the Presbytery, from the decisions of which appeals were taken to the Synod. The Synod sent down a committee to confer with parties in Erskine Church with the view to heal the divisions that then existed. That committee having failed to effect a reconciliation, commissioners appeared at the Presbytery on the 7th November 1865, and presented a petition from 257 members of Erskine Church, together with 13 elders, 13 managers, and 103 adherents, desiring to be disjoined from said church, and formed into a separate congregation in connection with the United Presbyterian Church. After all due inquiry, this petition was granted on the 2d of January 1866, and the petitioners declared to be a congregation, with Rev. John Tait Gowanlock as their pastor.

The new congregation met for public worship on the 7th January, in the Union Hall, Stirling, and continued thereafter to meet in the same place till their new church was opened by the Rev. Dr King of London on 21st October 1867. The collection at the opening services amounted to the sum of £811. The cost of the church buildings was £5000; sittings, 750.

1st Minister.-JOHN TAIT GOWANLOCK, previously of Erskine Church, as colleague to Mr Steedman. Admitted minister of Allan Park Church, January 1866.

HOLM OF BALFRON.

The church and manse of the Holm of Balfron stand apart from any village, and are situated in the parish of Balfron, Stirlingshire, 3 miles east of the village of Balfron, and 4 south of Buchlyvie.

The church and parish of Balfron having become vacant in 1730, the parishioners petitioned the Presbytery to allow them to make choice of a minister for themselves, but with this request the Presbytery would not comply. The people notwithstanding resolved to exercise what they considered their just rights, and, accordingly, on the day of moderation nominated Mr William Buchanan, probationer, as the candidate whom they preferred, while another party, desirous it was understood of favouring the patron, though he was not avowedly taking any part in the contest, put Mr George Sinclair, probationer, in nomination as a candidate in opposition to Mr Buchanan. On the vote being taken, an overwhelming majority were in favour of the latter; nevertheless the General Assembly, 1731, before whom the case came by appeal, set aside the call to Mr Buchanan, and ordered the Presbytery to proceed to Mr Sinclair's settlement as minister of the parish. Such, however, was the hostility of his opponents to him, that the Presbytery found it impracticable to give effect to the Assembly's injunction for several years after it was issued.

In July 1737 a paper was given in to the Associate Presbytery by Balfron and adjacent societies, stating their clamant circumstances, their adherence to the Testimony emitted by the Presbytery, and craving a day of fasting to be appointed among them. The Revs. Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine met with them on the 28th of September following, when the latter preached from Psalm lxxix. 8, and intimated the Presbytery's recognition of the Seceders assembled as an Association under their inspection. Sermon was afforded them only three times again at Balfron till 1740, the members of the Association travelling at other times to Stirling to attend the ministry of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine. From the beginning of that year sermon was afforded them at Balfron upon an average once a month till they obtained a settled minister, who preached at different places in the district as opportunity

offered, or previous arrangements required. (See "Buchlyvie" and "Drymen.") The most frequent place of meeting in Balfron parish was a retired spot near Honeyholm, on the banks of the Endrick, which was abbreviated into "The Holm:" hence the name by which the congregation is still known. The old church was built at Edenbelly, near the centre of the parish of Balfron, as more convenient to the adherents resident in the other parishes of Kippen, Kincardine, Drymen, and Kilmaronock. It was erected in 1739, and was superseded by another in 1790, containing 500 sittings. A new church and manse, under one roof, were built on the banks of the Endrick in 1861, at a cost of £1200. The church has 300 sittings.*

1st Minister.-JOHN CLELAND. Ordained 8th June 1742. Adhered with the great majority of his congregation to the General Associate (Antiburgher) Synod at "The Breach," 1747. In 1752 the portion of the congregation resident in Kippen parish built a place of worship at Buchlyvie, and left it in Mr Cleland's option to remove thither or remain at Balfron. He chose the former alternative, and in this way left Balfron vacant.

2d Minister.-JAMES MITCHELL. Ordained 21st August 1753. Died November 1786, in the 33d year of his ministry.

