Macklaurin, John

Macklaurin, John an eminent Scotch divine, was born in October, 1693, at Glendarnel. Argyleshire, where his father was then pastor. John was unfortunately early made an orphan, and he was taken in care by his uncle, the Rev. David Macklaurin, who educated John for the ministry, first at Glasgow, and later at Leyden, Holland. In 1717 he was licensed by the Presbytery of Dumbarton, and two years after was appointed minister at Luss, on the west bank of Loch Lomond. In 1723 he was promoted to a more responsible charge, the north-west parish of Glasgow. Here he died, Sept. 8, 1754, ' deeply regretted by a numerous and attached congregation, as well as by the general community of Christians in Britain." His sermons and essays, many of which have been published, have received the highest commendations, and are even in our day in general favor with the clergy of Great Britain. The most valuable are An Essay on the Prophecies relating to the Messiah, and three Sermons (Edinb. 1773, 8vo), said to have been the germ of the large and valuable work of bishop Hurd On Prophecy; Prejudices against the Gospel; and his sermons On the Sins of Men not chargeable to God, and Glorying in the Cross of Christ, all contained in his Sermons and Essays, published by the Rev. John Gillies (2d ed. London, 1772, 12mo), where may also be found an account of the life of John Macklaurin. See Jamieson, Cyclopaedia of Religious Biography, s.v.; Brown, Introductory Essay in Works of Macklaurin (1824).