to ordain other men to the ministry. This meant he was the only man who the Societies accepted who could for example baptise or administer the Lord's Supper. An attempt made to induce Ebenezer Erskine to join with the United Societies when he seceded from the Established Church in 1733 was not successful. On 1 August 1743, Thomas Nairn, who had left the established Church of Scotland and joined the Associate Presbytery, came over to the Societies, which were then constituted as the Reformed Presbytery. Mr. Nairn came from Abbotshall in Fife who had been a Secession minister. The Presbytery was constituted at Braehead, Carnwath, and ordained new ministers, one of whom, John Cuthbertson, was despatched to support the cause in Pennsylvania. The Seceders evidently did not consider their connection with Nairn ended by these proceedings, for in November 1747 he was served with a libel. The case dragged on till February 1750, when he was formally excommunicated. Nairn’s subsequent connection with the Reformed Presbyterian Church is obscure owing to the absence of the records. He was sent on at least one mission to the adherents- of the Church in Ireland in 1744, but he appears to have left the Presbytery soon after joining it. He was brought under its censure, it is understood, because of some ecclesiastical misdemeanour. Family He married, and had issue — Ann; Margaret (married John Cunningham of Pittarthy); Helen; Mary (married 8 June 1752, James Meldrum, writer, Kirkcaldy) Publication A Sermon preached at Braehead (Glasgow, 1745) Bibliography Gib's Display Hutchison's Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland, 184-203 References Citations Sources Covenanters Scottish evangelicals 1764 deaths 18th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Ministers of Secession Churches in Scotland Ministers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland