Reid A Cameronian Apostle II.

CHAPTER II.

1700.

FAIR WEATHER.

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“Chaplain” at Cally—Applies for License—His “Trials”—Supplies Balmaghie—The old-world Probationer—An Elder in Girthon—“Ruling Elder”—Call to Balmaghie—Suspected of “Separatism”—His Ordination—A “Scene”—His Vows.

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MACMILLAN completed his theological studies some time in 1700, and returning to Galloway, he speedily found employment such as the young Levites of the Church then coveted. He became “Chaplain to the Laird of Broughton,” an estate and mansion-house lying in the parish of Girthon, and some neighbouring parishes. The property is now possessed by Mr. Murray Stewart, and the mansion-house is known as Cally. Situated near the picturesque town of Gatehouse-on-Fleet, it is a fine and massive pile, surrounded by an extensive park full of venerable trees.

Dr. Andrew Thomson describes this practice of seeking tutorships or chaplaincies in county families as being an alternative to the continuation of the usual divinity course at the “Hall.”* The student put in so many sessions’ attendance, and then placed himself “under the care of one or other of the Presbyteries of the Church, for theological training and general oversight.” This is probably a case of post hoc, ergo propter hoc. The fact seems to be, that after completing the divinity studies (which were briefer than those now required), the student often

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* Boston of Ettrick, p. 39.

Fair Weather. 29

found it convenient to seek a situation as tutor, in order to support himself while waiting, first for license to preach, and then for a “call” to labour in some parish. But it is not likely that such a situation should give scope for “theological training and general oversight.” Nor is it easy to see how a Presbytery could train the student within its bounds. In Macmillan’s case, there was at all events little space for such training; for he spent only a short time with the Laird of Broughton. Mr. J. H. Thomson puts the period down at exactly six months, namely, from his license on 26th November, 1700, to his “call” to the parish of Balmaghie on 29th May, 1701. And he says—“It was the practice at that period for probationers to remain if possible within the bounds of their Presbytery . . . and they were not permitted to preach in another Presbytery without extract of license.”* Mr. Thomson is slightly in error as to the duration of Macmillan’s tutorship or chaplaincy. He was certainly an inmate of the Broughton house before August 20, 1700, for in the Presbytery’s minute of that date, he is already described as “Chapelain to the Laird of Brochtoun.” This was when he first applied for license. It is likely, indeed, that he came straight from his divinity studies to his new situation, perhaps at May, 1700, so that he may have spent a full year in the pleasant and peaceful surroundings of the Laird’s house.

It is interesting, also, to note, that Macmillan is officially described as the Laird’s “chaplain,” although he was not at the time a probationer even. Of Boston, on the other hand, Dr. Thomson says that he “did not claim to possess the functions of a family chaplain” at Kennet; although, in the absence of his employer, he conducted family worship.† In the eyes of the parish, however, I rather fancy that he would be regarded as “chaplain to the Laird,” as Macmillan was. The truth is, that

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* Ref. Presb. Mag., 1869.

† Boston of Ettrick, p. 41.

30 A Cameronian Apostle.

then and for a long time afterwards, such tutorships or chaplaincies were the regular avenues to preferment. Many instances can readily be given of the Laird advancing his “chaplain” to the post of parish minister,* or urging his appointment in some other parish. It is true that this became commoner after Queen Anne’s Act establishing patronage; but even prior to that enactment, the landed gentry exercised a paramount influence in the choice of the ministers.

What duties were done by Macmillan during his stay under the Laird’s roof, we can only conjecture, since no documents have been found at Cally to throw light on the subject. Very likely, he had pupils to teach, and it is certain, from his being styled “chaplain,” that he conducted the family prayers. This brief time of rest and new social experiences must have done much to fit him for the work that lay ahead. It was a period of expectancy and probation, especially after he had duly received his license to preach. He lost no time in applying for this, and the Presbytery’s records give full details as to the “trials” which were prescribed.

