Neil Campbell's origins are obscure, though it is clear he was well connected to the Patronage networks of the Argyle Interest, which was to triumph in the so-called Glorious Revolution.
[7] Kilmallie was the large parish, in geographical extent, and its Highland population generally held Jacobite sympathies, implying a lean towards the Catholic cause.
He was an important player in the Presbytery of Glasgow which was in turn a major influence on the Town Council, and in Parliamentary elections.
[11] The teaching at Glasgow had been reformed by his predecessor, Principal Stirling, and a number of important appointments were made during Campbell's tenure, notably Adam Smith and William Cullen - who turned the Glasgow medical school into a rival to Edinburgh's, which was made possible by major increases in finance, again from Government and other sources of patronage.
Campbell might not be able to take credit for the appointments or for the finance, as he was regarded as a somewhat weak leader, but Glasgow was even more flourishing at the end of his regime than it was at the beginning.
[14] A lot of Campbell's time was taken up in contending with religious divisions among the staff (reflected in student concerns) and in the Glasgow Presbytery.
[15] He unsuccessfully tried to defend his colleague, the Professor of Divinity John Simson, from charges of heresy brought by the Presbytery,[16] and ended up having to take over all his classes, without any increase in pay (though some compensation was given much later).
[17] Campbell?s own religious philosophy seems to have been hyper-Calvinist,[18] which might explain his quarrels with the philosopher Francis Hutcheson and his opposition to David Hume getting a professorship at Glasgow.
It expressed particular gratitude for the King's gift of £1000, and it made the customary arrangements for using it to fight Roman Catholicism in the Highlands and Islands.
The Assembly also voted to urge all congregations to contribute to the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK), which had similar missionary aims in the Highlands.
The decision that year was meant to bring some order into the few, but fraught, occasions when the Patron, through death, or illness, or oversight, had not presented a candidate to a vacancy within the six-months required.
The same courtesies were exchanged with the King - who this time urged them to work together for the increase of piety and virtue, the preventing of the growth of Popery, and the suppressing of profaneness and immorality, and earnestly urged them to avoid all disputes and contentions among yourselves, and to proceed upon the business proper for your consideration, with that unanimity and brotherly love, as may justly be expected from so venerable a body.
The Assembly responded loyally, though it did express a hope that the King would relieve them of the Patronage grievance they had been protesting about annually.
Some other Presbyteries had complained that some Elders attending the Assembly were not properly qualified (either not residing in their Parishes, or harbouring dubious opinions).