FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER.

SERIES III.

VOL. V.	B E T H A N Y, MAY, 1848.	NO. V.

      My dear Clarinda--IN company with brother John Dron, of Auchtermuchty, and brother John Ingles, of Banff, I left the city of Edinburgh, Saturday morning, 14th of August, for the city of Aberdeen, north of Edinburgh one hundred and nine miles, and distant from London 501 miles. It was the first Sabbatic Saturday that I had enjoyed for some time, and never did I need one more. The evening before I had made a two hours speech, in response to the allegata of Rev. James Robertson, in the Waterloo Rooms. It often seemed, during the speech, as though I were addressing a mob, rather than a calm, deliberate and moral assembly. I retired at a late hour, and awoke at a very early one in order to secure my seat in the omnibus that carried us to the steamer. I, therefore, soon as I got aboard sought repose, and occasionally found a little in a crowd of some hundred and fifty passengers. We had a beautiful day, a smooth sea, along a rocky coast, where, for miles on miles, we saw a wall of rock worn into every form by the continual attrition of waves lashed by fierce winds, and sometimes bearing in their bosoms masses of ice. The steamer kept, during most of the day, so near the coast as to afford a clear view of many a projecting cliff; of many an overhanging rock, and of many a curious cave that might have made an Ossian eloquent, in setting forth their claims upon our admiration. We arrived at the mouth of the river Don a little before sunset. This river forms a convenient haven, and quite [267] accessible in good weather. In a quarter of an hour we were within the precincts of Old Aberdeen. Brother Dunn, of the Baptist Church, was anxiously waiting our arrival; and, in a few minutes, we found ourselves more comfortably lodged, in his delightful mansion, in the bosom of his very kind and hospitable family. There is no passport to the human heart comparable to that which Christianity confers upon its true disciples. Christians have a common key to the hearts of all the children of their Father. They know one another the moment they recognize the relationship. We feel ourselves always at home, always safe and happy in the bosom of a Christian family. I wonder not to hear the Messiah say, that whosoever forsaketh father or mother, wife or children, houses or lands, for the kingdom of heaven's sake, shall receive a hundred fold more--fathers, brothers, houses, lands, &c., &c., in the present world, as an earnest of the life everlasting to be enjoyed in the next. True, our natural and political relations of husbands and wives, of parents and children, &c., remain as before; but we receive from our Christian relatives all that kindness, attention and comfort which our fathers, or our children, our husbands, or our wives could bestow upon us.

      A very refreshing and profound repose, during the night, so much invigorated me that I addressed a large and respectable audience twice on the Lord's day, morning and evening, besides meeting with the brethren in the afternoon and delivering an exhortation. On Monday morning we hastened, by stage, to Banff, almost due north some 45 miles distant from Aberdeen. It was a pleasant day and a pleasant ride, on the top of a staunch coach, through a highland looking country, not at all highly cultivated, but rather bleak. We saw not much to relieve us save now and then an Inverness Mountain on our west, and the Ocean on the east. But every thing and every place in Scotland is interesting to any one well acquainted with its religious and political history, and with the leading characteristics of its ancient and modern population.

      The Earl of Fife's rich estate is the only highly cultivated vicinity I noticed, from Aberdeen to Banff, with, perhaps, a single exception. This solitary old gentleman lives in a castle of large dimensions, yet unfinished and likely to be so for another generation, in the midst of what we would call a very extensive and rich domain. But rising from bed at five in the evening, and retiring to repose at five in the morning, one cannot conceive why he should live in the midst of such fine gardens and groves, ornamented with beautiful walks, summer-houses, alcoves; bowers, jetteaus, &c., as environ [268] his splendid residence, to be surveyed by himself for an hour or two in the evening of the day. Such, however, are the eccentricities of man. There is one excuse for him. His good lady, bitten by her own rabid lap-dog, fell a prey to canine madness; and in the midst of all that could gratify the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, left her lord the Earl, childless and alone, the solitary occupant of his large estate and splendid residence.

      The noble Earl has, however, acted the nobleman in a very prominent respect. His domain and gardens, running up to the very precincts of the town of Banff, though surrounded with ten feet walls of solid stone, are generously thrown open to the citizens to walk through them, and to enjoy all their beauty and comforts, and they are neither few nor trivial; only that they are not allowed to handle or injure any thing adhering to the soil. To walk through them is, indeed, a feast to both body and soul; for if there be the sentiment of piety, in the human heart, the combined beauties of nature and art, so well displayed here, are admirably calculated to rouse into an ecstacy that sentiment, and to awaken every grateful emotion to the Giver of all good. I was gratified to learn, that the privilege was not abused, by the citizens of Banff, by any improper liberties taken, as respected either the flowers and fruits, of which we saw so rich a variety. Brother Dron and myself had two or three pleasant walks through these delightful gardens and pleasure grounds, much to our refreshment and comfort.

