|
Inscription. |
|
To The memory of The Reverend JAMES SMITH who was born in the Parish of Leslie County of Fife the 12th of February 1749 and died here the 25th of September 1840 in the 62nd year of his age and the 32nd year of his ministry during the last twenty years of his life he was Pastor of the Chapel of ease Chapleshade by the members of which this memorial was erected as a mark of respect for his professional exertions and private virtues Claimant: Heirs of James Small, George Milne writer and Miss Smith Source:Register of Tombs and Monuments in Dundee Burial Ground, 1832 THE REV. JAMES SMITH, who was born in the parish of Leslie, Fifeshire, on Feb. 12, 1749, was appointed the first minister of Chapelshade Church. He was originally ordained a minister of the Relief denomination, in connection with which Chapelshade Church was built in the year 1789. From one of his early pamphlets, however, it would appear that Mr Smith had very strong leanings towards the Church of Scotland; and in 1792 — some three years after his ordination—he, along with a majority of his congregation, made application and were admitted into the establishment as a chapel of ease. A number of the members of the original Relief congregation joined the ' Bereans,' then a considerable body in the town, under the pastorate of a Mr Donaldson. Mr Smith was a man of much literary ability, his prolific pen being seldom idle. He published several pamphlets in defence of the National Church, and in reply to Mr Innes, then minister of the Tabernacle (now St David's Church), in connection with the Haldanite Independents. He was also the author of Essays in two volumes octavo, On the First Principles of Christianity; On the Proper Method of establishing Sound Doctrine from the Sacred Oracles; and On the Different Senses of Scripture Terms: sermons, in one volume octavo, Deism Refuted, and Revelation Vindicated : one volume 12mo, Exposition of the Disputed Passage in Romans vii. 14-25 : Essay on Confessing the Truth, and Sermon in Vindication of Christ's Atonement : &c. Some of Mr Smith's doctrinal opinions were called in question by his clerical brethren, and Mr Colquhoun, the minister of the Gaelic Church, was asked to reply to them, which he attempted to do in a sermon preached in the Steeple Church. In this sermon Mr Colquhoun characterised Mr Smith's views as ' pernicious doctrine ; ' but as the Presbytery did not interfere, it may be presumed they were of no great moment. Mr Smith died on Sept. 25, 1810, leaving three daughters, one of whom was subsequently married to Mr George Milne, writer, and editor of the Dundee Chronicle. A very handsome monument was erected to his memory in the Old Burying Ground, by the members of his congregation, 'as a mark of respect for his professional exertions and private virtues.' Source 4
|