On August 20, 1700, it is minuted:—

“Mr. John Macmillan, Chaplain to the Laird of Broughton, having lived in the bounds from his nativity, except the time of his being at the College, during which time his testimonials do witness his good behaviour and proficiency in his studies; being well known and of good report among the brethren and in the bounds; having previously delivered some discourses privately before some of the brethren, together with an homily on Matthew v. 8, before the last meeting at Polsack to their satisfaction, he is appointed to have an exegesis, An justificamur bonis operibus coram Deo? at the next.”

From this entry, it is evident that Macmillan had already been privately on trial before a committee of the Presbytery.

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* E.g., M‘Kie, the successor of Macmillan.

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These preliminary “trials” took place at Polsack,* a spot near the present village of Laurieston. The Presbytery met frequently in those days, at this locality in the parish of Balmaghie. The usual meeting-place, however, was not Polsack, but Clachanpluck, which is identified with the lower part of the village. At other times, they met at Cullenoch, about a mile off. A glance at the map shows the reason of the choice, since this is the geographical centre of the Stewartry. In days when no railways existed, and travelling was chiefly on foot or on horseback, the members found Clachanpluck† with its outlying houses of Cullenoch‡ or Polsack, the most convenient point of concentration. It is worthy of passing note, that Macmillan’s first appearance before his future co-presbyters and judges was in the very parish to which he finally received a “call.” The private rehearsing of discourses took place on June 29, 1700, so that it becomes nearly certain that Macmillan had come almost straight from the Divinity Hall to be tutor to the Laird of Broughton. The text of the homily is a fine one; “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” The exegesis appointed is simply what the Presbytery usually styles a “common head,” and opened up the old controversy regarding faith and works.

Considering the slurs afterwards cast on Macmillan’s scholarship, during the heat of the controversy, it is desirable to note also, the emphatic testimony in this extract to his “proficiency in his studies.” It may further be remarked, that the statement

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* Polsack means “water of the hawks”: cf. Polshag Burn in Carsphairn, and see Johnston’s Place-Names.

† Clachanpluck is “hamlet of the plough;” cf. Plockton, and Pluckerston in Kirriemuir.

‡ See Examination, p. 43. Cullenoch (pron. Killainoch) appears also as Collain, and may mean “woodlands.” Compare Cullen, Killean (pron. Killain)=church of John.

32 A Cameronian Apostle.

that the “trials” were “too perfunctoriously and suddenly gone through,” is not borne out by the Presbytery’s own records. We have already seen, that the candidate for license had made a private appearance, and submitted discourses and a homily, on June 29, at Polsack. Then he is appointed an exegesis, at Kirkcudbright on August 20.

Then, at next meeting, at Kirkcudbright, on September 17, he “had an exegesis and was approven; he is appointed, for exercise and addition, 2 Cor. v. 21, against the next.” The text here is—“For he hath made him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin.” And the prescribed “exercise and addition” (i.e., a running commentary on the Greek Text, with a dogmatic exposition at the close) was duly delivered and approven, at Kirkcudbright once more, on October 29. At this last meeting it is minuted:—“Mr. Macmillan is to deliver his popular sermon . . . from Matt. xi. 30, sustain his disputes, answer extemporary questions, interpret psalm in Hebrew: Greek Test. ad aperturam libri, and his Epocha.” The text of the popular sermon is again a fine one—“For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Such sermon, of course, is only called “popular” in the sense of being a concio ad populum. In the ordinary sense, it may turn out to be a dreary enough performance, although Macmillan’s popularity as a preacher soon proved that the term was applicable in every sense. The “popular” sermon was duly delivered and sustained at next meeting, at Kirkcudbright, November 26th.

