ABOVl; - » 
 
 ^fM-B REIDJ^ 
 
PRINCETON, N. J. "^ '^ 
 
 Shelf 
 
 BX 9215 .B355 R45 1895 
 Reid, Henry Martyn Beckwitl 
 
 1856-1927. 
 The kirk above Dee water 
 
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 JIL- 
 
THE KIRK ABOVE DEE WATER. 
 
BV THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 ABOUT GALLOWAY FOLK. 
 
 By a Galloway Herd. 
 
 London : Wm. Blackwood & Sons. 
 
 Price i/. 
 
 CATECHLSM AND ACT OF FAITH 
 FOR YOUNG COMMUNICANTS. 
 
 London : Wm. Blackwood & Sons. 
 Price i/ ^ dozen. 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF CHURCH 
 SERVICE IN GALLOWAY. 
 
 Being Sermon preached at the First Annual Festival 
 of the Church Choir Union, 1892. 
 
 London : Wm. Blackwood & Sons. 
 
 Price 3d. 
 
 The above may be had of Adam Rae, Bookseller, 
 Castle-Douglas, and others. 
 
THE 
 
 Kirk above Dee Water 
 
 By the Rev. H. M. B. REID. 
 
 With Introouction by S. R. CROCKETT; 
 
 And Six Engravings. 
 
 CASTLE-DOUGLAS: ADAM RAE. 
 
 1895. 
 
 [ali, rights reserved.] 
 
Printed bv J. H. MAXWELL, 
 Castle-Uouglas. 
 
TO 
 
 GRAHAM HUTCHISON of Balmaghie, 
 
 FROM 
 His Grateful Friend and Minister, 
 
 The author. 
 
 May 20, iSgs. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 THIS little book is not a parish history, but merely 
 embodies a few scattered notices of Balmaghie 
 Church since the year 1615. It has been evolved from a 
 very slender original. In 1893, the Author, desiring to 
 procure some needful funds for a parish purpose, gave a 
 lecture entitled "Some Old Ministers of Balmaghie, with 
 illustrative pictures and other objects." The method of 
 this lecture, briefly put, was, wherever possible, to hang 
 the lecturer's remarks upon some distinct object which 
 was exhibited. Accordingly, the lecture began with the 
 production of Macmillan's Cup, the date of which intro- 
 duced the mention of Hew M'Ghie. 
 
 The chapter entitled Roll-Call is practically, therefore, 
 the nucleus of the book. The remaining chapters or 
 " notices " were produced by way of amplifying the details 
 there referred to, in any cases where materials for such 
 larger treatment could be got. 
 
 The chapters on the Kirk and Kirkyard were a neces- 
 sary addition to the whole. The Author cherishes the 
 hope that they may at least serve as a reliable guide to 
 any persons who may visit Balmaghie Church. He 
 desires to state here his conviction, that a careful study 
 of the Churchyard literature of Galloway would yield 
 most interesting, perhaps valuable, results. It has long 
 
viii. Tho. Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 been among his own dreams, to visit reverently every 
 " God's acre " in that province, and compile a " Guide 
 to the Graves of Galloway." But time is wanting for so 
 large a task. To his reverend colleagues, however, he 
 would humbly and earnestly appeal to do all in their 
 power as curators of these parish cemeteries, to prevent 
 important monuments from falling into decay. And he 
 heartily wishes that, soon, some modern "Old Mortality" 
 may arise to give his labour of love to the preservation 
 of the martyrs' stones, and not less (like the lamented 
 " Auld Mortrie " of Crossmichael) to rescuing from " dark 
 oblivion" the epitaphs of bygone parish ministers. 
 
 As regards the two little chapters at the close, the Author 
 wishes to say that they embody an attempt to picture a 
 Galloway Parson at his Sunday's work. Some of the 
 details may, to a highly refined taste, seem too homely 
 and familiar ; and some, perhaps, touch delicate subjects 
 usually excluded from print. He accepts full responsibility 
 for the whole. Should any sensitive reader deem these 
 chapters beneath the dignity of the subject, he can only 
 urge that real dignity cannot suffer from truth. And he 
 has sought to tell that. 
 
 The dominating figure in the following pages is, of 
 course, the great Macmillan, whose life-story the Author 
 hopes one day to record at full length. In the course of 
 passing this work through the press, he has been led to 
 make extensive inquiries, and has received aid from many 
 quarters, especially from Dr. John Grieve, a great-great- 
 grandson of the Reformed Presbyterian Father. To him, 
 as also to Rev. Matthew Hutchison, Old Cumnock ; 
 
Prefatory Note. ix. 
 
 Rev. W. P. Rorison, of Dalserf ; and Rev. George Laurie, 
 of the Macmillan Church, Castle-Douglas, he begs to 
 tender his sincere thanks. 
 
 In writing the notice of Dr Martin, he received valuable 
 help from Rev. James Brunton of Monimail, through 
 whose kind offices he secured the old lithograph, from 
 which the engraving in the present work was prepared. 
 
 A word must be said regarding the engravings. They 
 have been obtained with a great deal of trouble, and from 
 different sources. As above mentioned, the photograph 
 of Dr Martin is a reduced copy of a large lithograph 
 portrait, about lOO years old. That of Mr Stevenson is 
 taken from a portrait widely circulated in the parish, and 
 reproduced by permission of his widow. The picture of 
 Mr Riach is copied from a photograph by Moffat, Edin- 
 burgh, by Mr Riach's special permission. The remaining 
 photographs are local productions, of whose merit the 
 instructed reader must be left to judge. 
 
 Finally, it should be stated, that a small proportion of 
 the literary matter appeared in various periodicals, and is 
 republished by the kind permission of their proprietors. 
 
 Manse of Balmauhie, 
 
 Sept., 1895. 
 
The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 A WORD OF INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A BOVE Dee Water is a Kirk ; and about that again 
 ■*■ -^ there is a dearer kirkyaird. It is a lonesome spot, 
 at least for those who love not to look down upon broad 
 water meadows in which the Lammas floods spread wide, 
 or who cannot be content with the sough of the leaves 
 for company about the old Manse. 
 
 For the sake of my native parish and of the Kirk of 
 Macmillan, I am asked to say a word to introduce the 
 book about it, which my friend the present minister has 
 written. 
 
 Mr Reid has given his attention, mainly, to telling the 
 truth in the pages that follow. I have been most successful 
 when I have "lee'd at lairge." But I cannot resist Mr Reid's 
 appeal to be a sponsor on this occasion ; for, truth to tell, 
 many of my " lees " were grounded in this parish. I\Iany 
 characters, which I have set forth to strut their hour 
 upon the printed page, once walked in the flesh the 
 sandy roads and took short-cuts across the green fields 
 of Balmaghie. Chief of these, there was "Mary Haffie" 
 
A IVo/'d of Introduction. xi. 
 
 and her sisters — lately gone from us like many other 
 old standard landmarks. Who that remembers the Cross- 
 michael road as it goes over the Knowes by Sandfield, 
 or the Glenlochar " straight mile " where it turns off by 
 the thirteen lums of the " Lang Raw " (it is thirteen, is 
 it not ?J, can drive along these long vistas on Monday 
 nights, without expecting to come upon Mary's erratic cart, 
 with ]\Iary herself tug-tugging at Billy's obstinate head, 
 hauling him behind her by main force up the brae? Do 
 we not still hear, midway up the Balmaghie woods, the 
 clip of her emphatic tongue, " O Billy, ye awsome person ! 
 Ye are no worth a preen — ye feckless, greedy, menseless 
 seefer, ye ! Haud up there frae that bank ! Did onybody 
 ever see the like o' ye ?'' Or can we not recall seeing 
 Mary pattering in and out of the Castle-Douglas shops 
 upon the day of the Monday market ? With what in- 
 vincible accuracy did she not rap out her commands 
 over the counter, always concluding with, " And I'll be 
 back for the parcels at three o'clock, sae see an' hae 
 them ready to lift, and dinna keep me an' Billy waitin'." 
 
 Then again in the little shop on the long white-washed 
 Laurieston street, do we not remember how Jean and 
 Jennie (I think in later years Jean alonej sat at the receipt 
 of custom ? It was no light thing to go in there for a 
 quarter of tea. It v.-as an enterprise over which an hour 
 
xii. The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 might be very profitably spent — and not wasted either. 
 Such high discourse as there was upon the " funda- 
 mentals " and the " deeveesions " of Mr Symington's or 
 Mr Kay's last sermon at the Cameronian Kirk of 
 Castle-Douglas ! Or it might be a word of canny 
 advice to the young and innocent — ■" Laddie, dinna ye 
 be ower keen to be takkin' up wi' the lasses — they 
 are but feckless, fleein' heverals, the young yins 
 noo-a-days. Noo, in my young days " 
 
 Whereupon would follow a full and specific account 
 of the immense superiority of " my young days," and 
 specially a very unfavourable comparison of the modesty 
 and humility of the " lasses langsyne " with the 
 forwardness and pertness of " thae daft young hizzies." 
 
 Then but-and-ben with the Hafifies, one might find 
 David M'Quhae, a very fine type of Galloway man, a 
 mighty fisher of fish, a trustworthy squire of dames, full 
 of courtesy and kindliness, a perfect God-send to a wander- 
 ing or truant boy. None like David could busk a fly, 
 or give advice as to soft bait. He carried about with 
 him besides much of the savour of an older time, when 
 the relations of life were simpler and all men walked 
 closer to one another. David was a strong Tory of 
 the old sort all his life, yet he went about breathing 
 a simple equality akin to the original democracy of 
 
A Word of Introduction. xiii. 
 
 Eden. As a rival used severely lo say of him — " He 
 was nae mair feared to speak to the laird or the 
 minister than to ony ither man !" And from that 
 little house on the brae what examples of consistent 
 living and good kirk-going went forth ! From the one 
 end went the three old maids, six long miles to 
 Castle-Douglas, each with her Bible and her neatly 
 folded Sabbath handkerchief. They went to hear "the 
 word of God properly preached '" in the Kirk of the 
 Hill Folk, which had never fyled its hands with " an 
 Erastian Estaiblishment I" 
 
 From the other end went forth David, and it might be 
 one or two dear to him, equally strong in their own faith, 
 and equally walking in the good way. In amity Auld 
 Kirk and Cameronian dwelt together but-and-ben all 
 the week. But on the Sabbath coined money could 
 not have made them sit down and worship in each 
 other's sanctuaries. All Scottish history was in the 
 fact. Wet or dry, hail or shine, plashing Lammas flood 
 or wreathed snow, David M'Quhae went his good four 
 miles over the wild moor to his beloved Kirk of 
 Balmaghie — concerning which this present book is 
 written by one whose knowledge of its history is 
 infinitely greater than mine. My friend, Mr Reid, will 
 have much to tell of faithful ministers, of worthy 
 
xiv. The Kirk abuve Dee Wafer. 
 
 elders, and of silent, attentive Hocks. But I am sure 
 he will have none loyaller, more conscientious, to write 
 about than David M'Quhae of Laurieston. 
 
 Dear dust lies in that kirkyaird, and as the years pass 
 by, for many of us, more and more of it gathers under 
 the kirk on the hill. The tides of the world, its compul- 
 sions, its needs, and its must he's, lead me up the 
 loaning but seldom. Indeed I am not often there, save 
 when the beat of the passing bell calls another to the 
 long and quiet rest. 
 
 But when the years are over, many or few, and our 
 Galloway requiem, " Sae he's won awa," is said of me, 
 that is the bell I should like rung. And there in the high 
 corner I should like to lie, if so the fates allot it, among 
 the dear and simple folk I knew and loved in youth. 
 Let them lay me not far from the martyrs, where one can 
 hear the birds crying in the minister's lilac-bushes, and 
 Dee kissing the river grasses, as he lingers a little wistfully 
 about the bonny green kirk-knowe of Balmaghie. 
 
 S. R. CROCKETT. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Prefatory Note 
 
 A Word of Introduction. By S. R. Crockett 
 I. The Kirk Above Dee Water 
 II. The Kirkyard 
 
 III. Roll-call, 1615 to 1S95 
 
 IV. An Episode in Galloway 
 V. "The End of That Man" 
 
 VI. "The House of Rimmon " .. 
 VII. The Twelfth Paraphrase 
 VIII. More about the Twelfth Paraphrase 
 IX. "Factor James" 
 X. A Galloway Herd's Sunday: Old Style 
 XI. A Galloway Herd's Sunday : AVai Style 
 Epilogue -. The River and the Kirk 
 Index ... 
 
 Pa or.. 
 
 vii. 
 
 X. 
 
 17 
 29 
 
 41 
 
 48 
 
 67 
 81 
 
 95 
 100 
 
 "3 
 119 
 124 
 126 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The "Auld Kirk," Balmaghie 
 
 William Lyon Riach, M.A. ... 
 
 Thomas Stevenson 
 
 The Dee below Balmaghie Kirk 
 
 Samuel Martin, D.D. ... 
 
 The Present Incumbent 
 
 Page. 
 17 
 32 
 48 
 64 
 80 
 112 
 
THE KIRK ABOVE DEE WATER. 
 
 SUCH is the homely name by which our Galloway 
 folk know the little " harled " kirk which stands 
 on a slight eminence above the Dee. The nearness of 
 the river lends a picturesque colour to our local phrases, 
 of which the above is one. A Balmaghie man goes 
 through the Water of Dee to reach Crossmichael Village. 
 To a Crossmichael man the minister of this parish is 
 " the man across the water." The Church and the River 
 are linked together not unfitly, since each is a symbol of 
 eternity and peace. 
 
 In this opening "Notice" some particulars may properly 
 be given regarding Balmaghie Church. The present 
 building is probably only the second erected at this 
 commandmg spot since the Reformation. Of the first 
 church only a small part of the eastern gable was 
 preserved at the time when the second and existing one 
 was built in 1794. In Galloway there is a hereditary 
 covetousness of stones for building purposes, and perhaps 
 a slight confusion at times in regard to meum and tuum. 
 We know how the fine Threave ruin was being despoiled 
 to furnish forth byres and dykes, when the authorities 
 interposed and saved a remnant. The tiny old kirk of 
 " Balmakethe " was almost entirely rased, less fortunate 
 in this respect than Anwoth, Parlon, and some others. 
 Wliat still stands owes its immunity lo llie circumstance 
 
1 8 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 that a fine monument to William M'Kie had been built 
 into the gable about 1763. The heritors (.f that olden 
 time spared this fragment out of respect for Rev. Mr M'Kie. 
 The remainder they destroyed out of respect to their 
 own purses, and applied the stones in raising the present 
 church. 
 
 This older church, judging by the ground plan still 
 traceable on the kirkyard turf, must have been of small 
 size. It was probably about 18 yards long and 12 yards 
 broad, and cannot have held more than a hundred people, 
 even when seated close together on " cutty stools." That 
 it was a pre-Reformation edifice seems certain from the 
 fact that it lay due east and west. It is therefore the 
 chancel end which is preserved, if chancel there was. 
 Behind the M'Kie monument lay the simple altar or 
 Communion table. The pulpit was perhaps at the right 
 hand side. I have never been able to find any stone 
 bearing such marks as would identify its connection with 
 this the church of Macmillan, but doubtless such are some- 
 where in the present building. It was in this quaint little 
 narrow church, with its tiny belfry and small windows, that 
 that great man made his public stand for the Covenants for 
 28 years. The bell by which he called his attached flock 
 together was not the same as that which now hangs in the 
 present tower. This bears the date 1794. and the brief 
 inscription ''Presented to the Parish of Balmaghie dj' 
 Thomas Gordon, Esq." Probably the " bethral " or 
 " bedral " of the time tolled the bell by means of a 
 long rope hanging loosely from the gable, and offering 
 strange temptations to restless childhood or mischievous 
 youth. 
 
The Kirk above Dee Water. ly 
 
 There was no vestry, the manse being so near. This 
 pastoral abode also is mostly demolished. It consisted, 
 probably, of two double rooms on the ground floor, and 
 attics to correspontl. There was, perhaps, a cellar, where 
 the good man kept his peats. From this modest dwelling 
 he issued gravely at the canonical hour each Lord's Day, 
 the "books" having first been carried up by the beadle. 
 I have in my care the very Bible which thus travelled to 
 and fro between manse and church in 1778^ when Philip 
 Morison was minister. It is of smaller size than the one 
 now in use, much more closely printed, and much worn 
 and dogseared at the end of S. Luke's Gospel and the 
 beginning of S. John's. Either the preacher placed his 
 notes there, or else he was used to dwell much on the 
 death and resurrection of our Lord. Which is, indeed, the 
 main duty of every Christian preacher. The Bible in 
 question was printed at Edinburgh in 1752 by "Adrian 
 Watkins, His Majesty's Printer." It has a copious appendix 
 of Biblical antiquities, and the authorised metrical Psalms. 
 There are no paraphrases or hymns, however, for the 
 excellent reason that none such had yet been approved by 
 the General Assembly. 
 
 When the minister appeared at the foot of the brae, the 
 beadle, as in duty bound, saluted his arrival with a lusty 
 bout of ringing on the little bell. The lingering gossips 
 in the kirkyard hastily bundled into church, and the solemn 
 exercises began. 
 
 In a more ancient time, however, the bell rang at eleven 
 o'clock forenoon as well as at twelve. Either the minister 
 or a " reidar " occupied a profitable hour in reading and 
 commenting on Holy Scripture. In 1560 Thomas Chapman 
 
20 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 was "reidar," with a stipend of "XX lib." (^^20) from the 
 revenues of the Abbey of Holyrood. The tenacious grip 
 of old customs appears in the fact that still, as then, the 
 bell is rung at eleven a.m., though few now remember the 
 original reason. Across the Dee Water the bell of 
 Crossmichael (or " Crossmeikle ") church rings at ten 
 a.m., while in some other riverside parishes it is set 
 swinging as early as eight or nine a.m. Thus, along 
 the green meadow-flats of Dee, an unbroken chain of 
 sacred sound might be traced, each hour of the Sabbath 
 morning being punctuated by a call to prayer. 
 
 In 1794 the present church was built, and a new manse 
 arose about the same time. Both were erected on new 
 sites. The new church was placed almost north and south, 
 with a small quaint bell-tower at the south ; the wooden 
 louvre boards of which at once became a haunt of starlings, 
 while the revolving vane afforded them an agreeable and 
 airy point of view. Starlings monopolise the wooden turret 
 still. The eastern roof proved irresistible to thousands of 
 bees, who buzzed all the summer's day around the east 
 door, and crept in and out of the crevices between the huge 
 heavy slates. The bees of Balmaghie Kirk may be said 
 to be famous in the Stewartry, and were a constant source 
 of both profit and loss — the profit accruing to the incumbent 
 as a rule, while neighbouring bee-keepers complained badly 
 at swarming-time that " oor bees are awa' ower the water 
 to Balmaghie Kirk. " 
 
 The gathered honey was removed periodically in large 
 quantities, and is said to have been of excellent quality. 
 A large brown stain on one corner of the white plastered 
 roof showed where the busy workers kept their store. 
 
The Kirk above Dee Water. 21 
 
 The congregation instinctively lifted their eyes to this 
 spot whenever the Psalm* was given out which sings of 
 
 " Honey, honey from the comb, 
 That droppeth. ..." 
 
 Alas ! the bees of Balmaghie Kirk are creatures of the 
 past. Though perishing in hundreds inside the church 
 every week, they had boldly held their ground, and even 
 vastly multiplied, till the fatal centenary came (1894), when 
 the work of improvement swept them finally away. In 
 September of that year there was a Homeric conflict 
 between the Builder and the Bee. The plaster had been 
 dislodged, and exposed numberless hosts armed for the 
 fray. Three days the battle raged. On the one side it 
 was waged with a smoke-test machine discharging volumes 
 of sulphurous acid ; on the other the dauntless bees had 
 only their natural weapon. The issue could not be 
 doubtful. Not a bee was left to tell the tale. Great masses 
 of honeycomb were torn from the beams, as Samson tore 
 it in his day from the lion's ribs. Since then desolation 
 reigns in the once busy home of the Kirk Bee. The poor 
 insect has been most thoroughly disestablished and disen- 
 dowed. May the omen be averted ! 
 
 The swallow is no infrequent attender at Balmaghie 
 Kirk. More than once, on some still hot morning, during 
 service, the congregation have been startled by a rapid 
 flicking of wings against the skylights in the " lofts." 
 It was a " wandering bird " which had flown in at the open 
 door. To preach with this tiny, restless creature darting 
 back and forward in front of one's pulpit was a somewhat 
 severe test of mental concentrauon. There was a sore 
 
 * Psalm xix. 10. 
 
22 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 temptation to follow the graceful creature's flashins^ flight 
 from end to end. None at such moments failed to recall 
 our fine old Psalm * — 
 
 " The swallow also for herself 
 Hath purchased a nest — 
 Ev'n thine own altars . " 
 
 Certainly such visitants were less troublesome than the 
 hosts of crawling, buzzing bees which were once so familiar 
 as members of our congregation. There is no record of 
 any one being stung; but tradition remains of one incum- 
 bent who spent his time in church, when already an old 
 man and past preaching, in dexterously catching and 
 killing the humming insect. And llie present minister 
 once had a narrow escape, if his beadle may be trusted. 
 " I wis awfu' feart for ye the day,'' said the old man ; 
 " there wis a big bumble-bee bizzin' aboot yer heid time 
 o' sermon, an' 1 was feart ye wud maybe pit oot yer haun", 
 in preachin' like, ye ken, and the beast wad stang ye!" 
 
 Like other churches, Balmaghie Kirk shelters its share 
 of owls and bats. For long a white owl resided there, and 
 might at times be seen flitting, ghost-like, round the fields 
 near at hand. On one occasion of repairs as many as 39 
 bats were counted (and killed), each suspended head 
 downwards from a rafter. Owls and bats are generally 
 the symbols of utter desolation, but here they take refuge 
 because the spot has an unusual sacred quiet. The little 
 precinct of the glebe, lying in a ring-fence around the 
 church and manse, is a safe sanctuary not only for such 
 winged creatures, but for the timid and anxious hare and 
 the retiring hedgehog. 
 
 * Psalm i.xxxlv. 
 
The Kirk above Dee Water. 23 
 
 Let us complete this natural history of the Kirk above 
 Dee Water. There is a significant fact still to set down. 
 The only verses ever penned by any of its incumbents, 
 which have attained a world-wide circulation, were those 
 of the well-known Twelfth Paraphrase, pointing a moral 
 for ''indolent and slothful" people from the example of 
 the ant. Why Dr Samuel Martin did net rather choose 
 to employ the bee for the edifying purpose it is not easy 
 to see ; unless it arose from the curious circumstance that 
 the bee is only four times* mentioned in the Bible, and 
 in three out of these four cases it is spoken of with evident 
 distaste. The Paraphrases, of course, required a suitable 
 scripture text, and there is none such about the bee. 
 Certainly bees have always been a far more familiar sight 
 to the good people of Balmaghie Kirk than ants. 
 
 Enough has been said of the creeping and flying things 
 which have made their home here. Unhappily, modern 
 requirements tend to discourage these harmless visitants. 
 In 1894, one hundred years after the present church was 
 built, a most complete renovation was begun and carried 
 out. By dint of pushing on the work, all was completed 
 in a sort of fashion before that year closed. The church 
 was re-opened on 30th December, and those who had left 
 it on the closing Sunday found themselves ushered into 
 what is practically a new building. The little nave has 
 been lengthened, bringing out more clearly the cruciform 
 shape. At the end of it a fine three-light window of stained 
 glass, prepared by Mr Arthur Dix of London, is at once 
 the object of attention on entering at the main door. The 
 central light shows the Crucifixion, with the words, " It 
 
 * Deut. i. 44 ; Judg. xiv. 8 ; Ps. cxviii. 12 ; Isa. vii. 18. 
 
24 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 is finished." On the right of the Cross, in a side-light, 
 is the mother of our Lord, with scroll, " Woman, behold 
 thy Son." On the left has been depicted the Beloved 
 Apostle, the text being, " Son, behold Thy Mother." A 
 memorial brass on the sill contains the following inscrip- 
 tion : — "To the Glory of God, and in loving memory of 
 my mother, who died 2nd Dec, 1893 — This window is 
 erected by J. R. Hutchison." 
 
