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ECCLESIASTICAL: THE ROMAN
CATHOLIC CONGREGATION; THE EPISCOPALIANS; THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS; THE
SECESSION; THE RELIEF; THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS; THE INDEPENDENTS; THE
BAPTISTS; THE EVANGELICAL UNIONISTS; THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC-MOVEMENT FOR A
THIRD PLACE OF WORSHIP, ST. MARY'S-THE DISRUPTION AND ITS RESULTS: FOR-MATION
OF FREE CHURCH CONGREGATIONS IN DUMFRIES AND MAXWELLTOWN.
BEFORE the close of the
sixteenth century Dumfries was thoroughly Protestant, the Reformation
having been radical and complete. This result was effected chiefly by the
great body of the inhabitants renouncing Roman Catholicism, and in some
degree by the rigorous proscription to which all who adhered to that faith
were liable. It is reported that old St. Michael's Parish Church was the
last place throughout Scotland in which mass was celebrated before the
Presbyterian Establishment was set up; and before it was "said or sung"
again in the Burgh, many generations passed away. During that long
interval, such few Romanists as resided in the Parish could only take part
in public worship by attending, with some risk to themselves, at the
chapels of Terregles and Kirkconnell; and on more than one occasion the
priests who officiated at the latter place were seized and sent off to be
examined by the Privy Council, on charges of acting illegally by
prosecuting their calling and endeavouring to proselytize. Two hundred
years after the Reformation, there were only thirty-eight Roman Catholics
in the entire Parish of Dumfries. [Dr. Burnside's MS. History.] These were
ministered to by Mr. Pepper; but the body remained without a place of
worship till 1811, when a commodious chapel, dedicated to St. Andrew, was
built by subscription, to which the Terregles and Kirkconnell families
liberally contributed, as also the clergyman of the congregation, Mr.
William Reid. It cost, site included, about £2,G00 ; and since its
erection large sums have been expended on internal furnishings and
ornamentation. When Mr. Reid died, in 1845, at the advanced age of
seventy-eight, he was succeeded by Mr. Henry Small, who had previously
acted as his assistant for several years. On the death of Mr. Small, in
1857, Mr. John Strain of Dalbeattie became his successor. In 1858, Mr.
Strain was appointed President of Blair's College, near Aberdeen; and in
1864, was elected Bishop of Abila and Vicar-Apostolic of the Eastern
District. Mr. Patrick Macmanus, who had formerly officiated as curate to
Mr. Small, was transferred, in 1858, from Murthly Castle to Dumfries,
where he still continues to officiate. A schoolhouse with a fine
ornamental tower-the latter designed by the Honourable Marmaduke C.
Maxwell of Terregles-was built contiguous to the chapel in 1843. Fifteen
years afterwards the chapel acquired a still more imposing accompaniment,
in the shape of a tall, handsome spire. The lower part is Norman or
Romanesque, tinged with Byzantine, and from a design by Mr. John H. Bell,
architect; while the upper portion, or spire, which is Early English, and
is remarkable for its airy lightness as well as elegance, was designed by
Mr. Alexander Fraser, architect. The number of Roman Catholics in
Dumfries, Maxwelltown, and surrounding district, which has been greatly
swelled by immigrants from the sister island, is estimated at 2,640.
Episcopalianism was not
quite rooted out of the Burgh by the Revolution settlement; though the
Presbyterian clergy there, as elsewhere, strove hard to get it extirpated
from the country. On the 27th of April, 1703, the Presbytery of Dumfries
instructed Mr. Veitch "to oppose and protest against" any proposal that
might be made in the Commission of Assembly for granting a single grain of
toleration to " Black Prelacy," from which they had suffered so much.
