d 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 prevaile