Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-09-18

1S,
the Law and the other is pointing to the
name of God inscribed above.
The house in which John Knox lived
during the last years of his life is small
unpretentious three story dwelling but the
stories are all very low. In fact the first is
kind of cellar and the the third garret.
The second the one occupied by the family
is the only one containing rooms at all COM
Portable and all the rooms of this are small
with low ceilings-so low that a tall man
can scarcely stand erect in them. John
Knox was one of the few men who was not
born to die. The names John Huss, John
Knox and John Wesley are immortal, not
because they are engraved on granite slabs,
but because they are written in the hearts
who love God and who are sincerely at
tempting to worship him according to the
Scriptures. Near by the little old house in
which John Knox lived and died is St.
Giles Church, in which he preached. The
history of the Church first erected on the
site occupied by st. Giles is lost. The first
we'll authenticated record of its existence
dates no earlier than the year 1914 in the
reign of Alexander the Second. Tradition
fixes the date of its erection from the mid
die of the ninth century, when Edinburgh
was small village containing only a few
small dwellings with thatched roofs. st:
Giles the tutelary saint of the village, and
in whose honor the Church was named, is
said to have been born in Greece sometime
during the sixth century. This, even adj
mitting it to be fact, which is very i'm
probable, does not assist us in the least in
Hx,,,, 40 OF nf fb arnafinn nf tho (,hUrPh
From 1914 to the time of the Reformation
frequent mention is made of st. Giles
Church both in Scotch histories andin Scotch
parliamentary enactments. In 1853 the
original foundation was enlarged by char
ter granted by David the Second. In 1466
st. Giles had become a place of very great
importance. At this period there We're
within it's walls forty altars, and relic in
the shape of an arm bone of its tutelary
saint enclosed in silver case. st. Giles was
now regarded with intense. superstitious
reverence by the ignorant masses. James
the third, says good authority, provided
for it provost, sixteen prebendaries, Gu
rate, minister of the choir, four cholrlsts, a
sacristan and beadle.
At the Reformation, a complete change
took place in the arrangement OF the
church-what was only one church, was at
that time so divided as to afford four sepa-
rate places of worship. The section on the
east of the transept originally known as st.
Giles was when the change was made called
the High Church. 1t was in this that John
Knox preached. The remains of the old
pulpit in which he stood, and out of which
the people thought he would leap, is still to
be seen in the Antiquarian Museum on
Market Street. 1t was in this old pulpit
that Knox boldly denounced the marriage
| lof norn1axy Go Uinlant did hp
become that Melvil says, ''he has like to
ding the pulpit to blades and flee out of it,
In the same Museum, on the opposite side
of the door is preserved the pulpit in which
DR.. Thomas McCrie, the biographer of John
Knox, preached. These old relics are re-
markably alike.
In the High Church, James the Sixth o1
Scotland and First of England was accus'
toned to worship. His seat was in the
gallery. From this seat, the pedantic King
often took the liberty to reprove the officla.
ting clergyman when uttering some truth
unfriendly to his royal ears. On Sabbath
the 3rd of April, 1903, James Worshiped in
the High Church and took leave OF his
land. At this time he made some promise;
which he never fulfilled and which termi
mated in the complete overthrow of the race
of Stewarts.
st. Giles Church passed out of the hands
of the Presbyterians into the hands OF the
Prelatists in 1858. At that time Edingburgf
was erected into diocese by Charles |. St
Giles was made the Cathedral Church, ano
continued to be such until Cromwell chang
ed the order of things. At the time Of the
Restoration st. Giles was reinstated in it
episcopal dignity; this, however, it lost al
the time of the Revolution in 1888:
In the south end Of the transept OF the
old st. Giles Cathedral is what is now called
the Iron Church. 1t was in this that what
is usually called in Scotland the Second Re
formation, began. 1t had its rise in the
following way: On the 23rd day of July
1887, the Dean of Edinburgh attempted tC
read the Collect for the day. Among the
Worshipers was a woman by the name O
Jenny Geddes. No sooner had the Dear
commenced to read the Collect than the
blood of Jenny Geddes began to course free
ly in her veins, and she exclaimed in hel
native dialect, "Colic, said ye? the Del
collie the wame Of ye; wud ye say mass lr
my lug 2" With this utterance she hurled
the stool on which she sat at the Deans
head. This act of Jenny Geddes led to the
drawing up and signing of the National
Covenant on the 1st Of March, 1885,
The stool of Jenny Geddes is still preserv'
ed in the Antiquarian Museum. Its place
in the collections of that establishment is
on the wall just abovethe old pulpit of John
Knox. The only thing that renders this
Jenny Geddes stool worthy Of preservation
is it's history. In construction it is ssimple-
being nothing buta cross-legged stool OF the
smallest order and cOmmonest make.
R. LATHAM.