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Later Ministers
Mr. Steel died in London shortly after his settlement at Salter's Hill. Although he had left his Ayrshire parish, his memory was still green in the minds of his people, and his many useful works and pleasant personality had greatly endeared him to his parishioners. It must have been a shock to them to hear of his untimely decease, and their sympathy was displayed in an exceedingly kind and practical manner. Mr. Steel had evidently been one of those unselfish men who think of every one but themselves, and his stipend being principally paid in kind, as was then quite a common thing, he had had but little opportunity of providing for his wife and family, and when he died they were left in rather straitened circumstances. His former congregation showed the estimation in which he had been held by making his widow the recipient of the handsome gift of two hundred and fifty pounds, which meant a good deal more a hundred and fifty years ago than now. Mr. Steel's speech before the General Assembly (1749) was published.
Rev. James Connel succeeded Mr. Steel in 1752, and remained minister of the parish until his death in 1789. His successor, Mr. Gordon, who had perhaps as good an opportunity of judging of him as any one, recorded that he was "a man of respectable character, good sense, and moderation." The only other remark which Mr. Gordon offers about his predecessor is regarding an addition he made to the manse, which had been almost entirely rebuilt by Mr Steel,- "The late Mr. Connel, having a large family, added to the west end of it a handsome wing of one floor with a slated roof." After Mr. Gordon's settlement the heritors added another at the East End, corresponding with the first, all of which is rather bewildering as to whether there was any of the original structure left.
The Earls of Loudoun had been patrons of the Church of Sorn from 1692 until 1782 when the estate was sold to Wm. Tennent, Esq., of Poole, and the patronage went with the estate. In 1790 the Rev. George Gordon was presented to the parish by Mr. Tennent. The presentation was a most unpopular one; not perhaps that the people had anything to say against Mr. Gordon, but feeling ran high against patronage. During Mr. Gordon's ordination in the church a stone was flung from the other side of the river, passed through a window and struck one of the elders. Other stones struck the bell. Up till that time there had been no dissent in the parish, but one or two farmers left the church then, and their families are dissenters till this day. There is no dissenting church in Sorn, but in Catrine, in the same parish, there are now several. The church members who seceded a hundred years ago went to Cumnock to worship, as there were no dissenting church nearer. The mere fact of a man being set over a parish, whether or not it was the mind of the people, was quite enough to set a section of a congregation against the minister when it was really the system that was the objection. In his "Annals of the Parish" (Ayrshire), John Gait tells very quaintly of the forcible settling of Mr. Balwhidder. We copy a few lines as giving a picture of the times.
"The An-Dom. one thousand seven hundred and sixty was remarkable for three things in the parish of Dallmailing. First and foremost was my placing. . . . First of the placing. It was a great affair, for I was put in by the patron, and the people knew nothing whatsoever of me, and their hearts were stirred into strife on the occasion and they did all that lay within the compass of their power to keep me out, in so much that there was obliged to be a guard of soldiers to protect the Presbytery, and it was a thing that made my heart grieve when I heard the drum beating and the fife playing as we were going to the kirk. The people were really mad and vicious, and flung dirt upon us as we passed, and reviled us all and held out the finger of scorn at me; but I endured it all with a resigned spirit, compassionating their wilfulness and blindness. Poor Mr Kilfuddy of Braehill got such a clash of glaur on the side of his face that his eye was almost extinguished. When we got to the kirk door it was found to be nailed up, so as by no possibility to be opened. The Sergeant of the soldiers wanted to break it, but I was afraid the heritors would grudge and complain of the expense of a new door, and I supplicated him to let it be as it was. We were therefore obligated to go in by a window, and the crowd followed us in the most unreverent manner, making the Lord's house like an inn on a fair day with their grievous yellyhooing. During the time of the Psalm and the sermon, they behaved themselves better, but when the induction came on their clamour was dreadful; and Thomas Thorl, the weaver, a pious zealot in that time, he got up and protested, and said, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.' And I thought I would have a hard and sore time of it with such an outstrapolous people. . . . After the ceremony we then got out at the window, and it was a heavy day to me."
In 1806 the Rev. Lewis Balfour was presented to
the living by Wm Somervell, Esq., of Sorn and Hamilton's Farm, who had in turn
bought the estate of Sorn. Mr. Balfour was minister for twenty-three years.
