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MacVicar, D.H., D.D., LL.D., Principal of the
Presbyterian College, Montreal and Professor of Dogmatics, Church
Government and Homiletics, was born in Dunglass, near Campbelltown,
Cantyre, Scotland, on November 29th, 1831. His father, John MacVicar, a
farmer in Dunglass, was a man of great physical and intellectual vigour,
and was widely known and highly respected in Scotland and Canada for his
ability, generosity, and sterling integrity. While diligent in business he
delighted to rest in the truth of the motto of the family crest - "Dominus
Providebit" - The Lord will provide. His wife, Janet MacTavish, was a
person of similar character, possessed of an unusual degree of energy and
executive ability. She lived to be ninety-two years old, and to see her
children and children's children in positions of usefulness and influence.
Dr. MacVicar was one of twelve children, and the youngest of seven sons.
His parents emigrated to Canada a few years after his birth and settled
near Chatham, Ontario. His early education was conducted by a private
tutor, and he afterwards pursued his studies in the Toronto Academy and
University. He took his Theological course in Knox College, Toronto, and
for two years taught classics and other subjects in a private academy in
that city, conducted by his brother, Rev. Dr. MacVicar, now Professor of
Apologetics, etc., in MacMaster Hall, Toronto. In 1859 he was licensed to
preach the gospel by the Toronto Presbytery. Immediately after he was
offered pastoral charges in Collingwood, Erin, Bradford, Toronto, and
Guelph. He accepted a unanimous call to Knox Church in the last names
city. His high preaching powers and eminent gifts as a pastor has already
become widely known and recognized, so that in the fall of 1860 he
received a call from Coté Street Free Church, Montreal, as successor to
Dr. Fraser, now of London, England. He accepted the call and was inducted
into his new charge on the 30th of January, 1861. During his pastorate,
which lasted for nearly eight years, the congregation attained a very high
state of efficiency; the membership almost doubled, and great missionary
zeal was manifested in the founding of several district Sabbath schools,
two of which are to-day not only self-supporting but influential city
congregations. In 1868 he was appointed Professor of Divinity in the
Presbyterian College, Montreal. The work entrusted to him was in reality
the founding of the institution, which existed then only in its charter.
Now the seminary has extensive and costly buildings, a large and valuable
library, a staff of four professors and four lecturers, with over seventy
students in attendance, and it has sent out over one hundred ministers and
missionaries. Its total assets amount to over a quarter of a million
dollars. This bespeaks an energy and enterprise worthy of all praise. It
is unnecessary to speak of Dr. MacVicar's ability as a teacher. His
pre-eminent qualifications in that respect are known all over the
continent, and have been felt and recognized far beyond the sphere of
college work. He has long taken the deepest interest in the work of French
evangelization. By overture to the Presbytery of Montreal and the
Assembly, he originated the work of training French and English-speaking
missionaries and ministers, and organized the Presbyterian French work,
which has been so successful. He has been for many years, and is now,
chairman of the Board of French Evangelization of the General Assembly. He
served for many years on the Protestant Board of School Commissioners,
Montreal, and his services in this connection have been invaluable to the
cause of education - a fact to which the press has borne repeated
testimony. At the time of the federation of the provinces of the Dominion,
he took a leading part in securing the educational rights of the minority
in the Province of Quebec. His public lectures and addresses, educational
and theological, and his articles in reviews, are widely known. Among his
educational works, his two arithmetics, primary and advanced, are standard
text-books. During the session of 1871 he was lecturer on Logic in McGill
University. In 1870 he received the degree of LL.D., onoris cauer,
from that University, of which he is also a Fellow. In 1881 he was chosen
moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada,
the duties of which office he discharged with acknowledged firmness,
courtesy and judgement. In the same year he received the diploma of
membership of the Athénee Oriental of Paris; and two years later his
alma mater conferred upon him the degree of D.D. He has always taken a
prominent part in the work of the General Assembly, having been a member
of that court every year since his ordination. He was appointed a delegate
to each of the three great Presbyterian Councils which met in Edinburgh in
1877; in Philadelphia, 1880; and Belfast, 1884. In the Philadelphia
meeting he read a paper on "The Catholicity of Presbyterianism"; and at
Belfast he was chairman of the Committee on the admission of churches into
the alliance. He has served seven years on the International Bible Lesson
Committee. He is now honorary president of the Celtic Society of Montreal,
and takes an active part in its transactions. On three occasions Dr.
MacVicar has travelled in Great Britain and Europe, and his merits are
well known and highly appreciated far beyond the borders of Canada. Some
years ago he received and declined a very cordial call to become the
pastor of the South Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, N.Y., at a salary of
$7,000 per annum. Dr. MacVicar was married May 1st, 1860, to Eleanor,
youngest daughter of Robert Goulding and Ann Bridgland, who were both born
in England, and came to Toronto when it was only a village and known as
Little York. Mrs. MacVicar was educated in Toronto and while she has made
her home the scene of unbroken domestic happiness, she has also filled the
high social position she has occupied with distinguished wisdom, dignity
and success. She is the mother of five children, two daughters and three
sons. |
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