Alan Gray

“ The reforms wrought in Scotland in the fifteenth and subsequent centuries were altogether too revolutionary and iconoclastic. If the spiritually-minded of those days had only been guided by the example of Savonarola, who reformed without breaking the unity of the Body, things would have been altogether different in Scotland to-day. There is a large and growing school of thought in the Presbyterian Established Church of Scotland, that is longing, and praying, and working for a return to primitive ideals, and to that school I belong. ”

“ Our harvest vacation—it was my last before I went to Sandy Jamieson’s carpenter’s shop to learn my trade—stands out before me in bold relief.
Our mother had an uncle, William Leslie by name, who with his wife tenanted the old farmhouse of Braeside of Darvel. Uncle William, as my brother Ronald and I called him, was a splendid specimen of the Scottish tenant farmer of a past day. His sterling uprightness and more than average intelligence commanded the respect of all who knew him, while his genial nature and his great fund of old stories caused him to be beloved by us boys. ”

“ Angus uttered the authoritative fiat, every eye glistened and all sorts of glorious “ploys” loomed in anticipation.
We got our holidays in autumn that we might be free to lend a helping hand at home or in the harvest-field during the busy season. How different are things nowadays! The twentieth-century boy must on no account be subjected to any work during his holiday time; he needs not only to have all his vacation for rest and amusement—he even looks to have amusement provided for him. ”

“ Fire is a great cleanser. The conflagration which broke out here on Sunday cleared away all that belonged to the debased period, the age of Philistinism, but did no real harm to the solid and beautiful masonry of the ages of faith. ”

“ I honor you, my lad, for respecting the teaching of those who had a claim on your loyalty; but the time has come when you must make a decision according to the dictates of your own conscience, and no one whose opinion is worth anything will do anything but respect you for doing so. ”

“ When I was feeling in the “dumps” Jamie’s quaint drolleries would act like a charm, and restore my wonted cheerfulness. Often when he was out in his wheel-chair he would hear all sorts of humorous things, which he never failed to retail to me in his own inimitable way, not infrequently illustrating the same with a few deft strokes of his pencil. The simple villagers little thought that they were being analyzed, and all their weaknesses and peculiarities cartooned, mentally if not actually, by one of themselves.
“I had a visit frae auld Joseph Shand the day,” he{70} said to me on one occasion. ”

“ To imitate the people of the south seemed to him a giving up of the independence that Scotland had striven so hard to maintain. In our home I never dared to join in the discussion of my elders, but, when Mr. Lindsay and I were in his study one evening, I broached this subject and asked him to tell me how and when the “English Kirk” came to Scotland.
“Well, you see, Alan,” said he, “what you call the ‘English’ Church is not the English Church at all; the Episcopalians are really and truly the representatives of the Christians of long ago who first brought the gospel into this country. ”

“ V. Crossing the Rubicon I HAVE always looked upon the River Tweed as my Rubicon.
While life in the dear old home-land had for me much that was sweet and attractive, it had yet been a “cribb’d, cabin’d, confin’d” life; my idea of men and things had of necessity been mainly drawn from within the narrow limits of an old world, rural district; in matters of faith and practice my mind had come to be in a state of great unrest, bordering on revolt. ”

“ On the Sunday following I was delighted to hear the wheels of the invalid-chair passing up the nave of the church just before the commencement of evening service, and still more so to note the keen, intelligent eyes of my young friend looking up into my face as I stood in the pulpit. It is very hard sometimes to explain the cause of one’s confidence ”

“ No doubt there may be many imperfect characters among them, but the teaching of their Church, the use of their Prayer Book, their ordinances and Sacraments, all help to make them o’ ‘the gentle persuasion.’ Why, laddie, the very service ye heard the day is a proof o’ the perfect democracy of her system. It is the same burial service that she uses for the poorest of her people as for the most exalted in rank. So you see in the way Willie meant she’s not the kirk o’ ‘the gentle persuasion’. ”

“ I could see that he was impressed with the beauty of the architecture. There was the great east window, filled with stained glass, intersected with delicate stone tracery; below it the altar, surmounted by a stone reredos, with a series of bas-reliefs depicting scenes in our Lord’s ministry. On the super-altar stood a cross, flanked by two tall candlesticks. In the foreground of the picture was the chancel-arch, Norman with dogtooth ornaments, while between that and the Holy Table were the choir stalls with richly carved canopies, on either side of the central passage. ”

“ The bishops and clergy came actually to be held in contempt among the people, who really tried to be religious. Then came what we call the Protestant ‘Reformation.’ Things were so bad in Scotland that it seemed to the reformers of no use to try and purify the old system; they resolved to bring in a new order of things altogether; and so by an act of parliament passed in Edinburgh in 1560 they destroyed the old church and in its place put an entirely new church, invented by themselves, and established by themselves. ”

“ One evening during our visit the wind was whistling shrilly in the old wide chimneys, and we had all gathered around a blazing peat fire in the room which Uncle William used as his study and business room. ”

“ I could not believe that a man of his spotless integrity would hold to a religious body, with the majority of whom he seemed so entirely at variance, simply and solely because it gave him a comfortable living. ”

“ In a book I have here, by a great man called Tertullian, who lived in the fourth century, it is said that the Christian Church of the first days turned the gloom of the funeral into a triumph, and that between the death and the burial their religious exercises were expressive of peace and hope. They felt that death could not and did not separate them from the love of their heavenly Father or from the fellowship of the saints ”

