Western Worthies: A Gallery of Biographical and Critical Sketches of West of Scotland CelebritiesJeans, J. Stephen (James Stephen)
History
Western Worthies: A Gallery of Biographical and Critical Sketches of West of Scotland Celebrities
Jeans, J. Stephen (James Stephen)
Scotland -- Biography
Those who believe in the transmission of hereditary qualities and
predilections from generation to generation will find a rare practical
illustration of their theory in the Rev. Norman Macleod, who is known
and recognised as _par excellence_ Her Majesty's Chaplain for Scotland.
With as unfailing certainty as if they had been regulated by the laws of
primogeniture and entail, this estimable clergyman has inherited the
gifts and graces of his esteemed father. Nay more, he has even fallen
heir to whatever honours and emoluments of value accrued to the latter
during his long and useful career. The two men are in many respects
"similar, though not the same." Both have answered to the same name;
both have been popular preachers; both have held prominent positions in
the Established Church of Scotland; both have prosecuted their
ministerial labours in the same city; and both have been honoured with
special marks of favour and distinction from their Sovereign. There are
other minor points of resemblance upon which we cannot stay to dwell.
Dr. Norman Macleod, the elder, was ordained a minister of the
Established Church at Campbeltown in 1807, where his son, the present
minister of the Barony, was born. From Campbeltown the father removed to
Campsie parish in 1855; and subsequently he was inducted minister of the
Glasgow Gaelic Church, afterwards St. Columba's, in 1836. While in
Glasgow, he preached once in Gaelic and once in English every Sunday.
Like his son, he had broad sympathies, and soared far above the petty
barriers of denominational forms and prejudices. He was Moderator of the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1836, and it was greatly
due to his efforts that the Presbyterian Church obtained such a firm
hold in the province of Ulster. In the year 1824 he brought the state of
education in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland so fully and so
eloquently under the notice of the General Assembly that the education
scheme of the Established Church was projected to remedy the evils
pointed out. Along with Principal Baird, he was appointed on three
different occasions to inquire into the existing means of education in
the Highlands and Islands, and in many other ways he contributed
valuable service in "building up," consolidating, and expanding the
distinctive schemes and agencies of the church to which he belonged. His
labours were rewarded by the appointment--through the late Sir Robert
Peel, with whom he had considerable influence--to the envied position of
one of Her Majesty's Chaplains for Scotland, and by his preferment to
the Deanery of the Chapel Royal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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