Life
1680-1740; b. 19 Oct., Brigh, nr. Stewartstown, Co. Tyrone; his father,
a Presbyterian minister, and the first of the family in Ireland,
moved to Moneymore, 1684; lived in Ballymena and Coleraine; ed. Glasgow
University and Edinburgh; preached at Ussher’s Quay, Dublin. c.1690;
ordained Antrim 1703; recalled to Dublin, 1717, but opted to stay in Antrim; led Unitarians or non-subscribers in the
Belfast Society meeting-house, 1726; returned to Dublin; mbr. of Robert Molesworth’s liberal circle of
‘New Light’ theologians; issued Nature and Consequences of
the Sacramental Test Considered (Dublin 1731), in which he wrote that
the Anglican Test Act ‘carries the appearance of public censure,
at least distrust’ and further asserted his belief that ‘men
of integrity and ability’ could come from all denominations; challenged
Swift’s view of dissenting religion as fanatical; efforts to change
Parliament’s mind on dissenters’ civic status, defeated in 1733;
prominent in Belfast New Light movement and was later cited by William
Drennan as a formative influence on the thinking of the United Irishmen;
Discourses Concerning the Being and Natural Perfection of God [1740];
Scarce and Valuable Tracts &c (1751); preached on accession
of George I in 1714 and on the centenary of the 1642 Rebellion; his published
sermons were highly regarded by Dr. Johnston; d. Dec.
DIB DNB CAB RR DUB OCIL FDA
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Works
Sermons on Various Subjects [...] with a Large Preface
Containing the Life of the Author [by James Duchal], 4 vols. (London:
D. Browne; C. Davis; A. Millar 1748-51); Do., another edn. (London:
D. Browne; T. Osborne; A. Millar 1762). Discourses Concerning the Being
and Natural Perfections of God [... &c.] (Dublin: for the
author 1740), 400pp., 8o.; Do., (Dublin: J. Smith 1742), 8o., 440pp.;
Do., 2 vols (London: H. Whitridge 1743), 8o; Do., 2 vols.
(London rep. for H. Whitridge 1746), 8o.; Do. (London H. Whitridge,
D. Browne, etc. 1757), 8o.; Do., 2 vols. (Aberdeen: J. Boyle 1778),
12o. Scarce and Valuable Tracts and Sermons,Occasionally Published
by the Late [...] John Abernethy [...] Now
First Collected Together (London: R. Griffiths 1751). 8o., 7, 288pp.
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- Godfrey Brown, ‘John Abernethy, Scholar and Ecclesiast’, in George O’Brien and Peter Roebuck, eds., Nine Ulster Lives (Ulster Hist. Found. 1992), pp.125-39
- John Duchal, a life prefaced to Sermons on Various Subjects [...], 4 vols. (London: D. Browne; C. Davis; A. Millar 1748-51)
- Richard Ryan, Biographia Hibernica: Irish Worthies (1821), Vol. I, p.1.
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Notes
John Larkin, The Trial of William Drennan (1991) includes
remarks to the effect that William Drennan wrote in his "Defence",
‘I glory to be a Protestant Dissenter’ and proudly recited the names of
Abernethy, Bruce, [John] Duchal and [Francis] Hutcheson. Not only were
these men all close friends of his father but they were exponents of a
particular kind of Presbyterianism - a new liberal attitude which an opponent
ironically termed the "New Light". In the 1720s, this movement
was at the centre of a division in the Irish Presbyterian Church on the
question of subscription to the Westminster Confession of Faith, and Abernethy
and Bruce, together with Samuel Haliday, the elder Drennan’s predecessor
as minister of the First Presbyterian Church Belfast, and others were
leaders of the liberal ‘non-subscribers.’ (See review by John W. Nelson,
The Linen Hall Review, April 1991.) Note that these same men were
cited in a sermon preached by James Mackay in the Old Belfast Meeting
House on the death of Drennan’s father.
Charles A. Read, The Cabinet of Irish Literature [1876-78]; erroneously cites place of birth as Coleraine, prob. confusing the town with former Coleraine County (later Co. Londonderry); also mentions the death of [all] his siblings in the Williamite War, here called ‘dissensions’. Reprints extracts from Discourses Concerning the Being and Natural Perfection of God (1743) and Collected Tracts [n.d.].
