congregations in the place. The few persons remaining connected with the first church therefore merged into the second congregation in Borrowstounness.

SECOND CHURCH.

The history of this congregation is identified with that of the first congregation, Borrowstounness, till the Breach, 1747, when a party adhered to the Associate (Burgher) Synod, and became members of the Associate congregation of Torphichen, the seat of which was afterwards removed to Linlithgow. With this congregation, they, the survivors of them, and other Seceders who had settled in the district, were connected till 1793, when, at their own request, they were disjoined from it and formed into a separate congregation. Church built, 1795; sittings, 500.

1st Minister.-ARCHIBALD HARPER, from Penicuik. Ordained 24th August 1796. Died 5th April 1834, in the 64th year of his age, and 38th of his ministry. 2d Minister.-DAVID CONNEL, from Perth (South). Ordained 13th January 1835

DENNY.

Denny is a village in the parish of the same name, Stirlingshire, 7 miles south of Stirling, 4 west of Falkirk, and 2 north of Dennyloanhead.

This congregation orginated (1780) with certain members of Dennyloanhead, who, having adopted the theological views of the Rev. J. Hunter of the South congregation, Falkirk, withdrew along with him from the General Associate (Antiburgher) Church, and connected themselves with a Presbytery formed by Messrs Hunter, Smyton of Kilmaurs, and Proudfoot of Leith. They built a place of worship in the village of Denny, 1787, and obtained supply of sermon from this Presbytery. Their first minister having left them, they called a Mr Robertson, who professed to be a licentiate of the Church of Scotland. Upon inquiry, however, the extract of the Presbytery's minute certifying his licence was found to be a forgery, and this circumstance not only prevented his ordination at Denny, but divided the congregation. Part of the members withdrew from it, and the remainder applied for, and obtained supply of sermon from the Associate (Burgher) Presbytery of Stirling, 1793. They were organised as a congregation in that connection, and in 1794 bought from the trustees the place of worship which they had formerly occupied, erected galleries in it, and rendered it capable of accommodating 554 sitters. Church rebuilt, 1817.

Before obtaining a fixed pastor, as an Associate congregation, they called Mr Mather, who was appointed by the Synod to Maybole.

1st Minister.-JAMES HARROWER, from Dunblane (First). Called to Pitcairngreen and Denny. Ordained 15th January 1799. In 1800 he was called to Kirkintilloch, but continued by Synod in Denny. Died 6th April 1852, in the 83d year of his age, and 53d of his ministry. Author of a "Scriptural Catechism.”

2d Minister.-ROBERT T. JEFFERY, M.D., from Leitholm. Called to Girvan and Denny. Ordained as colleague to Mr Harrower, 22d February 1844. Called to Alexandria, 1849; to Kilmaurs, 1852; Perth (North) in 1853, and again 1854. Translated to Caledonian Road, Glasgow, 29th April 1856.

3d Minister.-PETER WHYTE, M.A., from Edinburgh (Bristo Street). Called to Perth (South), Sutton, Drymen, Houghton-le-Spring, and Denny. Ordained 17th February 1857

KILSYTH.

Kilsyth is a village in the parish of the same name, Stirlingshire, 12 miles northeast of Glasgow, 12 west of Falkirk, and 15 south-west of Stirling.

The parishes of Kilsyth and Eaglesham, though widely apart, are both in the Presbytery of Glasgow. The Earl of Eglinton presented a very obnoxious person to the latter parish in 1765. When the presentation was laid on the table of the Presbytery, a petition, signed by nearly the whole parishioners, praying the Presbytery to prevent the presentation taking effect, was presented at the same time. Mr Telfer, minister of Kilsyth, spoke in severe terms of the petitioners, and moved that the presentation be sustained, which the Presbytery refused to do. His conduct upon the occasion soon became known to his parishioners, to many of whom it was very offensive, and several of his elders were sent to him to ascertain whether the report respecting it was true. Instead of satisfying them on the point, he dismissed them with contempt, telling them to go home and mind their own business. The case of Eaglesham was appealed to the General Assembly, by whom the presentee was ordered to be taken on trials, and if found qualified to be ordained. On the day appointed for the settlement, the Principal of Glasgow University was the only member of Presbytery who appeared to take part in it. In these circumstances it could not be proceeded with. The matter was again referred to the Assembly, who passed a vote of censure on the Presbytery, and ordered them to proceed to the settlement, with threatening of a severer sentence. A deputation of Mr Telfer's parishioners waited upon him to urge his non-attendance at the ordination. But on the last Thursday of June 1767, the day appointed for the settlement at Eaglesham, he mounted his horse, regardless alike of the state of feeling in his own parish and in the one to which he was going, and rode off to take part in a transaction from which many of his co-presbyters abstained, notwithstanding the threatening denounced against them by the Supreme Court of the Church. The great body of the parishioners of Kilsyth met and resolved on separation from the Established Church. In March 1768, they applied to the Relief Presbytery of Glasgow to be taken under their inspection as a forming congregation, which was granted. Church built, 1770; sittings, 559.