3d Minister.-WILLIAM PULLER, from Methven. Ordained 29th November 1787. Died, on the way home from church, 10th February 1811, in the 50th year of his age, and 24th of his ministry.

4th Minister.-JAMES THOMSON, D.D., previously of Borrowstouness. Admitted 10th September 1812. Had the degree of D.D. conferred upon him by the University of Glasgow, 1851. On the occasion of his jubilee, 1st May 1860, the day of the ordination of his colleague, he was presented with 142 sovereigns. Died 13th November 1864, in the 87th year of his age, and 57th of his ministry.

In 1859 the congregation called Mr George Barclay to be colleague to Dr Thomson, but he preferred Dunscore.

5th Minister.-ROBERT MUIR, M.A., from Ayr (Darlington Place). Ordained as colleague to Dr Thomson 1st May 1860. Translated to Hawick (Allars) 13th July 1864.

A call was given to Mr John M'Kerrow and accepted, but the acceptance was afterwards withdrawn in favour of a call from Penicuik.

6th Minister.—Charles CoopeR, M.A., from Midmar. Ordained 23d January 1866. Demitted his charge 3d November 1868, on his acceptance of an academical appointment in Madras.

7th Minister.-JAMES PATON, from Partick.

Ordained 21st December 1869.

BRIDGE OF TEITH.

The church and manse belonging to this congregation stand by themselves at the south end of the Bridge of Teith, while the village of Doune stands about halfa-mile to the north of the river. The congregation was accordingly sometimes called by the one and sometimes by the other name. Both places are in the parish

The congregation comprehended at first the whole surrounding country for 10 miles west and north, and 8 miles east. During the first ten years there were 70 children baptized every year. Buchlyvie and Kilmaronock were both formed from it. The following is the account in Scots money of the expenses of a communion in 1764: "Bread, £8, 14s.; whisky, £1, 18s. ; malt, £5; meal, £1, 18s.; foreign spirits, £6, 14s.; pins, 2s.; horse corn, L1, 12s.; two sheep and three lambs, 13; wine, £27, 15s."-EDs.

of Kilmadock, in the western district of Perthshire, 8 miles north-west of Stirling, and 4 west of Dunblane.

Several persons resident in the parish of Kilmadock acceded to the Associate Presbytery in April 1738. In December following, the praying society of Baad and Drip, in the parish of Kincardine, which adjoins Kilmadock on the south and west, gave in a paper of adherence to the Presbytery. In July 1739 several persons resident in the Port of Monteith, which adjoins Kilmadock on the west, acceded to the Presbytery; and in July of the same year, Mr Patrick Buchanan, elder in the parish of Callander, which also adjoins Kilmadock on the west, formally joined the Secession. These persons attended the ministry of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine in Stirling till July 1740, when, along with the Seceders in the parish of Dunblane, they were united into one Association, under the designation of "The Correspondence of Monteith," and had sermon supplied to them as the Presbytery could afford it, which was upon an average once a month at the Port of Monteith, and once in six weeks at Thornhill, the adherents attending at other times at Stirling or Balfron. On 17th July 1740 Ebenezer Erskine was appointed to ordain elders; the meeting was held at the burn of Sessintillie in Monteith, and on the 3d September 1740, 7 elders were ordained. A tent, designed to serve as a pulpit, having been set up at the end of Thornhill, on land belonging to the Earl of Moray, Mr More, his factor, applied to the Sheriff of Dunblane to interdict its use and have it removed. He appeared on the ground with the interdict in his pocket as the people were engaged singing these lines of the 2d Psalm, which the preacher had given out:

He retired without serving the interdict, and refrained from molesting the Seceders ever afterwards. In July 1741, 5 elders and about 50 private persons resident in the parishes of Kilmadock, Kincardine, Monteith, and Callander acceded to the Associate Presbytery, and were joined to "The Correspondence of Monteith." In 1744, the place of meeting was removed from Thornhill to the south end of the Bridge of Teith, where a site for a place of worship had been obtained, and a church erected on it. On 17th September 1744, Mr Erskine preached at the first full meeting of the eldership since the disjunction of the Correspondence of Monteith from that of Stirling. A new church was built in 1838, containing 642 sittings.