British Library holds: A Sermon preached at Antrim, Nov. 13. 1723, at a fast observed in the Presbyterian Congregations in Ulster [...] on the account of divisions. (Belfast: Robert Gardner 1724), 4o., pp. 24; A Sermon recommending the Study of Scripture-Prophecie, etc. (Belfast: James Blow 1716), 4o, 25pp.; Discourses concerning the being and natural perfections of God, &c. (Dublin: for the author 1740), 400pp., 8o.; Discourses concerning the being and natural perfections of God [Fourth edn.], 2 vols. (Aberdeen: J. Boyle 1778), 12o.; Discourses concerning the Being and Natural Perfections of God, etc., 2 vols (London: H. Whitridge 1743), 8o; another edn. [Third Edition], 2 vols. [Dublin] (London rep. for H. Whitridge 1746), 8o.; Another Edn. (London H. Whitridge, D. Browne, etc.1757), 8o.; Discourses concerning the Being and Natural Perfections of God, etc. (Dublin: J. Smith 1742), 8o., 440pp.; Persecution contrary to Christianity. A sermon preached in [...] Dublin on the 23d. of October 1735, being the anniversary of the Irish Rebellion. (Dublin: J. Smith & W. Bruce 1735, 8o., pp. 44; Religious Obedience founded on Personal Persuasion. A sermon, etc.. London: J. Noon: 1720), 8o., 28pp.; Scarce and Valuable Tracts and Sermons, occasionally published by the late [...] John Abernethy [...] now first collected together (London: R. Griffiths 1751). 8o. [7, 288pp.]; Seasonable advice to the Protestant Dissenters in the North of Ireland; being a defence of the late General Synod’s charitable Declarations [i.e., the proceedings of the Synod at Belfast, 27 June 1721]. With a recommendatory preface. By the Reverend Nath[aniel] Weld, J. Boyse and R. Choppin. [by J. Abernethy] (Dublin: George Ewing 1722), 8o, xxii, 57pp.; Sermons on Various Subjects [...] With a large preface [by James Duchal] containing the life of the author.; [another edn. of Vols. 1 and 2.]; another edn. [The Third Edition] 4 vols. (London: D. Browne; C. Davis; A. Millar 1748-51), 8o.; Another edn. (London: D. Browne; T. Osborne; A. Millar 1762). 8o.; The People’s Choice, the Lord’s Anointed. A thanksgiving sermon for [...] King George, his happy accession to the throne, his arrival and coronation. Preach’d at Antrim, etc. (Belfast: R. Gardner [1714]), 4o. 20pp.; The True Terms of Christian and Ministerial Communion founded on Scripture alone. A sermon [...] With a preface: containing a short account of the author, by Mr. Abernethy.. pp. xii. 24. J. Smith: Dublin, 1739. 8o.; The Nature and Consequences of the Sacramental Test considered: with Reasons humbly offered for the repeal of it. [by John Abernethy] (Dublin 1731), 63pp.; another edn. [rep.] (London: J. Roberts 1732), . 8o.. 79pp.; A Sermon [on Matt. xxv. 21] on occasion of the [...] death of the Revd Mr. J. Abernethy, preach’d [...] Dec. 7th, 1740, etc. (Dublin 1741), 8o. Also SERMONS, Eleven Sermons on the Being and Perfections of God [A sermon]; Of Acknowledging God in all our ways [A sermon]; Of Repentance [2 sermons]; Of Self-Denial [A sermon]; The Causes and Danger of Self-Deceit. [A sermon]. Note, BL Cat. also contains theological works of one John Abernethy, Bishop of Caithness [e.g., A Christian and Heavenly Treatise, containing physicke for the soule [...] Newly corrected and inlarged by the author. [Third edition] (London: J. Budge 1622; 1630); trans. as Een Christelick ende Goddelick Tractact, inhoudende de medicine der ziele, etc. (s’ Graven-hage: A. Meuris: 1623), 4o.]; also numerous works by the distinguished medical practitioner and author John Abernethy (fl. 1830) and a biography of same.
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)