CHAP. xv. GOSPEL THEORIES. 233 



I candidly say that it is very hard that you cannot 

 enjoy yourself for one day among the rocks, without 

 being assailed for it by ignorant W. W.'s be they clerical 

 or not. Great stir about tyrannical Popery at present ; 

 but query may there not be among ourselves Moderate 

 Popes, Free Popes, and such like? Plenty, I guess. 

 The divine right of ruling is worth ten times the 

 stipend." 



In acknowledging the receipt from Hugh Miller of 

 some papers containing an account of the meeting of the 

 British Association at Edinburgh, Dick says " These 

 papers are not thrown away. They shall be duly 

 pondered and considered ay, on mountain tops, even 

 at early dawn, or sober eve, when the twinkling stars and 

 the soothing winds tell their own tale of nature's happi- 

 ness in their own dear way. 



" It is a blessed thing that creation smiles or frowns, 

 laughs or is sad, just as we are -content or otherwise. 

 Every man according to his ' gift.' Sooth to say, I am 

 one of those whose faith is too weak to see every one of 

 the many twinkling orbs that bedeck the vault of heaven 

 the abodes of beings who suffer and of beings who 

 rejoice of beings who are saved, and of beings who are 

 lost. No, no ! I have thrown Calvin's theory to the 

 winds. There are as many Gospel theories as there are 

 geological ; and all are at liberty to behold their own 

 likeness in their own mirror. Only one thing. If 

 divines have for centuries been preaching nonsense 

 about the creation of the world and of man, what con- 

 fidence can an ignorant man have in their findings and 



