March 3, 1847, Bro. Bell called a meeting of the council at which I was appointed to attend & rebaptise on Sunday morning following when some of the officers took upon them to intimate to those who were ready to go that I would wait upon them at the water of baptism on the above date.

Sunday morning, March 7, 1847, repaired to the water, offered up prayer to God that his blessing might rest upon us and that he would acknowledge our obedience to the ordinance of his own house. Went down with bros. James Goldie, Teacher; John Brisband, member; & Agness Morton, and rebaptised them for a remission of their sins. After a while I told them to attend meeting today to receive the ordinance of confirmation for the reception of the Holy Spirit. The Saints met as usual at 11 o’clock to worship before the Lord & also to hear addresses delivered by the brethren in office, the foremen being appointed for this purpose. Elder F. Sprowl presided over the meeting today, Pres. Bell being at Johnston. elder F.S. called the meeting to order by a hymn & prayer, after which he addressed us for a short time; John Welsh, Priest, spake for some time after Bro F. Sprowl, & Elder Andrew Sprowl spake for some time also, & ceased the meeting by a hymn & asking the blessings of God upon all his Saints here & elsewhere, his servants also, that they may be enabled by his good spirit to bear a faithful testimony to the word & especially he would bless the twelve in the west as the leaders of the Saints.

March ___, 1847. Saints met again at two o’clock. Bro. F.S. gave out a hymn & called upon Bro. A.S. to offer up prayer. Another hymn sang, then the emblems of the body & bread of our Lord Jesus Christ was administered to the Saints, after which Elders F.S. & myself proceeded to administer the ordinance of laying on hands for the giving of the Holy Spirit. I spake when we laid hands on James Goldie, teacher; Bro. F. spoke for John Brisband & I spake again for Agness Morton. The Saints enjoyed the spirit of joy this afternoon in meeting before the Lord. I would here state that since the year 1840 we have had meetings opened on Sunday, the most of which time three times a day & long time on Wednesday evenings, besides for the purpose of enjoying ourselves edifying the Saints & publishing the truth of Gospel & bearing a faithful testimony to the work of God notwithstanding both Priest & people & have turned a deaf ear to our testimony held us up to ridicule in their Churches, cast us out as evil & generally have delighted themselves in the blood of our prophet & patriarch being shed and of the Saints being driven into the wilderness. Do thou, O God, judge the people in this town even in Paisley & deliver thy Saints from among them.

March 21, 1847, Sunday morning, Alex Gardner called this morning with whom I went and administered the ordinance of rebaptism for the remission of sins. In the afternoon myself & Elder Cowan was called upon by Bro Bell to confirm him and his wife, formerly Sis. Oatly. I confirmed Bro. Gardner, Bro. Cowan confirmed sis Gardner by laying on hands for the gift of the Spirit of God. Bro. William Sheilds being present after a long absence from the meetings, & not giving heed to counsel for which he would have been cut off at the next Church meeting, according to an action of last counsel, stood up & made public confession, asked the forgiveness of the Saints hoping that God would forgive him & that he covenanted to be faithful for time to come. He also stated that he wished to be rebaptised. The time appointed was after evening meeting. We repaired to the water accordingly after a few words of prayer offered up by Bro. Bell, Priest Hutchison went down & rebaptised Bro. Dark, Teacher, & William Sheilds. After Pres. Bell & myself confirmed Wm. Sheilds at the waterside, Bro. Bell asked me to be the mouth.

March 24, 1947. This is the national fast, so called among the sects. Myself and several others not allowed to work in consequence of a proclamation issued by the sheriff of this town, one sentence in it we will notice lest we forget as time flies. It is this, that if we did not fast that we would be subject to the penalty, not only in this world but also in the world to come. We have no time to lose saying anything more about it, so we will just wait & see what this Holy Sheriff’s prophecy turns out to be, for those who will not fast. As for myself and several others of the saints, we went & obeyed the ordinance of baptism, I being called upon to administer this ordinance to five persons two of which were rebaptised, the other three being candidates. ‘Twas just about dark when we arrived at the place appointed to administer this Holy ordinance. The moon was shading her rays gently abroad & the evening was come, not a single breeze to disturb the Sacred ordinance which we were about to administer through which the remission of sins comes, when the Royal Priesthood of God is on the earth. We felt to say before coming to the water’s edge, this place seems to be hallowed by the frequent administrations that has been attended to. Joy & peace rests upon this place. The Spirit when we came together here to obey the voice of the redeemer, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. The name of this place is the Micileriges Burn. Then a beautiful scene around this place, the post where we immerse is only large enough to admit the administrator & the candidate. There is about two feet of a waterfall over which the water leaps into the place above described. It [is] fairly secluded by trees all around, & gentle rising hill just above. On a calm night such as this, & the occasion that has brought us together, makes us feel that it is more than our meat or drink to do the will of God. In this place has the greatest number of the Saints in this branch been baptised. ‘Twas here I believe the first person in Paisley was adopted into the kingdom.

