The Annals of the Parish: Or, the Chronicle of Dalmailing During the Ministry of the Rev. Micah BalwhidderGalt, John
General
The Annals of the Parish: Or, the Chronicle of Dalmailing During the Ministry of the Rev. Micah Balwhidder
Galt, John
Clergy -- Fiction; Scotland -- Fiction
Fortunately, however, for my peace of mind, there proved to be but five
Roman Catholics in Cayenneville; and Father O’Grady not being able to
make a living there, packed up his Virgin Marys, saints, and painted
Agneses in a portmanteau, and went off in the Ayr fly one morning for
Glasgow, where I hear he has since met with all the encouragement that
might be expected from the ignorant and idolatrous inhabitants of that
great city.
Scarcely were we well rid of Father O’Grady, when another interloper
entered the parish. He was more dangerous, in the opinion of the
session, than even the Pope of Rome himself; for he came to teach the
flagrant heresy of Universal Redemption, a most consolatory doctrine to
the sinner that is loth to repent, and who loves to troll his iniquity
like a sweet morsel under his tongue. Mr. Martin Siftwell, who was the
last ta’en on elder, and who had received a liberal and judicious
education, and was, moreover, naturally possessed of a quick penetration,
observed, in speaking of this new doctrine, that the grossest papist
sinner might have some qualms of fear after he had bought the Pope’s
pardon, and might thereby be led to a reformation of life; but that the
doctrine of universal redemption was a bribe to commit sin, the wickedest
mortal, according to it, being only liable to a few thousand years, more
or less, of suffering, which, compared with eternity, was but a momentary
pang, like having a tooth drawn for the toothache. Mr. Siftwell is a
shrewd and clear-seeing man in points of theology, and I would trust a
great deal to what he says, as I have not, at my advanced age, such a
mind for the kittle crudities of polemical investigation that I had in my
younger years, especially when I was a student in the Divinity Hall of
Glasgow.
It will be seen from all I have herein recorded, that, in the course of
this year, there was a general resuscitation of religious sentiments; for
what happened in my parish was but a type and index to the rest of the
world. We had, however, one memorable that must stand by itself; for
although neither death nor bloodshed happened, yet was it cause of the
fear of both.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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