      I addressed the brethren and citizens of Banff on two successive evenings., and had a large and a very attentive audience. The church there is not very numerous; but they are choice spirits. We had one love feast with the brethren assembled from the town and country; and from all that I could see and learn, a purer and more devoted company of disciples, of primitive simplicity and fervent piety, I met not any where in Great Britain. Brother Ingles and brother Cameron are the leading men of the church in town, and they appear to be altogether worthy of the place they hold in the affections and esteem of the brethren. Some truly excellent spirits from the country round, for twenty miles, attended our meetings, and never did a purer, or more undissembled godly sincerity and honesty of purpose to cleave to the Lord through good and evil report, appear to my view, than amongst these and many other Scotch brethren. Whether from the pure air of latitude 57° 40, or the less fertile soil of Banff county, or a more religious education, or other more propitious circumstances, I speculate not; but all of these may [269] have, together with the grace of God, contributed something to the perfection of their Christian character.

      From Banff we returned to Aberbeen, in the same manner by the same route, and were again gladly received by the brethren in that city. From this excursion to Banff, and from several baths in the Northern Sea, I felt much invigorated. I felt a strong impulse to visit the two universities of that city, especially the Marischal College; honored by the lives and labors of the justly celebrated Professors--George Campbell and James Beattie. I made an excursio through the university premises, and the adjoining church, where repose the ashes of these two celebrated men. It was vacation in the university, and all there was silent as the grave-yard. Much of it has been rebuilt. I had no guide, but finding, through brother Dunn and the Sexton, the tombs of these two men of renown, I sat me down and transcribed from their plain monuments the following inscriptions:

      This inscription was upon a plain marble slab, which, in our language; is equivalent to--

      After much research, and through the aid of the veteran sexton, we found also the sepulchre of the distinguished Dr. Beattie. On his tomb we found the following inscription: [270]

      We thus translate it:

      While reading the inscription, on this plain monument I was forcibly reminded of that beautiful poem, "The Hermit," written by the elder Beattie, the last stanza of which vividly came to my mind:

      The antislavery placards arrived at Aberdeen during our visit to Banff. But only at these two points did we anticipate them. So that only in the city of Aberdeen and Banff had we an unprejudiced audience, so far as the species of prejudice could avail against us. The city of Aberdeen is now distinguished into New and Old Aberdeen. The new city is mostly built of the most beautiful granite that I have ever seen. Indeed, the quarries of granite, in its immediate vicinity, are of the most beautiful color and of the most compact and solid character. It has hitherto been, and still is, a very considerable article of trade, both at home and abroad.

      The city of Aberdeen may be called a beautiful city. Many of its streets are, indeed, not only neat, but grand. For durability and comfortable residences it would seem, to a stranger, to be equal to any town of the same population in Great Britain. There are now two colleges in it; and these two institutions are, no doubt, one principal cause of its growth and prosperity. My stay was, indeed, but very short in this, as well as many other towns of considerable rank. Our brethren there are zealous, and very circumspect in the discharge of relative duties, as far as I could learn. There is also a Baptist Church in it, I am informed, of considerable respectability as to number and character. Our excellent brother Dunn, our kind host, with several of his truly amiable daughters are members of it. May grace, mercy and peace be with them all!

      From Aberdeen we departed on the 19th for Montrose. We had another pleasant coach ride, at the rate of some twelve miles per hour. Stages, in every part of Great Britain, owing, in part, to good roads, more especially to good drivers and good horses, travel about twice as fast as most of our American stages.

      At Montrose we had one meeting. The placards there first anticipated us, and called for some short notice. We disposed of them with as few words as possible, by reading some of our writings on the subject and delivering our views on some points alluded to in the placards. We had an attentive hearing by only a portion of the audience. Some were superexcited and came rather to hear us on the subject of American slavery than on the gospel. We did not, however, gratify them, having a paramount object in our eye. After enjoying the hospitalities of the brethren, at Montrose, during the night, next morning we departed thence for Dundee, via Arbroath, [272] on the Firth of Tay, a mere landing place for the steamers running between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

      At no time, during my tour, did I seem to myself in such visible danger of life as in making this landing. The coast was rocky, the port narrow and difficult to attain. Add to this, the sea was quite rough, a good breeze, and some forty-five of us, with considerable baggage, let down from the steamer, crowded into an open boat, some half a mile from the shore. The boat was greatly crammed till within a few inches above water, with one unmanageable sail and a pair of oars. It looked like tempting the Lord. We failed, on the first effort, in making port. We had again to put to sea, across the waves, and, with much difficulty, got ourselves about a mile from shore, and then took a new course in hopes of striking the little harbor. With much dexterity and great effort we succeeded, by a few yards only, in making the desired haven. The slightest indiscreet movement, on the part of the superexcited passengers while in the trough of the billows, or on the back of a wave, would evidently have capsized the boat and consigned us to the deep. But we are often just as safe in an ark of bulrushes, daubed with slime, as in a man of war, begirt with the oaks of Bashan, under the vigilance of him "who maketh the winds his chariot," who rides upon the storm" and "manages the seas." To him be all the praise.

[The Millennial Harbinger, Third Series, 5 (May 1848): 267-273.]