 This window is much admired by competent judges for 
 the beauty and charm of the figures, and especially for the 
 softened light which it admits. 
 
 At the opposite end, as of old, is the pulpit — an oaken 
 one — standing on a slightly raised platform, with a recess 
 containing a harmonium behind it. The upper wall behind 
 the pulpit is entirely concealed by a large screen of wood, 
 in three panels. The centre contains the Apostle's Creed 
 and Lord's Prayer. The side panels are filled with the 
 X. Commandments. The pulpit and screen are designed 
 after those in S. George's, Albemarle Street, London, by 
 Mr Gibson of Edinburgh. In front of the pulpit stands a 
 small Communion Table of dark oak, with a carved border. 
 The choir are accommodated on each side, within a high 
 wooden enclosure. There is some good wrought-iron work 
 in the pulpit railing. 
 
 On either side of the pulpit and screen is a narrow 
 stained glass window. That on the right of the minister 
 has a medallion of S. Andrew, the patron saint of Balmaghie. 
 On the left is S. Peter with the keys. 
 
 On the pulpit is a memorial brass with the following 
 inscription : — " To the Glory of God, and in loving memory 
 of my mother, Annette Mary Hay Thomson nee Craufuird, 
 
The Kirk above Dee Water. 25 
 
 born 1819, died 2nd Dec, 1893 — This Pulpit, Screen, Side 
 Windows, and Communion Table, are erected by Graham 
 Hutchison of Balmaghie. O ye spirits and souls of the 
 just, bless ye the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him for 
 ever." 
 
 The whole area has been re-seated in pitch pine, and the 
 old stiff and straight pews are replaced by wider and more 
 comfortable ones. The ancient lofts remain almost 
 unchanged, and are thought to be somewhat out of 
 harmony with the general effect. An extremely good 
 ceiling of pine has taken the place of the old white plaster 
 roof, the main coupling beams being now exposed. 
 
 It is not unworthy of mention that both ventilation and 
 heating have been thoroughly secured, the one by " Tobin's 
 tubes " and Boyle's roof-ventilators — the other by a system 
 of high-pressure hot-water pipes. 
 
 A small vestry and porch were added. These, though 
 not, perhaps, an architectural feature, have been found a 
 great advantage and comfort to pastor and people. 
 
 The sole relic almost of the old interior, if we except the 
 walls and " lofts," is a large pair of " ladles," or long- 
 handled collecting-boxes, made of fine Memel pine. The 
 old Communion Table has found a refuge for its last days 
 in the ve.stry. And two massive pewter plates still keep 
 guard in the " lofts," awaiting the offerings of such as 
 ascend beyond reach of ladle. They bear the date 1782. 
 
 The renovation of Balmaghie Church cost about 
 ;^iooo, mostly derived from voluntary contributions. The 
 result is to make it, internally, " a place to worship God 
 in, not a bare barn," as a friendly parishioner one day 
 remarked. Much may yet, however, be done to complete 
 
2 6 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 the sacred work. The side walls of the nave should have 
 narrow pointed windows of stained glass, two pairs on each 
 side. The present incumbent here sets it down, without 
 further remark, that each pair could be introduced for a 
 sum of about ^^30 or less. A single window could be 
 inserted for about ^^15. Externally the little tabernacle 
 on the hill is scarcely altered at all. No one, looking at 
 the outside, would dream that so much care and money 
 had been expended within. But this is not wholly an 
 unwelcome feature, since the work has been done not " to 
 be seen of men," but to give glory to God. 
 
The Kirk above Dee Water. 27 
 
 NOTE TO CHAPTER I. 
 
 The following tablets are also to be found in Balmaghie 
 Church : — 
 
 I. 
 Sacred to the memory of the Reverend Alexander Gibson, minister 
 of this Parish, who was born at Lanark 3rd April, 1800, and died 
 5th August, 1S46, at Almeida Hill, Hamilton, where his mortal 
 remains are deposited. Blessed are the dead which die in the 
 Lord, from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may 
 rest from their labours, and their works do follow them. — 
 Rev. xiv. 13. * 
 
 This Tablet is erected by his widow. 
 
 IL 
 Sacred to the memory of Major James Graham, fourth son of 
 Sir James and Lady Catherine Graham of Netherby, Registrar- 
 General for 39 years. Born 13th September, 1804; died 20th 
 May, 1888. The righteous live for evermore: their reward 
 also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the Most 
 High. — Wisdom of Solomon v. 15. 
 
 in. 
 
 TO THE GLORY OF GOD, 
 
 .\ND IN MEMORY OF 
 
 JOHN MACMILLAN, A.M., 
 
 Born at Barncauchlaw, Minnigaff, 1669 : 
 Ordained Minister of the Parish of Balmaghie 1701 ; 
 Accepted the Pastorate of the United Societies 1706, 
 Which office he laboriously discharged for 47 years : 
 Died at Broomhill, Bothwel!, 1753. Buried in 
 Dalserf Churchyard. 
 
 A Covenanter of the Covenanters : 
 
 A Father of the Reformed Presbyterian Church : 
 
 A Faithful Minister of JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 This Tablet is placed here by his Great-great-grandson, 
 JOHN Grieve, M.D., Glasgow : 1895. 
 
2 8 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 Spellins; of the Name Macmillan. — Macmillan graduated A.M. 
 at Edinburgh University in June, 1697, and signed the Roll as 
 follows : — 
 
 Joannes McMillan. 
 
 But in 1695 he signed the Matriculation Register thus : — 
 
 John McMillan. 
 
 At the meeting of Commission of General Assembly at Edinburgh, 
 June 9, 1704, he signed his statement thus : — J. MackMillan. 
 The same also a month later. 
 
 On 14th August, 1706, he signed his " Submission " to the United 
 Societies thus: — J. M'Millan. 
 
 On the Dalserf Monument it is MacMillan. But on the ancient 
 fragment placed there by himself to the memory of two daughters 
 and a son, it is spelled M c Millan once more, as in his college 
 days. So it stands, also, in the epitaphs to his first wives in 
 Balmaghie Churchyard. 
 
 Dr Grieve and I decided, with the valuable advice of Dr Goold 
 of Edinburgh and Professor Laidlavv, to adopt the full form 
 Macmillan in the memorial brass. 
 
 There is little doubt, however, that the most ancient form was 
 simply M'Millan. 
 
The Kirkyard. 29 
 
 II. 
 
 THE KIRKYARD. 
 
 THE reader is now invited to accompany me to the 
 " auld kirkyard." We enter by the rusty iron gate 
 between massive stone pillars wreathed in ivy. Immediately 
 on the left is the most imposing tomb in the place, that 
 devoted to the family of Douglas, and " sanctioned by the 
 heritors." The present representative of the family is John 
 Douglas, Esq., Bisley, formerly factor to Lady Hawke. 
 The polished granite column which commemorates the 
 Rev. Thomas Stevenson was erected by his widow, and 
 is surmounted, like several others in this churchyard, by 
 the funeral urn. The name of Crockett is now constantly 
 associated with Balmaghie. Admirers of the " Stickit 
 Minister" and the "Raiders" will like to visit the simple 
 gravestones of the family, which, however, mostly spells its 
 name Crocket, There are three stones bearing the name. 
 Still keeping to the left, one cannot fail to notice a fine 
 runic cross, the work of the well-known Dumfries sculptor, 
 Dods. It is all the more interesting because erected by a 
 laird to the memory of a faithful man-servant. Near it 
 stands a square column commemorating one of the parish 
 benefactors — William Neilson — of whom it is recorded that 
 "he was born m Meikle Dornald, 22nd Sept., i'/'/2, died 
 at Gatehouse-nf-Fleet 6lh Sept., i^^/, and is buried here. 
 
30 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 His days were spent with care and industry in his native land 
 atid in America, being ever a zealous advocate /or civil and 
 religious liberty. He left a donatio?t of Five Pounds per 
 annum for the education of poor children ?iot on the pauper 
 list oj" the Parish." 
 
 This tomb deserves attention as being sacred to one of 
 the only two benefactors hitherto enjoyed by Balmaghie. 
 The other was a Sergeant M'Ghie, who is not buried here, 
 and whose bequest is shared by the Parish of Balmaclellan. 
 
 On another face of the Neilson monument we read — 
 " The Honourable John Neilson, Member of the Executive 
 Council of Canada, born at Dornal ijth July, lyyS, died 
 at Cape Rouge, Quebec, ist Feb., 1818, and is buried at 
 Valcartier, ttear the City." A notable family these Neilsons 
 must have been, and Balmaghie is justly proud of them. 
 
 Rounding the corner of the church, we come to the 
 consecrated ground, where custom was that Roman 
 Catholics laid their dead. Just outside the wall, and 
 beyond this sacred spot, the workmen engaged in digging 
 a trench found in 1894 a human skeleton, lying with the 
 face towards the west. The theory is that this had been 
 a suicide, who, according to the inhuman practice of former 
 days, was buried outside the holy ground, and also, no 
 doubt, laid in the reverse position to the faithful. Here it 
 may be noted, that every gravestone in this place, as else- 
 where in the kirkyard, stands facing the east, for reasons 
 which do not require to be set down. 
 
 In this dull corner, too, by a strange irony of events, it 
 has been usual to inter still-born babes and those dying 
 unbapiized — always at sundown and with scant ceremony. 
 For such formerly no bell was tolled, and no prayer was 
 
The Kirkyard. 31 
 
 said. This last is now mended as far as may be. Here, 
 too, in 1893, a poor tramp, found dead at Hensol in the 
 snow, was buried with due reverence for a " dear brother 
 departed." He lies in his nameless grave, his tramping 
 well ended. 
 
 A little further, we note a singular monument, which is 
 indeed unique in our little churchyard. It is that erected 
 to Mr Lockhart Mure of Livingstone, whose features are 
 strikingly preserved in high relief on the stone. Four 
 female heads, very gracefully carved, look out from the 
 four corners. Mr Mure's son informed me that his father's 
 face was very exactly reproduced. 
 
 Continuing our circuit, we scon reach a cluster of 
 "thruch-stones," as the old four-posters are called, dedicated 
 to what was once the chief family in the parish — ■ the 
 M'Ghies. This powerful sept owned almost the whole 
 parish at one time, but bit by bit they parted with their 
 lands, until now, and since the middle of the eighteenth 
 century, they do not possess a single rood. Those buried 
 here are M'Ghies of Airds, probably the direct representa- 
 tives of the M'Ghies of Balmaghie. We need not remind 
 the reader that Balmaghie itself means the Toivnship of 
 the M'Ghie. One of these M'Ghies — Alexander — married 
 as his second wife Agnes, a daughter of Rev. William 
 M'Kie, the successor of Macmillan. Their daughter in 
 turn died at Maxwelltown in 1847. 
 
 The last representatives were said to be two sisters, who 
 long resided at Burnside, near Lochenbreck, but are both 
 for some years deceased. 
 
 Quite near the great M'Ghie stones is the " Ministers' 
 Corner. " Here are clustered toy:elher no fewer than four 
 
32 The Kirk above Dee Wafer. 
 
 ministers, tiiree of them incumbents of Balmaghie. It is 
 but doing my duty to name these in order : 
 
 (i) John M'Millan, died 26th July, 1700, aged 37; with 
 his wife, Catherine Williamsone, died 31st August 
 1700, aged 37. 
 
 (2) WiUiam M'Kie, died 30th Jan., 1763, aged 84; with his 
 
 wife and children. 
 
 (3) James Henderson, died 1838 — unmarried. 
 
 This spot was sacred to the manse family. Here we find 
 buried two out of the great Macmillan's //iree wives. His 
 first wife was Jean Gemble, died in 171 1, aged 38. Next, 
 the doughty Covenanter made a high social connection, as 
 the following epitaph shows : — " Here ly the Remains of 
 Mistress May Gordon, daughter of Sir Alexander Gordon 
 of Earlstoun, formerly Spouse to Edward Goldie of Craig- 
 muie. and thereafter to the Rev. Mr Jo. M'Millan, Minister 
 of the Gospel in BalniGhie, ivho departed this life May ^th, 
 77-2 J — of her age ^j.' 
 
 There follow some verses, which will be found in the 
 end of this chapter. This stone purports to have been 
 "Renewed by Andre'v and William Galloivay of Sandhills, 
 Great-great-grandsons, 18 ^j. 
 
 Macmillan's third wife was Grace Russell, but her place 
 of burial is uncertain. 
 
 A touching domestic episode is suggested by another 
 stone in the " Ministers' Corner." It is to the memory of 
 a son of the Rev. Philip Morison, minister from 1777 to 
 1803. This son, John Morison, died at the early age of 
 12, and his father's pen it was, doubtless, which traced the 
 following eulogy: — "He zvas a youth of good capacity and 
 
WILLIAM LYON RIACH. 
 
77^1? Kir ky aid. 33 
 
 of the 7nost amiable dispositions, whick endeared him to his 
 fond parents while he lived, and made him to be deeply 
 regretted by them wheti he died. Hnnc tantum ostendebant 
 Fata terris. Providence was pleased to shoiv him but for a 
 short while on earth, and to take him away in mercy at an 
 early period from the evil to come!' 
 
 Here, too, is buried Mrs Philip Morison, tiie poor lad's 
 mother, who died in 1799. 
 
 No other clerical tombs stand here except that of 
 Nathaniel M'Kie, minister at Crossmichael, a son of Wm. 
 M'Kie. As already stated, Thomas Stevenson lies a long 
 way off, nearer to the manse. And of the eleven ministers 
 of the parish since 1694 four are buried elsewhere, two 
 cannot be traced, and two survive. Of the four lying in 
 distant cemeteries, one (the alter Macmillan) is interred at 
 Dalserf beneath an imposing monument; one (Dr. Martin) 
 lies in the " Ministers' Yard '' at Monimail ; one is in 
 Hamilton (Mr Gibson) ; and the fourth (Dr. Freeland) rests 
 somewhere in America. 
 
 As there is a corner, quite near the old demolished 
 
 church, for the parish clergy, so a special retreat has been 
 
 found for the Free Church ministers. It is naturally a 
 
 good way off from the former, and but one pastor as yet 
 
 reposes here, beneath a handsome monument, erected by 
 
 his people and their friends. He was the Rev. John 
 
 Johnstone, for 22 years F. C. minister in the parish, and 
 
 author of a singular poem on the '"Disruption" of 1843. 
 
 Near at hand the present F. C. minister — Rev. A. B. Craig 
 
 — has selected a burying-place, where already a little child 
 
 is at rest. A Free Church elder, who died with awful 
 
 suddenness in the fields while talking to Mr Craig, is 
 
 c 
 
34 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 buried close by. And here others of like religious pro- 
 fession desire to rest. 
 
 Returning to Mr M'Kie's ivy-grown monument, we find 
 
 quite near it the well-known stone commemorating in verse 
 
 the "two Davids Hallidays," shot down on the parish 
 
 border in 1685. The lines will be found at the end of 
 
 this chapter, but we now copy the prose inscription: — 
 
 " Here lies David Halliday, por Hotter itt Meifield, who 
 
 was shot tipoti the 20 of Febr. 168^, and David 
 
 Halliday, ottce in. Glengape, who was likeivise shot 
 
 upon the 11 of July 1685, for their adherence to the 
 
 principles of Scotland's Covenanted Reformation." 
 
 Close to this is another covenanter — Alexander Charters, 
 
 died 1715, aged 53, who, however, did not receive the 
 
 martyr's crown. His memorial was erected by Robert 
 
 Charters, whose own quaint epitaph occupies the lowest 
 
 part of the stone : — 
 
 " Here lies the Dust of Robert Charters, who was valued 
 by all competetit Judges a ttian of Excellent Settse and 
 Great Integrity. He died in the Service of Lady 
 Greetilaiv, Jutie 2^, 1764." 
 
 There are also some quaint rhymes, to be found with the 
 collection at the end. The only remaining martyr's stone 
 is at some distance. It bears the inscription : — 
 
 " Here lies George Short, ivho was pursued and taken 
 and ittstatitly shot to death tinder cloud of tiight in the 
 paroch of Totiguelatid, by Grier of Lag atid the Earle 
 of Atiandale, because of his adherence to Scotlattd's 
 Reformation, Covetiants, National atid Solemn League, 
 i68s." 
 
The Kirkyard. 35 
 
 We now throw together some miscellaneous notes on 
 the " Kirkyard." The frequent occurrence of great ages 
 will strike the observer. Three score and ten is quite a 
 common attainment in Balmaghie. Four score is also 
 frequent. There are at least three instances of ninety 
 years and upwards. William M'Clachrie, one of M'Kie's 
 elders, died in 1798, aged 90. William Milligan died in 
 1775, at 92; his brother, Paul, in 1768, at 86. The 
 oldest I can find is William M'Gowan, died 1883, at 94. 
 To the last he was able to read Spurgeon's weekly 
 sermon. On the other hand, death has had its victims 
 in early life. There are two inscriptions— the shortest in 
 the churchyard — which in this respect are full of pathos. 
 The one is a small granite block with the words — 
 " Blanche Edwards died July 5, iS'/j, aged 20. Thy 
 will be done." The other is even shorter — " Catherine 
 Ward died ^th March, 1828, aged 25." Blanche 
 Edwards was a governess at Livingstone. Who Catherine 
 Ward was I cannot learn. Her whole story is on the 
 tiny fragment, about a foot square, which marks her 
 grave. 
 
 There are many commemorated here whose dust has 
 mingled with foreign soil. Here is a list of some foreign 
 places named on tombstones : — St. Lucia, San Diego, 
 Antigua, Jamaica, Bergen Neck in New Jersey, Granada, 
 Tobago, Demerara. 
 
 I have mentioned the discovery of a supposed suicide's 
 remains outside the hallowed ground. A different kind 
 of tragedy is set forth in the inscription recording how 
 '■'■David M'Lellan, of Antigua, merchant, aged j^, and 
 William Moffat, preacher of the Gospel, aged 30," were 
 
36 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 droivned in Carlingwark Loch on 4th July, 1801, by the 
 " oversetting of a pleasure boat!' 
 
 One curious aspect of these mortuary records is the 
 occurrence of what may be called lapsed lairds and 
 lapsed names. By the first I mean the names of persons 
 once heritors in the parish, whose fortunes have since 
 sorely declined. Three stones at least belong to such. 
 The names are William Kelvie, Esq. of Crae, died 15th 
 May, 1820; William Burnet of North Quintinespie, died 
 1855 ; and David Clark of Slogarie. Till lately all three 
 had living descendants in the parish. 
 
 Of lapsed names of places the following occur : — 
 Craig-croft, Mill-house, Fine View, Dubbidale (where 
 Mr Dickson, dyer, resided), Longley, Highpark, Bush 
 o' Bield, Wood-foot, Hill of Grange, Ironganoch (Ern- 
 genoch). These represent either houses demolished, or 
 houses whose name has been changed by new owners. 
 
 The oldest stone in the churchyard is that placed above 
 the martyr, George Short, which most probably dates 
 from 1685. 
 
 There is a curious uneven slab of whinstone now erected 
 in the ground, which I found to have the following 
 mysterious inscription: — "'John ]\T Kinel in Barnbord 
 aught this ston, Janu. (.?), I'/jr, as propr right." Grave- 
 stones were evidently coveted at that time, and this 
 John M'Kinel deemed it wise to earmark this rough slab 
 for his own burial. But man proposes and God disposes. 
 The stone was found lying in a corner, and John 
 M'Kinel's remains are without a monument after all. 
 
 Another curiosity is a stone dating from 1768, which 
 has the following symbols crowded together on one face : 
 
The Kirkyard. 37 
 
 ■ — Cherub with outspread wings, cross-bones, skull, coffin, 
 and hour-glass with wings. I have not seen this winged 
 hour-glass anywhere else. 
 
 Symbols are not numerous, and usually conventional — 
 the urn, broken column, cross. One stonemason's tomb 
 has the square and compasses. The cherub occurs 
 several times. The customary phrases are found — 
 Reqiiiescat in pace (generally on Roman Catholic tombs), 
 Alemenlo jnori, and the ordinary texts of Sqripture. 
 
 The churchyard poetry is an interesting feature. I have 
 chosen to keep it to the last, and to add now a collection 
 of these elegiac verses. 
 
 Verses in Balmaghie Churchyard. 
 
 1. Beneath this stone two Davids Hallidays 
 
 Doe lye, whose souls now sing their Maker's praise ; 
 
 To know if curious passengers desyre 
 
 For what, hy whom, and how they did expyre : 
 
 They did oppose this nation's perjurey, 
 
 Nor would they joyn with lordly prelacy : 
 
 Indulging favours from Christ's enemies 
 
 Quench'd not their zeal. This monument then cryes — 
 
 These were the causes, not to be forgot. 
 
 Why they by Lag so cruelly were shot. 
 
 One name, one cause, one grave, one heaven do ty 
 
 Their souls to that one God eternally. 
 
 Martyr's Stone, 1685. 
 
 2. Here lies beneath this humble monument 
 The precious dust of an exalted Saint : 
 
 A Mary rightly nam'd, whose gracious heart 
 
 Ev'n from her youth still chose the better part : 
 
 High Birth, Health, Honour, could not make her proud, 
 
 But Grace and Vertue made her Great and Good ; 
 
 For piety and prudence liv'd renown'd. 
 
 And now is with Immortal Glory crown'd. 
 
 To Mistress May Gordon, second wife of John Macmillan, 
 1723. (Probably composed by himself). 
 
38 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 3. Alas ! we fondly thought that heaven designed 
 
 His bright example mankind to improve : 
 All they should be, was pictured in his mind, 
 
 His thoughts were virtue, and his heart was love. 
 
 To John Milroy, aged 77, 1826. 
 
 4. In Memory of William, M'Caa and his wife Elisabeth 
 M'Menzies, who died in Airds of Kells. He, on 13th July 
 j8i6 in the 60th year of his age. And she, five days af- 
 terwards, in her S2d year. Leaving nine surviving 
 children to lament the loss of their affectionate Parents. 
 
 While sad remembrance paints the scene of wo, 
 Our tortur'd breasts their anguish will reveal : 
 
 In spite of consolation, tears will flow, 
 And silent tell the poignant grief we feel. 
 
 5. This humble grave, tho' no proud structure grace, 
 Yet honest truth adorns the sacred place ; 
 
 For 'neath this sod, entomb'd in hallow'd dust. 
 Lyes one who was in all his dealings just. 
 Lo ! fond remembrance drops a pious tear, 
 And holy friendship stands a mourner here. 
 
 To Nathaniel Boddeti by his Widow, 1826. 
 
 6. Fresh in the morn, the Summer's rose 
 
 Hangs withering ere 'tis noon : 
 We scarce enjoy the balmy gift. 
 But mourn the pleasure gone. 
 
 To John Morison, aged 12, by his father, Rev. 
 Philip Morison, 1778. 
 
 M'Kie's Epitaph, 1763. 
 
 7. The mem'ry of the just is blest, 
 
 How precious is his name ; 
 It is like new-blown roses sweet. 
 For ever lasts his Fame. 
 
 The man of God, whose light and life 
 
 Much serv'd Religion's cause, 
 In dark Oblivion should not ly, 
 
 But have his just Applause. 
 
The Kirkyard. 39 
 
 O Balmaghie ! lament thy loss ; 
 
 But boundless grief is vain ; 
 Thy much-lov'd Pastor is gone home — 
 
 Death to the Saints is gain. 
 
 Live as he liv'd, and Death shall soon 
 
 Transport you to the Shore 
 Of endless life, where heavenly Souls 
 
 Shall meet to part no more. 
 
 8. Beneath this gently polish'd stone 
 
 Is treasured precious clay — 
 Clay that shall shine bright as the siin 
 
 At the great rising day. 
 True to the Church, like rocks unmoved 
 
 In rough and stormy seas, 
 Was Alexander Charters still, 
 
 In reeling, staggering days. 
 Parents and children to the cause 
 
 Of Christ were always true, 
 And with a heaven of endless joy, 
 
 They are rewarded now. 
 
 Alexander Charters, died 1707, aged 53. 
 
 9. Remember, man, as you go by. 
 As you are now, so once was I ; 
 As I am now, so must thou be, — 
 Prepare thyself to follow me. 
 
 Alexander Livingstone, died 1771, aged 71. 
 
