HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONS

OF THE

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN

CHURCH

1733-1900

CLASSIFICATION
NUMBER
Hfr^Cl
READINGS COPY	3GM
PY
STACK CC

v.l

THE

KNOX COLLEfil

TORONTO

HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONS OF THR UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

FROM 1733 TO 1900

HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONS

OF THE

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

REV. ROBERT SMALL, D.D., EDINBURGH

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOLUME I

EDINBURGH

DAVID M. SMALL, 3 HOWARD STREET 1904

THu uBRARY

KNOX CQLiBSi TORONTO

THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH

PREFACE

IT was in September 1891 that I undertook the work of which the first volume now appears in print. It is a long time to have been engaged as a hewer of wood and a drawer of water. But, as Dr M'Kelvie attested, when investigation of innumerable dates and incidents has to be carried on, and correspondence engaged in, " weeks and months waste away at a rate which experience alone can calculate." To bring the completion nearer the field came to be limited to Scotland, and the Union of October 1900 was made the terminus. Since this latter date a few deaths have been entered in parentheses, but nothing more.

The aim throughout has been to keep by authoritative documents and let facts speak for themselves. Condensation has been demanded at every step to the exclusion of, perhaps, half the material, and any inclination to enlarge on the merits of the dead or the gifts of the living has been checked by the summons to move on. Little, therefore, is to be looked for in the way of direct laudation. We thus steer clear of the untrustworthiness which John Foster ascribed to monumental tributes, though in these, owing to their brevity, there is seldom much to complain of. But of an inscription on a marble tablet newly put up to the memory of a worthy minister many years dead he wrote as follows : — " The greater number of the lines and epithets were appropriate, but there was one which I knew to be totally false— false not only in the sense that it was not the truth but that a contrary expression would have been the truth." With regard to brief biographical notices of departed ministers, relatives are often unreasonably exacting, as I have had occasion to learn before now.

In drawing up this history I have had facilities which were not within reach forty years ago. Since then, to use the words of the committee en trusted with the business, " 150 volumes of Synodical and Presbyterial Minutes, forming a valuable history of the denomination in its several branches," have been collected within the Church premises and made accessible. The first class referred to are almost entire, and though the second have many blanks they constitute a wonderful assortment when we consider the little care that was bestowed on their preservation. Besides, within the period mentioned carefully drawn up narratives of individual congregations have been published to an extent never known before, to say nothing of books on a larger scale, such as Mr Finlay's History of Buchan Presbytery.

Vlll

PREFACE

Dr M'Kelvie's Annals and Statistics, on which the present work is based, was prepared under heavy disadvantages. The author in his country manse had slender means of sifting the information he obtained from local sources. Inaccuracies were unavoidable, and the same will be true of the work which is now completed amidst more favourable surroundings. The labour Dr M'Kelvie had in collecting material must have been enormous, and the thought makes me almost relent over the need I have had to point out blemishes and make corrections. The Annals were carefully revised, on their way to the press, besides being brought up to date, and only those who have examined the original manuscript can estimate how much the book owes to the editorship of Dr Blair.

Dr George Brown's manuscript History I have also found of inestimable service, though it is confined mostly to dates of licence, ordination, and death, with brief notes appended. On the whole, it is a model of painstaking accuracy. For this kind of work Dr Brown had aptitudes which Dr M'Kelvie did not possess. His mind had acquired a strong bent in that direction in his boyhood. The Burgher and Antiburgher ministers he heard preach in his early days, the ordination services he witnessed, the com munions he went to, with the long walks, and the edifying converse by the way, these had all a place among his cherished recollections. But Dr M'Kelvie, though attached to the Church with which he had cast in his lot on coming to years, had no interest in her antiquities or in the ministers of a former day like that displayed by Dr Brown of Broughton Place and Dr Macfarlane of London, children of the Secession manse.

The Annals of the Original Secession Church by Dr Scott of Saltcoats has been constructed on a plan similar to that of Dr M'Kelvie's, but the author had a comparatively narrow field to traverse, and written records to draw from almost throughout. Hence the book carries what we may call a rounded-off completeness, and it does justice to a phase of Secession workings which even the present age can ill afford to despise. The author, however, makes too much use of Presbytery Minutes, giving very generally the ministers who presided at moderations or officiated at ordination ser vices, matters of no importance and on which nothing turned. The thought of falling into the same mistake has occurred to me in noting down lists of calls that were given and declined, or when endeavouring to determine the precise date of a minister's death, or whether a certain ordination took place on the gth or the igth of a particular month. But the excuse may be given in the words of another : " When a reader finds that mistakes have been made about trifling matters of which he happens to be cognisant, he loses that confidence which is so essential if a biography (or history) is to be enjoyed."

In a book of this kind it is desirable that even the minutest blunders should be corrected. Several errors in dates and the like have been dis covered since these pages were in print, and hence a list of corrigenda will be given at the close of this volume. Further corrections will be welcomed in view of issuing a similar list along with the second volume. But besides surface blunders readers will be certain to mark omissions and mistakes

PREFACE ix

which I can only ascribe, like Dr Johnson with a wrong definition in his Dictionary, to "ignorance, pure ignorance."

In compiling this history my obligations to correspondents are too mani fold to be acknowledged in detail. When applied to for personal informa tion or written documents brethren in the ministry, and others, have all but universally been willing to oblige, and only in two or three cases have letters of inquiry received no answer. But my large indebtedness to Mr William Crawford, son of the late Dr Crawford, Portobello, must have special men tion. From his wide acquaintance with Secession, and still more with Relief, antiquities I have benefited all along. Besides this, while these sheets have been passing through the press he has done what no one else could in the way of rectifying errors which go much deeper than typography, to say nothing of following out inquiries which I have been unable of late to prosecute for myself.

I should also make mention of friends, chiefly in the West, who have exerted themselves to make this undertaking successful. Among these I must specify the Rev. James Primrose of Cathedral Square Church, Glasgow, without whose zeal and energy the labour of so many years might have remained permanently in manuscript. As it is, though the U.P. Church has now merged in a larger fellowship, it is to be hoped that a goodly number will value this two-volumed book as an attempt to preserve the congregational annals of a Church which has had a history of widespread interest, stretching back in its various branches over more than a century and a half. And though one generation cometh and another goeth, I believe that in our older congregations there are still a few for whom the words " Secession " and " Relief" have something of a magic sound as they come up from the midst of departed years.

R. S.

46 COMISTON DRIVE,

EDINBURGH, May 1904.

CONTENTS

PRESBYTERIES

PAGE

ABERDEEN . ..... i

ANNANDALE . . ..... 42

ARBROATH ......... 65

BANFF . . . . . . . . . .in

BUCHAN ... . 135

CUPAR ..... . 152

DUMBARTON .... ... 211

DUMFRIES .... . 243

DUNDEE ......... 278

DUNFERMLINE AND KINROSS . . . 347

KINROSS SECTION . . . 373

DUNS ..... . 398

EDINBURGH ..... . . 425

EASTERN DIVISION . . . 513

SOUTHERN DIVISION . . 551

WESTERN DIVISION . . 594

ELGIN AND INVERNESS . . 622

FALKIRK . . . . 657

APPENDICES

I. GAIRNEY BRIDGE AND THE BENNETS . ... 704

II. REV. JAMES BAINE AND THE EARLY HISTORY. OF THE RELIEF . 706

III. DIVISION OF 1771 IN THE RELIEF PRESBYTERY . . 708

IV. REV. JOHN REID OF DALRY AND BATHGATE . . 710 V. WOMAN'S VOTE IN THE SECESSION CHURCH . . . -7"

INDEX

I. CONGREGATIONS . . .717

II. MINISTERS AND OTHERS. . 719

CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS ...... 732

History of the Congregations of the United Presbyterian Church

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN

NETHER KIRKGATE (BURGHER)

IT was not till 1757 that the Secession got footing in Aberdeen. John Bisset, one of the ministers of the Established Church, and a pronouncedly evan gelical preacher, died on 2nd November of the preceding year, " greatly and deeply regretted," his tombstone bears, "by all who wished well to the interests of religion." The Scofs Magazine in announcing his death states further that "he absented himself from Church judicatories ever since the year 1737, when many of the ministers of the Established Church read the Porteous Act. His principles seemed to be very nearly the same as those of the seceders." But George Whitefield was nearer the mark when he wrote : " Mr Bisset is neither a seceder nor quite a kirkman, having great fault to find with both." At one time he seemed very near acceding to the Associate Presbytery, and they accordingly appointed three of their number to observe a Fast at Montrose on the last Wednesday of August 1740, and hold a conference with him next day, " according to his proposal in his missive to some of the brethren." But he drew back when the time came, and put in no appearance. In 1742 he published a letter against Whitefield, in which he denounced the seceders for being the first " inviters and em ployers of that foreigner." It is in this connection that John Bisset is best seen on the repellent side.

On the second Sabbath of October 1741 the great evangelist, who had been urgently invited to Aberdeen by Bisset's colleague, preached in St Nicholas' Church in the forenoon. At the afternoon service Mr Bisset, as reported in a newspaper of the day, delivered a most learned and orthodox sermon, in the course of which he addressed Whitefield, who sat right before him, by name and surname, and told him that his doctrine tended to mislead and not to edify. Of this scene Whitefield himself further relates : " He also quoted a passage or two from my printed sermons, which he said were grossly Armenian." But, though Mr Bisset's zeal for Presbyterianism and sound doctrine sometimes outran discretion, he secured for himself a com pany of faithful adherents, who afterwards betook themselves to the seceders for sermon.

On 4th January 1757, two months after Mr Bisset's death, a petition to be taken under their inspection was laid before the Burgher Presbytery of Perth and Dunfermline from a considerable number of people in and about Aberdeen, and Mr Shirra of Kirkcaldy was appointed to preach there on the fourth Sabbath of that month, and remain other two Sabbaths if he should

2 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

see cause The origin of this congregation has been sometimes ascribed to the appointment of Mr George Campbell, afterwards Principal Campbell, of Aberdeen, and one of the ablest divines of his time, to succeed Mr Bisset. In Bruce's "Eminent Men of Aberdeen" this assumption is turned to the discredit of the movement in the following terms : — " They had been accustomed so long to the stimulus of ignorance and fanaticism that true religion had no charm for them." It was in the author's characteristic style whenever evangelical truth crossed his path ; but Mr Bisset's admirers acceded to the Secession a month before George Campbell got the pre sentation at all ! Besides this, the petitioners ascribed the step they were taking to no local grievance ; all they said was, they had no freedom to hold communion with the iudicatories of the Established Church. It was the very position so long taken up by their late minister.

Until now the Burgher cause had never lifted its head in the north of Scotland ; but a letter written by Mr Bisset to Ebenezer Erskine, after the Breach, shows that his sympathies lay with the milder side of the Secession. He even held out the hope that he and some other ministers in that part of the country might cast in their lot with them, if the swearing of the covenants were no longer made a term of ministerial and Christian communion. This may account for the fact that the above application was addressed to the Burgher, and not to the better-known Antiburgher, Presbytery of Perth and Dunfermline. Sermon being granted, they lost no time in raising money by subscription, with which, to use their own words, they procured and fitted up a place of worship, which served them for fourteen years.

First Minister. — ALEXANDER DICK, best known as the father of Dr John Dick of Glasgow, Professor of Divinity to the United Associate Synod. Importance attaches to the cradle of this widely-known Secession family. Mr Dick of Aberdeen, we have ascertained, was a son of John Dick, who tenanted the farm of Binn in Cleish parish, and he was baptised, 2ist September 1729, and brought up in the Established Church. Received as a student of divinity by the Burgher Presbytery of Perth and Dunfermline on 4th January 1757. After attending Mr Fisher's classes for one session he got licence, and was called to Aberdeen in April of the following year. This call the Synod, by a great majority, preferred to another from Torphichen, and Mr Dick, who had some difficulty in accepting, was ordained, 7th December 1758. The sermon preached on the occasion by Mr M'Ewan of Dundee, author of a once popular book on "The Types," was afterwards published. Under Mr Dick's ministry the congregation prospered, includ ing among them some of the best-known families in the town, and in 1772 they removed to a new and more commodious church, in the Nether Kirk- gate, with 700 sittings. The cost, which amounted to .£500, was met by subscriptions at the time, and what remained was cleared off from the proceeds of the seat rents. A house for the minister was built on the same piece of ground. Mr Dick died, I7th February 1793, in the sixty-fourth year of his age and thirty-fifth of his ministry. In a memoir prefixed to "Sermons and Notes of Sermons" preached by him, and published in 1852, it is stated that, though afflicted with nervous weakness during the last years of his life, Jje was only laid aside from public work the Sabbath before his death.

Second Minister. — WILLIAM BRUNTON, a native of the parish of New- battle, whose connection with Aberdeen is little else than a record of disaster. First of all, the moderation in his favour was objected to and petitioned against, but by persistent pressure his supporters carried their point, though the stipend of ^80, with house, pertinents, and communion expenses, the Presbytery pronounced inadequate. The call to Mr Brunton

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 3

was signed by 240 members and 30 adherents. In the face of an opposing representation from 64 members it was sustained and accepted, and the minority, who had set their hearts on Mr Dick of Slateford, the son of their former minister, instead of acquiescing applied forthwith for a disjunction. But there were strong-willed men at the helm of affairs, and the proposal was sternly resisted. With matters in this state Mr Brunton was ordained, 22nd April 1795, little to his own comfort as the event proved. The dis junction insisted on was granted by the Synod a few weeks afterwards ; but the particulars belong to the history of St Nicholas' Church. Messrs John and Ebenezer Brown, in reporting to the Presbytery the outcome of their mission to the north in the autumn of 1796, gave it as their opinion that the disjunction would be productive of good. "The dissatisfaction of the old congregation," they said, "continues, but there is reason to think it will gradually cease, and that both congregations will increase and prosper." But the two were about to enter on diverging paths, which were to land them in rival communions.

The controversy between the Old and the New Lights was already begin ning to stir, and the session of the old congregation came forward at the very first with a petition to the Synod against any change in the Formula. Their minister, however, favoured relaxation, and he was rewarded by the refusal of his elders to take part with him in the observance of the Lord's Supper. They next went the length of forbidding him to assist any of his brethren at communions, and this was followed in 1798 by a petition to have the relation between them and their minister dissolved. Petitions in Mr Brunton's favour were also coming up to the Presbytery from his friends to the number of forty or fifty ; but these went for little. At last four elders, the heads of the opposition, who had been laid under suspension some months before, were cut off from the fellowship of the Church, which seems to have left Mr Brunton without a session. It must have been a relief to all parties when the majority withdrew, and on the first Sabbath of March 1800 had sermon from the Original Burgher Presbytery.

The contest was now transferred to the courts of law, the question being, Which party should retain the property? Mr Brunton still occupied the pulpit, and an attempt to close the door against him was circumvented by altering the locks. The sheriff decided in favour of the Old Lights on the ground that they were admittedly the majority, and because Mr Brunton had failed to make good that the call he received gave him a right to the subjects for life or until removed by a deed of Presbytery or Synod. The case having been carried to the Court of Session, the judges were much divided in their views. Expression was given to the opinion that in the titles the jurisdiction of the Synod was recognised and should be given effect to ; but in the end the judgment of the sheriff was confirmed, and the Old Light majority were put in possession of church and manse.

The case was decided on i3th May 1801 ; but how Mr Brunton and his little party contrived to meet the ruinous expenses, or whether they ever met them at all, we have no means of ascertaining. He gave in the demission of his charge on 3rd September, and though four elders and managers petitioned the Presbytery not to receive it, the connection was dissolved on I5th December 1801, and his adherents were recommended to join the new congregation. Thus was the earliest Secession Church in Aberdeen lost to the annals of the U.P. denomination. Mr Brunton now removed to Dundee, where he became a teacher. At the Synod in 1809 he applied to be employed in neighbouring vacancies, and the Presbytery was authorised to grant his request, provided it could be done without detriment to the preachers or the congregations. In 1820 he emigrated to

4 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

Canada, and was inducted to the charge of a small congregation at Lachine in connection with the Church of Scotland ; but he remained there not more than two years. His tombstone at La Chute bears that "after preaching the gospel in various other places he undertook the pastoral care of this congre gation in 1831, where he spent the last seven years of his valuable life." He died, 1 2th August 1839, in the seventy-third year of his age and forty-fifth of his ministry.

After being six years in connection with the Original Burgher Presbytery, Nether Kirkgate had a minister set over them. Strife and turmoil must have told upon their numbers, and of the three calls they issued during this period none had more than 165 signatures, including adherents. Mr William Primrose, a preacher from Kincardine-on-Forth, was ordained, I3th August 1806, the stipend to be ^100, with a manse. In 1837 the communicants were given at 160, and the stipend was the same as at first, with ^20 for house rent. In 1839 minister and congregation were admitted into the Church of Scotland, but adhered unanimously to the Free Church at the Disruption. Mr Primrose died, 3oth May 1866, in the eighty-third year of his age and sixtieth of his ministry. Of his pulpit appearances it is testified, " He had not only clear views of the gospel, but was correct in expression and very fervent in delivery." Nether Kirkgate is now known as Melville Free Church, and under this broader flag it has a membership of nearly 600.

BELMONT STREET (ANTIBURGHER)

ON 29th June 1772 Mr Brown of Craigdam petitioned the Presbytery of the North for supply to his people in Aberdeen. This little branch of his congregation was eighteen miles distant from the centre, and consisted mainly of a few families who had removed to the town from about Huntly and Craigdam. Such is the account given in a carefully-got-up history of Aberdeen, and it surpasses in probability the story of the Antiburgher cause in that town having originated with 7 members of Mr Bisset's congregation. In February 1776 a petition to be erected into a congregation was rejected, "the people applying being so very few." However, on I2th November of the following year, " the praying society at Aberdeen," with the entire ap proval of Craigdam session, had their request granted without the least opposition. Here comes in an entry, of date 23rd November, from the diary of a humble member of the Church : " Mr William Brown in the Spital Church declared that to be a new congregation of seceders in and about Aberdeen." On the first Sabbath of November 1779 they removed from their hired place of worship to the church they had erected in Belmont Street, which was seated for 800, few as their numbers must have been. The cost was put at ^1000 long afterwards, but the plain appearance of the building, taken along with the standard of the times, turns that estimate into extravagance. In 1781 the congregation called the Rev. William Barlas of Whitehill, a pulpit orator ; but he was in precarious health, and the Presbytery declined to translate.

First Minister. — MICHAEL ARTHUR, who had been nearly eighteen years in office, first in Dumbarrow and then in Peebles. Everything being ripe for a further change, he was-Sent through to supply at Aberdeen, and his induction followed, 26th June 1782. All promised well for a little, and during the first year 40 members are said to have been added to the church. But Mr Arthur was a man whom ill-fortune attended wherever he went. Three years before leaving Peebles he preached a sermon at the opening of the Antiburgher Synod, which he afterwards published, entitled " The Two

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 5

Witnesses." Besides giving his views on a difficult passage in Revelation the preacher turned aside to lament the unhappy rupture in the Secession on the question of swearing the Burgess Oath, and this stung Adam Gib like a personal insult. Owing to partial deafness the worthy man did not catch the meaning fully at the time ; but on reading the sermon in print his wrath was kindled, and he brought up a lengthy paper of complaints to next Synod. Mr Arthur was not the man to shrink from warfare when smarting under what he deemed ill-usage. The Synod enjoined both parties to lay down their weapons, but the contention was again and again renewed, and Mr Arthur alleged that, at the Synod which transferred him from Peebles to Aberdeen, Mr Gib aspersed him in a way fitted to injure his prospects in his new sphere of labour. But other evils came in to trouble him at Aberdeen.

After Mr Arthur had gone on there for three years the diary quoted from above tells of dissension between him and his people, and adds : " They are all out of order ; for the present some will not come to hear him at all." Accordingly, on 8th February 1786, he tendered the demission of his charge to the Presbytery, but assigned as the reason that the Synod at their last meeting issued a decision on the controversy between him and Mr Gib most dishonourable to themselves and injurious to him. He had signified at their bar that he could no longer continue among them. After he had been reasoned with in vain the case was referred to the Synod, which on 4th May severed the connection, and declared the congregation vacant. Subsequent procedure, ending in deposition, may be passed over ; and we come to 3rd January 1787, when Mr Arthur was received into the Relief Church by Edinburgh Presbytery, and though the deed was hurriedly done the Synod confirmed it, being fully satisfied as to the applicant's character and talents. Two years later they found that he had "gone off, and connected himself with another society." This was the Lifter Presbytery, which had the Rev. David Smyton of Kilmaurs at its head, and with which Mr Arthur had already manifested affinity in a sermon on "The Obligation and Extent of the Redeemer's Dying Command." This was the court from which his son William got licence, and by which he was ordained over what became Portsburgh Burgher congregation, Edinburgh. In this connection we have a view of Mr Michael Arthur at his worst in a pamphlet by the Rev. John Gemmell, the "Lifter" minister of Dairy, Ayrshire. Allowance must be made for hostile feeling, but, if the half of what Mr Gemmell says is true, Mr Arthur must have had rare talent for brow-beating and abuse. He seems to have claimed a seat in this ill-compacted court as the representa tive elder from Edinburgh session ; but it speedily fell to fragments. In 1793 Mr Arthur's son emigrated to America, where he was settled ere long ; and it is believed that he was accompanied by his father, of whom we lose all trace at this point.

In 1787 Bclmont Street congregation gave a divided call to Mr John Smith, which was not sustained, and eight years afterwards Mr Smith was admitted to Whithorn. Next year they called Mr Frederick MacFarlane, whom the Synod appointed to Montrose (now St Luke's).

Second Minister. — WILLIAM McCAUL, from Sanquhar (South). At the Synod in September 1788 two other calls came up to Mr McCaul — the one from Burntisland, the other from the united congregations of Kilmaurs and Stewarton. Burntisland having been set aside, a member's belated vote raised Aberdeen to equality with Kilmaurs and Stewarton, and then by the Moderator's casting vote it got the decision in its favour. But owing to delicate health Mr McCaul had required to shorten his stay at the Hall year after year, and for probably the same reason he stayed away three suc cessive sessions before he finished. Fearing that the regular work of the

6 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

ministry would be too much for him he now held back from delivering his trials, pleading also that the stipend of ,£50 was insufficient. The people, in their earnestness to obtain him, promised other ,£10, and impressed by the spirit they displayed he yielded, and was ordained, 6th April 1789. After six and a half years of trying labour, including three services each Sabbath, Mr McCaul's reserve of strength gave way, and we read of the congregation observing a Fast owing to being so long deprived of their beloved pastor's ministrations. But work was resumed and carried on other two years, and then he felt necessitated to lay down the burden, "because of his weakness of body." The commissioners from the congregation were earnest and unanimous for Mr McCaul remaining ; but on 2oth November 1798 the Presbytery had very unwillingly to loose him from his charge. He then removed to Dumfriesshire, and in 1805 he purchased the estate of Caitloch, near Moniaive, and became a great support and encouragement to the congregation there. On 29th March 1835, when he was in the seventy- seventh year of his age, Mr McCaul met his death in very distressing circumstances through being attacked by an infuriated bull. The original seat of the family was Ulzieside, near Sanquhar, a name linked with the first application to the Associate Presbytery from "The Societies of the South and West" for sermon.