[Presbytery Records.] About ten years afterwards, however, an Act of
Parliament was passed permitting all Episcopal clergymen who should take
the oath abjuring the cause of the exiled Stuarts, to use the Church of
England service in Scotland. In virtue of this just enactment, the
Episcopalians of the Burgh began soon to exercise their own mode of
worship openly; though it was not till 1756 that they were in
circumstances to build a chapel. A scheme for erecting a suitable fabric
was laid before a meeting of "the Episcopal Society in Dumfries," held on
the 22nd of March, 1754, the preamble stating that the society had "long
laboured under the very disagreeable necessity of having religious worship
in a place very unfit and uncommodious." The proposal in effect was, that
a chapel should be built, at a cost (including site) of £250, to
accommodate from 150 to 200 persons-£100 of the sum to be raised by
subscription, the rest to be borrowed; that the minister's stipend should
be restricted to £50, "paid out of the profits of the chappell;" that the
interest of the borrowed money should be discharged yearly; that £10
should be taken from the remaining surplus every year, with which to form
a sinking fund to liquidate the debt; and lastly, after these deductions,
that the sum of £8 6s. 8d. a year should be allotted for a clerk. This
scheme, on being read over to the meeting, was signed by all present,
numbering twenty-seven, in token of approval; and a committee-consisting
of Mr. Richard Jameson, minister; Mr. Charles Stewart of Shambelly, the
head of an ancient family long settled in Kirkcudbrightshire; Mr. William
Carruthers, merchant in Dumfries; and Mr. John Story, writer there-was
named to carry it into effect. In due time the chapel was built on a site
[At present occupied as a garden by Mr. John A. Smyth, solicitor.] in
Lochmaben-gate; but though Sir William Grierson of Rockhall furnished
building materials without charge, in the shape of 10,000 bricks, and Sir
John Douglas of Kelhead supplied twenty cart-loads of lime on the same
free terms, and though others of the neighbouring - gentry gave liberal
subscriptions, the committee found that the expenditure exceeded the fund
at their disposal by more than £200. [Among the accounts given in to the
Committee was one of £3 5s. 1½d. from "Painter M`Ghie," as he was
familiarly called-the Jacobite whose false alarm in 1745 sent Prince
Charlie in hot haste out of the Burgh.] From the wealthy lord of Staffold
Hall money had to be borrowed, the interest of which was not paid; and Mr.
Lowthian having assigned the bond to his nephew, Mr. Ross, merchant in
Dumfries, that gentleman would have raised diligence upon it, had not Mr.
John Bushby (with whose name all readers of Burns are familiar) come to
the rescue by lifting the bond-which, however, Mr. Stewart had ultimately
to discharge. By pecuniary difficulties such as these, the infant
congregation was nearly extinguished: but it struggled through, and
survived them all; and now, when matured, it is one of the wealthiest in
the Burgh. The papers relating to its early history show that the revival
and reorganization of Episcopalianism in Dumfries were mainly due to the
exertions of Mr. Charles Stewart of Shambelly. [The Shambelly branch of
the Stewarts has been settled in that estate for many hundred years.
Captain William Stewart of Shambelly, a gallant officer who served under
Sir Robert Rich in Flanders, died in July, 1745, of wounds received in
action; and at his death the property devolved upon his brothergerman,
Charles Stewart, whose services to the Episcopalian body are recorded in
the text. Charles Stewart was a devoted Jacobite. He occupied as his town
residence the large house in Nith Place which forms part of the premises
that belong to the Mechanics' Institute, and was among the first of the
Dumfriesians to welcome his royal namesake when he entered the Burgh in
1745. The grandson of Charles, Mr. William Stewart, succeeded to the
estate in 1844, and is the present head of the family.] The chapel in
Lochmaben-gate was a plain building, octagonal in form, with a pavilion
roof. A much larger and handsomer place of worship in Buccleuch Street has
been occupied by the congregation since about 1820; and the foundation
stone of what promises to be a very imposing Episcopal church, was laid on
the 1st of August, 1867, at Dunbar Terrace, by Mr. Gilchrist Clark of
Speddoch (acting for Colonel M'Murdo, the lay representative of the
congregation), in presence of the bishop of the diocese, the clergyman of
the congregation, and many of its members. The design-supplied by Mr. W.
Slater and Mr. R. H. Carpenter, Regent Street, London-is of the
First-pointed Gothic, and includes a tower and spire 120 feet high.
Sittings will be provided (a hundred of them free) for 450 worshippers.
Dr. Babington, his son Mr. Charles Babington, Mr. Farquhar, and Mr. Short,
have been successively ministers of this congregation; and the present
clergyman is Mr. Archibald M'Ewen, M.A., who succeeded Mr. Short in 1846.
From 600 to 700 souls are connected with the congregation, the
communicants numbering about 170. During the incumbency of Mr. Babington,
the congregation, originally connected with the Anglican Establishment,
was received into full communion with the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Betwixt 1780 -and 1790,
Dumfries was repeatedly visited by the apostle of Methodism, John Wesley.