 10. If youthful innocence the laurel gains. 
 It's hers, lies here in death's domains ; 
 Her virtues and her worth unknown, 
 
 The Rose was pluck't when scarcely grown. 
 
 Spouse of James M'Clacharty in Boreland, 
 died 1794. 
 
 11. Slow pac'd consumption, with insidious sway. 
 Seized on her frame, and drained her life away ; 
 From lingering pain she kindly was reliev'd. 
 And slept in Him in whom she had believ'd. 
 
 Agnes Andrew, Glenlochar, died 1835, aged 29. 
 
40 The Kirk above Dee Wa/er. 
 
 NOTE TO CHAPTER II. 
 
 The following, from an old Balmaghie boy, may be interesting : — 
 
 " Sept. 25, 1893. ... I was once in the church, 36 years 
 ago, then a lad of 12 years of age. I have no recollection of the 
 preacher ; but I have a distinct remembrance of mice, their dirt, 
 and dust. Again, I was there 22 or 23 years ago (perhaps less), 
 at the funeral of an aunt from Laurieston. Nothing impressed me 
 then but a bad road over which we had to go to church for burial. 
 Only, I was interested in seeing them all . . . drink whisky 
 and eat biscuits before starting. 
 
 " I visited the place last June, and what a change — in it or me, 
 I cannot tell. The churchyard was well kept, and all about was 
 tidy and clean, and I was charmed with the situation, and was 
 amazed, as I wandered through the tombstones, to find it the 
 resting-place of so many relations. Besides the nameless grave 
 
 of a grandfather and grandmother, I felt as if I 
 
 had returned to my youth, and could see and talk to the men and 
 women whose tombstones recorded that they were not ; and to a 
 grandfather whom I never knew, as he died before my father had 
 knowledge of him. There is a strange, awful, pathetic interest 
 in wandering about the place where your forbears lie, and whose 
 existence you were never acquainted with. I felt I had a claim 
 on the place. What an ideal spot to sleep one's long last sleep 
 in ! Death seemed to me that day to have nothing to do with 
 Balmaghie churchyard, but a desirable place to rest in peace. 
 Such a peace I should think William Nicol had in his mind when 
 he penned the poetical protest against the place where they buried 
 his brother Robert : — 
 
 ' Do his bones repose on his native hills? 
 Is his spirit soothed by the dashing rills, 
 Where the heather waves, and the free winds come ? 
 Is this the place of the poet's tomb ? 
 
 'No!— 
 Nor tree, nor flower, o'er his lowly bed 
 Their bright Spring tears, or sere leaves, shed ; 
 For 'mid countless graves and a city's gloom, 
 Sleeps Nature's child in a nameless tomb ! ' " 
 
Roll- Call. 41 
 
 III. 
 
 ROLL-CALL. 
 
 One of the few remaining links which connect the parish 
 of Bahiiaghie with the distant past is the old Communion 
 Cup. This cup is one of a pair* not any longer used in our 
 Sacramental Service, since two handsome new cups of silver 
 were presented to the parish in 1795, a year after our 
 present church was built, by Thomas Gordon of Balmaghie, 
 the patron of the living. 
 
 This very ancient cup, according to Mr Thomas Burns, 
 the author of the learned volume called " Old Scottish 
 Communion Plate," belongs to the very beginning of the 
 seventeenth century, and is probably little short of 300 
 years old. It is among the oldest cups remaining since the 
 Reformation in the sixteenth century. Only three pre- 
 Reformation cups (called " mazers," grace cups) remain, 
 one being in the possession of the Earl of Galloway, 
 dated 1569. The date of this Balmaghie cup is ascer- 
 tained by the deacon's mark or punch to the right side 
 of the crest (Edinburgh Castle). The mark is " J. L.," 
 or John Lindsay, who was deacon of the Incorporation 
 of Goldsmiths in Edinburgh in 161 7-1 9. This is there- 
 fore the date of the cup. To the left is the maker's 
 monogram " G. K.," Gilbert Kirkwoode, who became 
 
 * The other may be seen in the Museum at Kirkcudbright ; also, 
 the Balmaghie " Token " for the Sacrament. 
 
42 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 deacon in 1624. Mr Burns groups this cup with a number 
 which he calls the " Dumfries Group," where appear three 
 other cups by the same maker, viz. : Glencairn, Tynron, 
 and Penpont, all very similar in shape. In this group are 
 also included the cups at Carsphairn and Kirkcudbright. 
 The letters k^bmg of course stand for Parish Kirk of Bal- 
 M'Ghie. The letters h'^m stand for Magister or Minister 
 Hew M'Ghie, who was minister of Balmaghie 161 5-1638. 
 The patronage of the living at that time rested with the 
 family of M'Ghie of Balmaghie under a charter of James 
 VI., dated 1606. The church itself was vested in the 
 Bishop of Edinburgh. It is said that when the Abbey of 
 Dundrennan was destroyed, the M'Ghies obtained 
 possession of a large part of the Abbey plate. Perhaps 
 this very cup was made out of silver once used there. 
 
 Between the Rev. Hew M'Ghie and our next minister 
 lies a troubled period of 50 years, during which Balmaghie 
 shared the ups and downs of Episcopacy and Presbytery. 
 Finally, in 1688, the Episcopal "curates" were "rabbled" 
 or expelled. The last Bishop of Galloway was John Gordon 
 (1688), who fled to France. Immediately after this the 
 Synod of Galloway met to take stock of the state of the 
 parishes. This meeting was at Minnigaff, May 14, 1689. 
 Many parishes had no minister, and probably Balmaghie 
 was among them. A number of ministers " from Ireland " 
 attended, and some received calls, including a Mr John 
 M'Bride to the parish of Borgue. It was 1694 before 
 Balmaghie secured a pastor in John M'Millan,* the first of 
 
 *John Macmillan was appointed by the Presbytery on gth April, 
 1695, to help in exorcising the spirit at Ringcroft, in Kells — 
 vide Nich. Hist. Tales, p. 18. He did not, however, attend. 
 
Roll-Call. 43 
 
 that name settled here. Unfortunately, his heahh broke 
 down, and during his last years he was practically laid aside. 
 Dying in 1700, he lies buried in our churchyard to the left 
 of the large M'Kie monument, with the following inscription 
 on his tomb : — Here lyes Mr John M'MillaJi, minister of 
 the Gospel in the Paroch of Balmaghie, who died upon 
 the 26 of July 1^00 and of his age 27 <^^d 9f ^^^ 
 Ministrie the 'jth year. 
 
 We pass over, meantime, the great John Macmillan, 
 alter or second of the name in succession in the parish, who 
 was minister in 1701. We also leave to a future notice his 
 sometime involuntary colleague and successor, William 
 M'Kie, who died in 1763, and is commemorated by a 
 handsome monument. There follows a series of brief 
 pastorates, beginning with David Blenchell, 1764 to 1768, 
 concerning whom there seems nothing special to relate, 
 except that there is no trace of his having been interred in 
 the churchyard. Possibly he was translated — a fate which 
 seldom happened to incumbents of the parish, though not 
 by any means so seldom as in St. Andrews, Fife, whence the 
 ever-interesting A. K. H. B. declares no minister has been 
 translated except to heaven. "This," he adds, "augurs 
 well for the present incumbent." 
 
 To David Blenchell succeeded Samuel Martin, of whom 
 an extended notice will be found further on. Mr Martin 
 was translated in 1776 to Monimail, in Fifeshire, where he 
 lies buried. 
 
 There followed Philip Morison, whose pulpit Bible is in 
 my care.* Tradition says that in 1803 he retired from the 
 
 * See supra, page 19. 
 
44 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 ministry. That he had suffered family affliction while in the 
 manse appears from the tombstone ah-eady noticed.* We 
 may judge from his classical taste that he was a man of 
 some scholarship. The Latin line on the tomb is the sole 
 example of that dead language to be found in the kirkyard, 
 if we except only the couplet on the second Mrs Macmillan,! 
 and such purely formal phrases as Reqiiiescat in pace and 
 Me me 11 /o j\Iori. 
 
 James Henderson, who succeeded in 1804, is elsewhere 
 commemorated. He was followed in 1839 by Alexander 
 Gibson, of whom the savoury memory still lingers in our 
 humble cottages. A man of deep and simple piety, he 
 was noted in his brief day for the painstaking character 
 of his pastoral work more than for pulpit gifts. He, like 
 his predecessor, Henderson, was a horseman, and in all 
 sorts of weather (of which Balmaghie can give a varied 
 assortment) he was seen ambling along intent on visitation. 
 Quite recently there died an aged dame who often told 
 with pride how " Mr Gibson, he juist openit the door, and 
 cam ben. And he says, ' Mistress, could ye gie me a cup 
 o' tea.'^' 'Ay, could I,' says I, 'and that in a jiffey !' 
 ' Jiffey,' says the minister, 'jiffey! whatna thing's that.?' 
 And he aye had his joke efterhin' aboot the jiffey. He 
 wid step in wi' — ' A've juist come in for a cup o' yer 
 jiffey tea!''' Mr Gibson ran a brief race. In 1846 his 
 health entirely gave way, and he died in Hamilton in that 
 year, tenderly nursed by a devoted wife, who still resides 
 there at an advanced age, and has been a constant 
 benefactor of the parish. Mr Gibson was buried in 
 
 * See pag;e 32. 
 t Vivit poit funera virtus, Pietas super astra resurget. 
 
Roll- Call. 45 
 
 Hamilton, but his widow placed in the church here 
 the marble tablet noticed in my account of the interior.* 
 
 The empty manse was soon occupied by a different 
 type of pastor. William Freeland, M.D., a native 
 of Ireland, was translated here from the chapel of 
 ease in Dumfries, which has since grown into the fine 
 and prosperous S. Mary's. Unfortunately he was in 
 1853 deposed by the General Assembly, it is said on 
 somewhat slender evidence. He had previously succeeded 
 in rousing in some of his parishioners a violent dislike, while 
 others cherished for him an equally strong attachment. 
 Dr. Freeland was, as became an Irishman, a man of very 
 genial nature and sociable habits, indulging, indeed, a 
 freedom of speech not usual among the clergy. He was 
 a most fluent extemporaneous preacher, and is said to 
 have frequently chosen his text in the pulpit and delivered 
 himself without any premeditation. On his deposition, he 
 removed to the United States of America, where he 
 applied for admission to the American Episcopal Church. 
 This was about to be granted, when a communication 
 reached the Bishop from Scotland, and the application 
 was refused. He died in his exile, and nothing is known 
 here as to his resting-place. His deposition inflicted a 
 severe wound on the religious life of the parish. Even 
 yet, the scar may be traced wherever a light and 
 disrespectful tone is heard regarding the holy ministry. 
 
 The patron of the parish, Admiral Gordon of Balmaghie, 
 
 now presented a very young man to the vacant cure. 
 
 William Lyon Riach, M.A., entered Balmaghie as his 
 
 first ministerial charge in 1853, and at once won "golden 
 
 * See Page 27. 
 
46 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 opinions from all sorts of men." The church soon 
 became well attended. It is said that people came from 
 all parts of the county to hear the young preacher. His 
 fame at last reached the ears of Lady Ruthven, who had 
 the patronage of a parish then vacant — that of Pencaitland. 
 She travelled specially to Balmaghie to see and hear for 
 herself, and the result was that Mr Riach in 1855 was 
 translated to Pencaitland, amid the profound regrets of his 
 people in Balmaghie. Mr Riach was not long permitted 
 to remain in Pencaitland, but was speedily translated once 
 more, this time to a charge in Edinburgh, which ultimately 
 grew into the large and handsome pile of buildings known 
 as the Grange Parish Church. Mr Riach still lives and 
 labours in Edinburgh, and to the people of Balmaghie he 
 is an object of much interest as being one of two 
 surviving ministers of the parish. 
 
 The last incumbent presented under the system of private 
 patronage was Thomas Stevenson, i 855-1 881. He was 
 transferred from his sphere as assistant-minister at Loch- 
 rutton, in Dumfriesshire, to be minister of Balmaghie. 
 Although then 56 years of age, he completed here a 
 ministry of 26 years more, dying in 1881 at the advanced 
 age of 82. A handsome granite column, erected by his 
 widow, stands in the kirkyard, but at a great distance 
 from the " Ministers' Corner." During his ministry the 
 church received some much-needed repairs. 
 
 Of the present incumbent, ordained 29th January, 1882, 
 modesty of course forbids any detailed account. But it is 
 not improper to record here, in concluding the Roll-call 
 of our ministers in Balmaghie, that the period since 1882 
 has been fruitful in changes connected with the church and 
 
Roll-Call. 47 
 
 its services. In 1882 the congregation assembled in what 
 was little better than a whitewashed barn, though many 
 helpful hours of devotion were spent within its unadorned 
 walls. In 1895 the congregation have the free use of a 
 church, not only seemly and comfortable, but even in some 
 respects beautiful. In 1882 we sat to sing (which few did 
 at all), and stood up at prayers. Now, we stand at praise, 
 and many join heartily; and in time of prayer we reverently 
 sit with bowed heads. In 1882 there was no hymnbook, 
 choir, or harmonium — all these have been the gain of the 
 passing years. In these respects we have simply kept time 
 with the whole Church of Scotland. A great future lies 
 before that Church, and every part of it. The universal 
 enthusiasm for finer buildings and more worthy church 
 service portends coming changes which it would be rash 
 to attempt to predict. In a parish like Balmaghie, so 
 steeped as it is in Covenanting memories, it is peculiarly 
 striking to study the gradual growth of a larger and finer 
 taste in worship and in religious expression. To some, 
 we may seem to be pouring " new wine into old bottles." 
 In reality, I believe, we are pouring back the old wine 
 into the old bottles. We are reviving and restoring the 
 true spirit of the Scottish National Church. 
 
 A final note, summing up in one aspect the facts pre- 
 sented above in our Roll-call. Between 1694 and 1881 
 we have had 1 1 ministers, being an average of one minister 
 for every 17 years. If, however, we deduct two ministers 
 deposed and two translated, we raise the average duration of 
 the pastorate to about 25 years. The longest pastorate was 
 that of William M'Kie, 52 years. The shortest was that of 
 Mr Riach, 2\ years. 
 
48 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 IV. 
 
 AN EPISODE IN GALLOWAY* 
 
 THE publication of a " History of the Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church," by the Rev. Mr Hutchison 
 of New Cumnock, will draw attention anew to the 
 curious drama of Spiritual Independence, played out in 
 a remote Galloway parish in 1 703-1 729. Most Scotsmen 
 have heard of the sect called Macmillanites, and better 
 known as Cameronians or Reformed Presbyterians. 
 But few at the present time are aware that they 
 derived the former name from the minister of an obscure 
 and thinly-peopled parish in the Presbytery of Kirkcud- 
 bright. The parish of Balmaghie, wdiere Macmillan made 
 his stern stand against the State, is situated about three miles 
 from Castle-Douglas, and includes an area of about sixty 
 square miles. The diminutive church can be seen, with the 
 homely manse at its side, perched on a small eminence on 
 the banks of the Dee, opposite Crossmichael station on the 
 Portpatrick Railway. 
 
 The traveller who will look out of his railway carriage at 
 that station sees a broad sheet of water, which at first seems 
 to be a loch, but is really the swollen and sluggish river. 
 In one corner of this, large quantities of fine eels used to be 
 caught. Exactly opposite the station, with this mimic lake 
 
 * History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. By Rev. Matthew 
 Hutchison, New Cumnock. Paisley: J. & R. Parlane, 1893. 
 
THOMAS STEVENSON. 
 
An Episode in Galloway. 49 
 
 between, is Balmaghie Church, a small cruciform edifice 
 having a picturesque belfry and pointed arches. The 
 present church and manse are only 100 years old, but 
 a fragment still remains of the old church in which 
 Macmillan for some years set at defiance the whole 
 power of Church and State. The ancient church is 
 represented by a small portion of the eastern gable, into 
 which had been built an imposing monument to the 
 memory of Macmillan's successor. 
 
 John Macmillan, born at Barncauchlaw,* ''in Minnigaff 
 Parish, in 1669, took his M.A. degree at Edinburgh, where 
 he also completed his theological studies. While a student 
 he joined what were known as the " Societies,"' being 
 associations of churchmen who claimed a larger spiritual 
 freedom than was then enjoyed by the Church of Scotland. 
 Upon entering the Divinity Hall, he left them, and, after 
 being licensed by the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright, he was 
 for a short time chaplain in the family of Mr Murray of 
 Broughton. In 1701 he became minister at Balmaghie, 
 succeeding another John Macmillan, whose latter years had 
 been darkened by chronic sickness. The parish was there- 
 fore in a neglected state, but Macmillan soon roused it 
 effectually. 
 
 Macmillan's connection with the " Societies " had left a 
 deep influence on his mind. He was not long settled in 
 his new office before his restless spirit found vent in a 
 formal " statement of grievances," presented by him to his 
 Presbytery in July, 1703. In this action he was joined 
 
 * On the Hassock of ground granted by Robert Bruce to Widow 
 Amabel, whose three sons, M'Kie, Murdoch, and M'Lurg, 
 became his henchmen. It includes Risk, Larg, and Macher- 
 more. 
 
 D 
 
50 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 by two co-presbyters, Mr Reid of Carsphairn and Mr Tod 
 of Buittle. This paper complained that the Solemn 
 League and Covenant was ignored, and the divine right 
 of Presbytery allowed to fall into the background ; also, 
 that certain political oaths w^ere imposed on the clerg)^ 
 and in other ways that the Church's freedom was invaded 
 by the State. The Presbytery appointed a committee to 
 answer these complaints, consisting of Messrs Warner at 
 Balmaclellan, Telfer at Rerrick, Cameron at Kirkcudbright, 
 Boyd at Dairy, Ewart at Kells, and Monteith at Borgue. 
 Ultimately the Presbytery passed a resolution that, "being 
 desirous to be as condescending as they can, for peace 
 sake they do pass all bygone differences and misbehaviours 
 of said John Macmillan." But they added, that if he still 
 continued to be "turbulent and divisive," then "all former 
 things now passed from shall be revived, and he censured 
 for them, with such new offences as shall be found just." 
 These " former things " included Macmillan's action in 
 causing his people to renew the Solemn League at a 
 congregational fast, and also in refusing to recognise the 
 oath of allegiance to Queen Anne. 
 
 After this decided rebuke, Macmillan ceased to attend 
 his Presbytery, who thereupon dealt with him once more, 
 and exacted a promise to attend and be submissive. But 
 such promises were no better than " withs " to bind this 
 ecclesiastical Samson. He soon publicly disowned his 
 pledge, and the Presbytery then resolved to hold a visitation 
 at Balmaghie. Before this could take place, however, a 
 libel was drawn up and duly served upon him. He was 
 charged with breach of faith and with turbulent conduct, 
 but no averment was made against his life or doctrine. 
 
An Episode in Galloway. 51 
 
 Mr Hutchison is of opinion that the whole movement 
 arose from the Presbytery's dislike to the agitation for 
 spiritual independence which Macmillan was keeping 
 alive. 
 
 On a bleak day in December, 1703, the Presbytery met 
 in Balmaghie Church to lead proof, when a petition from 
 the people against their procedure was handed in, and 
 Macmillan finally declined their authority, appealing to the 
 " first free and lawful " General Assembly. Next day, 
 29th December, they met at Crossmichael Church, placing 
 the broad waters of the Dee between them and the 
 stubborn pastor and people of Balmaghie. Macmillan 
 did not appear ; the libel was found proven ; and on a vote 
 taken, " suspend or depose," it was unanimously agreed to 
 depose him, which was at once done. Mr Monteith of 
 Borgue and Mr Hay of Anwoth were ordered to declare 
 the Church vacant on Sunday, 6th January, 1704. 
 
 Now came the " tug of war." Mr Monteith vainly 
 endeavoured to carry out his orders. On 22nd February, 
 1704, he reported to the Presbytery that, accompanied by 
 a notary public and some witnesses, he was riding to the 
 church at Balmaghie when " there came from the kirkyard 
 about 20 or 30 men, who refused to let him go further, 
 and actually stopped them by laying hold on the foremost 
 horse's bridle." He thereupon read out the sentence of 
 deposition and declared the church vacant, taking 
 instruments in the hands of the notary, and so rode 
 disconsolately home to Borgue. On the way, however, 
 he stopped at Balmaghie House, and preached there to a 
 small gathering. Macmillan himself occupied the pulpit 
 of the parish church. 
 
52 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 The first blow had thus been struck in the war between 
 Macmillan and the Church Courts. Active hostihties 
 ensued. At first, indeed, he hesitated to enter on a course 
 of open rebellion. Twice he appealed to the Assembly, and 
 under the prospect of being reponed he permitted for a 
 season the pulpit of the church to be filled by the Presbytery's 
 " supplies," as in a regular vacancy. But his patience was 
 soon exhausted. One Sunday the officiating minister 
 intimated the " supply " for next Lord's Day and exhorted 
 the people to attend better than they had been doing. 
 Macmillan, who was, as usual, present, got up and intimated 
 that he intended to preach himself next Sunday. 
 
 " What !" said the officiating minister, " will you, a 
 deposed man, go and preach .'''' Turning to the congrega- 
 tion, he added — " Go home, and mourn for it, that a 
 deposed man is going to preach. I wish he may get few 
 hearers." 
 
 Next Sunday Macmillan entered the pulpit. The church 
 was packed. As the bell began ringing a boat had been 
 seen coming across the Dee. It contained the Presbytery 
 " supply." Immediately a rush was made to the bank, 
 and a dozen strong arms pushed the boat away from the 
 landing-place. Such were the amenities of Church life in 
 Balmaghie in 1705. 
 
 After this exciting scene Macmillan continued to occupy 
 pulpit and manse as if no sentence of deposition had been 
 pronounced. The arm of " Coesar '" was therefore invoked 
 by the Church. The Commission of Assembly in 1706 
 appealed to the heritors to persuade the offending minister 
 to give up the keys of the vacant church to the Presbytery. 
 The attempt was made, but in vain. Macmillan continued 
 
Afi Episode 171 Galloway. 53 
 
 to ignore the authority of the Church Courts, and his 
 parishioners generally adhered to him, although their 
 conduct exposed them to fines and imprisonment. 
 
 The Town Records of Kirkcudbright show that the 
 Town Council had before them in 1707 a petition from 
 Charles Livingstone, glover, burgess in Kirkcudbright, 
 praying to be relieved of a fine of 500 merks, or about 
 ;^2 8, inflicted upon him because he had been married by 
 Mr Macmillan. Livingstone pleads the " scarcitie of 
 money," the frequency of such irregularities since the 
 Revolution, and his own previous good conduct. We 
 are glad to find the Council remitted the fine. 
 
 Another remarkable scene now took place near the 
 church. In 1708, on an application by the Presbytery, 
 " craving the benefit of law to put Macmillan out of his 
 hot nest," the Lords in Council at Dumfries sent the Sheriff 
 with 100 yeomanry to expel the contumacious minister. 
 The people, however, assembled in such numbers that the 
 Sheriff was obliged to retire. 
 
 At length steps were taken to institute a new minister, and 
 Mr William M'Kie was duly called, and arrangements made 
 for his ordination. The ordination took place on 12th 
 October, 17 10, seven years after the deposition of 
 Macmillan. The formal proceedings prior to this had 
 not been uneventful. Mr Cameron of Kirkcudbright, a 
 brother of the famous Richard Cameron who fell at 
 Airsmoss, had been sent to preach in Balmaghie Church, 
 but he got no farther than the parish boundary. At 
 Barnboard a body of Macmillanites unceremoniously 
 turned him back. Eighty-seven heads of families, repre- 
 senting probably half the population, petitioned against 
 
54 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 Mr M'Kie's settlement, and craved that Macmillan might 
 be reponed. The Presbytery, however, stood firm, and the 
 new minister was ordained. 
 
 The next act in this curious drama was long remembered 
 among the gossips of the parish. The new minister arrived 
 at the manse, but was denied admittance. He then 
 attempted to have the glebe ploughed, but the indignant 
 neighbours rose, and drove off his supporters. They " cut 
 the reins in pieces, turned the horses adrift, and threw the 
 ploughshares into the adjoining lake." One infuriated 
 dame aimed a deadly blow at the minister's throat with 
 a reaping-hook. He put up his gloved hand to ward it 
 off, and his fingers were cut to the bone. The conflict 
 had thus nearly cost human life, and actual blood had 
 been shed. 
 
