Part 5 (2/2)

In 1855, Ardoch was erected into a parish _quoad omnia_. In 1864, the West Church, Crieff, became a parish _quoad sacra_. The Chapel of Blairingone was also by and by to become a parish; yet, when it did so, it no longer formed a part of the Presbytery of Auchterarder. In 1856 the General a.s.sembly determined to create a new Presbytery of Kinross, and for this purpose to disjoin the two parishes of Muckhart and Fossoway (the latter including Blairingone) from the Presbytery with which they had been a.s.sociated for two hundred and fifty years.

Auchterarder refused her consent, and protested, but in vain. She was bereaved of her children.

This change somewhat altered the centre of gravity of the Presbytery.

Hitherto Auchterarder had been its natural centre, and its most convenient place of meeting. From this time onwards it began occasionally to meet at Crieff. In 1866 an Act of a.s.sembly was pa.s.sed ordaining it to meet alternately in Auchterarder and Crieff.

After the Secession of 1843 a subtle change began to creep over the opinions of the Presbytery. It was no longer the ultra-evangelical body which it had been for more than a century. It began to take broader views of culture and of human life. Were another minister of the Church of Scotland now to write a new tragedy of _Douglas_ he would be likely to receive its congratulations rather than its denunciations.

Its theology became sweeter, and it is in no danger of framing a new ”Auchterarder Creed” upon the lines of the last. When the new movement began for the improvement of public wors.h.i.+p there was, indeed, enough of the old leaven left to lead to a vigorous resistance. This struggle centred round ”The Crieff Organ Case” in 1866-67. Ultimately, however, the new views prevailed, and at the present moment (1896) the once hated ”kist of whistles” has found its way into no fewer than thirteen out of the sixteen parishes which at present compose the Presbytery.

Since the days of that conflict, indeed, its spirit has broadened and broadened. The old independent tone, for which it had been conspicuous even in the seventeenth century, has become more and more marked. In recent years the Presbytery has never been willing tamely to follow the lead of a.s.sembly leaders and a.s.sembly Committees, but has insisted on expressing a vigorous opinion of its own upon all the questions of the day.

In the course of the present century several ministers, afterwards to become better known, have begun their respective careers within the bounds of the Presbytery. Dr. William Robertson, latterly minister of New Greyfriars, Edinburgh, was ordained as minister of Muckhart in 1831. Dr. Robert Home Stevenson, minister of St. George's, Edinburgh, Moderator of the General a.s.sembly of 1871, was ordained in 1840 as a.s.sistant and successor in the parish of Crieff. Dr. John Cunningham, minister of Crieff from 1845 to 1887, was Moderator of the General a.s.sembly of 1886, and was latterly Princ.i.p.al of St. Mary's College, St.

Andrews. His successor in the Moderators.h.i.+p of a.s.sembly, Dr. George Hutchison, Banchory-Ternan, was ordained as minister of Monzie in 1845.

Dr. Paton J. Gloag, then of Galas.h.i.+els, Moderator of the a.s.sembly of 1889, was ordained in 1848 as a.s.sistant and successor in the parish of Dunning. Dr. John Wilson, a genial man, much beloved by all his brethren, was minister of Dunning from 1861 to 1878, Clerk of Presbytery from 1864, and author of ”Index to the Acts of a.s.sembly.”

Dr. William Mair, minister of Ardoch from 1865 to 1868, is now of Earlston, and author of the well-known ”Digest of Church Laws.”

The loss of Muckhart and Fossoway, the addition of Ardoch and Crieff West left the Presbytery still with its original number of fifteen parishes. There was yet another to be added. In the extreme west of the parish of Comrie, at the point where the River Earn leaves its parent lake, was the district of Dundurn. Next to Ardoch, it was probably the oldest historic spot within the Presbytery. There, first of all places within the bounds, had the Gospel in the course of the sixth century been preached by the saintly Fillan. It was still haunted by sacred memories. It had been the site of a pre-Reformation chapel. It had long been a preaching-place for the minister of Comrie.

Latterly there had sprung up by the sh.o.r.es of the beautiful lake a hamlet which called itself St. Fillans. It became a favourite place of summer resort. In 1879 a new chapel was built, and in 1895 the district of Dundurn was erected into a parish _quoad sacra_.

At the present moment (1896) the Presbytery thus consists of sixteen parishes, all fully equipped; 94 elders and 5023 church members form its effective strength as a part of the Church militant. It has faced many a serious crisis in the past; with a calm cheerfulness it faces the future.

