exact time at which he acted his part on the world's stage is involved in
great obscurity. The legends of him are very conflicting, so much so,
that it has been supposed by some that there were two S. Serfs. It is
the legends, however, that are two-fold, and not the Saint. According to
the Aberdeen Breviary, and writers who follow its guidance, S. Servanus,
or S. Serf, or S. Serb, or (in Aberdeenshire) S. Sair, belonged to the
5th century, and was the disciple of S. Palladius; others putting him a
little further on, and making him out to have been the instructor of S.
Kentigern at Culross. But most people who carefully read the pages of
Skene[21] will be satisfied that S. Servanus belongs to a later period
still. It so happens that there is preserved in the Marsh M.S., Dublin,
and printed in Skene's _Chronicles of the Picts and Scots_ (p. 412, ff.),
a Life of the Saint, which, notwithstanding some excessively wild and
incredible-looking stories mixed up with it, is the only life of his that
is consistent with itself and with otherwise-ascertained contemporary
facts. This life makes the Saint contemporary with Adamnan, Abbot of
Iona, who belonged to the 7th century, and with Brude, son of Dargart,
King of the Picts. According to Skene,[22] this Brude, son of Dargart,
may be identified with Brude, son of Derile, who reigned from 697 to 706,
and preceded that Nectan, son of Derile, who expelled the Columban monks
from his kingdom. And confirmatory proof of this identification being
correct is furnished by Gray's _Scalacronica_, which has under this Brude
that we have been referring to--"En quel temps veint Servanus en
Fine."[23] Moreover, in the Chartulary of S. Andrews there is reference
to an early charter of the Celtic period, by which "Brude, son of
Dergard, gives the Isle of Lochlevine to the Omnipotent God, and to Saint
Servanus, and to the Keledei hermits dwelling there, who are serving, and
shall serve God in that island."
According, then, to the life in the Marsh Library M.S.--the life which,
its many wild accounts notwithstanding, seems most free from
anachronisms--the Saint is the son of Obeth, King of Canaan, and Alpia,
daughter of the King of Arabia. His father dying, he gives up his right
to the throne in favour of his twin brother Generatius, takes orders, and
is appointed Bishop of the Cananeans. After twenty years as Bishop in
that region, admonished by an angel, he comes to Jerusalem, where he is
Patriarch for seven years. He then goes to Constantinople, and thence to
Rome, where, for seven years, he reigns as Pope. Quitting Rome, and
accompanied by a band of pilgrims, he makes his way into regions remote
and crosses the Mare Icteum (Straits of Dover) dryshod, and, after
travelling from place to place, arrives at the Forth. Adamnan, who, at
the time, was an abbot in Scotland, receives him with great honours on
the island of Inchkeith, and afterwards gave him, as his field of labour,
Fife, and from the Mons Britannicus to the Mons Okhel (from the mount of
the Britons to the Ochils.) He is next found at Kinel, then at Culenros,
where he met King Brude and founded a church; then at an island, in Loch
Leven, where he meets Adamnan and has the island presented to him. After
constructing churches throughout the whole region of Fife, and labouring
for years in the province assigned to him, and at many other places, he
died at Dunning, and was buried at Culross. The deeds ascribed to S.
Serf are certainly astounding, and the stories associated with him
extraordinarily "wild"; still, as the scenes of not a few of them are
laid at places in the Ochils district, and, accordingly, "Near the
Pictish Capital," it may not be inappropriate if a few of them are
rehearsed here.[24]
At Tuligbotuan (Tullybody) the Devil, having entered into a poor man,
filled him with an insatiable appetite. He ate and ate, and still the
wolf within craved for more. Though he consumed a cow and a calf, a
sheep and a lamb, all was of no avail. At length, when the family were
eaten "out of house and hall," his relatives take him to S. Serf, who
clapped his thumb[25] into the man's mouth, which immediately satisfied
him--the Devil flying out of him with a howl.
At Alveth (Alvah) Servanus and his company lodged, on one occasion, at
the house of a very poor man, who had nothing to put before them but his
one pig. It was forthwith cut up and eaten, the bones, however, being
carefully preserved from being broken. Next morning, to the great
delight and surprise of the poor man, the pig came grunting to the door,
restored to flesh, and life by the Saint.
