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Fisher, James

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one of the four leaders of the secession from the Established Church of Scotland, and professor of divinity to the Associate (Burgher) Synod, was born at Bar, Scotland, January 23, 1697. He commenced his curriculum in Glasgow in 1712, and closed it in St. Andrews in 1716; and then entered the Divinity Hall in the University of Edinburgh, where he continued six sessions. He was licensed to preach in 1722, and for some time supplied pulpits within the bounds of the presbytery. His first parish was at Glenisla, Forfarshire, and in 1725 he removed to Kinclaven. In 1732 he took an active part in denouncing the encroachments of the British legislature on the ecclesiastical liberties of Scotland, before the General Assembly, which soon resulted in his being suspended from the ministry. Mr. Fisher, with his other dissenting brethren, shortly afterwards constituted themselves into a presbytery, and with their respective congregations thus formed The Associate Presbytery. After various fruitless endeavors on the part of the General Assembly to induce Mr. Fisher to return to the Established Church, he, in 1741, was ejected from the church and manse of Kilclaven, whence he removed to Glasgow in response to a unanimous call from a newly organized Church holding his views, which he served continuously for over thirty years. He died September 28, 1775. Mr. Fisher was somewhat under the middle size, well proportioned, had a lively, affectionate, cheerful countenance, easy and alert in all his movements, was neat in dress, and orderly and punctual in all his affairs, an habitual early riser, and a conscientious, diligent student. His published works are, The Inestimable Value of Divine Truth, (Edinb. 1739): — Christ Jesus the Lord, Considered as the Inexhaustible Matter of Gospel Preaching (ibid. 1741): — The Character of a Faithful Minister of Christ (ibid. 1752): — The Assembly's Shorter Catechism Explained by Way of Question and Answer (Glasgow, 1753, part 1, 8vo; part 2, 1760): — Christ the Sole and Wonderful Doer in the Work of Man's Redemption (ibid. 1755), and a few reviews. See Memorials of Alexander Moncrieff and James Fisher, in the United Presbyterian Fathers, 1849, page 9; Fasti Eccles. Scotianae, 2:802.