A LIBEL.

Evening Star, Issue 3460, 25 March 1874, Page 3

A LIBEL.

A cockney writer, who has probably never been in Scotland in his life, has just given to the world his estimate of f-cotch Presbyterianism. He has published a book enu u*, r rle ^le Physiology of the Sects,” in which he attempts to prove the that to the careful observer each face reTeals a history which he can read and nanfatp, \ He proceeds to show that the characteristics of each sect may be discerned from the countenances of those who belong to them. The faces of the Scotch people must be dreadful tp look upon. tq judge from his description qf their religion. H© says 9 M Ip spite of the progress of! science, th© spread of civilization, and th© extension qf education, the characteristics of Presbyterianism have changed leas than those of any existing aeot. In all essential points they ar© to-day the same as they were in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Their practices may have been modified a little in degree, but they are precisely the same in kind. They are as narrow, as intolerant, as bigoted, as spiritually proud as ever. The old hatred of music, poetry, and the fine ®ri®i still exists ; the old rigid observance of the babbath still marks Presbyterian Scotland; and the recent case of Mr Knight shows that the old spirit of intolerance has not been exorcised by the growing liberality of the age. In religious matters the modern Scotch are as austere, as implacable, a* zealous, as fanatical, and $s ftitpleranf as ever. Withj them religions 14 pot fair© from blasphemy •’ and they h ay e yet to learn the first principles of religious liberty. To keep a congregation trembling with terror, and groaning in horror at the awful pictures of the bottomless pit, and of the infinite tortures reserved for sinners, is still a great gift, and is valued accordingly. The Scotch worshipper, more than even the English Wesleyan, delights in haying his feelings harrowed, hia imagination inflamed, bib pas along aroused, and his aense bf terror p%e& pbon.’’ He finds an pjeastire in listening to 1 Jeacription of his own utter unworthi- : ness, ms natural depravity, his inexpressible viciouspess and in being told ©q infinite number of tunes that be possesses q heart which Cfinpqt ©vep imagine any thing good, Che blacker the picture, the better he likes it The more luridly the hell is painted to which he is worthy to be consigned, the deeper ms gratification. To be told that the < damned swim in a lake of fire burning with brimstone ’ affords him an exquisite delight for he feels that such a fiery bfth is not for him, but for those wretched souls not collected into the true Kirk, It is mangellous wi hj what a nameless pleasure men regard and talk abqut the future damnation of tfyeir {ejlpws j and in this questionable

enjoyment the Scotch have more than their share, for they hold that the tortures of the wicked are the delight and the glorv of God.”—‘Ayr Advertiser,’ Bth Jan., 1874.