In relation to ecclesiastical affairs in the North West of Scotland during the 1780's one historian has recorded that the clergy in general were "apathetic and out of sympathy with the ordinary people".

A statement made to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1n 1824 noted that the ministers in the North West were for the most part, "inattentive to the interests of religion". About this time several Skye ministers were also sheep farmers and some acted as Factors for the larger Estates. The common people, it appears could neither trust their ministers or look to them for support or guidance.

In such circumstances it is not surprising that it was lay men who were to play a more prominent role in the spiritual life of the community.

In an account published in 1811 regarding the crofting community in the Western Isles it was noted, "The ancient attachment to the Church and State is grown very feeble .... without fixed or definite ideas concerning any failure in duty of their clergy, they gradually relax in respect for them and have no small hankering after the pestilent fellows (lay evangelists), who under the name of different sectaries .... swarm over these neglected regions". Such men were said to have been "drawn from the lower strata of Highland Society".

Such was the rapid growth of these lay teachers and preachers that at the 1799 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, a resolution was adopted prohibiting "all persons from preaching in any place within their jurisdiction who are not licensed".

One of the organisations involved in such work was the Scottish Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK), which was founded in 1709 This organisation "attracted men imbued with evangelising fervour". They consequently became the butt of much criticism. Another such group was the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Home" founded in 1797 by the Haldane Brothers. The explicit aim of the latter was to "make known the Evangelical Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In employing itinerants, schoolmasters, or others …. To supply the means of grace wherever we perceive a deficiency." The men engaged by this society made no "public collections and took no money privately from those amongst whom they preached".

These itinerant independent lay preachers who became known as "na daoine", ("The men"), in order to distinguish them from the ordained clergy were condemned as "false teachers". One prominent society figure, Stewart of Garth referred to them as "ignorant and fanatical spiritual guides". In Lewis the "Established Clergy" complained regarding the "religious frenzy ... which had become so prevalent of late" and of the activities of "the blind, daring fanatics who now infest this Island ... disseminating wild unscriptural doctrines".

Such comments belie the fact that it was to such men that the people of the Highlands and Islands were turning for spiritual help, in increasing numbers.

In Skye the best known of these lay men was undoubtedly Donald Munro to whom we referred in a earlier chapter. Following his conversion under the preaching of John Farquharson 33yr old Donald started a prayer meeting. Against much opposition this meeting grew and many were brought "under the influence of the gospel". Donald Munro did not confine himself to his home area but travelled extensively throughout the North and West of Skye. Donald was himself later employed by the Society in Edinburgh for the propagating Christian Knowledge.

 Not all ministers were opposed to the work carried out by these lay men. Following the people of Kilmuir, Skye, loosing their minister Donald Martin, they called the Apostle of the North, Dr John MacDonald. He declined. A short time later on meeting Mr Martin in Inverness, MacDonald said, " You have left the people of Kilmuir, and I declined to go to them, but the Lord raised up a blind man (Donald Munro) to minister to them, at whose feet we might sit".

During a visit to Snizort, Skye, Dr MacDonald and Rev. Roderick MacLeod were discussing a passage of the bible over which they could not agree. "We shall send for Donald Munro suggested MacLeod!" Donald duly arrived and told them they were both wrong and "gave a different interpretation, to which they both acquiesced".

The result of Donald's prayer meetings and evangelistic endeavour are recorded in a contemporary account.

John Davidson was a Lay Missionary with the SSPCK in Lochcarron. Of him it is recorded that one Sunday in March 1820, having attracted a "mass following", and in sight of the Parish Church while public worship was being there conducted by the Parish Minister, "he (Davidson) employed himself in reading, lecturing, and praying with his congregation".

Another Skye Lay Man who exercised a prominent role in spiritual revival was John MacLeod of Kilmaluag. He was most probably a convert of the 1812 revival and was later employed by the Gaelic School Society at Waternish. Some time later he was moved to Uig in Lewis. Following his arrival the Parish Minister made a formal complaint to the Gaelic School Society that MacLeod was "preaching to the people as well as reading the scriptures". He refused to be brow beaten and was "reluctantly dismissed". However, he continued his work and revival subsequently swept through Uig.

In 1824 the Rev. Alexander MacLeod of Cromarty, an evangelical preacher, arrived in Uig Lewis. Shortly after his arrival he heard on of his elders pray that "a wreck should be cast ashore in the neighbourhood". At his first communion, instead of the normal several hundred sitting down at the communion table, there were only nine. Yet, four years later there were nine thousand!

The power house of this revival was observed by an eye witness who wrote; "at all hours, from eight o'clock at night till one in the morning, he had passed by and overheard persons engaged in prayer ... alone or by two or three, kneeling and pouring out their wants at the footstool of mercy".

Soon the social advantages of a renewed humanity began to appear. In the Uig area of Lewis, schools were established, catering for some six hundred pupils.

On the Island of Harris another prominent lay man was Ian Gobha (John Morrison, the songsmith of Harris). He was a Blacksmith Bard. Following his conversion he began to speak to his friends and neighbours regarding their spiritual condition. On Sunday's he began to read to people in his own home, from the bible. Despite much mocking his influence grew rapidly and he began holding public meetings from village to village. He preached with power and not a little effect. In 1828 he obtained a commission from the SSPCK, thus giving his some official standing. The first open air meeting was held in Tarbert Harris in 1830, when it is said 2000 people were present.

A short time later Dr MacDonald of Ferrintosh paid his second visit to Harris. On hearing of MacDonald's visit the Bard wrote, "Someone came one evening to the smithy, where I was hard at work at the anvil, and mentioned that Dr MacDonald was come. I tried to subdue my emotion, and longed for the absence of the messenger, and whenever the messenger had gone, I ran to the smithy door and bolted it. I could then, when alone, give scope to my emotions. I danced for joy - danced round and round the smithy floor, for I felt a load taken off my spirit suddenly. I danced till I felt fatigued, and I knelt down and prayed and gave thanks".

On one occasion John Morrison visited Skye in order to meet up with blind Donald Munro. They met on the road. "Where did you come from" enquired Donald. "I came from Harris" answered the poet. "I thought" said Donald, "there was nothing there but rocks". "There are rocks there," replied John, "but there is ground there also". "Are you" said Donald, "the Smith of Harris?" "Yes" said the Smith, "are you Donald Munro?" This was the beginning of a very close friendship between these two men. John Morrison named one of his sons after the blind evangelist.

What can we learn today from the experience of the church in the Highlands and Islands all these years ago? Is it possible that the church in Scotland in the 1990’s, with all of its emphasis on educational ability, university qualifications and degrees has missed out on the vital importance of the ministry of the body of simple believers? Might it be that in a day of financial crisis in many of our churches, and the breakdown, once again, of confidence in the ordained ministry, that God is calling us back to the principals and practice of these simple evangelists of long ago as they travelled through the Highlands and Islands? Is not a heart on fire for God not of more importance than any degree, be it from a university of the world or a theological college?

Such a change would, no doubt, be mocked by some and despised by others. Many with one of that bygone generation may write, "Even the friends of the gospel began to tremble for the fabric of the Establishment, and dreaded the approach of a disruption". However, even the Countess of Leven,

who in her younger day had encouraged Whitfield to "denounce and rebuke hirelings", observed "after all, anything is better than dust gathering through drowsiness and indolence". Perhaps we face the same choice today.