He originated a "society" or congregation in the Burgh, which seems at
first to have been superintended by a Mr. Dall. There are several entries
in Wesley's journal by which the footprints of the great divine may be
traced in the town, and his impressions of it can be obtained. Proceeding
from Carlisle on the 13th of October, 17 88, he says:- "To-day we went on
through lovely roads to Dumfries. Indeed, all the roads are wonderfully
mended since I last travelled this way. Dumfries is beautifully situated,
both as to wood and water, and gently rising hills; &c.; and is, I think,
the neatest, as well as the most civilized, town that I have seen in the
kingdom. Robert Dall soon found me out. He has behaved exceedingly well,
and done much good here; but he is a bold man. He has begun building a
preaching-house larger than any in Scotland, except those in Glasgow and
Edinburgh' In the evening I preached abroad in a convenient street on one
side of the town. Rich and poor attended from every quarter, of whatever
denomination; and every one seemed to hear for life. Surely, the Scots are
the best hearers in Europe!" [Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., vol.
iv., p. 400.] Next day Mr. Wesley preached in the unfinished meeting-house
situated in Queen Street; and again in the evening, when, he says, the
congregation was nearly double, and, if possible, more attentive. " One or
two gentlemen, so called," he says, "laughed at first; but they quickly
disappeared, and all were still while I explained the worship of God in
spirit and in truth. Two of the clergy [probably Dr. Burnside and Dr.
Mutter] followed me to my lodging, and gave me a pressing invitation to
their houses. Several others, it seems, intended to do the same; but
having a long journey before me, I left Dumfries earlier in the morning
than they expected." [Ibid., p. 401.] Subjoined are other entries, all,
like the preceding one, highly complimentary to the Dumfriesians. "June
31st, 1790.-We set out at two [from Glasgow], and came to Moffat soon
after three in the afternoon. Taking fresh horses, we reached Dumfries
between six and seven, and found the congregation waiting: so, after a few
minutes, I preached on Mark iii. 35. Tuesday, June 1st. - Mr. Mather had a
good congregation at five. In the day I conversed with many of the
822 people: a candid, humane, well-behaved people; unlike most that I have
found in Scotland. In the evening the house was filled; and truly God
preached to their hearts. Surely God will have a considerable people
here." [Journal, vol. iv., p. 466.] Methodism did thrive in Dumfries for a
considerable period after being initiated there by its founder. It was in
its most flourishing condition, perhaps, from 1800 to 1825, including a
period (1821-3) when the Rev. Hodgson Casson, an eccentric humourist and
good preacher, had charge of the society. Since the latter year, owing
greatly to the removal by death of some of the leading Wesleyan
families-the Bailiefs, Hinchsliffes, and others-its membership has been
much reduced. As one sign of progress, however, it may be mentioned that
the chapel in Buccleuch Street, which the Episcopalians will vacate when
their new chapel is erected, has been purchased for the Wesleyans.
There was no organized body
of Dissenters from the Established Church in Dumfries till towards the
middle of the eighteenth century. In 1733, just as Ebenezer Erskine and
his seven colleagues found themselves under the necessity of separating
from the Establishment, the Rev. James Purcell was presented by the Crown
to the Church of Troqueer, much against the wish of the parishioners. They
opposed his settlement over them, were supported by the Presbytery of
Dumfries, and, on appeal, also by the Synod; but when the case was carried
to the General Assembly, in 1734, that court reversed the previous
decisions, and ordered Mr. Purcell's ordination to be proceeded with;
which injunction the Presbytery refused to execute, and in consequence he
was ordained by a committee of the Assembly appointed for that purpose.
This high-handed act almost emptied the Church of Troqueer. Many of the
people connected themselves with other parochial churches; others flocked
to hear the seceding preachers, then opportunely visiting the district,
and eventually became the nucleus of a dissenting congregation. They
travelled for many years for ordinances to Lockerbie, till, in 1759, on
being organized at Dumfries by the Associate Synod of Sanquhar, they
obtained a minister of their own, Mr. Thomas Herbertson, ordained over
them in September, 1761. The newly-formed congregation enjoyed his
services for only eleven months. In 1764 they addressed a call to Mr.
William Inglis, a native of Leslie, in Fifeshire; who, having accepted it,
was ordained early in the following year. While Robert Burns resided in
the Burgh, he was a seat-holder in Mr. Inglis's church, and often sat
under his ministry; and when the poet was asked, in a taunting tone, why
he did so, his reply was characteristic, and highly complimentary to the
preacher. "I go," said Burns, "to hear Mr. Inglis because he preaches what
lie believes, and practises what he preaches." [Statement made by
the Rev. D. L. Scott, at a soiree held on the evening of the 23rd of
December, 1861, to commemorate the centenary of the congregation.] On the
22nd of June, 1810, Mr. James Clyde, probationer, Perth, was ordained
colleague and successor to Mr. Inglis. The latter dying in 1826, the
entire pastoral duties devolved on Mr. Clyde till 1838; when he received
Mr. David L. Scott of Dalravel, Perthshire, as his assistant and
successor. Mr. Clyde died on the 7th of March, 1851, in the seventy-fifth
year of his age and the forty-first of his ministry; and his successor,
Mr. Scott, is the present pastor of the congregation. Their first place of
worship was built about 1760, in Loreburn Street: their present one, a
handsome Gothic church, was erected on the same site in 1829. Number of
communicants on the roll, 305.
