In 1651 Charles II. was crowned at Scone, and signed the Covenant. On the Restoration in 1660 Episcopacy was re-established.
In 1689, immediately after the Revolution, Presbyterianism was finally established.
These changes from Episcopacy to Presbyterianism, and vice versâ, had very little effect in the Highlands, where the clergy and people long clung to Episcopacy; only one or two keen Covenanters on the east coast maintained Presbyterianism. The change in the government of the church was so slight, that in the days of Episcopacy the bishop, when present, presided as moderator over the Presbytery, which then consisted, as now, of the ministers and elders within the bounds. It was not until well into the eighteenth century that Presbyterianism became popular in Gairloch, and even then it does not appear to have introduced any great changes in the church, or in the form of worship. The principal Christian festivals were observed in Gairloch until the nineteenth century.
A list of all the ministers of Gairloch, with the dates of their presentation, will be found in [Table IV]. There are a few facts and anecdotes about several of them, which are worth recording here.
The Rev. Alexander Mackenzie was in 1583 presented to the parsonage and vicarage of Gairloch, vacant by the decease of Sir John Broik. Mr Mackenzie was vicar of Gairloch in 1590. He was the first vicar of Gairloch appointed after the Reformation.
In 1608 the Rev. Farquhar MacRae was appointed vicar of Gairloch by Bishop Leslie of Ross. He is referred to in our account of the old ironworks of Loch Maree, and some passages of his life are given in [Appendix A]. He was one of the Macraes of Kintail. In 1610 he was sent by Lord Mackenzie of Kintail on a mission to the Lews, with the most beneficial results. Though he continued his ministerial work in Gairloch until 1618, and though in his biography he is said to have been minister of Gairloch for ten years, yet his official position as such seems to have terminated sooner, for we find that some time before 1614 the Rev. Farquhar Mackenzie, who had "laureated" at the University of Edinburgh on 31st July 1606, was admitted minister of Gairloch. Probably Mr MacRae restricted his ministrations to those parts of Gairloch to the north of Loch Maree and Loch Ewe, which were then generally considered as in Loch Broom parish.
In 1649 the Rev. Roderick Mackenzie, third son of Roderick Mackenzie of Knock-backster, was admitted minister of Gairloch, and continued so until his death in March 1710, after an incumbency of sixty-one years. He seems to have been a man of quiet easy-going temperament. When he came to Gairloch Presbyterianism ruled; when Episcopacy was established in 1660, he conformed; and when the Revolution put an end to Episcopacy, he became a Presbyterian again. "Whatsoever king may reign, still I'll be vicar of Bray, sir!" The extracts from the presbytery records of the period, given in the first section of [Appendix F], shew how careless this worthy minister was to obey the mandates of the presbytery. He married a sister of the laird of Knockbain, and had a son, Kenneth, born about 1703.
Some time during the seventeenth century the Rev. Kenneth Mackenzie, an Episcopalian clergyman, came from Bute, and bought the Kernsary estate. He resided in the proprietor's house at Kirkton, still standing close to the present Inverewe churchyard in Londubh, and officiated in the old church there, some remains of which are still to be seen. His great-great-grandson, the late Rev. Hector Mackenzie, minister of Moy, stated, some few years ago, that he remembered his grandmother Mrs Mackenzie of Kernsary (called Mali Chruinn Donn) shewing him an old prayer-book in an oak chest at the house at Kirkton, and that she said the chest and prayer-book had belonged to his ancestor who bought Kernsary. A loose stone may be seen in the part of the ruined church which was used as the burial-place of the Kernsary family; it is inscribed "K M K 1678," and is believed to have recorded the date when the Rev. Kenneth Mackenzie built or restored the little church. Possibly this clergyman chose Gairloch as a comparatively safe refuge for an Episcopalian in the covenanting times, and his services were most likely purely voluntary, and not intended to compete with those of the minister of the parish; or he may have voluntarily taken the place of Mr Farquhar MacRae as minister for those parts of Gairloch which were considered to be in Loch Broom parish.
The Rev. John Morrison became minister of Gairloch 1st March 1711. Although Presbyterianism had now been established for more than twenty years, it appears that some of Mr Morrison's parishioners still clung to Episcopacy, and in consequence the poor man had a bad time of it.
At the first meeting of the presbytery after his admission, Mr Morrison presented a petition, stating "that after two days sojourn, in going to preach, he was interrupted at Kenlochewe by the tenants of Sir John Mackenzie of Coul, who had laid violent hands on him and his servant, rent his clothes, made prisoners of them, and kept them three days under guard in a cottage full of cattle and dung, without meat or bedding the first two days, the tenants relieving one another in turn by a fresh supply every day. On the third day a short supply was allowed, but they were yet kept prisoners in the same place without other accommodation. When the fifth day came Mr John was carried to Sir John's house, who declared no Presbyterian should be settled in any place where his influence extended, unless Her Majesty's forces did it by the strong hand."