Third Minister. — JAMES TEMPLETON, from Kilmaurs. The congregation had been previously in a divided state, a large number wishing to call Mr Laurence Glass, afterwards of Midholm, but others, including most of the elders, refusing to concur. Mr Templeton brought them to entire unanimity, and though he had scruples about the state of the congregation the Presbytery held they were not weighty enough to bar procedure, and he was ordained, and September 1801. The stipend was to be ^70, but in 1812 it was ^100, with a gift of .£50 generally superadded year by year. For some life-like reminiscences of Mr Templeton's early ministry we are indebted to an article by Dr George Brown in the Secession Magazine for 1841. The writer recalled the slender form ; the figure under the middle size ; the voice, not strong, but distinct and clear, with a plaintive cadence ; the striking, pithy remarks ; the weighty appeals to the conscience ; and the crowded auditories at the Sabbath evening discourses month by month. Then he comes to the inbreak of the Old Light controversy and the loss of some members "eminent for piety and exemplary conduct," including, as we know, the father of Dr John Duncan and the family of Mr Brown, the first minister of Craigdam, the church never being again so crowded as during the first five years of Mr Templeton's pastorate. But a more serious inroad was made on the congregation's entireness in 1820, when Mr Templeton, influenced probably by Mr Mitchell of Clola, his father- in-law, stood out against the Union, and afterwards took part in the formation of the Protestor Synod. This was the origin of what is now Garden Place Ghurch. But when the Protestors opened negotiations with the Constitutional Presbytery Mr Templeton dissented, and renewed his dissent a year later. He was not prepared to go over to Old Light ground, remembering, perhaps, the trouble the controversy gave him two dozen years before. On I7th May 1827, when this minor Union was consummated, Mr Templeton was absent, and on loth July he applied for admission to the United Secession Presbytery of Aberdeen, intimating that he departed from his former protest and acceded to the New Testimony. He and his elder were cordially welcomed to seats in the Presbytery, but about 40 of the members preferred to join the Original Secession congregation under the Rev. John Aitken.

In April 1833 pulpit supply was required for Belmont Street, Mr Temple-

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 7

ton being unable to preach owing to a nervous affection, and in this state matters continued more or less for nearly two years. Meantime a party in the congregation got so eager to have a certain candidate called that, when others held back, they applied to the Presbytery to be disjoined. But, Mr Templeton believing himself able to resume work, a reconciliation was effected on the understanding that, if he were unable to go on, a moderation should be proceeded with after a reasonable time. In July 1836 they were unanimously in favour of going forward. As for money arrangements, the junior minister was to have ^iooa year, and Mr Templeton was willing to cast himself on the liberality of his people without the mention of any definite sum.

Fourth Minister. — ROBERT SEDGEWICK, from Regent Place, Glasgow. He was already on trials for Cumbernauld, but accepted Aberdeen, where he was ordained, 2ist September 1836. A year afterwards the membership was 350, and the people were endeavouring to give each of their ministers ^100. The debt was under ^400, and had been considerably reduced within recent years. There were three services at this time, Mr Templeton being so far recovered as to take part of the work ; but the conducting of the week- night meeting and the Bible classes devolved entirely on his colleague. Three years after this trouble came in an acute form, and rapidly reached a crisis. It was a time when suspicions of error in doctrine were abroad, and the Church was in the first stirrings of the Morisonian controversy. To guard the defences the Presbytery of Aberdeen assigned to the three divinity students under their care as the subject of an essay " The Extent of the Atonement." On the exercises being read several of the members deemed them unsatisfactory, and the manuscripts were handed over to a committee, of which Mr Templeton was convener. When a report was given in discus sion arose, and when it was carried by a majority not to sustain the essays, as they contained views of the Atonement " inconsistent with Scripture and our standards," the two colleagues came to an open rupture. The particulars are given on the written authority of the Rev. H. A. Paterson of Stonehouse, under whose name a fuller account of the doctrinal case will be given.

At first Mr Sedgewick said little beyond complaining that the students were being too severely dealt with ; but, after Mr Angus made common cause •with the accused, he got up from the recumbent position and declared that he did the same. Thereupon Mr Templeton said he would no longer be colleague to a heretic, and next Sabbath he came out on the subject of heresy, pointing the application, it was alleged, with eye and finger. Very clearly this state of things could not be endured, and after another Sabbath the congregation of Belmont Street prayed the Presbytery to take their circumstances into serious consideration. The papers were given in at a meeting in Edinburgh while the Synod was sitting, and, foreseeing stormy weather, the Presbytery requested the Synod to appoint assessors to help them through. On 7th July 1840 the Presbytery met, and along with them were Dr Young of Perth, Mr Hay of Arbroath, and Mr Campbell of Peter- head. Written documents were read and parties heard at great length, and at the second sederunt, on the second day, a basis of agreement was put into shape, of which the central article was that the aged minister should take only one of the services on the Sabbath, leaving the other two to Mr Sedge- wick. It was pleaded that this was the usual arrangement in all such cases, and it was what had been agreed on when Mr Sedgewick began his ministry. It was also enjoined on the members of the congregation to give faithful attendance on the ministrations of both pastors, who on their part were asked to pledge themselves to study by their whole deportment to promote each other's comfort and usefulness, — terms to which the commissioners and the junior minister agreed.

HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

At this stage Mr Templeton proved impracticable, and when Dr Young and Mr Campbell were .appointed to retire with him and urge acquiescence they had to return in a short time with the report that " he had determinedly- refused." The Presbytery elder also insisted that half the public services on Sabbath ought to be assigned to Mr Templeton. Baffled in their en deavours the Presbytery adjourned for a week, but when they met again it was to find Mr Templeton forward with a petition to be separated without delay from his colleague, and to be allowed to open a place of worship for himself, — neither of which requests could be complied with. To prevent damage to Belmont Street it was thought needful to suspend him from the exercise of his ministerial functions until the appeal which he had taken to the Synod should be heard. At next meeting, on nth August, certain elders and members of Belmont Street Church asked to be erected into a new congregation under the pastoral care of Mr Templeton. He had preached to them in the open air at first, and they were now worshipping in a hall. Supply of sermon was granted in consequence of their minister's indisposition, and indeed it was known that, to all appearance, he was dying. The Presbytery in the circumstances declared the sentence of suspensioli removed ; but before that day closed the worthy man died, in the seventieth year of his age and thirty-ninth of his ministry. The history of Charlotte Street Church supplies the rest.

There was peace in Belmont Street now under the sole pastorate of Mr Sedgewick ; but controversy must have brought the cause into disfavour, and prosperity was slow in returning. Mr Sedgewick, feeling this, resigned, with the view of emigrating to America, and the relation was dissolved, 1 2th February 1849. On 4th September following he was inducted to Musquodoboit in Nova Scotia, where he laboured till i5th August 1882, when he retired owing to the infirmities of age. He died, 2nd April 1885] in the eighty-second year of his age and forty-ninth of his ministry. A little, racy book of his, entitled "The Wine of the Kingdom," was published in 1846. His son, the Rev. Thomas Sedgewick, D.D., was a student in our Hall for one session, and then went to Nova Scotia. He is now minister at Tatamagouche, and clerk to the Synod of the Maritime Provinces.

Fifth Mims/er.—jOHN CROUMBIE BKOWN, from Haddington (East), a grandson of the Rev. John Brown of Haddington and a brother of the celebrated Dr Samuel Brown. Ordained at St Petersburg on 6th December 1835 as an agent of the London Missionary Society. After labouring there for some years he returned to this country. He afterwards became minister of an Independent Church at Beverley, Yorkshire, but left in 1844 for Cape Town under the auspices of the above society. The year after that he published a volume on "The Truths of Christianity," and in 1847 a volume of discourses. Received into the U.P. Church by the Presbytery of Edinburgh, 8th June 1849, and inducted into Belmont Street, 24th April 1850. The congregation at this time furnished a stipend of only ^120, and the call was signed by 124 members and 19 adherents. From 1853 to 1860 Mr Brown was also Lecturer on Botany in King's College, Aberdeen, from which he received the degree of LL.D. in 1858. He was loosed from his charge on i6th February 1863, having accepted the situation of Government Botanist at the Cape of Good Hope, and Professor of Botany in the South African College. The arrangements there having collapsed in the interests of retrenchment, Dr Brown returned home, and had his name placed on the probationer list in May 1867. He was inducted into Church Street, Berwick, 2nd March 1869; but heartiness could scarcely be looked for where the minister chosen was above threescore, and owing to an unhappy state of feeling in the congregation Dr Brown, at his own request, was loosed from

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 9

his charge, 5th July 1870. He afterwards removed to Haddington, his native place, where his freedom from other work was favourable to the in terests of science. He there gave himself to the study of Forestry, on which he published a series of valuable books, fifteen in number, the first in 1876 and the last in 1884. He died, I7th September 1895, aged eighty-seven. Dr Brown was a son-m-law, as well as a nephew, of the Rev. John Brown of Whitburn.

When this vacancy occurred Belmont Street had a membership of 160, and the stipend was to be ^150. Three unsuccessful calls followed, the first to Mr Adam Welsh, who afterwards got Kincardine ; the second to Mr R. S. Bruce, who afterwards got Wishaw ; and the third to Mr Robert Lyon, who preferred North Leith, where he became colleague to Dr Harper.

Sixth Minister.— DAVID BEATT, from School Wynd, Dundee. Ordained, iSth^Apnl 1865, after declining calls to Hartlepool and Bishop Auckland. On Sabbath, loth January 1869, the present church, with sittings for 700, was opened by the Rev. Andrew Morton, afterwards D.D., Edinburgh. It stands on the old site, and cost over ,£3000, which was nearly all defrayed m the course of eight years. In 1895 Mr Beatt received the degree of D.D. from St Andrews University. At the close of 1899 the membership of Belmont Street was 587 and the stipend ,£350.

BELMONT STREET (RELIEF)

THE Relief denomination in Aberdeen, as in Dundee, had tangled, disrupted fortunes for the first forty years. The origin has generally been traced back as far as 1773, ""hen the first minister was settled in Gilcomston Chapel of Ease ; but for two reasons we reckon this too early. First, it was not till 29_th April 1778 that the managers of the Relief Church resolved to proceed with the erection of a place of worship, and on i;th August of the same year, when application was made to the Relief Presbytery of Glasgow for sermon, they were described as "a forming congregation." Second, the first ordination at Gilcomston seems to have been harmoniously gone through, but the second minister, though chosen in June 1776, was° not admitted till November 1778. This may be taken as the period within which the Relief cause took shape. The church was built "by voluntary subscription," with accommodation for 1000 people.

First Minister.— JOHN BRYCE, who, we have some reason to believe, belonged to the parish of Carsphairn. If so, he is almost certain to have come over from the Established Church, which may account for his prepared ness to go back to the Established Church again. The date of his ordination cannot be given ; but, according to the minutes of the congregation, the call,

which was unanimous in a way, came out on ijth October 1779, the Rev!

James Baine of College Street, Edinburgh, presiding on the occasion. For reasons which will fully appear under next heading Mr Bryce and his people joined the Established Church, into which they were received, on nth August 1791, by the Presbytery of Aberdeen. The first Relief con gregation in Dundee was lost to the denomination in the same way and almost at the same time, and in both cases they took the property with them. The Relief Presbytery of Perth asked the Synod at next meeting for advice as to how they should proceed with Mr Bryce, and were told to summon him to their bar and deal with him according to the rules of the Church. But the fugitive was safely settled down in his new connection, and the matter was allowed to drop.

For three dozen years Mr Bryce preached on without having either a session of his own or a seat in the Church courts. At last, on s'th March

io HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

1828, Belmont Street Chapel of Ease, which is said to have been largely attended, was erected into a parish church, and the Rev. John Bryce became a regular parish minister. He died, loth March 1831, in the seventy-seventh year of his age and fifty-second of his ministry. His son, Dr James Bryce, formerly an army chaplain, figured in the Assembly in pre-Disruption days as an extreme Moderate, and wrote a history of the Church of Scotland on the same lines.

SHIPROW (RELIEF)

THE chapel in Belmont Street was built by subscription, and hence, when a minister came to be chosen, the right to vote was limited to the subscribers. They united in electing Mr Bryce, " there not being another put into the field " ; but non-subscribers resented the exclusion, and by all accounts they were mostly in favour of another candidate. It issued in the erection of a rival chapel in the Shiprow of like dimensions with the other. The parties betook themselves for sermon to Cowan of Colinsburgh, who along with certain fluctuating quantities constituted the Old Presbytery of Relief.

First Minister. — JOHN BRODIE, a licentiate of Dysart Relief Presbytery, whose family seems to have belonged to Kennoway or its neighbourhood. Having preached to his supporters in Aberdeen without Presbyterial authority he was excluded from the Relief connection. He was ordained over Shiprow congregation by the Rev. James Cowan on 6th August 1780, and for ten years the two assisted each other on communion occasions. But in 1790 Mr Brodie and his congregation applied for admission to the Relief Synod. It was now that long-cherished antipathies burst forth, Mr Bryce and his session having lodged papers with Uysart Presbytery reflecting on Mr Brodie's character. The Synod remitted the matter to the Presbytery, instructing them to inquire into the grounds of these charges and also how far the admission, if agreed to, would affect the interests of the other con gregation in Aberdeen. Next year Dysart Presbytery reported that all they had learned about Mr Brodie was favourable, and accordingly, having sub mitted to rebuke for his disorderly conduct eleven years before, he was received into ministerial communion. The pastoral bond between him and Shiprow congregation was at the same time recognised ; only, a member of Synod was to occupy the pulpit some Sabbath and read the minute of Synod by way of administering censure. The next we hear of Mr Bryce and his congregation is that they have found a home in the Establishment. On 6th September 1798 Mr Brodie was loosed from Shiprow on accepting a call to Dovehill, Glasgow (now Kelvingrove). His former congregation called him back within a twelvemonth, which brought out their regard for him, but had no further effect. With Mr Brodie's departure the prosperity of the Relief cause in Shiprow came to an end.

Second Minister. — ALEXANDER BOWER, from College Street, Edinburgh. John Campbell, the African traveller, who was a cousin of his, states that his father was an elder in that Church, and remarkable for strict Sabbath observance. Mr Bower himself got licence from the Presbytery of Armagh in Ireland, and was received as a probationer by the Relief Presbytery of Edinburgh, 23rd May 1799. Ordained over Shiprow Church on 6th November of that year. But disaffection early showed itself, and altogether the settlement proved most unfortunate. Mr Bower, however, proved himself to be what his cousin called him — "a scholar" — and in 1802 he was awarded a prize by the Blackwell Trustees for the best essay on " The Character, Manners, and Doctrines of the Socratic School." On the other hand, one who had the means of knowing testified long afterwards that " Mr

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN n

Bower's ministry was the bane of the Relief cause in Aberdeen." There had been mutterings of discontent long before, but to get quit of him the managers of Shiprow Church on 3oth July 1805 laid on the Presbytery's table a list of fourteen charges against him, some of them frivolous enough, such as shaving on Sabbath and saying there was no sin in doing so. There was more in the allegation that he had all along preached the doctrines of the Bereans, including the crotchet that it is wrong to pray for a blessing on the sacramental elements. But, worse still, he had read from the pulpit a document in which he applied a libellous epithet to the mana gers about the decline of the congregation. Three additional articles were afterwards thrown into the scale, the weightiest of them being "drunkenness."

At a Presbyterial visitation on 28th August the whole affair was pressed into little compass. The managers had locked the church door against their minister, and it was declared that on this account they had lost their rights as prosecutors. It was consequently agreed "to throw said charges over the table." Then a committee was appointed to inquire on the spot into the grounds of the fama raised against Mr Bower's character, but all they brought up was that he had acted imprudently in the matter of private baptism. The managers had previously engaged to pay down ^50 to Mr Bower at once if he would resign, and they had also told the Presbytery that unless he were suspended forthwith they would sell the church for the payment of the debt resting on it. But Mr Bower preached on to his own adherents for another year, and then on 6th September 1806 he tendered his resignation, which was at once accepted. We lose sight of him now till 1814, when he applied to the Relief Presbytery of Edinburgh to be recog nised as an ordained probationer. This was agreed to, but at next meeting the decision was unceremoniously cancelled. We next meet with him as Assistant Librarian in Edinburgh University, of which he wrote an elaborate history in three volumes, strong, according to Sir Alexander Grant, in biographical details, but weak in everything else. Before leaving Aberdeen he published a biography of Dr James Beattie, poet and professor, in which he refers to him as having been his patron, and this was followed in 1813 by a life of Martin Luther ; but neither of them is of any account now. His literary work, however, has found a place for him in the National Biography, where he is spoken of as having been originally a teacher in Edinburgh. The writer knew nothing of him as a minister of the Relief. He also states that Mr Bower died suddenly in 1830-1, whereas he lived on till 23rd February 1837.

Two months after Mr Bower left, a number of the people petitioned Perth Presbytery to preach the pulpit vacant and grant them sermon. The elders, it was found, were all gone, but the old managers came forward, professing penitence for their unruly conduct at the time of the Presbyterial visitation, and, after submitting to rebuke, had supply appointed them. But another Relief congregation in St Andrew's Street was on the point of ob taining a minister, and Shiprow Church disappears henceforth from the Presbytery records. It is known, however, that Dr Paton, of whom more will be given in connection with St Paul's, now became the occupant of the pulpit, but we can scarcely say that he belonged to any denomination. He died, nth March 1811, "much regretted," the newspaper notice stated, "by his congregation and his numerous friends and acquaintances." He was succeeded by David Gellatly, the champion of the Cowanite party, who, after ruining the Relief cause in Haddington, had exercised his gifts for ten years in Castlegarth, Newcastle. Having gone out to Peterculter for his health, he died there, 2oth August 1821, aged fifty-eight. A tombstone "erected by his relict and congregation " in the churchyard near by marks where he is

i2 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

buried. He was succeeded by one Patrick Ross, whose ministry was of short duration. Next, a newspaper notice tells that on 7th September 1823 the Rev. Hugh Hart of Paisley was elected minister of the old Relief Chapel, Shiprow, Aberdeen. This translation bears on the annals of the U.P. Church, as, shortly after Mr Hart left Paisley, the congregation, which had been Independent, acceded to the Secession Presbytery, and brought the building with them. This was the beginning of St James' Church. In 1837 Mr Hart returned the communicants of Shiprow at 600. The congregation was now designated the United Christian Church, and the minister had a lease of the chapel for life at ^70 a year. His stipend was not more than .£120. The building was demolished some time afterwards to make way for improvement purposes, and with that the chequered history of the Relief Chapel in Shiprow, Aberdeen, came to an end.

ST NICHOLAS' (BURGHER)

COMPARED with the brethren they left behind them in Nether Kirkgate, the party that originated the new Burgher congregation in Aberdeen had a peaceful history. Their candidate on the moderation day was the Rev. John Dick of Slateford, and failing to carry his election they went in for separate existence. After a pause 73 of their number petitioned the session for a disjunction, which was first delayed and then refused. Their protest having come up to the Synod in May 1795 it was sustained, and the disjunction agreed to. Two petitions for sermon from 100 outsiders were indirectly met by this decision, it being explained that the parties would have an oppor tunity of hearing the gospel along with the disjoined members, and this, we may believe, was all they ever thought of. The two companies now coalesced, and in January 1796 they called Mr Dick, the subscribers numbering 107 members and 64 adherents. At this time they were designated Belmont Street congregation, indicating that their church was already built and occupied. The call was repeated six months later, but the Synod on both occasions, in keeping with his own wishes, refused to translate, and Mr Dick remained in reserve for a more important situation. Three unsuccessful calls followed — the first to the Rev. George Henderson of Lauder, who had been sent by the Synod to supply in and about Aberdeen ; but the congre gation, after the call was sustained and transmitted to Kelso Presbytery, unanimously agreed to let procedure drop. The second was addressed to Mr Thomas Brown, probationer, whom the Synod appointed to Dalkeith, and the third to his brother Ebenezer of Inverkeithing, who had been evangelising in the north ; but the call was withdrawn at his own request. Thus four years came and went.

First Minister. — LAURENCE GLASS, from Orwell (now Free Church). He was also under call to Crail, but the Synod preferred Aberdeen without a vote. Ordained, 5th March 1800. Dr George Brown, who was present, a boy of ten, remembered the neat appearance of the church, and its situation on a steep declivity, no stairs being required for the gallery. But next year the building had to be removed to make way for Union Street, and out of the materials another was erected in St Nicholas' L<tne, the cost, first and last, to the congregation being ,£850, which subsequent enlargements raised to ^1000, and made the sittings 604. Of Mr Glass, Dr Brown states in his reminiscences that his delivery was unnatural from his not taking a breath ing in the middle of his sentences ; yet "such was the hallowed unction of his preaching, his profound views of divine truth, and the fine taste which characterised his composition, almost a novelty till then among dissenters in

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 13

the north," that he soon gathered round him a devoted congregation. But pulmonary disease was superinduced, and he died, 7th May 1813, in the thirty- fifth year of his age and fourteenth of his ministry. Mrs Glass was a sister of Mrs Balmer, so often referred to in the life of Principal Cairns, and they were sisters of John Scott, the first editor of the London Magazine, a literary man of great talent and varied accomplishments, who died, 27th February 1821, from a wound received in a duel eleven days before. It was a time when the atmosphere of the political world was thunderladen ; but a man like John Scott ought never to have given a challenge and placed his own and another's life upon the hazard, great as the provocation may have been.

During the vacancy which followed Mr Glass' death the congregation presented a call to the Rev. John Jamieson of Scone, signed by 239 members, the stipend to be ,£150. But he had no wish to remove, and the Synod de cided unanimously not to translate.

Second Minister. — HENRY ANGUS, M.A., from Inverkeithing. The call from Aberdeen was preferred both by himself and by the Synod to another from Lochwinnoch, and Mr Angus was ordained, 23rd July 1816. St Nicholas' congregation under their young minister, who proved himself an all-round man, acquired a high standing in the town, and in 1837 there was a communion roll of 400 and a stipend of £i 50, with a house. A new church was built on the old site in 1845, with 700 sittings. In 1857 the congregation called one of their own number, Mr William Watson, to be colleague and successor to Mr Angus, but he chose Forres instead. They next called their own minister's son, but he was already bespoke for Trinity Church, Sunder- land, and preferred to go there. He is no\v the Rev. Henry Angus, D.D., Arbroath.