Another body of seceders
from the Established Church, the Relief, took root in the Burgh in 1788,
planted there by the Relief Presbytery of Glasgow. Mr. John Lawson was the
first pastor of the congregation, he having been ordained about a year
after its formation. On resigning his charge, in 1807, he was succeeded in
the following year by Mr. Andrew Fyfe, who, with a large number of the
congregation, as is elsewhere stated, joined the Established Church in
1835. The next minister was Mr. William Adam, ordained in 1837. He
remained only a short period in the charge; Mr. William Blackwood
succeeding him in the spring of 1840, and continuing his oversight of the
congregation till 1845. Mr. John Hog;, ordained in the following January,
demitted in 1850; and soon afterwards a call was given to the present
minister, Mr. John Torrance, whose ordination took place on the 20th of
November, 1851. The church built in 1788 bore the following
inscription: -" Christo et Ecclesiae Liberatae Dicata." It was
reconstructed internally in the autumn of 1858, at a cost of about £250.
In 1867 the building was purchased for a wool store by Messrs. T. & R.
Carlyle, Waterbeck; and a very handsome church, with spire, in the Pointed
Gothic style, from a design by Mr. Barbour, is being erected for the
congregation near the corner where Townhead Street joins with the Lovers'
Walk. It will be seated for 460 persons. Number of communicants, 200.
About fifty years after the
Secession Church had obtained a solid footing in Dumfries, a second
congregation was formed in the town under singular circumstances. Mr. John
Lawson of the Relief, having received the present of a gown or cassock,
and intimated his intention of wearing it when preaching, not a few of his
hearers were dissatisfied. They looked upon the gown as worse than
uncalled for; they considered it an unseemly innovation on the old simple
clerical attire, and as savouring in some degree of that prelatical system
which they had learned from their fathers, and with such good reason, to
detest. They remonstrated with their minister against his wearing the
obnoxious garment, without success; and rather than seem to sanction its
use, they, in number about a hundred, left his church, and formed
themselves into a separate body, assembling in a meeting-house erected on
the "Burghers' Brae," Buccleuch Street. The new congregation succeeded in
obtaining an able pastor, Mr. Walter Dunlop, a native of Haddingtonshire,
whom they called in February, 1809, when he was officiating in Liddesdale.
He was soon after inducted into his Dumfries charge, and continued to
occupy it with success for the remainder of his life. Mr. Dunlop was in
many respects a remarkable man. He was a good preacher, and eventually
became as noted in the neighbourhood for his conversational humour as for
his pulpit oratory. The latter, though what would now be deemed
old-fashioned and rustic, was highly effective. The manner of it was warm,
earnest, and impressive; the matter, rich, "sappy," and soundly
evangelical. So active and irrepressible was his perception of the
ridiculous, and so fond was he of repartee, or of putting down any
assumption, or of "shooting folly as it flies," that he was sometimes
blamed for indulging in sallies that were out of keeping with his sacred
calling. But if in this respect he was not beyond criticism, it is due to
his memory to say, that he was devotedly attentive at the couch of
suffering and the bed of death. His natural temperament might lead him to
the house of mirth, but it never caused him to neglect his visits to the
house of mourning. Mr. Dunlop, when at his best, had a portly, "sonsie"
presence, which accorded well with his reputation as a humourist. In 1845,
when failing with increasing years, the congregation elected as his
colleague and successor the Rev. Marshall N. Goold. Mr. Dunlop, however,
died on the 4th of November, 1846, in the seventy-second year of his age
and the forty-second of his ministry, a few months before the ordination
of Mr. Goold, who has since then continued to be the sole minister of the
congregation. An imposing and tasteful new church, according to a Gothic
design furnished by Mr. Alexander Crombie, architect, Dumfries, was
erected by the congregation on the site of their original place of worship
in Buccleuch Street. It was opened on the 17th of May, 1863; and is highly
ornamental to that fashionable part of the town. Its entire cost was about
£2,000. There are nearly 400 names on the communion roll.
