Kilbirnie West
James Dodson
Illustration: portraits captioned R. W. Knox. James Knox-Fletcher. Mrs Knox-Fletcher. William Mackie.
33
III
REV. PETER MACINDOE MARTIN
Five months were allowed to elapse before the congregation met to elect a successor to Mr Ferguson. The meeting took place on February 17, 1863, and only one name was proposed—that of the Rev. Peter Macindoe Martin—a son of the minister of Strathmiglo and a name-child of the Rev. Dr Peter Macindoe of Kilmarnock. The call was signed by 148 members and 72 adherents, and next day was sustained by the Presbytery. Mr Martin had just finished his Divinity course and had been licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh as recently as October 1. His election by Kilbirnie created a somewhat complicated situation for the young probationer. He already had had a call from the vacant congregation at Girvan in the same Presbytery, and the Presbytery of Edinburgh intimated that they had sustained another from the newly formed congregation of Carnoustie. Mr Martin speedily made known his views that he could not accept the Girvan call, and it was withdrawn. To adjudicate on the competing claims of Kilbirnie and Carnoustie, a meeting of representatives from the Presbyteries of Edinburgh and Kilmarnock took
34 KILBIRNIE WEST
place on February 25, when Mr Martin indicated his preference for Kilbirnie.
The ordination took place on April 16, when the Rev. T. H. Lang of Ayr preached from Zech. iii. 7, the ordination prayer was offered by the young minister’s father, and the charges were delivered by the Rev. M. G. Easton of Darvel. It is perhaps noteworthy that the congregational meeting, which arranged the procedure to be observed on the ordination day, decreed that the meal after the service should be a “Temperance Dinner.” On the following Sabbath Mr Martin was introduced to his congregation by his father who preached from the laconic text, “Receive us,” 2 Cor. vii. 2, the new minister taking the afternoon service and discoursing from Ps. lxxi. 16. “The church, notwithstanding the heavy rains,” we read, “was at all diets filled with crowded and attentive congregations.” An old custom at ordinations was faithfully observed, for the congregational minute of May 5 reads: “It was also proposed and agreed to that the cost of the new suit of clothes presented to our Pastor by the congregation be paid from the funds of the same.” Another kindly deed was to present to Mrs Ferguson the old pulpit Bible and psalm book so long used by her husband in the public services.
As was to be expected, the advent of a new minister made some difference to the congregation. One commendable change in its customs was introduced soon after Mr Martin’s settlement. Up to that time those who had incurred the censure of the Church were accustomed to be rebuked in the presence of
CONGREGATIONAL CHANGES 35
the congregation at an ordinary diet of public worship. The practice did not always tend to edification, and on October 25, 1863, the Session agreed that when the duty required to be undertaken the minister should announce before the benediction that public censure was to be administered, but that worshippers could depart or remain as they pleased. The minute adds that “in coming to this decision the Court were guided by the uniform practice of many sessions throughout the Church.” It cannot be doubted that much unnecessary unpleasantness was thereby avoided. In a year or two all such proceedings were conducted in private before the Session.
As is well known, the controversy over the Church’s relation to the Oath of Allegiance and to the Elective Franchise caused a certain diversity of opinion. The Synod in 1863 determined that in future discipline on account of the exercise of these public duties was to cease, and the vote resulted in the loss of one or two congregations to the denomination. Kilbirnie passed safely through the crisis, the only evidence of its existence being the resignation of a prominent elder, Mr John Muir, by way of protest against the decision of the Synod. He did not, however, sever his connection with the congregation.
A curious echo of the controversy was heard as late as 1878. The then minister asked in the Session what had been the practice of the court with regard to discipline for voting for members of Parliament prior to 1863. The reply was that “several members of the congregation (now deceased) and also three members of the congregation still alive, viz. Messrs
36 KILBIRNIE WEST
Bryce Muir, James Knox, and Malcolm Allan, had voted prior to 1863, and that this was tolerated. It was further stated that about the year 1856 Mr James Knox became a Justice of the Peace, and is so at the present date. Mr Robert Whiteford, senior member of Session, who was ordained in the year 1832, states that he does not remember of any members being visited with church discipline for voting since the year 1839, and on examining the Session records it appears that there are no entries bearing on this matter.” No indication is given why the question was raised at that particular time, but it had doubtless to do with some possible action on the part of the minority who refused to enter the Union with the Free Church. It might have been added that Mr William Knox, an ardent member of the congregation who died in June 1870, had all his life been a keen politician and reformer, and had taken an active part in the franchise struggle of 1832. No one ever thought that his duty to the Church was less efficiently performed on that account.
