CHAPTER LVII.

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: FORMATION 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.* 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 £2,600; and since its erection large * Dr. Burnside's MS. History.

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.* 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 Presbytery Records.

*

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 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.+ 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

* At present occupied as a garden by Mr. John A. Smyth, solicitor.

+ Among the accounts given in to the Committee was one of £3 5s. lid. 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.

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 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 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 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, 1788, 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!"* 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."† 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 *Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A. M., vol. iv., p. 400.

+ Ibid., p. 401.