The district which gave
Renwick to the Cameronians has always abounded with them since the date of
their origin. Early in the eighteenth century the village of Quarrelwood,
Kirkmahoe, was one of the main centres of the body in Scotland, and it
eventually became its chief seat in Dumfriesshire. In 1743, the
Quarrelwood pastor, Mr. John Curtis, took part with three other ministers
in constituting the Reformed Presbyterian Church, as the denomination came
to be called. The region assigned to the little ecclesiastical capital,
Quarrelwood, was a very extensive one, bounded by the Esk on the east, the
Urr on the west, by a line from New Galloway to Moffat on the north, and
by the Solway on the south. It stretched over between thirty and forty
parishes, so that the officiating pastor must have undergone immense toil
in ministering to the far-scattered families of his flock, at a time when
there were few roads and scarcely a wheeled carriage in the County. Mr.
James Thomson, ordained in 1796, was the second minister; and in his day a
new church and manse were erected at Quarrelwood, and the congregation
multiplied extensively. In course of time it became the nursing-mother of
new settlements, there being now seven Reformed Presbyterian congregations
in the district, all tracing their origin to the little sanctuary at
Quarrelwood. It was not till 1826 that a few members of the body began to
hold meetings in Dumfries. Increasing in number, they took the George Inn
ball-room, and next the Old Assembly Rooms, as temporary places of
worship; and having obtained the services of a regular pastor-Mr. James
Brown, ordained in November, 1831-they erected their present commodious
church in Irving Street, which was opened in May of the following year. On
Mr. John Jeffray, the minister of the Quarrelwood congregation, proceeding
to America, its members, with one accord, connected themselves with the
Dumfries congregation. Mr. Brown's ministry lasted little more than two
years. During the cholera epidemic of 1832 he overtasked his strength in
visiting the sick, and died young, of consumption, in May, 1834, He was
succeeded by Mr. John M'Dermid, ordained in October, 1835, who, after
ministering acceptably to the congregation for nearly twenty years,
accepted a call to the third Glasgow congregation. Mr. Alexander Macleod
Symington, B.A., son of the distinguished Professor William Symington, was
ordained as Mr. M'Dermid's successor on the 12th of June, 1856; and he
continued to officiate as minister of the congregation till 1867, when he
accepted a call from the congregation of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church,
Birkenhead. The Dumfries congregation possesses several interesting relics
connecting it with Quarrelwood and the fathers of the Church. These are a
set of communion utensils, consisting of two large oval plates, four
flagons, four cups, all of pewter, with the words engraved on each, "
Belonging to the Old Covenanted Presbyterian Dissenters in Scotland,
1745;" also numerous tokens of sheet lead, square shape, initialed " G. M.
[General Meeting], 1745," on one side, and " L. S." (Lord's Supper) on the
other. [Some of these particulars are taken from a statement made by Mr.
James Halliday at an annual meeting of the congregation, on the 23rd of
February, 1865.] In 1866 the interior of the church was reconstructed, and
a spacious hall was added, which is used as a school-room and for
congregational meetings. The number of communicants is about 300.
To the labours and
liberality of the brothers Haldane is traceable the first formation in the
Burgh of an Independent or Congregational church. The elder of the two,
James A. Haldane, carried out a series of preaching tours through
Scotland, commencing in 1797; and afterwards the younger, Robert, joined
in the work. They repeatedly visited Dumfries, where, as was their wont,
they held numerous field-meetings, which were addressed by James Haldane,
who was a Boanerges in preaching power. Sometimes Mr. Charles Simeon, of
King's College, Cambridge, and Mr. Rowland Hill, were associated with the
Haldanes in their itinerating home mission. The General Assembly-at that
time pervaded by a chilling "moderatism" -sought to check the evangelizing
enterprise by issuing a "pastoral admonition," in which they warned the
people to beware of strange preachers, and debarred Episcopalians or other
strangers from occupying the pulpits of the Established Church. This edict
caused the Messrs. Haldane to secede from the Establishment, and to adopt
the Congregational form of ecclesiastical government. Mr. Robert Haldane,
at an expense of £30,000, erected or purchased places of worship in
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Perth, Dumfries, and other towns, in which
they might have unrestricted liberty to preach. The chapel thus originated
in Dumfries was lost to the Independent body by the brothers who had built
it becoming Baptists. In 1814 it was purchased by the County for a
Court-house; and after being refronted, was opened as such by the Lords of
Justiciary in the spring of 1816. In 1866 it was bought by the Burgh for a
Town Hall, at a cost of £1,120. About 1810, the Dumfries Independents,
then worshipping in a small chapel in Irish Street, gave a call to Mr.
John Dunn of Berwick-onTweed, under whose ministry they increased greatly
in number. He was a man of almost apostolic fervour; and his name, for a
series of years, was associated with many philanthropic movements in the
town and district. Soon after the death of Mr. Dunn, in 1820, Mr. Thomas
Young became pastor of the church; and on his removal to Garliestown, in
1833, lie was succeeded by the present minister, Mr. Robert Machray, M.A.