At Atheren (Airthrey) a robber, one night, broke into S. Serf's cell,
and, finding a sheep roasted in his larder, comfortably sat down and
entirely consumed it. Next day Servanus met the fellow and charged him
with the robbery. The man swore innocence, but it was of no use; he was
instantly convicted, for the wether bleated in his bowels.
At Dunning, S. Serf is said to have healed three blind, three lame, and
three deaf men. But his great feat here was killing the dragon. (Had no
princes or knights come to Forteviot as yet, that such work was left to
the priest?) The story, as given in the Marsh M.S., is as follows:--"At
that time the Saint was in his cell at Dunning (_in cella Dunenensi_),
and news was brought to him that a dragon, great and terrible, and very
loathsome (_deterrimus_), was coming into his township (_civitatem
suam_), whose aspect no mortal could suffer. Saint Servanus, however,
coming out to meet it, and taking his staff in his right hand, fought
with the dragon in a certain valley, and killed it. From that day,
moreover, that valley was called the Valley of the Dragon."[26]
The circumstances connected with the Saint's death and burial are
touchingly described. The holy man, after many miracles, after divers
works, after founding many churches in Christ, when his peace had been
given to his brethren in his cell at Dunning, gave up and commended his
spirit to the most High Creator on the first day of the Kalends of July.
After his death his disciples and the people of nearly the whole province
carried his body to Culenross (Culross), and there, with psalms and hymns
(ymnis) and chantings (canticis), honourably buried him, where flourish
his merits, and the virtues of his merits unto this day--to the glory and
honour of the Omnipotent God, who in the Perfect Trinity liveth and
reigneth through endless ages of ages.
Only the limits of space forbid allusion to additional features of
considerable importance near the Pictish Capital, and connected with the
parish of Dunning. Room, however, must be found for stating that, as is
to be expected, Dunning, like other places in Strathearn, is not without
interesting traces of the "Rising" of 1715. In the Session records,
under date 18th September, 1715, there is the following entry:--"There
was no sermon this day, and for several Sabbaths following, on account of
the commotions that were in the county by reason of Mar's unnatural
rebellion." When Mar quitted the field of Sheriffmuir, he, on the 12th
November, 1715, withdrew his army into Angus, and in order to hinder the
progress of the Royalist forces, he burned down all the villages on the
line of march as far as Perth. The villagers of Dunning, actuated by the
same feelings as led the citizens of London to erect the "Monument" after
the great fire of 1666, planted a thorn tree to commemorate the
destruction of their village. This ancient tree, standing in the square
opposite the east approach to the manse, is well protected, and is likely
to be spared to tell its memorable story to generations to come.
[1] _Hwonam et Nechtan et Phinguineghert_.--(See Skene's _Chronicles of
the Picts and Scots_, p. 185).
[2] _Decimam partem de urbe Fortevieth_.--(See Skene's _Chronicles of the
Picts and Scots_, p. 185).
[3] This word, originally, was the name applied by the Romans to their
public halls, either of justice or of exchange. Inasmuch as the early
Christian Churches generally followed the ground plan of these buildings,
such churches long retained the same appellation.
[4] Other chronicles give the place as Scone.--(See Skene's _Chronicles
of the Picts and Scots_, p. 174).
[5] Both palace and church would be within the King's Rath or circular
fortification.
[6] "The custom of placing a cross over the doorway of a Christian
building may be traced back to the sixth century in Palestine, where the
Chi-Rho monogram occurs on the lintels of the doorways of the houses.
The meaning of the symbolism is explained by the blood of the lamb, which
was struck upon the lintels of the doors of the houses of the Israelites
in Egypt at the Passover (Gen. xii., 21-23), and our Lord's words--'I am
the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,' (John x.,
9)."--(J. Romilly Allen's _Christian Symbolism_, p. 238).
A good example of such a cross is on the lintel of the doorway of a 7th
century church at Fore, Co. West Meath; and another, equally good, is on
the doorway of one of the oldest churches in Ireland, on High Island, off
the coast of Connemara. In connection with the Round Towers at Antrim
and at Brechin there are similar crosses.
