Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Pilgrimage To The Preceptory Of St. John's, Torphichen.
A PILGRIMAGE TO THE PRECEPTORY OF ST . JOHN'S , TORPHICHEN .
IT was a serene and sunny , and unusually sultry day , as drawing within a few miles of the object of our journey , we paced with staff in hand and wallet at our side , up the lonely unshaded ascents that lead to Torphichen from the northward . The dust and heat , which had become oppressive , inflicted faint foretaste of what we should experience were we , instead of following the line of a tolerable parish pathway , to be footing it along o ' er Judali ' s barren sands where no fresh waters be
; , and where of yore the weary wanderer had not only to centend with inward thirst , but with furious foes without—the merciless Moslem , and wild beasts of the Desert . It was then , with no inconsiderable satisfaction , that , on attaining an eminence where stood a solitary farmsteading , we descried at about a mile distant , the top of a lonely looking tower rising darkly over the interjacent upland . Torphichen ! Torphichen ! we exclaimed on the instant , even as the host
of the Crusaders shouted aloud , Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! on their first prospect of the Holy City . For a few moments we stood to gaze and ponder on the grateful apparition . It could not be but the ancient hospital of St . John , although living soul could not be found to inform us of the anticipated truth . After a short breathing space , we rushed rapidly forward through the intervening valley , and up the opposite slope , when we beheld at length in fall relief before OUT eyes the venerable object of our desires and destination , the hallowed remains of the Preceptory of St . John . This once celebrated seat of the supremacy of the AVhite-cross Knights , now their mouldering mausoleum , was
founded and munificently endowed by David the First , in 1120 : being by some years more ancient than Melrose or Kilwenning . Possibly ft was built by the same band of Brethren ; who , commencing with this in a comparatively plain , but not inappropriate style , finally expended the richness of the architectural art in the finishing of the others , —Melrose in particular . On approaching the Preceptoiy , its present appearance conveys more
the impression of some baronial keep , or square tower with two " inferior wings , than that of a building in part , if not principally , destined for ecclesiastical purposes , all that now remains of it are the choir and transepts , the nave and chancel being swept away . On the site of the ancient nave stands the modern presbyterian kirk , a lonely unpretending little temple of one story high . There is something striking in the ce of this humble unassuming edificethus
appearan , rearing itself actually on the ruins of a church , the sway and influence of whose members were once so dominent and supreme ; and it is the more so , in reference to this particular object , when we reflect that the last Grand preceptor of Torphichen himself prominently contributed to this change and revolution . AA e-allude to Sir James Sandilands , of Calder , who , so early as 1540 , is enumerated among the notable persons who had enrolled themselves as friends to the Reformation . The purity of his motives
, in this respect , we are aware has been called in question b y some ; nor are there wanting those who even broadly affirm that Sandilands , amongst other reformers , took this step solely for self-interest . / It has often been alleged , " says a distinguished writer , pointing to this
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Pilgrimage To The Preceptory Of St. John's, Torphichen.
A PILGRIMAGE TO THE PRECEPTORY OF ST . JOHN'S , TORPHICHEN .
IT was a serene and sunny , and unusually sultry day , as drawing within a few miles of the object of our journey , we paced with staff in hand and wallet at our side , up the lonely unshaded ascents that lead to Torphichen from the northward . The dust and heat , which had become oppressive , inflicted faint foretaste of what we should experience were we , instead of following the line of a tolerable parish pathway , to be footing it along o ' er Judali ' s barren sands where no fresh waters be
; , and where of yore the weary wanderer had not only to centend with inward thirst , but with furious foes without—the merciless Moslem , and wild beasts of the Desert . It was then , with no inconsiderable satisfaction , that , on attaining an eminence where stood a solitary farmsteading , we descried at about a mile distant , the top of a lonely looking tower rising darkly over the interjacent upland . Torphichen ! Torphichen ! we exclaimed on the instant , even as the host
of the Crusaders shouted aloud , Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! on their first prospect of the Holy City . For a few moments we stood to gaze and ponder on the grateful apparition . It could not be but the ancient hospital of St . John , although living soul could not be found to inform us of the anticipated truth . After a short breathing space , we rushed rapidly forward through the intervening valley , and up the opposite slope , when we beheld at length in fall relief before OUT eyes the venerable object of our desires and destination , the hallowed remains of the Preceptory of St . John . This once celebrated seat of the supremacy of the AVhite-cross Knights , now their mouldering mausoleum , was
founded and munificently endowed by David the First , in 1120 : being by some years more ancient than Melrose or Kilwenning . Possibly ft was built by the same band of Brethren ; who , commencing with this in a comparatively plain , but not inappropriate style , finally expended the richness of the architectural art in the finishing of the others , —Melrose in particular . On approaching the Preceptoiy , its present appearance conveys more
the impression of some baronial keep , or square tower with two " inferior wings , than that of a building in part , if not principally , destined for ecclesiastical purposes , all that now remains of it are the choir and transepts , the nave and chancel being swept away . On the site of the ancient nave stands the modern presbyterian kirk , a lonely unpretending little temple of one story high . There is something striking in the ce of this humble unassuming edificethus
appearan , rearing itself actually on the ruins of a church , the sway and influence of whose members were once so dominent and supreme ; and it is the more so , in reference to this particular object , when we reflect that the last Grand preceptor of Torphichen himself prominently contributed to this change and revolution . AA e-allude to Sir James Sandilands , of Calder , who , so early as 1540 , is enumerated among the notable persons who had enrolled themselves as friends to the Reformation . The purity of his motives
, in this respect , we are aware has been called in question b y some ; nor are there wanting those who even broadly affirm that Sandilands , amongst other reformers , took this step solely for self-interest . / It has often been alleged , " says a distinguished writer , pointing to this