ID:PC_GLENGARRY_FOLDER_10_32_06DESCRIPTION:Born on Skye, Norman MacLean (1869 – 1952) was minister at Glengarry between 1897 and 1903. From 1915 to 1936 he was minister of St Cuthbert’s Church in Edinburgh, and in 1927 became Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. In later years was also Scottish chaplain to George V. The painting is by an unknown artist.
In his autobiography Former Days, MacLean describes his dealings with Glengarry’s precentor, whose job it was to lead the unaccompanied (a cappella) singing in church. When the newly introduced organ was being set up, the precentor objected that God should be worshipped in the traditional human manner with heart and soul, rather than with ‘kists of whistles’. Maclean countered by quoting from psalm 150, ‘praise him with harps and flutes’, pointing out that if there were harps in heaven, then flutes and therefore organs were surely allowable on earth.
The organ was powered by an engine driven by water pressure from Loch Lundie, and the precentor then objected that it was the Loch that would be leading worship rather than the human voice, pointing out that the quoted psalm ended ‘let everything that hath breath praise the Lord’. MacLean’s response was that the whole of creation praised the Lord, even the mountains and the hills.
Despite his unwillingness cede power to the waters of the Loch, the precentor eventually agreed to defer to the wishes of Mrs Ellice. However, he later expressed great satisfaction when the organ’s engine broke down after the valves became clogged with sand. This, he declared, was proof that although Mrs Ellice had provided Loch Lundie with breath to praise the Lord, the Creator had decided this was not meant to be, and Loch Lundie had therefore failed through shortness of breath.DISTRICT:LochaberOLD COUNTY/PARISH:INVERNESS: KilmonivaigSOURCE:Glengarry Heritage CentreCOLLECTION:Glengarry Heritage CentreAsset ID:50065KEYWORDS:
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