[7] See _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_ (Vol.
xxvi., p. 438.) Dr Wilson, in his _Dunning: its Parochial History_,
states that the large figure with the sword "is said to be a
representation of Alexander the First, who died in the year 1124" (p. 3.)
[8] Sir Herbert Maxwell, in his _Scottish Land-Names: their Origin and
Meaning_, gives as the derivation of Duncrub, the old Gaelic dún
craeb=hill of the trees.
[9] Otherwise spelt _Mormaer_. Except that the constituent elements are
inverted, it is the same word as _Maormor_ (Gael. _maer, maor_, a
steward, and _mor_, great), and was the ancient name for a royal steward
of high dignity, placed by a Scottish king over a province, and acting as
a royal deputy.
[10] Robertson's _Early Kings_ (Vol. I., p. 77).
[11] Sir Herbert Maxwell states that dún in its original and restricted
sense means "Enclosure or fortress, being closely related to A.S. tûn,
Eng. town.... The diminutive, or noun plural, yields innumerable names,
like _Dinnans_ and _Dinnance_, in Ayrshire and Galloway; _Duning_ and
_Dinnings_ in Dumfriesshire; and _Downan_, near Ballantrae." Ought not
Sir Herbert to have added _Dunnin_ or _Dunning_, in Perthshire?
[12] See _Dunning: its Parochial History_, p. 4.
[13] The marks of a gable of a former nave with a very highly-pitched
roof are still distinctly seen on the Tower.
[14] The word here used, occasionally spelt _ferm_, sometimes means not
so much a piece of land turned to agricultural use and cultivated by
owner or tenant, as _an account, a reckoning_: It is akin to _farm_ from
the A.S. fearm or feorm=food, a meal. A trustworthy authority says that
the meaning of farm "arose from the original practice of letting lands,
on condition that the tenant should supply his lord's household with so
many nights' entertainment." Hence "Reddet firmam trium noctium." (He
will supply three nights' entertainment).--_Doomsday Book_.
[15] Here, out of darkness Light shone. Therefore the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost [shall be] my God, and the name of this place Light.
[16] This [bell] calls sinners to the Gospel, it to Christ, He to Heaven.
[17] I was born in the year of our Lord, 1526.
[18] In heraldry a scallop-shell is the badge of a pilgrim. It is the
symbol of S. James the Greater, who is generally represented in pilgrim's
garb. In this sense it is sometimes written _Escallop_.
[19] The writer is indebted to Dr Joseph Anderson for kindly examining
two casts of these figures, carefully prepared by Mr James Henderson,
F.S.A., Scot., Dunning.
[20] Erected by public subscription, and inaugurated 3rd November, 1890.
(For architectural correctness, its four dials are omitted in Mr Ross's
drawing of the Tower).
[21] See his _Celtic Scotland_, p. 31, ff.
[22] See _Celtic Scotland_, p. 259.
[23] See _Chronicles of the Picts and Scots_, p. 201.
[24]In telling one or two of these stories, we have tried to combine with
the Marsh M.S. version the somewhat fuller details of the Aberdeen
Breviary.
[25] Baring Gould (_Lives of the Saints_. London, 1874), using probably
a version of the legend reading _pulicem_, instead of _pollicem suum_,
has _clapped a flea into the man's mouth_.
[26] The Dragon is the name still given to that part of the parish in
which is situated the Village of Newtown of Pitcairns.
