NELSON STREET.

On the 10th January 1863, Mr Thomas Brown, licentiate of the Free Church, and late of the Gallowgate Territorial Mission, made application to the Presbytery of Aberdeen to be admitted as a Probationer of the United Presbyterian Church. The application led to inquiry as to his connection with the mission, and his reasons for leaving the Free Church, and was deferred till the production of certain extracts of Free Church Presbytery decisions were given. These were furnished at a meeting of Presbytery on 5th May, when it was deemed expedient to transmit the application to the Synod. The Synod received the application, and remitted the case for final adjustment to Aberdeen Presbytery. In July a memorial, signed by 302 persons, under the ministrations of Mr Brown, was laid before the Presbytery, asking to be congregated by the Presbytery. After making all inquiry, and consulting neighbouring sessions, it was found by the Presbytery that the mission had been in existence since 1851, and that Mr Brown had been the agent since 1854; and that the reason for seeking admission to the United Presbyterian Church was dissatisfaction with the Free Church in various respects, especially in their declining to erect the mission into a charge. At a meeting of Presbytery on 25th August, it was agreed to grant the petition; and on the 15th September 1863, the Gallowgate congregation was formed, with 133 members on the roll.

The Church in Nelson Street was built in 1866, and opened 31st March 1867, at a cost of £1042. Membership in 1870, 244; stipend by people, £100, with supplement.

1st Minister.—THOMAS BROWN, from Free Tolbooth, Edinburgh (Dr Tweedie's). Ordained 3d May 1864.

2.—CONGREGATIONS BEYOND THE CITY.

CRAIGDAM.

Craigdam is in the parish of Tarves and district of Buchan, Aberdeenshire. The church and manse stand apart from any village, the nearest being that of Tarves, which is 1 miles distant. Tarves is 6 miles west of Ellon, 5 north-east of Old Meldrum, and 18 north-east of Aberdeen.

The Rev. Mr Forbes, of Old Deer, a parish in the district of Buchan, was one of forty ministers who protested against the act of Assembly 1732, restricting the election of ministers in vacant parishes to heritors, elders, magistrates, and town councillors, in burghs; and to heritors and elders in landward parishes; and otherwise took part in opposing the measures which led to the Secession, but did not himself secede. He continued, however, to inveigh from the pulpit against the corruptions of the Established Church, thereby producing dissatisfaction in the minds of many of his parishioners towards it. Among those in whom this feeling was produced, were James Fergusson, Esq., of Kinmundy, and his wife, Mrs Elizabeth Dean. This worthy couple went to Burntisland in the spring of 1741 for change of air. While there, they connected themselves with the Secession Church, by joining the congregation in that place, then under the ministry of the Rev. James Thomson, one of the Seceding brethren. This brought them into acquaintanceship with the Rev. Alexander Moncrieff, of Abernethy, who was then assisting Mr Thomson at the

dispensation of the Lord's Supper. Mr Moncrieff was induced by them to visit Peterhead in the autumn of that year, for the sake of the mineral waters and excellent sea-bathing to be obtained there. Having received benefit from these, he repeated his visits, during several successive seasons, to the place. In the course of these visits he preached every Sabbath at Kinmundy, 8 miles inland from Peterhead. An addition was then being made to the mansion house upon that estate, and the carpenters' benches and building materials served as seats for the auditors. Through the influence of Mr and Mrs Fergusson, and the operation of other causes referred to in the notices of the different congregations in the district of Buchan, Seceders speedily multiplied in the parishes of Old and New Deer, Tarves, and Methlic. It therefore became necessary to make the seat of the congregation as central as possible to all these places. With this view, the mill of Auchnagat, on the road from Tarves to Stewartfield and Peterhead, was fixed upon, and the Seceders in the district accordingly met there for a time. It was found, however, impracticable to obtain a site for a church in that locality, and they were obliged to remove to Craigdam, 16 miles from Kinmundy, where the Earl of Aberdeen granted them ground for the purpose. Craigdam continued to be the meeting-place of all the Seceders in Buchan till 1766, when those in the parishes of Old and New Deer were separated from it and formed into the congregations of Clola and Whitehill.* The congregations of Belmont Street, Aberdeen, and Old Meldrum, also emanated from this one at subsequent dates. The present is the third place of worship erected by the congregation. It was built in 1806, at a cost of between £400 and £500. Sittings, 600.

1st Minister.-WILLIAM BROWN, from the North congregation, Perth. Ordained, with stipend of £15, 23d July 1752. Died 1801, in the 73d year of his age and 49th of his ministry.

The congregation then called Mr M'Gregor, who was under appointment of Synod to proceed to America, having obtained license at an early period of his studies for that purpose, and was therefore not allowed to accept the call.

2d Minister.-PATRICK ROBERTSON, from Perth, North. Ordained 8th March 1804. Translated to Charlotte Street, Aberdeen, 30th June 1841.

