SCRIPTURE PARAPHRASES.
These were first translated by the Rev. Alexander Macfarlane of Kilmelfort and Kilninver. Forty-five of them were published in 1753. They were afterwards revised and remodelled, and published in complete form by the Rev. John Smith, D.D., to whom also we are indebted for the best version of the Psalter. During the second and third generations of this century, the Paraphrases, through no lack of life or poetic merit, fell into disrepute in some Highland districts, particularly in the north-west, through theological controversies in whose train rather mechanical theories of inspiration began to be introduced. These views, hitherto unknown among the Gaels, now followed out to their logical issues, led to the rejection of all hymns of mere human authorship in public worship. This result, however, is only temporary; and in its operations confined to certain circumscribed districts.