THE HISTORIC PRESBYTERY OF AUCHTERARDER
By Rev. G. D. MACNAUGHTAN, B.D., Ardoch,
_Clerk of Presbytery_
The district embraced within the bounds of the Presbytery of
Auchterarder belonged for the most part to the ancient Diocese of
Dunblane. Within it lay the famous Abbey of Inchaffray, and the
minister of Muthill was usually Dean of Dunblane. As originally
erected, the Presbytery was, indeed, the Presbytery of Dunblane, but in
1593 the General Assembly ordained the Presbytery of Dunblane "to be
transportit to Auchterardour, with liberty to the brethren of Dunblane
appealing to resort either to Auchterardour or Striviling as they
please." When at last it got into shape it consisted of the following
fifteen parishes, viz.:--Auchterarder, Blackford, Comrie, Crieff,
Dunning, Fossoway, Foulis-Wester, Gask, Glendevon, Madderty, Monzie,
Monzievaird, Muckhart, Muthill, and Trinity-Gask. Beginning on the
shores of Loch Earn, it followed on both banks the river of that name
for more than twenty miles, stretching upwards on either side to the
surrounding hills. Northwards it reached even the banks of the Almond,
while southwards it found its way into the uplands of Strathallan, and,
breaking by the pass of Gleneagles into the Ochils, it went right
through them to the level ground beyond, following the windings of the
Devon. As a background, rose the mighty peaks of the Grampians; in the
foreground lay the gentler, greener, rounded heights of the Ochil
range. The seat of the Presbytery was Auchterarder, a long, straggling
village, built along the crest of a rising ground; a mile or two
distant from the south bank of the Earn, and at the same time not far
from the top of Strathallan. Towards the close of the sixteenth
century we have to think of the various parishes above named as being
duly supplied with Protestant pastors, who met regularly in
Auchterardour for the "weekly exercise," and to dispose of any church
business that came before them. Most of these first members of the
Presbytery seem to have been cadets of the leading families of the
district, and, amongst them, Drummond, Graeme, Murray or Moray were
common names. The Presbytery of Auchterarder first begins to take a
prominent part in public affairs during the religious troubles of
Charles I. The Jenny Geddes riot in St Giles has just taken place, and
petitions are pouring in from all quarters against the ill-fated
service-book. The Privy Council is at its wits' end as between a king
resolved on innovations and a nation that will have none of them. It
sends up to London specimens of the petitions received--one from the
nobility, one from the gentry, one from the burghs, and a fourth from
the clergy. The clerical petition thus honoured was that from the
"Presbytrie of Auchtererdoch." The petition of this Presbytery was
probably selected not on account of the zealous character of the
opposition of its members, but on account of their known loyalty. The
impression to be produced on the King's mind was that, if even
Auchterarder opposed his designs, his projects were hopeless. The
Covenant was sworn, but Auchterarder was not zealous for the Covenant.
In the divisions of opinion, which led eventually to the rising of
Montrose, Auchterarder sympathised with the minority. A Warning and
Declaration with reference to these divisions was ordered by the
General Assembly to be read from every pulpit, and "the brethren of
Auchtererdoch" took it upon them to disobey. It was the first
illustration of that independence of judgment for which they have more
than once been famous. It was resolved to make an example of this
disobedient Presbytery, and they were cited before the Assembly of
1643. "The Presbytery of Auchtererdoch was under the rod," writes
Baillie, "to be made an example to all who would be turbulent." "After
long examination of their business," he continues, "at last they were
laureat. Some two or three of that Presbytery (when many of the gentry
who were not elders were permitted to sit among them and reason against
the Warning and Declaration, and when Ardoch presented reasons in write
against these pieces, yet they were proven to have been forward for the
present reading) were commended. Others who, notwithstanding of the
Presbytery's conclusion of not reading, yet did read, were, for voicing
the continuation, gently rebuked. Others who at last caused read parts
of them, and Mr James Rowe, who caused read them before himself came
in, were sharply rebuked, and their names delete from among the members
of this Assembly. Ardoch, ane old reverend gentleman, for his former
known zeal was spared, only, was urged upon oath to reveal the persons
from whom he had the reasons contrary to the Warning." This is a
curious picture of the internal condition of the Presbytery, and
exhibits in strong relief the friendly relations existing betwixt its
members and the gentry of the district. The James Rowe referred to was
minister of Muthill, and was married to Margaret Stirling, a daughter
of the laird of Ardoch, the "old reverend gentleman" above named.