The congregation then called Mr John Steedman, who accepted the call, but withdrew his acceptance on receiving a call to Stirling.

3d Minister.-JOHN CALLANDER, from Falkirk (East). Called to Keith and Craigdam. Ordained 3d November 1842. Left Craigdam suddenly in 1849, and was next heard of in America. In January 1851, he was declared by the Presbytery of Aberdeen to be no longer a minister or member of the United Presbyterian Church. Died at Toronto, 11th March 1853.

4th Minister.-WILLIAM TURNER, from Dunbar, First. Ordained 14th October 1851. Author of a history of his own congregation, under the title of a "Church of a Hundred Years ;" and articles in the British and Foreign Evangelical Review.

LYNTURK.

Tough is a parish in the district of Alford, Aberdeenshire. The village of the same name, in which the church formerly stood, is about 32 miles north-west of Aberdeen.

The congregation of Tough originated with members of the Established Church

* See under Presbytery of Buchan.

about the year 1760, who took offence at the minister of the parish ordering his precentor to discontinue the reading of each line of the psalm before singing it, which had been the previous practice not only in that place but throughout Scotland from the Reformation from Popery onward, and was only then beginning to be abandoned in the larger towns, where ability to read was prevailing among the population. They applied for and obtained supply of sermon from the Associate (Burgher) Presbytery of Perth and Dunfermline, 1763. First place of worship built, 1764; second built, 1791; sittings, 250.

A new Church, costing £760 was opened on the 1st Sabbath of May 1866, with sittings for 320. The congregation has also a manse which cost £600. All the three churches have occupied different sites. The first was close to the mansionhouse of Lynturk; the second about a mile southwards, and the third about 2 miles westwards from the original site. The change of locality necessitated a change of name. All three churches have been built on the estate of Lynturk, and hence the present designation.

Before obtaining a fixed pastor, the congregation called Mr James Moir, who was appointed by the Synod to Cumbernauld.

1st Minister.-CHARLES HUNTER; called to Kinross and Tough. Ordained as minister of the United Congregations of Lynturk and Banchory-the name being afterwards changed into that of Tough, 24th August 1769. Died 20th May 1775,

in the 6th year of his ministry.

2d Minister.-ANDREW MURRAY, from West Linton. Ordained 8th June 1780. Died 9th July 1816, in the 76th year of his age and 37th of his ministry.

3d Minister.—JOHN ROBB, from Bridge of Teith. Ordained 17th March 1819. Died 29th November 1853, in the 68th year of his age, and 35th of his ministry. The congregation called Mr James Harrower, now of Eyemouth.

4th Minister.-GEORGE M'ARTHUR, A.M., from New Deer. Ordained 13th February 1856. Resigned his charge 3d March 1863, on accepting an academical appointment in Old Aberdeen.

5th Minister.-WILLIAM AITKEN, M. A., from Lathones. March 1864.

Ordained 2d

SHIELS-BELHELVIE.

The Church of Shiels stands upon a farm from which it derives its name, about a mile from the village of Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire, by which name it has been generally called. Shiels is 10 miles north of Aberdeen.

The congregation in this place originated in a system of itineracies pursued by the Rev. Mr Brown of Craigdam. His first visit to Belhelvie or Shiels was in 1755. Encouraged by the attendance afforded him, he repeated his visits at regular intervals, and when no longer able to continue them, the General Associate (Antiburgher) Presbytery of Elgin took the place under their superintendence as a preaching station. The cause prospered, and the present is the second place of worship which the congregation has erected. Sittings, 330. The congregation was disjoined from Craigdam 26th June 1782.

Before obtaining a fixed pastor, the congregation called Mr Robert Laing, who was appointed by the Synod to Dunse.

1st Minister.-JAMES ANDREW, from Perth, North, 5th July 1786. He left the congregation, without tendering his resignation, 1800; connected himself as a

private member with the church of the Original Seceders; afterwards became a farmer in the neighbourhood of Perth, and died there 1822.

2d Minister.-DAVID WADDEL, previously of Cabrach, Presbytery of Elgin. Admitted to Shiels 24th December 1800. Died 16th November 1826, in the 71st year of his age, and 41st of his ministry.

3d Minister.-JAMES M'INTOSH, from the congregation of Coupar-Angus. Ordained 30th July 1828. Resigned 4th April 1850. Emigrated to America 1855.

The congregation next called, 1. Mr Alexander M'Lean, but the Presbytery refused to sustain the call, inasmuch as he had only preached one Sabbath to the congregation before it was brought out for him, while the rules of the Church required that he should have preached on two; 2. James A. Johnston, once and a second time, who declined both calls, and is now minister of Springburn, Glasgow. 4th Minister.-WILLIAM GILLESPIE, from Denny, sometime missionary in China under the auspices of the London Missionary Society. Received into connection with the United Presbyterian Church as a probationer, having been licensed and ordained by the United Presbytery of Glasgow, with a view to missionary labour. Admitted to Shiels 28th April 1852. Resigned 14th August 1855; afterwards minister of Henderson Church, Edinburgh.

