A Tribute to the Rev. Mr Macrae

All hail to the Rev. Mr Macrae!
He is an eloquent preacher I venture to say:
And his religious views I appreciate right well,
Because he doesn’t believe in the endless punishment of Hell

He has boldly rejected the Westminster Confession of Faith,
Which will long be remembered after his death.
He is a man I love right well,
Better than my pen can tell;
And I wish him every success —
Hoping the Lord will him bless.

And the late congregation of the great Gilfillan
To support him, I hope, will always be willing;
Because his struggles has been hard and trials not a few,
But in the midst of them all, the Lord brought him through.

And I hope to God and his congregation he will always prove true,
Because God has endowed him with wisdom, his truths to tell,
To reveal unto his people there’s no endless punishment in Hell;
And the proofs he adduces against it, I am sure they are very strong,
For Shakspeare has said, an honourable man cannot still remember wrong.

And my opinion is, Shakspeare is right,
And seems most reasonable to sensible men’s eyesight;
Because, God’s love must be greater than mere man’s by far,
And to try to lessen his love it would be an unequal par.

Oh horrible! most horrible! for the Westminster Confession of Faith to tell,
That God will inflict eternal punishment on unbaptised babes in Hell.
The Rev. Mr Macrae has acted a noble part,
And I trust his congregation will not from him depart,
But rally around him when he comes to Dundee,
And adhere to him through life and do not from him flee —
Because he has refuted the Westminster foolery.

Therefore try to console him and fill his heart with glee,
And I hope ye will never regret the day he came to Dundee.

Rev. Mr Macrae, I must conclude my lay,
And tell the world fearlessly, without the least dismay,
That you are the Second Gilfillan of the present day
And in conclusion I must say, Dundonians remember,
He will preach his Induction Sermon on the First Sabbath of November,
In the year of our Lord 1879,
Which will be remembered for a very long time.

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Comments (1) »

  1. Jeremy Salkeld
    In the year 2018, on the 6th day of February at 7:32 pm

    It is good to see that the immortal couplet of
    “…1879,
    Which will be remembered for a very long time.”
    Was not an invention selfishly restricted to the Tay Bridge Disaster, but rather liberally employed at the most opportune junctures.

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