SCOTLAND.
Mr. Mackenzie of Scatwell has signified to his political friends, that be will not contest the Inverness Burghs at the next election. The
present Liberal representative of the Burghs, Mr. M‘Leod of Cadboll, is not, however, to be allowed to walk the course. A requisition has been signed by a number of Conservatives, to Mr. John Fraser, a gen- tleman long resident in India as a merchant.—Glasgow Courier.
We understand that a summons of damages, at the instance of Lord Kinnoull and Mr. Young, against those members of the Presbytery of Atwitter:inter who refused to implement the decree of the Court of Session, ordaining the Presbytery to proceed to the trials of Mr. Young, with a view to his ordination and induction, is in course of preparation, and will he executed against them forthwith.—G/osyoty Courier.
Mr. Blackie, an advocate, having been appointed Professor of Hu- manity in the Marischal College, Aberdeen, was called on by the Presbytery of Aberdeen to appear before them and give in his adhesion to the tenets and forums of the Established Church, by appending his signature to her standards. It would appear that Mr. Mackie very honestly- said, that though he appended his name to time Confession of Faith, he did not profess to be a scientific theologian ; he could not presume to believe that he had mastered all the propositions which that Confession contained; and lie held that he sufficiently complied with the requisition of the law, when he gave a guarantee that he should teach nothing contrary to the Confession of Faith. The Presbytery granted him a certificate that he had signed the Confession, and had thus complied with the terms of the law. On reconsideration, however, they wished to recall the certificate; but they have been fairly out- witted.—Mora iny Chronicle.
Clergy of the Kirk as well as Dissenting ministers of Scotland are employed at present in attempting to produce what are called " revivals In Dundee, Aberdeen, the ncighbourhooa or titasgow, and Paisley, they are hard at work in this line.
At Finnieston, the Glasgow Argus informs us- " Clergymen and religious laymen have been in attendance almost day and night, preaching, exhorting, and conversing with the people, who repair to them in great !Jumbos, deeply concerned about the state of their souls. The meet- ings, which have been held in various places, sometimes continue till long after mar sight, being again commenced early in the morning."
In Paisley, religious meetings are held in the churches twice daily, and frequently late at night.
The Dundee Courier says- " We have ourselves occasionally gone to the meetings at St. Peter's, in con- sequence of the notoriety which they have attained; but, apart from what ap- pears to us a very dull and gloomy tone of preaching, and the mischievously late hours to which time sittings are prolonged, we had not the good fortune to witness any thing calculated to awaken attention. It is too well known, how- ever, that melancholy consequences have been produced, both within anti:with- out that place of worship. We have not heard of any male person who has been a sufferer, and at this we are by no means surprised; but, unless report errs, it has fitted differently with sonic females—persons, probably, of weak nerves, or infirm understanding, or over-excitable temperament, and whom, in our Its table opinion, it would be far better to address in the words of comfort and consolation, than to horrify and harrow up by constantly presenting to their imagination the most dismal pictures. 11'e have no wish to dwell upon this subject, and we hope we shall not have occasion to return to it ; but time present movement has become a matter of public interest, and therefore, as public journalists, we have thought it our duty to advert to it."
The Edinburgh Observer has some sensible observations on this out- break of fanaticism-- "It is quite possible to work upon the feelings and imaginations of excitable women and inexperienced young persons, till they are driven half-frantic with religious terrors, and thrown into convulsion:, anil Minting-tits through fear of God's wrath and despair of escaping from the judgments to come ; but such strong emotions cannot last long; and the holiness of life which their recollection may temporarily produce in those who have experienced them, is but too likely to be discarded after time mind has fairly settled down again into its ordinary unimpassioned state. We should be inclined to place but little reliance on a reform of conduct produced by a slavish terror of impending condemnation, or a heated and enthusiastic idea of enjoying the special flavour and countenance of the Deity. Fanatical fervours and timatical fears are dangerous and delu- sive guides, leading some to madness, others to spiritual pride, and others again —when the time of reaction comes, and enthusiasm is succeeded by indifference to hopeless infidelity and reckless profligacy. True religion is a quiet and un- obtrusive feeling ; it shrinks from the public eye, and seeks in silence and in solitude communion with Hint who, enthroned in the heaven of heavens, dis- daineth not to bend his ear to the earnest prayer of his humble worshipper. Shriekings, shoutings, wailings' convulsions, and swoonings, are noways neces- sary to conversion or useful for the confirmation of filth. They can do no good, and they may do much harm, both physical and moral : physical evil, by Injuring the health and constitutions of those who indulge in such hysterical demonstrations; moral evil, by being regarded by weak-minded and fanatical persons as such incontestible proofs of their conversion as to render all further search for evidence on the subject unnecessary. Nay, such persons run some risk of fidling into the fatal error of thinking that religion consists of little else than the frantic fears, the wild enthusiasm, and the dreamy joys of which these howlings, lamentations, ecstatic cries, and hysterical contortions are the
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outward, signs ; and are in some danger of forgetting that there is any need for do cold and prosaic a thing as plain practical piety.
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