Third Minister. — JAMES M. M'KERROW, M.A., son of the Rev. Dr M'Kerrow, Manchester. Ordained, igth October 1859. Each minister was to have ,£150 of stipend, and during what remained of his life Mr Angus as a rule took one of the services each Sabbath. He died, 28th June 1860, in the sixty-sixth year of his age and forty-fourth of his ministry. On lying down in bed that night he felt seriously ill, and in a little he whispered the word "death," turned his face to the side, and passed away. We have a befitting memorial of Mr Angus' gifts in a volume of high-class discourses published in 1861, with a very tastefully-written memoir from the pen of his son, the Rev. Robert Angus of Peebles. The collection includes the sermon Mr Angus preached at the opening of the Synod in 1851, which George Gilfillan characterised as the best of the kind he ever read — "calm, masterly, and truly eloquent." The same critic in his " Remoter Stars" has a glowing notice of the author, whose preaching power he admits was limited owing to his delivery, but "when roused by special circumstances or committed to a great effort he wrote noble sermons, original in thought and elaborate in language."

In October 1866 Mr M'Kerrow was invited to remove to the newly-formed congregation of Birmingham, but declined, assigning as a reason the diffi culties which beset the cause of Presbyterianism in England, partly through being debarred from the use of instrumental music in public worship. But on 23rd April 1867 a second call was presented, and, pleadings being dis pensed with bymutual consent, Mr M'Kerrowsimplyannouncedhisacceptance, and was loosed from his charge. In his new sphere of labour Mr M'Kerrow experienced for two years the disadvantage of conducting services in a hired room in the heart of the town, but on 3rd June 1869 a new church was opened at Camphill, with 650 sittings. The entire cost was about .£4000, of which the greater part had been previously raised. In 1885 Mr M'Kerrow

i4 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

emigrated to New Zealand, where he was inducted soon after into his present charge at Mossgiel, in the Presbytery of Dunedin.

A vacancy of one and a half years followed at Aberdeen, during which the congregation called the Rev. R. S. Bruce of Wishaw, who had been the choice of Belmont Street Church three years before, but he decided to decline in this case also. The stipend was now up to ^300.

Fourth Minister. — JOHN RUTHERFORD, B.D., son of the Rev. A. C. Rutherford, Edinburgh. Ordained, nth November 1868. In 1874 some 50 or 60 members, including 4 elders, withdrew from Mr Rutherford's ministry. This may have suggested the desirability of a change, and accordingly he accepted a call to Leicester, 3oth November 1875. Having resigned his charge on the ground of impaired health, he applied to the General Assembly of 1882 for admission to the Established Church, and had his application granted. He is now minister of the first charge in Kirkwall parish. Before a successor was obtained at Aberdeen the congre gation called Mr A. F. Forrest, who preferred Erskine Church, Stirling.

Fifth Minister. — JOHN ROBSON, D.D., son of the Rev. Dr Robson, Wellington Church, Glasgow. Was ordained as a missionary to Ajmere, India, on 3ist July 1860. After being twelve years in the foreign field Mr Robson had to come home owing to failure of health, but expected to return on regaining lost ground. He had, however, under medical advice to tender his resignation to the Mission Board and remain permanently in Scotland. In 1874 he published a valuable book, "Hinduism and its Rela tions to Christianity," the outcome of his stay in the East, and had the degree of D.D. from Glasgow University in 1876. He was inducted to St Nicholas' Lane on 2ist September of that year. The congregation had come down from 389 to 325 since the commencement of Mr Rutherford's ministry, but the stipend was ,£300 as before. The present church, built about a mile from the former site at a cost of ^5000, was opened, with 700 sittings, on Sabbath, I5th September 1888, when the collections came within ^60 of clearing off the ^700 of debt remaining. Dr Robson having arranged for at least partial retirement, the congregation in November 1898 invited the Rev. James G. Goold of Dumbarton to be his colleague, but without success. At next Synod the service he had rendered to the Church was recognised by his elevation to the Moderator's Chair. Besides his book on Hinduism, by which he is best known, Dr Robson published "The Bible: Its Revelation, Inspiration, and Evidence" in 1883, and "The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete" in 1894.

Sixth Minister. — JAMES G. WALTON, B.D., who, finding Bell Street, Dundee, too much for his ebbing strength, accepted what promised to be a lighter charge. He was inducted to St Nicholas' Church on i4th Sep tember 1899, and, this point being reached, Dr Robson, to give the junior minister a free hand, intimated his entire withdrawal from active service. But Mr Walton was already under the grasp of an ailment which refused to let go its hold, and in a few months all was over. He died, 2gth January 1900, in the forty-first year of his age, and was buried at South Shields, where his ministry began sixteen years before.

Seventh Minister. — D. RITCHIE KEY, M.A., translated from London Road, Edinburgh, where he had been nearly fifteen ^ears, and inducted as colleague to Dr Robson, but with responsibility for the whole work, I ith June 1900. The membership now approximated to 500, and Mr Key's stipend was to be ,£400, Dr Robson taking no retiring salary.

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 15

ST PAUL'S (RELIEF)

THIS congregation owed its rise to the disintegration of Shiprow Relief Church under Mr Bower. Dr George Brown put it in this form : " The more pious part were dispersed on the appointment of a minister who was ultimately no ornament to his profession." The Presbytery of Perth had an early call to inquire into the state of matters between Mr Bower and his people by a number of charges being sent up against him before he had been six months in office ; but without making any allowance for distance they declared that, as the complainers were not forward, the paper must be dismissed. In December 1801 Mr Bower brought Mr Paterson of Dundee before the Presbytery for having preached in a hall to a number of people who were disaffected to his ministry, and got him rebuked for the offence. It is a token that another congregation was in course of being formed ; but instead of facing opposition from Mr Bower they betook themselves to the Old Relief party, as Shiprow did at first, and they got the Rev. John Paton, M.D., James Cowan's successor at Colinsburgh, to become their minister. He was inducted, as we learn from Dr George Brown, on I2th October 1803, and their church in St Andrew's Street, with 900 sittings, and built on the proprietor system at a cost of about ^1000, seems to have been taken possession of soon after. On ijth September 1805 seat-holders in St Andrew's Chapel, to the number of nearly 200, applied to be taken under the inspection of the Relief Presbytery of Perth, and the petition was granted. Dr Paton, their minister, had previously left, and he was now preaching to his own adherents in some temporary meeting-place, but when Mr Bower was loosed from his charge he got possession of Shiprow Chapel, where he ministered till his death, as given under that heading.

In June 1806 the new accession called the Rev. William Strang, formerly of Newton Stewart, promising him ,£140 and a dwelling-house. He had given them reason to believe that he would accept, but he drew back, alleging that the subscribers were a mere handful and not at all what the proprietors led him to expect, most of them being so illiterate as not to be able to sign their own names. More than this, when the call was read on the moderation day, a number on hearing the amount of stipend engaged for left the meeting, which showed they were unwilling to come under legal obligation to support him and his family. The Presbytery expressed them selves strongly on the part he had acted ; but Mr Strang got free, and was inducted into Ford next year.

First Minister. — SAMUEL M'MlLLAN, from E. Campbell Street, Glasgow. Ordained, nth February 1807. "The proprietors, managers, and others" now named ,£120 for stipend. Mr M'Millan's tastes are indicated by his "Beauties of Ralph Erskine," which he published in two volumes in 1821 ; and, says a history of Aberdeen, "He sustains a character more honourable to the Relief body than was that of several already mentioned." He also appeared about the same time as the author of " Evangelical Lectures and Essays." But, though his doctrine and life were all that could be wished, he seems to have wanted the popular element, and the cause made little progress. In 1837 he reported the communicants at 150, and the average income of the congregation for the preceding seven years had been but slightly over ,£100. Yet Mr M'Millan was preaching three times every Lord's Day, and he had also conducted a Sabbath school since the beginning of his ministry. But he was now laid aside by serious illness, and the congregation first required pulpit supply and then resolved to have a colleague.

Second Minister. — WILLIAM BECKETT, from Thread Street, Paisley,

1 6 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

Ordained, 2gth November 1837, on a stipend of ^80, — Mr M'Millan to receive ,£30 and the proceeds of a yearly collection. The tide rose under the young- minister ; but on 7th July 1840 he accepted a call to Rutherglen. It had been arranged that Mr Beckett was to receive other £2.0 at the senior minister's death, but Mr M'Millan survived for an entire generation. The congregation now fixed on Mr Thomas Sommerville of Auchtergaven, but he drew back from the difficulties of Aberdeen.

Third Minister. — JOHN THORBURN, from Allars, Hawick. At the moderation he had 68 votes, and 55 were given to Mr Thomas Stevenson, afterwards of Bread Street, Edinburgh. The call was signed by 119 com municants, and 51 persons adhered, some in full membership and some only seat-holders. The stipend promised was now £110. The people being wishful to have Mr Thorburn recognised as sole pastor, Mr M'Millan expressed his willingness to give up all official duties, and his ministerial connection with St Paul's came virtually to an end. In 1845 ne wrote a pamphlet on the Atonement question, taking, as was to be expected, the thoroughly Calvinistic side, and in 1848 he edited the Works of Thomas Boston in twelve volumes. He died, nth January 1864, in the ninetieth year of his age and fifty-seventh of his ministry ; and an edition of Ralph Erskine's Works in seven volumes, prepared under his care, was published that same year.

Mr Thorburn was ordained, 27th May 1841. Next Sabbath he was introduced to his charge by the Rev. William Anderson of Glasgow, who took for his text in the evening John vi. 68 : " To whom shall we go ? " From these words he preached a terrific sermon on "The Prospects of the World," of which his biographer says : "This is a discourse which we might put into the hands of his friends if we wished them to be more deeply impressed with an idea of his powers of mind, and into the hands of his enemies if we wanted them to see his weaknesses of temperament and limitations of view." How his fury flashed forth, for example, on the United States of America, in their bosom the simmering lava of two millions of slaves. " Ho for the red veng eance which shall overwhelm both the religious and the political hypocrisies of these doomed republicans!" Altogether the discourse in its published form, and much more when listened to, gave Aberdeen a specimen of the stormy might that could wake up in the slighted pulpit of the Relief in St Andrew's Street.

But that old pulpit was to be closed ere long. The place of worship had been burdened with a debt of ,£400, and, payment being demanded, a brother- in-law of Mr M'Millan advanced the money, and got command of the property. Some years after his death his trustees required the congregation either to redeem the building at the foresaid price or part with it altogether. They chose the latter alternative, and on Sabbath, I3th November 1842, a new church, with 900 sittings, was opened by the Rev. Daniel Gorrie, Kettle. The funds of the congregation having gone a great way back owing, the people alleged, to general dissatisfaction with the junior minister, and "harm done by the pecuniary difficulties in which he was involved," Mr Thorburn resigned, i6th December 1845, and the resignation was at once accepted. But as he was a man of talent and considerable pulpit power he was in ducted within five months into the Relief Church, Dunning. The congrega tion now came back on the object of their choice five years before, the Rev. Thomas Sommerville of Auchtergaven, but again they met with a refusal. Then, early in 1847, they fixed unanimously on Mr Robert Anderson ; but when he received a call to become his father's colleague at Kilsyth, the claims of Aberdeen were set aside.

Fourth Minister. — ANDREW DICKIE, translated from Colinsburgh,

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 17

where he had been for little more than one and a half years. Inducted, i8th August 1847, the stipend to be .£120, and under his energetic ministry the congregation greatly improved. The progressive steps cannot be given, but in 1879 there was a membership of fully 400 and a stipend of ^290. In 1882 Mr Dickie, owing to advancing years, applied for a colleague, and the congregation arranged to give him ^70 a year, of which ^20 was reckoned to be for the Sabbaths he might occupy the pulpit, and the colleague was to have .£250. They now called Mr John Cullen, afterwards of Leslie, and the Rev. D. K. Auchterlonie of Craigdam, both of whom declined.

Fifth Minister. — DAVID BURNS, translated from Linlithgow (East), where he had been for six years. Inducted to St Paul's, 28th August 1883, and loosed on gth August 1887 on accepting an invitation to undertake the building-up of a mission church in connection with Queen's Park, Glasgow. It appeared now that the congregation in engaging for a joint stipend of ,£320 had gone beyond what their income would allow, and that the annual deficits had run up to ^350. To relieve the pressure Mr Dickie consented to accept an annual allowance of ,£10, and though he was to retain his seat in Presbytery and Synod his official connection with St Paul's was to cease. This led on to the Emeritus position having a place in our ecclesiastical arrangements. Mr Dickie died, i3th April 1895, m the eighty-second year of his age and fiftieth of his ministry. His widow survived him only three days, and they were buried together. Two of Mr Dickie's sons were U.P. ministers — Matthew in Alva, who predeceased his father ; and William Stevenson in Trinity Church, Irvine. The Rev. Charles Connor, formerly of Old Meldrum, and now in New Zealand, is a son-in-law of Mr Dickie's.

Sixth Minister. — JAMES AITKEN, from Leitholm. Ordained, 28th February 1888. The membership at this time was 360, and the stipend was to be .£240. On ijth December 1892 Mr Aitken accepted a call to Falkirk (West), and left St Paul's with a membership of 400.

Seventh Minister.— DONALD G. FAIRLEY, from High Street, Dumbarton. Ordained, i8th April 1893. The present church in Rosemount Viaduct, with 650 sittings, was opened, 27th March 1897, by the Rev. James Rennie, Glasgow, Moderator of Synod. The estimated cost was ,£4750, of which there was ,£3000 in hand obtained from the School Board for the old church. At the close of 1899 the membership was almost 500, and the stipend ,£240. The debt was being gradually reduced, and stood about ^1000 at the Union.

GARDEN PLACE (UNITED SECESSION)

PRIOR to the Union of 1820 there were strained relations in Belmont Street Church. In February 1817 some of the elders complained to the Presbytery that their minister did not take them into his counsels about the assistants he was to have at the communion. The matter was allowed to slumber for nearly two years, and then it woke up again, through the minister having denied the right of the session to interfere with his sacramental arrangements. The case was peculiar, and the Presbytery handed it over to the Synod for judgment, but they made short work of it, putting the complainers entirely in the wrong, and hoping they would never hear such a thing breathed again. In the beginning of 1819 dissatisfaction sought another outlet, 60 members petitioning the Presbytery to be disjoined from Belmont Street. They were told that it was premature to ask a severance before the grievances they alleged were inquired into. At a subsequent meeting the paper was withdrawn, and the elder who presented it summoned to answer

i8 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

for his conduct. Thus was the way prepared for the parting asunder at the Union of 1820. Mr Templeton, as we have seen already, took part with the Protestors, and at the first meeting of the United Presbytery about sixty of his people petitioned to be erected into a new congregation. The signatures being the same in number as before, we may believe that this was sub stantially the same party. Hopeful that Mr Templeton might yet be gained over to the Union the Presbytery kept the matter in abeyance ; but, when he proved irreconcilable, the application was agreed to, and sermon was granted on 2ist January 1821. The place of meeting at first was a hall in Gallowgate, but the Synod at next meeting allowed them ^20 to encourage them in building a place of worship. The church in George Street, with sittings for 750, was finished in 1822 at a cost of ,£1170, — the first erection of the kind in the United Secession Church.

First Minister. — JAMES STIRLING, from Strathaven (First), a brother of the Rev. Hugh Stirling of Mearns. Ordained, 29th September 1824. At the moderation the Rev. Patrick Robertson of Craigdam was the other candidate, and Mr Stirling carried by the merest cast of the balance. In 1837 George Street had a membership of 512, the largest of any Secession or Relief congregation in Aberdeen, and there was a stipend of .£ 150. The debt of ^763 on the property was being gradually reduced. The minister catechised the congregation and visited from house to house year by year alternately. In 1868 Mr Stirling suffered from severe and protracted illness, and in the following year both minister and people felt that a colleague had become indispensable. Three unsuccessful calls followed — the first to Mr James S. Scotland, who was settled in Errol a year afterwards ; the second to Mr John Boyd, who made choice of Wemyss Bay ; and the third to Mi- Alexander M 'Donald, who preferred Cumnock. Thus time passed, and the collegiate state was never reached. Mr Stirling died, 22nd June 1871, in the seventy-second year of his age and forty-seventh of his ministry. One of his sons was Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, and is now a judge in the Court of Chancery, London, under the title of Sir James Stirling. As does not always happen in such cases, he remains faithful to denominational principles, and is connected with Westbourne Grove Church. A daughter of Mr Stirling's is the wife of the Rev. James Davidson, minister-emeritus of Finnart Church, Greenock.

Second Minister. — ARCHIBALD YOUNG, M.A., from London Road, Glasgow, who had declined a call to Middlesborough a year before. Ordained, 6th September 1871. The church in Garden Place was opened on Sabbath, 2nd April 1882, by Dr John Ker. It cost a little over ^9500, has sittings for 700, and is free of debt. The old building was turned into a large drapery establishment. Garden Place had a membership of 389 in the beginning of 1900, and the stipend was ,£300.

CHARLOTTE STREET (UNITED SECESSION)

ON nth August 1840 certain elders and members of Belmont Street Church, who kept by Mr Templeton when he set up for himself, petitioned Aberdeen Presbytery to be erected into a congregation under the inspection of their old minister. It was agreed to grant them sermon at once, as it was known Mr Templeton would preach no more, and before that day closed he was dead. The Presbytery met again a week after, when Belmont Street session reported that they had no objections to the granting of the application, pro vided they were secured against all interference with their property. They

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 19

were thereupon enjoined to grant such disjunctions as might be asked for, and this was the origin of what was known at first as the Fourth Secession congregation in Aberdeen.

First Minister. — PATRICK ROBERTSON, translated from Craigdam, and inducted, 3oth June 1841, when he was entering on his sixty-fifth year. In this connection Mr Lincl of Whitehill inserted in his journal: "Poor old Mr Robertson has been tempted to leave Craigdam for Aberdeen. The Lord can overrule this event for good to both parties." As Mr Robertson was a natural orator and in high repute for memorable sayings, given in a memorable way, the calculation may have been that he would draw crowds around him, and fill even a large church. Hence the erection of a place of worship in Charlotte Street with 1000 sittings, which was opened soon after. Hence also the liberality of this little company in offering a stipend of ,£150. But, whatever Mr Robertson might have done seventeen years earlier, when he was very nearly called to George Street, he was now beyond the trans planting age, and, though he got large audiences at first, they grew "small by degrees and beautifully less." Then difficulties thickened in on every side, and in March 1844 the congregation memorialised the Debt Liquida tion Board to aid them in lightening their burdens. The application was looked on with disfavour in the Presbytery, the allegation being that the congregation was constituted on the understanding that it was not to come back on the funds of the denomination. Irritation arose, and after a time Mr Robertson persuaded himself that he and his people were not well used, and in the spirit of a disappointed man he resolved to throw up connection with the Secession Church. Intimation of the step he was about to take he made on Monday, 4th November 1844, to his session, of whom the majority were acquiescent. Next Sabbath a congregational meeting was called for the following Wednesday, at which the members present were asked by their minister whether they would go with him into the Free Church, and the greater part responded by standing up. They afterwards went into the vestry and signed a paper to that effect. The number, Mr Robertson said, far exceeded his most sanguine expectations.

But two of Mr Robertson's elders had already parted company with him, and the proceedings of the congregational meeting were also protested against. Accordingly a. pro re nata meeting of Presbytery was summoned for Monday the i8th, to consider the situation of affairs in Charlotte Street. A document, signed by eight persons, testified to offensive statements made by Mr Robertson from the pulpit on the day he called the meeting of the congregation, and on this ground he was suspended from the ministerial office. Procedure was eventually wound up by declaring him no longer a minister or member of the United Secession Church, and the certificate he received bore that he had laboured for forty years in their connection faith fully and successfully, but that in the end he had attempted to draw away his people to another denomination, and that he had made unfounded statements against his brethren, and brought charges of heresy against the United Secession Synod. At the Free Church Assembly in May 1845 ms application for admission was granted on the understanding that he was not to have a stated charge in Aberdeen. Next year he was inducted to the Free Church, Culsalmond, and though now verging on threescore and ten he had still ten years of active service before him. In 1856 he removed to Aberdeen ; but, though his work was done, he retained the status of senior minister. He died, 26th July 1867, in the ninety -first year of his age and sixty-fourth of his ministerial life. Mr Robertson had two sons, who entered the Divinity Hall together, and became ministers of the United Secession Church — Patrick, who was ordained at Sunderland (Smyrna Chapel),

20 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

5th July 1831, and died in Craigdam Manse, 6th July 1837, in the thirty-first year of his age ; and John, whose record belongs to Burghead.

Second Minister. — JOHN B. RITCHIE, son of the Rev. Dr Ritchie, Potterrow, Edinburgh. Ordained, 3rd December 1845, having declined a call to Broughty Ferry in the early part of the year. The Free Church Assembly having refused to recognise Mr Robertson's adherents as a congregation, they were dispersed, and those who remained numbered from 80 to 100, including 4 elders. The stipend they promised was ,£100, and the call was signed by 80 members and 47 adherents. In 1851 Mr Ritchie published three discourses on "The Armour of the Christian Church," which were pro nounced by an eminent critic to be " alike seasonable and effective.'' A sermon of his, entitled " Christian Patriotism," delivered at the centenary of Craigdam U.P. congregation, appeared two years later in the memorial volume, "The Church of a Hundred Years." Mr Ritchie, owing to impaired physical strength, was loosed from his charge, 6th February 1866. In tabling his demission he stated that the congregation during his ministry had cleared off a debt of ^5?o, besides improving the property, so that he left them much better than he found them. Portobello now became his place of abode ; but a number of years ago he removed to Edinburgh, where he and his family keep by Hope Park Church, the representative of Old Potterrow. Mrs Ritchie, who died comparatively early, was a daughter of the Rev. James Borwick, Rathillet.

During the vacancy of two years, which now intervened, Charlotte Street Church addressed a call to Mr W. T. Henderson, but Millport was preferred. They next invited the Rev. William Turner to come in from Craigdam, as Mr Robertson had done twenty-five years before, and then the Rev. William Galletly to come south from Peterhead ; but, though Aberdeen had its advantages, neither of them was prepared like Mr Robertson to face the experiment. The membership at this time was 120, and the stipend was to be ^160 in all.

