Oriqinat ennunituiratinnz.
IMPRESSIONS OF EIIROPE,—No. IV
Seotth Laces—Absence of forests--" Walter
Seott—The Landscape—Subbath Service—
S. , otc, June 14th—Strrling Castle.
The hotel at the Trossachs was more comfort
able than anything we had met, and we deter
mined to rest here a day or two. But we were
not content to stay in the house, and besides, we
wanted to see the country. And although the
clouds hung low and threatening on the mountain
over the lake, which lay below the house, the
barometer assured us there would be no rain, and
so did our host, who also said there was a plea
sant walk of six miles over the mountains to the
Clachan of Aberfoyle. All who have read Rob
Roy will readily recall the incidents that occurred
at that Clachan, how the Baillie and Frank
found 'themselves in the midst of a row with the
savage Highlanders, and how the Baillie seized
a red-hot plough coulter and attacked one of the
Highlanders, and set his plaid on fire. - -
We started out then for the walk, having been
told that if we found it too long and fatiguing we
could ride back. So down we went to the Loch
Aebray and were ferried over by a Highlander,
who amused us much by his talk, half-English,
half• Gaelic, and whowalked a few hundred yards
with us, to show the path. Left to ourselves,
without a guide, we began the ascent of the
mountain. The way was plain enough, but very
rough in some places; while in others it was wide
and smooth enough for a carriage. It was an
exceedingly interesting walk, up hill and down
dale; not a tree, hardly a bush was to be seen;
but the heathei was everywhere, and 'many a
time we threw ourselves down to rest upon it,
finding it as soft as the bed which Ellen prepared
for the Knight of Snowdon,
"Nor think you unexpected come,
To yon lone isle, our desert home,.._
Before the heath hath lost its dew.
This morn, a couch was pulled for you."
The solitude was almost oppressive. When
the top of the mountain was reached, and we
could command within the vision a region of
miles and miles in extent, there was nothing to
be seen but mountains and lakes, no forests, no
trees, no villages, no homes. In all that walk
we met only one man—and we passed him with
out a greeting—and a boy of apparently but
twelve years, who answered " dinna ken" to all
our questions. At a distance we saw a few men
digging peat. But, besides these, the only
evidences of,animal life we saw, were the sheep,
which seemed to be everywhere; some almost as
dark as the heather, and sometimes startling us
by suddenly springing up, almost in our path ;
the sheep, the poor man's friend, supplying him
with both food and raiment, roaming at large
and apparently unattended, over these wilds,
feeding on the patches of pasture and drinking
from the clear mountain streams or burns which
crossed our path at brief intervals, babbling their
noisy songs over their rocky beds.
We found quite a•pretentious hotel at the vil
lage, and the Baillie's coulter chained to a tree
in, front, but when we were shown to a second
stor . g room, as the scene of the fracas so admix.
ably described by Scott, in the story my faith,
not over-critical, fairly broke down, and the
Scotchwoman who showed the premises joined
me in a hearty laugh at the humbuggery.
Equally apocryphal was the oak they showed
on which the Baillie was caught and suspended
in his fall from the rocks, for the author of the
story calls it a thorn. The spot where the
gauger Morris was thrown into the lake and
drowned by Helen McGregor's barbarous order,
is not easily defined; for the construction of a
road has obliterated many of the marks since
that day. But we saw the "infant Forth" as
Scott describes it, and the long narrow high
bridge over it. Although the description of the
scenery is very vivid and beautiful in the passage
alluded to, it is not literally accurate, a fact, I
think, not uncommon in the Waverley Novels.
(See Sir Walter's remarks on this subject at the
dinner in Edinburg, where he avows himself, as
"the great unknown.") In his poetry, so far as I
am able to judge, he is more nearly correct.
We had a long and fatiguing walk back, for
they could not, or would not, let us have horses.