When, after the Restoration, Episcopacy was re-established,
Auchterarder once again formed part of the Diocese of Dunblane, and was
for a time under the mild sway of the Episcopate of Leighton. The
Episcopacy was almost nominal. There was no liturgy; the service
continued to be much what it had been before, though Leighton
encouraged the brethren to make their preaching "plain and useful for
all capacities, not entangled with useless questions and disputes, nor
continued to a wearisome length"; "to read larger portiones of the
Scriptures"; "to restore the Lord's Prayer to more frequent use,
likewyse the Doxologie and the Creed." The Presbytery continued to
meet as usual, and virtually elected its own Moderator. The chief
difference was that at the Synod the Bishop as of right occupied the
chair. At this period we have another interesting glimpse of the
internal condition of the Presbytery. It was complained to one Synod
that "some young men, ministers within the Presbytrie of Ochterarder,
had behaved themselves somewhat irreverendlie and undeutifullie towards
some of the brethren who were older than themselves both for age and
work of the ministrie. The Bishop having taken the samyne to
consideration, desired the Moderator of the Presbytrie of Ochterarder,
that at their first Presbyterial meeting, to admonish such brethren,
that in time coming they should absteine from such unbeseeming
misbehaviour, otherwyse to shew them that he would advert to it
hereafter." The young lions of Auchterarder had evidently {107} begun
to roar, catching something of the independent spirit of their seniors.
In this district there was but little of the Covenanting feeling that
was rampant in the West. An Abdiel, however, was found among the
faithless in the person of William Spence, minister of Glendevon. In
1678 he laid a paper on the table of Presbytery in which he testified
against the errors of the times. He was dealt with with great leniency
and patience, but in the end he proved incorrigible. After long delay
he was at last, in the beginning of 1681, deposed and excommunicated by
the Bishop and Synod. From that time onwards he became a political
agent, and was mixed up in the plots which filled the closing years of
the reign of Charles II. In 1684 he was arrested and questioned.
Though made to undergo the torture of the boot, he refused to disclose
anything. He was then handed over to the tender mercies of General
Dalziel, the "Muscovy beast who would roast men," and was kept from
sleeping for eight or nine days till his enemies themselves were weary.
He had to be thumbscrewed, and told that they would screw every joint
of his body, one after another, before his courage began to fail. "Yet
{108} such was the firmness and fidelity of this poor man," writes
Bishop Burnet, "that even in that extremity he capitulated, that no new
questions should be put to him, but those already agreed on; and that
he should not be obliged to be a witness against any person, and that
he himself should be pardoned." After the Revolution he came back to
Glendevon; in 1691 was translated to Fossoway, and, having outlived all
his troubles, died there in peace in 1715 at the age of eighty. The
policy, with which he had associated himself as a minority of one, had
triumphed.
The Revolution fell upon the Presbytery of Auchterarder like the very
crack of doom. All its members, with two exceptions, were ousted.
These were the Rev. James Roy, minister of Trinity-Gask, and the Rev.
Robert Sharp, M.A., minister of Muckhart. Unfortunately, at this
interesting period the Presbytery records are a blank. The last minute
before the Revolution is that of September 7, 1687; the next is that of
November 9, 1703. When the curtain thus rises again at the beginning
of the eighteenth century the _personnel_ of the Presbytery has
completely changed. Elsewhere the transformation seems to have been
accomplished with little difficulty; but it was different in the
Episcopal stronghold of Muthill. That parish, we find, has not yet
submitted to the authority of the Presbytery, and is still vacant. It
was not till August 3rd, 1704, that Mr William Haly was ordained as
minister of Muthill. On the day of his ordination there was a riot,
"several in the parish keeping the doors of the kirk and kirkyard with
swords and staves"; and not until the following year (March 20, 1705)
were the keys of the church of Muthill finally laid upon the table of
the Presbytery. The new members of the Presbytery were very different
from the old. They were now strongly Presbyterian in feeling, and
ultra-evangelical in theology. In 1711, when threatened with the Queen
Anne Act restoring Patronage, we find them instructing their
commissioners to the Assembly "to take all care that Patronages be not
again restored," and in the following year "to give a testimony against
the encroachments made on this church by the tolleration and
patronages." They were earnest in prayer on behalf of the Protestant
Succession of the House of Hanover. On account of the Jacobite rising
of 1715 there was no meeting of Presbytery from August 30, 1715, till
February 9, 1716. At this meeting reference is made to "the Popish and
Jacobite rebells who had infested the bounds, threatening ministers not
to pray against them and their pretended king, by reason whereof
ministers were forced to flee; and spoiling the goods of the people,
and robbing and burning their houses and corns; and now that they were
driven out of their bounds by the good providence of God accompanying
the king's forces with success against them."