Bro. Wm. Lochhed, Deacon, & old sis Euphemia Dragon having made up their minds through the course of the day to be rebaptised, called on me that I might administer the ordinance to them while waiting in Bro. Cowans till the time appointed for going to the waters, Bro Wm. Fleming came in and said he had been at my house to let me know that other two candidates wanted baptism. We asked him who they were. The one was his youngest daughter, the other a young woman that stopped with them. They have been both attending our meetings & has heard the gospel taught. Old Sis Dragon having met in with one of her sons as she was going to the water, spoke to him on the subject of her journey that way & asked him to go & have his sins washed away by being baptized for the remission of them, as he had been cut off from the church some 3 years before for leaving it, & going in with the ways of the world. He said he had been reflecting for a long time past on his condition out of the Church & finding no peace as he sated, he had made up his mind to come in by the door again to the sheepfold. Just before beginning to undress we spake to the candidates on the nature of the work (showing that God was its author & had made Joseph the Seer the instrument in bringing it forth in fulfilment of the words of the law of God & of the revelator John, that the Gospel should come as a witness & a warning to all nations & that as in the hour of his judgments Elder Cowan bore testimony. I asked if they understood & received what we said, they said Yes. Present Bro. Hutchison Goldie, Sis C. & S.S., my wife. I then offered up prayer to God in the name of his Holy Child to acknowledge us in our obedience to his own commands and bless us in this good work, Amen. I then went down into the water with Wm Lochhead, deacon, after which old Sis Dragon, then James Dragon her son, then Agness Fleming & Margaret Knox, & immersed them for the remission of sins, the three last names new members.

After we got all dressed, we sang Jesus Mighty King in Zion. I informed them to attend on Sunday first that the laying on of hands be administered to them for the gift of the Holy Spirit & to attend all meetings after & keep the commands of God to the end.

March 28, Sunday, 1874. The conference meets today. Pres. Bell is gone to represent our Branch which numbers 77 members, Renfrew & Barrhead inclusive; 5 elders, 4 Priests, 5 Teachers, 2 Deacons. Since last conf. 8 added by baptism, 3 gone to other Branches by letter, viz. Sis Jane McLaws to Glasgow, Sis Hellen O. May to Killmarnak, Wm Sheilds to Johnston, & Thos. Begg, deacon, gone to Fallkirk without a letter. Bro. Bell appointed me to preside over the meetings through the course of this day.

The Saints met for the public worship of God as usual at 11 o’clock. I called the meeting to order by giving out a Hymn, “The Morning Breaks the Shadows Flee,” offered up prayer, sang “Harvest Time is Night” that happy time. We then stated to the meeting that the officers of Renfrew should have the privilege of speaking to the Saints, & after a few remarks from Elder Cowan, Bro A. Hogg, Priest, of Renfrew, Bro. Rathin, & Bro. M. McInize, Teachers, of Renfrew, spake each a short time in turn, after which Bros R. Dock & J. Goldie, Teachers in Paisley, spake for a short time, also a few remarks from myself brought the meeting to a close. In the afternoon we attended to ordinance of the Lord’s Supper after which Elder Cowan & Elder A. Sprowl proceeded to lay on hands for the giving of the Spirit of the Lord, even the Holy ghost. A. Sprowl confirmed Teacher Dock, R. Cowan confirmed Deacon Lochhead, A. Sprowl, J. Dragon, R. Cowan, Margaret Knox, A.A. Sprowl Agness Fleming & R. Cowan Euphemea Dragon. The Saints enjoyed themselves in hearing & in speaking of the experience they have had in the work of God in the remaining part of the afternoon.