Streams of Living Water

From a short story written by Miller called, “Recollections of Fergusson” (Robert Fergusson was one of the late 18th Century Scottish poets).

 ”I was in your kirk on Sabbath last, hearing worthy Mr Corkindale. Whatever else he may hae to fear, he’s in nae danger o’ ‘thinking his ain thoughts,’ honest man.”

 Later on, Miller (through one of his characters) presents a very shrewd and perceptive view of the call to the ministry of the Gospel in relation to the education of divinity students:

“…twas better for the Kirk when the minister just made himsel’ ready for it, an’ then waited till he kent whether it wanted him.”

What a romantic Hugh Miller was! Listen to what he says about the relative intellects of English and Scots: Read the rest of this entry »

Bring on the six nations. Listen to what Hugh Miller says about the English physique…

 ”As tested by the dynamometer, the average strength of the full grown Scot exceeds that of the full-grown Englishman by about one twentieth - to be sure, no very great difference, but quite enough in a prolonged contest, hand to hand, and man to man, with equal skill and courage on both sides, decidely to turn the scale. The result of the conflict at Bannockburn, where according to Barbour, steel rung upon steel for hours … may have a good deal hinged on this purely physical difference.”

(So, Hugh Miller’s spent the day in Stratford upon Avon and now makes his way to Olney, to spend the night there. But when he gets there, the innkeeper informs him that there will be a bare-knuckle boxing championship tomorrow and there is no room for him. He advises him to try the next village of Newport Pagnell. As he leaves Olney, he meets the policeman who warns him that the 4 mile walk to Newport, although very peaceful, is dangerous, since many robberies have already taken place on the road that same evening. Our intrepid Black-Isler won’t be disuaded and begins his trek. And now comes Miller-time…) Read the rest of this entry »

In the late 1840’s, Hugh Miller, instead of going for his annual break to Orkney, decided to go to England instead. When he was staying in Manchester, he decided one Lord’s Day to worship at the collegiate chapel. That particular Sunday was St. Bartholomew’s Day - notorious among Protestants for the memorial of the massacre of the French Hugenots. The Liberal Preacher in the collegiate chapel preached that day on the importance of observing Saints Days. There follows a hilarious account of Miller’s experience there:

First, Miller’s impression of the gargoyles on the wall - “Not a few of the carvings which decorate every patch of wall are of the most ludicrous character. Rows of grotesque heads look down into the nave from the spandrels; some twist their features to the one side of the face, some to the other; some wink hard, as if exceedingly in joke; some troll out their tongue; some give expression to a lugubrious mirth, others to a ludicrous sorrow.”

Second, Miller’s impression of the impact of the sermon on Saint’s Days, - “I looked round me to see how the congregation was taking all this, but the congregation bore the tranquil air of people quite used to such sermons. There were a good many elderly gentlemen who had dropped asleep, and a good many more who seemed speculating in cotton (Manchester was the cotton capital of Britain at the time); but the general aspect was one of heavy inattentive decency: there was, in short, no class of countenances within the building that bore the appropriate expression, save the stone countenances on the wall.”

Let’s give God thanks for those bastions of truth which are emerging in today’s Anglican community! And let’s pray that those who are truly listening to our preaching (and not just asleep) may not have recourse to the expressions of the gargoyles!

P.S. There are no stone gargoyles on the inside of St. V’s - only on the outside. Perhaps their pained expressions should mirror our expressions of grief at the moral and spiritual decline in the city…