1st Minister.-JAMES GRAHAME. Ordained, 1772. Resigned 23d May 1775, with the intention of going to America, but was prevented from carrying this intention into execution by the stringent laws anent emigrants, enacted on the occasion of the American Independence. Was afterwards chaplain of Edinburgh Castle for a time.

2d Minister—ALLAN CORNFOOT, previously Presbyterian minister at Gateshead, Durham. Received into connection with the Relief Synod as probationer, and admitted as minister of Kilsyth 8th April 1778. Deposed 4th January 1779. Returned to England, and died there.

3d Minister.-JAMES DUN. Ordained 9th August 1780. Translated to East Campbell Street, Glasgow, 6th September 1792.

The congregation called the Rev. Mr Reston, who continued in his charge at Biggar.

4th Minister.-JOHN ANDERSON, from Falkirk (West). Called to Dysart, Cupar-Fife, and Kilsyth. Ordained 12th September 1793. Moderator of Relief Synod, 1828. Died 2d February 1862, in the 93d year of his age and 69th of his ministry.

5th Minister.-ROBERT ANDERSON, from Kilsyth, of which his father was minister. Called to Braehead while the Union between the Secession and Relief Churches was pending, and thus was the first Relief preacher called to a Secession congregation. Called also to Aberdeen and Kilsyth. Ordained as colleague to his father, 27th July 1847.

AVONBRIDGE.

Avonbridge is a hamlet in the parish of Muiravonside, Stirlingshire, 6 miles south-east of Falkirk.

The congregation of Avonbridge originated in the unpopular settlement of a minister in the parish about 1803. A portion of the parishioners, reclaiming against the settlement, applied for and obtained supply of sermon from the Associate (Burgher) Presbytery of Stirling, 1803. Church built, 1804; sittings, 308. 1st Minister.-JOHN CRAIG, from Dalry, Ayrshire. Ordained 6th November 1804. Died 18th July 1851, in the 71st year of his age and 47th of his ministry. Author of "The Scripture Monitor;" "The Sacred Monitor;" and Translator of Dr Owen's Evangelical Theology: or the Sixth Book of the Theologumena.

In 1845, the congregation called Mr Hownan, who declined the call, and did not obtain another, and Mr A. Wallace, afterwards of Alexandria, who also declined the call.

2d Minister.—Andrew Dodds, from Lilliesleaf. Ordained as colleague to Mr Craig, 18th August 1846.

-AIRTH.

Airth is a village in the parish of the same name, Stirlingshire, 6 miles north of Falkirk.

Several persons, resident in the parish of Airth, acceded to the Associate Presbytery in September 1738, and at the same time petitioned the Presbytery for a visitation and examination. "The Presbytery having considered the affair, though they look upon the petition as an evidence of the people's sense of their need of these things, yet finding it to be work above the Presbytery's strength, they recommend them to abound in prayer, and diligence, and other Christian duties, till the Lord send them relief on this head." In December 1741, Mr John Anderson, elder, and some private Christians in the parish of Airth withdrew from the Established Church and acceded to the Associate Presbytery. It was now hoped that the Presbytery would afford supply of sermon to the Seceders in the district, but they were unable to do so. The persons under their inspection in that locality were therefore included in the congregation of Falkirk, with which their representatives and other Seceders who had settled in the place remained connected till 1806, when at their own request they were disjoined from Falkirk and formed into a separate congregation. Church built, 1809; sittings, 250.

1st Minister.-JAMES PATERSON, from Dunblane (First). Called to Newbigging

and Airth. Ordained 23d May 1810. Died 21st March 1815, in the 41st year of his age and 5th of his ministry.

2d Minister.-JAMES SOMMERVILLE, from Cambusnethan. Ordained 26th June 1816.

3d Minister.-WILLIAM LEITH, from Creetown. Ordained as colleague to Mr Sommerville, 28th February 1865. Demitted his charge on acceptance of a call from Somerset, South Africa, 27th September 1869.

4th Minister.-WILLIAM ROSE, from Aberdeen (St Paul's). Ordained as colleague to Mr Sommerville, 28th June 1870.

GRANGEMOUTH.