“ The time has lang gane by, when oor folks were sae under the thraldom o’ priest and laird that they couldna ca’ their souls their ain. Nae man has a greater respect for the church and the minister than oor folks hae; but, whatever is presented to them maun appeal to their reason and common sense, or they’ll hae nane o’t. There’s nae a man in his congregation that canna tell him why he is an Episcopalian. He needna think he can drive his folk as he would a herd o’ stirks. ”

“ The young lad turned his head and respectfully saluted me, blushing as he did (and it was only when the blood mantled into his cheeks that one thought of him as a boy) ; his mother dropped a courtesy, with a grace that told its own tale, and replied:
“I am Mrs. Morton, sir, and this is my eldest son, Jamie. He is not very strong, but he dearly loves, when it is at all possible, to get out of doors, and do a little sketching.”
Her accent was distinctly Scotch, but I could easily perceive that she was a woman of education and refinement ”

“ The ‘Auld Licht’ notion of a church as plain as a barn, without any pretentions to architectural beauty, must be right. We must not think of these things at all. God can surely be, perhaps better, worshipped in a plain barn than in a magnificent cathedral.” Willie was by no means an unreasonable man, but his attachment to the Seceder{17} Kirk, of which he was an elder, kept him from giving vent to his own personal impressions in this regard. ”

“ Many an earnest discussion did these four worthies have in the dear old parsonage at the quarterly meetings of the vestry. Seldom was there anything of the nature of friction, although sometimes I had to exercise some tact to keep the provost and Andrew Blair from misunderstanding the somewhat novel ideas put forth by the laird.
When I proposed a weekly celebration of the Holy Communion at an early hour, Mr. Stewart warmly supported me. Adam Skene, who was always willing to be led by those better educated than himself, raised no objection. ”

“ He was a hard, severe man, was The Reverend Archibald Angus. A Presbyterian of the old school, he had no sympathy with the natural love of a boy for all that was legendary and romantic, and could not brook the idea of any pupil of his daring to read such{14} unhallowed literature, as he believed all novels to be. A strict disciplinarian, he demanded the most abject submission to his authority, and had no mercy for anyone who dared to thwart his will. Theologically and socially he was narrow and crabbed, and his system of teaching, if system it could be called, was tyrannical in the extreme. ”

“ Around the base of the great rock on which stands the old fortress of the Scottish kings, and within a very short distance of their ancient palace, there are vast tenements in which thousands of the poor, and miserable, and sinful, are huddled together, seemingly regardless of decency and cleanliness and comfort.
To one of these districts I, Alan Gray, came to work as a lay reader, previous to my ordination. The clergyman of the church to which I was attached was in many respects a man worthy of esteem and regard. ”

“ But, there wis ae day nae long ago I heard auld Willie Scott the mason—and ye ken he’s great on religious matters—say to a man in Jamie Reith’s smiddy that there wis only a tissue paper wall between the English Kirk and Roman Catholics. He said that their white gowns, an’ organs, an’ chantin’ an’ hymns, were a’ relics of popery. It wis jist a kirk for the ‘gentle persuasion,’ he said; they dinna want ony poor folk there.”
“Dinna ye heed ony o’ auld Willie’s havers; he’s only a poor narrow-minded body, an’ disna think anybody will be saved except the ‘Auld light’ folk. ”

“ Morton?” I said.
“No, sir, I am sorry to say, we have not been able to arrange for that as yet. My husband died three years ago, and I’ve been so much taken up with providing a home for my little flock, that lessons have been out of the question. My boy has been unable to move about like other bairns, which has not lessened the difficulty. But he’s a very sensible lad, Mr. Gray; he knows that it’s God’s will he should be as he is, and he’s quite content. Some day, no doubt, all will be light.” ”

“ The religion of the “Gentle Persuasion,”—that took a real and living interest in their everyday lives, that aimed at making their lives brighter and happier, that laid no ban on innocent and rational pleasures, that took even their recreations under its fostering care—appealed strongly to their common sense ”

“ Again he relapsed into the Doric. “There’s aye been a faithfu’ remnant in auld Scotland—the ‘gentle persuasion’ as ye’ve nae doot heard folks ca’ them, an’ ye’ll be nane the less a true Scot when ye become ane o’ that same company.”
“You, who have all your life been a Churchman, and have received the most careful teaching in Church matters, can have no idea of the struggle that one who has had none of these privileges has to undergo in breaking loose from all the traditions of his family and friends. ”

“ In the course of conversation he happened to remark; “I have often wondered, Gray, what led you, the son of Presbyterian parents, to become an Anglican. You are not the sort of man that would act in a matter like this without the strongest convictions. ”

“ Harvest-time, while it brought to most of us lots of hard work, brought also lots of fun. Certainly, when we returned to our school tasks our appearance gave the impression that harvest work and harvest fare agreed with us marvellously well.
Many an Aberdeenshire lad, eager to secure a college education, earned enough during harvest to buy his class books and leave a few shillings for pocket money. ”

“ Andrew Blair had been for many years a successful railway contractor, but even in his busiest times had never ceased to maintain a warm interest in all that concerned the best welfare of the ancient Scottish Church. ”

“ In the long winter evenings we would sit around a blazing peat fire, in our stone-flagged kitchen, and listen while father and Mr. Lindsay discussed current topics of the day. An old college friend used regularly to send his copy of the Edinburgh “Courant” to the dominie, and the news it contained formed the subject of many a warm discussion. One matter which at this time was causing considerable disturbance, in certain circles, was the movement for the final extinction of the disabilities against Episcopalians. ”

“ Aye, Gray, and so is it ever in regard to the spiritual life. When we look around in the Christian Church to-day we see truth disfigured and mutilated and obscured{96} by opinions that are entirely of human devising. When the days of trial come, as come they must—the Church of God will have to hold her own against the powers of evil ”