Although his stay with that religious community was relatively short he was acknowledged, by right of his valid ordination, to have the authority, along with John M'Millan, to form a legitimate presbytery and in so doing to be able to ordain others to the offices of the church.
Thomas Nairn of Abbotshall, the parish which adjoins that of Kirkcaldy, and part of which is within the town, along with a number of his parishioners, seceded from the Established Church, and joined the Associate Presbytery.
They adhered to Mr Nairn's ministry, but as a congregation distinct from his, waiting to obtain a minister of their own, and expecting that the Presbytery before long would be able to afford them one.
That, however, had become doubtful, both from the small supply of preachers at the Presbytery's command, and their desire to strengthen the position of Mr Nairn, who had now become one of themselves.
Mr Thomson of Burntisland, who had seceded from the Established Church about the same time with Mr Nairn, was appointed by the Presbytery to preach at Abbotshall on Monday the 19th of July, and "after sermon to read both papers of coalescence — the one from the parish of Abbotshall and the other from the parish of Kirkcaldy, and an adherence thereto be required of the people, and their silence taken for consent; and that the Rev.
[5] Mr Nairn had been minister of the United Congregations only about a year, when a proposal was made by the Associate Presbytery (which met in Edinburgh October 1742) to renew the Covenants, and a draft of the agreement was then ordered to be drawn up.
They, however, gave Mr Nairn to understand that, unless he withdrew his dissent, the Presbytery would hold him homologating the sentiments they repudiated, and would proceed against him according to the rules of the Church.
Immediately upon this appointment being made, Mr Nairn handed in a paper, entitled "Protest, Secession, and Appeal," and withdrew.
He was summoned by the Anti-burgher Synod in November 1747, and appeared before that Court in January 1748, and boldly denied that subjection to the civil government was lawful; and at a subsequent meeting he was deposed.
The congregation at Abbotshall, from which he had withdrawn, did not, however, consider their connection with Mr Nairn properly dissolved till the Synod by a public deed declared it to be so.
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.