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For, if the truth were told, Scotchmen secretly divide sins into three classes, those of omission, of commission, and of admission. "Ye ken fine," he made reply, "div ye no' mind hoo Margaret an' Angus Strachan compeared afore the Kirk Session wi' their prayer for man-made hymes i' the kirk?" "Yes, Archie, I remember the Session denied their request."
Last Sabbath I am told their soprano sang 'Lead, kindly Light, and it was well received." "Wha receivit it?" thundered Archie. "Tell me that, sir. Wha receivit it? Was it Almichty God, or was it the itchin' lugs o' deein' men, aye hearkenin' to thae skirlin' birkies wi' their men-made hymes?" "Mr.
"Ye micht gie thae thochts o' mine to the Session gin the maitter comes up again aboot the hymes, ye ken, aboot hoo they micht be made intil a prayer." I silently gave the promise. "An' mair I dinna forbid ye to sing a bit hyme at the funeral. Let Wullie Allison lift the tune, for he aye keeps the time. Yon Methody's hyme wad dae: "'Hide me, oh, my Saviour hide Till the storm of life is past,
"Forbye," Archie went on, pursuing his line of thought, "I've my misgivin's aboot wha wrote thae hymes. It wasna the deevil, an' it wasna Watts, an' it wasna yon great Methody body; they set them doon, nae doot but wha started them? I'm sair dootin' they had their rise amang the hills, the same whaur Dauvit saw the glory o' God." "Above the hills of time," I added softly.
"I'm no' sayin' it was the yin or the ither," replied the old precentor, a familiar frosty flavour in his voice, "an' if it was, I'll no' confess it to ony yin but God but I'm misdootin' I was ower hard on the hymes." "What hymns, Archie?" I asked, seeking only to make easier his acknowledgment of error, ever difficult to Scottish lips.
Gie them the hymes, an' we'll hear Martyrdom nae mair, an' Coleshill an' Duke Street'll be by. For what did oor faithers dee if it wasna for the psalms o' Dauvit? An' they dee'd to the tunes I've named to ye." "But Mr. M'Cormack will admit," said Mr. Blake, "that many of God's people worship to profit with the hymns. There is the Episcopal church across the way.
No such great concession as this was to be left undefined; this codicil to his whole life's will and testament must be explained. "I ken the hymes never had what I micht ca' a fair chance wi' me. My faither cudna thole them, an' he cudna bide ony ither body to thole them. He aye said the heather wasna dry yet wi' the Covenanters' bluid.
"I canna thole the idea o' great croods o' stoot men and weemin daidlin' aboot a' day doin' naething but singin' hymes. I've often thocht aboot that, an' raley, Sandy, I dinna think I cud be happy onywey if I didna hae my studio an' my hammer wi' me; for I'm juist meeserable when I'm hingin' aboot idle. As for singin', I canna sing a single bum.
"What for div we need anither motion?" said Thomas Laidlaw, evidently perplexed. "There's nane o' us gaun to gie in to thae man-made hymes an' their kist o' whustles wad be fair redeek'lus." "Let us hear what they have to say in its behalf," said Mr. Blake. "Every honest man should be open to conviction."
At this juncture, fearing what Saunders M'Tavish had long ago called the thin edge o' the wedge, Archie M'Cormack, the precentor, came forward in hot alarm, championing the hosts of orthodoxy. "The session'll mebbe listen to me, for I've been yir precentor these mony years. We'll hae nae mair o' thae havers. Wha wants their hymes? Naebody excep' a wheen o' gigglin' birkies.
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