 Mr M'Kie, a pacific and prudent man, withdrew and took 
 up his abode in a gentleman's house about three miles off. 
 A meeting-house, called in contempt " The House of 
 Rimmon," was built for him. He married, and till 1729 
 quietly pursued his sacred calling side by side with the 
 redoubtable Macmillan. The latter continued to live in the 
 manse and occupy the parish pulpit ; he cultivated the glebe 
 and generally exercised the functions of a parish minister. 
 It was the Papal Schism on a small scale ! And it caused 
 some strange complications, such as that of the "Twice- 
 Christened Bairn,"* familiar to all lovers of Galloway lore. 
 
 * See pasfe 77. 
 
" The End of that Man.'" 55 
 
 V. 
 
 "THE END OF THAT MAN." 
 
 IN a plain house at Bothwell, called Broomhill, a 
 venerable old man lay dying one wihter's day in 
 1753. It was the last day of November, a month which 
 begins with All Saints, and ends with S. Andrew. Although 
 dying so far off from his first and most beloved home, 
 this aged saint was John Macmillan, alter or second of the 
 name in succession in the Galloway parish of Balmaghie. 
 It is a fact worthy of passing note, that the first preacher of 
 Christianity in this parish was named Andrew, and came 
 from the neighbouring church in Ireland. Thus, on 
 S. Andrew's day, his distant successor was slowly 
 " crossing the bar.'" Friends were around his bed, 
 silently witnessing the death of a faithful Christian 
 pastor. It was a worn-out frame, exhausted by eighty- 
 four busy years, which reposed on the bed. The eye was 
 dim, and the natural force abated. Time had been when 
 John Macmillan's voice had rung out, clear and firm, over 
 the heads of devout multitudes gathered in the open air. 
 All over Galloway, and in Ayrshire, the Lothians, and Fife, 
 he had tramped about in every kind of weather to visit and 
 comfort the scattered flock of Covenanters. And now he 
 was going on a last journey, ending in eternal peace. The 
 aged limbs were already straightened out, the wrinkled 
 
56 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 hands folded on his breast. For some time his eyes had 
 been closed. Suddenly he opened them, and looked out 
 from his dying body upon the faces around. A friendly 
 ear was placed at his lips, and heard his last words — " My 
 Lord, my God, my Redeemer — yea, mine own God is He !" 
 It was a solemnly beautiful deathbed, and it had been 
 preceded by a life of equally austere and solemn beauty. 
 It is common among unthinking readers to look upon our 
 Scottish Covenanters as being generally men of a harsh 
 and unlovely mould, strangers to family affections and 
 brotherly friendships. Macmillan's public life bore out 
 only too well such an unfavourable impression. From the 
 first year of his ministry in Balmaghie, the year 1701, he 
 held himself conscientiously bound to set a face of granite, 
 hard as his native rock in Galloway, against the 
 defections of the Church of the Revolution. For him, 
 brought up from boyhood in the strictest Covenanting 
 circles, the true and only Covenant was that of 1643, 
 known as the Soleinn League, which not only pledged its 
 adherents to defend and maintain the Presbyterian Church, 
 but also asserted the duty of imposing Presbyterian views, 
 by force if need be, on all the British realms. To Macmillan, 
 Popery and Prelacy were things with which no com- 
 munion, whether sacred or secular, ought to be permitted. 
 Presbytery was a divine institution, and as such must be 
 vindicated as the exclusive form of national religion. All 
 other forms were not merely mixed with error ; they were 
 absolutely wrong, and must be firmly suppressed, or at least 
 discountenanced. We must try to get into the soul of an 
 earnest if, perhaps, narrow man, who could, as a child, 
 remember the "killing year," 1685, and had perhaps 
 
" The End of that Man." 57 
 
 himself seen Lagg's dragoons scouring the fields around 
 Minnigaff. We must imagine the growth of his intense 
 feeling of hatred for a religious form which had sought 
 to drive people to church by such means. And we must 
 finally conceive this ardent and obstinate nature, nurtured 
 amid scenes of oppression and suffering for conscience 
 sake, realising the compromise which his Church 
 accepted in 1690 — the "Revolution Settlement" of the 
 Church of Scotland. No doubt a Protestant sat on the 
 throne, and Presbyterianism was fully secured in Scotland ; 
 but in England, Prelacy received an equal support, and in 
 Ireland, Romanism was granted a large toleration. Even 
 in Scotland, the General Assembly could not meet or 
 dissolve without royal mandate. To the older Covenanters, 
 this seemed a heavy fall from the hopes which they had 
 cherished. In their disappointment some of them, like 
 Hepburn at Urr, even proposed to unfurl the blue flag of 
 the Covenant, and bid armed defiance to an Erastian and 
 time-serving Government. Others, like our own 
 Macmillan, contented themselves at first with emphatic 
 protests against sinful compliance in any form with the 
 reigning power, and with sedulous pastoral training of the 
 people in their parishes in the tenets of the Covenanting 
 theology. We cannot wonder, if such stress of conscience, 
 and daily friction with the established order in Church and 
 State, moulded the man's outward shape into something of 
 sternness and bigotry. 
 
 But it would be a great mistake to think of Macmillan as 
 a mere angry and obstinate bigot. Fortunately we possess 
 proofs that, while faithful to his Covenanting views to the 
 last, he showed throughout a spirit of sympathy and 
 
58 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 tolerance by no means frequent among his colleagues, 
 and, indeed, condemned by them more than once. 
 Taking first his public life in Balmaghie and elsewhere, 
 we find that after the first fiery rupture with his Presbytery 
 in 1703, issuing in a sentence of deposition pronounced at 
 Crossmichael Church, Macmillan next year made 
 submission to the Commission of General Assembly, 
 and afterwards to his Presbytery. He expressed " hearty 
 sorrow " for not attending their meetings, and for 
 "declining" their jurisdiction; and he humbly begged 
 that he might be repofied. Meantime he would refrain 
 from preaching. Accordingly, he did remain silent for 
 about a year, but, despairing at last of redress, he one day 
 rose up in church at the close of a service conducted by the 
 Presbytery's delegate, and intimated that he would himself 
 preach next Sunday. From that day he continued his public 
 ministry, which was entirely agreeable to the parishioners. 
 And it was 26 years after his deposition before he 
 finally retired, amid universal expressions of regret, 
 from the quaint little manse and church on the banks of 
 our Dee. We do not for a moment defend Macmillan's 
 retention of the ecclesiastical buildings and glebe. The 
 stipend, of course, he could not hold in the same way. But 
 we may surely find a palliation of his offence in the fact, 
 that he seems to have done nothing positively to hinder his 
 successor's work, beyond keeping him out of the manse and 
 church. And when he left Balmaghie, in 1729, he did so 
 not from compulsion, since the authorities had ceased to 
 disturb him, but solely in order the better to tend a much 
 larger and wider flock — to become, in fact, the Bishop of a 
 great diocese stretching from (Calloway to Fife. 
 
" The End of that Man." 59 
 
 More positive tokens of Macmillan's superior tolerance 
 are seen in the fact, that he kept up brotherly communion 
 with the elders of Balmaghie long after he had become 
 fully associated with the "United Societies" of Covenanters, 
 to whom such fellowship was a thing entirely sinful. 
 Further, he permitted himself to be married (for the third 
 time) by a parish minister ; which also was a grievous 
 " defection " in Covenanting eyes. And perhaps the most 
 striking fact for us, in these days of changing discipline as 
 regards baptism, is that he was severely censured for 
 baptizing the children of persons who were not themselves 
 members of the Covenanting Societies. In reference to 
 these points, the historian of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church says that they " arose from his desire to give a more 
 liberal interpretation to, and application of, the principles of 
 the Testimony, and to infuse a more charitable feeling 
 towards others around."* Such a view throws pleasing light 
 on a character which, to his own Presbytery and to later 
 students of his life, has sometimes seemed best described 
 by the old Scottish word ''dour." "Dour," in some 
 measure, Macmillan must have been. What Scotsman who 
 has dared any good thing for Scotland but has been more 
 or less " dour .?" But Macmillan's whole effect on the stern 
 religionists, over whom at last he became the revered head, 
 was a softening and broadening one. Especially he 
 fostered works of kindly helpfulness, and, as early as 
 1719, we read of one of the meetings at which he took 
 part. ..." Upon a petition given in by a poor, infirm 
 man in Galloway, the meeting thought fit to make a 
 
 * Hutchison's History of the Reformed Presbyterian 
 Church, 1893, p. 170. 
 
6o The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 collection for him, and to recommend his necessitous 
 case to others in fellowship." 
 
 Turning now to the less public life of this great man, we 
 might linger for hours over its records of quiet, pastoral 
 usefulness. Is it not a crowning proof of Macmillan's 
 lovable nature that the whole people (with but a few 
 exceptions) of Balmaghie stood by him for 26 years 
 after he had been solemnly deposed .? True, at times 
 a section in a Scottish parish will cling to a deposed 
 minister for a time, even if they deem him guilty of 
 gross misconduct. But that is only the result of Scottish 
 loyalty and chivalrous backing of a losing cause. Here 
 there was no quesdon of moral misconduct at all, and the 
 entire congregation may be said to have continued to 
 Macmillan their perfect confidence and obedience. When 
 his successor was ordained in 17 10, only 9 parishioners 
 signed his call, while 87 heads of houses, besides young 
 men, protested against it. In 1843 '^ would have been said 
 that they had " vetoed " it. It was a pastoral life of singular 
 faithfulness, and a family life of peculiar piety, which riveted 
 these loving bonds for ever between Macmillan and the 
 people of Balmaghie, and excited such a fervent devotion 
 that more than once they risked fines and imprisonment to 
 protect their beloved minister. The parish of Balmaghie 
 was covenanting to the core at this time. It preserved, with 
 sacred care, the remains of George Short, and of the " two 
 Davids Hallidays," both shot down on the wild moorlands 
 on its borders. The visitor to the lonely churchyard may 
 still read how 
 
 " One name, one cause, one grave, one heaven do ty 
 Their souls to that one God eternally." 
 
'• The End of that Man!' 6i 
 
 Little wonder that, with a minister such as Macmillan, and 
 only a generation distant from such bloody scenes, these 
 people were not afraid to resort to force in resisting, as they 
 believed, the old prelatic foe. But we pass from these rude 
 outbursts of a sore and embittered zeal. Macmillan 
 himself, both in Balmaghie and throughout his larger 
 parish (or diocese, as we should perhaps call it), was 
 such a minister as men to-day still sigh for, and would 
 still at fit season be ready to die for. He was an incessant 
 visitor, not for gossip or social pleasure, but for 'prayer and 
 catechising. Like his covenanting forbears, he often, and 
 for a time always, preached in the fields, or in houses and 
 barns. For thirty-seven years he did his heavy work quite 
 unassisted, save in those parts which an unordained minister 
 (a layman, in fact) could perform. The Holy Sacraments, 
 indeed, became specially dear when dispensed by 
 John Macmillan. Mothers eagerly sought to have his 
 kindly hands laid on their babes, even when the father 
 chose rather a regular minister to give baptism. Is it not 
 a proof of Macmillan's real lovableness, that they " brought 
 little children unto him," as the mothers of Salem long 
 before to his gentle Master.^ And the Lord's Supper in 
 his hands became a rite most searching, solemn, and 
 strengthening to the soul. The very cup used by him 
 at last gained an almost superstitious value as a test of 
 the worthy communicant. We have seen and handled 
 that cup often ; but the virtue is departed with the 
 prophet-soul of ^lacmillan. In his own home, we can 
 catch but faint glimpses of the good minister ; but we 
 know now that he was three times married, and brought 
 up a numerous offspring, of whom one at least was held 
 
62 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 worthy to be joined in his ministry. To this very hour, his 
 descendants speak of him lovingly as " old Balmaghie." 
 They cherish his Family Bible and his antique seal-ring. 
 One of them has commemorated him in Balmaghie 
 Church. Another is diligently collecting the family 
 memorials. The Reformed Presbytery, which he founded 
 in 1743, has enshrined his name in more than one temple 
 for the worship of God.* That body for long was known as 
 the Macmillanite Church. Stern and unyielding he may 
 have been where he thought conscience bade him be so, 
 but in himself he was a fine and noble character, hewn out 
 of the Galloway rock, and with the kindly perfume of the 
 heather and the peat clinging to his very soul. 
 
 * e.g., the Macmillan Free Church, Castle-Douglas. 
 
'• The End of that Man:' 63 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER V. 
 
 Note I. — Last Words of the Reverend Mr John Macmillan, 
 ON HIS Death-bed, November, 1753. — " . . . Prayer being 
 ended, he inquired where that word was, ' Yea, mine own God is 
 He?" and being told it was the last line of the xlii. Psalm in metre, 
 he caused the verse to be read, and said, ' Yes, I know and am 
 assured of it — yea, mine own God is He.' He then complained 
 he had no feeling in the little finger of the left 'hand. Another 
 went to perform worship, and he ordered to sing in the xci. Psalm 
 to the tenth verse ; and caused read the four last verses of the 
 xcii. Psalm. 
 
 " After prayer was over, being now past midnight, he said he 
 thought he had no feeling in the left hand, so sensible was he of 
 life departing from the extremities of his body. Upon which, it 
 being said to him, that as he had been desirous of his departure 
 and to be ever with the Lord, so it seemed to be evident that the 
 time of his change was at hand, he cheerfully replied that he 
 could welcome the King of Terrors, as a messenger sent from 
 his Heavenly Father, to bring him to the mansions of glory, and 
 added, ' Lord, I have waited for Thy Salvation.' . . 
 
 " The last words which he was heard to speak, within a few 
 minutes of his last breath, were, ' My Lord, my God, my Redeemer, 
 yea, mine own God is He :' and the few minutes remaining after he 
 ceased speaking, he was observed to be in a praying and praising 
 disposition. And after he had fully finished his course, with a 
 pleasant countenance, his eyes lifted up, and his right hand a little 
 raised up to heaven, he willingly resigned up his soul to his beloved 
 and faithful Saviour. . , 
 
 " Thus comfortably and joyfully he resigned his soul to God, in 
 the eighty-fourth year of his age, on Saturday, the 20th day of 
 November (o.s.), 1753. ' . ." 
 
 From a very rare pamphlet—" Observations on a Wolf in a 
 Sheepskin," published 1753, and written by C. U., i.e. Charles 
 Umpherston, surgeon in Pentland. See Reformed Presbyterian 
 Magazine, vol. for 187 1, page 279. 
 
64 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 Note 2. — Macmillan's Epitaph in Dalserf. — The monument, 
 which is about to be repaired, is four-square, and has the following 
 inscriptions : — 
 
 East Side. — A public tribute to the memory of the Rev. John 
 Macmillan, minister of Balmaghie in Galloway, and after- 
 wards first minister to the United Societies in Scotland, 
 adhering at the Revolution to the whole Covenanted 
 Reformation in Britain and Ireland, attained between 
 1638 and 1649. An exemplary Christian-, a devoted 
 minister; and a faithful witness to the Cause of Christ: 
 died December First, 1753, aged eighty-four. 
 
 Look unto Abraham your father ; for I called him alone, 
 and blessed him and increased him. — Isa. li. 2. 
 
 North Side. — Mr Macmillan acceded to the Societies in 1707. 
 The Reformed Presbytery was constituted in 1743; and 
 the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in 
 Scotland in 1811. 
 
 Hitherto hath the Lord helped iis. — i Sam. vii. 12. 
 
 South Side. — Erected at the grave of Mr Macmillan by the 
 Inhabitants of the surrounding Country of all denomina- 
 tions, who testified their respect to his much venerated 
 memory, by attending and liberally contributing, at a 
 Sermon Preached on the spot, September eighth, 1839, 
 by the Rev. A. Symington, D.D., Paisley. 
 
 Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, 
 the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste. — 
 Nehemiah ii. 3. 
 
 West Side. — Mr Macmillan was succeeded in the ministry by 
 his son, the Rev. John Macmillan of Sandhills, near 
 Glasgow, who died February Sixth, 1808, aged seventy- 
 nine; aud by his grand-son, the Rev. John Macmillan, of 
 Stirling, who died October Twentieth, 1818, aged sixty- 
 eight. These preached the same Gospel, and ably advo- 
 cated the same public cause, adorning it with their lives, 
 and bequeathing to it their Testimony and the Memory 
 of the Just. 
 
 Instead of thy fathers should be thy children. — Psalm 
 xli. 16. 
 
E 
 o 
 < 
 
 < 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 UJ 
 CD 
 
 U 
 U 
 fi 
 
 u 
 
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 I- 
 
" The End of that Mati." 65 
 
 iVo/e J. — Macmillan's Family and Descendants. — Macmillan 
 married first Jean Gamble, died 171 1, aged 31, by whom he had no 
 issue. 
 
 Macmillan next married the widow of Edward Goldie of Craig- 
 muie, who was a daughter of Sir Alexander Gordon of Earlston. 
 She died 1723, aged 43. 
 
 Macmillan married, thirdly, Grace Russell, in 1725 or thereabout, 
 by whom he had five children, viz. : — 
 
 (i) Josias, born 1726, " upon a Sabbath morning about six o'clock," 
 at Balmaghie Manse; died Feb. 7, 1740, aged 13. 
 
 (2) Kathren, born 1727; died Feb. 17, 1736, aged 8. 
 
 (3) John, born 1729. * 
 
 (4) Grizel, born 1731. 
 
 (5) Alexander Jonita, born 1734; died same year, aged 6 months. 
 
 Josias, Kathren, and Jonita (Janet), are buried in Dalserf, and 
 their gravestone, partially mutilated, is built into the platform of 
 their father's monument as before described. The inscription is as 
 follows : — 
 
 Here lyes the Corps 
 
 OF Kathr 
 
 Jannet M'Millan, 
 
 daughters of the 
 
 Reverint Mr Joh . . 
 
 M'Millan, Minister 
 
 of the Gospel. 
 . . . Jo. . . . 
 
 Grizel Macmillan married John Galloway of Sandyhills, near 
 Glasgow, and had issue two sons and one daughter, Elizabeth, who 
 married John Grieve, surgeon in Inverkeithing. 
 
 John Galloway dying in 1764, his widow, Grizel Macmillan or 
 Galloway, married the Rev. John Thorburn, Reformed Presbyterian 
 minister in Pentland. She died in 1767, leaving an infant girl. 
 
 Andrew and William Galloway, great-grandsons, restored the 
 Macmillan stone in Balmaghie churchyard in 1843. 
 
 John Macmillan II. married twice, and had by his first marriage 
 six children, and by his second no less than twelve. One of his 
 daughters married Rev. Thomas Rowatt, Scaurbridge Cameronian 
 Church, Penpont. The youngest son of this marriage became an 
 
 E 
 
66 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 ironmonger and farmer at Newton-Stewart, which he left for Edin- 
 burgh. He died in 1880. A son of his, Thomas Roiiet, Esq., still 
 survives, and is in possession of his great-great-grandfather's seal- 
 ring, with crest and motto. 
 
 From John Grieve, the first husband of Grizel Macmillan, 
 descends another surviving great-great-grandson, John Grieve, M.D., 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Note 4. — M.\CMiLLANS IN Churchyard. — There is a remarkable 
 number of Macmlllans interred in Balmaghie churchyard. It may 
 be interesting to subjoin a list, as complete as I can make it, after 
 careful search : — 
 
 Macmillans buried at Balmaghie. 
 
 1. Rev. John M'Millan, died 1700, and his wife Catherine William- 
 
 son, died 1700. 
 
 2. Jane M'Millan, spouse of John M'Meiken, died 1859, aged 93. 
 
 3. Grisel M'Millan, spouse to James M'Cartney, died 1746, aged 66. 
 
 4. Agnes M'Millan, "the disconsolate widow of a Christian and 
 
 affectionate husband," died 1805, aged 93. Her husband was 
 Alexander M'Cartney, died at Campdouglas, 1774, aged 64. 
 Their daughter, Jane M Cartney, died 1829, aged 79. 
 
 5. Agnes M'Millan, wife of Wm. M'Gowan, died 1793, aged 78. 
 
 6. Wm. M'Millan, merchant in Castle-Douglas, died 1824, aged 76. 
 
 7. Samuel M'Millan, his son, died 1807, aged 18. 
 
 8. Alexander Macmillan, in Castle-Douglas, died 1838, aged 78. 
 
 9. Samuel Macmillan, his son, died 1843, aged 48. He married 
 
 Margaret Hannah, and three daughters, Margaret, Mary, and 
 
 Annie, are here interred along with her. 
 I have failed to trace the relationship — if any — to the great 
 Macmillan, or to each other. I conjecture that Grisel M'Millan, 
 born 1680, may have been a daughter of John M'Millan, the first 
 minister of that name. I have not succeeded in determining any 
 relationiship between the two ministers. Perhaps they were cousins. 
 There was a John M'Millan in Barend in 1772, apparently a very 
 old, and certainly a very poor, man, as he was reckoned not " good " 
 for one pound sterling. He might have been a brother of Grisel, 
 but no gravestone contains his name. 
 
" The House of Rimmony 67 
 
 VI. 
 
 "THE HOUSE OF RIMMON." 
 
 IT was a dark and cold day in December, 1703, when the 
 Presbytery of Kirkcudbright opened a memorable sitting 
 in Crossmichael Church. It wanted but two days to the 
 New Year, a time of friendship and kindliness in Scotland. 
 But the Presbytery's business was little in harmony with that 
 kindly season. They were met to deliberate on the case of 
 John Macmillan, alter or second of the name in succession 
 as minister at Balmaghie, just across the dark water, half- 
 frozen at that time. And their decision was soon arrived 
 at. The Presbytery were tired of Macmillan's persistent 
 testimony in favour of the higher Covenanting doctrines. 
 They had reason to complain of him also as an absentee 
 from their meetings, in spite of distinct injunctions on their 
 part that he should attend. Such absence is not uncommon 
 in our time, and would not be construed by any reasonable 
 man as contumacious. But Presbytery meetings in those 
 days were serious religious functions. At every one of 
 them a passage of Scripture was prescribed for one of the 
 ministers to open up, and prayer and praise formed a 
 leading part in the business. At present the devotional 
 element has dwindled to a short opening prayer. There 
 is no attempt at praise, and no reading of Holy Scripture, 
 much less any exposition of its teaching. The Synods and 
 General Assembly still adhere to the Church's ancient order 
 
68 The Kirk above Dee JVa/er. 
 
 in this matter ; a sermon is still delivered by the Moderator, 
 and praise and prayer are observed. But the Presbytery 
 has gradually lost its devotional character, and, along with 
 this, it has lost that solemn claim for regular attendance 
 which was enforced upon John Macmillan. And one does 
 not now-a-days feel surprised that some excellent ministers 
 and elders should be rarely seen there. " I go into the 
 Presbytery a Christian man," said an eminent living divine ; 
 "I leave it a raging devil!" "I went but once to a 
 Presbytery," said a stout old Cameronian to me, "and I 
 wished that I had stayed at home. ' Are ministers like 
 yon ?' I speired at another old elder ; ' siccan conduct 
 astonishes me !' ' Hoot," said he, ' gin ye had attendit 
 Presbyteries as lang as I hae done, ye would be astonished 
 at naething !' " 
 
 Without detailing the charges against Macmillan, we note 
 the gloomy scene in Crossmichael Church, as minuted in 
 the Presbytery books. " The Presbytery " — so runs the 
 minute — " after again solemn calling on God for direction 
 and countenance, by two of the brethren nominated by 
 them, do put the matter to the vote — suspend or depose 
 the said Mr John Macmillan, minister of Balmaghie- — and 
 it was carried by an unanimous vote, depose." And this 
 stern sentence was immediately put in force. Across the 
 water, Macmillan perhaps was in his study, bearing his own 
 burden. Conscious though he might be of purest motives 
 and strongest zeal for the Church, he must have been more 
 than human not to feel bowed down by this heavy 
 condemnation of his brethren. 
 
