68 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



and spectators either more exemplary Christians, or more loyal and peaceable 

 citizens. Those imenlightened views and prejudices of which we so freely 

 complain in the church policy of our ancestors, were, probably, among the very 

 safeguards of the national faith — around which it became necessary, from the 

 scarcely yet consolidated spirit of the times, to plant jealous watchmen, lest 

 the service of the altar shoidd be infringed by the indulgence of secular studies. 

 If there was any fault with which the guardians of church discipline could be 

 charged, it was the result of zeal for the Church's integrity — a desire that her 

 ministering servants should illustrate, in their own persons and labours, the 

 character of their high vocation ; and renouncing worldly fame, direct and 

 concentrate all their energies in one sole object — the building up of that great 

 moral temple for which the blood of so many ancestors had been spilt. — But 

 to advance arguments for the extenuating of such a charge here, is a work of 

 supererogation. What was then considered an act of great Uliberality on the 

 part of the Scottish clergy, is now practised in some of the most enlightened 

 districts of Svntzerland, where theatrical exhibitions are strictly prohibited, 

 and where the finest dramatic fiction from the pen of a clergyman would still 

 be received as objectionable evidence against him as a pastor, and excite doubts 

 of his competency for the sacred office. He, who had once bound himself under 

 a solemn obligation to dispense the word of truth, and yet stepped forward as a 

 candidate — no matter how brilliantly — in the walks of fiction, would be reason- 

 ably suspected as either disafiected to, or morally unfit for a cause, whose duties, 

 once shared with a rival, are neglected, and to which he who devotes not all, 

 says an ancient Father, devotes nothing.* 



Out of the many distinguished names to which the district has given birth, 

 we may give due precedency to that of John Knox. Destined to introduce 

 a new era into the hierarchy of his country — to be the terror of princes — the 

 scourge of the priesthood — the unshrinking advocate of truth — the fearless 

 exposer of superstition — and the founder of a new church, on the very graves 

 of her martyrs — his career as a reformer was the most extraordinary on record ; 



• The Church, a jealous mistress, bids thee pause. 

 Nor lightly barter heaven's, for man's, applause ; 

 Religion brooks not that her servants choose, 

 The sacred name, but court the secular muse : 

 The holy priesthood, and the poet's art. 

 Are dangerous rivals, and must reign apart. 



It is a curious fact, nevertheless, as the reader may observe by reference to the Book of Discipline, 

 that plays, in modern Europe, originated with the (Catholic) Church ; and that even the General Asseirbly 

 of Scotland had formerly admitted of theatrical exhibitions — provided the subjects were not scriptural. 