For many years the membership of the congregation had stood at 150; in 1864 it was still reported at that figure. Next year, however, an extraordinary advance was recorded, for the membership was given as 226. An examination of the Kirk-Session records seems to show that much earnest work was being done among the lapsed and the careless. It was common for husband and wife to be admitted together, and sometimes the catechumens had to purge themselves of serious offences before they were allowed to communicate. There is no evidence
INCREASE OF MEMBERSHIP 37
that the increase was in any way due to the wave of religious revival that had spread over the country in 1859-60. In June 1863, for example, fifteen were admitted on profession of faith and twenty in the following November—unusual figures for a small congregation. Certificates were also brought from other churches in the neighbourhood. The numbers were not due to any zealous slackness on the part of the minister, for he was opposed by his Session in desiring to make the practice of family worship a condition of membership. In November 1868 the roll numbered 211, but soon after Mr Martin’s withdrawal the membership dropped to the normal of past years, thereby suggesting that the increase was due to the minister’s personal influence and activity.
An unexpected termination, however, was soon put to what thus appeared to be a successful ministry. Some indication of the coming trouble was given as early as the spring of 1865, when complaint was made of smoking chimneys at the manse. Although improvements were attempted, dissatisfaction continued, as is evident from the fact that in March 1868 the congregational meeting agreed “to take the house of Lochead in Lochwinnoch for the use of Rev. Mr Martin from this date till the term of Whitsunday, 1869,” and if possible to let the manse for that time. Mr Martin must have removed at once, for at the next meeting it was announced that the Rev. John Yuille had been secured as a tenant. It was evident, however, that the minister had become uncomfortable in his work, and at the meeting of Session on
38 KILBIRNIE WEST
December 6, 1868, he announced his intention of demitting his charge at the ensuing meeting of Presbytery. The Kirk-Session were completely taken by surprise and “separated without any of them making a remark.”
The proceedings of the next few months were somewhat painful. The congregation were perplexed as to the course to pursue, although none showed any enthusiasm for retaining the minister. The situation was a dangerous one and might have had serious consequences for the unity of the congregation, but the crisis passed without disaster. With the exception of the resignation of one of the elders no actual loss was sustained through disruption. At the Presbytery meeting on January 5, 1869, Mr Martin tabled his resignation. He pleaded three grounds of dissatisfaction with his position—the manse was unhealthy, his wife specially suffering from it; the people were not friendly to his ministry as shown by their bad attendance at church; and his efforts had not been sufficiently encouraged and supported. The state of the manse was evidently the main ground of complaint. He had made certain suggestions to meet the difficulty, but the people felt themselves unable to do what he asked. There were no recriminations, at least in public, although much might have been laid at the door of the minister’s deficiencies of temper and deportment. The congregation considered that they had been badly used and made no effort towards an amicable settlement. On January 15 the Presbytery, “without giving any decision on the matters as between Mr Martin
MR MARTIN RESIGNS 39
and the Session and congregation at Kilbirnie,” accepted the resignation.
The case might well have ended there, but unfortunately a question of financial adjustment between Mr Martin and the congregation immediately emerged, and caused considerable bitterness. The late minister retained some money as stipend to which it was maintained he had no claim. Negotiations for its return proved of no avail, and at last appeal was made to the civil courts—a course of procedure that must have caused much searching of heart among good Cameronians. It was an unhappy episode. The Presbytery afterwards formally expressed its sympathy with the congregation in “the harassment to which they had of late been subjected, and especially in being unpleasantly dragged into a civil court to obtain what they were justly entitled to.”
Mr Martin’s subsequent career is full of interest. At a meeting of the Synod of the English Presbyterian Church in 1869 he was admitted to the standing of an ordained minister, and was sent to Ipswich to supply the extension charge there. His ministrations proved so acceptable that he was almost immediately called to the pastorate, and was inducted on June 18, 1869. During the succeeding eleven years he not only built a church but gathered together a most attached congregation. He resigned on July 30, 1880, to proceed to Durban in South Africa, to the care of which congregation he was called. There he repeated his success at Ipswich, the position which Presbyterianism holds in Durban to-day being
40 KILBIRNIE WEST
in large measure due, it is said, to his share in its early history. He died in April 1888. To commemorate his work in Ipswich the congregation there have placed a memorial window in the church he built. The inscription includes his first text at Ipswich: “He led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation,” and his last at Durban: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and for ever.” There is just the possibility that Mr Martin’s Ipswich text had some reference to his own recent personal experiences.
In 1863 Alexander Bryce Muir of Beith, a member of the Kilbirnie congregation, entered the Divinity Hall, then meeting in Glasgow under the superintendence of Dr William Symington and Dr W. H. Goold—the only lad, so far as known, belonging to the congregation who studied for the ministry. He was duly licensed by the Reformed Presbyterian Presbytery of Kilmarnock in 1869, but was discouraged from the beginning. All the pulpits of the denomination were filled at the time and there was no prospect of a vacancy anywhere. He accordingly asked to be set free so that he might apply to the United Presbyterian Church for admission as one of their probationers. He was received, and in 1870 was called to Otterburne in Northumberland. In 1874 he was translated to Birkenhead, where he died in 1887. It may also be mentioned that Rev. James Hunter, B.D., Laurieston, spent the early years of his life in the congregation.