 The next scene is hardly less gloomy. It was the 
 ordination dav of INIacmillan's successor. Again it was 
 
" The House of Riminon." 69 
 
 a wintry sky under which the Presbytery met. Nearly 
 seven years had passed since they had deposed Macmillan, 
 yet he still occupied the manse, and preached in the little 
 church on the hill. Nearly the entire parish adhered to 
 his ministry. Every effort made to remove him had failed, 
 and more than one riot had taken place when force was 
 attempted. The proposal to call a new minister had been 
 resisted at every stage by the people of Balmaghie. A 
 protestation against his settlement, signed by Hugh Mitchell 
 and others, had been laid before the Presbytery, A petition 
 craving that Macmillan might be reponed had also been 
 given in, and it bore the signatures of almost every head of 
 a household in the parish. In spite of this determined 
 opposition, both by legal and by illegal means, the Presby- 
 tery held on their way, and sustained a call to William 
 M'Kie. And now they were met to ordain him as minister 
 of Balmaghie ; but not in the parish church, as the law 
 required, since they were forcibly excluded. They 
 assembled at Kirkcudbright, and there the solemn service 
 was observed, which was declared to unite William M'Kie 
 to the people of Balmaghie as their pastor. This was on 
 October 12, 17 10. A dramatic element was furnished by 
 the sudden appearance of Macmillan himself, bearing a 
 written paper which he desired should be read at once. 
 The Presbytery, however, declined to have it read until it 
 had been carefully examined by a committee, and thereupon 
 Macmillan " took instruments in the clerk's hands and so 
 went off." 
 
 What William M'Kie's private thoughts and feelings 
 were during this scene we can only conjecture. At this 
 time he was 31 years old, and quite capable of compre- 
 
70 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 bending how serious the charge of a parish in such a 
 state of revolt must be. I beUeve, also, that be was no 
 stranger to Balmaghie itself. It seems quite likely that 
 he was a native of the parish, perhaps a distant relation 
 of the chief family, that of M'Ghie. We find record on 
 a gravestone that a M'Ghie married as his second wife 
 Agnes, a daughter of the Rev. William M'Kie. Knowing 
 the parish well, be must have had some "fear and 
 trembling" as be took bis ordination vows. And his 
 apprehensions proved to be well grounded. He entered 
 bis parish, according to the old tradition, protected by 
 a file of dragoons, some of whom might, perhaps, have 
 assisted at the shooting of the " Davids Hallidays '' twenty- 
 five years before. And it was a bare entrance, and little 
 more. When be penetrated as far as the glebe (since 
 manse and church remained closed to him), be found an 
 infuriated mob awaiting him, and bis life was nearly 
 sacrificed in the struggle which ensued. Like the prudent 
 and pacific man be was, be quietly gave way, retiring to 
 a "hired house" in apostolic fashion. To this home he 
 brought after a time a faithful helpmeet, who now rests 
 at the foot of bis imposing monument, sharing this last 
 couch with husband and children. The few faithful ones 
 who stood by him (there were only nine in all who signed 
 bis call) worshipped in some barn-like building, which was 
 hastily run up by a friendly heritor, perhaps the reigning 
 M'Ghie of Balmaghie. Hardly had it been opened for 
 service, when the quick-witted people gave it a name, never 
 since forgotten. They dubbed it "The House of Rimmon," 
 and I doubt not that unsavoury comparisons were added 
 connected with the Syrian Naanian. IM'Kie, however. 
 
" The House of Rimmon.'^ 71 
 
 regarded this little, and pursued his even way for nineteen 
 years, quitely biding his time. 
 
 Where the " House of Rimmon " was situated, is a 
 question now impossible, I fear, to answer. M'Kie's 
 dwelling is described in a contemporary document as 
 " lying hard by." My own theory (and it is a theory 
 and nothing more) is that this dwelling stood where the 
 cottage called Braefoot is now standing. In that case, the 
 temporary church must have been somewhere near 
 Glenlochar Bridge. 
 
 The nineteen years spent here were not free from trial, 
 although M'Kie showed much prudence in his professional 
 conduct. The riot on the glebe took place on 9th 
 December, 171 3, and was reported to the Presbytery as 
 follows: — "A delation was made, that Mr William M'Kie, 
 minister of the Gospel at Balmaghie, had been most 
 inhumanly and barbarously treated, abused, wounded, and 
 beaten, and had his clothes torn by a rabble of the irregular 
 people in that parish." Orders were at once given to set 
 the law in motion against the offenders, under the notorious 
 Porteous Act, but the authorities showed little energy in the 
 matter. On 5th April, 171 5, M'Kie reported that nothing 
 had been done to punish " William Murdoch and other of 
 his accomplices in the barbarous riot," and the Presbytery 
 appointed a committee, consisting of the ministers of 
 Kelton and Crossmichael, along with M'Kie himself, to 
 send a letter to the defaulting Sheriff, threatening, if he 
 continued inactive, to report his negligence to the Lords 
 of Justiciary. Whether this step produced the desired 
 result, we are not told ; but the fact remains that 
 Macmillan kept manse, church, and glebe for fourteen 
 
"^2 The Kirk above Dee Jl'a/er. 
 
 years more, and only retired in M'Kie's favour when his 
 growing work elsewhere summoned him away to Dalserf. 
 
 It may be conjectured that gradually M'Kie's tact and 
 faithful discharge of all permitted duties as a pastor, won 
 upon many of Macmillan's own adherents, and helped to 
 bring about his final removal. In any case, the year 1729 
 saw the rightful minister established in the little manse. 
 He was its last occupant, for a new one was erected in 
 1764 at his death. Of this last, only a small part still 
 remains, marking the spot where his successors, Blenchell, 
 Martin, and Morison, spent their brief pastorates. 
 
 M'Kie had thus been nineteen years ordained to the 
 ministry in Balmaghie before he got possession of the 
 keys of the Church. Providence now hastened to make 
 amends to a truly faithful and good man. He was 
 permitted to enjoy from this date thirty-four peaceful, 
 busy, and useful years as undisputed shepherd of the 
 flock. The real kindliness of the people appeared in 
 the fact that they rallied round him as soon as disturbing 
 causes were removed. They saw that he was no hireling, 
 but a devoted servant of Christ's people. And so, although 
 occasional irregularities (such as the well-known incident of 
 the "Twice-Christened Bairn") occurred, his ministry now 
 went on as smoothly as the Dee water flows along its wide 
 channel. Death also played its part in healing the once 
 bitter wounds and divisions of the parish. Macmillan's 
 chief supporters, one by one, lay down in the kirkyard. 
 We can read some names there, which belonged to men 
 who had raised their hands in anger against the quiet, 
 gentle minister who at last performed their obsequies. 
 William Murdoch, who led the glebe riot in 1713, lies 
 
" The House of Rimmon." 73 
 
 in an obscure corner, all his fiery passions for ever stilled. 
 Long ere this, he has doubtless been reconciled to the man 
 whom he then reviled and assaulted. It is indeed strange 
 and instructive to read the names on the impassive stones of 
 men who once lived so strenuous a life in their little sphere. 
 As we muse on them and their story, we recognise 
 thankfully that all our parochial quarrels and divisions 
 have one sure end and issue — in this peaceful kirkyard. 
 
 " Their hatred and their love is lost, ^ 
 Their envy buried in the dust ; 
 They have no share in all that's done 
 Beneath the circuit of the sun.* 
 
 Of M'Kie's actual ministry, we possess no detailed 
 records, but a very slight effort of imagination may help 
 to fill the blank. It is just the most useful Christain work 
 which is least likely to be trumpeted forth in history. The 
 parish under his thoughtful and loving care was quiet, but 
 far from drowsy. M'Kie's epitaph forbids us to suppose 
 that. It shews in every line of the quaint verses, that he 
 had earned the priceless character of being a just man, 
 a man of God, and even a saint. There is a peculiar 
 fragrance and grace in the opening reference to his memory, 
 compared as it is to the perfume of "new-blown roses 
 sweet." Not here alone, but on several other stones, this 
 simple yet beautiful comparison will be found. I have 
 long had a theory about this too — that Balmaghie kirkyard 
 oncef abounded in fragrant rose-bushes, although now 
 hardly one blooms on its green mounds. Let us 
 merely note, in passing, that the very next stone to M'Kie's 
 
 * Paraphrase 15. 
 t There are still two or three small rosebushes left. 
 
74 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 stately monument, speaks of the " Summer's Rose " 
 and " its balmy gift." And not far off, in a sheltered 
 corner, we read of a Rose which " was pluck't when 
 scarcely grown." No doubt, it is a trite and hackneyed 
 simile, as beseems the homely muse of country folk. Yet 
 it breathes a fine fragrance of gentle affection and regret. 
 And there is something of refreshment to the mind in 
 picturing these weather-stained epitaphs being carved by 
 the workmen while roses bloomed and exhaled their tender 
 essences all around. 
 
 I believe that this monument was erected by the 
 parishioners, in which respect it seems to be unique. 
 Never before or since, did the people of Balmaghie honour 
 their pastor by raising a stone to his memory. We have 
 indeed only just succeeded in wiping out a stain from the 
 parochial character in this respect, by the erection of the 
 simple cross which, after fifty-seven years, rescues the grave 
 of James Henderson from '' dark oblivion." The fact is 
 notable, and justifies us in believing, that every line of 
 M'Kie's epitaph speaks the truth. His gentle, considerate, 
 and faithful ways had plainly won for him the affection 
 of his people. To them, he is the " much-lov'd Pastor," 
 whose venerable form they recall with mingled reverence 
 and attachment. Concerning his fate, they have no doubt 
 at all. He " is gone home " — he has been transported 
 " to the shore of endless bliss " — he " left this for a better 
 life," so says the monument, and we for our part do not 
 dream of douliting its statement. Concerning poor James 
 Henderson, a man much misunderstood, stories reach me 
 which indicate an inferior degree of certainty on this 
 mysterious point. Galloway is ardent in its attachments. 
 
" The House of Rim m on.'' 75 
 
 and equally vehement in its dislikes. And few ministers 
 have been more heartily disliked than he who lies side 
 by side with M'Kie. To-day, we simply note the strange 
 irony which has laid so close together two men — one the 
 most popular and the other the most unpopular, of the 
 pastors of this parish. 
 
 M'Kie had a numerous family, many of whom are 
 interred beneath the flat stone at the foot of his monument. 
 There, as we saw, lies his wife. There, too, Nathaniel 
 M'Kie, the humorous and eccentric minister of Cross- 
 michael, reposes at his father's side. Very likely, he made 
 his last journey across the Dee Water, borne up by stalwart 
 arms into this his family tomb. And two parish churches 
 tolled their bells that day as he was laid to rest with the 
 " much-lov'd " parent. 
 
 Ten years before M'Kie went to a better life, his old rival 
 and sometime supplanter, Macmillan, had been buried, with 
 the reverence of a great multitude, at Dalserf in Lanarkshire. 
 Though he was the greater man, I doubt if he was the 
 better-loved of these two. One thing is certain, that eighty- 
 six years were allowed to elapse before Macmillan's 
 splendid monument arose. Long ere 1839, the date 
 imprinted on this memorial, loving hands had chiselled out 
 the fine wreathed work on M'Kie's stone, and carefully 
 traced the long and beautiful epitaph. This monument 
 cannot have been erected later than 1794, since it was built 
 into the east end of the old church then demolished. So 
 here, as ever, love conquers all. M'Kie had not the 
 learning or commanding genius of Macmillan ; but he had 
 the gentle winning ways which set busy hands in motion 
 to tend a loved one's grave. 
 
76 The Kirk above Dee Watti . 
 
 When I compare these two men, who were Galloway men 
 to their very marrow, I find in both the characteristic quality 
 of determination, " the stalk of carle-hemp in man," which 
 flourishes in no Scottish province more powerfully than 
 here. But the two men wore this quality with a difference. 
 In Macmillan, it grew under incessant conflict into some- 
 thing like " dourness." In M'Kie, mollified by a temper 
 naturally sweet and placid, it became simply the faculty 
 of not growing weary in well-doing, the habit of steadily 
 applying gentleness and patience to parochial irritations. 
 And so, while I admire and revere Macmillan, I am moved 
 to love M'Kie even as his people did at last. And I lay 
 here on his fragrant tomb my own slight garland of 
 affectionate remembrance, for one who, through fifty-three 
 years, fed his flock like a shepherd, among these green 
 pastures and beside these still waters of his own beloved 
 Dee. 
 
" The House of Ri'mmon." jj 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Note I. — Nathaniel M'Kie. — At the foot of the M'Kie 
 monument is a " thruch-stone," containing the names of Mary 
 Gordon his wife, and the following children — Robert, John, Grizel, 
 Anna, Ebenezer, Captain George (died 1790), and Rev. Nathaniel 
 M'Kie, minister of Crossmichael (died 1781). This last was the 
 eldest son, and is commemorated as follows : — 
 
 Nathaniel M'Kie's Epitaph. 
 
 He was kindly, and endowed with ministerial abilities, which he 
 carefully cultivated, and zealously exerted in the service of his 
 Divine Master. His virtues will long live in the memory of his 
 friends. 
 
 Nathaniel M'Kie got the present church at Crossmichael built in 
 1781. He was the maternal uncle of Lowe, author of the well- 
 known poem, " Mary's Dream." 
 
 Note 2. — The Twice-Christened Bairn. — The schism in 
 Balmaghie in the time of Macmillan and M'Kie caused some 
 curious incidents. One of these is described in Nicholson's 
 Historical and Traditional Tales, 1843, page 61, under the 
 heading of this note. As many of my readers do not possess 
 Nicholson's volume, I append a large extract from the paper in 
 question : — 
 
 " While the tide of religious zeal was running thus high among 
 the good folks of Balmaghie (with what praiseworthy and 
 philosophical coolness they have often taken the matter since !) 
 the farm of Ulioch, on the barony of Duchrae, at that time a part 
 of the Castle-Stewart property, was occupied by David Charters 
 and his wife Mary Glendinning. David bore the character of being 
 at once an honest, a pious, and a most sagacious man ; well to live 
 in the world, come of the old creditable stock of the district — and as 
 the reward of such a constellation of merits, could boast of being, at 
 one and the same time, ' ane elder o' the kirk,' and factor and 
 baron-bailie of the barony of Duchrae. David, no doubt sensible of 
 his own importance, had given way to a little ambition in his wooing 
 days — for his wife designed herself of 'gentle blude ' — but as her 
 father had incurred the displeasure of his family by first marrying, 
 
78 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 according to my authority, 'a sweet, sonsy lass below his ain 
 degree," and second, by renouncing the ' ancient religion,' Mary's 
 blude was the only thing of value which her husband might not have 
 possessed, in any other decent man's daughter, between the 
 Rhonfoot and the Ross of Balmangan. Mary, however, retained 
 no hankering after the faith of her paternal ancestors. On the 
 contrary, though now the almost idolised wife of an elder of the 
 Established Kirk, she in secret became a devoted sympathiser in the 
 fate and doctrines of the still more rigid reformer, M'Millan. It 
 cannot now be ascertained after what fashion the bailie digested the 
 non-conforming principles of his otherwise submissive wife ; all that 
 >s known amounts to this — that as often as the bailie's avocations 
 led him from home, the old minister paid regular visits to the 
 gudewife, who on safe occasions, failed not, in return, to attend 
 upon his public ministrations. Matters had gone on in this 
 manner for some time — the elder probably winking hard at what 
 he could not effectually check, without a stretch of authority ill 
 suited to the affectionate respect with which he uniformly treated 
 his wife — when an event occurred which at once brought affairs to 
 a crisis. 
 
 " It was in the month of May, 1712, that business obliged the 
 bailie to pay a visit to Edinburgh, leaving his wife in a situation 
 above all others the most interesting to a husband's heart and hopes. 
 Being detained longer than he had anticipated, his wife had been 
 safely delivered of a daughter several days before his return. In the 
 meantime, the old minister, anxious to produce a triumphant proof 
 of his influence, if not over the elder himself, at least over his better 
 half, succeeded in persuading her to take a step, of which, it may be 
 safely concluded, she did not soon cease to repent, and which was 
 followed by the almost immediate return of the bailie himself, wholly 
 unconscious of what had taken place in his absence. It was late in 
 the evening when he reached home, and the family had all retired to 
 bed, except one man, who, it being Saturday at e'en, had lingered by 
 the fireside, in expectation of his master's return. ' How's a' here, 
 John?' was the first hurried inquiry of the anxious bailie. ' Ou, 
 gaily,' was John's ready reply. ' How's yer mistress ? Eh ? 
 Speak out, man.' ' Ou, gaily. She's as weel as can be expectit.' 
 'What has she gotten? Eh? I say, speak out, man.' 'She's 
 gotten a sonsy lass wean,' quoth John, wishing to put the best face 
 on the matter — for, thus far, no son had crowned the bailie's hopes. 
 'Thank God even for a /aA'5 .'' exclaimed the affectionate husband; 
 
" The House of Rim?7ion." yg 
 
 'thank Heaven for a living mother and a living wean, even though 
 it be a lass.' So saying, he threw the reins from him, and hurried 
 towards the door. ' Stop a minute, gudeman,' quoth John in a 
 subdued kind of tone ; ' it may be as weel, before ye gang ony 
 farther, that ye ken a' aboot it.' ' Ken aboot what, John ? 
 What is't ye mean, man?' ' Ou, naething ava,' returned John, 
 'only' — scratching his head — 'only, the minister has been here.' 
 ' Is that a' the mighty affair?' rejoined the bailie. ' What minister 
 do ye mean, though ?' added he. ' Mr M'Kie, I hope ?' ' Na, 
 gudeman,' quoth John, 'it was not Mr M'Kie' — and again he 
 came to a dead set. 'It was Mr M'Millan, then?' said the 
 bailie. John said nothing, but hung his head. ' I aye thought 
 ye a man o' sense,' exclaimed the alarmed el^er, ' until this 
 blessed night, John. Tell me what means a' this wull-a-wearin' ? 
 Isna Mr M'Millan still a dispenser o' Christian mercies to ithers, 
 although he bena ony langer such to me!" 'When ye ken a' 
 aboot it,' quoth John, in a dry, careless manner, 'ye'll maybe 
 think him liberal eneugh o' his dispensations. He has christened 
 yer ain wean, in yer absence, and, I'm opining, without sae muckle 
 as speirin' yer leave.' The bailie was dumbfounded at this piece of 
 intelligence. At length, finding utterance, he exclaimed — ' That's a 
 different thing, John — clean a different thing altogether, that ! How 
 durst he presume to do this, an' me an elder o' the Kirk o' 
 Scotland?' 'Oh, that's clean a different thing, gudeman,' 
 returned the imperturbable John, ' and a question only for 
 yourself to answer ; but christened the wean he has, this 
 forenoon in my presence, as well as in that o' sindry ithers — 
 this muckle ye may rely on, 07ty how.' ' Aweel, aweel,' 
 soliloquised the considerate bailie, ' this is a matter that requires 
 management, and canny, judicious management, too. In the 
 meantime, John, as soon as ye hae putten up the beast, ye 
 can gang to yer bed, and tak a nap ; and as soon as ye rise 
 in the morning, step down to Mr M'Kie's, and, wi' my 
 compliments, say to him that he maun come up and tak' 
 his kail wi' me to-morrow, gin the thing be at a' within the 
 compass o' his power. But, John, I had amaist forgotten ; 
 what name hae they gien the bit thing?' 'They ca'd it Ann,' 
 quoth John. 'Ann,' repeated the bailie, with emphasis. 
 
 The fond couple met mutually embarrassed. The wife dreaded 
 the effects of her imprudence, although as yet uncertain whether 
 her husband was aware of it; but not a word on the subject was 
 
8o The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 mentioned by either party. Next morning the gudeman proposed, 
 as a befitting thing, that Mr M'Kie should be sent for to baptise the 
 child. The poor woman trembled, but said nothing. The minister 
 dropped in about kail time, as if by accident ; a short communing 
 took place between him and his elder; their resolution was speedily 
 taken, and the child christened again under the name of Agnes. 
 The affair of the twice-christened bairn afforded much mirth to 
 the neighbours; but it marred not the harmony of the worthy 
 couple, for a word in relation to it never passed between them to 
 their dying day. 
 
 " Many and oft have been the times, when the above particulars 
 have been related, in the garrulous spirit of extreme old age, by the 
 doubly sealed Christian herself, to 
 
 Her Grandson." 
 
SAMUEL MARTIN. 
 
The Twelfth Paraphrase. 8i 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE TWELFTH PARAPHRASE. 
 
 THE long and sedate ministry of William IM'Kie was 
 followed by three short ones. Thrice within the 
 little space of about one generation, that is from 1764 to 
 1803, the parish became vacant, but on none of these 
 occasions save the first was the vacancy made by death. 
 David Blenchell died here, in the new manse which had 
 been built for him at his coming. The eastern proverb 
 came once more startlingly true — " When man builds a 
 house, then Death steps in." 
 
 In 1769, Samuel INIartin began in Balmaghie a ministry 
 which was destined to last altogether about sixty-two years. 
 The astonishing record of his predecessors, Macmillan and 
 M'Kie, was thus broken. Macmillan served his great 
 Master for 52 years, and M'Kie for about the same 
 long period ; but Samuel INIartin was favoured in being 
 permitted to preach and minister first in Balmaghie, and 
 then in Monimail, for the space mentioned, being 10 years 
 more. The combined pastorates of these three notable 
 men covered the period between 1700 and 1829, or a 
 space of 129 years. 
 
 Of Samuel Martin, there is little more to record than in 
 the case of IM'Kie. His ministry in Balmaghie ended in 
 
82 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 1776, and in these eight years he managed to bring the 
 parochial affairs into some degree of order. The old 
 Session Records, written in his own quaint hand, show 
 that he was a man of accurate and painstaking character, 
 a lover of decency and order in the House of God, and of 
 no mean business talents. At the close of this notice will 
 be found some illustrative extracts which bear out this 
 remark. It is, however, interesting here to note the 
 confusions which attended a parish vacancy in those 
 days. When Macmillan came to his parish, he found 
 that the sacred utensils were comprised in "two coupes, 
 two tables, and boxes for collecting ye poor's money ;" 
 while, in other respects, there was much to set straight. 
 When Martin in his turn arrived, he had to face an even 
 greater scarcity of utensils, since it is minuted that there was 
 no " Bason for Baptism," that the tokens had been lost, and 
 that there was only one old tablecloth for the Communion. 
 The two old cups were still in use, and remained so until 
 1795- When finally discarded for our present cups, they 
 had been in use for nearly 200 years. Martin set himself 
 to provide proper furnishings for the homely Communion 
 service, and for the Sacrament of Baptism, which was 
 then dispensed, as it ought to be in all convenient cases, 
 in church on the Lord's Day, and in face of the assembled 
 congregation. 
 
 Proof also will be found in these old records, that the 
 new minister was possessed of singular sagacity, as well 
 as business aptitude. More than once in his short time, 
 he had most perplexing cases to decide. Not once did 
 his judgment err. He was apparently a man of deliberate 
 ways, taking plenty of time to inquire and hear all sides; 
 
The Twelfth Paraphrase. 83 
 
 but his opinion once formed was steadily adhered to. 
 Studying the scanty memorials of his Balmaghie ministry, 
 one at last comes to think of him as a type of the old 
 " moderate " parish minister of the best school. No 
 doubt, the name of " moderate "' has gathered some 
 unfavourable associations in certain circles. But for 
 us, the " moderate " is the faithful but rational Christian 
 pastor, tied to no war-chariot of party, either in Church 
 or State ; the high-bred yet homely Christian gentleman, 
 who would scorn either an acted or a spoken lie, who 
 is everybody's equal and everybody's friend, but no one's 
 creature or crony. He is the servant of Christ and minister 
 of God, yet about his bearing there is no element of mock 
 sanctity or fawning cant ; but he carries the sacred standard 
 of religion with a soldier's true steadiness and dignity. We 
 need not ask his help in advocating any mere crotchet, still 
 less in upholding violent policies in the parish or in the 
 nation. He fulfils an office and function distinctly marked 
 out for himself alone; that of being God's advocate in every 
 parochial question, but no man's and no section's agent. It 
 has often seemed to me, that this was a frequent type in 
 Galloway a hundred years ago, when as yet Scotland had 
 practically but one religion and one national church. The 
 inrolling waves of dissent and sectarian bitterness have 
 perhaps overwhelmed most traces of such placid yet 
 powerful ministries, although still, here and there, one 
 finds a happy parish where the people are gently led on 
 amid green pastures by a well-balanced and rational mind. 
 Such occasional instances make us cast a regretful look 
 backward on the old maligned " moderate " days, ere we 
 return again to our own fevered religious life, broken and 
 
84 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 disturbed as it is by so many new social, theological, and 
 political currents. 
 
