The answer of echo is, “Under the sward.”
MacLean was a scholarly man and possessed rich gifts for preaching to his fellow-countrymen. His style was concise and suggestive, his matter well-arranged and weighty, while the inspiring spirit invested all with a heavenly force and meaning which greatly delighted all the more thoughtful Highlanders.
MINOR RELIGIOUS POETS.
The Hymns of John Morrison of Skye (1828), are now scarcely read. Others also published religious poems and hymns; but there is none of them of any particular merit. They are just sermons and Christian experiences put in respectable verse. They, however, helped no doubt to propagate, especially in some parts of the west, the earnest evangelical teaching of the authors. The Gaelic Elegies, published in 1850 by the Rev. W. Findlater of Durness, do not show much poetic freshness either; but owe much of their interest to their religious character and Christian sentiments. Two of the elegies are on Dr Macdonald of Ferintosh, and on the Rev. A. Stewart of Cromarty. MacEachern of Eisdale (1866) scarcely reaches mediocrity. The Rev. A. Farquharson, a native of Perthshire, who spent the most of his life in Tiree, also published a good deal of religious poetry, scarcely equal in merit to Macdougall’s. He died a few years ago. The Rev. Malcolm MacRitchie, a native of Lewis, wrote a good many poems and hymns, which were published upwards of 30 years ago. They are superior to those already mentioned in poetic vigour and freshness of expression. A small volume by Cameron of Uist is just published (1891). Hendry of Arran and D. Macdougall have both composed a quantity of religious poetry; as also Alexander Cook, a native of Arran, who was a lay preacher of great ability. The writer published a poem of considerable merit by Cook in Bratach na Firinn in 1873. Macquarrie and Macintyre, both of Ross and Mull, the former a Baptist preacher and the latter a farmer, have both composed religious poems and hymns. It would be needless to catalogue the names of others whose names have never taken the smallest hold of public attention. It is very remarkable that men of powerful genius in all countries have often sunk to mediocrity whenever the theme was purely religious. There are not, it appears, many hymns in any language, with the exception of the Psalms, that can be described as first-class poetry.
COLLECTIONS OF RELIGIOUS POETRY.
Many laudable attempts have been made to bring the power of the sacred muse to bear on Highland life. Principal Daniel Dewar, D.D., published a considerable collection of hymns in 1806 for public worship. It was translated wholly from English, and consisted of paraphrases and hymns then current in the English language. Another collection by John Munro appeared in 1819, printed by D. Mackenzie, Glasgow. This is made up chiefly of translations from Watts’s hymns, and many of them are well rendered. Another appeared in 1832, published by John Reid. This tiny volume is neatly printed, and consists mainly of translations from the Olney hymns. Some of the compositions in Kennedy’s collection have been referred to already. The “Sacred Poetry of the North,” edited by John Rose, and published in 1851, is the most valuable collection of sacred poems yet given to the Highlanders. The authors whose works are contained in this volume have been already brought before the reader in chronological order. In more recent times many of the hymns of our own day, translated by Archibald Macfadyen, Rev. Dr John MacLeod, and others, were published by Duncan Campbell in 1874. A new edition of the same is just published, the collection being in request among Baptists who have always encouraged more hymn-singing in public worship than their Presbyterian neighbours. The latter, however, are beginning to cultivate more liberty in this respect. A few of the hymns sung in Scotland by Mr Sankey in 1874, were translated by the Rev. Alexander MacRae of Clachan, and were received with much appreciation. The first part of “The Highland Hymnal,” by the writer, was published in 1886. In connection with Highland hymnology, ancient and modern, Mr Lachlan MacBean, Mr Stewart of Killin, and Mr Alexander Carmichael have done good work in exhibiting some of the treasures of the Gaelic sacred muse. Still a good volume of Church Praise with music has never yet been given to the Highland Gael.
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.
THE PSALTER.
The first fifty Psalms were published in 1684 by the Rev. Robert Kirk of Balquidder. A version by the Synod of Argyle appeared in 1694.