" The
militant history of his Church was a passion with him;
if ever he had to countenance canonization he would have
led off with Jenny Geddes. "A tremendous Presbyterian"
they called him in the town. To hear him give out a single
psalm, and sing it with his people, would convince anybody
of that. There was a choir, of course, but to the front
pews, at all events, Dr Drummond's leading was more
important than the choir's. It was a note of dauntless
vigour, and it was plain by the regular forward jerk of
his surpliced shoulder that his foot was keeping time:
Where the assemblies of the just
And congregations are.
You could not help admiring, and you could not help
respecting; you were compelled by his natural force and
his unqualified conviction, his tireless energy and his
sterling sort.
It is possible to understand, however, that after sitting
for twenty-five years under direction so unfailing and
so uncompromising, the congregation of Knox Church might
turn with a moderate curiosity to the spiritual indications
of the Reverend Hugh Finlay. He was a passionate romantic,
and his body had shot up into a fitting temple for such
an inhabitant as his soul. He was a great long fellow,
with a shock of black hair and deep dreams in his eyes;
his head was what people called a type, a type I suppose
of the simple motive and the noble intention, the detached
point of view and the somewhat indifferent attitude to
material things, as it may be humanly featured anywhere.
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