perficial to a
degree, both in the patristic references and the experimental
application; but we are frail creatures, John, and it is doubtful
whether the exposition of any book should extend unto a generation. It
has always caused me regret that Mains--I mean the father of the
present tenant--departed before we had come to the comfort of the
eighth chapter."

The Rabbi's mind was much affected by this thought, and twice in the
kitchen his eye wandered to the chair where his friend had sat, with
his wife beside him. From Priscilla and Aquila he was led into the
question of hospitality, on which he spoke afterwards till they came to
the Manse, where he stationed Carmichael on the doorstep till he
secured a light.

"There is a parcel of books on the floor, partially opened, and the way
of passing is narrow and somewhat dangerous in the darkness."

CHAPTER XII.

KILBOGIE MANSE.

Ministers there were in the great strath so orderly that they kept
their sealing-wax in one drawer and their string in another, while
their sermons were arranged under the books of the Bible, and tied with
green silk. Dr. Dowbiggin, though a dull man and of a heavy carriage,
could find in an instant the original draft of a motion on instrumental
music he made in the Presbytery of Muirtown in the year '59, and could
also give the exact page in the blue-books for every word he had
uttered in the famous case when he showed that the use of a harmonium
to train MacWheep's choir was a return to the bondage of Old Testament
worship. His collection of pamphlets was supposed to be unique, and
was a terror to controversialists, no man knowing when a rash utterance
on the bottomless mystery of "spiritual independence" might not be
produced from the Doctor's coat-tail pocket. He retired to rest at
10.15, and rose at six, settling the subject of his next sermon on
Sabbath evening, and finishing the first head before breakfast on
Monday morning. He had three hats--one for funerals, one for
marriages, one for ordinary occasions--and has returned from the
Presbytery door to brush his coat. Morning prayers in Dr. Dowbiggin's
house were at 8.05, and the wrath of the Doctor was so dangerous that
one probationer staying at the manse, and not quite independent of
influence, did not venture to undress, but snatched a fearful doze
sitting upright on a cane-bottomed chair, lest he should not be in at
the psalm. Young ministers of untidy habits regarde