The Presbytery now once more consisted of fifteen parishes and three chapels. The vacancies in the parishes were easily supplied. It was different with the chapels. A new minister was, indeed, ordained at Ardoch in December, 1844, but it was 1848 before the West Church, Crieff, and the Chapel of Blairingone were once more re-opened for worship in connection with the Church of Scotland. The decks had been cleared after the storm, the rigging re-fitted, and the sails spread once more to catch the favouring breeze. In a few years the Presbytery's organisation had become more efficient than ever. In 1854 certain portions of the parishes of Monzie and Foulis were disjoined from the Presbytery to form a part of the new parish of Logiealmond. In 1855, Ardoch was erected into a parish quoad omnia. In 1864, the West Church, Crieff, became a parish quoad sacra. The Chapel of Blairingone was also by and by to become a parish; yet, when it did so, it no longer formed a part of the Presbytery of Auchterarder. In 1856 the General Assembly determined to create a new Presbytery of Kinross, and for this purpose to disjoin the two parishes of Muckhart and Fossoway (the latter including Blairingone) from the Presbytery with which they had been associated for two hundred and fifty years. Auchterarder refused her consent, and protested, but in vain. She was bereaved of her children.
This change somewhat altered the centre of gravity of the Presbytery. Hitherto Auchterarder had been its natural centre, and its most convenient place of meeting. From this time onwards it began occasionally to meet at Crieff. In 1866 an Act of Assembly was passed ordaining it to meet alternately in Auchterarder and Crieff.
After the Secession of 1843 a subtle change began to creep over the opinions of the Presbytery. It was no longer the ultra-evangelical body which it had been for more than a century. It began to take broader views of culture and of human life. Were another minister of the Church of Scotland now to write a new tragedy of Douglas he would be likely to receive its congratulations rather than its denunciations. Its theology became sweeter, and it is in no danger of framing a new "Auchterarder Creed" upon the lines of the last. When the new movement began for the improvement of public worship there was, indeed, enough of the old leaven left to lead to a vigorous resistance. This struggle centred round "The Crieff Organ Case" in 1866-67. Ultimately, however, the new views prevailed, and at the present moment (1896) the once hated "kist of whistles" has found its way into no fewer than thirteen out of the sixteen parishes which at present compose the Presbytery. Since the days of that conflict, indeed, its spirit has broadened and broadened. The old independent tone, for which it had been conspicuous even in the seventeenth century, has become more and more marked. In recent years the Presbytery has never been willing tamely to follow the lead of Assembly leaders and Assembly Committees, but has insisted on expressing a vigorous opinion of its own upon all the questions of the day.
In the course of the present century several ministers, afterwards to become better known, have begun their respective careers within the bounds of the Presbytery. Dr. William Robertson, latterly minister of New Greyfriars, Edinburgh, was ordained as minister of Muckhart in 1831. Dr. Robert Home Stevenson, minister of St. George's, Edinburgh, Moderator of the General Assembly of 1871, was ordained in 1840 as assistant and successor in the parish of Crieff. Dr. John Cunningham, minister of Crieff from 1845 to 1887, was Moderator of the General Assembly of 1886, and was latterly Principal of St. Mary's College, St. Andrews. His successor in the Moderatorship of Assembly, Dr. George Hutchison, Banchory-Ternan, was ordained as minister of Monzie in 1845. Dr. Paton J. Gloag, then of Galashiels, Moderator of the Assembly of 1889, was ordained in 1848 as assistant and successor in the parish of Dunning. Dr. John Wilson, a genial man, much beloved by all his brethren, was minister of Dunning from 1861 to 1878, Clerk of Presbytery from 1864, and author of "Index to the Acts of Assembly." Dr. William Mair, minister of Ardoch from 1865 to 1868, is now of Earlston, and author of the well-known "Digest of Church Laws."
The loss of Muckhart and Fossoway, the addition of Ardoch and Crieff West left the Presbytery still with its original number of fifteen parishes. There was yet another to be added. In the extreme west of the parish of Comrie, at the point where the River Earn leaves its parent lake, was the district of Dundurn. Next to Ardoch, it was probably the oldest historic spot within the Presbytery. There, first of all places within the bounds, had the Gospel in the course of the sixth century been preached by the saintly Fillan. It was still haunted by sacred memories. It had been the site of a pre-Reformation chapel. It had long been a preaching-place for the minister of Comrie. Latterly there had sprung up by the shores of the beautiful lake a hamlet which called itself St. Fillans. It became a favourite place of summer resort. In 1879 a new chapel was built, and in 1895 the district of Dundurn was erected into a parish quoad sacra.
At the present moment (1896) the Presbytery thus consists of sixteen parishes, all fully equipped; 94 elders and 5023 church members form its effective strength as a part of the Church militant. It has faced many a serious crisis in the past; with a calm cheerfulness it faces the future.
MEMORIES OF GASK
By Rev. JAMES MARTIN, Gask
The parish of Gask is a comparatively small one both in population and in territorial extent. The earliest historical record we have of it goes back to the time of the invasion of Britain by the Romans. The road which passes along the ridge of high ground was originally made by the Romans, and was designed to form a line of communication between the camp at Ardoch and the camp at Bertha, near the junction of the Almond with the Tay. On the north side of it, in this parish, there are still to be distinctly seen two small camps or stations, and on the south side of it there is a larger one. The Romans have left traces of their presence here in the works they constructed, which the lapse of eighteen centuries has not entirely obliterated.