreme Of rigidity. Bot il so, il would
not Be strange. Here The blood Of mar.
'tys Tor the simple faith Of the Scriptures
once flowed freely. 0ne'oi the most sa-
cred spots on earth Is the graveyard con.
hected With the Old Gray Friars Church
Id Edinboro'. On one Of the fat tomb.
stones "the Covenant" was signed by null
tiludes, some Of whom drew. the
blood from their. own, veins, and
then used Il as Ink with which 70
write 1eir names. In the same
graveyard hundreds were imprisoned
during the persecuiipg times which have
rendered tie name pt Ciayerhouse per-
petaRlly infamous. One needs TO stand
BY the graves Of these martyrs before. he
hastily chides the Scotch for an excess Of
Iigidity, II was in the school Of suffering
that they learned 70 profoundly to love
the Sabbath, the Bible, the Kirk, and the
family altar. And dare 10 affirm that
70 their type Of religion Ia largely due the
solid worth which marks ths Scotch
character, and which has enabled them to
make for themselves and their land 50
exalted place among the people. Of
the world. I have seldom known
i genuine Scotchman or Scotch
Irishman, who did not hate all
Shams and cant with something Of the
hatred which Thomas Carlyle manifests
for them. Ihaye seldom known one who
was not a straight forward man. Some
times they are in the. wrong, a. are
other people, and then Of all men they
are the hardest to set right. But as a
rule they have no superiors as citizens
and members OF society in any Of its
forms. And 10 their religious views
they are largely indebted for their type
Of character,
PREzEHT RELIdIoUs FAITH.
Does religion retain its ancient hold
upon the people?. From what saw, j
would say it does. The great preachers
Of a generation fast disappearing are all
gone. There is no Chalmers now, and
there is no Guthrie. On Sabbath in Ed
inboro'I was astoniShed At myself because
I'scarcely knew where / had better attend
church. And this was in Edinboro', the
PresbyteriAuJerusale Of modern times.
But / went. And saw the plainest Of
churches. Within they are barely com.
Portable. They, sang the old yerSion"ot
the Psalms both in the Established and
the Free churches. There was no ritual
Of any kind. There was no musical In
strument. The precentor, or the pre-
centor and the choir, led the singing.
But such congregations Men, women
and children were there. One gallery
rose above another, and ran around three
sides Of the house, and all were filed.
And / heard preaching, too, which wa!
worthy OF the city Of Chalmers and
Guthrie. aye, Of Knox himself. Sim.
pie and Scriptural, popular and
fearless, it commanded the most
complete attention. There was no at
tempt to- say smooth things to the
rich or the poor, the gentleman or the
servant, each was told what was for his
own comfort or for his own admonition.
/ think that one Of the grandest dis
courses to which l Iever listened was de-
liyered, on Sabbath evening by Rev. Alex
ander Whytc, in the Assembly Hall OF the
Free church., The room was packed,
iammed to the doors, chiefly with the
humber class Of people. There were
several thousand pooplei and the only
variation from the service usually held
in the churches was the introduction Of
one Of Mr.. Sankey's hymns, which, by the
by, are very popular in Scotland, al
though not usually employed In the Sab
bath services. For.Rn hour or more that
mass Of people were moved by the simple
hut eloquent presentation OF truths which
are a. old as human siniulness and the
gospel Of Christ. And that Is the kind Of
food. out Of which Scotch character is
formed. 1t tisnot the race of people, and
il is not the free Air OF the mountains, 90
much as Il Is their religious faith which
makes this people what they Rre. May
they never deterfurate |
But this after all is no paradise. Walk
from the Castle In Edinboro' through
canongate and CoEgate by the houses Of
John Knox and Allan Ramsay, and on by
the old Tolbooth TO Holyroad aroute over
which royal professions have often pass
ed and along which the most dis.
tinguished people Of the land once
lived, and in the old houses you may
witness scenes which make the
heart sick. Here dwell the lapsed
masses, "A preacher, TO whom l listened
and With whom / was greatly pleased,
said that there were in Edinboro' two
evils which were above all elae running
the bodies Of many Of the people, not 70
speak Of their souls. One Of these Is bad