A new Inde-pendent chapel, erected in Irving Street, after a neat Italian
design, was opened on the 6th of September, 1835; and it was enlarged so
as to furnish 650 sittings, in 1862. In 1842 Mr. Machray resigned his
charge, that he might proceed to London; and in 1854 he returned, on
invitation, to his former pastorate-the duties of which, in the interval,
were successively discharged by Mr. James Cameron, now of Colchester ; Mr.
James Mann, now of Birkenhead; and Mr. Thomas Pullar, who went to
Hamilton, and eventually to Canada. Number of church members, 130.
A small body of Baptists
has existed for a long time in the Burgh, but without any stated pastor.
The members meet in the chapel in Irish Street (formerly occupied by the
Independents) for worship and mutual exhortation.
How much, in matters
municipal and social, the Burgh has been influenced by the Irvings, we
have frequently shown; and we have now to point out, in a line or two, how
one of the greatest of the name, if not "the noblest Roman of them all,"
set his mark upon its ecclesiastical polity. After Edward Irvingborn at
Annan, the capital of the district in which his race was cradled-was cast
out from the Scottish Church, in 1833, he visited Dumfries, and originated
a congregation, holding his peculiar views regarding apostolic gifts, the
personal reign of Christ, and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. After
the lapse of several years, its members were scattered; but about eleven
years ago the congregation was reconstructed, and, as far as circumstances
would then permit, the ritual of the Catholic Apostolic Church was
introduced, that being the name taken by the denomination which Mr. Irving
originated. The Irish Street chapel was for a while occupied by the body;
but they now possess a small building specially designed for their
'peculiar service, which was erected at a cost of about £1,000, in Queen
Street, and opened on the 12th of March, 1865. The style is Norman Gothic,
its chief feature a front elevation with tower and pinnacle fifty-eight
feet high. The office-bearers of the congregation are of various grades,
the chief being Mr. Robert Craig and Mr. Thomas Graham, ministers.
Early in January, 1862, a
branch of the Evangelical Union Church was formed in Dumfries, chiefly by
members of other denominations who had been led to adopt Arminian views of
the Atonement. They meet in the Market Hall, not yet having acquired a
chapel of their own. Mr. John Dunlop, ordained 3rd November, 1863, was the
first pastor of the church; and he having resigned his charge, was
succeeded by the present minister, Mr. James Maconachie, whose induction
took place on the 9th of April, 1865. The church is Congregational in its
form of government: membership fully one hundred, with a considerable body
of adherents.
A movement for a third
place of worship in connection with the Established Church was commenced
in 1835, under the following circumstances. Mr. Andrew Fyfe, minister of
the Relief church, and a large majority of his congregation, presented a
petition in that year to the ecclesiastical courts, praying to be admitted
within the pale of the Establishment. This prayer was acceded to; but when
the petitioners sought to carry away with them the church and manse from
the Relief body, the minority who remained in it successfully resisted the
attempt by the aid of the civil courts, and Mr. Fyfe and his adherents
were left without a place to worship in. That they might not remain long
in such a predicament, a subscription was entered into, and so zealously
promoted by Major Adair, Captain M'Dowall, Mr. John Anderson, bookseller,
and other gentlemen, that in the course of a few months a fund of £2,520
was obtained, and a fine commanding site for the new ecclesiastical
edifice was secured-none other than the celebrated eminence on which
Bruce's brother-in-law, Sir Christopher Seton, was executed by command of
Edward I., and on which the patriot's widow afterwards erected a chapel
dedicated to his memory. On this hallowed mount, granted by the Crown for
the purpose, the foundation stone of the building was laid, with masonic
honours, on the 24th of May, 1837; and, under the name of St. Mary's
Church, it was first opened for public worship on Sabbath the 17th of
November, 1839. Being Gothic in its architecture, it is in keeping with
the historical associations of the place, and is altogether a very elegant
church. The architect of the building was Mr. John Henderson of Edinburgh;
its cost, £2,400. Additions by purchase were made to the ground for the
formation of a cemetery, which is already mournfully studded with the
memorials of a populous race that lie slumbering beneath its turf; one of
its earliest tenants having been the first pastor of St. Mary's, Mr. Peter
Thomson of Kincardine, Perthshire, who, after a brief but bright
ministerial career of nine months, died of fever caught in the course of
one of his pastoral visits. Mr. Fyfe and some of his friends were rather
dissatisfied with the arrangement, which, instead of making him the
minister of St. Mary's, appointed him as Mr. Thomson's colleague, with an
annual stipend of only £30, and the privilege of preaching in the
evenings, and getting the collections then taken by way of supplement. Mr.