 Martin's quiet labours in the old manse and kirk, and 
 amid the pastoral population scattered over these hills and 
 dales, were too soon terminated by an event which has rarely 
 happened in Balmaghie. He received a fresh call, being 
 presented in 1776 to the parish of Monimail in Fifeshire 
 by the patron, the Earl of Leven and Melville. There are 
 striking similarities between the people of Fifeshire and 
 Kirkcudbrightshire which must have greatly helped him in 
 his new sphere. The people of Balmaghie made no 
 demonstration on his departure, and there is nothing 
 in the church or churchyard to preserve the memory of 
 his connection with the parish. It might be a fitting and 
 grateful duty, some day, for some one to erect a modest 
 tablet recording the fact that Samuel Martin, for a brief 
 space of eight years, " ran there his godly race." Before 
 the use of leaden " tokens " at the Holy Communion 
 passed away, along with other old Scottish religious 
 customs, the people were, once at least every year, 
 reminded of the fact. For each " token " bore his 
 honoured initials, S. M., and the date 1770. This 
 slight memorial, however, ceased after about 100 years, 
 when printed cards came into use. 
 
 In his new sphere, Martin quietly continued the customs 
 of his pastoral life, formed in Balmaghie; but his solid 
 and amiable qualities soon won him high honours. 
 Several times he filled the distinguished office of 
 Chaplain to the Lord High Commissioner, and sat 
 at his left hand in the Royal Gallery of the General 
 Assembly. Between the Leven family and Martin a warm 
 
The Ttvelfth Paraphrase. 85 
 
 friendship grew up. The homely yet dignified parish 
 minister was the welcome guest of his noble patron, as 
 he was of the humblest cottar in Monimail. A curious 
 proof of his popularity among the poor of that parish is 
 the preservation of his portrait* in a poor family for nigh a 
 hundred years. We may surely believe that the features, so 
 kindly cherished on paper, had also first been fondly 
 imprinted on humble, grateful hearts. They were features 
 fit to grace any assembly, but having a peculiar gentleness 
 and kindly benevolence such as poor folk, especially, love to 
 see in any religious teacher. 
 
 The one outstanding and surviving fact about Dr Martin 
 (for he ultimately received the honour of a doctor's degree) 
 is his authorship of one short paraphrase out of the 67 
 forming our collection. These paraphrases were prepared, 
 like the Scottish Hymnal of our day, by a Committee of the 
 General Assembly, chosen largely, no doubt, from among 
 such of its members as were known to have a literary and 
 poetical gift. While it cannot be said that this 12th 
 paraphrase shows high poetical attainments, yet we may 
 in a modest sense distinguish Dr INIartin as the Poet 
 among our departed ministers, while perhaps we might 
 style his predecessors, Macmillanf and M'Kie, respectively 
 the Preacher and the Pastor. It is hard to believe that 
 Dr Martin's efforts in rhyme began and ended with a 
 single paraphrase ; and we may therefore conjecture, that 
 he had in his receptacles many other and even more 
 ambitious compositions. Galloway is a land of poets. 
 
 * See page 94. 
 
 t Macmillan, however, was also a maker of verses. See his epitaph 
 on his second wife; also elegy on her death. 
 
86 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 The very shepherds and ploughmen blossom naturally 
 out in poetry. Every heart here is readily moved by 
 touching and beautiful verses. The quiet kirkyard contains 
 no less than eleven poetical pieces, some of which may 
 have come from Martin's own pen. In my opinion, they 
 are nearly all above the average of churchyard verses, and 
 deserving of permanent record apart from the fading 
 stones. Dr Martin lived and laboured among an intensely 
 emotional people, and the undercurrent of his life, like 
 theirs, was highly coloured by imagination. Judging him 
 by his sole surviving verses, the 12th paraphrase, we might 
 indeed form a less favourable opinion, since his theme, the 
 need of diligence and watchfulness, did not permit very 
 imaginative treatment. But it is, at all events, pleasant to 
 picture this kindly old Scottish minister polishing his 
 homely lines, and quietly pacing the narrow walks of 
 his garden on long summer evenings, while he conned 
 over some phrase, or turned a new rhyme in his mind. 
 This element of poetry in his massive character did not in 
 the least detract from his methodical and faithful discharge 
 of sacred duties. On the contrary, we can fancy that it 
 made him all the more sympathetic and comforting at sick 
 beds and in sorrowing homes. The clerical calling is a 
 prosaic and dull one, apart from a poet's seeing eye and 
 imaginative feeling. With these, the most sad and sordid 
 incidents become instinct with human emotion ; the narrow 
 range of the parish expands into a whole world of typical 
 joys and sorrows. 
 
 The teaching of Dr Martin's paraphrase is perhaps 
 commonplace enough, but all the chief thoughts and 
 lessons of practical life are so. There is nothing new 
 
The Twelfth Paraphrase. 87 
 
 or original in the maxim that care and industry bring 
 comfort, while idleness and recklessness invite the assault 
 of want. Hogarth's cartoons show us the same eternal 
 truth in life-like scenes, as we follow the Idle and the 
 Industrious Apprentice through their respective careers. 
 Dr Martin is in his way a humble Scottish Hogarth. In 
 his old-fashioned rhymes, we see the busy ant hurrying on 
 her provident task, laden with " incessant cares " all through 
 summer days ; we see, also, the sluggard reclining on 
 flowery banks of indolence, with drowsy eye and folded 
 hands; and behind him stands the menacing form of 
 hunger ready to crush his " hoary head " in age. Any 
 ingenious school-boy of our day, who can sketch, could 
 quickly construct an emblematic picture from the old 
 paraphrase. 
 
 What we to-day may well note and admire, is the 
 sturdy, old-fashioned morality of the verses. Work hard, 
 and it shall be well; idle and put off, sleep out life's 
 bright, brief day, and a hungry old age must ensue. 
 Copybook morality, some one may say, fresh from 
 reading the up-to-date literature of our bookstalls and 
 drawing-room tables. But some of the best things in 
 character and morals are enshrined in our children's 
 copybooks ; and surely it is one more link to eternal 
 righteousness, that our little ones should be set to copy 
 out such homely, heart-reaching sentences as the familiar 
 — "Waste not, want not," or "Industry brings Success;" 
 or even, "Procrastination is the Thief of Time." It is just 
 these worn paths of commonplace morality, which youthful 
 feet are most likely to disdain, while straying to flowery 
 byways of pleasure or idleness. And it is just to these 
 
88 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 that our tired limbs struggle back, late or soon in life, when 
 we have found that the flowers fade all too quickly, and that 
 the green inviting turf too often hides a quagmire. Verses 
 like the 12th paraphrase have been the spiritual food of 
 thousands of Scottish boys and girls, nourishing in them 
 the strong desire to work, and be honest and independent. 
 May no day dawn in Scotland, when commonplace honesty, 
 and commonplace diligence, and monotonous ways of 
 righteousness, shall be laughed out of fashion among our 
 people ! 
 
 There is, however, a risk. Crude notions of social 
 equality are abroad. Working people are learning (from 
 idlers who talk and do not work) to rail at hard 
 labour as an injustice, to demand a State thrift and a 
 State support, to excuse any and every assault on property 
 on the ground that they themselves have none. Just last 
 week one such unsettled labourer gave me as a final ground 
 for an attack on religious endowments the startling reason 
 — " I have nothing to conserve !"" Nothing to conserve ! 
 Has not the poorest and hardest-wrought Scotsman his 
 character, as an honest man, to conserve .'' Has he not 
 his manhood and independence to conserve .'' Has he not 
 his religious faith in God to conserve } Has he not his 
 little store of religious property, his own church and 
 ordinances, to conserve ? Such talk is not natural to a 
 true-bred Scotsman. Its source is foreign and non- 
 national. It is the unmanly whine of the paid agitator 
 and self-interested demagogue. The true ring of Scottish 
 faith and independence sounds from verses like Dr Martin's. 
 Work, be honest, be temperate, be provident; and old age 
 will find vou. as il found him, hale and calm ami happy; 
 
The Twelfth Paraphrase. 89 
 
 ready to lie down without a murmer in the toiler's last 
 couch, and to be mingled with the beloved soil, which 
 has reared so many of our forefathers in a grand and 
 dignified Scottish manhood. 
 
 I now give some extracts from Dr IMartin's Session 
 Records, 1769 to 1776. He began his ministry, like the 
 famous Macmillan, by taking stock of the parish affairs. 
 The elders were " INIartin M'Clure, William Clacherie, 
 John Ewart, and Andrew Livingston." ]\Ir INIartin was 
 asked to act as clerk. It was reported that the Records 
 could not be found, except scattered minutes from 1730 
 to 1760. ]\Ir IMartin was requested to make " all dilligent 
 Enquiry " for the missing documents ; but he must have 
 failed to secure them, as none such are now in my 
 keeping — not even those then reported to be in existence. 
 
 As to " Utensils belonging to the Church," it is minuted 
 that " there is no Bason for Baptism, only two Sacra- 
 mental Cups, an old Tablecloth, all in the possession 
 of Mr Nathaniel IM'Kie : the Tokens were lost some 
 time ago." The Nathaniel M'Kie referred to was the 
 eccentric but faithful minister of Crossmichael from 1739 
 to 1 78 1, and a son of William M'Kie, minister of Bal- 
 maghie from 1710 to 1763. There is still no "Bason 
 for Baptism," but we have a complete communion service 
 of plate and pewter (which is now worth its own weight 
 in pure silver) ; and the tokens were renewed by Mr Martin 
 in 1770. They show his initials 1770 on one side, and the 
 letters k k on the other. 
 
 An additional elder not then present was William 
 M'George ; and William Dennistoun is added as being 
 an elder elsewhere ordained. I)ut now living in the parish. 
 
90 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 The Session had in hand as Poor's Money upwards of 
 ^36. The Poor's Box was in the keeping of Mr M'George, 
 and we shall see that a notable scandal soon arose in 
 reference to it. 
 
 It was ordered that Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and 
 Funerals, be procured and kept. 
 
 The " Dues of the Session Clerk are, viz. : — For Baptism, 
 Sixpence ; for Proclamation, One Shilling and Sixpence 
 when Both parties Reside in the parish, and Two Shillings 
 when one of them is of another parish. .The Beadle intitled 
 to fourpence at IMarrages and the same at Baptism ; his 
 Annual Sallary is Ten Shillings." 
 
 At the next meeting, December 4, 1768, Mr Claharty was 
 appointed " Presbytery Elder."' 
 
 On February 24, 1769, the Session met at " Camduziel " 
 (Campdouglas), and JNIr Hamilton was appointed Session 
 Clerk at a salary of los per annum. " A Tent for the 
 Convenience of Preaching during the Sacrament is ordered 
 to be made." 
 
 At the next meeting, June 10, 1769, a formidable scandal 
 came up. Mr Martin M'Clure, an elder, " Represented that 
 he understood that an idle storie had been propogated 
 concerning him in the exercise of his office, and that 
 William Gordon in Tormorack* is traced back as the 
 author of it." He demanded that the slanderer should 
 be summoned, and it was resolved to " summonds " him 
 to attend next meeting. 
 
 Accordingly, on June 27, Gordon of Tormorack 
 appeared, and " Declared that he had observed that 
 
The Twelfth Paraphrase. 91 
 
 more than once, when INIr ]\I'Clure was collecting, that 
 he in time of pronouncing the blessing put his hand into 
 the Box wherein the money is collected and afterwards put 
 his hand in his Pocket, but is not certain what was in his 
 hand, but that once Mr M'Clure himself told him there 
 was both silver and brass in it, and that he believes many- 
 others saw and spoke of these things as well as himself." 
 
 The Session, considering the " Singularity and Diflficulty 
 of this affair," referred it to the meeting of. Presbytery at 
 Crossmichael on July 5 for their advice. Here is the 
 Presbytery's very sensible deliverance : — • 
 
 " The Presbytery, after considering this matter, unani- 
 mously found no proof from the said declaration 
 against Mr M'Clure, and that he is to be regarded 
 as intirely innocent of anything that may be thought 
 insinuated in such declaration, and recomend to 
 the Minister to lay before his Parrish the necessary 
 caution in every Christian in emitting anything rashly 
 that may be capable of being construed against 
 characters, especially of those in publick offices and 
 connected with the Church." 
 Nothing, however, seems to have been done to the author 
 of this cruel slander. 
 
 On July 30 the Session had an irregular marriage before 
 them — two hasty persons having had themselves united by 
 a Mr William Nixon in Dumfries, probably a dissenting 
 preacher. As usual in such cases, the parties were rebuked, 
 and made to declare their " acquiesence and adherence 
 to one another as husband and wife." 
 
 At a succeeding meeting it was resolved to celebrate the 
 Lord's Supper on 8th October " if the harvest was finished." 
 
92 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 It had, however, to be "differed" till the 15th October, 
 " upon the account of the badness of the weather,"' which 
 delayed the completion of harvest. 
 
 Another irregular marriage came up this year, performed 
 by James Brown, who, says Mr Martin with fine irony, 
 " calls himself a minister." Parties were treated as before. 
 
 Next year the Lord's Supper was dispensed on the 
 second Sunday of July, which remained the fixed day for 
 this parish up to 1883, when two celebrations, one in spring 
 and the other in autumn, were adopted. The collection 
 was £2, 6s gd. Of this sum £1, 17s Qd was spent at 
 once on procuring tokens, &c. 
 
 In 1 77 1 a precentor was appointed at a salary of 15s 
 a year. A collection was taken to repair the wall round 
 the churchyard. 
 
 In 1772 an irregularly married couple were condemned 
 to be publicly rebuked and to pay the " usual dues," with 
 a " consideration to the poor in lieu of the fine, not below 
 five shillings." In the same year the vigilant Session 
 protested against certain " Vagrants " being allowed to 
 settle in the parish. 
 
 The last minute is dated October 11, 1776, and states 
 that Mr Martin's translation to the parish of JMonimail has 
 been agreed to, and proceeds to give a full statement of 
 the parish funds and utensils. There is a curious list 
 of " Bills belonging to the Poor of Balmaghie," including 
 " Mr Martin's Bill for /30 with 3^ y [ears'] interest — 
 /34, 4s." Mr M'Clure held ^5, 15s, and owed ^4, 12s 
 for interest. The total at the credit of the Poor's Box 
 was £^2, 3s lod. 
 
The Twelfth Paraphrase. 93 
 
 It is added—" N.B. The value of One Pound Sterg. was 
 given to John M'JMillan, late in Bar-end, for which he 
 granted a Bill dated 23rd Feby., 1773, but the Bill is not 
 judged of much worth, he being in some Respects an 
 Object of Charity, but Recovery to be attempted."" 
 
 The congregation appear to have helped themselves in 
 those days, as it is recorded that ^10, 8s 6d was laid out 
 for the school, manse, and church. It is, however, 
 significantly added, that the treasurer is to urge repayment 
 of this sum by the heritors, as having been laid out " merely 
 for the public service and as being more easily commanded 
 than from the heritors, and paid too at the desire of one 
 of the heritors, viz., Mr Mure of Livingstone." 
 
 The " Church Utensils " at this date were " Two Silver 
 Cups, two Cloths for the Sacramental Table and a small 
 one for the Middle Table, Tokens; there is also a Tent 
 for preaching at Communion occasions, with Forms, 
 purchased originally by the Session. . ." 
 
94- The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 NOTE TO CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The following communications have reached me regarding 
 Dr Martin : — 
 
 I. "26th July, 1895 I recollect distinctly 
 
 having seen in the parlour of Drumnagair, in this parish, copy 
 of the lithographed portrait to which you refer. The farm-house 
 was occupied up to 1863 by a venerable gentleman and his lady, 
 Mr and Mrs Kidd. The former came from the south country, and 
 had a great reverence for the, or his, old pastor. Mr and Mrs Kidd 
 died at the age of 93. Mr Morrison, minister of Tron Parish, 
 Edinburgh, is a nephew of Mrs Kidd. . . I once visited 
 Monimail, and saw the monument of the good old man. . ." 
 — Rev. J. C. M'Clure, minister of Mary kirk, near Montrose, since 
 1857- 
 
 II. " 27th July, 1895. . . He (Samuel Martin) was tutor in the 
 family of Thomas Shairp, yr. of Houstoun, who resided during his 
 father's lifetime at Bellfield, near Midcalder. Mr Shairp's eldest 
 son was born at Bellfield in 175 1. His name was also Thomas, and 
 he had Mr S. Martin's son as tutor here to his sons (eldest born 
 1778). The younger Martin was clergyman in Fife — I think at 
 Kirkcaldy. His son was minister of Bathgate. My mother well 
 remembered seeing the three generations of Martins all here 
 together on a visit. . ." — Letter from an officer in the 
 army "who desires to remain unknown. 
 
More about the Twelfth Paraphrase. 95 
 
 VIII. 
 
 MORE ABOUT THE TWELFTH PARAPHRASE. 
 
 IN a time when Sir John Lubbock's ingenious researches 
 have thrown fresh and curious light on the habits of 
 ants, this quaint Scripture Paraphrase, which invites the 
 " indolent and slothful '' to " view the ant's labours and 
 be wise," should have a new interest for Scotsmen. Few 
 of us fail to remember the old-fashioned lines, paraphrasing 
 the saying of the wise man in Proverbs vi. 6-12. Modern 
 science lends them added point, since it has strikingly 
 demonstrated by experiment the instincts of order, 
 organisation, and provident labour upon which the 
 paraphrase dilates : — 
 
 " She has no guide to point her way, 
 No ruler chiding her delay ; 
 Yet see with what incessant cares 
 She for the winter's storm prepares : 
 In summer she provides her meat, 
 And harvest finds her store complete." 
 
 If there be any error here at all, it is in stating that the 
 ant has no guide or ruler, at least among its own 
 communities. Sir John Lubbock has proved that a 
 complete system of subordination and discipline, with 
 a regular division of labour, prevails among ants. 
 More wonderful still, he has shown that thev are 
 
g6 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 divided into distinct tribes, which recognise and 
 distinguish each other, and exercise many arts of 
 mutual defence and helpfulness. Ants of the same 
 tribe know each other at once, and appear to cherish 
 feelings of social kindness and humanity. Thus a 
 new paraphrase might be composed, inculcating, by the 
 example of these little creatures, the spirit of brotherly 
 kindness and charity. 
 
 Samuel Martin was born in 1739, ^'^d O'^ ^'^ ordination 
 to the parish of Balmaghie he was therefore thirty years old. 
 At this age most preachers of our time have already done 
 five years' work in a parish. But promotion moved more 
 slowly in the last century, and many able and accomplished 
 men spent their best years as schoolmasters in a country 
 village, or tutors to some noble or landed family. In point 
 of fact, Samuel Martin had hitherto been engaged in 
 teaching, combined with occasional pulpit appearances. 
 Patronage at this time ruled supreme, and it was by the 
 favour of the Gordons of Balmaghie that he at last entered 
 on his lifework as a parish minister. The parish itself is of 
 considerable extent, with a population at one time most 
 numerous around the old church, but now chiefly housed 
 in and near two widely-distant villages, each of which, 
 unhappily, lies four miles off from church and manse. 
 In Martin's time, however, the case was different. The 
 population, numbering nearly 1000, lived and laboured 
 largely within a three-mile radius of their pastor. The 
 sites of many small " crofts " can still be identified within 
 five hundred yards. Sometimes it is the clear, bubbling 
 well, carefully built in with round stones, which mutely 
 records that a thriving family once lived there. Sometimes 
 
More about the Twelfth Paraphrase. 97 
 
 it is the ragged gable, with its wide ingleneuk still complete, 
 and a solitary beech growing lustily at the spot where the 
 garden once bloomed amid its trim hedges. In other cases 
 the plough has destroyed all visible relics of these home- 
 steads; but a skilled botanist, from some green patch of turf 
 picks out a flower or herb which could have come there 
 only by the kindly work of human hands, and he tells us 
 that there must have been a cottage-garden at the desolate 
 spot. The increase of large farms, and tjie exodus of 
 labour from the country to the town, have wrought 
 similar results all over Scotland. Samuel Martin's 
 parish, however, was as yet untouched by such 
 influences. From the narrow windows of his small 
 manse he could see a score of houses, mostly full of 
 children, who were employed, as they grew up, in the 
 cultivation of their parents' crofts. Record still remains 
 of as many as nine up to eleven sturdy sons and daughters 
 being reared in cottages of three rooms and a " loft," 
 On Sundays the little old church — a facsimile of 
 Samuel Rutherford's church at Anwoth — was always 
 full, sometimes even crowded, since it held no more 
 than 100 souls. Such tiny parish churches throw a 
 new light on our vexed question of non-churchgoing 
 in rural districts. A population of nearly 1000 served 
 by a building which contained only one-tenth of that 
 number; this surely indicates that churchgoing has not 
 fallen off, as our older hearers are prone to aver, but 
 rather that our buildings have been enlarged beyond the 
 bounds of former attendance. 
 
 Samuel Martin's ministry here was brief, but it appears 
 to have been eminently active and acceptable. 
 
98 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 Of his work in Monimail I can give no particulars ; but 
 that he proved as active and useful there, his memory, still 
 green in that parish, amply demonstrates. The present 
 incumbent, the Rev. James Brunton, B.D., has been most 
 kind in furnishing me with any available particulars. But 
 these are naturally scanty, and of a homely character. 
 Oftentimes the best parish minister leaves hardly a trace 
 behind him, save what He marks, who sees and marks all. 
 It is said that during his long ministry in this beautiful 
 Fifeshire parish, Mr Martin never failed, in summer or 
 winter, to bathe every morning in a small brook running 
 through a wood near Monimail Manse. "This," remarks 
 my kind informant, "may help to account for his longevity." 
 It also gives point to his poetical exhortation in the 
 paraphrase : — 
 
 " Ye indolent and slothful, rise ! 
 View the ant's labours and be wise." 
 
 None but an early riser could conscientiously tender such 
 advice. At Monimail he became at length Doctor of 
 Divinity. It was in this period that he composed the 
 Twelfth Paraphrase, which breathes in every line a love 
 of nature, a rustic health and suavity of feeling, and a 
 firm belief in hard work. Its sombre close is quite 
 characteristic of the paraphrases in general, and not at 
 all surprising in one who had ministered in Macmillan's 
 pulpit, and dispensed Macmillan's sacramental cup.* 
 
 Of the outward appearance and bearing of this venerable 
 divine, distinct records fortunately survive. He is described 
 
 * Regarding the cup used by Macniillan, the Reformed Presbyterian 
 father, tradition alleges that none, who was unsound or 
 unworthy, could receive it sacramentally without trembling or 
 turning pale. 
 
More about the Twelfth Paraphrase. 99 
 
 as being "very courtier-like in his manners." His face, a 
 remarkably fine and striking one, is preserved in a 
 lithographed portrait dating from 1800, when he was 
 over sixty years of age. The head is dignified, 
 venerable, and resolute ; but there are lines of gentle- 
 ness and sympathy around the mouth. It is such a 
 face and look as befit one who, through his quaint 
 paraphrase, has warned thousands of Scottish youths 
 against indolence and sloth. 
 
 He died in 1829, aged ninety — -truly a " grand old man." 
 He is buried at Monimail, " in an old churchyard where the 
 parish ministers who die in the parish are laid to rest. His 
 tomb is next to that of the Very Rev. Wm. Leitch, D.D., 
 who was minister here before he became Principal of 
 Queen's College, Kingston, Canada." So writes my kind 
 correspondent, Mr Brunton ; and he adds the simple 
 epitaph : — 
 
 To the Memory of 
 
 The Reverend Samuel Martin, D.D., 
 
 Minister of Monimail, 
 
 who died 12th Sept., 1829, in the goth year of his age, 
 
 and 62nd year of his Ministry. 
 
 By doctrine and example he faithfully upheld the 
 
 Cause of Evangelical Truth. 
 
 Num. xxiii. 10. Phil. iii. 21. 
 
lOO The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 IX. 
 
 " FACTOR JAMES.'" 
 