The “trials” had now lasted no less than five months, and cannot fairly be described as “suddenly gone through.” They may indeed have been “perfunctorious.” Presbytery examinations are still believed to be so. But the record at all events shows that Macmillan satisfied every test. He gave discourses, homily, exegesis, exercise and addition, popular sermon; and he sustained some examination in the Hebrew and Greek

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Scriptures. He gave also his Epocha, which seems to have been a narrative in Latin of some period of Church History. One such is specified in another case of licensing; it was a templo conito Salomonico, “from the building of Solomon’s Temple.”*

At the close of these prolonged examinations, on November 26, 1700, Macmillan received license to preach. It is minuted that he engaged to subscribe the Confession of Faith, and “declared himself satisfyingly anent the government of the Church, and his resolution to adhere thereto, conform to the Acts of the General Assembly anent probationers, in all points.” This was very much the usual form, with the exception of the clause about “declaring himself satisfyingly,” which seems at times to have been omitted. If the writer of the Presbytery’s pamphlet is to be trusted, the Presbytery had their suspicions; for he states that Macmillan was, both at this time and at his ordination, “expressly engaged to maintain the union, peace, and concord of this Church, in opposition to schism.” And this, because they “knew that, since he had been a boy, he was a separatist.”† However this may be, Macmillan now received his commission to preach within the bounds, and was immediately “appointed to supply at Balmaghie the Sabbath before the next Presbytery.”‡

At this time, the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright met ordinarily on Tuesday, continuing its sittings when necessary on Wednesday as well. The next meeting was at Kirkcudbright on December 24th, hence Macmillan’s first pulpit appearance at Balmaghie was on Sunday, December 22, 1700.

He “supplied” the pulpit at a critical time. The unfortunate parish, after having for years suffered from the minister’s ill-health, had now lain vacant for five months. The vacancy, in

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* See Presby. Rec., September 18, 1700.

† See Examination, p. 43.

‡ Presb. Rec., November 26, 1700.

34 A Cameronian Apostle.

fact, was announced at the very meeting which formally took Macmillan on trial for license, August 20th. It is then minuted, very curtly—“Mrs. Murdoch and Macmillan are removed by death since the last.” Murdoch was minister of the parish “across the water,” Crossmichael, whose church was in three years to be the scene of the deposition. Macmillan had been minister of Balmaghie from the year 1694.* In the Kirk Session Records of Balmaghie, it is noted, at Macmillan the second’s entry, that no record at all had been kept by the previous incumbent, “through reason of his valetudinary disposition, he being always in a dying-like condition.”† He died, as his tombstone recites, on July 26, 1700, aged 37. And his wife, Catherine Williamson, followed him to the grave on August 31. Such is the brief record of the first John Macmillan, between whom and his successor no relationship has been established beyond the identity of names. The Presbytery continued to supply the pulpit once a fortnight till Macmillan was licensed. After this, they appear to have employed Macmillan, along with two others of their licentiates, named respectively Murdoch and Gordon, to fill the two vacant pulpits. Latterly, Macmillan and Murdoch were directed to supply them per vices,‡ or turn about.

This system, of employing probationers to fill vacant pulpits within the bounds under the Presbytery’s oversight, compares favourably with the current mode of allowing them to wander over the Church at their sweet will. The newly-fledged probationer, at the present day, is let loose upon the community without guide or master. He generally succeeds in becoming a “helper” or assistant in some parish, and thereafter it is not

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* Nich. Hist. Gall. II. Appendix, p. 34.

† Session Book of Balmaghie, Sept. 18, 1701.

‡ Presb. Rec. March 18, 1701.

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long before he “prints testimonials,” “puts in an application,” and “gets on a leet.” The discreditable “preaching-match” follows, with its varied scandals. At last, after more or fewer leets, he touches solid ground, and is elected by a majority, or in vulgar phrase “gets a parish.” The parish which chooses him usually knows little regarding the candidate beyond what is disclosed by his “testimonials,” his “trial-sermon,” or single appearance as a competitor, and the gossip or hearsay of the more active canvassers in the congregation. In this elder time, it was different. The probationer was utilised within the bounds where perhaps he had been born and brought up, and where he was thoroughly well known. In Macmillan’s case, he was a Galloway man who had lived all his life in the Stewartry, except during the five years, more or less, spent at College in Edinburgh. Preaching at Balmaghie, he was likely to see among his hearers more than one who had known him from boyhood. He preached also, not as a place-seeker or wandering candidate, but as the delegate and representative of the Presbytery.

