Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-09-24
Nutes uu fureign gauds,
SKETCHES OF TRAVEL IN SCOTLAND.
BY REV. r. LATHAM.
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.

BY REV. r. LATHAM.
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
Theological writer's tell US that man is a
religious creature. This is admitted, but it
is certain, beyond all peradventure, that no
insignificant number of the human family,
even in nominally Christian lands, have
learned the art of concealing from mortal
eye, their religion. For several hundred
years the Scotch and the Protestant popula-
tion of Ireland have been regarded as the
most sensibly devout people on earth. 9th
ers have been regarded as making far great
er displays of their religion, but for thor
ough acquaintance with the doctrines of the
Bible, and for a holy reverence for God and
his worship, none are equal to the Scotch,
and the Protestant inhabitants of Ulster
Province, Ireland. The Scotch are more
like the ancient Jews, and Scotland more
like Palestine, than any people or any coun-
try on earth, in that the religion of the Bible
makes them all that they are. The ancient
Jews, when contemplated apart from the
religion of the Bible, were like Samson
shorn of his locks, common men, and Pales-
tine to-day is no longer land flowing with
milk and honey. 1t is the religion of the
Bible that makes the Scotch people what
they are and Scotland what it is. Since the
days of John Knox the Scotch have been an
intensely religious people. Their religion is
can community after what is called great
revival, but sober, sedate belief of the
truths of the Bible. Such being the case,
religion is the framework of everything in
Scotland. The desecration of the Sabbath
and the neglect Of family worship places a
man, in Scotland, beyond the pale of Chris
tian civilization.
The population of Edinburgh is about
two hundred and thirty thousand nearly
five times as large as the city of Charleston,
South Carolina. The seaport of Edinburgh
is Leith, on the south bank of the Firth of
Forth. The distance between the two cities
is only few miles. In other words, Edin-
burgh is removed from the Firth of Forth
only short distance, and Leith and Edin-
burgh are, practically, the same city. In the
churches and mission stations. Of these,
about three-fourths are Presbyterian, dis
tributed as follows: Established Church of
Scotland, sixty-five; Free Church of Scot
land, forty-nine United Presbyterian
Church of Scotland, twenty-eight, and Orig
inal Seceders, three. The remaining places
of worship are distributed as follows: Epis-
copal, twenty-five; Baptist, six; Congrega-
tional, six Evangelical Union, or Morrison
ians, four; Wesleyan Methodist, three
Baptized Believers, one Catholic, two, and
eleven are put down under the head of "va-
rious," in the Edinburgh City Register,
from which the above facts were copied.
Two of the Presbyterian Churches have a
history which is, to all who bear the name
Protestant, full of interest. These are St.
Giles Cathedral Church and Old Greyfriars
Church. The older of these is st. Giles 1t
Sc tnl Sln ln rc so-Io ~
This street runs nearly east and west, down
high ridge, extending from the Castle to
Holyrood Palace. This ridge is the slope of
Castle Hill, or of the hill on which the Cas-
tie is built. Old Greyfriars Church is near
ly south of st. Giles, and distant, suppose,
between quarter and half mile.
On the site on which st. Giles stands there
has been church for more than thousand
years, but the house has undergone SO many
changes and repairs that probably there is
not stone in the present building that was
in the first church. The name st. Giles
was given it in honor of half real and half
mythic individual of that name, who -four
ished, according to the legends Of the coun-
try, about the latter part of the fifth and the
beginning of the sixth century. He died,
according to the same authority, in the year
SAL. The reputation and influence of st.
land there were dedicated to him one hun
dred and forty-siX churches, and how many
in Scotland do not know. Tradition says
he was native of Athens, in Greece, and
that from his native land he migrated to the
south Of France, where, in the vicinity of
Mines, he took up his abode, dwelling in a
cave and spending his life in devotion. His
only companion was pet deer. One day
some hunters pursued, with their hounds,
this pet of st. Giles. The creature fled to
its master for protection. He grasped it in
his arms laying hisrght hand upon its back.
While the hand was in this position, hunt
er let fly an unerring arrow, which pierced
the hand Of the saint and master, and
wounded his pet deer. From this legenda-
ry fact, St. Giles is represented in old paint
ings, as an old man with long flowing
beard, human countenance seated upon a
rock and deer with it's fore feet on his
knees, and it's head reclining on its masters
bosom. The masters left hand is gently
laid on the neck of the deer, while his right
hand, with an arrow fastened in it, is lying
on the deer's back.
Perhaps that which makes st. Giles
Church specially interesting is the fact that
after the Reformation, John Knox was the
pastor of the congregation which worship
ed in it and the remains Of that wonderful
man were deposited in the cemetery which
once lay on the south side of the church.
No cemetery exists there now. The ground
has been devoted to other purposes, and the
spot where the body of John Knox is sup
posed to have been inferred, is marked by a
small dark stone, level with the ground, on
which are engraved the letters l. X. Near
by is the statue Of Charles the Second,
mounted on horseback, looking down upon
the grave of the RefOrmer,
can see no pr0priety in the Scotch erect
ing monument to Charles the Second. If
Charles the Second ever did anything bene-
fetal for Scotland, I confess / have, so far,
failed to discover it.
Prior to the Reformation, Scotland was
papal, suppose may safely say, in the eX-
treme. Papacy is only a baptized pagan
ism, always low and carnal, but sometimes
beastly so. Edinburgh was in the strong
hold of the superstition and idolatry of
Rome. st. Giles was the tutelar saint of the
city, and st. Giles Church the principal
place of superstitiouS deVOtiOnS.
At an early period-perhaps in the year
Christianity, in its Bible simplicity, was
introduced into Scotland, but by degrees it
became paganized to such an extent that it
had not even the Semblance of that religion
which the Son of God established on earth.
When the Reformation from the supersti-
tions of Rome began in Scotland no one can
say with certainty. 1t is common to date it
from the time of the martyr, Patrick Ham
ilton. This individual was put to death on
the 2Sth Of February, 1923. Martin Luther,
about eleven years before this had, in Ger
many, declared war against indulgences.
But the Reformation was not begun in Scot
land by Patrick Hamilton, neither was he
the first martyr in that country TOR the truth
as it is in Jesus Christ. More than a hun
dred years before Martin Luther nailed his
ninety-tive theses to the door of the Castle