It rained a little, too, but we climbed the steep
passes again, and when we reached the top once
more, and began the descent, and saw the little
hotel far off in the valley, we plucked up cour
age. But our strength was well nigh exhausted
when we reached the boat again, and no travellers
ever enjoyed their evening meal and their rest
more than we did that Saturday night.
It was raining briskly op Sunday morning, but
not so as to keep us from the 12 o'clock church.
Rev. Mr. McDiarmid, the parish minister, preach
ed (it is the Established Church of Scotland)
from the text, "God •now commandeth every man to
repent," dividing his sermon into 1. The nature
of repentance; 2. Motives to repentance. The
sermon was natural, scriptural and good, and only
half an hour long. The other services were not
so brief; for they sang two Psalms, and two par
aphrases, and there were three chapters read
from the Bible, the Minister waiting a reasonable
time after the chapter was announced, for all the
congregation to find the place and follow him, and
they did. And I thought how much better this
is than our Presbyterian custom in the United
States, of rarely opening our Bibles while the
minister reads. Mr. MeDiarmid preached in a
gown and bands as all clergymen in this country
do. In the last prayer he prayed for the Queen
—Royal Family, &c-,—and for the strangers
within the gates. I called at the vestry after
service to thank him for this, and told him we
were Presbyterians, and from Philadelphia, and
asked him if he knew Rev. Albert Barnes? " Oh
yes," he said, and "had his volumes of Notes in
nis library."
This was the only service of the day. After a
lunch, the rain having ceased and the sun come
out, we strolled out and down to Loch Katrine,
to take our last look of its beautiful waters:: In
the evening I sat at my window until ten o'clock,
watching the shadows on Ben Verme, deepening
as the darkness drew on until its brown slopes
and lofty peak were lost in the long. twilight.
But when I awoke in the morning -the top of
Ben Venue was covered with snow (June 14th)
and the whole face of the landscape was changed.
With us at the foot it was raining, and the pros
pect was dreary enough. Through it all, how
ever, we drove in a stage to Collender, where we
took the rail to Edinburg, stopping a few hours
at Stirling.
We were driven up to the castle, 300 feet
above the plain, commanding.a very fine view of
the country for many miles, and this was worth
all that we saw besides, for within this scope, in
deed quite near, was the field of Bannockburn,
and a plain thousands of acres in extent, exceed
ingly fertile, with the Forth winding ithrough it
towards the sea. On another high rock within
full view, only a few miles off, on Abbey Crag, is
the unfinished monument to Sir William Wallace.
The.guide showed us Queen Mary's room, where
she lived so long-in her childhood, and received
a. part of her education, and, the Douglass'room
where James 11. stabbed a, Douglass and threw
him out of the window. The castle is. one of
the three stipulated by the.terms of Uaioa to be
kept fortified. • From the castle we passed into
the cemetery, which, lies'between it and the Grey
Friars' Church, Here were some curious and
interesting monuments, 'one to John Knox,
another to Melville with a fountain beneath and
the inscription, " Every good gift is from God."
On a tomb of quite modern' date is "Pray for
the soul of
There is a monument here, under glass, to
Margaret Wilson, the martyr, who was tied to a
stake and drowned in the Solway, in the days of
the persecution. Thence we passed into the old
Church. Two congregations worship here now
—both Prdsbyterian of course—one in the Nave
the other in the Choir. In the Choir, James
VI.-was crowned King of Scotland, and John
Knox preached the Coronation sermon. There
was a large board in the church yard, with let
ters legibly pabited, setting forth the various
charges for interments in the cemetery, as to the
number of feet in depth of the grave, the num
ber of horses to the hearse, and some other cu
rious features, but concluding, with a statement
of the price of "bags for bones!" whatever
that may mean.
There was not much more to be seen in Stir
ling, thqugh we walked about the town. The
streets were narrow and not too clean. The peo
ple seemed thrifty, though there was no lack of
the beer or whiskey shops. We were not sorry,
therefore, to see the train approach, which in an
hour or two , would put us down in Edinburg.
JEWISH PSALMODY.