Macmillan’s first sermon in his future pulpit was preached, as we have seen, on December 22, 1700. The congregation continued to hear him frequently in the same official character of “Presbytery supply” for four months more. The parish had been vacant nearly nine months in all, when, on April 17, 1701, the Presbytery records the following:—

“A supplication being presented to the Presbytery from the Elders of Balmaghie, desiring a minister to preach there on a week-day, and thereafter to try the minds of the people in reference to their calling Mr. Jo. Macmillan, appoints Mr. Johnston to convene the people on Monday come 8 days for the foresaid; and in case they be found unanimous, to draw up a call to Mr. Macmillan.”

This extract contains the name of Mr. Johnston, who at that time was minister of Girthon. He was therefore Macmillan’s

36 A Cameronian Apostle.

own parish minister. Not only so, but they stood at this time in a yet closer relationship. The Session Records of Girthon, under date December 22, 1700, state that—

“This day Mr. John Macmillan was received as an elder, he having promised to discharge the said duty as the Lord would enable him. He is appointed to wait on the Presbytery.”

This, be it remarked, was the very day Macmillan preached his first sermon, as a probationer, in Balmaghie. December was therefore a memorable month to him. On one and the same day in December, he was received as an elder, and at once made a member of Presbytery, as the Session’s elected representative. In December, three years after, he was deposed. On December 2, 1706, he preached his first sermon as the minister of the United Societies. And in the first hours of December, forty-seven years after, he died. Such coincidences are common, and have often been remarked.

It must be noted that the Girthon record says that Macmillan was “received,” not “admitted,” or “ordained” an elder in that parish. Hence, he must have been an elder already in some other parish, and most probably in Kells.* The same day on which the Session received him, they had first solemnly signed a declaration of their willingness to subscribe the Confession of Faith, when called upon to do so; and they own themselves “publicly obliged to adhere thereunto by our National and Solemn League and Covenants.” This is signed by Patrick Johnston, minister, by eight elders, and by two deacons. Of the eight elders, two bore the name of Macmillan, viz., Andrew Macmillan and James Macmillan, so that the new elder added a third of the same surname to this Session.† It is not stated

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* Or Minnigaff, where a “John Macmillan in Craigencallie” was an elder in 1699.

† See Girthon Session Book, 22nd December, 1700.

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that John Macmillan signed this formula, and probably he was received after the Session had performed this solemn act. The reference to the Solemn League and Covenant, however, has suggested to the present incumbent of Girthon,* my kind informant, that already Macmillan’s influence was at work in favour of the fuller recognition of that document as binding on the Church and nation.

At their next meeting, December 29, the Session record the fact that “Mr. John Macmillan, Chaplain to John Murray of Broughton, observed the appointment.” In other words, he for the first time sat as a member of court at the meeting of Presbytery, held at Kirkcudbright on December 24, 1700.

Before leaving the Girthon period, it may be added that Macmillan’s own signature appears later on in the Session Book, attesting that the Presbytery had examined it and found it correctly kept. He now signs as Presbytery Clerk, an office which as we shall see, was then held in turn by the presbyters.

Mr. Johnston of Girthon, then, the minister and brother-elder of Macmillan, proceeded in due course to Balmaghie, and met the congregation there at a public meeting, in order to “try their minds” as to giving him a call to be their pastor. This meeting took place in the church on April 30, 1701. On May 13, Mr. Johnston reported that he had “obeyed the appointment.” At the same time, a petition was presented declaring the people’s “willingness to subscribe a call, and earnestly desiring that a minister may be sent to moderate in a call” to Macmillan. Accordingly, they appointed Andrew Cameron to preach at Balmaghie on a Thursday and moderate in the call. Cameron was minister of Kirkcudbright, and the leading spirit in the Presbytery. It was by a strange irony of events that he was sent to arrange Macmillan’s settlement in a parish, from which

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* Rev. W. W. Coats, B.D., to whom I owe valuable assistance.