 THE " Galloway Herds," a poem occasionally scurrilous 
 but often witty, is responsible for the familiar 
 designation. James Henderson becoming minister in 
 1804, died at the end of 1838 or beginning of 1839; 
 and for the greater part of his ministry he acted as 
 factor on the Balmaghie estate. The union of two 
 offices so dissimilar as that of pastor and factor, arose 
 in his case in no discreditable way, but simply 
 because Mr, afterwards Rear-Admiral Thomas Dempster 
 Gordon, of Balmaghie, had in youth been Mr Henderson's 
 pupil. Long before Henderson dreamed of being minister 
 at Balmaghie, he had become tutor at Balmaghie House, 
 and something like domestic chaplain. It was indeed the 
 common road to preferment, in these bygone days. In a 
 like fashion, Macmillan had bowed his obstinate head at the 
 table of Murray of Broughton, and Martin had been the 
 valued and respected tutor at Houstoun. It may be true 
 that such early connection with country magnates bred in a 
 few cases a snobbish and servile spirit. It was not so with 
 any of our own departed ministers. Henderson had 
 " tutored " two young Gordons at the quaint old 
 mansion-house of Balmaghie, whose proprietor was 
 patron of tlie parish, and on the erection of the 
 
" Factor James!' loi 
 
 present church in 1794, gave the Communion vessels 
 at present in constant use. Old Mr Gordon had a 
 distinguished cousin in the north, from whose pohtics 
 indeed he differed widely, but whose blood and family he 
 of course approved ; and when this cousin, George Dempster 
 of Dunnichen, M.P., recommended as tutor a young 
 protege, James Henderson, thus sponsored by one 
 county gentleman, was promptly accepted as family 
 Levite by another. 
 
 Henderson, we can imagine, travelled down by coach 
 from Dunnichen to the wilds of Galloway, which then 
 deserved such an appellation in a high degree. It was 
 just at this time that agriculture was beginning to rouse 
 itself, and survey the vast undertaking which lay before it. 
 George Dempster of Dunnichen was in fact a pioneer in the 
 great agricultural movement of the end of the i8th century, 
 and probably his influence had already been felt in Galloway. 
 But at the time of young Henderson's journey, the fringe 
 of this enormous enterprise had barely been touched. 
 Everywhere he saw huge " peat-hags," since converted 
 into blooming fields. The roads over which he drove, or 
 rode with strapped valise, were often mere tracks. After 
 leaving Dumfries, he must have felt as if he had left 
 civilisation behind. He drew near his future home, 
 little dreaming that he was to lay his bones, forty 
 years after, beside the broad, marshy river which he 
 crossed by the old Dee Bridge. For Glenlochar Bridge 
 was not yet. At Balmaghie House he found his charge to 
 consist of two " stirring " boys. The elder entered the 
 army, and died a Lieut. -Colonel, before succeeding to 
 his paternal estate. The younger became a sailor. 
 
I02 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 perhaps fought with Nelson at the Nile, and came 
 home on his elder brother's death to be " laird of 
 Balmaghie." In Henderson's time, all knew and 
 feared him as '' Admiral Gordon.'' Whatever talents 
 Henderson may have had as a tutor, his pupil at all 
 events emerged from the young minister's hands without 
 losing his native fire and imperious temper. These, a 
 seafaring life had not tended to chasten ; and the whole 
 result, when he became a sort of little king in Balmaghie, 
 was a character such as Smollett would have loved to paint 
 — hot and hasty in speech, tyrannical even when most 
 beneficent, not averse to a full round oath at times, walking 
 the parish road like his own quarter-deck, yet full of deep 
 hidden reverences and wayward pieties. The " auld 
 Admiral's " sailor-like piety made him an unfailing 
 attender at the Sunday services in church. Tradition 
 lingers, how he regularly went down to the manse of 
 Sunday mornings towards twelve o'clock, and soon issued 
 along with the minister, his old tutor, in friendly talk. The 
 laird and the minister all over Galloway used to be seen in 
 such decent comradeship on the Lord's Day. But that is 
 now an " auld sang." Then, while the minister entered the 
 pulpit, gravely hanging his cocked hat on a nail in the panel 
 behind him, the laird proceeded to the Balmaghie square 
 pew, and took his seat, surveying with stern observance his 
 own tenants and servants around. Woe to the careless 
 farmer, hind, or keeper who was absent without a 
 satisfactory excuse ! The wig-crowned head of the 
 minister at length made its customary and courtly bow 
 to the " patron," who duly responded, and so the simple 
 orisons began. 
 
" Factor James." I03 
 
 The office of factor held by James Henderson, and his 
 hfelong friendship with Admiral Gordon, the chief heritor, 
 enabled him to confer on the parish one lasting benefit at 
 least, that of a new manse. The older one had been erected 
 on a bad site in 1764, and fifty years exhausted its 
 comfortable use. It had an evil record, since in it died 
 David Blenchell after only five years' pastorate, and 
 John Morison the youthful and promising son of 
 Philip Morison, successor of Martin. ^ The present 
 manse, and a simple inexpensive cross in the church- 
 yard, are Henderson's memorials to our generation. Apart 
 from his influence in the Church's favour, as a friend of the 
 laird and a persona grata to the county gentlemen generally, 
 Henderson's factorship won him only unpopularity. There 
 is a hint, in the " Galloway Herds," that even the Presbytery 
 passed a mild censure on the pluralist, who thus tacked on 
 the publican to the priest. Be this as it may, the fact is 
 certain that no more unpopular minister ever laboured in 
 the parish, except perhaps the unfortunate Freeland. The 
 latter, however, was liked by many for his Hibernian fun 
 and freedom of manners. But Henderson had few friends 
 except at Balmaghie House. A correspondent who with- 
 holds his name, writing from London in 1890, informs me 
 that " Rev. James Henderson was very unpopular. . . . 
 I cannot tell what he did, or what he left undone, only from 
 what other people said. The fact that he had been factor 
 and family tutor at Balmaghie, may possibly have injured 
 him." . . . He adds, " Captain (afterwards Admiral) 
 Gordon was bad, but people would not follow his example. 
 They hated him ; and if they met him on the road, coming 
 as usual in dreadful majesty, the people who knew him 
 
I04 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 would much rather Hft their foot to him, than Hft their hat 
 (if they dare)." To be the friend of such a friend was 
 enough to make Henderson, even if himself personally 
 amiable, disliked and distrusted ; and to be his factor and 
 prime minister, was enough to bring actual odium. The 
 mistake of Henderson's life was his taking this factorship, 
 since evidence exists that in himself he was a man of 
 attractive and interesting personality. 
 
 The present writer has deemed it a sacred duty to take 
 every possible pains to find out the truth about Balmaghie's 
 most unpopular minister, and he has come to the deliberate 
 conclusion that James Henderson was a man much mis- 
 understood. The funeral sermon, preached by the Rev. 
 Dugald Williamson of Tongland in Balmaghie Church on 
 3rd February, 1839, gives what appears to be an impartial 
 estimate of the factor-minister. It is expressed with that 
 care and precision, as well as formal eloquence, which 
 mark all Dugald Williamson's published productions, and 
 have led me to form the hope that much of the Tongland 
 minister's manuscript compositions (and much is, I believe, 
 in existence) may yet be given to Galloway and literature 
 by some competent editor. No apology is needed for the 
 following copious extracts, upon which I base my belief 
 that James Henderson's character was never rightly 
 appraised by his flock : — 
 
 "With the early history of Mr Henderson I am very 
 slightly and imperfectly acquainted — almost all I know 
 being that, his settlement here arose from his connection 
 with a gentleman who lived in a part of the country very 
 remote from this quarter, George Dempster of Dunnichen, 
 a man who was in many respects a truly great and 
 
" Factor James." 105 
 
 memorable character, and of no mean reputation in his 
 day, as an enterprising and skilful agriculturist when the 
 improvement of land was little attended to or understood ; 
 as a liberal and upright statesman, when politicians were 
 narrow and corrupt; and as a Parliamentary orator in an 
 age when the eloquence of Parliament was at its full blaze 
 in this country. Of this eminent person, your late minister 
 was first the domestic tutor, and afterwards the confidential 
 friend and daily companion. He was not the man on 
 whom the advantages of such an intercourse were to be 
 thrown away, and it was obvious, from the whole cast of 
 his conversation and manners, that he had not failed to 
 value and improve them. Whatever signalised him as a 
 man, as a clergyman, and as a gentleman — his sagacity 
 and intelligence, his rich vein of pleasing and varied 
 anecdote, his liberal, enlightened, and tolerant spirit, his 
 unfailing good humour and evenness of temper, his 
 decorous, easy, disengaged deportment, and his perfect 
 good breeding — all, I have no doubt, was in a great 
 measure owing to his early and intimate friendship with 
 the distinguished individual whom I have referred to. 
 
 " I am not sure that familiar intercourse with minds of 
 a high order is favourable to the discharge of such homely 
 duties as those which a parish minister in this country 
 is required and expected to perform. To descend from 
 equal conversation with men who move in enlightened and 
 accomplished circles, to a gracious contact with such 
 prejudices as we perpetually encounter in matters of 
 religion among the artisans and peasantry of our country, 
 implies versatility of character which we cannot hope 
 frequently to meet with ; and least of all can we expect 
 
io6 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 to find this accommodating temper in one who, Hke your 
 late minister, is advanced in years before being settled 
 in the Church, and whose intellectual and social habits are 
 consequently so completely formed as to admit of very 
 little alteration or disturbance. Owing either to this cir- 
 cumstance, or to some cause not easily discovered or 
 assigned, his appointment to this cure was at first far 
 from being acceptable, and unless the laws of the Church 
 had been administered by firm and faithful men, he would 
 have fallen a victim to that popular violence which, under 
 the name of zeal for a spiritual privilege, is nothing more 
 than an insolent assumption of secular power. 
 
 " The character in which, as a public man, he presents 
 himself for contemplation, is that simply of a parish priest. 
 His ambition rose no higher. This was the outline which 
 it was the object of his long life to fill in. He selected a 
 humble and narrow sphere, and did not wish to enlarge its 
 boundaries or to leave it for another. He aspired to no 
 distinction in literature or science. He had no turn for 
 intrigue or faction. He looked on political agitation, 
 whether in ecclesiastical or civil affairs, with a calm 
 contempt which resembled magnanimity. 
 
 " Within this limited sphere, his character and conduct 
 were deserving of high commendation. In all his duties he 
 acted from reflection rather than from impulse. His 
 character was uniform and sustained — not enthusiastic 
 or impassioned. His opinions were deliberately formed 
 and tenaciously held. . . His information and advice on 
 every subject which he professed to understand were sound 
 and unerring ; he gave them with the utmost frankness and 
 facility, and on his truth, candour, and integrity, the most 
 
" Factor James." 107 
 
 implicit reliance might be placed. . . . He had a high 
 and independent temper. ... He could, when circum- 
 stances cast a transgressor in his way, show that, if he felt 
 an insult with the sensibility of a gentleman, he was armed 
 by his ample command of brief and cutting language, with 
 the proper weapons to prevent the repetition of it. 
 
 " The vivacity and suavity of his manners, and the 
 singularly agreeable, varied, and racy style of his 
 conversation rendered his presence universally accept- 
 able. Those who accused him of reserved and solitary 
 habits, and of not coming often enough into the society 
 of his friends, paid the highest compliment to his social 
 powers. . . . Many apologies may be suggested for 
 his secluded and lonely way of life. His health was 
 uncertain — infirm for years before it finally gave way. 
 He had outlived every one of his friends and contem- 
 poraries. His lot was fixed far from his native place. . . 
 
 " It never happened to me to hear him address you from 
 this place, but on Sacramental occasions elsewhere I have 
 listened to him more frequently than any other clergyman of 
 my acquaintance. The general character of his sermons 
 was plain, clear, and practical, delivered in a distinct, 
 sonorous voice, and sometimes with considerable force 
 and impressiveness of manner. . . . He was too fond 
 of leaving his written paper, and wandering into an 
 extemporaneous address. . . . The best specimen of 
 his powers as a preacher which I remember was from 
 the text, ' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
 God.' I heard him preach it for the first time fifteen 
 years ago, frequently since, and always with the greatest 
 
io8 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 pleasure . . . simple, clear, devout, energetic, and, in 
 several passages, lofty and sublime. 
 
 " But the part of public worship which he conducted with 
 uniform acceptableness was the devotional. In the fluency, 
 variety, fervour, and aptness of his prayers, there was 
 something extremely natural and spontaneous. They were 
 long and particular, but not tedious . . . they abounded 
 with scriptural expressions and allusions. . . . 
 
 " The time not occupied by him in attending to the duties 
 of his parish was spent amongst his books. Of these he 
 had a various and well-chosen assortment on theological 
 and literary subjects. . . . One of the last books, if 
 not the very last, which he added to his library was a 
 complete edition of the works of the poet Crabbe, to 
 whose personal character his own bore some resem- 
 blance. . . ." 
 
 Few descriptions of character could be more complete, 
 or more distinctly defined, than the foregoing. Its 
 essential truth and fairness are established by several 
 competent witnesses who either survive, or have left written 
 testimonies. 
 
 The late schoolmaster at Laurieston, Mr W. M'Vitae, 
 who also acted as agent for Woodhall, was a life-long 
 intimate of Mr Henderson, and a frequent visitor at the 
 manse. His surviving daughter, the present excellent 
 postmistress at Castle-Douglas, has given me the following 
 particulars : — Mr M'Vitae was constantly with his friend and 
 minister during his last illness, and, in fact, raised his head 
 for the last time before he died. Henderson's dying words 
 were truly characteristic. The obnoxious window-tax had 
 
" Factor James." 109 
 
 greatly irritated him, especially as the then assessor of taxes, 
 Mr Thomas M'Cracken, had seen fit to come out and 
 personally enmnerate the manse windows. This grievance 
 had strangely taken hold of the aged minister's mind, and 
 he said — " Lift me up from among ihae tax-gatherers !" 
 
 Mr M'Vitae used to say, that any gossip bringing to the 
 manse a story against his neighbour, received such a 
 rebuke that it never was repeated. 
 
 Henderson possessed a good deal of humour. To a 
 whining and hypocritical female who came saying that 
 " she had lived a long time on kail" he at once responded 
 by bidding his servant "go into the garden and cut her a 
 cabbage for a change !" At a country wedding, when some 
 bad language had been passing, he very gravely said at last 
 — " I have had a great oath on the top of my tongue for 
 some time, but really I cannot get it in !" This effectually 
 stopped the swearing on that occasion. 
 
 Another friend has kindly given me some reminiscences, 
 which complete our picture of a singularly reticent, close, 
 yet high-minded man. 
 
 Henderson amassed a considerable sum of money, some 
 of which was lent on mortgage. He died intestate, and 
 his nephew, a partner of Messrs Fox and Henderson, 
 London, fell heir as next of kin. This firm had a contract 
 for iron-work for the Crystal Palace in 1851, and through 
 business complications they became insolvent; thus, the 
 entire estate of Henderson was swallowed up. The nephew 
 had fully intended to erect a monument, but this change 
 of fortune prevented the execution of his design. 
 
 Henderson's sermons were very long, as were also his 
 prayers. These last had the irritating peculiarity that 
 
no The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 '' they seemed always ending, yet always began again." 
 As people then stood up at prayer, much quiet amusement 
 was caused occasionally, when an uninitiated person sat 
 down too soon, imagining that the conclusion had been 
 reached, while the clerg}-man continued after a pause to 
 pour out his petitions. 
 
 Henderson was much liked by the few who knew him 
 well, but quite misunderstood by the majority of his 
 parishioners. They summarily dismissed him as a '' near 
 auld body,"' i.e., miserly and grudging in money matters. 
 That in his extreme old age (he was eighty when he died) 
 he had become somewhat miserly, is an actual fact; but 
 in his earlier days he is said to have been as liberal as 
 others in his station. 
 
 We can easily sum up these interesting though homely 
 details. James Henderson was apparently a man of high 
 breeding and scholarly though retired habits, who had at 
 one time seen much of the world ; but in a remote place 
 like the Manse above Dee Water, he gradually shrank into 
 a narrow and solitary life. He was undeniably a good 
 man of business, and a fairly faithful Christian minister. 
 He was not at all a "popular " preacher, or an acceptable 
 officiant at public worship. His reserved and somewhat 
 C}Tiical ways deprived him of such alternative popularity 
 as is won by pastoral intercourse. Our people say of 
 some ministers, " They're nae haund in the pulpit ; but 
 they're fine and hamely in the hoose I"" Henderson un- 
 happily was neither; and his command of "brief and 
 cutting language " was a fatal gift so far as his kindly rough 
 parishioners were concerned. His redeeming feature for 
 
'''' Factor James." iii 
 
 them was his humour ; but even this does not seem to have 
 been generally pleasant or kindly, but rather sarcastic — 
 a thing abhorred and dreaded by our sensitive Galloway 
 folk. But down beneath this shy cynical exterior, there 
 was a loving faithful heart, with its affections somehow 
 pent up and kept in through uncongenial surroundings. 
 
 I took Samuel jNIartin as a type of the old '' ^Moderate " 
 parish minister at his best. I may venture, without injustice 
 to the dead, to take James Henderson as a iype of the old 
 " Moderate " at his worst. And the worst was not so very 
 bad after all; for he did his parish work punctually, 
 although coldly, and he killed humbug and cant by his 
 polished brief sarcasms. Such men are needed, though 
 not in remote rural places so much as in towns, where 
 too often cant and rant rule unchecked. Henderson dying 
 in his elder's arms, with Crabbe's coldly chiselled verses 
 by his bedside, and a dying protest against the Window Tax 
 on his lips, is a sufficiently vivid picture of the calm, 
 restrained, scholarly, gentlemanly old minister. Such a 
 death-bed is a thousand miles apart from Macmillan's ; 
 yet both had the vein of sturdy independence which, 
 singularly enough, has been in all these bygone Balmaghie 
 ministers. Macmillan faced the world with a solemn frown 
 and protest. Henderson looked on at its doings with 
 a dispassionate smile, almost a sneer. It was the weeping 
 and the laughing philosopher over again. Which is right 
 or wrong, we shall not try to decide ; but this is certain, 
 that both have their function in the world and in the 
 Church. As to popularity, he who weeps over men's 
 woes and sins is naturally more popular than the cynic 
 or satirist, as Dickens is still a better-read author than 
 
112 
 
 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 Thackeray. But do we not know now, how kind and how 
 broken a heart beat beneath Thackeray's smiling and 
 derisive exterior ? And if we knew James Henderson's 
 whole story, who can say what early disillusionment or 
 disappointed hope it was which shaped him into the 
 cold, laconic, unsympathetic man he lived and died, in this 
 lonely manse ? 
 
H. M. B. REID. 
 
A Galloway Herd's Siuiday : Old Style. 
 
 X. 
 
 A GALLOWAY HERD'S SUNDAY: OLD STYLE. 
 
 A HERD, as every Scottish reader knows, is a shepherd, 
 and in Galloway the parish ministers have been 
 known as "Galloway Herds," ever since a certain witty but 
 irreverent schoolmaster composed some racy verses on the 
 eccentricities of the local clergy. The long string 
 of rhymes known to the people of the Stewartry by 
 the name of the " Galloway Herds," and still crooned 
 over by the older inhabitants, contains references to such 
 clerical peculiarities as parsimonious habits of life, 
 " nearness " in money matters, fondness for good 
 cheer, and the like. Some of the nicknames invented 
 by the disrespectful rhymer stuck to the ministers through 
 life. One in particular, who was noted for his habit of 
 " dropping in " at farmhouses just when a sheep had been 
 killed, and readily consenting to share the farmer's mutton, 
 became familiarly known as the Gled. We can remember 
 but the first line of his verse — " Gled Gorrie ! Gled Gorrie, 
 though hraxy ye worry !" It need scarcely be explained 
 that a gled is a bird of prey not fastidious in his feeding, 
 and braxy is the flesh of a sheep which has been killed just 
 in time to forestall the fatal issue of some disease. 
 
 A Galloway Herd has no sinecure, as a rule, seeing his 
 parish generally measures a few score of square miles. A 
 
114 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 great deal of walking and driving can be done in such a 
 space in the work of visiting the cottages and farms. Very 
 often, as in the case before us now, the " kirk " is placed 
 at one end of the wide parish. Churchgoing becomes a 
 serious problem on wet or stormy days. Several times in 
 each year the homely tabernacle may be almost empty when 
 its tinkling old bell announces that the minister is about to 
 enter the pulpit. In many cases, and in ours for one, a bell 
 is tolled an hour or two before service — probably the 
 survival of some prior service now discontinued, or 
 perhaps a signal to the cottagers hard by that it is 
 time to dress for church. Here there is no village 
 nearer than three miles, by a steep and winding " kirk 
 road," lying among desolate hills and peat mosses, and 
 flanked by a deep, still loch. Towards noon, on a fine 
 day, a few groups of decently-dressed church-goers may be 
 seen trudging over this path in the direction of the " Auld 
 Kirk." As they go they discuss the news of the week — how 
 the laird drove through the village last Thursday with a 
 party of shooters, how Mrs Whiggam has had another 
 " cheeper " (for so a new-born child is styled in the 
 quaint parlance), how the Free Kirk minister and " oor 
 man " are " gey thrang the noo, but I wuss it may 
 conteenie ;" how the minister was " very clever last 
 Sabbath," how Jock Smith and Maggie MacSoutar 
 seem to be " terrible pack thegither," and perhaps 
 the " cries hae been gi'en in for the day." Such 
 sober gossip beguiles the way till the rustic and rusty 
 belfry of the Church appears at the foot of the hill, and 
 the wayfarers halt to make a slight adjustment of their dress 
 ere descending. Beyond the little square whitewashed 
 
A Galloivay Herd's Sunday : Old Style. 115 
 
 building rolls the sluggish river, as wide in this part as 
 a loch, and nearly as still. At the side, the homely Manse 
 is embosomed in trees and shrubs, and a lazy smoke curls 
 from the chimneys. In the kitchen, the old servant is 
 bustling about among two or three cronies, who rest here 
 awhile before going up to the church. She is putting the 
 last touches to the Sunday dinner, for the good man must 
 have a comfortable hot meal after his exertions. Soon, she 
 will exchange her clogs or pattens for the " Sabbath shoon," 
 and get herself ready for service. 
 
 The minister is just closing his tiny Sabbath school. 
 Twenty little children are all that the scanty population 
 can send him at this point, but in other stations he gathers 
 in as many more for their simple lessons. Each child has 
 said his "ticket," containing a short verse of Scripture; has 
 repeated a few lines of some simple hymn and a "question" 
 in the Shorter Catechism ; and has helped to puzzle out a 
 chapter, verse by verse, sometimes word by word. The 
 minister says a benediction, and dismisses the little 
 gathering. Then he hurries down to the Manse to 
 put on the " cloak," for there is no vestry to this 
 primitive building. Soon, he is summoned forth by the 
 tinkle of the bell, and proceeds gravely through the 
 churchyard. Here, many of his flock still linger to 
 exchange a last remark, but as they see him coming, 
 all but a few hurry into the church. The old " bethral " 
 opens the door wide for the minister, and then follows 
 him to the pulpit, where he finally shuts him in, and 
 departs to his own pew. 
 
 The service is of an improved order, for the Church 
 Service Society is abroad even in Galloway. Still, a few 
 
ii6 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 old people keep their seats grimly during the praise, and 
 cast a look of little favour at the unassuming harmonium 
 and the choir. At prayer they stand up open-eyed, and 
 follow the solemn sentences with a critical air. The sermon 
 is of course the chief centre of interest. Galloway folk 
 listen well, and there are few sleepers, especially if the 
 minister is at his best. But, like most Scottish hearers, 
 they prefer a discourse delivered " wanting the paper," and 
 they will stand a long one of that kind. They love dearly 
 a bit of poetry in the sermon, and they cling to the old- 
 fashioned mode of dividing it into heads. 
 