John R. Mackenzie of Inverness was ordained as successor to Mr. Thomson,
in the summer of 1841; and under his ministry the congregation, already
large, increased considerably. For the year ending Martinmas, 1841, the
rent for sittings, every one of which was taken, amounted to £200 17s.;
the collections to £93; the minister's stipend being fixed at £180. When
the Disruption occurred, in May, 1843, Mr. Mackenzie, with the great
majority of his people, joined the Free Church. For upwards of two years
afterwards no new minister was settled in St. Mary's, its pulpit being
supplied fortnightly by the Presbytery. As might have been supposed, the
attendance was miserably thin, and the revenue much reduced. For the half
year ending November, 1844, the seat rents and collections amounted to
less than £39; eventually the sittings were not let at all, and for the
next six months, ending in May, 1845, the proceeds of the ladle and the
plate were but £9 2s. 1d. The congregation reached a zero-point when, one
forenoon whilst the air was congenially cold, they adjourned for service
to the vestry, in which there was room enough and to spare after they had
all assembled.
The fortunes of the
congregation revived soon after Dr. Freeland, formerly of Airdrie, became
their minister, in July, 1845; as a proof of which the seat rents rose to
£146 11s. for the year ending November, 1846, and the collections to £96.
Dr. Freeland having been translated to the church and parish of Balmaghie
early in 1847, he was succeeded by Mr. David Brown, now of St. Enoch's
Church, Glasgow. The next minister of St. Mary's was Mr. James Stewart;
and he having become settled at Wilton, Mr. John Mein Austin, formerly of
Johnstone, succeeded him, in May, 1852. Mr. Austin's pastorate was
signalized by the endowment of St. Mary's, and its erection into a regular
parish church. This was effected in 1853, at an expense of £3,590, about
£1,200 of which was obtained by subscription, £800 from the General
Assembly's Endowment Committee, while the rest was borrowed on the
personal security of the trustees of the church; the principal expenditure
having been on the purchase of feu duties, which yield £137 12s. 9d. a
year. Mr. Austin became parish minister of St. Mungo in the beginning of
1861; and during his last year in St. Mary's the seat rents yielded £121;
the collections, £78 7s. His successor, Mr. William B. Turnbull, formerly
of Edinburgh, was ordained in May, 1862. Mr. Turnbull finding that the
debt, which amounted to £1,550, was a disheartening incubus on both
minister and people, resolved, if possible, to get rid of it. By a sale of
grave plots, and from other sources, it was reduced to £1,200; by means of
a subscription it was further diminished to little more than £400; and by
a crowning device, that of a bazaar, held towards the close of 1863, the
entire remaining liabilities were swept away, and a small balance was left
in the hands of the treasurer. For the year ending November, 1864, the
seat rents yielded £148; the collections £100 2s.; and the whole revenue
of the church amounted to £383 8s. The stipend has ranged from £180-the
sum paid to Mr. Mackenzieto £200 and to £320 5s.; the latter amount having
been received by Mr. Turnbull during the second year of his incumbency.
Mr. Turnbull accepted the presentation to Townhead Church, Glasgow, in
1866, and was succeeded by the present minister, Mr. James Mackie,
formerly of Partick, Glasgow. The names on the communion roll number about
480. [Many of these details are taken from a statement drawn up for the
congregation by one of its members, Mr. William Milligan, solicitor.]
Dumfries took a fair share
in the great "ten years' conflict" which ended in the disruption of the
National Church on the 18th of May, 1843. A few weeks before that date,
the local Presbytery was rent by the withdrawal from it of many members,
because the majority, acting according to the prescribed policy of the
moderates, persisted in excluding the names of quoad sacra ministers from
its roll. Those who retired formed themselves into a Constitutional or
Protesting Presbytery; and when the Free Church of Scotland was formed,
congregations actuated by the same principles as the Presbytery were
organized in nearly every parish of the district. The members and
adherents of St. Mary's congregation who joined Mr. Mackenzie in quitting
the Establishment, together with not a few from St. Michael's and the New
Church, worshipped as a Free Church congregation for nearly a year in the
Old Assembly Rooms, varied by occasional open-air diets in the summer
months. Their first communion was dispensed in the Castle Gardens, George
Street, on the 27th of August, 1843, in presence of about 3,000 persons,
and under circumstances which resembled in some respects the great
hill-side sacramental assemblages of the olden time. The services
throughout were highly impressive, acquiring a tone of subdued enthusiasm,
as well as of solemnity, from the character of the conditions with which
they were associated. On the preceding day, the foundation stone of a
church for the congregation was laid in George Street by the Rev. Dr.
