A SUMMER RAMBLE AMONG THE HEBRIDES. 9 1 



and the benefit of his practice they have enjoyed, in every 

 instance, without fee or reward, his new life of hardship 

 and danger, maintained for their sakes amid sinking health 

 and great privation, their frequent fears for his safety when 

 stormy nights close over the sea, and they have seen his 

 little vessel driven from her anchorage, just as the evening 

 has fallen, all these are circumstances that have concurred 

 in giving him a strong hold on their affections. 



The rude turf-building we found full from end to end, and 

 all a-steam with a particularly wet congregation, some of 

 whom, neither very robust nor young, had travelled in the 

 soaking drizzle from the farther extremities of the island. 

 And, judging from the serious attention with which they lis- 

 tened to the discourse, they must have deemed it full value 

 for all it cost them. I have never yet seen a congregation 

 more deeply impressed, or that seemed to follow the preacher 

 more intelligently ; and I was quite sure, though ignorant of 

 the language in which my friend addressed them, that he 

 preached to them neither heresy nor nonsense. There was 

 as little of the reverence of externals in the place as can well 

 be imagined : an uneven earthen floor, turf-walls on every 

 side, and a turf-roof above, two little windows of four panes 

 a-piece, adown which the rain-drops were coursing thick and 

 fast, a pulpit grotesquely rude, that had never employed 

 the bred carpenter, and a few ranges of seats of undressed 

 deal, such were the mere materialisms of this lowly church 

 of the people ; and yet here, notwithstanding, was the living 

 soul of a Christian community, understandings convinced 

 of the truth of the gospel, and hearts softened and impressed 

 by its power. 



My friend, at the conclusion of his discourse, gave a brief 

 digest of its contents in English, for the benefit of his one 

 Saxon auditor and I found, as I had anticipated, that what 

 had so moved the simple islanders was just the old wondrous 