Ist Minister.-DAVID TELFAR. Ordained 19th March 1747. Adhered with the majority of his congregation to the Associate (Burgher) Synod at “The Breach,” which took place in April following. Called to Ballybay in Ireland, 1750; to Auchtermuchty, 1751; to Donachlonny in Ireland, and Torphichen in Scotland, 1755; to Kennoway in Scotland, and a second time to Donachlonny in Ireland, 1756; continued in Bridge of Teith till 1766, when he proceeded to America by appointment of Synod. He returned to Scotland in 1770, and was sent out a second time in 1771, and became minister of a congregation in Nottingham, Pennsylvania, or Philadelphia, and died there.

2d Minister.-WILLIAM FLETCHER, from Ettrick. Called to Burntshields, Glasgow, and Bridge of Teith. Ordained 25th March 1772. Died 1815, in the 85th year of his age, and 44th of his ministry.

Author of "The Scripture Loyalist: containing a Vindication of Obedience to the present Civil British Government in Things Lawful," etc., 1784; "The Scripture Loyalist Defended from Unfair and False Reasoning, etc.,' in a letter to the Rev. William Steven, Crookedholm, 1795; "The Evil and Danger of Schism," 1800; also an edition of "Brown's Letters on the Authoritative Toleration of Popery."

3d Minister.-ALEXANDER FLETCHER, D.D., son of Rev. W. Fletcher. Called to Leslie, Stow, and Bridge of Teith. Ordained as colleague to his father 16th September 1807. Called to Kincardine 1810, but continued in Bridge of Teith till 7th November 1811, when he was translated to London (Miles Lane.)

4th Minister.-JOHN M'KERROW, D.D., from Mauchline. Called to Ecclefechan and Bridge of Teith. Ordained as colleague to Mr William Fletcher, 25th August 1813. Had the degree of D.D. conferred upon him by Washington College, United States, 1841. On 25th August 1863, Dr M'Kerrow's jubilee was celebrated, when he was presented with a silver cake-basket and a purse containing 600 sovereigns. Died 13th May 1867, in the 77th year of his age, and 54th of his ministry.

Author of a "History of the Secession Church;" "The Office of Ruling Elder in the Christian Church," to which the prize of £50 was awarded ; joint author with the Rev. John M'Farlane, Kincardine, of "The Life and Correspondence of the late Henry Belfrage, D.D., of Falkirk ;" "History of the Foreign Missions of the Secession and United Presbyterian Churches," published in May 1867.

5th Minister.-WILLIAM HUIE, from Campbelton. Called 20th April 1867 to be colleague to Dr M'Kerrow. Ordained 25th July as his successor.

DUNBLANE.

Dunblane is a city and parish, and the seat of a cathedral, in the western district of Perthshire, 4 miles east of Doune, and 6 north-west of Stirling.

FIRST CHURCH.

In March 1738, there was laid before the Presbytery of Dunblane a long paper complaining of defections in the Church, and seeking redress, by Archibald Edmond, Robert Duncanson, John Hendrie, and John Crawford, belonging to Logie parish. They were dealt with by the Presbytery, and suspended. They applied to the Associate Presbytery with this sentence resting on them, and the Presbytery agreed, after a thorough investigation of the case, to receive them, provided, upon examination, they were otherwise found qualified. The fact of having received these men in the circumstances in which they were then placed, and particularly Archibald Edmond, who, for some reason or other, was peculiarly obnoxious to the minister of Logie, was made one of the counts in the libel drawn up against the "Four Brethren" in 1739, preparatory to their deposition. It runs thus:

"Further, you or some other of you, did, upon the 20th day of May last 1738, upon one or other of the days of that month, or of the months of June, July, or August of that year, in a pretende! judicial manner, take under your cognisance the case of Archibald Edmond, against whom sen tence of the lesser excommunication had been passed by the Presbytery of Dunblane; and you found that the said Presbytery had acted unwarrantably, and you declared the said Archibald free from the scandal for which he had been censured as above by the said Presbytery, and appointed the said Ebenezer Erskine to baptize the said Archibald's child,- -at least you, the said Ebenezer, did, in the church of Stirling, upon the 10th day of August last, or one or other of the days of that month, baptize the said child, and at the same time declared your warrant for so doing to be as above."