Third Minister. — JAMES CORDINEK, from Campbeltown, Argyll, though the family, including his uncle, the Rev. Robert Cordiner of Lesmahagow, were originally from Southend. Having decided for Charlotte Street, Aberdeen, rather than Shapinshay in Orkney, he was ordained, 5th February 1868. But within a few months consumption emerged amidst the keen air of Aberdeen, and he died, I3th September, in the thirtieth year of his age, leaving a widow and two young children.

Fourth Minister. — MATTHEW GALBRAITH, M.A., from Edinburgh (now Eyre Place). Accepted the call, though another intervened from Moffat, to succeed the Rev. John Riddell, and was ordained, I3th April 1869. In 1874 two calls came up to Mr Galbraith at the same meeting, the one from Victoria Street, Dundee, and the other from Gillespie Church, Glasgow, but he declined to remove from his present charge. Five years afterwards he had a membership of almost 600, the largest of the six in Aberdeen, and the stipend was ^300. In the year of the Union Charlotte Street still kept the lead with a membership of 606, but Belmont Street was very nearly abreast. The stipend remained as before.

NELSON STREET (UNITED PRESBYTERIAN)

ON loth February 1863 Mr Thomas Brown, who became the first minister of Nelson Street Church, applied to Aberdeen Presbytery to be received as a licentiate. He had been engaged for nine years at mission work in the Gallowgate under the supervision of a Free Church Missionary Committee,

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 21

but he had now renounced his former connection. The Synod in May authorised the Presbytery to receive Mr Brown, as the Free Church Presbytery had nothing against him on the score of status or reputation. As the counterpart to this application a memorial from fully 300 individuals connected with the Free Church Mission in the Gallowgate was laid before the Presbytery of Aberdeen on 5th July, praying to be received into the U.P. Church. It came out that during the nine years Mr Brown had laboured among them the membership had increased from 91 to 211, and they were specially dissatisfied with the Free Church for refusing them the standing of a regular congregation. As it was, they felt, and so did Mi- Brown, that the tie between them was liable to be severed at any time by the Mission Committee in charge of their affairs. It was further ascertained that the chapel in which they met was rented, and had accommodation for 250 people, and that on the previous year they contributed ^80 to the Sustentation Fund. The petition was granted, and on 8th September a communion roll with 133 names was made up. Mr Brown was now located in the Gallowgate for three months, and towards the end of the year the people obtained a session of their own for the first time by the ordination of two elders. On 3rd May 1864 Mr Brown was ordained, the stipend promised being £100. But another place of worship was felt to be needed, and on 3 ist March 1867 the new church in Nelson Street was opened. The cost was over ^1000, but the people had previously raised over ^500, and they were to receive another £100 from the Extension Fund. In the end of the previous year the congregation was placed on the supplemented list, after being in receipt of grants in aid to the amount of from ^60 to ^80 for the two preceding years. In 1875 the stipend amounted in all to ^187, los. On gth April 1878 Mr Brown's resignation, tendered on the ground of failing health, was accepted. He died, loth May 1879, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, from which it appears that he was over fifty when ordained. Free Tolbooth, Edinburgh, is given as Mr Brown's native congregation ; but he must have been a man of thirty before there was a Free Church at all.

Second Minister. — JOHN E. DoBSON, who had been ordained as a Con- gregationalist minister at Blairgowrie in April 1867. After two years he removed to Lerwick, where he remained five years, and then, owing to the climate, had unwillingly to resign. Gainsborough was his next charge ; but before two years were ended he complained of ill-treatment, and at the Synod in 1877 he was received into fellowship with the U.P. Church. He assigned as his reason for making the change the interference of office bearers, against which the Congregational system furnished no safeguard, and his belief that Presbyterianism was more workable. Mr Dobson was inducted to Nelson Street, I7th September 1878, and on 2nd November 1886 he resigned, and was loosed from his charge. He was inducted to Guard- bridge in 1892. Nelson Street Church was now reduced for a time to a preaching station, and at the end of 1887 the membership was returned at 100. This contrasted with the 240 of seventeen years before.

Third Minister. — ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, from Sydney Place, Glasgow. Ordained, 8th January 1889. Eleven years after this the membership was returned at 152, and the stipend from the people was ^90.

CRAIGDAM (ANTIBURGHER)

THE cradle of the Secession in Aberdeenshire was Buchan Proper, or the region of Deer, as will be shown under Clola ; but Craigdam, a mere hamlet, a dozen miles farther south, became the seat of the earliest Secession con-

22 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

gregation. For reasons to be assigned afterwards, it was at Kinmundy, in the parish of Old Deer, that the first seceder services were conducted, and when in 1746 it was proposed to have a minister ordained, with Moray for his centre, he was to preach two successive Sabbaths out of every eight in the county of Buchan — the one at Kinmundy and the other about Craigdam. The latter place was ultimately fixed on as the gathering point of the tribes. Whatever may have determined the selection, it cannot have been the difficulty of finding a site farther north, since the proprietor of Kinmundy was an out-and-out supporter of the Secession in Aberdeenshire from the very first. Craigdam is fully a mile from the village and the parish church of Tarves.

First Minister. — WILLIAM BROWN, from the parish of Forgandenny and the North congregation, Perth. Ordained, 23rd July 1752. Fully a month before this he received a unanimous call to Holm of Balfron, as the records of that congregation show. This was a far more desirable place, but the Presbytery of Perth and Dunfermline seem to have treated this competing call as too late, and the ordination at Craigdam was proceeded with. The Presbytery minutes having perished, we cannot condescend on either the numbers who signed the call or the amount of stipend promised, but we cannot help thinking that tradition has placed both figures far too low. There was no church as yet, but a year afterwards the congregation applied to Perth session "for assistance in building a house for public worship," and received £6. About the same time the Presbytery recommended "a contri bution for the relief of the community of Craigdam, who are in straitened cir cumstances." In April 1754 Mr Brown complained to the Presbytery that some of his people were insisting on him preaching in more places on Sabbath days than had been originally agreed on, and the clerk was in structed to write them about adhering to the first arrangement. Still, it is certain that Mr Brown's itineracies took in a very wide circuit, but much of this may have been on week-days. As time passed there was a branching away on every side — first Clola, 16 miles to the north ; then Aberdeen, 1 8 miles to the south; then Shiels, 12 miles to the south-east; and lastly Auchmacoy, 10 miles to the east.

Of Mr Brown's method of preaching Mr Lind of Whitehill, who was brought up under his ministry, stated that a single text served him for a year, and that each text was entered on at the great communion gathering in summer. We have one sermon of his from the words : " What think ye of Christ?" marked by much fervour; but though his earnest appeals find frequent expression in the interjection, O, the story of the printer find ing himself nonplussed by having his supply of O's exhausted before its time may be safely set down as a myth. Mr Brown died, loth April 1801, in the seventy-third year of his age and forty-ninth of his ministry. Two of his grandsons attained to high positions in the Free Church — Principal Brown of Aberdeen, known specially for his standard work on " The Second Advent" and his "Life of Dr John Duncan." The other was Dr Charles Brown of the New North, Edinburgh. The marriage of his eldest daughter to James Ferguson, Esq. of Kinmundy was announced in August 1788. Both families acceded to the Constitutional Presbytery, and thus were lost to the denomination. A third grandson of MHP-. Brown's came to be minister of the Original Secession Church, Coupar-Angus.

After Mr Brown's death Craigdam congregation called Mr Andrew M'Gregor, but he refused to accept, and had to be released. He afterwards obtained Buchlyvie, where his ministry came to an unhappy end.

Second Minister. — PATRICK ROBERTSON, from Perth (North). Ordained, 8th March 1804. The stipend was only £jx> at first, with a new manse, but

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 23

in eight years it rose to ^100. In a year or two the second church was built at a cost of .£400 or ^500 — sittings 600. Mr Robertson acquired a name for striking remarks and out-of-the-way comparisons, given largely in the broad Doric, but it is doubtful whether he always kept up the dignity of the pulpit. It is certain, however, that his preaching' often made a deep impression, and he was much admired both among his own people and in other congregations. After the Union of 1820 it looked at one time as if his light might be placed on a loftier candlestick by his removal to Aberdeen as the minister of what is now Garden Place congregation, but when the moderation day came a probationer was carried over him by a very slight majority. In 1836 the membership of Craigdam was within a little of 300, about a fourth of the families being from adjacent parishes. The stipend was, as it had been for twenty-five years, ^100, with manse and garden, and there was a debt on the property of ^90. On i8th May 1841 Mr Robertson accepted a call to Charlotte Street, Aberdeen, a step which both he and his best friends had reason to regret. Before obtaining a successor to their aged minister Craigdam congregation experienced a severe disappointment. Stewartfield Presbytery met on 6th July 1842 for the ordination of Mr John Steedman, but instead of appearing he had a letter forward intimating that he had closed with a call from Stirling (now Erskine Church), which had emerged since his trial exercises were given in.

Third Minister. — JOHN CALLANDER, from Stirling (Erskine Church). Having declined Keith he was ordained at Craigdam, 3rd November 1842. In September 1849, knowing that charges of a heinous kind were working into publicity against him, Mr Callander abruptly disappeared, and made for America, " a sorely, but deservedly, chastened man." On the 24th of that month the Presbytery cut the pastoral tie. They afterwards proceeded against him by libel, of which several counts were found proven, but as the Atlantic intervened they simply declared him no longer a minister or member of the U.P. Church. He died at Toronto, nth May 1853, aged thirty-six.

Fourth Minister. — WILLIAM TURNER, from Dunbar (West). Ordained, I4th October 1851, the stipend being ^105, with manse, garden, and sacra mental expenses. In 1867 Mr Turner, unlike Mr Robertson, though a much younger man, declined a call to Charlotte Street, Aberdeen ; but on 8th October 1872 he was loosed from Craigdam on accepting an appoint ment to be superintendent of the Edinburgh City Mission. This office he filled till 1894, when he retired under the burden of years. During most of his residence in Edinburgh he was a member of Bristo session. He died, 2 1st September 1897, in the seventy-second year of his age and forty-sixth of his ministerial life. In 1876 Mr Turner published a volume of very scholarly essays, entitled " Studies Biblical and Oriental," several of which had previously appeared in magazines or reviews.

Fifth Minister. — DOUGLAS K. AUCHTERLONIE, from Gorbals, Glasgow (now Elgin Street). Ordained, 4th November 1873, after having set aside a call to Holm, Kilmarnock. The manse had been recently rebuilt at a cost of ^544, for which the Manse Board allowed ^200. Though the congre gation has always been far gathered, and the population around is on the decline, the membership at the Union was 188, and the stipend from the people ,£157, slightly more than when Mr Auchterlonie went.

LYNTURK (BURGHER)

ON 26th July 1761 the Burgher Presbytery of Perth and Dunfermline received an accession from some people in Tough, a parish two dozen miles

24 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

west of Aberdeen, and the Rev. William M'Ewan of Dundee was appointed to preach there on the third and fourth Sabbaths of August. The parish minister had set himself to put down the reading of the line in public worship, and the Old Statistical History says he "persisted in his design, and this occasioned a schism among his hearers." Those who withdrew built a humble place of worship soon after, the Presbytery having engaged to aid them with the erection. It still stands, forming part of the out houses on the home-farm of Lynturk, and bears the date 1762. On 2Qth June Of that year there was a further accession from Banchory-Ternan, and though the places are at least fifteen miles apart the two sections were to form one congregation. In 1763 six elders were ordained, four for Tough and two for Banchory, one of the former being William M'Combie, a family name long prominent both in the congregation and in Aberdeenshire.

The first call was issued in March 1764, and this introduces us to Mr John Bennet, son of the Rev. James Bennet, minister of St Andrews, and proprietor of Gairney Bridge. Trials were assigned Mr Bennet with a view to ordination, but month after month passed without progress being made. Tough and Banchory were far from the centre and far from each other, and altogether the outlook was not encouraging. After waiting patiently for an entire year the people began to insist on " the expediting of Mr Bennet's trials," and commissioners were sent south to Perth to demand a decisive answer. The business was terminated at Aberdeen in July 1765, when Mr Bennet " was dealt with at considerable length both in open Presbytery and by some of the members in private to remove his scruples against going to Tough, but all to no purpose, he pleading his weakliness of constitution, and the broken state of his health." The Presbytery owned they could do no more, and the call had to be dropped. Mr Bennet itinerated other fifteen years as a probationer, but he was never again invited " to submit to a settlement." In 1781 the Synod was overtured to withhold appointments from preachers who, after a considerable trial of their gifts, were found not to be acceptable, and that " it be recommended to them to apply to some other business." Mr Bennet's name never again appeared on the pro bationer list, and in the course of a month he married and settled down to cultivate "the paternal farm of Gairney Bridge." In 1783 he was inducted to the eldership in Kinross (West), and died, 8th April 1804, aged sixty-nine. In 1813 the property passed into the possession of another family.

The next call from Tough came up to the Synod along with other three to Mr James Moir in May 1766, but Cumbernauld was carried over it by the final vote. At the request of the commissioners the Presbytery was then recommended to grant the congregation as regular supply a*s possible, their remote situation exposing them to frequent, and sometimes wide, blanks. The call to Mr Moir was signed by 94 members.

First ./J//7z/-y/Vr.— CHARLES HUNTER, a native of Kildrummie parish, Aberdeenshire, according to Dr George Brown, who had good means of knowing. After this third call was issued the people represented their mournful situation to the Synod by reason of their long vacancy and severe disappointments, and they earnestly craved to have Mr Hunter sent through to Perth Presbytery to be put on trials for ordination among them. But though this was agreed to the process advanced stewly, giving time for Kinross (West) to come between them and the object of their choice. This was a place far more to be desired, but the Synod refused to allow Kinross to come into competition with Lynturk and Banchory. Still it was not till 24th August 1769 that Charles Hunter was ordained minister of the united congregation. He died, 2oth May 1775, in the sixth year of his ministry. The people, limited as were their resources, had sought to promote his

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 25

comfort by providing him with a manse, but at the first Synod after his death they represented that this undertaking had involved them in serious difficulties. Little help was to be got from central funds in those days, and it would be left for the people to work out their own deliverance.

Second Minister. — ANDREW MURRAY, from West Linton. The stipend they finally offered was ,£40, with manse, garden, office-houses, and a glebe of four acres, for which they paid a rent of fully ^5. The call was signed by 122 members and 38 adherents, but Mr Murray was bent against accepting till, by consent of both parties, Banchory was disjoined from Tough. He was ordained, 8th June 1780, after a delay of fourteen months. The relation between the two centres will be discussed when- we come to Banchory. In 1789 the Synod recommended sister congregations to aid the people of Tough in rebuilding their church, but after two years' delay they erected another church a mile farther south. In 1793 the parishioners, young and old, under Mr Murray's care were put at 127, but there might be at least half that number from other parishes. In March 1800 the office bearers complained to the Presbytery of inability to support the Gospel. The new formation at Midmar, they explained, had weakened them by withdrawing some of their members ; but, worse than this, a divisive spirit had entered in among them through contact, the Presbytery thought, with the " Old Light" party in Aberdeen. A year later a committee of investigation found the income from collections and seat rents to be only £28. The membership was over 100, but of these there were 37 who contributed nothing, pleading the hardness of the times — terms which carried meaning at that trying period — and to lighten their burdens the Synod granted them ^lo a year. But the Original Burgher Presbytery instructed their pro bationers when supplying at Aberdeen to go out and preach at Lynturk, an arrangement which would keep the wound from closing. Mr Murray died, 9th July 1816, in the seventy-ninth year of his age and thirty-seventh of his ministry. The former figure, given in the Scots Magazine, harmonises with the statement that he was baptised at West Linton by one of the Secession Fathers in 1738. It appears from this that he had reached the age of forty- two when ordained.

Third Minister. — JOHN ROBB, from Bridge-of-Teith. Ordained, 17th March 1819. The call was signed by 87 members and 15 adherents, and the minister was to have ,£60, with manse, office-houses, "and the land which Mr Murray had." After 30 years the stipend was ,£70, with the manse, and a supplement of ^15. But plain comforts would be enjoyed among the farmers who formed the strength of the congregation. Mr Robb died of cancer, 29th November 1853, in the sixty-eighth year of his age and thirty-fifth of his ministry. In August 1855 Mr James Harrower was called to be his successor, but he remained on the list, and after nearly two years was settled in Eyemouth.

Fourth Minister. — GEORGE M'ARTHUR, M.A., from New Deer. Or dained, 1 3th February 1856, the stipend to be .£90, with a manse. Mr M'Arthur was loosed from his charge on 3rd March 1863, on accepting the appointment of Mathematical Master in the Gymnasium, Aberdeen, a situ ation in keeping with his scholarly attainments. He afterwards held for many years a situation in the office of Messrs Adam & Charles Black, Publishers, Edinburgh, but on the completion of the Encyclopedia Britan- nica, Ninth Edition, he sailed with his family for New York. After some years he returned home, and is now engaged in literary work in London. During most of his sojourn in Edinburgh he was a member of Bristo session. Soon after he left Tough the congregation called Mr Thomas

26 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

Whitelaw, who in a few months became junior minister of Mile End, South Shields, and is now Dr Whitelaw of Kilmarnock.

Fifth Minister.— WlLLlAU AITKEN, M.A., from Lathones. Ordained, 2nd March 1864. The members at this time were about 60, but the at tendance was double that number, and the stipend from the people ^80, with a house. On Sabbath, 6th May 1866, a new church, with sittings for 320, erected at a cost of ^1760 about two and a half miles to the west of the former site, was opened by Dr Finlayson of Edinburgh, and the name finally changed from Tough to Lynturk. A manse was built at the same time, which, along with the price received for the former, cost ^440, of which ^200 came from the Board. But believing there was to be little progress made at Lynturk, Mr.Aitken agreed to remove to Singapore in connection with the English Pre'sbyterian Church, and was loosed from his charge, nth November 1875. The membership had increased in the interim to 83, and the stipend from the people was now ^100. In 1882 Mr Aitken, having returned home, officiated for some time as assistant to Dr Black of Welling ton Church, Glasgow. He then took charge of the Mission Church at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, from May 1885 to the close of 1889. He is now Chaplain to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. [Mr Aitken died, 27th October 1901, aged sixty-four.]

Sixth Minister. — JAMES B. DUNCAN, M.A., from Whitehill. Ordained, 6th June 1876. For a number of years the membership exceeded the above 83, but amidst local displacements the accessions began to fall beneath the removals. The names on the communion roll at the close of 1899 were 71, and the stipend from the people was ,£90, while nearly a third of that sum is raised in addition for missionary and benevolent purposes.

SHIELS (ANTIBURGHER)

ON I4th June and again on I3th July 1773 Mr Brown of Craigdam asked Elgin Presbytery to grant some supply to his people in Belhelvie, twelve miles distant. From the congregational records we find that Mr Brown had preached occasionally in that parish since 1755, but sermon was now begun under the auspices of the Presbytery, and was kept up in a sparse way year after year. In 1775 a long, narrow, thatched house was erected for a kirk, and on 26th June 1782 Belhelvie was disjoined from Craigdam. In the following year the Presbytery, with much hesitancy, allowed the people to proceed with a moderation. The call came out for Mr Robert Laing, and was signed by all the male members present, 26 in number, and by 35 adherents, men and women. The Presbytery gave the preference to a competing call from Cabrach, but their decision was thwarted by Mr Laing, and he was afterwards ordained at Duns.

First Minister. — JAMES ANDREW, a native of Madderty parish, but entered the Hall from Methven congregation. Called unanimously in July 1785, but he persistently refused to accept. In December, after he had been prevailed on to give part of his trials, it came out that the call was lost, and he pleaded that this allowed him to go free, that being dead wherein he was held. The mishap was made up for by a second moderation, though, when this was spoken of, he declared it was of no use to go on, as he would never submit to be ordained at Shiels. The matter was at last referred to the Synod, which had had trouble with him three years before in connection with a call from Newtonards, Ireland. He carried his point on that occasion, but he was not permitted to be victorious a second time. He was ordained at Shiels, by constraint, 5th July 1786. The stipend was ,£40, which in a few

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 27

years was raised to ,£45, and the membership was about 60. A manse had been built in 1784, and in 1791 "the long, narrow, thatched house" was superseded by a neat little church, with slated roof, its dimensions forty feet by twenty-six. The expense of the two together is set down at .£280, and the wonder is where the money came from.

In the closing years of the century Mr Andrew was put out of sorts by the spirit of innovation which the visit of the Haldanes in 1797 had wakened up in several Antiburgher congregations around. In July 1798 Shiels session represented to the Presbytery that persons in their connection had gone into practices directly opposed to the principles of the Church, and they declined fellowship with all such, whether sessions, ministers, or people, till open acknowledgments were made. On i6th April 1799, after a paper had been given in from members of Keith congregation in favour of Sabbath schools and missionary societies, Mr Andrew, who had been Presbytery clerk since his ordination, "signified that he did not mean to continue in that office any longer." He was dealt with to go on as before, but "he was positive in his resolution to give it up." He happened also to be moderator of session at this time in the vacant congregation of Aberdeen, and, when the Presbytery expressed disapproval of the high handed way in which that session had dealt with certain ecclesiastical offenders, " declaring so many out of communion at once," he protested to the Synod, and never attended a Presbytery meeting again. In April 1800 he gave in the demission of his charge to the Synod, accompanied by certain complaints against his co-presbyters : but the Synod expressed disapproval of his conduct, and the demission was not accepted. The congregation meanwhile wished him to remain among them, but in June the Presbytery had to grant supply to Shiels, and in July they found he had left altogether. For these irregularities the Synod suspended him at their next meeting ; but in May 1801 he acknowledged his faults, was admonished, restored to office, and "the affair dismissed." The Constitutional Presbytery having been constituted in 1806, Mr Andrew became a probationer in that connection. In 1816 he settled down as a farmer at Redford in Madderty parish, where he died, i$th February 1822, in the 68th year of his age.

