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:RT
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
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