In the Pitsbyterian of the 7th inst., uncler the
heading of'"A Palpable the editor quotes
as follows,lrona the-Amerieun Prethytirian :
" Very clever all this, but need •Dr: Patterson
have sought for an example of perpetual flux
in the editorial ranks? He might have fdund
one nearer home. When he went to Chicago, he
was such a furious Psalm-singer that he once
flung a hymn-book• out of the pulpit, with the ex
clamation : ' Would I put that in my children's
hands? I would as soon put, poison.' When he
left the Reformed Presbyterian Church he closed
his connection with an equally rabid speech, in
which he denounced that Church for keeping
her members on the low level of a Jewish psar
mody. So much for flux."
This is very'cleverly put; and, as told, makes
a capital hit. As we have all already enjoyed
our laugh over it, it will not spoil a good story to
say now, that like many other good jokes it is a
mere effervescing draught of fancy water, with
the slightest possible flavoring of fact. Any
more of the fact spoils the fun. The incident
supposed to be refefred to was occasioned by the
attempt to introduce into a collection of mission
school hymns, some in honor of dead men and
women. One, beginning
" Sister, thou wart mild and lovely,"
had been actually sung at a Sabbath scholar's
funeral. It was by, such beginnings that saint
worship was introduced into the ancient Church.
Against this abomination I raised my voice.
Every true Protestant, including The American
Presbyterian, would as soon put poison in his
child's hands as prayers or praises to the dead.
It was not against the hymn-hook, but the here
sy, I protested. The protest was successful, and
the book was printed without the idolatrous
hymns. The matter will appear to some of the
greater importance when it is stated, that with
some additions of a military character, over two
hundred and fifty thousand copies of this collec
tion were afterward circulated in our Western
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1869.
B. B. C
armies by the Chicago Army Committee of the
Christian Commission, under the title of " The
Soldiers' Hymn Book." The fact that I was ac
tively engaged in this work, may be sufficient to
show you, that your informant was entirely mis
taken about my furious psalm-singing, and might
be also sufficient for my personal vindication.
As illustrations, however, of the growth of a
modern superstition, allow me, if you please, to
recite a fact or two further in this connection.
The superstition that Rouse's version of the
Psalms of David should be the exclusive psalmo
dy of the Anglo-Saxon Ave, is quite recent, and
of American origin. It was unknown a hnndred
years ago in Britain. It is not yet half a cen
tury old there. In 1825, when a mere child, I
was carried by my nurse, a faithful Covenanter,
to the Union Sabbath School of the town of Let
terkenny, and the first psalmody in which I have
any distinct recollection of participating, was the
hymn beginning
"Salvation 1 Oh, the joyful sound,"
sung in that Sabbath School, This, and similar
schools were supported in part by the active co
operation of the elders and members of the Cov
enanting Church in that part of the north of Ire
land; and when a new building was erected for
that school, the dedication sermon was preached
by our pastor, the late Rev. Wm. Gamble, the
oldest, and one of the most highly esteemed min
isters of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in
Ireland.. I have repeatedly heard him, in ex
plaining the Term& of Communion, on Sacra-..
went Saturday, refer to, the subject, and say that
the only reason for not using suitable portions
of the New Testament in psalmody, was the want
of an acceptable metrical version, which he earn
estly hoped would one day be supplied. Such,
I apprehend, were then the sentiments of the
majority of Scotch and Irish Presbyterians.
Since that time I have continued to sing
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and to
cultivate the Communion of Saints with all who
love our Lord. When, in 1847, I made applica
tion for Church-fellowship to the late venerated
pastor of the First Reformed Presbyterian
Church of Philadelphia, Rev. Samuel B. Wylie,
D. D., I acquainted him with my views on psal
mody and communion, and was informed that
they were no bar to Church•fellowship so long as
I conformed in church-worship to the practice
of the Church. When a majority of the Synod,
after the removal of that great and good man
and of others like-minded, felt bound in con
science to enforce an interpretation of the Testi
mony more literal, yet certainly less Christian,
I felt that I could no longer honorably continue
in that communion, and withdrew to the Presby
terian Church. ,
For so doing, 'however, my chief reason, was,
as you have cited, the belief that the spiritual
life of that Church has been grievously injured
by the exclusive use by many of its members of
the Jewish Psalmody and the repression of the
utterance of the New Testament doxologies.
