Series 3 > Minutes of the Synod of Argyll, 1639-1651 (1652-1661) > 1639-1651

INTRODUCTION
xv
the minutes of the sixth. The labours of the Synod in
endeavouring to secure the approval of the Sub-Committee
of Plantation to their proposals and subsequently to get
the approval of Parliament to the findings of the Sub-
Committee are duly noted in their minutes, but in the end
they failed to secure the full approval they had hoped for.
The leaders of the Presbyterian party from Knox onwards
had realised the necessity for having their ministers made
economically independent, but the heritors were often loth
to make the provision of manse and glebe, required of them
by law, or to make thankful payment of the teinds due to
the minister or the Presbytery.
Sir Donald Munro had written of Rona in 1549, ‘ This
isle pertains to McGillychallan of Raarsay by force and to
the Bishope of the yles be heritage,’ and there is more than
one instance in the Synod minutes of church dues with¬
held by landed men by force or fraud, and of ministers
disturbed by them in the peaceful possession of their
property.
It was almost as important as the economic independence
that the minister should have the support of a session who
commanded the respect of the whole parish, but it is to be
feared that in many cases regard was had more to social
position than to spiritual attainments, as when in May
1643 it was agreed to refer to the General Assembly to
consider what course could be taken to move the gentlemen
of the Isles who had refused to give their concurrence to
the exercise of church discipline ‘ to embrace the charge
and office of elders.’
Neither economic independence nor powerful local sup¬
port, however, could compensate for the lack of proper
qualities in the minister himself. During the whole period
covered by the Synod records there had been difficulty in
obtaining a sufficient number of qualified Gaelic-speaking
ministers, with a consequent temptation to tolerate in-
b