Samuel Ferguson Preface.
James Dodson
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PREFACE.
SOME years ago the writer of these sketches was asked by a gentleman occupying an important and influential public position in Derry, if he could furnish him with an historical account of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in this city and neighbourhood. Inquiries made at that time led to the determination to collect all the information possible for this end. It seemed better, however, to make the effort on Biographical lines, as the history of the Covenanting Church during the last century is to a considerable extent the history of her ministers. Starting with this purpose in view, information was gradually and laboriously accumulated relating to the whole church. It appeared useless, having collected all the historical and biographical particulars available, to allow the result of so much labour to pass away without giving it some permanent form. The present publication embodies most of the material so collected, and the hope is entertained that the following pages may prove not unprofitable reading to those interested in such matters. The difficulties of such an undertaking as the present will be readily understood. Important links binding us to a forgotten past were found in many cases to be
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broken by recent deaths, while there is no written history or published reminiscences to fall back upon.
It may safely be said that it would have been impossible to do what is attempted in this volume, little as it may seem, if it had not been for the collection of material in the same direction, by the late Rev. W. J. Stavely, D.D., and especially by the late Rev. Professor Chancellor, D.D., Belfast. As one of his students in the Theological Hall, the author of these pages desires to pay his tribute of respect to the memory of Dr. Chancellor. He was a man who adorned the gospel ministry, and who as a Professor of Theology had the highest ideal before his own mind, and he never failed to place it before the students committed to his care. The extent and accuracy of his information on all matters relating to the history of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Ireland is well known, and the fullest acknowledgment of the debt the author is under to him for a large number of the facts narrated in the following pages is hereby made. But the sources from which information has been drawn for the present effort are manifold, and the kindness of friends inside the church and outside it is gratefully acknowledged. The Librarians of Magee College, Londonderry, the Linenhall Library, Belfast, and the Curator of the Belfast Museum, with great kindness lent their experience and
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assistance; while valuable information has been obtained from the surviving relatives of Revs. Robert Young, William Stavely and others. Mr. James Montgomery, bookseller, Londonderry, has to be thanked for his help in obtaining some rare and valuable books and pamphlets bearing on the subject matter of the volume, and Messrs. W. H. Jack, Londonderry, J. B. O’Neill, Belfast, and Rev. J. M. Cromie, Kellswater, with great kindness obtained the photographic views of the different churches.
The ministers whose lives and work are briefly and imperfectly sketched in these pages deserve well of their Church and posterity. They contributed very largely to the formation of the current of religious life and work that we experience to-day. Under many difficulties they bore their testimony for Christ, His crown and covenant, at a time when there were few to do it. Other lives might have been traced, but this would have led to the writing of what has already been published by the Rev. M. Hutcheson, of Scotland, and others in that country, and by the Rev. W. M. Glasgow in his exhaustive work on the history of the Covenanting Church in America. The Rev. Classon Porter has written the life of Rev. David Houston, “The Covenanter,” more fully than any one else can ever hope to do, and we have nothing to complain of in his treatment of the subject.
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The lives of ministers and authors in connection with the Presbyterian Church during the past century have been ably written by the late Rev. Dr. Witherow and Rev. W. T. Latimer and others, and the present small volume is an attempt to say a few words for our Covenanted labourers during the same period.
It may seem that the sketch of the Rev. William Stavely is proportionately much longer than the others, but his ministry was by far the longest, and his life was more eventful than the lives of the others. Indeed, for the sake of brevity, we have left out much regarding his ministerial work that we had at first purposed to publish.
The book, such as it is, is laid on the altar that hallows every service, with the prayer, that while it tells of some of faith’s worthies in the bye-gone years, it may stimulate others to be equally faithful in the service of Him who everywhere and in everything deserves our best.
SAMUEL FERGUSON.
WATERSIDE, LONDONDERRY,
22nd November, 1897.