He was translated to Colinton, near Edinburgh. One of the daughters, born just
after her parents left Sorn, became the mother of the celebrated writer, Robert
Louis Stevenson. One of Mr. Balfour's sons is Dr. G. W. Balfour, the heart-specialist
in Edinburgh, a man who has made his mark in his profession. R.L. Stevenson
bore his middle name in remembrance of his grandfather, the Rev Lewis Balfour,
sometime of Sorn. The next minister was the Rev. John Stewart, who came from
Liverpool. After a ministry of seventeen years he was presented to Liberton,
near Edinburgh, in succession to the late Dr. James Begg, afterward of Newington
Free Church. Two of Mr. Stewart's grandsons are ministers of the Church of Scotland-
one of St. Andrews, Dundee, and the other at Kinfauns, Perthshire, where he
succeeds his father, who was Mr. Stewart's son-in-law. Mr. Stewart was succeeded
by Dr. Rankine who was minister of Sorn for the long period of forty-three years.
He exercised a vast influence for good, and was regarded as a model parish minister.
In 1883 Dr. Rankine was appointed Moderator of the General Assembly, the highest
honour in the power of the Church to bestow upon one of her ministers. He was
much loved in the parish and left a record of honourable work. One of his sons
is at present Professor of Scots Law in the University of Edinburgh. Rather
curiously Dr. Balfour, of Edinburgh, and Prof. Rankine, both sons of the manse
of Sorn, were presidents of the Glasgow Sons of the Clergy Society in successive
years. During Dr. Rankine's ministry there were five assistants to help him
in the work of the parish- Rev. M. C. Thorburn, Rev. G. Milligan, B.D., Rev.
R. Menzies Ferguson, M.A., Rev. R. Spencer Ritchie and the present minister
of Sorn. Dr. Rankine was succeeded by the Rev. R. Spencer Ritchie. He was minister
only for a little over three years and was translated to Mains and Strathmartine,
Dundee, in 1888.
The present minister of Sorn, Rev. H. C. Begg,
ably upholds the good traditions of the past incumbents. He is also a son of
the manse, his father being the late Dr. Begg of Falkirk, and his grandfather
the late Dr. Begg of New Monkland. At the centenary soiree at Calton, Glasgow,
ill 1894, Mr. Begg of Sorn was invited to be present to represent his grandfather,
who was the first minister of Calton and inducted in 1794. In the autobiography
of Dr. Begg of Edinburgh, there was a little story told of his father, Dr. Begg
of New Monkland, and of Dr. Mackinlay of the Laigh Kirk, Kilmarnock. "Dr. Mackinlay
did what was generally held to be a very imprudent thing, namely, married his
own servant. There were circumstances connected with the marriage, which gave
rise to remark, as for example, on his marriage jaunt he was alleged to have
worn a coat with metal buttons, and some other circumstances of which a handle
might be made. But my father, who investigated the whole matter, was convinced
there was nothing in it but a proceeding of doubtful prudence and taste, and
especially that there was nothing morally wrong. He therefore stood bravely
by the doctor, as did also his own numerous congregation at Kilmarnock. He went
as usual to assist him at his Communion when others refused, till the cloud
had passed away, which it did most thoroughly. On the arrival of my father at
Kilmarnock, he announced to Dr. Mackinlay that he would do the whole usual work
of his assistants single-handed. And often I have heard him mention it. Accordingly,
he preached twice on the Thursday, twice on the Saturday, exhorted ten tables,
and preached in the evening on Sabbath, and wound up all by preaching twice
on the Monday. Some one who was present at the ten tables declared that the
longer he spoke, he spoke the better. On one occasion a warm admirer of his
said that he had 'a Bothwell Brig face;' and he was just the man to carry out
his resolution in such circumstances with heroic determination." In the manse
of Sorn is the jubilee portrait of this old minister of New Monkland and friend
of Dr. Mackinlay. From his bold, determined appearance, even at the advanced
age of eighty-one years, extraordinary record in the matter of preaching, which
in he seemed quite capable of even beating this most those days of long sermons
and no paper was truly a most extraordinary again became vacant three years
afterwards by the translation of Mr Ritchie to Mains. Mr. Begg, who was the
only nominee of the committee, was elected to performance. Mr. Begg was for
a few months assistant at Sorn under Dr. Rankine, and on that gentleman's death
in 1885, he was elected assistant to the Rev. W. W. Tulloch, D.D., Maxwell Parish,
Glasgow. The parish the charge by a very large majority and received a unanimous
call.
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