Second Minister. — DAVID WADDELL, who had been fourteen years in Cabrach, from which he was loosed in circumstances narrated under the history of that congregation. Having suffered for his attempt to enforce the rigid, Antiburgher system of discipline, it was meet that Shiels should open its doors to receive him. He was inducted, 24th December 1800. The membership was about 70 when he went, but it increased under his ministry to nearly 100. The stipend also advanced from ^45 to ^52, and then to ^60. Out of these sums the rent of the glebe had to be paid, but the people engaged to cast and drive fuel for the manse. In 1802 galleries were erected in the little chapel, which was made to contain 330 sittings. This was, as Dr George Brown explains, -to give increased accommodation to the crowds who went from Aberdeen and other places to the communion at Shiels. Frequently it was his privilege, he said, to join these companies, and listen to their edifying conversation, and over the recollection he could say : " It was good for me to be there." He speaks of Mr Waddell as a judicious preacher, though, owing to a certain hesitancy in his speech, he was less popular than some of his brethren. He also describes him as " ministering to a people few in number, but warmly attached to their pastor, and some of them, though of humble station, deserving to be ranked with the excellent of the earth." But evil days came, and in the beginning of 1822 the cause was at a very low ebb. The spirit of former times con tinued strong at Shiels, and in 1808 William Edwards, one of the elders,

28 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

gave in his declinature, and joined the Old Light Antiburgher Church at Aberdeen, ten miles off. Now we read : "The late Union in the Secession having caused a great number of our members to desert us, this with other causes puts it out of our power to raise more than ^45 annually of stipend." But the Presbytery agreed to make up the deficiency till more prosperous times should come ; the Synod granted them £20 ; the arrears were paid up ; and the stipend was kept at ,£60 during what remained of Mr Waddell's ministry. The people also got into better spirits, and improve ments on the church and manse amounting to ^30 were met by 23 of their members giving two-thirds of that sum, and the rest was made up by 32 others. Mr Waddell died, i6th November 1826, in the seventy-first year of his age and forty-first of his ministry. Though the treasury at Shiels was not overflowing, the funeral charges, paid from the funds, amounted to over ;£i i.

Third Minister. — JAMES M'lNTOSH, from Coupar-Angus. Ordained, 30th July 1828. The call, which was "most unanimous," was signed by 75 members and 62 adherents. The stipend was to be ^72, with manse and garden. In 1836 the membership, which had recently come down 10 by emigration to America, was 88, and the emoluments were the same as before. In the report of the Debt Liquidation Board for 1840 the con gregation is described as very poor, and they had a debt of ,£36 which they were unable to pay, but the Board granted them ,£20, and the people raised the other £16. In April 1844 Mr M'Intosh, finding money matters in an unsatisfactory state, gave in his resignation to the Presbytery. A committee reported at next meeting that the elders and others warmly desired their minister's continuance among them, and promised to do everything in their power to make him comfortable, and the result was that Mr M'Intosh with drew his demission. In 1846 a stipend of ^80 was arranged for, the people to raise ^45 and the supplement to be ,£35. On i2th March 1850 the Presbytery met with the congregation to inquire into their financial state, and the meeting ended with Mr M'Intosh finally resigning. A slight majority afterwards declared in favour of the relation being continued, assigning as the reason that they were benefited by their minister's preach ing, and that they were afraid if he left they might be deprived of gospel ordinances altogether. But Mr M'Intosh declined to yield a second time, and on 9th April his demission was accepted. After being four years on the preachers' list he emigrated to Canada, and he was inducted to Amhurst Island in 1854. He died in the early part of December 1875, in the seventy- eighth year of his age and forty-eighth of his ministry.

Towards the close of 1850 the congregation called Mr Alexander M'Lean, afterwards of Kirriemuir, but as he had only preached one Sabbath the call was not sustained. In March 1851 they called Mr James A. Johnson, afterwards of West Linton, and repeated the call in October, but both times without success.

Fourth Minister. — WILLIAM GILLESPIE, from Denny. Mr Gillespie had been ordained as a missionary to China on ist November 1843 m Well Street Chapel, London, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society. After labouring in the East for six years he returned home, and had his name placed on the probationer list in May 1851. Inducted to Shiels, 28th April 1852, the stipend to be ^55 from the people and ,£35 expected from the Board. Accepted an invitation from the missionary societies of Broughton Place and Rose Street, Edinburgh, to undertake mission work in the High Street, and was loosed from his charge, I4th August 1855. In January 1856 the congregation called the Rev. William Inglis, formerly of Banff, but he preferred to seek a field of labour in

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 29

Canada. They then fixed on Mr Peter Davidson, but he waited on, and got Brechin (High Street).

Fifth Minister. — EDWARD RANKINE, from Kincardine-on-Forth. Ordained, loth June 1857. There were only 58 members at this time, but 21 acceded before the end of the year, and all onwards there was a gradual rise, till at the beginning of 1868 the maximum of 107 was reached. Removals from the district now began to tell at an average rate of two in the year, and this brought the number down to 97 in 1873. 1° "865 the old manse was superseded by another at a cost of ,£515, of which .£340 was raised by the people and ,£175 came from the Board. Mr Rankine was enrolled minister-emeritus, 5th May 1892. He removed soon afterwards to Edinburgh, where he now resides, and is an elder in Merchiston Church. His son, the Rev. T. P. Rankine, has been recently translated from Water- beck to Pollok Street, Glasgow.

Sixth Minister, — JOSEPH T. J. WHYTE, from Oban. Ordained, I4th August 1894. The call was signed by 53 members out of 56, a fact which brings out alike the unanimity of the congregation and its numerical strength. At the close of 1899 there were 53 names on the communion roll, and the stipend from the people was ^50.

ELLON (ANTIBUROHER)

ON 8th September 1788 the session of Clola referred to the Antiburgher Presbytery of Aberdeen an application for sermon from some people about Slains, a parish on the east coast of Aberdeenshire, eight miles south of Clola, but within their bounds. This was followed on 8th April 1789 by two petitions of like import from parties "not of our communion" in the parishes of Slains, Logie-Buchan, and Ellon, and from this time they had supply nearly every alternate Sabbath. On 1310 April 1791 some members of Craigdam congregation " in and about Ellon " petitioned to be erected into a distinct congregation, and, the list of names having been given in, the petition was granted on 27th June. Then on I4th November the families connected with Clola congregation residing in the district were disjoined and annexed to the forming cause. The spot chosen was at Auchmacoy in Logie-Buchan, and in the Old Statistical account of that parish, written in 1791, the church is stated to have been built "last summer." Thus has the Secession found a new centre ten miles east from Craigdam and eight south from Clola.

First Minister. — JAMES RONALDSON, from Abernethy congregation. The stipend promised was ,£45, with a house. A session had been con stituted two years before, of whom one member had previously held office in Craigdam or Clola, and five were duly elected. The call was signed by only 25 (male) members, and sustained by the moderator's casting vote. After this some of the occasional hearers sent up a paper to the Presbytery, signifying that they disapproved of the congregation's choice, but it was agreed after long deliberation to present the call to Mr Ronaldson. He accepted, though a declinature might have been better for the cause at Auchmacoy in its weak beginnings. He was ordained, 3oth June 1795. Mr Ronaldson resigned after a ministry of thirty years, and the church was declared vacant, 3oth March 1825. His name then appeared on the pro bationer list till 1829, but he eventually settled down to cultivate a small property of his own at Newton of Falkland, where he was in the member ship of Freuchie congregation. By his marriage Mr Ronaldson was a brother-in-law of the Rev. William Scott of Leslie, and this may have

30 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

influenced him to take up strong Calvinistic ground during the Atone ment Controversy. In 1843 he ceased to attend public ordinances at Freuchie, and when Cupar Presbytery appointed two of their number to hold a friendly conference with him he refused to receive them, and on gth July 1844 they declared him no longer a minister or member of the United Secession Church. He and his family now connected themselves with Falk land Free Church. Mr Ronaldson died, 2oth May 1845, aged seventy-eight.

Second Minister. — WILLIAM STOKBS, from Yetholm. Called to Strom- ness, Ellon, and Blyth. Between the last two there was not much to choose ; but Stromness was far weightier than either, their call being signed by 228 members and 248 adherents, while that from Ellon only showed 59 members and 152 hearers. But the claims of the weaker congregation prevailed with the Synod, and Mr Stobbs was ordained at Ellon, 6th November 1827. By this time circumstances had necessitated a change of centre. In October 1826 the congregation informed the Presbytery that the proprietor of Auchmacoy was not to allow them possession of the manse after the expiry of the present lease. The building must have been in a dilapidated state, Mr Ronaldson having given as one of his reasons for retiring that through want of repair the house was scarcely habitable. But, besides this, the people were "altogether uncertain whether they could get a new lease of the ground on which the church was built." The issue was that they resolved, by a great majority, to remove to Ellon, two miles to the west, and there the present church was built in 1827 at a cost of ^320, with 340 sittings. It was at this stage that Mr Stobbs was put in to build up the cause anew, but in the course of a year Stromness people came back on him again, and the Synod in May 1829 decided to allow the translation. Thus Ellon had to face the contingencies of another vacancy.

Third Minister.— JAMES YOUNG, from Pitcairn-Green. Ordained, I5th July 1830, after ten years of probationer life. " He had some good sermons," said George Gilfillan, "but spoilt himself by a bad delivery, and his voice was husky." But Ellon congregation got much attached to their minister, and in 1835 they built a manse for him, which, notwithstanding outside help, raised their debt to ^150. In 1837 there were 98 communicants, but the average attendance at the evening service was more than double that number. The stipend was slightly under ^75, with house and garden. Of the families, thirty-three, which must have been the larger proportion, came from over two miles, including the neighbouring parishes of Slains, Cruden, Logie, and Udny. In 1840 the debt was lightened by ^100 being cleared off, the Board aiding to the extent of one-half, and appearances were thought to be better than they had ever been before. But evil came in a form little expected. On 27th January 1842 Mr Young was deposed for confessed im morality, though his brethren restored him to membership soon afterwards. The congregation, believing that he had satisfied for his offence, petitioned, though not with entire unanimity, to have him set over them again, but " the Synod judged that there was not reason at present for granting the prayer of the petition." Mr Young then became a city missionary in con nection with Rose Street Church, Edinburgh. He caught fever in the discharge of his official duties, and died, i6th November 1847, in the forty- ninth year of his age. Some specimens of his pulpit work given to the world in the following year, with memoir by Dr Voting of Perth, were ill- chosen, the lectures on the Intercessory Prayer, the part fixed on by the magazine for special commendation, being almost literal transcripts from Matthew Henry. Still, Mr Young's high reputation for gifts of intellect cannot have been baseless, though George Gilflllian in his "History of a Man," and elsewhere, treated his memory with scanty respect.

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 31

The attempt to have Mr Young back among them having failed, Ellon congregation in November 1842 called Mr Laurence Gowans, but he accepted B rough ty Ferry.

Fourth Minister.— JAMES IRELAND, from Milnathort. As Mr Ireland's mother was a sister of the Rev. Robert Morison of Bathgate, and as his cousin, the Rev. James Morison, had been recently convicted of heresy, the Presbytery of Aberdeen kept strict watch at the entrance gate, and by trial discourses on Predestination and the Atonement, and also by minute oral examination, they tested his soundness in the faith. Having passed through the ordeal with some difficulty he was ordained, gth November 1843, and on the following Sabbath he was introduced to his charge by his friend and fellow-townsman, the Rev. John Steedman of Stirling. Mr Ireland in student days made an admirable teacher, as the writer can attest from early recol lections. There were unfailing tact, perfect order, an eye for the humorous side of things, and the gift of imparting instruction, and, as he had little out flow in the pulpit, the friends of his student days were of opinion that he should have made this his profession. But he chose differently, and in Ellon he found scope for his peculiar talents, making instruction the basis of pulpit work, and training the old, and specially the young, in acquaintance with the Word of God. In 1845 trie remaining debt on the property, which had grown to ^75, was liquidated, the Board allowing ,£37. The stipend was supplemented to ^90, with the manse, in 1848, and it rose with the progress of the Augmentation Scheme till before Mr Ireland retired from active duty it reached ^180. This was in June 1886, and a few months previously the congregation called Mr James Gilmour to be Mr Ireland's colleague and successor ; but he decided to work on in Cowdenbeath, where his ordina tion followed. The manse built in 1835 had been improved in 1865 at a cost of ,£275, of which the Board allowed a grant of ^170.

Fifth Minister. — JAMES A. ADAM, M.A., from Caledonia Road, Glasgow. Ordained, 25th August 1886. Mr Ireland died, 2gth September 1890, in the seventy-eighth year of his age and forty-seventh year of his ministry. At the close of 1899 the membership was 93, and the stipend from the people .£70, with the manse.

MIDMAR (BURGHER)

THIS congregation originated in a petition presented on 3rd September 1799 to the Burgher Presbytery of Perth from twenty-eight heads of families in and about Midmar. It set forth their unhappy situation through want of the pure Gospel, and entreated supply of preaching. One of the commis sioners on their behalf was the Rev. John Brown of Whitburn, who had been itinerating in the north under the Synod's directions. The petition being granted, the first church was erected in 1802, and that year 8 members were annexed from Tough.

First Minister. — JAMES PATERSON, from Tough. Ordained, I5th May 1805. Progress was checked almost at the beginning of the upraising of the Old Light flag, a number breaking away from Mr I'aterson's ministry, and travelling regularly on Sabbath to the Original Burgher Church at Aberdeen, fifteen miles off. In 1818 they were recognised as a vacancy, though not more than 21 in number ; but, when their first call was issued fourteen years after, it bore the signatures of 47 members and 13 adherents. They had hitherto met in a barn, but in 1832 their church was built, and they now form the Free Church congregation of Midmar. This was a parish in which the seceders could ill afford to divide ; but the New Statistical History

32 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

states that both congregations were mostly made up from neighbouring parishes. Mr Paterson died, 8th March 1838, in the sixty-second year of his age and thirty-third of his ministry. In 1815 he published an "Essay on Witchcraft," the design of which was to prove that popular superstitions on this subject have no foothold in Scripture. This was followed in 1830 by a volume of sermons. Mr Paterson was the father of the Rev. H. A. Paterson of Stonehouse.

The congregation now got into serious difficulties about their place of worship. Their lease of the property had expired, from which we infer that it had only been for two nineteens — far too short a period. The report of the Mission Board for 1840 bears that they were even refused the use of the place of worship till they could provide themselves with another. At this time the membership stood at 52, and they had to proceed with the erection of a church and manse two miles from the former site. The Board promised them a grant of .£100, provided they would raise ,£80. The requirement was more than met, for, few as they were, they subscribed ^120 among themselves. While thus engaged they presented a call to Mr William Barrie, who was under engagement to go to Canada (see Johnshaven). They next called Mr W. C. Brodie, but when the time for decision came he requested a month's delay, and before that period expired Lassvvade opened, and Midmar was declined.

Second Minister. — ROBERT PATERSON, who after a ministry of nine years at Greenloaning resigned in 1838, and returned to preacher life. He was then for a short time in Smyrna Chapel, Sunderland, but on I2th January 1841 his demission was accepted, and the congregation soon after passed out of existence. Mr Paterson's name now appeared on the preachers' list for the third time. Having declined Crail, and then pre ferred Midmar to Tain, he was inducted, I4th December 1842. His ministry in his third congregation had an unpropitious beginning, as he was unacceptable to a very large minority, who nevertheless signed his call, as had been agreed on, owing to their long vacancy and repeated disappoint ments. But there was smouldering dissatisfaction, and in September 1846 the affairs of Midmar were pressed on the notice of the Presbytery. Certain members had been attending Morisonian preachers, and, this being com plained of by others, they were suspended from Church privileges. To make matters worse, Mr Paterson was at this time laid aside from duty by severe illness, and when a Presbyterial visitation was held at Midmar in January he was unable to be present. The parties who had been com plained of assigned as their reason for hearing elsewhere the want of edification under their own minister, and this state of feeling was found to be general throughout the congregation.

Mr Paterson on recovering offered to make good that those who had withdrawn from attendance on his ministry did so because he adhered faithfully to sound doctrine. To establish this charge against 6 of them witnesses were examined, the case occupying two days ; but all the Presbytery found proven was that one of the accused had expressed himself rashly and erroneously on some doctrinal points. Against certain of their findings Mr Paterson protested and appealed, and the Presbytery agreed in this connection to refer the whole case to the Synod. It came back to them again with a recommendation to take minister afffl people under their special care. A committee of reconciliation was appointed at next meeting, when Mr Paterson engaged to resign if no adjustment of differences was arrived at. On 3rd August 1847 a petition was presented by 9 members against his removal ; but owing to its disrespectful language it was not received, and though Mr Paterson told his brethren he had changed his

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 33

mind, it was carried by six to two to loose him from his charge. At the Synod on 7th October it was found that the Presbytery had acted precipitately in dissolving the relationship and in not sisting procedure when an appeal was taken ; but instead of involving themselves in technicalities they accepted his resignation ; declared he had prosecuted his ministry at Midmar with commendable fidelity ; and ordered his name to be placed on the preachers' list. Four years afterwards he was admitted to Aberchirder.

During the vacancy which followed the congregation called, without success, Mr Archibald Cross, afterwards of West Linton.

Third Minister. — JOHN PEDKN BELL, from Greyfriars, Glasgow. Ordained, 2/th April 1849. Mr Hell was a man of philosophic mind without corresponding gifts of expression. The books he has left behind him, one of them entitled "Christian Sociology" and another ''Mercy as Conditioned by Righteousness," evince mental subtlety and a vision of his own. He died, 9th July 1875, in the fifty-eighth year of his age and twenty-seventh of his ministry.

Fourth Minister. — JAMES N. DODDS, M.A., from Peebles (West). Ordained, I3th January 1876, the stipend from the people to be ^100, which supplement made up to ^157, ios., with the manse. On nth October 1887 Mr Dodds made an acknowledgment to the Presbytery, which was followed by suspension sine die, with deep sorrow on the part of his brethren, and much to the regret of the congregation. He then removed to Aberdeen, and is now a teacher in New Zealand.

Fifth Minister. — HENRY FERGUSON, from Alloa (Townhead). Or dained, 27th March 1888, and accepted a call to Broxburn, i6th July 1895.

Sixth Minister. — JOHN D. SINCLAIR, B.D., from Camphill, Glasgow. Ordained, igth May 1896. The membership at the close of 1899 was 72, and the stipend from the people ,£90, and the manse.

STONEHAVEN (BURGHER)

ON 7th September 1802 the Burgher Presbytery of Perth granted sermon to Stonehaven in answer to a petition subscribed by twenty-one persons, "setting forth their great need of the Gospel." This agrees with what the Haldanes recorded in their Journal five years before. " At Stonehaven we noticed the greatest indifference to eternal things we have seen anywhere." At this time Episcopacy was strong in the place, with two chapels, the one Scottish and the other English. The parish church was a mile from the town, and there was no Secession congregation nearer than Aberdeen to the north, and Johnshaven to the south, each distant fourteen or fifteen miles. It was meet that advantage should be taken of the present opening, and in 1803 a church was built, with sittings for 400, the cost being put down at ,£500.

First Minister. — JOHN BALLANTYNK, a native of Kinghorn parish. With drew from the Established Church when a university student, and became a member of the Burgher congregation, Lochgelly. Was called to North Berwick, as well as Stonehaven, but the latter call was signed by 45 members and 262 adherents. These last figures gave promise of great things, and Mr Ballantyne wrote the Synod assigning reasons for thinking Stonehaven should be preferred, which was agreed to without a vote. He was ordained, igth March 1806. In 1824 Mr Ballantyne published in pamphlet form his " Comparison of Established and Dissenting Churches," in which the theory of voluntaryism was very ably wrought out before its time. This was followed in 1828 by a monument of abstract thought, entitled "An

34 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

Examination of the Human Mind." Mr Ballantyne died, 5th November 1830, in the fifty-first year of his age, as the tombstone in Fetteresso church yard bears, and the twenty-fifth of his ministry. A fine tribute is paid to Mr Ballantyne's character and attainments in the memoir of the Rev. Henry Angus, Aberdeen, prefixed to his published sermons.

Second Minister. — DAVID TODD, from Dundee (School Wyncl). Or dained, 3 ist August 1831. In 1840 the congregation, which consisted of 130 members, engaged in an effort to clear off their debt of ,£200. Of this sum the Board agreed to furnish one-half, and the people forthwith subscribed the other half. Stimulus came from an aged member who, as their most liberal supporter, was anxious to see the burden removed before he died, and " in this very affecting particular they had the wish to gratify him." Mr Todd resigned, roth April 1855, assigning as the reason want of en couragement, but the drawback may not have lain entirely with the con gregation. He emigrated to Canada ; returned under paralysis, and died at Liverpool, 7th December 1859, aged fifty-three.

During this vacancy Stonehaven, simultaneously with Shiels, called Mr Peter Davidson, who, instead of choosing between the two, waited on, and obtained High Street, Brechin. Soon afterwards they called Mr Robert Scott, who went to Canada.*

Third Minister. — THOMAS SCOTT, from Portsburgh, Edinburgh (now Lauriston Place). Ordained, 29th September 1857. The stipend promised by the people was ^65, which was to be raised by supplement to ^110. In 1867 a new manse was built at a cost of ^1000, of which ,£400 came from the Manse Board. Mr Scott retired from active duty on 5th July 1886, but retained the status of senior minister, with an allowance of ,£10 from the congregation, and the occupancy of the manse. His son, after attending the U.P. Hall two sessions, went over to the Establishment, and is now the Rev. Thomas Scott, M.A., parish minister of Laurencekirk. The father 'died there, I5th September 1894, in the seventy-second year of his age and thirty-seventh of his ministry.

Fourth Minister. — Peter B. Crowley, M.A., from Wishart Church, Dundee. Ordained as colleague to Mr Scott, 28th December 1886. The membership at the close of 1899 was 89, and the stipend from the people ^70, with the manse.

OLD MELDRUM (UNITED SECESSION)

AFTER the death of Mr Brown, their first; minister, in 1801 the Presbytery suggested to Craigdam congregation the propriety of removing to Old Meldrum, a village three and a half miles to the south-west, with a popula tion of 800. This would have been a better centre ; and as a new manse was needed at the time, and a new church would be needed in a few years, it was thought the change would be to their advantage. The proposal, however, was not entertained. Four years afterwards a paper was presented to the Presbytery from 20 persons in Old Meldrum, members of the Established Church, about having sermon there, but the commissioners did not wish the petition to take effect unless the people of Craigdam decided to remain where they were. With this the matter'' dropped out of sight,

* Mr Scott, from Braehead, was minister at Dundas, Canada, for fourteen years. He then passed to the United States, and in 1875 was inducted to Jane Street Church, New York. He died of paralysis, igth July 1877, in the fifty-fourth year of his age and the seventeenth of his ministry.

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 35

and did not reappear till after sixteen years. This was on nth December 1821, when some people in Old Meldrum requested a day's supply of sermon, and Mr Robertson of Craigdam was appointed to preach to them on the first Sabbath of the year. Nothing followed, the reason assigned being the want of a place of worship.