38 A Cameronian Apostle.

he was so soon to advocate Macmillan’s summary removal. This appointment as “moderator in the vacancy” brought Cameron into intimate relations with the people of Balmaghie, which he utilised afterwards, in the troubles, to address to them a “Letter” defending the Presbytery’s action, and urging submission to their will.

On June 24, Cameron reported that the people were unanimous in the call. Thereupon, “the parish of Balmaghie being called, compared James Livingstone, younger of Quintinespie, etc., from the said parish.” These commissioners presented a formal call, which they asked the Presbytery to “render” to Macmillan. The Presbytery found the call “orderly proceeded and very unanimous,” and delivered it to Macmillan, who was present. They at once began his “trials for ordination” by appointing him an “exercise and addition” on Colossians i. 11, to be delivered five weeks thereafter. The text is, “Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness,”—surely no inappropriate motto for the troubled and anxious years soon to come to the new minister of Balmaghie.

The prescribed exercise was read and approved on July 30, and the Presbytery then appointed the following further “pieces of trial”:—popular sermon on Psalm cxix. 19. (“I am a stranger in the earth; hide not thy commandments from me”),—Psalm 23 in Hebrew, “his Epocha, a creatione mundi ad diluvium” (from the Creation to the Flood), and Greek ad aperturam libri.

On August 26, these “trials” were undergone: Macmillan “sustained his disputes, delivered the Epocha given to him, and was examined in the Hebrew, Greek, and controversial questions.” He then signed the Confession of Faith, and “satisfied the Presbytery in the other parts of his trials conform to the Acts of Assembly.” Further, he “obliged himself to adhere to

Fair Weather. 39

the doctrine, discipline, worship, and government of this Church, conform to our engagements, and to follow no divisive courses, but submit to the judicatories of this Church, and the Presbytery in particular.” Here is some token of the distrust which Cameron alleges to have been felt regarding Macmillan, as a born “separatist.” The stringent pledge exacted from Macmillan to “submit to the Presbytery in particular,” seems to foreshadow the issue afterwards developed in the conflict, as the main ground of the Presbytery’s sentence, namely, that Macmillan had broken his pledge of submission.

However unwilling or distrustful they may have been, the Presbytery could not resist a unanimous call; and they proceeded, in the usual way, to appoint Mr. Samuel Spalding, minister of Parton, to serve the edict or intimation of the ordination. The ceremony itself was fixed for Thursday, September 18.

The preceding minute detail of the preliminary steps toward securing a minister, is not to be dismissed as trivial, since it reveals a state of things speedily and unhappily altered by the Patronage Act of 1712. In 1701, popular election still prevailed. It is quite true, as Dr. Andrew Thomson points out,* that the free call of the people was often merely nominal, since the leading heritor could, as a rule, carry things his own way, as in the days of pure patronage. Macmillan’s election, however, is absolutely clear of any such undue influences. The leading heritor, and former patron, was M‘Ghie of Balmaghie. But at this time, and for long after, he was under Presbyterial discipline and on the verge of excommunication.† Another heritor, the laird of Slogarie, had just been solemnly sentenced from the pulpit of Balmaghie with the “greater excommunication.”‡ It

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* Boston of Ettrick, p. 46.

† Presb., Rec., July 30, 1701, and elsewhere.

‡ Ibid. Aug., 26, 1701.

40 A Cameronian Apostle.

was the heir of a very small and unimportant property, Quintinespie, near Laurieston, who, along with other commissioners unnamed, presented the call. Macmillan was the people’s unfettered choice from the first. And this explains, to a measureable extent, the stedfastness of the people in clinging to their minister, when his trouble came soon after.

