McMahon, WiLLiAsr, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, was born in Dumfries, Prince AVilliam County, Ya., about 1785 ; was converted at a camp-meeting held near Oldtown, JMd. ; was appointed class-leader by Peter Cartwright, and afterwards licensed to exhort by the Rev. James Quinn, and soon after to preach, and was received into the travelling connection in 1811. His first appointment was Silver Creek, in the territory of Indiana; in ISli he was sent to Ken- tucky, where he remained four years, and travelled the Lexington, Shelby, Jefferson, and Fleming circuits. Un- der this four years' ministrj' thousands were awakened and converted. In 1816 he was transferred to the Mis- sissippi Conference to take charge of a district. He started on his journey with bishop Roberts, but was taken sick at Nashville, and there transferred by bishop McKendree to the Tennessee Conference, and was ap- pointed to Nashville Circuit. After tliat time he be- came one of the leading minds of the Tennessee and Memphis Conferences. His health having failed, he located, and removed from North ^Uabama to De Soto County, Miss., in December, 1835 ; was readmitted into the travelling connection at the second session of the Memphis Conference, held in the fall of 1841, and was appointed to Holly Springs District, where he remained four years. He continued in the regular work, ])reach- ing with a power and success such as but few men ever had, until his health gave way. For several years be- fore his death he sustained either a supernumerary or a superannuated relation. He died about 1867 or" 1868. '•Few men, during the. present century, ha\-e exerted a greater influence upon Methodism in "the South. For lifty years he held up the cross and preached the doc- trines of Christianity in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, leaving holy foot-prints, and winning votaries to Christ. He was in many respects a most remarkable man. No one ever had the reputation that he had in North ^Vlabama and Mississippi." — Confvrcnce Minutes of the M. K. Church South, 1870. s. v. ; McFerrin, Methodism in Tennessee, ii, 426; Redforil, IJist. Meth. in Kentucl-ij, ii, 252.
McMaster, Erasmus D., D.D., a noted Presby- terian divine, was Ijorn in Pennsylvania in 1S()6; grad- uated at Union College, N. Y., in 1827; was licensed to preach in 1829; was ordained in 1831, and made "pastor at Ballston, N. Y. ; was president of the South Hano- ver College. Indiana, from 1838 to 1845, and of i\Iiami University, Ohio, from 1845 to lM4!t: was jinifessor of systematic theology in the New All).iny Tlieological Seminary from 184S) to 1866; and was then appointed
to the same chair in the theological seminary of the Northwest. He died at Chicago, Illinois, Dec. 10, 1866. Possessed of a vigorous and thoroughly cultured mind and a well-balanced judgment, McMaster succeeded in all he attempted. " His expositions of Scripture and his religious addresses and sermons were exceedingly rich and instructive, and held the attention of all his hearers ; vvhile his intiiience over his students was unbounded." He published several sermons and addresses, and minor theological treatises. See Drake, Diet. A mer. Bio</. s. v. ; Xeir Ainer. Cydop. 18G6, p. 463.
McMaster, Gilbert, D.D., a Presbyterian minis- ter, was born in Ireland, Feb. 13, 1778; came to this country when yet a child, and was educated at Jeffer- son College, Pa., -where he graduated in 1803 ; was or- dained August 8, 1808, and was pastor of Duanesburg Church, N. Y., from 1808 to 1840, and of the Church at Princeton, Ind., from 1840 to 1846. He died at New Al- bany, Ind., March 15, 1854. His works are: An Essay in Defence of some Fundamental Doctrines of Christian- ity: — An Analysis of the Shorter Catechism (1815): — An Apology for the Book ofFsalms: — The Moral Char- acter of Civil Government considered (1832) : — Thoughts on Union in the Church of God (1846). See Wilson, Presb. Hist. A Imanac, 1863, p. 368 ; Sprague, A nnals A mer. Pulpit, ix, 46 sq. ; Drake, Diet. Amer. Biog. s. v.
McMillan, Edward, a Presbyterian minister, was born in Cumberland County, N. C, Sept. 2, 1804; was educated under Rev. Samuel Donnell and Rev. J. R. Bain, Tenn. ; was licensed by Shiloh Presbytery in 1827, and ordained in 1828 ; labored in 1829 in Moulton, Ala.; in 1835, in Bethany, Tenn. ; in 1849, in Gallatin, Tenn. ; in 1856, in Carlinville, lU. ; and in 1862 became chaplain in the army, in which service he died, Aug. 27, 1864. Mr. McMillan as a preacher was clear and ana- lytical ; as a Christian, confiding, prayerful ; as a man, naturally kind, noble, and generous. See WUson, Presb. Hist. A Imur.ac, 1866, p. 220. (J. L. S.)
McMillan, Gavin, a Presbyterian minister, was born in Antrim County, Ireland, Feb. 6, 1787, and was brought to Charleston, S.C, in August of the same year. He began his education under Rev. John Kell, and pur- sued his classical studies under the care successively of John Orr, Rev. Thomas Donnell_y, Rev. E. Newton, and Mr. Can)pbell; in 1817 he graduated with honor at the South Carolina College, S. C. ; afterwards studied di- vinity in the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary in Phil- adelphia, Pa. ; was licensed by the Reformed Philadel- phia Presbytery in 1821, and in 1823 \vas ordained and installed pastor of Beech AYoods Church, at Morning Sun, Ohio, where he labored for fifty years. In 1839 and 1861 he was moderator of the Synod. He died Jan. 25, 1867. Mr. jNIcMillan was eminent as a scholar and theologian ; clear and instructive as a preacher ; wise and tnistfid as a counsellor. See Wilson, Presb. Hist. A Imuiuic, 1868, p. 390. {J, L. S.)