This want must have been manfully provided for, as on 8th July 1823 " the subscribers to the new chapel at Old Meldrum requested the ad vantage of having sermon directly from the Presbytery." It hence appears that prior to this they were allowed preaching at such times as Craigdam minister and session thought fit to appoint, and they now wished to be set free from this state of pupilage. But the Presbytery were apprehensive that Craigdam congregation might suffer if an independent charge were set up at Old Meldrum, and the matter was remitted to the consideration of the session there. At next meeting the two parties were recommended to consult with each other in the spirit of meekness, and by mutual concessions accommodate their differences so that the interests of neither might be materially injured. The church which the petitioners had built, amidst slender encouragement, had sittings for 312, and in March 1824 they ap pealed to the Presbytery to grant them frequent supply for themselves, and not in connection with any other place. But when steps were adopted to have a congregation organised the first group of members were admitted by examination, and though the second group claimed to have been once connected with Craigdam the session there repudiated the relationship, and they had to be proceeded with in the same way. At last, on i2th April, a report was made to the Presbytery that those persons in Old Meldrum who had been approved of for admission to the Secession Church were formed into a congregation. The Lord's Supper was to be observed by them on the third Sabbath of August, and six elders elect were to be ordained on the Fast Day. So after a long struggle with unfavourable breezes they reached the harbour at last.

First Minister. — JAMES M'CRIE, from Colmonell. Ordained, ist February 1827. The call was signed by 37 members and 38 adherents. The stipend was to be ,£85, the figure at which it stood for at least eighteen years, but a manse was added after a time. In 1836 Mr M'Crie obtained an equivocal majority at a moderation in Stranraer (now Ivy Place), as is fully related in that connection, but the Synod had to lay the call aside. Thus the prospect of a transference to a more open sphere was blighted, and Old Meldrum was to enjoy Mr M'Crie's services till his strength failed. Had Aberdeenshire been favourable soil for Secession principles the quality of his ministrations, accompanied as they were by corresponding weight of character, should have gathered round him a flourishing congregation. By Mrs M'Crie in " Maria" we have Old Meldrum set before us as it was in the early years of her husband's ministry. Distilleries tainting the moral atmosphere ; two families vying with each other for social influence ; and as for preaching, "there seems to have been nothing done by the la A- teachers for the spiritual benefit of souls, except in so far as necessary to secure the salary." An Aberdeenshire clergyman of the old school is thus described : " In ecclesiastical rule he is said to be dictatorial ; in politics an unswerving Tory ; in the diffusion of secular knowledge and in the intellectual and moral improvement of the people, an unbending obstructive ; but gentle manly so long as acquiescence and subservience are rendered."

Thus situated, the Secession minister had uphill work, and his people prior to 1840 were much burdened. Though the church cost only ^250, the building of the manse may account for the debt rising to .£320. At this date the Liquidation Board came opportunely in, and the congregation,

36 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

encouraged by the promise of aid to the extent of ,£144, entered into the movement with much heartiness, nine or ten of their leading men standing in the gap, and to their own surprise the other .£180 was raised. Now for the first time in their history they were out into a large place. " Having come to their separate constitution with some struggle," wrote Mrs M'Crie, "they are earnest and resolute and self-sacrificing in the maintenance of their cause."

In 1859 Mr M'Crie published his "Primal Dispensation," a well-com pacted volume of theology on the highly Calvinistic side, and in 1861 he had the degree of D.D from Princeton, New Jersey. Possessing private means, he now expressed a wish for a colleague, probably with the view of devoting his years of remaining vigour to the labours of the pen. -

Second Minister. — ROBERT HALL, from St Vincent Street, Glasgow. Called first to Dubbieside (now Innerleven), but declined, and then to Bonhill, but owing to commotion there he accepted Old Meldrum. Or dained as colleague to Dr M'Crie, 24th April 1862. The membership was about 130, and the call unanimous. The stipend was to be ^112, los. in all. The senior minister, besides retaining the manse and garden, was to receive ;£io a year, and he was to perform an eighth part of the pulpit work. All looked fair at first ; but in the course of three years money difficulties began to press, and reference was made to the Presbytery. Dr M'Crie had mean while surrendered his share of the stipend until the circumstances of the congregation should improve. But friction was at work all round, and complaints were brought up against the junior minister, which led to a wearisome amount of futile investigation. The Presbytery were of opinion that the spirit of dissatisfaction was confined to a small fraction of the congre gation ; but we can believe that people trained under the preaching of Dr M'Crie might be hard to please sometimes. The case widened out till it reached the Synod in May 1866, when a protest against a decision of Presbytery was dismissed, and a committee appointed to meet at Old Meldrum "with the ministers, session, and congregation for friendly con ference regarding the differences that have existed among them." Next year they reported that the object had not been gained, but they had tendered such counsels as might help to modify the evils they had failed to remove. Dr M'Crie now ceased to discharge the eighth part of the work, and, on his being admitted to the Aged and Infirm Ministers' Fund, the congregation notified that they could only give him the manse and garden.

Experiences like the above had their effects. In 1869 Old Meldrum congregation intimated to the Presbytery and the Augmentation Board that in consequence of what they had come through they could not promise more than ,£95 of stipend at the very utmost, and they requested a yearly grant of ^55. The adjustment come to was that the people should raise £97, IDS. and receive ^60, the manse being still retained by the senior minister. In 1865 Dr M'Crie published "Jehovah's New Covenant Love," of which the contents answer to the name; in 1866 "Autopedia; or, Instructions on Personal Education," a book of much merit, though the applause it received in the U.P. Magazine at the time was only fitted to do it harm. In 1872 the author's most interesting book appeared, entitled " Maria ; or, Remini scences of Domestic Scenes and Incidents." It relates to Mrs M'Crie, who died fifteen years before, but left memorials of her gifts and graces, which are fitly embalmed in this volume. Dr M'Crie had now removed to Col- monell, his native seat, where he died, I3th January 1873, in the seventy-third year of his age and forty-sixth of his ministry. On 2nd October 1877 Mr Hall was loosed from Old Meldrum on accepting a call to Mordaunt Street, now Dalmarnock Road, Glasgow. The membership at the close of the year was 101.

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 37

Third Minister.— WILLIAM LAWRIE, from Abernethy. Ordained, 1st May 1878. On I2th February thereafter a letter was received from his aunt stating that her nephew from the state of his health found it necessary to demit his charge. Sermon was arranged for, and parties were to be heard at next meeting, but Mr Lawrie died on the 24th of that month in the twenty- eighth year of his age. This was the end of one brief ministry, and it was to be succeeded by a ministry briefer still. In the course of the year which intervened the congregation called Mr Thomas Taylor, but he chose rather to break new ground at Banchory.

Fourth Minister. — JOHN M'LUCKIE, who had been ordained at Lanark (Bloomgate) twenty-two years before, but removed from thence in 1865 to build up a new cause at Uddingston. In course of time rumours affecting his deportment for sobriety got abroad, but a committee of inquiry came to the unanimous conclusion, which was ratified by Glasgow Presbytery, April 1879, that "there is nothing in these rumours on which to found a charge against him." There was enough, however, to make Mr M'Luckie table his resignation at that same meeting, and enough to make the Presbytery accept it without preamble. But with the Synod's sanction a month later his name was put on the probationer list, and on 315! March 1880 he was inducted into Old Meldrum. In exactly four weeks the Presbytery convened in answer to a hasty summons. This again eventuated in obtaining from the Synod the appointment of a Commission to dispose of any appeals that might arise from a case of discipline at Old Meldrum. It next came out that on 2oth May the Rev. John M'Luckie was suspended from office sine die, and loosed from his charge, and that he had allowed the sentence to become final. He ultimately returned to the employment of his youth, that of a pattern-designer, and died in Glasgow, i6th March 1898, aged seventy. Had he remained true to the abstinence principles of his student days he might have had happier fortunes and a more useful life-course. Would that he had been duly mindful of the text from where he preached an eloquent discourse during his last session at the Hall, " Take heed, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin " !

Fifth Minister. — CHARL'ES CONNOR, M.A. Ordained, 26th October 1880. Demitted, and was loosed from Old Meldrum, gth February 1892. Mr Connor is a son of the Rev. Charles Connor, Oainaru, New Zealand ; a cousin of the Rev. David M. Connor, Govanhill, Glasgow ; and a son-in-law of the late Rev. Andrew Dickie, Aberdeen. On leaving Old Meldrum he returned to New Zealand, his early home, where, after being stated supply for a time at Waikari, he was inducted into Port Ahuriri and Meanee, in the Presbytery of Hawke's Bay, 5th May 1895.

Sixth Minister. — JOHN MOORE, B.D., from Belhaven, Glasgow. Or dained, loth January 1894. After conflicting with successive storms Old Meldrum has only a membership of about 60, and the stipend of ^50 from the people is made up to ,£126, or thereby, with the manse.

LUMSDEN (UNITED SECESSION)

IN June 1830 Kildrummie begins to appear in the records of Aberdeen Presbytery as a place to which they were sending supply of sermon. This went on for three years, and then Lumsden, in the parish of Auchindoir, which had recently grown into a village of 200 inhabitants, supplanted Kildrummie, an entirely rural parish. Services had been hitherto kept up at both places, the preachers taking the one in the forenoon and the other in the evening, but now Lumsden became the centre ; and in 1833 a small

38 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

church, with 200 sittings, was built at a cost of .£120. In September 1834 the Synod granted the Presbytery of Aberdeen liberty to erect Lumsden into a regular congregation. The Established Church was about two miles to the north-east, and the nearest Secession Church was Tough, not less than eight miles to the south-east.

But the Secession had footing in Auchindoir two generations before. When Mr George Cowie was ordained at Huntly in 1770 that parish was included in his widespread territories, and it was one of the preaching stations for which he obtained stray supply through the Presbytery. In 1775, when his congregation was broken into three, Auchindoir was hooked on to Cabrach, and the minister was to preach there four Sabbaths in the year, two in spring and two in autumn, the people to pay ,£4 of his stipend " and find quarters for himself and his horse." In 1794 the statistical history of the parish gave the Burghers and Antiburghers above ten years of age as only fifteen in number, and of these the former would attend at Tough and the latter at Cabrach. But there is nothing here with which to link the origin of Lumsden Church. " When we first sent sermon," said the Presby tery of Aberdeen, " there was not in the whole district a single person be longing to the Secession," and the 36 members congregated in December 1834 were all from the Established Church.

In March 1836 the Presbytery sustained a call from Lumsden to Mr George Morris, from Regent Place, Glasgow, but Mr Morris decided for America, and we hear of him afterwards as minister at Silverspring, Pennsylvania. A call followed in January 1837 to Mr Robert Lees, from Stow, but after some hesitation he also declined. In 1842 Mr Lees withdrew from the list, and, having passed through a medical course, he settled down as an apothecary in Edinburgh, was ordained to the eldership in Bristo Church 1846, and died, I7th December 1877, aged seventy-seven. His widow, a sister of Dr John Taylor, survived him many years.

First Minister. — ROKERT CREASE, who had retired from the old Anti- burgher Church, Peebles, two years before. Inducted, I7th January 1838. The stipend promised was ,£60, with lodgings, or ,£65 in all ; but Broughton Place, Edinburgh, came to their aid, and enabled them to pay other ^30 a year. The call was signed by 37 members and 118 adherents, the latter number giving promise of more than was ever realised. Increase followed, but not enough to encourage Mr Crease to persevere, and he had the pastoral bond dissolved, i6th March 1841. In the end of that year he declined a location at Letham, as he had obtained a fixed settlement in Dalkeith as a town missionary. From this time till the Union of 1847 his name appeared in the little group of " Revs." that used to head the probationer list in the U.S. Magazine. The writer heard him preach on one occasion in Balgedie, and remembers the unusual extent to which his discourses were embellished with poetry or verse. Mr Crease was also a missionary in connection with North Leith congregation. He died, gth May 1852, aged fifty-eight, and a lowly tombstone in Grange cemetery marks where he is laid. His widow, a granddaughter of John Brown of Haddington, died, 2Oth December 1877, aged sixty-seven.

It was thirteen years before Lumsden obtained another minister. In 1844 they called Mr Robert Ferrier, but he preferred Tain. There was reason now to question the propriety of going on. The Disruption had led to the building of a Free church for Auchindoir parish on the other side of the village square, and the ordination of a young minister followed to contest the ground. But after a pause of six years a renewed attempt was made to have the vacancy filled up. In September 1850 they called Mr Alexander L. Wylie, whose name comes up under Mossbank, but he declined. In 1852

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 39

they called first Mr William Main, who preferred Ardersier, and then the Rev. Alexander Walker, who waited on the list till Crail invited.

Second Minister. — WILLIAM THOMSON, from Glasgow (John Street). Ordained, 28th March 1854. Looked at in the light of what Mr Thomson came to, there was much in this for Lumsden to be proud of. In that narrow sphere he remained till 5th May 1863, when he accepted a call to Burton-on- Trent, but during these nine years there had been little made of the sparse material, the members at the close being scarcely 60. It was a comment on the capabilities of the place. Mr Thomson was inducted to Kirkmuirhill, 1869.

Third Minister. — WILLIAM SIMMERS, from Savoch of Deer. Ordained, 2$th November 1863, and loosed, 5th February 1868, on accepting Portsoy. In the course of the year an unsuccessful call was given to Mr William \Vatson, afterwards of Kirkcudbright.

Fourth Minister. — JAMES WILSON, from Glasgow, Cathedral Street (now Kelvingrove). Ordained, 24th February 1869. On gth April 1872 a deputa tion of Presbytery, which had visited Lumsden, reported "general deficiency of funds and general dissatisfaction." A fortnight afterwards Mr Wilson tendered his resignation, which was accepted on I4th June. As there was no moral element involved, the intention was to have his name put on the roll of probationers, but he removed to the West Indies in an educational capacity. Mr Wilson was admitted by the Assembly in May 1885 to the Church of Scotland, and before the end of the year he was inducted to the quoad sacra church, Gardenstown.

During this vacancy four calls were issued, but affairs had been going back, and not one of the preachers was inclined to lead the forlorn hope. These were as follows : — (i) in 1873 Mr Thomas Granger, now of Coupar- Angus ; (2) in 1874 Mr G. M. Hair, now of Ceres; and (3) in 1875 Mr John Black, late of Lochwinnoch, and Mr James Bell, now of Auchtermuchty.

Fifth Minister. — JOHN F. DEMPSTER, M.A., from Wishart Church, Dundee. Ordained, 2nd May 1876. Loosed from Lumsden, 28th September 1880, on accepting a call to Carnoustie. The membership had meanwhile risen from 40 to 65.

Sixth Minister. — JAMES STARK, M.A., son of the Rev. John Stark, Horndean, and nephew of the Rev. Gilbert Meikle, Inveraray. Ordained, 2gth June 1881. On 29th July 1886 Mr Stark intimated to the Presbytery that, with the view of removing barriers to a union with Lumsden Free Church, which was arranging to call a colleague, he intended to demit his charge, as there was neither room nor need for two congregations in the little village of Lumsden. A committee was appointed to take steps to secure the desired consummation. Preliminaries were speedily arranged. It was agreed that the united congregation should belong to the Free Church as the Church of the majority. The sessions were to become one, and the U.P. managers were to be transformed into Free Church deacons by formal ordination. On i2th October these things were reported to Aberdeen Presbytery, and Mr Stark tabled his demission, which the Presbytery de layed accepting, that his rights under the Mutual Eligibility Act might be conserved, should he incline to become a candidate for the collegiateship. On Sabbath, i3th December, the two congregations met in the Free Church in the forenoon, when Mr Duncan of Lynturk, as representing the U.P. Presbytery of Aberdeen, preached ; and they met in the U.P. Church in the afternoon, when Mr Brander of Alford, as representing the Free Presbytery of Alford, preached. At the close eight elders were present, five of the Free and three of the U.P. Church, and there was one absent from each side.

40 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

The united session was constituted, and Mr Henry Nicoll, the retiring Free Church minister, declared moderator. The communion rolls, 'when com bined, gave 125 members, 86 from the Free and 39 from the U.P. congrega tion. Of the latter only 3 had declined to go into the union. On 8th February Mr Stark's demission was accepted. At the Synod in May his name was placed on the probationer list, and, after three years of probation expired, he discharged pastoral work in connection with Broughton Place Church, Edinburgh. He was also an active elder in the young congregation of Merchiston. He died on 24th August 1895, after a 'brief illness, in his fortieth year.

The united congregation retains the parish name of Auchindoir. The old Free church was sold, and the proceeds employed in building a ne\v church on the U.P site. The Free Church manse was also disposed of, and the U.P. manse was bought by the congregation, and the balance handed over to the Manse Fund of the denomination from which a grant had been obtained for its erection. Thus was the first corporate union between a Free and a U.P. congregation accomplished, and such were the adjustments that followed.

BANCHORY (UNITED PRESBYTERIAN)

OF Lynturk congregation it has been already stated that the name was at one period " Tough and Banchory," places at least fifteen miles apart. This began in an accession of some people in the latter parish to the Burgher Presbytery of Aberdeen in 1762, and it continued till 1780, when, by mutual consent, the two were disjoined. Of the united session, as first constituted, we have also seen that two of the 6 members were from Banchory, but what proportion of the minister's labours was assigned to that place is not recorded. It would probably be one Sabbath out of three. But Mr Murray, the second minister of Tough, when under call, objected to the double centre, and on 2nd May 1780 Banchory was formed into a separate congregation. No sooner was this arranged for than a petition was read "from some persons in the parish of Echt, setting forth their deplorable situation through the want of the Gospel, and craving supply." Here was companionship for Banchory at not more than half the distance, and that day a well-known preacher, Andrew Swanston, \vas appointed to supply the two places until further notice. For the next twenty years the usual arrangement was for the preacher who had been supplying at Montrose to go on to Banchory and Echt, where he was to remain until recalled. The system, dictated by the remoteness, was one of brief locations with considerable blanks between'

But though Banchory ranked all the while as a regular congregation, no attempt was ever made to obtain a fixed ministry. The Old Statistical History sketches its state in 1793 as follows :— " There are in the parish about 30 seceders" — these it is presumed were adults, and there would also be a sprinkling from other parishes. "They obtained liberty," it adds, "from one of the heritors more than twenty years ago to build a place of worship. They have another in the parish of Echt, but no settled minister in either." This last name disappears from the Almanac in 1803, absorbed probably by the forming congregation of Midmar, a few miles to the west, but sermon was still kept up at Banchory in a fitful way. In October 1800 they notified to Perth Presbytery that owing to their peculiar circumstances they could not receive supply during the winter. Still the name lingered on the roll of Burgher Churches till 1816, and so late as September 1820 we find ^5 allowed to Banchory by the Synod " for procuring supply of sermon."

PRESBYTERY OF ABERDEEN 41

After a break of nearly sixty years the name is revived in the records of the denomination. On i3th November 1877 it was intimated to the Presbytery of Aberdeen that steps had been taken with the view of forming a congregation at Banchory. The place was on the increase both in population and in importance. There was, moreover, a chapel, with manse and garden, which had belonged to the Congregationalists, to be purchased on moderate terms. The measure was approved of, and on the second Sabbath of June 1878 the station was opened by the Home Secretary, Dr Scott. On 8th October certain petitioners from Banchory were with due formality congregated, and an interim session appointed. In January 1879 they called Mr William Logan, and in June Mr Matthew Dickie, but for both preachers there were other openings in the south, and the former found his destination at Lanark, and the latter at Sanquhar.

First Minister.— THOMAS TAYLOR, from Alloa (West). Ordained, i8th November 1879. Though the membership at this time was only 15, they undertook to provide ,£90 of the stipend from their own resources, a figure which proved too high-pitched, and had to be exchanged for ,£75. On 27th December 1887 Mr Taylor accepted a call to Graham's Road, Falkirk. There were then 99 names on the communion roll.

Second Minister. — COLIN NICOL, from Kilwinning. Ordained, 5th June 1888. Accepted a call to Clydebank, 29th June 1892.

Third Minister.— JAMES R. WARK, M.A., from Irvine (Trinity). Or dained, 1 5th December 1892. With a strong Free Church congregation in the place it is found impracticable to get much beyond 100 members, and this point was reached within the first ten years. At the close of 1899 the number was 105, and the stipend from the people ,£85, with the manse.

WOODSIDE (UNITED PRESBYTERIAN)

THIS suburb of Aberdeen, about two miles to the north, gives its name to a quoad sacra parish with a population of between 6000 and 7000. On 1 3th November 1877 the Presbytery of Aberdeen met to consider a petition from 43 members in full communion with the U.P. Church, residing in that quarter, to be formed into a congregation. Four weeks afterwards Dr Robson was appointed to preach at Woodside on Tuesday, i8th De cember, and declare the petitioners congregated. Then, like Banchory, Woodside had to face the inconvenience of two unsuccessful calls, the first to Mr John Dundas, who preferred Muirkirk, and the second to the Rev. A. K. Kennedy, M.D., but he kept himself in reserve, and in the end gave to the young congregation of Clune Park, Port-Glasgow, such benefit as was to be had.

First Atinister. — WILLIAM A. DUN BAR, from St James' Place, Edinburgh. Ordained, i6th July 1879. At the end of this year the return gave 90 members, being fully double the original number. On Sabbath, 6th February 1881, the church, built at a cost of ,£1800, and seated for 500, was o'pened, Principal Cairns preaching in the forenoon and Dr Robson of Aberdeen in the afternoon. Mr Dunbar's ministry at Woodside ended on 9th September 1890 in the acceptance of a call to Wishart Church, Dundee. By this time the membership was nearly doubled a second time.

_ Second Minister. — JOHN URE, M.A., from Glasgow (Greenhead). Or dained, 22nd January 1891. The communion roll was over 250 at the close of 1899 and the stipend from the people ^110. The property is free of debt.

42 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

PRESBYTERY OF ANN AND ALE LOCKERBIE (ANTIBUROHER)

ON I2th March 1738 the Associate Presbytery received an accession from the Corresponding Societies in Annandale, and on igth July Messrs Ralph Erskine and James Fisher were appointed to preach to them on 2oth August. Sermon followed at intervals ; baptism of "many children," and the ordination of an eldership. About this time there was an accession given in from some people in the parish of Tundergarth, and the cause \vas also strengthened by a violent settlement in the parish of Middlebie. Before obtaining a fixed pastor they gave a call to Mr John Cleland, but though only a probationer he was considerably beyond middle life, and on that ground his objections to being ordained over a community so widespread as that of Annandale were sustained, and he was afterwards settled in Balfron.

First Minister. — GEORGE MURRAY, from Gateshaw (now Morebattle). Ordained, 2nd May 1744, exactly eleven months after the call came out. According to a manuscript note in an old pamphlet, the church was erected in 1746, and Lockerbie was made the seat of the congregation, very much to the chagrin of Ecclefechan people. At the breach of 1747 Mr Murray took the Antiburgher side, and the majority of his people adhered. He died, 2nd April 1757, in the forty-second year of his age and the thirteenth of his ministry. Like many of the early Seceding preachers Mr Murray is de scribed as having dwelt strongly on the defections of the times. He was buried in Tundergarth churchyard, where his tombstone is still standing. Mr Murray's son John went to America as a preacher in 1773. He became minister of Marsh Creek, Pennsylvania, in 1777, and died in the summer of 1785.