On the 4th of October 1853, a petition from 59 persons residing in Grangemouth and its neighbourhood, and calling themselves members and adherents of the United Presbyterian Church, was laid before the Presbytery of Falkirk, craving supply of sermon, and agreeing to defray the expense of the same. It was agreed to grant supply of sermon in the meantime. On the 4th April 1854, a preacher was located for a time. The movement had advanced so far during the next three months, that on the 25th July there was presented a petition from 23 certified members and 51 adherents, praying to be formed into a congregation in connection with the Church; and on 3d October Rev. Dr Jeffrey of Denny was appointed to preach at Grangemouth, and ascertain the necessities and religious prospects of the place. The report of Dr Jeffrey was favourable, and the Presbytery on the 5th December 1854 declared the petitioners in Grangemouth a congregation of the United Presbyterian Church.

Called to Swall well and

The congregation met for worship in a hall till the church was built. 1st Minister.-JOHN M. LAMBIE, from Glasgow. Grangemouth. Ordained 16th October 1855.

PRESBYTERY OF GALLOWAY.

At the union of the two great branches of the Secession in 1820, a Presbytery was formed by disjoining the congregations in the locality from the Presbyteries of Dumfries and Kilmarnock, to which they had previously belonged, and uniting them under the title of the Presbytery of Wigtown. In 1835 the Relief Synod formed a Presbytery of Newton-Stewart by disjoining congregations from the Presbytery of Glasgow. These Presbyteries were united at the union of the Secession and Relief Churches in 1847 under the title of the PRESBYTERY OF GALLOWAY.

WIGTOWN.

Wigtown is the county town of Wigtownshire, 7 miles south of Newton-Stewart, II north of Whithorn, and 28 east of Stranraer.

Mr John Swanston, afterwards minister of Kinross, one of the Associate Presbytery's first licentiates, was sent as a probationer in 1745 into Galloway to preach to the adherents of the Rev. Mr Hepburn. By the portion of those resident in and

about Urr, he was invited to become their pastor. This he declined; but while there, he endeavoured to promote the cause of the Secession by availing himself of every opportunity to preach in the surrounding country, as he also did afterwards on his way to and from Ireland, whither he was sent to fulfil appointments, and where he also obtained calls. In a history of Wigtown congregation, published by the Rev. P. Hannay, it is stated that "Mr Swanston was brought by a family of the name of M'Lelland, ancestors of the Rev. John M'Lelland of Rousay in Orkney, to Dunhill, a place in the parish of Sorbie, which lies between Wigtown and Whithorn. On this occasion a great multitude gathered from all parts to join in the service. This manifest success gave no small alarm and offence to the minister of the parish, who was induced to challenge Mr Swanston to a public disputation. This challenge he declined, but offered to meet his challenger, with six friends on each side, to hear the argument and see justice done. The offer was accepted; the parties met, and with so much skill and success did Mr Swanston acquit himself, that at the close of the interview the six friends of his opponent were found to be as anxious as his own to obtain supply of sermon from the Secession, and joined with them in application for it. On another occasion he preached at Clauntibues, in the parish of Mochrum, where the spot from which he spoke is still shown, and where he also addressed a large assembly. Mr Alexander M'Kinna, at that time tenant of the farm, gave great offence to his landlord by affording accommodation to such assemblies, and, being sent for, was addressed by him in an imperious tone for taking such liberties on his estate. He promptly answered, that since he had paid his rent he did not conceive that his landlord had a right to interfere with him in any such matters, and that he would do the same again whenever he chose. His boldness, perhaps as much as his original offence, incensed his landlord against him, who immediately let his farm to another person, although ten years of the lease were yet to run. These plans, however, were defeated some years before the lease expired. The landlord having become embarrassed in his affairs, the farm was brought to sale, and to his great chagrin was purchased by Mr M Kinna, and remains in possession of his descendants to the present time. The Secession cause secured warm adherents in almost all parts of the country, from Newton-Stewart to Minnigaff, in the north, to Sorbie and Whithorn on the south." The controversy respecting the Burgess Oath had now arisen, and the Breach prevented the infant cause in Galloway from being attended to for a time. The people in Galloway almost unanimously adhered to the General Associate (Antiburgher) Synod. The division diminished the number of preachers available for supplying vacancies, and sermon was afforded to Wigtown in common with other places similarly situated, only at distant intervals. In addition to this circumstance, Mr Hannay states that "great difficulty was found in obtaining a site on which to build a place of worship. One, however, was eventually furnished by Mr Patrick Blair, though not himself in connection with the Secession Church." On this site a place of worship was built in 1750, to which galleries were added in 1785, and which was thereby rendered capable of holding 450 sitters. Rebuilt in 1845, with 600 sittings.

1st Minister.-ANDREW OGILVIE, a native of Banffshire, who acceded to the Associate Presbytery as a student of theology. Ordained, September 1751. Died 25th April 1783, in the 62d year of his age and 32d of his ministry.

The congregation called Mr Biggar, who was appointed by the Synod to Newtonards, in Ireland.