MEMORIES OF GASK

By Rev. JAMES MARTIN, Gask

The parish of Gask is a comparatively small one both in population and in territorial extent. The earliest historical record we have of it goes back to the time of the invasion of Britain by the Romans. The road which pa.s.ses along the ridge of high ground was originally made by the Romans, and was designed to form a line of communication between the camp at Ardoch and the camp at Bertha, near the junction of the Almond with the Tay. On the north side of it, in this parish, there are still to be distinctly seen two small camps or stations, and on the south side of it there is a larger one. The Romans have left traces of their presence here in the works they constructed, which the lapse of eighteen centuries has not entirely obliterated.

Coming down the stream of time, we find that Wallace, that n.o.ble and disinterested patriot, sought a hiding-place in time of danger amid its dense woods. During a visit to Perth in 1296, a plot was laid by the English to capture him, but, having received timely warning, he made his escape with his small band of followers to Gascon Ha'. This is generally supposed to have occupied a different site from the ruin near the River Earn which now bears that name, and which is celebrated by Lady Nairne in the song of ”Bonnie Gascon Ha'.” The Gascon Ha' to which Wallace repaired for safety from his treacherous and relentless enemies is said to have stood a mile and a half to the north-east of that ruin in the midst of the Gask woods. Here they prepared to pa.s.s the night, and having obtained two sheep from a neighbouring fold, they kindled a fire and made ready their evening repast. Greatly exhausted with their long and fatiguing march, Wallace proposed that his followers should rest while he would keep watch. During the course of the night he was startled by the ”blowing of horns mingled with frightful yells, proceeding apparently from a rising ground in the immediate neighbourhood.” Scouts were sent out from time to time, but all failing to return, the patriot was at last left alone. He wandered about till morning, killing two of the English whom he encountered, one of whom was Sir John Butler, and then hastened with all speed to Torwood, near Dunipace, where his uncle was parish priest.

At an early period the lands now comprehended in this parish belonged to the Earl of Strathearn, the great landowner in this district at that time. It is said that he possessed all the lands lying between the Cross of Macduff, near Newburgh, and the west end of Balquhidder in length, and between the Ochils and the Grampians in breadth. It was out of his lands of Nether Gask that he granted liberty to quarry stones for building the Abbey of Inchaffray, along with two acres of ground on which to erect workshops.

The lands of Gask have now been in the possession of the Oliphant family for nearly six hundred years. The name was originally written Olifard, then Olyfaunt, and now Oliphant. Sir William Olyfaunt was the first of that name on whom these lands were bestowed by King Robert the Bruce. Sir William occupied a prominent position in the early history of our country. He was Governor of Stirling Castle, and when summoned in the name of Edward I. to surrender it, made the n.o.ble reply, ”I have never sworn fealty to Edward, but I have sworn to keep the Castle, and must wait the order of my const.i.tuent.” And when the Castle was besieged by Edward and his army he defended it for three months, and only capitulated from the scarcity of provisions. He was a member of the Parliament held at Aberbrothock in 1320, and subscribed along with some other Scottish Barons the famous letter to the Pope, which so n.o.bly a.s.serted the independence of Scotland. To that doc.u.ment were affixed the seals of Sir William Olyfaunt and Malise, Earl of Strathearn. He died in 1329, and was buried in the Church of Aberdalgie, where a monument of black marble was erected to his memory.

When the present Church of Aberdalgie was built in 1773 the site was changed, and the monument to Sir William Olyfaunt was left in the open churchyard. In 1780, Mr Oliphant of Gask erected a stone covering over it to protect it from injury by the weather.

Sir William was succeeded by his son, Walter Olyfaunt, who married a daughter of King Robert the Bruce, and, ”having resigned the lands of Gask into the hands of his brother-in-law, David II., obtained, in 1364, a new charter confirming them to the said Walter and his spouse Elizabeth, our beloved sister, on a peculiar tenure for the reddendum of a chaplet of white roses at the feast of the nativity of St. John the Baptist at the manor place of Gask.” This incident has been happily expressed in a poem by Miss Ethel Blair Oliphant, now Mrs Maxtone Graham, who inherits much of the poetic genius of her great-grand-aunt, Lady Nairne.

THE TRIBUTE OF GASK

Now ken ye the gift Gask has brought to the King?

'Tis an off'ring sae royal, sae perfect, and fair, Than jewels o' siller more dainty and rare, A crown for a maid or a monarch to wear.

The courtier's tribute is but a poor thing, For what can he offer and what can he bring, Than the crown of White Roses from Gask to the King?

Now ken ye the service Gask does for the King?

All for his sake, in the bloom of the year, In the gardens of Gask the white blossoms appear-- The Royal White Roses to Scotland sae dear.

Then far o'er Stralhearn let the praise of them ring, Let them live once again in the song that we sing, The crown of White Roses from Gask to the King.

Now ken ye what Gask will yet do for the King?

In the days that may come, when the roses are dead, When the pledge is forgotten, the vows left unsaid; What then shall lie found for an off'ring instead?

Oh! then at his feet his heart he will fling.

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