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Rev Kennedy of Aberfeldy

From 'The Memoir of the Rev. James Kennedy of Aberfeldy and Inverness’ by his son. 1864. The minister was an evangelist outside the Established Church

Mr. Kennedy was ordained in Aberfeldy in 1806, and in 1808 he was married. For a few years his chapel was but an apartment in a private house; and when application was made to the factor of the Earl of Breadalbane for a site whereon to build a place of worship, it was declined. A private house was then built in a corner of "the square," and its ground-floor was converted into a chapel, while its upper Room was made the minister's dwelling-house.

The ten or twelve years of this chapel's existence was a period of mingled difficulty and success. The difficulty of narrow means, which would have been greater but for a little property possessed by Mrs. Kennedy, was met in a truly apostolic spirit. The minister taught a boys' school for some time, till he found it incompatible with the demands of his ministry.

The minister's wife taught a sewing school; and in visiting cottages and farmhouses in the district around, many years after, it was no small pleasure to me to hear many a "gudewife" tell how much she owed to my mother's instructions. The minister's wife, moreover, became the common counsellor of the village women, and their most trusted doctor. It seemed to her children, when they were old enough to observe, that not a sore finger or a sore foot could be cured in the village without consultation with their mother. The sorrows of all around seemed to flow as by common consent to her kitchen, and doubtless many a heart went thence, if not relieved of its burden, at least strengthened to bear it.

Such persecution as the law allowed, and even more, was the lot of the infant church in Aberfeldy. On several estates, farmers were deprived of their farms for daring to connect themselves with it. This took place - in one instance at least — even on the property of the liberal and kind-hearted Earl of Breadalbane. But the Earl was on the Continent at the time, and on his return undid, as far as possible, the wrong done by his agent, and offered to the dispossessed farmer the first farm there was to let. Sir Neil Menzies of Menzies, Baronet, was the most influential and wealthy of the old representatives of pure Toryism in the neighbourhood. Castle Menzies was little more than a mile distant from Aberfeldy, but on the other side of the Tay.

One summer Sabbath evening, there was a large gathering of lairds and other friends, enjoying the hospitalities of the castle. Within a mile of the castle, in a field on the banks of the Tay and on Sir Neil's property, there was an assembly of another order. The Aberfeldy Minister had crossed the river, and was there quietly addressing large number of country people on the concerns of their souls. A Strathtay laird passed on horseback, and on reaching Castle Menzies upbraided Sir Neil with allowing that fellow Kennedy to preach on his estate.

The Baronet's pride and anger got the better of his reason, and in a state of great excitement he hurried off to the scene of the preaching. The preacher was all unconscious of his danger till he found himself collared by Sir Neil. A staff which Sir Neil held up in his right hand was pulled out of his hand by a man who stood behind him, and was preserved for many years as a memorial of the event. The preacher was dragged across the field to the highway, but there he stood, and wou1d be dragged no farther. "I am now on the king's highway, Sir Neil," he said; "you had better take care what you do." "What will you do now, Sir?” said Sir Neil. "Oh, I will just go over there" (pointing to the other side of a burn which separated the Castle Menzies estate from Killiechassie), "and preach there." "I'll roar, Sir, that the people can't hear you." "Oh, Sir Neil, you'll soon tire of that." The Baronet then released his grasp.

I do not hesitate to mention the name of this then persecutor, because I can add that not many years after he could treat Mr. Kennedy not only with respect, but with kindness. When some of Mr. Kennedy's children were dangerously ill, I remember Sir Neil's groom riding up to our door with a kind message of inquiry from his master. Some years after this occurrence on the banks of the Tay, Sir Neil met Mr. Kennedy at a distant part of his estate, on the banks of Loch Rannoch, and well knowing the business which took the Aberfeldy minister from place to place, he stopped his carriage, accosted him, and asked if he was preaching, and where. Mr. Kennedy had been strongly recommended to prosecute the Lord of Castle Menzies for assault. But he had no desire for notoriety, and he believed he could effect the end of a prosecution — freedom and security — in another way. Nor was he mistaken. Within a few years his freedom was perfect, and his person as sacred as that of "saint" in other days.

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