Ochan! loisg thu mi, chràidh thu mi,
Led’ bhrochan teth, tana, gu’n stà;
Ach fhad’s bhios uisg’ ann an Liobhain,
Cha chriochnaich do pheanas gu bràth.
A’ Chaillich gu’n mhodh, is gu’n nair
’S tu chiurr mi gu goirt, is gu searbh,
Ach thig mi le armachd gu’n dàil,
Is cuiream gu bàs thu gu dearbh!
We ought to learn one lesson from this subject—gratitude to the Great Ruler, because we live in more favourable circumstances, and under the light and liberty of a preached Gospel. The press and the pulpit have now opened the eyes of men; the schoolmaster is abroad; and many superstitions by which past ages have been deluded have greatly vanished before the pure light of evangelic truth. In many quarters of the world they have disappeared before the lustre of that revelation which has brought the truth of immortality to light, and which impresses the imagination of man with truer notions and simpler imagery. We cannot but admire the dauntless courage of Paul when he boldly faced the Epicurean and stoic philosophers—when “he stood in the midst of Mars’ Hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious”. There he met a people, the most distinguished for the wisdom of their political constitution, for the brilliancy of their achievements, for the extent and variety of their learning, and for the refinement of their manners; yet a people who, amid all their glory and renown, were ignorant of the true God, and lived the blind and deluded victims of the grossest idolatry and superstition.
