"I Climb the Rainbow Through the Rain" George Matheson, V.

George Matheson, the blind Scottish poet, had been called as assistant to the pastor under whose ministry he had been brought up. His preaching was not scintillating, but it was competent and interesting. During this time he was growing and developing in his experience. A congregation of a thousand certainly stretched the young probationer, both as a preacher and, more particularly, as a pastor.

George Matheson's time as an assistant pastor was short, and he was soon elected pastor of a parish of his own, the parish of Innellan, at that time a Chapel of Ease of Dunoon parish. Innellan is a beautiful seaside village in West Scotland, about two miles from Dunoon village. The church there had only been built some fifteen years before Matheson's call, but the village had been developed as a holiday resort, and so it was a very wealthy and comfortable village. Today the seafront at Innellan is still lined with solid Victorian villas, testimony to its Victorian prosperity. George Matheson lived in the midst of the most beautiful scenery, but of course he could not see it.
The Rev. George Matheson was ordained the fifth minister of the Chapel of Ease, Innellan on 8th April 1868 by the Dunoon Presbytery. The following Lord's Day he was formally introduced to the congregation. The man who performed this duty was Rev. Dr. Macduff, whose assistant Matheson had been. The church was crowded with the rich and the poor. George Matheson thus entered upon his first pastorate, an event that would be a serious challenge to him, as it is to every young minister.

Next time, God willing, we shall take a look at Matheson's Innellan ministry.