"the faith which was once delivered to the saints." Nay, more, I have for my warrant the ancient, immortal, and ever faithful companions of the Lord our God. He will neither forget the great nation of England, nor the small community of which we, the countrymen of Calvin, form a part; countries so dissimilar in many respects, and which, nevertheless, He has chosen- the one in her power, the other in her lowliness,-to make them beacons of the Gospel and bulwarks of Christianity.

CHAP. III.

SCOTLAND.

1. Germany, England, and Scotland. Crossing England by Railway. Arrival in Scotland. Chalmers. Edinburgh. The Old and the New Town. The Castle Hill. Holyrood.— 2. Difference between the English and the Scotch. Scottish Character. A Proof of the Reformation. Importance of Doctrine. Spirit and Life. Character of Scottish Theology. Basis. Apex.-3. Worship. A Sermon. Length. A Farewell Sermon. Liberty. The Lord's Supper. Standing or Sitting? Discipline: Essential or not? Public Instruction. ---4. Disruption of 1843. State of the Established Church. Holyrood and the Lord High Commissioner. The General Assembly of the Establishment and the Platform. Was a Speech necessary! Dinner at Holyrood. 5. Impartiality. The Assembly Time. The 18th of May and Cannon Mills. Our Entrance. A Scottish Assembly. Speech of Chalmers. Geneva and Scotland. Popery and Erastianism. Bonfires of Straw.-6. Speech of the Deputies: Dr. Gordon, Dr. Macfarlane, Dr. Brown. Fatigue and Repose.

I.

EDINBURGH.

I HAVE spoken of England and of Germany. I might have gone more deeply into the church questions of these two countries, but one consideration has deterred me. Great things are in preparation both for England and for Germany; but the crisis has not yet arrived, and I am no prophet.

It is not so with Scotland. There the crisis has not reached its full development, but the effort has been made. On this country, therefore, I shall especially dwell.

England, Germany, and Scotland exhibit, with regard to the church, a different aspect.

In Germany, the Vandal spirit of rationalism destroyed every thing; the church went to ruin, and that noble country presented a vast chaos in which contrary forces were struggling together. But already the Spirit of God is moving on the face of the waters; the divine word has been uttered, and the new creation is begun.

In England, they had not fallen quite so low. Ancient and venerable forms had been maintained; but, generally speaking, the true, the divine Spirit had forsaken those forms. In its place a human spirit, produced by these very forms, had taken possession of them; and, alas! still sits proudly in the antique porch of many a college and cathedral. But the true spirit, banished from these elevated stations, has found refuge in humble retreats, and is now about to come forth with power to attack the human and traditional one, and to drive it from its Gothic strong-holds, and set up in its stead that which is always ancient yet always new-the Eternal spirit. If ever it gains the mastery, may it so accomplish the primitive reform, that these high places can no longer serve as a retreat for the enemy!

Scotland is in a better situation. A victory has

L

been achieved, but there are still many triumphs to be won. Victory has to struggle against victory itself. There are all kinds of dangers for success: there are those of lassitude and slumber, those of pride and disdain; there are those of idolatry, which makes an idol of all belonging to the conqueror; and there are those of narrowness, which forsakes the mighty river of Christian life, to confine itself in paltry conduits.

Having thus glanced at Germany and England, I hasten onward to Scotland.

I traversed England, from London to Newcastle, in one short day, thanks to the railroads! I often went forty-eight miles in one hour, three times the distance from Geneva to the other end of our lake. I flew like an arrow through the delightful and celebrated landscapes of Derbyshire, and waved my hand, as I passed by, to the majestic towers of the ancient Minster of York. The next day, for want of better accommodation, I took my seat in one of those heavy vehicles of the Middle Ages, called mails or stage-coaches, and proceeded slowly, by comparison, although at full gallop, from Newcastle to Edinburgh. After crossing the Border, the magnificent ruins of Jedburgh Abbey, one of the finest remains of Saxon architecture, soon attracted my notice. These ruins of olden time, which appeared before me the moment I entered Scotland, after having crossed the desert moors which divide it from England, made a deep impression upon me. I seemed to hear a voice from them saying

to me: "Thou art setting thy foot upon an an"cient land, and it is not only the present times. "which thou must behold there, but those also "which are no more!"

Yet I must not forget the present. After having passed within sight of Abbotsford, celebrated as the residence of Walter Scott, we arrived in Edinburgh. It was the day on which the Queen's birth-day is kept; there were great rejoicings in the streets, and fireworks were thrown against the coach. I had not yet alighted, when I perceived amidst the crowd a head already whitened by age, with a lively eye and benevolent smile. It was Chalmers, that man who for these thirty years has been all over Europe the representative of Scotland; he had had the kindness to come and meet me. The hearty welcome of this venerable Christian, with whom I was not before personally acquainted, and who adds to his great genius the simplicity of a child, affected me even to tears. Thenceforward I loved Chalmers as a brother, and reverenced him as a father. united to him, to his church, to his people, by a powerful bond of affection. A month afterwards, having gone to spend my last two days in Scotland with Chalmers, in a delightful village at Fairlie, on the sea-shore, opposite the mountains of Arran, I repaired to Greenock, to meet the steamer which was to carry me to Liverpool; and, notwithstanding the distance, notwithstanding his age, and a heavy rain, (a Greenock day, as they call it there,)

I was