nd from within, it was in a lamentably
disorganised state, and presented a decidedly uninviting sphere for the
maiden efforts of a young and inexperienced minister. But William
Anderson was neither disheartened nor dismayed. He approached the work
of reconstructing and assimilating his congregation in a spirit of love
and charity, which, mingled with tact and firmness, succeeded in
subduing the anarchy and mismanagement that had previously prevailed.
His victory over the turbulent spirits under his charge was as signal
and complete as that he had achieved over the Presbytery, which in
March, 1822, consented to his ordination, after having threatened to
ostracise him on the ground that he would persist, under all
circumstances, in reading his discourses. But that which George
Gilfillan has happily described as the "tender mercies of a Scotch
Presbytery," did not induce him to turn aside from his purpose, or to
make an abject and inglorious submission. From his first start in life,
Dr. Anderson showed that he not only held opinions of his own, but unless
there was some cogent reason to the contrary, he clung to them
tenaciously. So it was with the _casus belli_ of manuscripts in the
pulpit. Failing to understand that the use of "the paper" could
interfere in the remotest degree with the due and proper effect of the
pulpit, and knowing that he could not do either himself or his
congregation adequate justice by extempore preaching, Dr. Anderson
continued to adhere to written sermons, until the Presbytery at last
gave way, leaving him master of the situation. The feud between Dr.
Anderson and his Presbytery has been described by himself as "the eleven
months of anguish to which I was subjected by the prosecution--I do not
say persecution--of the Presbytery for my using my manuscript in the
pulpit, and for certain alleged errors and improprieties in my
preaching, such as--that in two of my sermons I had quoted Shakespeare."
This contretemps proves that the Presbyterian Church was as strongly
opposed to the use of manuscripts in the pulpit half a century ago as it
is now--or was until lately--to the introduction of organs as
accessories of public worship. Fortunately, we have fallen on more
tolerant and tolerable times.

If the interference of the Presbytery had no other effect, it tended to
secure for the subject of these remarks an exceptional amount of public
attention at a very early period of his ministerial career. Peopl