 The kirk "scales,'" and there is a rush for "machines," 
 for many have driven the long distance from their homes. 
 At the Manse stables, one gig after another receives its load 
 of two, sometimes three, persons, and the restive little pony 
 darts off at full speed. He knows as well as any one that 
 the service is over, and that he is going home to dinner. 
 The Laird's landau and pair roll off in more leisurely fashion. 
 The Laird has stopped to shake hands with the minister, 
 and exchange a few words on parish affairs. The minister 
 talks for a few minutes to his elders, who are busy counting 
 the small " collection." Perhaps a session meeting must he 
 held, for poor Jinnet MacSweetie is in trouble, and desires 
 to " stand the session." She has been at church as a matter 
 of course, although no " cuttie-stool " is now employed for 
 such penitents. Jinnet is sadly altered from the sprightly 
 lass we knew a few months ago. She is pale and heavy- 
 eyed, and her dress is less neat than of old. The minister's 
 solemn but kindly admonition makes her weep ; but she 
 will never marry the faithless Saunders, whose confession 
 she produces, written in very uneven and schoolboyish 
 
A Galloway Herd's Sunday : Old Style. 117 
 
 characters. " Na ! na !" she says, firing up amid her tears, 
 " I wudna hae him noo gin he were to ask me on his 
 knees !" So the session closes, and poor Jinnet trudges 
 sadly home over some weary miles. The minister says 
 good-bye to his elders and retires to the Manse. 
 
 A couple of hours after the minister's man brings round 
 the " machine," and they start for a distant schoolroom, 
 where Sunday school is taught. At the close the usual 
 " preaching " ensues. Perhaps forty or fifl;y people attend 
 from the village and neighbouring farms. An old precentor 
 guides the psalmody here, and the dreamy strains of many 
 an old tune, major and minor, are heard. At such meetings 
 the "Free Kirk folk" come out regularly; even the Free 
 Kirk pastor himself has been seen joining in the worship, 
 and hearkening to his Erastian brother's discourse. The 
 meeting ended, the minister gets word from a kindly 
 neighbour, that old Tammy Broon is very bad, and 
 Mrs Tamson " geyly ailing." He walks off to their 
 cottages, and he will doubtless pray at each bedside ; for 
 it is no " veesit " without a prayer. It is now seven p.m., 
 and the Galloway Herd is pretty well used up. But the Laird 
 has asked him, as a special favour, to take family worship at 
 the "big house," and old "Welshman," the minister's pony, 
 is turned up the gloomy avenue, where night is already 
 settling. Servants, lodge-keepers, gamekeepers, grooms, 
 along with the Laird's family and guests, are assembled 
 in the dining-room, and the minister conducts a brief 
 evening service. "■ Abide ivith me ; fast falls the eventide,'' 
 is the closing hymn. Probably the tired " Herd " will dine 
 with the family, and then quietly drive homeward through 
 the deserted roads. Every cottage door is closed. The 
 
1 1 8 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 lamps are out and silence reigns, only disturbed by the 
 rattling wheels, or an occasional restful lowing from cattle 
 lying out in the shadowy fields. The minister has spoken 
 to perhaps three hundred souls out of a population of eight 
 hundred; he has driven twelve or fifteen miles, and delivered 
 five addresses; and he has visited several sick persons. 
 Who can deny him, after the day's duties, a quiet pipe 
 before he goes to bed .? He locks his door, puts out the 
 "study" lamp, and, candle in hand, seeks his chamber. 
 Before lying down to a deep and dreamless sleep he takes 
 a last look out at the shining slow river. The water is 
 murmuring among the rushes of the broad marshy banks. 
 The little belfry stands out boldly in a clear moonlight. 
 The church is dark and silent, and round it the silent dead 
 keep guard. It will be a fine day to-morrow, and the 
 farmers will be able to " lead " their harvest. The 
 minister's harvest is more distant, but let us hope not 
 less sure. At any rate, he has laboured all day in the 
 field, and may surely now rest awhile. 
 
A Galloivay Herd's Sunday : Neiv Style. 1 1 9 
 
 XL 
 A GALLOWAY HERD'S SUNDAY: NEW STYLE. 
 
 THE "kirk road" is still a via dolorosa, a painful series 
 of stages to be traversed ere the House of Prayer is 
 reached. But an active Parish Council has already done 
 some little towards making it less of a slough of despond in 
 wet weather, and a miniature avalanche of loose stones in 
 dry. Those who "travel to the kirk" are smarter than of 
 yore. There is less, on most days, of the homespun coat 
 and heavy foot, more of the younger and sprightlier element. 
 From the " Brig " one or two bicycles come spinning up, 
 with bells tinkling as by law directed, and driven meantime 
 by men only. We may yet perhaps see John Anderson and 
 his faithful partner revolving gravely on a sociable tricycle, 
 as they proceed to church. There is a rapid succession of 
 neat gigs and dogcarts, whose docile horses swing round to 
 the Manse stables in a manner highly cheering to the weary 
 student of non-churchgoing. It is noticeable, to a Herd of 
 some experience, that there are more young people, and 
 fewer grey heads and feeble forms. That means, that the 
 foundations laid in Sunday schools and Communicants' 
 classes are rising rapidly up to a firm and fixed habit of 
 church attendance. May it be truly so ! 
 
I20 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 The "tunes" are chosen, five in number, and mostly 
 hymns. It may be regretted, but the fact stands that 
 metrical psalm and paraphrase are fast going out. 
 Perhaps the psalm will ere long reappear in due 
 place of honour as a " prose chant." The paraphrase 
 is doomed, unless to some extent it can be furbished up 
 as a hymn. Rather than lose such noble and well-beloved 
 lines as those of " O God of Bethel," " O happy is the man 
 who hears," " Behold ! the mountain of the Lord," " Ho ! 
 ye that thirst," " Come, let us to the Lord our God," 
 "Father of all, we bow to thee," "While humble shepherds," 
 "Hark! the glad sound!" "I'm not ashamed," "Father of 
 peace," and others ; rather than this, one would even 
 consent to embody them in the Scottish Hynuial. 
 One at least of these paraphrases can never be 
 neglected in this church : the demure old Twelfth, 
 with its Johnsonian phrases. And one other, to the 
 hallowed strains of Communion, must ever be part, along 
 with the 103rd Psalm to Coleshill and the "Old Hundredth," 
 of our Scottish Communion Office. 
 
 There is a comfortable little vestry now, whither one may 
 go in good time and complete such slender "robing" as a 
 Scottish minister is permitted to transact. These "bands," 
 the invidious distinction of a "placed man," the relics of a 
 faded fashion in lay attire — are they destined to persist in 
 the New Style? Much irritating pulling and patting and 
 fumbling would be saved if clerical fashions changed here. 
 There is a schism on the subject of hoods, promoted 
 mainly by persons who have none or ugly ones. We say, 
 that this is for each man's conscience and convenience. 
 It is at best a badge of worldly honour, although a B.D. 
 
A Galloway Herd's Sunday: New S/yle. 121 
 
 hood may inspire confidence in the preacher's orthodoxy 
 and safeness. 
 
 The bell has been bounding from side to side for five 
 minutes; the thrilling moment, which never ceases to 
 quicken the pulse even after many years, has come at 
 last. Let the carefully prepared discourse be duly taken 
 up in its worn old case. And take heed it be not upon 
 sunshine and fair weather, if rain and east wind are without. 
 There is a gentle echo of the simple opening voluntary. 
 The beadle opens the door, and the short accustomed 
 space to the pulpit is traversed. What different feelings 
 one has had going over these few yards ! Often it has been 
 sheer despair for lack of a " right spirit within," to give a 
 right message outwardly to a slender flock. Sometimes 
 it has been exulting confidence, buoyed up by some 
 unaccountable flush of religious fervour. " He is a very 
 unequal preacher," it was said of one born in this parish, 
 now famous as a writer. In the last capacity, too, he is 
 unequal. Is not genius a high peak towering among 
 uneven and humble projections ? Must not one preach 
 often " out of the depths," in order to preach sometimes 
 from the heights .? There is a brief pause for silent prayer. 
 Let it be, that grace be granted and good voice. Strange 
 that to-day we begin with "a purpose of marriage," instead 
 of " Let us worship God," But young folks must be 
 " cried," although wild horses would not drag them here to 
 listen to their own names, with the sweet " between " 
 linking them. 
 
 There is a full choir, and all goes well, with a solemn 
 Amen at each close. Let the daily collect be repeated as 
 well as memory permits, and the Lord's Prayer as its Author 
 
122 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 gave it, ere we plunge into the sermon. It is a good day if 
 tiiere is perfect stillness, or only a long-drawn sigh at 
 intervals. Never was any congregation so sympathetic and 
 responsive as a Galloway congregation. Every point is 
 seized. The risk is to press any one emotion too far, with 
 such sensitive hearers, who will smile as readily as they 
 weep. And a smile in " the kirk " is deadly sin. 
 
 Now we have our closing prayers and hymn, but let no 
 benediction go forth until the ladle has made its swift 
 round, and all offerings have been received. Meantime, a 
 quiet strain of harmony (we dare not yet call it an offertoire) 
 floats over the church. The beautiful old way is kept of 
 taking the minister's offering last, and so sending him forth 
 with the feeling that he too has worshipped and offered. 
 
 The blessing is pronounced, and all is hushed for a time. 
 The New Style here is so customary, that we hardly now 
 believe that men once pushed and nudged and shuffled, 
 half-hatted, as the last words were said. But so it was, 
 in this very place, but thirteen years ago. Then, every 
 benediction caused an apparent panic, and all fled in blind 
 haste from the place. Now, one here and there lingers to 
 look at the sweet north window, and departs (we know) 
 with tender thoughts of " Him that loved us." 
 
 In the vestry, the ladles discharge their small burden, 
 and the routine of session duty is gone through. The 
 "discipline case" is still in the land. The foul blot on 
 Galloway manhood seems no smaller. But opinion grows 
 among educated men, that such discipline is a worn-out 
 form. 
 
 Some miles off, there is Sunday school and service in a 
 diminutive village hall. And then there are two baptisms 
 
A Galloivay Herd's Sunday: New Slyle. 123 
 
 in private houses ; for our kirk has still no font, nor willing 
 people to use it if there were one. Baptism in private, 
 though it be a misdemeanour, is yet a kindly social function, 
 at which the chief Galloway beverage (I mean tea, and mean 
 it seriously) figures honourably. The little ones, boy and 
 girl (the boy first if one can) are named, and give their little 
 cry of surprise ; and pleasant, cheery talk sends the Herd 
 homeward refreshed. A friendly companion lightens a 
 mile or twain with his equal step. Then good-night, 
 and good-bye ! 
 
 Still the river dreams and whispers among the rushes. A 
 few lights gleam " across the water," some fringing the 
 opposite bank as if to signal some wayfaring boat. There 
 are deeps and shallows out there, where the moon is on the 
 water; and the deep is often but one step beyond the 
 shallow. This day, one has touched both depth and 
 shoal. In a worthy and inspiring " kirk " we have been 
 plunged into the infinite, and in the common meetings 
 outside we have found wholesome footing again. As 
 to-day, so the whole week. The sublime will melt 
 into the commonplace, and the commonplace may 
 suddenly explode into the tragic. May we keep our 
 balance in both, and learn from the shining river that 
 " in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength !" 
 
124 The Kirk above Dee Water. 
 
 EPILOGUE : 
 
 THE KIRK AND THE RIVER. 
 
 The River flows beneath the Kirk, 
 And on its banks men rest and work, 
 
 And week by week 
 
 The bell doth seek 
 An echo in their hearts below 
 
 Beside the River's flow. 
 
 And still, when silence reigns around, 
 Is heard the soft mysterious sound — 
 
 A murmur sweet 
 
 Beneath our feet 
 That tread the path of daily toil 
 
 Upon this ancient soil. 
 
 The River speaks, when man is dumb, 
 Of all that yet may chance to come — 
 
 Of Life that lives. 
 
 Of Love that gives 
 E'en life itself in lavish love 
 
 Upon the banks above. 
 
Epilogue. 
 
 Men come and go within the Kirk 
 On Sabbath days of Hght or mirk ; 
 
 And then, at last, 
 
 Life's stream gone past, 
 They come, but nevermore go forth 
 
 From out the Kirkyard earth. 
 
 Thus in old years the tide hath flowed, 
 Of youth and age, along the road 
 
 Beside the bank 
 
 Till each life sank 
 And ebbed into the narrow cell 
 
 Where all at length is well. 
 
 So run our life poured forth from God, 
 In streams of gentleness abroad. 
 
 That, when we die, 
 
 No dear one's eye 
 May weep that, by the quiet Kirk, 
 
 We rest at last from work. 
 
 125 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Ages, great, 35. 
 
 Andrew, Saint, 24, 55. 
 
 Ants, in 12th Paraphrase, 87,95; 
 Sir John Lubbock on, 95, 96. 
 
 Apostles, medallions of, 24. 
 
 Bairn, Twice-christened, 54, 77. 
 
 Balmaghie, meaning of, 31 ; 
 M'Ghies of, 31 ; Gordons of, 
 18, 41, loi ; Graham Hutchi- 
 sons of, 24 ; Population, in 
 Martin's time, 97. 
 
 Balmaghie House, preaching at, 51. 
 
 Baptism, "Bason" for, 89; 
 ''Twice-christened Bairn," 54, 
 
 77- 
 Barend, M'Millan in, 66. 
 Barnboard, riot at, 53 ; John 
 
 M'Kinel in, 36. 
 Bats in Church, 22. 
 Bees in Church, 21. 
 Belfry, haunt of starlings, 20. 
 Bell, inscription on, 18; ringing 
 
 of, at II a.m., 20. 
 Bible, Morison's, 19. 
 Blenchell, David, Tnijiister, 1764-8, 
 
 43- 
 Bodden, Nathaniel, epitaph, 38. 
 Bothwell, 55. 
 Braefoot, supposed to be M'Kie's 
 
 house, 71. 
 Brasses in Church, 24, 25, 27. 
 Broomhill, where Macmillan died, 
 
 55- 
 
 Burnet of Quintenespie, lapsed, 36. 
 
 Burns, Rev. Thomas, on Com- 
 munion Cups, 41. 
 
 Bush-a-bield, 36. 
 
 Chapman, Robert, " reidar," 1560, 
 19. 
 
 Charters, Alexander, covenanter, 
 34; epitaph, 39. 
 
 Robert, epitaph, 34; Church, 
 
 old partly remaining, 18 ; new, 
 
 Clark of Slogarie, lapsed, 36. 
 
 Communion, date, old and new, 
 92 ; postponed for Harvest, 91 ; 
 tables for, 93 ; tablecloths, 93 ; 
 forms for, 93; cups, 89; tune 
 Cotnmunion, 120. 
 
 Contributions, voluntary, 25, 93. 
 
 Covenant, National, 50 ; and 
 Solemn League, 50, 56. 
 
 Covenanters in Kirkyard, 34; 
 epitaphs in verse, 37, 39. 
 
 Crae, Kelvies of, 36. 
 
 Craig, Rev. A. B., 23- 
 
 Craig-croft, 36. 
 
 Crabbe, 108, 1 11. 
 
 Crockett, S. R., Introduction by ; 
 family tombstones, 29. 
 
 Crossmichael, 17,51,77: Presby- 
 tery deposes Macmillan at, 51. 
 
 Crucifixion, stained-glass window, 
 
 23. 
 
 Dalserf, Mjicmillan's epitaph and 
 monument in, 64. 
 
 Dee, Water of, at Balmaghie Kirk, 
 17; its symbolism, 17; ferry 
 across, 52 ; ploughshares thrown 
 in, 54; minister brought across 
 in coffin, 75 ; bells rung along 
 meadows, 20. 
 
 Dempster, George, of Dunnichen, 
 M.P., loi, 104. 
 
 Dickson, a dyer, 36. 
 
 Douglas, of Bisley, family tomb- 
 stone, 29. 
 
 Dubbidale, 36. 
 
 Edwards, Blanche, epitaph, 35. 
 
 Eels in Dee, 48. 
 
 Elders in 1769, 89. 
 
 Epilogue, 124; epitaphs, 29, 37; 
 in verse, 37, 39. 
 
 " Factor James," 100. 
 
 Ferry across Dee, and as used by 
 Presbytery " supply," 52. 
 
 Fine View, 36. 
 
 Forms for Communion, 93. 
 
Index. 
 
 XZ'J 
 
 Freeland, William, M.D., minister. 
 1847-53, born in Ireland, 45 ; 
 character. 
 
 Galloway, Earl of, his Cummunion 
 Cup, 41. 
 
 Galloways of Sandhills, 65. 
 
 Genible, Jean, 65. 
 
 Gibson, Alexander, minister, 1839- 
 46, 44 ; tablet in Church, 27. 
 
 Goldie, Edward, of Craigmuie, 65. 
 
 Gordon, Admiral, 102 ; of Tor- 
 morack, 90. 
 
 Gordon, Mrs Mary, epitaph, 32 ; 
 in verse, 37 ; elegy on, 85 (note). 
 
 Grieve, John, M.D., great-great- 
 grandson of Macmillan, 66. 
 
 Halliday, David, portioner in 
 Miefield, 34; in Glengape, 34 ; 
 verses on, 37. 
 
 Harvest, Communion "differed" 
 because of, 92. 
 
 Henderson, James, minister, 1804- 
 38; bred at Dunnichen, 100 ; 
 tutor at Balmaghie, lOi ; his 
 unpopularity, 103 ; death-bed 
 scene, 109, 1 1 1 ; Dugald William. 
 son's funeral sermon on, 104 ; 
 his factorship of Balmaghie, 104 ; 
 his verses in Galloway Nerds, 
 100 ; his grave, 103 ; his preach- 
 ing and prayers, 107 ; anecdotes 
 of, 109; compared with Mac- 
 millan and Martin, iii ; char- 
 acter, 106. 
 
 Hensol, 90 (note). 
 
 Herd, a Galloway Herd's Sunday, 
 Old Style, 113 ; New Style, 119. 
 
 " Herds, The Galloway," satirical 
 verses, 100. 
 
 Hill of Grange, 36. 
 
 Hourglass with wings, 37. 
 
 Houstoun, Shairp of, 94. 
 
 Hutchison family, tables erected 
 by, 24; gifts of, to Church, 25. 
 
 Ironganoch, 36. 
 
 Johnstone, John, F.C. minister, 33. 
 
 Kail, 109. 
 
 Kelvie of Crae, lapsed, 36. 
 
 Kirk above Dee Water, date, 17 ; 
 shape, 49 ; belfry, 20 ; bees, &c., 
 in, 21 : restored, 1894, 23 ; 
 tablets in, 27 ; stained-glass in, 
 24. 
 
 Kirkyard, Balmaghie, gate, 29 ; 
 Douglas Stone, 29 ; consecrated 
 ground, 30 ; suicide's grave, 30 ; 
 unbaptized infants, 30; ministers' 
 corner, 31 ; oldest stone, 36 ; 
 martyrs' stones, 34 ; poetry, 37 ; 
 roses in, 73; thruch-stones, 31 ; 
 epitaphs, 37 ; shortest epitaphs, 
 35 ; remarks on, by an old boy, 40. 
 
 Kirk Session, in 1769, 89 ; discip- 
 line cases, 91 ; minutes of, 
 1769-76, 89, 93. 
 
 Ladles, 122. 
 
 Lairds, lapsed, 36. 
 
 Latin phrases, &c., in kirkyard, 37. 
 
 Laurieston, 114. 
 
 League, Solemn, 50. 56. 
 
 Livingstone, Mure of, 31 ; Alex- 
 ander, epitaph, 39; Charles, 
 glover, fined, 53. 
 
 Longley, 36. 
 
 Lowe, author of " Mary's Dream," 
 
 77- 
 
 Lubbock on Ants, 95. 
 
 Macmillan, John, minister, 1694- 
 1700 ; sickly, 43 ; his grave, 32 ; 
 epitaph, 43 ; his descendants, 66. 
 
 Macmillan, John, alter minister, 
 1701-1725 ; born at Barncauch- 
 law, 49; tutor at Cally, 100 ; 
 ordination, 49; deposition, 51 ; 
 his work, 61 ; death-bed scene, 
 55 ; character, 61 ; compared 
 with M'Kie, 76 ; and with Hen- 
 derson, III ; monument at Dal- 
 serf, 64 ; his cup, 61 ; founds 
 Reformed Presbytery, 62 ; his 
 seal, 62 ; a poet, 37, 85. 
 
 Manse, Blenchell's, 1764, 103; new 
 manse, 103. 
 
 Marriages, irregular, 91, 92. 
 
128 
 
 Index. 
 
 Martin, Samuel, D.D., minister, 
 1769-76; tutor at Houstoun,94; 
 a poet, 85 ; twelfth paraphrase, 
 86 ; translated to Monimail, 92 ; 
 chaplain to Lord High Com- 
 missioner, 84 ; personal habits 
 and appearance, 98 ; grave and 
 epitaph, 99 ; character, 83 ; a 
 "Moderate," 83; Session 
 minutes, 89 ; error as to ants, 
 95; his "bills" due to Kirk 
 Session, 92; his care of Church 
 property, 82. 
 
 Martyrs' stones, 34. 
 
 Melville, Earl of Leven and, 84. 
 
 " Moderates," what, 83. 
 
 Moffat, William, dro-wned, 35. 
 
 Milroy, John, epitaph, 38. 
 
 Minnigaff, 49. 
 
 Ministry, average duration of, in 
 Balmaghie, 47. 
 
 Mitchell, Hugh, signs protest 
 against M'Kie, 69. 
 
 Monimail, 99. 
 
 Morrison, Philip, minister, 1777- 
 1804, 43. 
 
 Murdoch, William, a rioter, 71. 
 
 M'Caa, William, epitaph, 38. 
 
 M'Clacharty, Mrs, epitaph, 39. 
 
 M'Ghie, Hew, minister, 1615-1638, 
 his family, 42 ; communion cup, 
 
 41- 
 
 M'Ghie, Sergeant, 30. 
 
 M'Kie, William, minister, 1710- 
 1763, his ordination, 69; glebe 
 riot, 71 ; temporary manse and 
 Church, 70; marriage, 54 ; enters 
 manse, 72 ; his ministry, 73 ; 
 death, 74 ; character, 76 ; 
 epitaph, 38 ; compared with 
 Macmillan, 76; monument, 74; 
 his family, 75. 
 
 M'Kie, Nathaniel, minister at 
 Crossmichael, epitaph, 77. 
 
 M'Kinel, John, in Barnboard, 36. 
 
 M'Lellan, David, drowned, 35. 
 
 M'Vitae, schoolmaster, 108. 
 
 Neilson, 29. 
 
 Owls in Church, 22. 
 
 Paraphrase, Twelfth, 81 ; favourite 
 
 paraphrases, 120. 
 Pencaitland, 46. 
 Poet, Martin and Macmillan as 
 
 poets, 85. 
 Poetry, churchyard, 37, 39. 
 Precentor's salary, 1771, 92. 
 Presbytery, meetings of, 67. 
 
 Pulpit, old and new, 24 ; hanging 
 up hat in, 102. 
 
 Quintenespie, Burnetsof, lapsed, 2^. 
 
 Reformed Presbytery founded by 
 Macmillan, 62. 
 
 Reid, Henry Martyn Beckwith, 
 minister 1882: changes effected 
 in church service during his 
 ministry, 46 ; Church restored 
 1894, 23. 
 
 Riach, William Lyon, minister, 
 1853-5 '■ translated to Pencait- 
 land, 46 ; to Edinburgh, 46. 
 
 Rimmon, House of, 67, 71. 
 
 Ringcroft ghost, 42 (note). 
 
 River Dee, 17, 20, 51, 52, loi, 
 118, 123. 
 
 River and the Kirk, The, 124. 
 
 Rood-screen, 24. 
 
 Roses in Kirkyard, 73. 
 
 Short, George, martyr, 34. 
 
 Slogarie, Clarks of, 36. 
 
 Stevenson, Thomas, minister 
 1855-81,46. 
 
 Stone, oldest in kirkyard, 2^. 
 
 Swearing, profane, rebuked by 
 Henderson, 109. 
 
 Tablets in Church, 27 ; Tent for 
 preaching, 93. 
 
 Token, Martin's, 84, 92. 
 
 Tormorack, 90. 
 
 Tramp buried, 31. 
 
 Ward, Catherine, 35. 
 
 Watkins, Adrian, 19. 
 
 Williamson, Catherine, 32 ; 
 Dugald, 104. 
 
 Windows, stained-glass, 24. 
 
 Window-Tax, 109. 
 
 Printed by J. H. Maxwell, Castle-Douglas. 
 
'4 •■ 
 
 
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