I fail to perpeive, however, anything rabid either
in the sentiment or, the expression. If there is,
I have been bitten by, The American Presbyter
ian, which more than once, with much greater
grace and power tban I can claim, has shown the
greater fulness of evangelical life and love which
pervades the New Testament, and the evil of
rejecting from our praise this portion of the
Word of God. In this you are supported by
very high authority. Almost all evangelical
divines make the superiority of the gospel over
the law one of their common places. The mar
tyrs of the Scottish Covenants, held the same
view; David Dickson, it is related, spent the
prison hours before his martyrdom in translating
from the Latin the hymn, ' Jerusalem,' and the
old Scotti-h Psalm-Book adds a gospel doxology
to most of the hymns. In all revivals, ancient
and modern, the fresh power of gospel grace has
overflowed in gospel songs. Whenever the
Church has been invigorated to put forth mis
sionary exertion, exclusiveness waxes old and
vanishes away.
May the Lord the Spirit visit us and all our
brethren in the psalm-singing Churches, with
showers of revival grace, and put new songs into
our mouths, and bring us all at length to sing
the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the
song of the Lamb, as well as the songs of the
Sweet Singer of Israel, is the prayer of
Yours in Christ,
[Dr. Patterson's courteous and friendly letter
has certainly destroyed the force of the para
graph on which he comments. The author of
that paragraph was informed' of the facts in
question by an eye witness, at that time a mem
ber of Dr. P.'s congregation, who gave it as an
illustration of his former opposition to hymn
singing. It is evident that he was mis-informed,
though we were under the impression that our
Chicago brother was formerly "stiff" on that
question.
As to Dr. Patterson's reasons for throwing out
the hymn-book in question, we think he might
very justly have thrown the Psalm book after it,
if such addresses to and invocations of objects
which do not hear, are to be proscribed. Idola
try has no more to with the dead than the living,
and it is just as right to invoke a sister lying
dead, as for David to invoke all lands, objects of
inanimate nature, the ends of the earth or the
isles of the sea. Dr. Patterson's congregation
uses the 0. S. " Hymnal." What does he think
of the hymn beginning--
ROBERT PATTERSON
" Ye angels that stand around thgthrone,"
and proceeding
" Ye saints that stand nearer than they,"
which occurs in that collection ? Or has he
thrown the " Hymnal" out of the pulpit.?
As to the speech with which Dr. Patterson
left the R. P. Church:" rabid " may be too strong
a word to describe it. But we say what most of
the liberal members of that Church say, when we
describe as ill-judged and intemperate, and say that
it did much to make the liberal movement in
that Church a failure. It only produced a re
coil and a reaction ]
LETTER FROM PRUSSIA.
BERLIN, PRUSSIA, July 26, 1869
Two Sundays at sea, and one in Berlin. It
seems hardly possible to realize that but three
short weeks ago, we were looking out on
Washington Square, with the unadorned belfry
of the old First Church rising above the trees.
Arid here to-day in the capital of Prussia, more
than 3,000 miles away, surrounded by spires,
and domes, and towers of churches adorned
within and without with statues, and monuments,
and sculptures, and frescoes, the very names of
which as they are given in the guide-books are
wearying to brain and eye.
It was Tuesday, July 6th, after a night spent
in New York, with the sounds and sights of the
National Anniversary yet lingering in our mem
ory, that we left the dock at Hoboken in the
steamer Hammonia of the Ilarnbur,g-American
line: Two camp-chairs—one of the reclining
extension pattern; and two pair 'of heavy 'grey
army blankets made ample provision for spend
ing all possible time in the open air on deck regaid
less of the weather, unless it should proieUTl\lSll
ally' stormy. An umbrella which we purchased ,
just before leaving, was very useful as a protec
tion from the sun.
