A BAPTIST. 185 



viands of yEneas, perch upon the soundest creeds. Will 

 you believe that he dared tell me that a good Christian 

 pastor of the Church of Scotland did more harm to the 

 true Church than a mere hireling? How, think you, 

 did he prove this ? " The good man," said he, " through 

 a mistaken zeal supports the impure Church of which he 

 is a member, and thus unwittingly does evil ; the hire- 

 ling, on the other hand, by disgusting the sensible and 

 well-inclined, hastens its downfall, and thus unwittingly 

 does good." What think you of this ? For my own 

 part, I will just remark that it strengthens by experience 

 an opinion I have long held. It is that in the field of 

 religious controversy the rankest and most poisonous 

 weeds do spring. What a wretched thing is it that a 

 man, in his zeal for truth, should run himself headlong 

 into error ; that in his haste to establish a few doubtful 

 notions belonging to the head, he should starve the good, 

 and indulge the evil, feelings of the heart ! ' 



So Hugh Miller, the lay champion of the Free Church, 

 was in his twenty-fourth year of the same opinion ' con- 

 cerning Church government' with the Baptists! Does this 

 imply that he was at that time a Voluntary ? I know 

 not. His sentiments on the subject of religious contro- 

 versy are also noteworthy. Were they modified by his 

 subsequent experience of ecclesiastical discussion ? I 

 think not. 



To Miller's letter of the 19th of August, Swanson 

 replies on the 29th of the same month. Passing hastily 

 over matters of minor importance, he comes to what lies 

 nearest his heart. ' I have experienced here great kind- 

 ness among my Christian friends. Oh, that I could with 

 confidence rank you among the number. I cannot think 

 that you are aware how near you are to my heart. 

 Blessed be God that Christ is still nearer ! I pray and 



