JOHN BROWN OF HADDINGTON.

THE author of “Rab and his Friends,” in a letter says—For the “heroic” old man of Haddington, my father [Rev. Dr. John Brown, Broughton Church, Edinburgh] had a peculiar reverence—as, indeed, we all have, as well we may. He was our king, the founder of our dynasty; we dated from him, and he was “hedged” accordingly by a certain sacredness or “divinity.” I well remember with what surprise and pride I found myself asked by a blacksmith’s wife, in a remote hamlet among the hop-gardens of Kent, if I was “the son of the Self-Interpreting Bible.” I possess as an heirloom the New Testament which my father fondly regarded as the one his grandfather when a herd laddie got from the Professor who heard him ask for it, and promised it if he could read a verse. He had now acquired so much of Greek as encouraged him to hope that he might at length be prepared to reap the richest of all rewards which classical learning could confer on him, the capacity of reading in the original tongue the blessed New Testament of our Lord and Saviour. Full of this hope, he became anxious to possess a copy of the invaluable volume. One night, having committed the charge of his sheep to a companion, he set out on a midnight journey to St. Andrews, a distance of twenty-four miles. He reached his destination in the morning, and went to the bookseller’s shop, asking for a copy of the Greek New Testament. The master of the shop, surprised at such a request from a shepherd boy, was disposed to make game of him. Some of the professors coming into the shop questioned the lad about his employment and studies. After hearing his tale, one of them desired the bookseller to bring the volume. He did so, and throwing it down, said, “Boy, read this, and you shall have it for nothing!” The boy did so, acquitted himself to the admiration of his judges, and carried off his Testament, and, when the evening arrived, was studying it in the midst of his flock on the braes of Abernethy.Religious Anecdotes of Scotland