Several American familes and parties, starting
for European trips of longer or shorter duration,
some 'few going abroad on business, and others of
foreign birth returning for a visit to their native
land, made up the passenger-list of the first and
second cabins; and some twenty in the steerage,
besides a crew of one hundred and twenty-eight
officers and men completed the persons on board.
The state-rooms of this line,, it ought to be men
tioned, have an advantage to be found in no other;
the first-class state-rooms are all open on the saloon
or on the same level, so that the windows can be
kept open all the time, affording abundant and
complete ventilation. To any one who has ever
been at sea, this cannot fail to be appreciated.
Sunday the 11th found us in North latitude
44° 44', West longitude 43° 10', having been
four days and nineteen houri at - sea, at noon.
The day was bright and-clear, with a stiff breeze
from the southward, filling our 'auxiliary sails,
adding about two knots an hour to 'our speed,
and covering the deep blue sea with white-caps
which danced and sparkled joyously in the sun
light. Aft on the quarter-deck under the lee of
the wheel-house, we sat all day long, with some
pleasant fellow voyagers, enjoying the pleasant
gentle motion of the vessel, as she sped on her
way, quaffing the health-giving, bracing air, and
quietly conversing or meditating as we glanced
up at the clear blue ether above us, or looked
out over the dancing waves of the rolling sea to
catch a glimpse of a passing sail far off on the
horizon. In the evening far on into the night,
the wake of the steamer was brilliant with phos
phorescent light as the water was disturbed by
the screw ; from the bows, great rolls of green
ish fire surged away on either side as the vessel
ploughed her way through the deep ; while far
off on either side the white-caps flashed up on the
jetty-black of the night-covered ocean, with
coruscations of stars and sparkles beyond
any artificial imitation. There was no service
on board, and yet we could not feel that the day
had been unprofitably passed.
Saturday morning, the 18th, about one o'clock,
we touched at Plymouth, England, and landed
the mails and some few passengers, making the
surrounding hills echo and re-echo as we fired a
gun to announce our approach, and making the
night brilliant with rockets sent up as signals
for the tug boat to come out and meet us.
Saturday at noon we touched at Cherbourg,
and landed more passengers and mails, and Sun
day morning the 19th found us in the G - erman
Ocean or North Sea, having passed 'Dungeness
light on the English, coast at 11 the evening
before. The day passed much as the preceding
Sunday, varied somewhat by the sight of more
sailing vessels and steamers, and towards after
noon the Islands of the Dutch coast, Texel,
Vrielard and Ter Schilling with their light
houses and villages, appearing about eight miles
off to starboard.
Monday morning early we entered the Elbe, and
at nine were transferred to a small steamer which
took us up to Hamburg, where we remained,
resting till Wednesday morning, when we came
by rail to Berlin. Yesterday we went at 9k A.
M. to the Dom-church in the Lust garden near
the Palace. The present building was erected in
1817; is 230 feet long by 134 feet wide. Nei
ther the exterior nor the interior present any '1
striking features; but to strangers visiting Eu
rope for the first time, and accustomed to the
simplicity of Protestant worship at . home, there
was much that was new and interesting. Men
tioning to the pew-opener that we were Ameri
cans and wished to have a good place to see and
hear, he at once unlocked a door and showed us
to comfortable seats in a large pew or box sur
rounded by a high partition, and containing a
dozen chairs, and commanding an immediate
view of the altar right below us, and of the organ
loft above and at the back of the altar. Af ter
ascertaining that we desired not to remain after
the liturgy, he retired and locked us in. The
pews were all locked; a few benches in the pa s .
sage ways were occupied by early corners, and as
others came in they had to stand. None were
admitted to seats except those who had some
right to them, and for whom the doors were un
locked by the attendants. The space before the
altar was quite filled with persons who stood
through the service, many of whom were stran
gers, while numbers of pews were entirely vacant.