A trying vacancy of five and a half years followed, during which the con gregation called Mr William Graham, whom the Synod appointed to White- haven. They next called the Rev. Richard Jerment of Peebles, a minister of popular gifts, who had been appointed by the Synod to supply at Lockerbie three Sabbaths, and was understood to be transportable, but in this case also there was disappointment, probably to both parties.

Second Minister. — GEORGE MURRAY, from Duns (East). Ordained, 6th October 1762. The name has led to the erroneous conclusion that he was a son of the former minister. Mr Murray died after a lingering illness, 5th November 1800, in the sixty-fourth year of his age and thirty-ninth of his ministry. A tablet was erected to his memory by his widow, Margaret Moncrieff, a daughter of Moncrieffof Culfargie. Mr Murray was a Berwick shire laird, and this accords with his marriage relationship. In the Christian Magazine he is characterised as a man of "amiable temper and engaging manners."

In March 1801 Lockerbie congregation called Mr Andrew Bayne, but the Synod appointed him to the less important charge of Eastbarns, afterwards Dunbar (East).

Third Minister.— WILLIAM PATRICK, a native of Kilsyth parish, and belonging to a Reformed Presbyterian family. On joining the Antiburghers he connected himself with Cumbernauld. Called to Hamilton as well as to Lockerbie, but the Synod, contrary to his wishes, gave Lockerbie the pre ference. Aware of his feelings, Hamilton called him anew ; but the Pres bytery delayed procedure, and the matter was allowed to drop. Mr Patrick

PRESBYTERY OF ANNANDALE 43

was ordained, i6th December 1802, and eight years afterwards the second church, with 570 sittings, was built at a cost of ^800. In May 1815, when the Synod were deliberating on the wants of Nova Scotia, they were informed that Mr Patrick had signified his willingness to undertake a mission to that part of the world. Being called on, he tendered the demission of his charge, assigning as his reasons, first, the want of temporal support, and second, the almost uninhabitable state of the manse. The Presbytery found on inquiry that the congregation had resolutely decided to make no advance in the stipend, which some years before was given at ^80, with manse, garden, office-houses, and a glebe of four or five acres. Having been loosed from Lockerbie on I7th July 1815, Mr Patrick landed in Nova Scotia in September, and was inducted into Mergomish on i6th November, where he died, 25th November 1844, in the seventy-third year of his age. He is described as a man of great activity, and abundant in labours. Though requiring to cultivate a small farm he was careful in preparing for the pulpit, and in pastoral work. Mr Patrick was a son-in-law of the Rev. John Young of Hawick.

Fourth Minister. — JOSEPH TAYLOR, from Brechin (City Road). Or dained, 29th August 1816. In April 1825 the Presbytery of Annan and Carlisle, which had libelled Mr Taylor for intemperance, referred his case to the Synod. There he came forward at last, and frankly confessed that " in several instances he had been overtaken in the manner alleged." A petition from elders and members of the congregation had been previously read, ex pressing attachment to their minister, and hoping that, if found blameworthy, he might be leniently dealt with. There was also another to the same effect from 174 inhabitants of Lockerbie. He was now rebuked and restored to office. But in September the case came back to the Synod, there being reason to fear that the old evil had reappeared in Mr Taylor's public ministra tions, and as he had declared he would rather resign his charge than submit himself to the judgment of his own Presbytery, the members of Dumfries Presbytery were appointed to take part with them in the investigation of the case. It was wound up on 5th November by a sentence of suspension sine die. He then removed to Brechin, where he died suddenly on I2th September 1827 in his thirty-eighth year. The congregation during this vacancy called Mr John Taylor, M.D., whom the Synod appointed to Auchtermuchty (East).

Fifth Minister. — HUGH DOUGLAS, brought up in Ayr (First), now Original Secession. Ordained, 25th March 1828. In 1836 there was a membership of 220 and a stipend of ^100, with the manse, and a glebe valued at £6. The greater part of the congregation came from over two miles, and twenty-one families were more than six miles from the place of worship. Fully 100 members were from the parishes of St Mungo, Apple- garth, Hutton, and Tundergarth. There was no debt on the property, and the minister conducted three services each Sabbath. Mr Douglas died, 2oth December 1864, in the sixty-fourth year of his age and the thirty-seventh of his ministry. Mrs Douglas was a daughter of the Rev. James Primrose of Grange. Two of their sons became U.P. ministers : George, formerly of Walker, and now Secretary of the Religious Tract Society, Edinburgh ; and Robert Primrose, formerly of Ardersier, and now minister of the English Presbyterian Church, Otterburn. The Rev. William Morrison of Rosehall, Edinburgh, is Mr Douglas' son-in-law.

Sixth Minister.— DAVID THOMAS, from Balfron. Ordained, I5th March 1865. In '876 Mr Thomas was called to Bell Street, Dundee, but he re mained in Lockerbie. A new manse was built in 1885, which, in addition to the sum received for the old manse, cost ,£600, of which the Board paid one-

44 HISTORY 6F U.P. CONGREGATIONS

fourth. At the close of 1899 tne membership was 300, and the stipend was ,£205, with the manse.

ECCLEFECHAN (BURGHER)

THIS congregation originated shortly after the breach of 1747. When the Associate congregation of Annandale had its centre fixed at Lockerbie, six miles to the north of Ecclefechan, the arrangement caused much irritation among the Seceders in the southern division of the correspondence, and pre pared the way for a severance. Accordingly, on 27th September 1748 the Burgher Presbytery of Edinburgh received a representation from several members of Annandale congregation, giving an account of their melancholy situation owing to the rash, schismatical course their minister was following, whereby they were deprived of the privilege of baptism. It was not, however, till the end of the following year that sermon was granted them. It does not appear from the minutes of Lockerbie session that the breach was serious at first as regards numbers, not more than one of the thirteen elders having left at this time, though they complain later on that " many in this congregation have gone off from a Gospel-witnessing standard in this place, and in a most disorderly way are calling in others to preach among them."

First Minister. — JOHN JOHNSTON, from West Linton. Ordained, 26th August 1761. They had no church as yet, and the services were conducted in the open air. The most prominent name among them at this time is that of Thomas Forsyth. During the thirteen years that had elapsed since the breach there can have been little progress made, supply of sermon being so sparse that in 1757 they complained of having had none for three-quarters of a year. The thatch -covered church Thomas Carlyle speaks of, with 600 sittings, was not built till 1766. Three years before this the congregation were in danger of losing their minister, Mr Johnston being called to Cumbernauld, to which place he had also been called when a preacher, but the Synod vetoed the translation. The stipend for a long course of years remained at a low figure. Up till 1771 it averaged only ^30 a year, and then it was raised to over ^45, and in 1779 they promised more liberal things, and received some advice from the Presbytery "relative to those who neglected to contribute for their minister's subsistence."

Ecclefechan congregation at this time had a branch stretching as far as Moffat to the north, and until a Burgher congregation was formed at Annan in the early part of the century it extended nearly as far to the south. Let a vivid picture from Thomas Carlyle's Reminiscences do service here : " One family whose streaming plaids hung up to dry I remember to have noticed one wet Sunday — pious Scottish weavers settled near Carlisle, I was told — were in the habit of walking 15 miles twice for their sermon, since it was not to be had nearer." Mr Johnston died, 28th May 1812, in the eighty- second year of his age and fifty-second of his ministry. In an obituary notice it is stated that he preached for the last time "under the pressure of corporeal infirmity, and literally fell down in the pulpit." It adds : " Supported by the assured hope of a blissful immortality, he was gently dismissed to his rest." Carlyle's estimate of his father's minister, and the minister of his youth, may be repeated anew : "The priestliest man I ever under any ecclesiastical guise was privileged to look upon." Mr Johnston's son, of the same name, was minister first in St Andrews, then in Eglinton Street, Glasgow, and finally in New York.

There was now a lengthened vacancy at Ecclefechan, and an array of unsuccessful calls. In April 1813 the Synod appointed Mr John M'Kerrow,

PRESBYTERY OF ANNANDALE 45

the object of their first choice, to Bridge-of-Teith ; and in September a call from Ecclefechan to Mr Robert Balmer was one of three which were set aside in favour of Berwick. In the case of the third call there was no competition, but the preacher, Mr Andrew Hay, stated that "his mind insuperably induced him to decline that most important and hazardous office" — the charge of a congregation.* The call was ultimately withdrawn. The fourth preacher called was Mr William Brash, but he was appointed by the Synod to the collegiate charge of Campbell Street, Glasgow (now Sydney Place).

Second Minister. — ANDRKW LAWSON, a son of Professor George Lawson of Selkirk. There were rival calls in this case also — one from North Middleton, which was not prosecuted, and another from Yetholm ; but "after so many disappointments Ecclefechan was preferred without a vote." Mr Lawson was ordained, 2nd October 1816. On i3th April 1824 he was loosed from Ecclefechan by the Presbytery of Annan and Carlisle that he might be inducted as his father's successor at Selkirk. The circumstances were altogether peculiar. Selkirk congregation had called his elder brother three times, but the Synod, in keeping with his own wishes, declined to translate him from Kilmarnock. The congregation then fell back on the younger brother at Ecclefechan, but he also preferred to remain where he was, and the Synod in September 1823 decided by a great majority that it should be so. The call being repeated soon afterwards, Mr Lawson indicated an inclination to accept, and Ecclefechan people refused in the circumstances to move a finger to retain him.t So when the Presbytery met to dispose of the call they had not even a commissioner forward, and Mr Lawson was unani mously loosed from his charge.

Third Minister. — GEORGE JOHNSTON, from Ayton (West). Ordained, 1 2th April 1826. At their meeting in September 1830 the Synod had to adjudicate on a call to Mr Johnston from Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, and, guided by his expressed preferences, they decided against the translation. However, in April 1831 they had easy work assigned them. A second call Mr Johnston had looked at in a different light, and, aware of this, Ecclefechan people, true to their antecedents, sent no one up to Edinburgh to utter a word in favour of retaining him, and without a vote his removal was agreed to.

In the following year they competed with Rigg-of-Gretna for the services of Mr Matthew M'Gill, but the balance went against them, not much perhaps to their disadvantage in the end.

Fourth Minister. — JAMES HARK.NESS, from Blackfriars, Jedburgh. Or dained, 1 5th August 1832. Four years after this the communicants numbered 273, of whom 70 were from Middlebie parish, 34 from Annan, and 20 from Cummertrees, with a very few from Kirkpatrick, St Mungo, and Tundergarth. At least two dozen families came from beyond four miles.

* Mr Hay was a brother of the Rev. Robert I lay of Stow, and a brother-in-law of the Rev. Dr Henderson, Galashiels. He remained on the preachers' list for thirty years, and died loth September 1845.

t Thomas Carlyle's father is credited with having clinched the matter at the congregational meeting by growling out: "Let the hireling go." It needed little charity to interpret Mr Lawson's motives in a milder way. This was an invitation to fill his father's place and labour among the people he had known from his childhood. They had also shown their attachment to the family in five successive calls. No wonder though Mr Lawson's mind was swaying now in the direction of Selkirk, with its vacancy of four years' duration. The last link of connection with the Carlyle family was lost about the year 1864, when Thomas's brother James left through dissatisfaction with the costliness of the new church.

46 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

The stipend was £i 10, with manse, garden, and a small park. The minister preached once a month at the villages of Eaglesfield and Brydekirk, the one nearly three miles to the south-east of Ecclefechan, and the other fully four miles to the south. Owing to unfortunate circumstances, connected with his wife more than with himself, Mr Harkness resigned, and was loosed from his charge on 5th March 1839. He then emigrated to America, and became pastor of a congregation in New York. He died on 4th July 1878, in the seventy-fifth year of his age and forty-sixth of his ministry, in New Jersey, where he both practised as a medical man and officiated as a minister. By his second marriage Mr Harkness was a brother-in-law of the Rev. Andrew Wield, Thornliebank.

Fifth Minister. — WILLIAM TAIT, from Fala. Ordained on a unanimous call, 23rd June 1840. In 1864 a new church was built at a cost of ^1750 with 600 sittings. The membership at this time was about 230. Mr Tait's constitution early gave way, and often he had to be carried to the pulpit, owing to paralysis of the lower extremities. He died, igth July 1867, in the fifty-seventh year of his age and twenty-eighth of his ministry.

Sixth Minister. — NATHANAEL F. M'DOUGAL, from Portsoy, where he had been ordained two years before. Inducted, 7th January 1868. The stipend was £i 50, and in a year or two a new manse was built at a cost of fully ^700, besides the price received for the former manse, the Board allowing ^350. For Mr M'Dougal the death summons came on Sabbath ist January 1872. Feeling himself unable to proceed with the service, he gave out a Psalm, and came down from the pulpit to the vestry. He there requested his brother-in-law, now the Rev. J. W. Dunbar of St James' Place, Edin burgh, who was then a student, to go up and read the fourteenth chapter of Job. He had intended to preach from the tenth verse : " But man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost and where is he?" Shortly afterwards he became unconscious, and died at half-past two on Monday afternoon, in the thirty-fourth year of his age and the seventh of his ministry. The text was preached from in the silence of the death-chamber.

Seventh Minister. — JAMES S. RAE, from Buccleuch Street, Dumfries, but a native of Urr parish. Called also to Belfast ; Garscube Road, Glasgow ; Maryhill ; London Road, Edinburgh ; and Queen Anne Street, Dunferm- line. Ordained at Ecclefechan, 4th February 1873. On 25th April 1876 he accepted Trinity Church, Sunderland, and was loosed from his first charge. In 1890 he was translated to Newington, Edinburgh.

Eighth Minister.— ARCHIBALD SMITH, originally from Kirkwall. Or dained, 3rd October 1876. After a lingering illness Mr Smith died, 3Oth January 1889, in the fifty-first year of his age and thirteenth of his ministry.

Ninth Minister. — ROBERT SMALL, M.A., son of Rev. Robert Small, D.D., Gilmore Place, Edinburgh. Ordained, 3rd December 1889. Loosed, I7th April 1895, on accepting a call to be colleague to the Rev. Dr Hutchison, Bonnington.

Tenth Minister. — ALEXANDER STEELE, from Dean Street, Edinburgh. Ordained, I5th September 1896. The membership three years after this was 21 1 and the stipend as before, ,£200, with the manse.

WAMPHRAY (RELIEF)

THE earliest notice we have of this congregation is on loth September 1776, when a petition for sermon was laid before the Relief Presbytery of Glasgow from what was called the forming congregation of Annandale, and supply began on the fourth Sabbath of that month. The parish minister of

PRESBYTERY OF ANNANDALE 47

Wamphray at this time was a man whose dissipated habits compelled him to retire in 1793. This accounts for the fixing down of the church at Gate- side, a village in that parish, from which the congregation took the name by which it used to be best known. "But," said the Old Statistical History, " it is composed of people from ten or twelve parishes." The place of worship, with sittings for 300, is understood to have been built in 1777.

First Minister. — THOMAS MARSHALL, from the Havannah, the old Anti- burgher congregation in Glasgow. According to Ramsay, the minister of his youth, he was kept back from licence by the Antiburgher Presbytery of Glasgow, and even advised to turn his attention to some other calling. The consequence was that in a few weeks he was " a thorough-paced Relief man" ; but Ramsay's statements when he was out of temper have to be taken with abatements. We know for certain, however, that in June 1777 Mr Marshall applied to be taken on trials for licence by the Relief Presbytery of Glasgow, and before the end of December he had a call from Wamphray. His ordination must have taken place between this and May 1778, as he was a member of Synod that year. In 1781 his name appears on the Synod list for the last time, but there is nothing to guide us nearer the date of his death.

Second Minister. — GEORGE HALIBURTON NICHOLSON, translated from Pittenweem. Mr Nicholson had been called to Wamphray when it was in the forming state, but preferred Pittenweem. He had uneasy feelings, it is said, on the remembrance, believing that his choice was dictated by worldly motives, and when Wamphray fell vacant a few years afterwards he made the people aware that he was willing to undo the wrong he had done them, and would become their minister if invited. Accordingly, before the Synod in May 1782 his induction into his new charge took place. In 1785 Mr Nicholson was called to Falkirk, but remained a fixture in Wamphray. He died, 4th June 1792, after ministering there a little over ten years.

The congregation then called Mr James Taylor, who preferred Earlston. Third Minister. — DECISION LAING, of whose antecedents we only know- that he was introduced to Glasgow Presbytery for licence by Mr Bell of Dovehill Church. Ordained, 2Oth July 1797. The stipend was ,£70, with £4 for sacramental expenses, a house, garden, and two acres of enclosed land. Mr Laing was loosed, 28th June 1804, on accepting Balfron.

Fourth Minister. — HENRY PATERSON, from the Relief Church, East Campbell Street, Glasgow, but a native of Bothwell parish. Some time before this they had called unsuccessfully Mr William Gilmour, who became minister of Banff. Mr Paterson was ordained, ist August 1805. Towards the close of his ministry the congregation got into pecuniary difficulties. In a report to the Synod of 1845 ^ 's stated that their seventy years' lease of the property was nearly expired, and they were in debt s -veral hundred pounds to the agent, although they had got partial relief from the Liquidation Fund. Mr Paterson died, I4th June 1847, in the seventieth year of his age and forty-second of his ministry. Next year the membership was returned at 80, and the supplement of stipend was to be ^30.

Fifth Minister. — JOHN BRASH, son of the Rev. William Brash, East Campbell Street Secession Church, Glasgow. Having preferred Wamphray to Aberchirder he was ordained, i3th February 1851. In May 1850 a new church, built at a cost of only ^300, was opened with 250 sittings. Mr Brash demitted his charge, i ith July 1854, having agreed to become minister of the Cameronian Church, Jane Street, New York. He remained there from 1855 to 1868 ; then he was two years in South Boston, Mass. He then joined the Presbyterian Church, and died at South Amboy, New Jersey, 2ist March 1 88 1, aged fifty-six.

48 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

Wamphray congregation, after Mr Brash left, called Mr John S. Hyslop, afterwards of Leven, who declined.

Sixth Minister. — DAVID MANN, from Braehead, Carmvath. Ordained, 26th December 1855. The congregation had improved much before Mr Brash left, and at the close of 1853 there was a membership of 125. But times had changed since the days when people gathered in to Gateside on Sabbath from ten or twelve parishes, and decline now began to show itself, specially in the attendance, which came down in three years from 1 20 to 70, and in 1860 it was returned at 40. But in February of that year the Presbytery received a communication from parties who were absenting themselves from public worship. This led to inquiries, which came to turn on domestic bearings ; but the Synod in 1861 acquitted Mr Mann of all blame, considering that nothing had been brought out against him warrant ing even admonition. But this decision did not make amends for the mischief done by whispering tongues, or bring back the people who had left. When the commotion was over the communion roll was exactly one- half what it had been seven years before. In August 1870 Mr Mann asked leave of absence for six months, as he was going to Canada to test the outlook there, and the Mission Board had agreed to grant him .£150 for that purpose. On 28th March 1871 he sent in his demission in consequence of an invitation to become minister of Walton congregation in Canada. In 1877 he removed to Biddulph in Stratford Presbytery, and in 1883 he was in New Glasgow, where he remained four years. After that he held various charges, most of them in the United States, besides crossing the Atlantic five times. He finally reached Scotland in August 1899, and took up his abode at Dunoon.

Wamphray, on becoming vacant, was reduced to a preaching station, and since then has been wrought sometimes by students and sometimes by retired ministers, the manse proving an attraction. In view of approaching events we may calculate that by amalgamation with the Free Church of Johnstone and Wamphray an end will come to this congregation's separate existence. The membership at the close of 1899 was 52, and the sum paid by the congregation for the support of ordinances was ^33.

MOFFAT (BURGHER)

THOUGH there is no mention of any accessions to the Associate Presbytery from this parish it furnished from an early period some families to Ecclefechan church, which was over twenty miles distant. This appears from an entry in the minutes of the Burgher Presbytery of Edinburgh, where Mr Johnston, the minister, is appointed to hold session with the elders of Moffat in order to purge scandal, which implies that at least two of their number resided there. But the first trace of an attempt in the direction of separate existence is not found till I5th April 1789, when a request was made for as frequent supply of sermon as possible during summer, which from this time was granted with more or less regularity. The parish minister, Dr Walker, had been appointed Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh the year before, and keeper of the museum. It is stated in the Fasli that during a great part of his ministry he resided away from his charge, and got forward to the church only on Sabbath morning. In this state of matters the need for a Secession con gregation in the place may have come to be more deeply and widely felt.

At the Synod in May 1793 calls came up from Moffat, East Linton, and Peebles to Mr Thomas Leckie, and though the first of these was the only

PRESBYTERY OF ANNANDALE 49

one which he expressed unwillingness to accept, the Synod gave that place the preference. From this decision reasons of dissent were given in by Mr John Dick of Slateford, in which he urged that, though appearances might be more promising in Moffat than they once were, he questioned if authority were properly exercised " in appointing the settlement of any man in a place where his comfortable support is not so probable as in another to which he is called." But Mr Leckie refused to implement the decision, and the difficulty was got over by the people intimating to the Synod in May 1794 that they wished their call laid aside, as Mr Leckie's aversion had cooled their attachment to him. After this he became the first minister of the Burgher Church at Peebles.

First Minister. — HECTOR CAMERON, from Bridge-of-Teith, who was also called to Ayton and Jedburgh, but though each of these had more than 300 signatures and that from Moffat only 53, the vote in the Synod stood thus : for Moffat 59, for Jedburgh 2, and for Ayton, none. Mr Cameron was ordained, I5th October 1794, and was continued in Moffat, notwithstand ing repeated attempts to remove him. Not to mention a call from Paisley, which was withdrawn owing to want of harmony, he was called to the new and promising congregation of Barrhead in 1799, and again in 1800, but on both occasions the Synod refused the translation. In the latter of these years Ayr made a similar attempt, but with no better success. Something different might have been better both for Mr Cameron and Moffat con gregation. Towards the end of 1803 bodily indisposition set in, often unfitting him for duty, and the church was reported to be suffering every way. Next, mental derangement supervened, and dissension also got in among the people. In April 1805 Mr Cameron demitted his charge, pleading " want of health, the divided state of the congregation, and their inability to support him." A section of the members meanwhile adhered to Mr Cameron, but on 22nd May of that year the Presbytery decided to dissolve the connection. Mr Cameron died on 2oth November following, in the thirty-seventh year of his age and the twelfth of his ministerial life.

