Transcribed from the 1910 T. N. Foulis edition ,
ANNALS OF
THE PARISH
OR THE CHRONICLE OF DAL-
MAILING DURING THE MINISTRY
OF THE REV. MICAH BALWHID-
DER. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF
AND ARRANGED AND EDITED BY
JOHN GALT
ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR BY
HENRY W. KERR, R.S.A.
T.N.FOULIS
London & Edinburgh
1 9 1 0
September 1910
Printed by Turnbull &Spears, Edinburgh
p.1INTRODUCTION
In the same year, and on the sameday of the same month, that his Sacred Majesty King George, thethird of the name, came to his crown and kingdom, I was placedand settled as the minister of Dalmailing. [1] When about a week thereafter thiswas known in the parish, it was thought a wonderful thing, andeverybody spoke of me and the new king as united in our trustsand temporalities, marvelling how the same should come to pass,and thinking the hand of Providence was in it, and that surely wewere preordained to fade and flourish in fellowship together;which has really been the case: for in the same season that hisMost Excellent Majesty, as he was very properly styled in theproclamations for the general fasts and thanksgivings, was set byas a precious vessel which had received a crack or a flaw, andcould only be serviceable in the way of an ornament, I wasobliged, by reason of age and the growing infirmities of myrecollection, to consent to the earnest entreaties of theSession, and to accept of Mr. Amos to be my helper. I waslong reluctant to do so; but the great respect that my people hadfor me, and the love that I bore towards them, over and above thesign that was given to me in the removal of the royalcandle-stick from its place, worked upon my heart andunderstanding, and I could not stand out. So, on the lastSabbath of the year 1810, I preached my last sermon, and it was amoving discourse. There were few dry eyes in the kirk thatday; for I had been with the aged from the beginning—theyoung considered me as their natural pastor—and my biddingthem all farewell was, as when of old among the heathen, an idolwas taken away by the hands of the enemy.
At the close of the worship, and before the blessing, Iaddressed them in a fatherly manner; and, although the kirk wasfuller than ever I saw it before, the fall of a pin might havebeen heard—at the conclusion there was a sobbing and muchsorrow. I said,
“My dear friends, I have now finished my work among youfor ever. I have often spoken to you from this place thewords of truth and holiness; and, had it been in poor frail humannature to practise the ad