We must now wend our way to the tiny old church of Balmaghie, which held about 100 persons, or 200 at a pinch. Ordinations in a Galloway country parish are the highest of all high days. Every man and woman, who can be spared, turn out to witness a scene all the more impressive, because it may never be enacted again in the same place before their eyes. Aged people refer, years afterwards, to the day on which the minister was “placed,” as a luminous point of parochial history. Balmaghie Church was packed, long before its tinkling bell announced the advent of the Presbytery.

The brethren met first in the modest Manse, and read over their minutes. The Moderator this day was Alexander Telfair of Rerrick, the only literary character in the Presbytery; whose curious pamphlet, Modern Sadducism, had been published in 1695, and had enjoyed a remarkable success. Two editions appeared in its first year in Scotland, and one in London.* The clerk at the time (for the office was held in rotation) was William Tod of Buittle, afterwards to be Macmillan’s fellow protester for a brief period. Besides these officials, all the other ministers were present except Bryden of Tongland. Crossmichael was still vacant, as it had been for the last year. The entire number of ministers present was eleven, with three elders. The Presbytery included fourteen parishes, Carsphairn and Dalry being still annexed to Wigtown, and the three quoad sacra parishes of the present list being of course still in the dim and distant future.

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* Nich. Hist. and Trad. Tales, p. 3, note.

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The usual formalities were observed. The “edict” was returned as served; the people were three times called at the church-door to say if they had anything to object against Macmillan’s “doctrine, life, or conversation.” None compared, and accordingly the Presbytery proceeded to interrogate Macmillan in the usual way as to his “subjecting himself to the Presbytery as at last meeting.” He gave satisfactory assurances on this head.

A move was now made to the church, where Samuel Spalding of Parton, who had carried through the recent public forms, preached and presided. His text, a very significant one, was Luke xii. 42, 43,—“who then is that faithful and wise steward?” With these solemn and searching words ringing in his ears, Macmillan knelt down among his brethren, and received the imposition of their hands. When he arose it was in a new relation to the people, and one which neither he nor they were willing to sever for the space of 26 years. Seldom, indeed, has a closer bond existed between minister and congregation, than that which was riveted between Macmillan and Balmaghie. When at last he himself was forced to break it, the people still clung to him. And many lived and died, determined to know none other as their true and lawful pastor.

To us, the scene in the narrow and bare little kirk, on that September day, seems full of awe and solemnity. But there were not wanting the usual elements of human frailty. Cameron, who was present, looked on with suspicion as Macmillan took the ordination vows. He had exchanged a few words with Ewart of Kells, once more a member of Presbytery. And Ewart told him that the Presbytery were receiving a “bigot separatist” into their number. Rumours, too, soon flew about that there had been something like a “scene” during the service in church. Wodrow, with his marvellous scent for discreditable gossip, got traces of this obscure incident, if incident there was.

D

42 A Cameronian Apostle.

The passage is curious, and worth setting down, if only to show how untrustworthy his statements are:—

“July, 1710. He (Mr. Thomas Lining) likewise told me that Mr. John Macmillan, when ordained at Balmaghie, after the sermon he was called up and asked the ordinary questions. He answered all very distinctly, till the minister came to that, ‘will you promise subjection to church-judicatories?’ At that time, he pretended (or if it was real) to faint, and not be able to speak. And yet, at the next question, he was well enough again, and answered it. Mr. William Boyd took this disingenuity so ill, that he presently left them in the time of the action, and took his horse, and went off. The Presbytery either did not see, or did not so much observe it, or did not stop upon this incident, as reckoning him really bound by being there and not refusing subjection.”*

It is sufficient to point out, on this uncharitable passage, that William Boyd was not a member of the Presbytery at this time at all. He did not join it till April 1703, two years and a-half after the ordination. So, he and his horse ride away into thin air. And with his disappearance, the whole incident crumbles away. Lining, whom Wodrow quotes as his informant, was not of course present either. His account could only be obtained from his fellow-student Boyd, and Boyd also was not present. It may quite probably be true, that Macmillan shewed strong signs of agitation when the question was put. For this was the very point at issue all along. Were the Church Courts, as then constituted, entitled to that subjection which is due only to “free, faithful, and lawfully constitute” assemblies? Were they free? The Assembly of 1692 had been dissolved by the High Commissioner in the King’s name, in spite of the Moderator’s faint remonstrances. The Assembly of 1693 was prorogued by royal proclamation to 1694.† These facts Mac-

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* Wodrow, Anal. I. 290.