There must be accommodations for seating some
2,000 or 3,000 persons. Perhaps 800 or 1,000
were present, of whom at least one-half were
left to stand.
The great bell of the church pealed out its
tones far above our heads in the belfry, seeming
to fill the body of the building with an accumu
lated volume of a softened yet deep sound. At
ten the Sacristan lighted two wax candles on
either side of a gilt crucifix which stood at the
back of the altar ; and in a few minutes after
wards, the clergyman, a young man, with a high
intellectual forehead, and a German student-like
cast of countenance entered from the body of
the church, and took his place facing the con
gregation at a small reading desk a little in ad
vance of the altar, and some steps back from the
chancel rail. The great bell ceased to ring; and
at once from the organ-loft 'burst forth a sweet
choral chant from the lips of about one hundred
boys with some few Older male voices to give
depth and volume. Without understanding a
word of the language, there was worship to the
devout mind in the very sound of the perfectly
timed, exquisitely modulated, and grand swelling
harmony of the Psalm, as the waves of musical
symphony rolled up and along the high arch of
the nave, stretching away nearly three hundred
feet to the farther recess containing the sarco
phagi of some of the old Electors and their
The liturgy was chanted and sung responsive
ly by the choir and the clergyman, while the
people, most of whom had their prayer books,
joined devoutly in certain portions of the service.
The Epistle and Gospel for the day were read at in
tervals, and the Creed recited by the clergyman;
the congregation taking no part in the saying of
the Creed. At the conclusion of the liturgy, a
collection was taken up, while one of the long
German hymns was sung by the choir. The pew
opener now unlocked the door of our box or pew,
and intimated that if we did not wish to hear
the sermon, it would be proper for us to retire.
Availing ourselves of the opportunity we left the
church, and made our - way to the American
chapel, No. 6, • Junker street, passing through
the court of the Royal Palace or Schloss, and a
number of streets with fine residences, stores and
palaces on either side. The day was really warm
—as warm as a July day in Philadelphia, and
the walk was a long one; but we felt amply re
paid by the privilege of worshipping in our own
language, according to our own simple forms,
and with our own countrymen.
The chapel, which is a plain brick building,
in one of the comparatively remote and side
streets, was erected during the time when Mr.
Wright was our minister at the Court of Prus
sia. A mural tablet facing the pulpit bears the
following inscription :
" To the memory of the
HON. JOSEPH A. WRIGHT,
who died in Berlin, May 11th, 1867, during his
second official term as Minister of the. United
States at the Court of Prussia, in the 57th year
of his age ; to whose energy and perseverance
the erection of this chapel is largely due; this
tablet is dedicated by the grateful members of
this society. •
The memory of the just is blessed. Prov. 10. 7
For me to live is Christ, to die ds gain. Phil. 1. 21."
Mr. Wright was a Methodist, and the hymn
book in use is the Methodist collection; but the
chapel is used by all denominations of evangeli
cal Christians. The service is a union service.
We bad a most excellent sermon from the Rev.
Dr. Osgood of New York, full of Christ and His
love, and the union of His divine and human
natures, and of the union of believers to Him
and in Him with each other. The text was, " I
am the vine, ye are the branches."
The streets in the morning were as quiet as
those of Philadelphia; but few shops open, and
the well dressed, orderly people we met mostly
on their way to and from church. Towards
evening the carriages and " Droschken," a light
one-horse sort of a cab, began to drive by, filled
with parties on their way to the " Thiergarten,"
and other places of popular resort and recreation;
and till late at night the throng of vehicles pas
sing and re-passing was incessant.
Rested and refreshed by the services and the
quiet repose of the day as we had spent it, we
felt ready for a fresh start on the early morrow
for Dresden, looking forward to our next Sunday
in Prague or Nurenberg. S. C. P.
—Melchizedek, king of Salem, or an Aaronic
priesthood may take tithes, but the converts of a
world's Pentecost will sell all • their posSeSsions,
and lay them at the feet of a Church Catholic_