Robert Liston (22 March 1730 – 11 February 1796) was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1787/88.
[4] Perhaps to avoid such disputes, several heritors and Elders of the Kirk Session of Aberdour in Fife wrote to James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton, who now Patron of the Parish, shortly after Robert had been licensed, and asked that he be appointed assistant and expected successor to his father.
As Minister of Aberdour, Robert Liston wrote the Report for that Parish for John Sinclair's First Statistical Account of Scotland in 1792.
A Committee of the Assembly drew up a reply, pledging their loyalty and devotion and promising to encourage their members to appreciate that they live in the freest country in the world with the most benign of monarchs.
They thanked him for his £1000 and promised to put it to good use, especially in the more barbarous parts of the country (South Uist, Argyle and Glenelg) which were blighted with Popery and superstition.
In another case, after much deliberation, it dismissed the appeal of Mr James Mcintosh, Minister of Moy and Dalarossie, and formally deposed him, for the offence of fornication, from the office of the holy ministry "for all time coming".
It also dismissed the appeal of Thomas Rattray, Esquire, of Dalrulzian, against the Presbytery of Dunkeld, claiming he was not, as libelled, the father of the children of Isabel Downie.
Henry declined the offer of the Kirk Session to be appointed his father's successor, feeling dynasties were not the proper thing for the Church of Scotland.