† See Informatory Vindication, p. 226, ed. 1707.

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millan knew, and we shall soon see how deeply they were imprinted on his memory. Again, were the judicatories faithful? Time alone could shew, and this thought sustained him in his acceptance of the ordination engagement. Were they lawfully constituted? He knew, that great numbers of Episcopalian “curates” sat, or were entitled to sit, as members. The Presbytery, now ordaining him, was itself not quite free from irregularities. The Moderator, Telfair, was commonly reported to have no regular orders at all. A Committee of the Synod had actually inquired into his qualifications, and their report was favourable.* Such scruples must have been in Macmillan’s conscience, and we cannot feel surprised, that he showed outward signs of mental disturbance. It was, also, the most solemn moment he had yet reached. Everything yet done by him in recognition of the existing Establishment, appeared small compared with this vow of obedience, which seemed to cut him off finally from his old associates. But Wodrow’s myth, about a base and childish trick of pretended fainting, has not a shred of accurate fact remaining. It was the product of bitter dislike and angry passion, produced in the minds of men, like Lining, who had quite thrown over their old friends and benefactors, and who illustrated the maxim, that none are such bitter foes, as those who have once been dearest friends.

Macmillan took his ordination vows honestly, as he had faced all his previous “trials.” But he could not bind himself to continue subject to the Church courts, if they at any time ceased to fulfil their own compact, implicitly made with every presbyter. The compact was well enough understood by the subtle and acute men, who guided the Presbytery. It was, in effect, this, that the Church, and all her presbyteries individually, should strenuously labour for the attainment of absolute free-

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* Nich. Hist. and Trad. Tales, p. 4.

44 A Cameronian Apostle.

dom within her spiritual sphere. Macmillan entered the Church, prepared to take his part in the work of vindicating the Church’s freedom, and regaining the “attainments,” which had been sacrificed to policy and the urgencies of a Revolution. I am not at all sure, that he had not been privately encouraged to expect energetic action of the sort from his Presbytery. Much of the strong feeling, soon to be displayed on both sides, may have sprung from the sense of betrayal in Macmillan’s mind, and the sense of questionable compromise in the minds of men like Cameron, Boyd, and Ewart. The Presbytery, on their own public confession, knew that their new member was a “separatist,” a covenanter of Richard Cameron’s school, a “man of the moss-hags.” Yet they admitted him to their fellowship, without requiring any disavowal of his high and strict Church views. True, they offer the feeble excuse that they “knew not that he had ever been so bigot a separatist, as indeed he was.”* In plain language, they fancied that he was as pliable as themselves, and would settle down in Balmaghie, contented with a few formal protests and resolutions, never intended to be followed up by action. They allege, indeed, that he was specially bound and pledged, but this is, on the face of it, a pure imagination. No Court can impose anything beyond the legal obligations entrusted to it. Macmillan was not, and could not be, “expressly engaged” any more, than other members of the Presbytery. He gave the same signatures and promises. If any additional engagements were wrung from him, they were illegal and therefore not binding. I believe, however, that Macmillan, on his ordination day, gave his vows ex animo, fully purposing to be a loyal and faithful minister of the Church. But he ardently longed and hoped, to see the Church made such as would be agreeable to his old friends of the United Societies.

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* Examination, Preface as formerly quoted.

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The cords of love and earliest association drew him still to these scattered Covenanters. He went in at the open door, but it was to hold it open for them. He could hardly, at the time, have anticipated that the swift course of events, in that stirring period, would so soon shut the open door upon both them and him, and thus drive him back to the spiritual home that he had left.