Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 24.djvu/29

 gational body. Among others a bitter controversy sprang up between Haldane and the Rev. Greville Ewing in 1810. In 1816 he published one of his more important works, ‘The Evidences and Authority of Divine Revelation’ (second edition, enlarged and improved, 1834). In the same year which saw the first appearance of this book he went to Geneva and began a remarkable work of continental evangelisation. A large number of the students of the university came to him daily for instruction, and he gained over them a wonderful influence. In 1817 he removed to Montauban, where he followed a similar course. Here he also procured the printing of two editions of the Bible in French, amounting to sixteen thousand copies in all, which he circulated along with a French translation of his ‘Evidences’ and a commentary on the Epistle to the Romans in the same language, and many tracts. In 1819 he returned to Scotland to an estate at Auchingray, Lanarkshire, which he had purchased. In the end of 1824 he became involved in a controversy, which raged for twelve years, regarding the circulation by the British and Foreign Bible Society of the Apocrypha along with the Bible. His first ‘Review of the Conduct of the British and Foreign Bible Society relative to the Apocrypha and to their Administration on the Continent, with an Answer to the Rev. Charles Simeon, and Observations on the Cambridge Remarks,’ appeared in 1824. A second ‘Review’ followed the first. The course of this controversy led him to issue one of his best known works, ‘The Authenticity and Inspiration of the Scriptures,’ which at once reached a large circulation, and has passed through many editions. In 1835 appeared the first volume of another work, which was also destined to attain great popularity, an ‘Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans,’ the beginnings of which had already appeared in French. The second volume was published in 1837, and the third in 1839. In addition to the works mentioned he was the author of many tracts and other fugitive publications. He died in Edinburgh on 12 Dec. 1842, and was buried in Glasgow Cathedral. He married in April 1786 Katherine Cochrane, daughter of George Oswald of Scotstown.

[Alexander Haldane's Lives of Robert Haldane of Airthrey and of his brother, James Alexander Haldane, 1852.] 

HALDANE, ROBERT (1772–1854), divine, was the son of a farmer at Overtown, Lecropt, on the borders of Perthshire and Stirlingshire, and was named after Robert Haldane, then proprietor of Airthrey. He was educated at the school of Dunblane, and afterwards at Glasgow University. He then became private tutor, first in the family at Leddriegreen, Strathblane, and at a later date in that of Colonel Charles Moray of Abercairnie. On 5 Dec. 1797 he was licensed as a preacher by the presbytery of Auchterarder, but did not obtain a charge until August 1806, when he was presented to the church of Drummelzier, in the presbytery of Peebles, and was ordained on 19 March 1807. He had won some distinction as a mathematician, and when the chair of mathematics became vacant in the university of St. Andrews in 1807 he was appointed to the professorship, and resigned his charge at Drummelzier on 2 Oct. 1809. He remained in this post till 1820, when he was promoted by the crown to the pastoral charge of St. Andrews parish, vacant by the death of Principal George Hill, D.D. His predecessor had held the principalship of St. Mary's College in St. Andrews in conjunction with his ministerial office, and the same arrangement was followed in the case of Haldane, who was admitted on 28 Sept. 1820. With the office of principal was joined that of primarius professor of divinity, and Haldane exhibited conspicuous ability, both as a theologian and an administrator.

On 17 May 1827 Haldane was elected moderator of the general assembly of the church of Scotland. His early years had been spent among the dissenters, but throughout his career he adhered consistently to the established church, and upon the disruption of 1843 Haldane was called to the chair ad interim, and did much to allay the excitement at the time. To his evangelicalism and popularity as a preacher is attributed the fact that comparatively few among his parishioners left the established church at the disruption. Earnest and affectionate in his manner he was not only admired as a preacher, but he also commanded in a high degree the attention of his pupils in his academical lessons. He was regarded as an accomplished scholar and a sound theologian. His scientific attainments were also considerable, and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh some time before his death. He died at St. Mary's College, St. Andrews, on 9 March 1854, being then in his eighty-third year, and was buried in the cathedral cemetery there. His portrait is preserved in the hall of the university library at St. Andrews. He was succeeded by the Rev. John Tulloch [q. v.]

Haldane's only publication was a small work relating to the condition of the poor in St. Andrews, and a reply to strictures upon his arguments (Cupar, 1841). 