Born: Moffat, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, Oct. 31, 1796.Died: 1861.
Born: Moffat, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, Oct. 31, 1796.
Died: 1861.
Was born in Moffat, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, Oct. 31, 1796. His parents were people of fine intelligence and culture. They were all members of the kirk. He was educated in the University of Edinburgh. When a young man, on the invitation of his uncle, George Innes, he came to New York.
For a time he taught a classical school on Long Island. Later, he went to Pittsburgh. There he soon made the acquaintance of a fellow-countryman, Mr. George Forrester. In his home he found a welcome. Mr. Forrester was a minister of the Haldanean school. At that time he was conducting a school and also preaching to a small membership whom he had collected together. He invited Mr. Scott to examine the Scriptural claims of pedobaptism, in which he had been trained up. He made a faithful investigation of the subject.
His reverence for the authority of God's word led him to the conclusion that it was a defenseless relic of the Papacy and wholly without divine warrant. Hence he was immersed by his friend, Mr. Forrester. He at once became an earnest and persistent student of the Holy Scriptures. He opened a classical and English high school, but these duties he did not permit to interfere with his assiduous and systematic study of the Bible. It was not long until, on one of Mr. Campbell's visits to Pittsburgh, he and Mr. Scott became personally acquainted. Both were men of brilliant and admirable qualities. They were further attracted by their mutual conclusions on great Scriptural questions. From that time they were co-operants in the reproclamation of the gospel as it was first preached by inspired men.