The defence of the "Four Brethren" to this count was as follows:

"The said Archibald having, for the help of his memory, drawn up a paper, as subject of private communing with his minister, relating to the public defections, and any concern he judged his minister had therein, with a declared design, mentioned in the said paper, to pave the way for his continuing to join his ministry with the greater freedom and edification, at the same time submitting to his minister's instruction in case he was in the wrong. But the minister, instead of endeavouring to instruct or gain his parishioner with a spirit of meekness by friendly communing, upon his reading the said paper, falls out into a passion, carries it before the session. The session

referred it to the Presbytery of Dunblane, where, after long dependence, it issues in a sentence of lesser excommunication against him, which was intimated by order of the Presbytery from the pulpit of Logie. The said Archibald, judging himself injured, and having no hopes of redress from the superior judicatories, lays an extract of the whole process before the Associate Presbytery, who, finding by the said extract that the above paper for conversation was the only foundation of the process against him, and that the man had a good title to represent unto his minister what was aggrieving unto him without fear of censure, and considering that the great end of their Presbyterian Association was the relief of the Lord's oppressed heritage, groaning under the arbitrary proceedings of the present judicatories, did therefore relax the man from the said sentence, and appointed Mr Erskine to baptize his child, which he did accordingly, and they can easily justify their conduct herein before the unprejudiced world, by publishing an extract of the whole process, if it be found needful."

A petition from societies in the bounds of Dunblane Presbytery, asking supply of sermon, was laid before the Associate Presbytery in 1737-8.

In July 1739, 19 persons resident in the parish of Dunblane acceded to the Associate Presbytery, and, with the persons previously referred to, became members of the congregation of Stirling, under the ministry of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine. In 1740, the Seceders in the parishes of Callander, Kilmadock, Kincardine, Monteith, Dunblane, and northern and western parts of Logie, were joined in an Association under the designation of The "Correspondence of Monteith," out of which the CONGREGATION OF THe Bridge of TeiTH arose soon after.

The Breach, 1747, divided the Seceders in these places as elsewhere, and prevented their formation into separate congregations so speedily as would otherwise have taken place.

In April 1750, two elders were elected by the session of Stirling for the district of Dunblane, from which it would appear that the Seceders in Dunblane constituted part of the congregation of Mr Erskine. In consequence of the death of Rev. W. Simson, minister of Dunblane, 17th October 1755, and the appointment of Mr Robertson on 11th February 1756 as his successor, a violent opposition was made by the people against Mr Robertson's ordination. Mr Robertson was ordained on 12th May 1757; but, on 11th January of that year, the Seceders in Dunblane were organised as a congregation. The congregation thus formed applied, in March 1758, for union with Bridge of Teith, the minister to preach alternately in Dunblane and Bridge of Teith, each congregation having its own session for managing its affairs. The Presbytery sanctioned this junction,, and the two congregations, under one minister, continued united for seven years. In 1765, the congregations were disjoined, and Dunblane gave a call to Mr Telfar, of Bridge of Teith, which was signed by 350 members and 93 adherents. Mr Telfar having been appointed by the Synod to proceed as an evangelist to America, the call was laid aside. In January 1767, the congregation called Mr David Walker, but the Synod appointed him to Pollokshaws. First church built in 1758; second church built in 1835, seated for 600, at a cost of £1500. A manse was built in 1858, at a cost of £1000.

1st Minister.-DAVID TELFAR. Ordained 19th March 1747. Joint minister of Bridge of Teith and Dunblane, 1758. Sole minister of Bridge of Teith, 1765. 2d Minister.-MICHAEL GILFILLAN, from Stirling (First). Ordained 28th April 1768. Called in 1780, and again in 1781, to Edinburgh (Bristo Street), but neither of the calls was sustained, because of want of unanimity in the congregation. Died 16th September 1816, in the 69th year of his age, and 49th of his ministry. Author of the "Synod's Warning against Socinianism."

The congregation called Mr Baird, who was appointed by the Synod to Auchtermuchty.