A call was given to the Rev. William Inglis, late of Banff, which he declined, and to Mr Peter Davidson, who preferred Brechin.

5th Minister.-EDWARD RANKINE, from Rose Street, Edinburgh. 10th July 1857..

Ordained

ELLON.

Ellon is a considerable village in a parish of the same name, Aberdeenshire, 16 miles north of Aberdeen, and 16 south by west of Peterhead.

The Secession Congregation of Ellon was disjoined from that of Clola, 27th June 1791, for the convenience of the parties composing it. Their first place of worship was at Auchmacoy, in the parish of Logie, Buchan, 8 miles from Clola, their original place of meeting. The site of this church was held in lease only during the life of their first minister, the proprietor having refused to grant them any other charter, and there was no other ground in the district available for the purpose at the time. On the minister's resignation they applied to the proprietor to renew the lease, but this he refused to do, and they sold it to him at a valuation. Unable to obtain another site in the vicinity, they were obliged to remove to Ellon, or cease to be a congregation. Ellon is 2 miles west of Auchmacoy; and being remote from the centre of the congregation, their removal thither caused them the loss of a number of members. Church built, 1827.

1st Minister.-JAMES RONALDSON, from Abernethy. Ordained 30th June 1795. Resigned 1825. He purchased a small property in the Newton of Falkland, Fifeshire, to which he removed, and subsequently died there, in 1845, in the 76th year of his age.

2d Minister.-WILLIAM STOBBS, from Morebattle. Called to Stromness, Blyth, and Ellon. Appointed by the Synod to Ellon, and ordained 6th November 1827. Called a second time to Stromness, and translated thither 11th June 1829.

3d Minister.―JAMES YOUNG, from Pitcairn-Green. Ordained 15th July 1830. Deposed 10th January 1842. Restored to the membership of the Church, and became city missionary in connection with the congregation of Rose Street, Edin

burgh, 1844. Died 16th November 1847, in the 49th year of his age, from fever caught in the discharge of his duty. A short account of his life, written by the Rev. Dr Young, of Perth, together with a few of his Lectures and Sermons, was published after his death.

4th Minister.-JAMES IRELAND, from Milnathort. Ordained 14th October 1843.

MIDMAR.

Midmar is a parish in Aberdeenshire, between the Dee and the Don. The Presbyterian place of worship, so named, stands apart from any village, on the turnpike road between Skene and Alford, 8 miles from Tough, and 15 west from Aberdeen.

The congregation of Midmar originated in an itineracy in the north by ministers of the Associate (Burgher) Synod, and was begun by the Rev. Ebenezer Brown of Inverkeithing, who preached the first sermon there in 1798. Several members of the congregation of Tough removed to the neighbourhood about the same time, and they, along with persons belonging to the Established Church favourable to the cause, petitioned the Associate (Burgher) Presbytery of Perth-the most northern in the connection at the time-for sermon, which was granted 1799. They erected a place of worship for themselves in 1802, the site of which was sub-leased from the tenant of a farm to which it belonged. When the lease expired, the proprietor would neither renew it to the congregation, nor allow them the use of the place of worship they had built, though offering to pay a rent for it. They were therefore compelled to erect another at great inconvenience to themselves, and injury to their interests as a congregation. This they did in 1842, at two miles' distance from the former site. Sittings, 250.

1st Minister.―JAMES PATERSON, from Tough. Ordained 15th March 1805. Died 8th March 1838, in the 62d year of his age, and 33d of his ministry. Author of a volume of sermons, and a work on witchcraft.

The congregation called Mr James Barrie, who was then under engagement to the Synod's Committee on Missions to proceed to Canada as a missionary, and was not therefore allowed to accept the call. Mr Barrie is now minister in Erramosa, Canada West.

2d Minister.-ROBERT PATERSON, previously of Smyrna Chapel, Sunderland. Admitted to Midmar, 14th December 1842. Loosed from his charge 3d March 1847. Afterwards admitted to Aberchirder.

The congregation then called Mr Archibald Cross, who declined the call, and afterwards became minister of West Linton.

3d Minister.-JOHN PEDEN BELL, from the congregation of Greyfriars, Glasgow. Ordained 4th March 1849.

Author of "Christian Sociology;" "Mercy as Conditioned by Righteousness;"

The Sabbath

as Enjoined by the Decalogue, and the Day as Changed;" and various papers in the United Presbyterian Magazine.

STONEHAVEN.

Stonehaven is the county town of Kincardineshire, 15 miles south-west of Aberdeen, and 23 north-east of Montrose.

This congregation originated with some members of the congregation of St