Second Minister. — JOHN MONTEITH, from Dunblane. Ordained, 27th September 1809, after a vacancy of over four years. The membership had suffered through contention, and it was down now to 75, and the stipend promised was ^90, with a house, or ^5 instead. An uphill struggle followed, which was not got over till Mr Monteith's course was far advanced. He died, 23rd April 1844, in the sixtieth year of his age and thirty-fifth of his ministry.

Third Minister. — JOHN RIDDELL, from Greenlaw. Ordained, 4th March 1845. In the early part of his preacher course, which extended to four years, Mr Riddell was called to Crail. Then he was located upwards of a year in a station at Liverpool. Next, he was called to the Secession Church, Campbeltown, but at that very time the door opened at Moffat. After his ministerial gifts came to be widely known Mr Riddell had trans lating calls as follows : — first, to Albion Chapel, London, in 1858, and again in 1860 ; second, to Hawick, Eastbank, in 1861 ; and, finally, to the forming congregation of Leicester in 1866. A change might have lessened the strain of pulpit preparation and gone to prolong his usefulness and his life. He died, 1 3th January 1868, in the twenty-third year of his ministry and at the age of fifty A volume of his discourses was published soon after, with a memoir by the Rev. Dr Thomson, Edinburgh. The present church, with 750 sittings, was built in 1862 at a cost of over ,£3000.

In February 1869 the congregation called Mr Matthew Galbraith, but he chose Charlotte Street, Aberdeen, instead.

So HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

fourth Minister. — -WILLIAM HUTTON, translated from Cumnock, and inducted, igth October 1869. On 23rd March 1880 he accepted a call to Grange Road, Birkenhead, of which he is still the minister. The membership at Mofifat when Mr Hutton left was 265 and the stipend ,£300.

Fifth Minister. — ALEXANDER R. M'EwAN, M.A., Oxon., son of the Rev. Dr M'Ewan of Claremont Church, Glasgow. Ordained, 7th December 1880. Mr M'Ewan had also calls to Colston Street (now Ualmeny Street), Edinburgh ; Mount Pleasant, Liverpool ; and Pollokshields and Woodlands Road, Glasgow. In 1884 he was again called to Woodlands Road, but remained in Moffat till 6th July 1886, when he accepted Anderston, Glasgow.

Sixth Minister. — DAVID W. FORREST, M.A., translated from Saffron- hall, Hamilton, and inducted, 24th May 1887. The stipend was now ^310, but the membership was slightly on the decrease. Within two years he was invited to Ibrox, Glasgow, but declined. Accepted a call to be Dr Black's colleague in Wellington Church, Glasgow, on 3oth January 1894, and Moffat again fell vacant. In an immature state they called the Rev. James Brand Scott, from Saltcoats (West), but he very considerately declined to accept.

Seventh Minister. — JAMES TODD, B.D., translated from Duns (South), and inducted, i$th November 1894. The membership at the recent Union was slightly over 200, and the stipend ^260, with a stately manse.

LANGHOLM NORTH (BURGHER)

IN the beginning of 1761 there was a movement at Langholm in the direction of the Antiburghers. A petition to the Presbytery of Sanquhar for supply of sermon, and for a conference with any of the members, was answered by the appointment of a probationer for a single day, but there is mention of nothing further. It was to the Burgher Presbytery of Selkirk that application was next made, and Mr Lawson of Selkirk opened the station on the fourth Sabbath of April 1781. In the following year the building of a meeting-house was resolved on, but it was not till 1 784 that the walls were finished. At this point the projectors were brought to a stand for want of funds, till four of their number advanced the sum of -,£37 to have it roofed in and kept from running to waste. The agreement ran thus : "If the design is dropped, the house to be sold, and the money divided among those who have contributed to the building thereof, in their several pro portions." At this time matters were going from bad to worse at Langholm. For two winters the people had to dispense with sermon altogether, and during the whole of 1785 they had supply for only eight Sabbaths. Unable to fit up the building as a place of worship, the proprietors let it out for a warehouse. At this juncture help came in a way never to be forgotten. On 6th October 1786 a traveller passing through Langholm observed the state of the erection, inquired minutely into the circumstances, and the outcome was that he paid down a sum of money sufficient to complete the humble edifice. Langholm by and by appeared on the Presbytery's list of vacancies, and in October 1787 four elders were elected, one of whom had previously held office in Liddesdale. The name of the above benefactor is not known, but assuredly it was not, as has been supposed, John Howard.*

First Minister. — JOHN JARDINE, from Jedburgh (Blackfriars). Mr Jardine had passed most of his trials for ordination at Belford when the call from Langholm came out. The Presbytery met on gth December 1788 to

* See letter in U.P. Magazine for 1897, page 559.

PRESBYTERY OF ANNANDALE 51

decide between the conflicting- claims ; but a letter was read from Belford to the effect that, fearing they would not succeed with their call, many of the members had left, and they found themselves utterly unable to support the gospel. So the congregation lapsed, to reappear after a time in the Antiburgher connection, and Mr Jardine was ordained at Langholm, I4th April 1789. A few years after this the Burgher families in Langholm parish were represented as numbering about twenty-five, but there would be others from Canonbie and elsewhere. Towards the end of the century the con gregation suffered through the introduction of Old Light views and the unbending attitude of their upholders. Mr Jardine died, 6th April 1820, in the seventy -first year of his age and thirty -first of his ministry. A volume of his sermons, with memoir by the Rev. John Law, then of New- castleton, was published in 1822. Mr Jardine left a widow and six children poorly provided for, three of them under twelve years of age. His son George was long a Secession probationer, but never obtained a church. He supplied a Sabbath at Balgedie about the year 1847, when the psalms he gave out, more than the discourses he delivered, indicated deep mental depression. He died suddenly at Langholm, 2nd November 1875, aged sixty-three, being found dead in his room.

Second Minister.— JOHN DOBIE, from Dumfries (Loreburn Street). Ordained, 3Oth August 1821. Mr Dobie had got licence earlier than his fellow-students of the same standing in order to go to America, but when the call from Langholm came up to the Synod it was sustained and the prior engagement cancelled. It was decided, however, that in future preachers so situated should not be eligible -to home vacancies. In 1822 a new church was built, with sittings for 550. After a lingering illness Mr Dobie died, 6th February 1845, in the forty-fifth year of his°age and twenty-fourth of his ministry. One of his sons is Dr John Dobie, now minister-emeritus of Shamrock Street, Glasgow. Another son, William, attended our Hall several sessions, but turned aside to medicine, and has attained to professional distinction in London.

On ist January 1846 the congregation called Mr Alexander Wallace unanimously. In Mr Jardine's time the stipend was so limited that, accord ing to his biographer, it precluded him from travelling, and during his whole ministry he was only once at a meeting of Synod. To Mr Dobie ,£120 was promised, "with a manse as soon as they were able," and now, when putting in for Mr Wallace, they named .£140. But the object of their choice was at the same time under call to Avonbridge, Busby, and Alexandria, and of these he preferred the last.

Third Minister. — WILLIAM BALLANTYNE, from Lauder. Ordained, 3151 December 1846. Langholm had now surmounted its early difficulties', and the call carried a membership of 252. The present church, which cost'fully ,£2100, and accommodates 600, was opened on 29th May 1867. In 1879 there were 318 names on the communion roll, and the stipend was /2oo and the manse. Mr Ballantyne died, I3th November 1892, in the seventy- third year of his age and forty-sixth of his ministry. One of his daughters was the wife of the Rev. Stephen H. Wilson, M.A., U.P. missionary, first in Trinidad, and then in Falmouth, Jamaica. She died at the latter station 2nd January 1894, "after a long and severe illness," leaving three young children.

Foiirth Minister.— GEORGE ORR, from Wellington Church, Glasgow. Ordained, 24th January 1893. T.ne membership at the recent Union°was over 280 and the stipend ,£240, with a manse.

52 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

LANGHOLM SOUTH (RKLIKF)

ON 2 1st August 1797 a petition was presented to the Relief Presbytery of Dumfries "from the people of Canonbie for supply of sermon.'' There was no change of ministry in the parish at that time, nor till long afterwards, but, according to Dr Mackelvie, there was dissatisfaction with the ministrations of an unacceptable assistant. In answer to this petition the Rev. Decision Laing, the newly-ordained minister of Wamphray, was appointed to preach there on the first Sabbath of October. There was a blank now till 4th April 1798, and then the application for sermon was renewed by " the forming con gregation of Canonbie." For three years partial supply was kept up, but in summer only, a limitation which implies that public worship was held in the open air. In July 1800 appointments begin to be divided between Langholm and Canonbie. Then in August 1801 there is a petition for sermon from "the forming congregation of Canonbie and Langholm," and henceforth the former of these names disappears from the records. In the provincial town of Langholm, five or six miles to the north-west of the village of Canonbie, the Relief congregation for that parish was now to have its centre. Prior to this there were, according to the Old Statistical History, between 30 and 40 Seceders in Canonbie, who would mostly attend the Burgher Church at Langholm. If the two sections of dissenters could have coalesced a site might have been obtained in the face of difficulties, and a fair congregation formed nearer home.

As year after year passed without progress being made the Presbytery began to get impatient, and on I7th July 1805 they ordered Langholm people to inform them " what they intend to do respecting the erection of a place of worship, and calling one to break the bread of life among them ; and that, unless this be done, they will get no more supply of sermon." The injunction and the threat brought out "a favourable account of their cir cumstances," but still there was the dead pause in winter, and sermon sometimes not applied for till summer was far advanced. In that state matters continued for other four years, but in May 1809 the Presbytery ex pressed their regret to find that the congregation had "not followed up the spirit of the resolution lately adopted anent fitting out their church." From this time supply was kept up over the whole year. In 1811 they issued a call to Mr John Barr with much cordiality and in the firm belief that he would accept, but a rival call having come out in his favour from Dovehill, Glasgow, the situation of affairs was changed. Perceiving that their claims were to be set aside, Langholm congregation brought a formal complaint against Mr Barr before Dumfries Presbytery. They alleged that he asked them to look out lodgings for him till the manse was finished ; that he told them he would prefer Langholm to Glasgow ; that he was greatly pleased with their money arrangements ; and that he urged the putting up of galleries in the church, adding that he would not be the least liberal of the subscribers. The charges were handed over to Glasgow Presbytery, and the case ended with the verdict that Mr Barr had given Langholm people too much encouragement. For this offence he was rebuked, and twelve days afterwards ordained minister of Dovehill Church.

First Minister. — THOMAS GRIERSON, a licentiate of Edinburgh Pres bytery. Ordained, i6th December 1812. It cannot be said that during his preacher course of three years Mr Grierson had a stainless record. In 1810 he acknowledged, when brought before Edinburgh Presbytery, that before being a probationer he had " embezzled money received from individuals to obtain licences from the excise, which licences were never obtained, nor the money accounted for." There was enough admitted to require suspension,

PRESBYTERY OF ANNANDALE 53

but at a subsequent meeting he declared himself in readiness to settle the whole affair, friends having come to his aid. He was thereupon restored to his status as a preacher. Another charge, involving dishonesty of a more flagrant kind, was brought up against him after he went to Langholm, but in this case the Presbytery pronounced him " honourably acquitted." But honourable acquittal was not to attend him all onwards. At a meeting of Presbytery on 2ist March 1815, Mr Grierson being present, a two-fold faina reared its head against him. First, there was a minute read from Waterbeck session, bearing that a female member of their church, who was under scandal, had made a statement before them seriously affecting the moral character of the Rev. Thomas Grierson. This was supplemented by a report from Langholm that at a marriage party Mr Grierson had overstepped the bounds of moderation, and been guilty of improprieties both in speech and behaviour. Without loss of time a libel was framed against him, and witnesses brought forward in long array. The case issued on i8th April in a unanimous verdict of " Proven " on both counts. Deposition ought to have followed, " but, considering that Mr Grierson has a numerous young family," the Presbytery agreed to rest in suspension and the dissolving of the pastoral tie. Mr Grierson appealed to the Synod, but the sentence of the Presbytery was confirmed without one contradictory voice.

In December following Mr Grierson applied to Dumfries Presbytery to have the sentence of suspension removed, but this was declared premature, and, besides, it was work which belonged to the Syn^J itself. In August 1816 it was ascertained that he was preaching at large, and in opposition to a law of the Synod. He next set up for himself in a deserted chapel in Castle Wynd, Edinburgh, and in 1819 he, along with certain elders and managers, petitioned the Synod to be received into their communion. The Presbytery of Edinburgh was instructed to inquire into his character and conduct, but a year afterwards they reported that they could not recommend his admission. About this time he must have vacated the chapel in Castle Wynd, as it was taken possession of by Professor Paxton and the congre gation he gathered round him. Our next trace of Mr Grierson is in May 1824, when a petition for sermon came before the Relief Presbytery of Edinburgh from parties worshipping in Carrubber's Close, who explained that Mr Grierson, their minister, had gone to London, and their connection with him was at an end. All we know further is that he died in Glasgow, 8th February 1829 -the newspaper notice says: "much esteemed and deeply regretted." " Some hand unseen strewed flowers upon his grave."

Langholm congregation had now a vacancy of five years to pass through. The cause at this time was altogether at a low ebb, and seemed sometimes near the expiring point. In May 1817 the Synod was urged by the Presbytery to aid them with collections, but there is no indication that anything sub stantial followed. In June 1819, when sermon was declined on account of pecuniary embarrassments, the Presbytery appointed one of their number to preach at Langholm, and converse with the people. The visit seems to have inspirited them, and by November they came out with a unanimous call, which proved successful.

Second Minister. — PATRICK HUTCHISON PEACOCK, from Canal Street, Paisley, and manifestly a name-child of the Rev. Patrick Hutchison, the first minister there. Ordained, 3oth March 1820. The people promised well. The stipend was to be ^100, with ^10 for house rent and £2, IDS. at each communion. Drawing upon the uncertain future, they were also to give ,£5 for every ^100 of debt paid off. But on completing the first year of his ministry Mr Peacock tendered the demission of his charge. He explained that he had repeatedly laid before session, managers, and congre-

54 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

Cation his money difficulties, and urged them to relieve him, but without effect, and a voluntary separation had now been agreed on. The congre gation expressed the satisfaction their young minister had given them in every respect, but, having been unable to pay him his stipend regularly, they did not object to the step he had taken. His resignation was accord ingly accepted, 8th May 1821. Mr Peacock then removed to the west, and was receiving appointments from Glasgow Presbytery so late as April 1826. Hut meanwhile he was studying medicine, and the last notice we have of him runs thus in a newspaper death list: "At Paisley, on the 5th May 1831, of a fever caught in the exercise of his professional duties, Mr Patrick H. Peacock, Surgeon, much and justly lamented by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance."

Langholm congregation on the day they fell vacant asked the Presbytery to appoint the Rev. William Muir, who had recently left Mainsriddell, to be their supply. This was agreed to, and the arrangement was renewed from meeting to meeting, till it had the look of permanence. However, in February 1824, Mr Muir wrote the Presbytery, renouncing connection with the Relief Synod, and after this Langholm passed into the background for years, and in 1831 the name even disappeared from the almanac list of Relief congregations.

Third Minister. — JAMES CROSS, from Dalkeith (West). Ordained, 2nd June 1835. The money arrangements were now made on a humbler scale, the stipend being ^80, including sacramental expenses. The minister was also to receive one-half of the surplus funds, an asset which may be kept out of the calculation. On loth January 1843 Mr Cross, rinding no doubt the work uphill, accepted a call to a more trying position still — 'in Newcastle, a place where the Relief cause had never prospered. In May 1845, requesting to be relieved from the adverse situation, he intimated to the Presbytery that he could make no greater or further sacrifices on behalf of Newcastle than he had already done A letter of concurrence "in the lamented resolution of their minister," signed by the chairman of a congregational meeting, was read, and on gth July the connection was dissolved. Two months later Mr Cross applied for his credentials, as he intended to join the Presbyterian Church of England. In the course of a year he became minister of Crewe in that connection, and died there on 2nd September 1849 m tne thirty- ninth year of his age and fifteenth of his ministry. A tombstone erected by his congregation and friends records that "he died in the faith of that blessed Gospel he so faithfully and zealously preached to others," and was "universally lamented." He was a brother of the Rev. John Cross, Temple Lane, Dundee, and the Rev. Archibald Cross of West Linton and Canada.

Fourth Minister. — WILLIAM WATSON, from Bloomgate, Lanark. Or dained, 20th March 1844. The stipend was to be ^80, with £i at each communion, and the debt was now reduced to ,£160. Writhin a year after Mr Watson's ordination it was intimated that if the congregation would raise ,£80 a certain friend would give other ,£80, and have the burden removed. The movement was entered into with spirit, and the sum realised. A congregational meeting was held, and a vote of thanks awarded to the unknown donor, when the preses disclosed that this was none other than their young minister. It was like security for self-denial and mindfulness of the apostolic maxim: "We seek not yours but you." It was not till twenty years had passed that the stipend of ,£105 from the people was supplemented to ^150, along with the manse. The membership at this period maintained an average of from 130 to 140, and as the Augmentation Fund improved Mr Watson got corresponding benefit. On Sabbath, I 5th July 1883, closing services were conducted in the old church, and the communion observed

PRESBYTERY OF ANNANDALE 55

for the last time. Another was now to be built at an estimated cost of not more than ^1500, and of this sum ^iioo was already collected. In Sep tember next year Mr Watson was able to inform the Presbytery that the new church, which is seated for 350, had been opened free of debt. On the first Sabbath of February 1889 his public work came to a close. It was the communion, and Mr Watson had only proceeded a short way with the service when he became unconscious, and had to be carried home. He never entered the pulpit again. On the morning of I3th March 1890 he was found dead in bed. He was in the seventy-fourth year of his age and forty-sixth of his ministry. Along with fidelity to ministerial duties Mr Watson had laboured with energy and perseverance in the cause of temper ance and Christian liberality. The address at the funeral was delivered by Mr Ballantyne of the North Church. During forty-three years the two ministers had lived in cordial brotherhood, and now the one was taken and the other left.

Fifth Minister.— JOHN WALLACE MANN, from Nairn. Mr Mann had been Mr Watson's assistant, and was under call to be his colleague and successor when death intervened. He was ordained, 2oth March 1890, seven days after that unlooked-for event, and exactly forty-six years after the ordination of his predecessor. The membership had declined before Mr Watson's death, but at the close of 1899 it reached 173, which was an increase of about 50, and the stipend from the people was ,£130, with the manse.

WATERBECK (RELIEF)

ON 1 8th March 1790, when the Relief Presbytery of Glasgow met at Dumfries for the induction of the first minister there, they received a petition for sermon from "the forming congregation of Middlebie," this being the parish in which Waterbeck is situated. There are, however, traces of supply a year and a half before this, a probationer having been appointed to preach there three Sabbaths in October 1788. Craigs was the place where they sometimes met, and hence the earliest tokens bear the letters C. and W., for Craigs and Waterbeck. At the latter place the church was built, and a large stone which was over the door bears the figures 1790. The putting in of a gallery in 1804 raised the sittings to 490. Now comes the record of three unsuccessful calls— the first in 1790 to Mr James Grimmond, who preferred Coupar- Angus ; the second in the early part of 1791 to Mr James Smart, who preferred Kirkbean, afterwards Mainsriddell ; and the third towards the end of that year, to Mr David Gellatly, who preferred Hadding- ton. The stipend they 'undertook was ^80, and ^4 a year for sacramental expenses. After this the people of Waterbeck and the Presbytery of Edinburgh got into strained relations. In March 1792 the Presbytery, in answer to a complaint from a probationer who had supplied at Waterbeck seven Sabbaths, enjoined the congregation to pay him 153. for each Sabbath, and nearly .£3 besides for travelling expenses. The latter sum ought not in their opinion to be grudged, since the preacher "had no horse to encumber any of the Society with." If payment were not made they need expect no more sermon from the Presbytery. This decision, and perhaps the issue of the three recent calls, tempted the congregation to look for supply elsewhere. In May 1792 an outsider from Workington in Cumberland was allowed to occupy' the pulpit, and for this offence Waterbeck was disowned for a time. But in December they brought up a call to the Rev. John Selkrig, the minister above referred to, " unanimously subscribed by the members of that

56 HISTORY OF U.P. CONGREGATIONS

Society," when the Presbytery declared they could do nothing until the object of the congregation's choice applied for admission to the Relief Church, and was regularly received. Negotiations followed, but the move ment came to nothing ; only, the congregation had to stand a rebuke for breaking a rule of Synod which forbade them to call or employ any clergy man or preacher not of the Relief body.

First Minister. — JAMES GEDDES, a licentiate of the Relief Presbytery of Edinburgh. Called to Coldingham as well as Waterbeck, but he preferred the latter, and was ordained, igth March 1794. The stipend promised was ^80, with a comfortable house, and £4 in name of sacramental expenses.* On 1 5th April 1802 Mr Geddes' life came to a tragic end. The particulars have come through a single link of connection, and are as follows : — He was much annoyed by a female member of his congregation, and, being of a very nervous temperament, his mind became completely unhinged. The old manse still stands, and there are stains on the floor of a certain room, attesting how the deed was done. He survived the infliction a very few hours.

Second Minister.— JOHN M'FARLANE, from Head Street, Beith. Or dained, i6th June 1803. In 1807 Mr M'Farlane was called to Greenhead, Glasgow, but he wrote declining, and the call was dropped. After a brief interval they called him again, and having accepted he was loosed from Waterbeck, 28th August 1810.

Third Minister.— DAVID STRUTHERS, from Anders ton, Glasgow. Or dained, 23rd May 1811. Died suddenly, 28th October 1829, in the forty-third year of his age and nineteenth of his ministry. He dispensed the Lord's Supper on the previous Sabbath, and on Tuesday was in his usual health, when all at once he was struck down with apoplexy, and in a few hours breathed his last, leaving a widow and ten children.

Foitrth Minister. — JAMES WATSON, from Dovehill (now Kelvingrove), Glasgow. Ordained, i6th September 1830. Owing to a breach of morality Mr Watson was loosed from his charge, gth April 1839. In the beginning of 1841 Glasgow Presbytery took steps to have him restored to office, but the Synod in May delayed procedure, and the proposal passes out of notice. Mr Watson afterwards emigrated to Nova Scotia and became minister at Economy in that colony. Then in 1852 he was inducted to West River, Pictou, and in 1859 to New Annan, where he died, i2th December 1881, in the seventy-eighth year of his age and fifty-second of his ministry.

Fifth Minister. — ROBERT HAMILTON, from Saltcoats (now Trinity). Ordained, i3th January