Candlish; on the 14th of April, 1844, it was opened for divine service;
and the sacrament of the supper was dispensed in it on the following
Sabbath, to upwards of 600 communicants. The building is plain, but neat,
externally; internally, it is elegant and commodious, affording sitting
room for 1,000 persons. The cost, including site, was about £1,400. A
manse adjoining the church was built in 1846. In March, 1847, Mr. (now
Dr.) Mackenzie accepted a call from the Broad Street congregation,
Birmingham, in connection with the English Presbyterian Church, and was
succeeded by Mr. James Julius Wood, M.A., formerly of New Greyfriars',
Edinburgh, who was inducted on the 8th of June, 1848. In 1856 he received
the degree of D.D. from the University of Glasgow; and in 1857 Dr. Wood
had the honour of being elected moderator of the General Assembly of the
Free Church of Scotland. This congregation, over which he still ministers,
has all along been one of the largest and most flourishing in the town.
Number of communicants, fully 600.
On the opposite bank of the
Nith, the results of the Disruption were not less decisive. During the
church-extension movement begun by Dr. Chalmers, a chapel of ease was
erected in Maxwelltown, of which Mr. James Begg, now Dr. Begg of
Edinburgh, was the first minister. Built in 1829, it was destroyed by fire
on the evening of Rood-fair Wednesday, 1842, and next year a new chapel
was erected in its stead; the congregation-a large one from the
first-continuing to prosper under the ministry of Mr. Ranken. So many of
its members and adherents withdrew to constitute a Free Church
congregation, that the chapel was nearly emptied, even though its minister
thought fit to continue in the Established Church.[The Maxwelltown
congregation in connection with the Established Church is under the
ministry of Mr. William Graham, ordained in 1863.] At first they met for
worship in the stackyard at Nithside, the proprietor of which estate, Mr.
Philip Forsyth, was a stanch member of the Free Church, and did much to
promote its principles, as well as to secure the success of the
Maxwelltown congregation. On the 28th of August, 1843, the foundation
stone of a church for the congregation was laid by him at Laurieknowe; and
so active were the contractors, that it was opened for worship on the 19th
of November following. On the 2nd of October the congregation gave a
unanimous call to Mr. William Brown Clark, minister at Half-Morton, who
eventually accepted the same, and was inducted on the 5th of April, 1844.
In February, 1853, Mr. Clark resigned his charge, in order to accept the
pastorate of a Presbyterian congregation in Quebec. His successor, Mr.
David Purves, formerly of Aberdour, Fifeshire, the present minister, to
whom a unanimous call was given, was inducted on the 6th of October, 1813.
The church being a plain, unpretentious building, the congregation
resolved, in 1865, to erect a very handsome new church, with spire, from a
Gothic design by Mr. Barbour, which was founded on the 6th of July, that
year, Mr. Murray Dunlop of Corsock, M.P., performing the ceremony; and it
was occupied by them for the first time on the 15th of November, 1866, Dr.
Begg conducting the opening services. The church cost, with site, about
£2,200; of which sum Mr. William Milligan of Westpark contributed £300.
Present number of communicants, about 500.
In 1864 there rose up at
the foot of High Street, Dumfries, a beautiful Territorial Church, which
is at once the product and memento of an extraordinary religious awakening
that took place in the town during the spring of 1861. Some of those who
experienced the influence of that revival, resolved to put forth a special
effort, in order to give permanence to its results, and extend a similar
influence to such as were still living in the habitual neglect of
religious ordinances. The scheme met with a large measure of success. A
congregation was formed under the care of Mr. Robert Milligan, now of
Wolflee ; and Mr. Gilbert Laurie, after ministering to them for two years,
was ordained as their pastor in September, 1866-the Free Church Assembly
having previously sanctioned the charge. The Territorial Church, built for
the congregation through the liberality of Mr. Milligan of Westpark; Mr.
George Henderson of Nunholm, and other friends, was opened for service on
the 1st of January, 1865. It cost, with site, about £1,800: it supplies
accommodation for 500 sitters; and there is provision for the erection of
galleries, if needed, to hold 250 more. The average attendance is upwards
of 400; number of communicants, about 200. Connected with the church there
is a spacious hall, in which a flourishing school is held, attended by
about 200 children, chiefly of the poorer classes.
As showing, in a single
sentence, the progress of Dumfries ecclesiastically considered, it may be
mentioned that, a hundred and forty years ago, there was only one
congregation in the Burgh; and that at present there are no fewer than
sixteen congregations, only two of which are State-endowed, the rest
maintaining ordinances and defraying all other expenses on the voluntary
principle. |
