Scott, Robert, a minister of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, was born about 1805. He was re- ceived into the Virginia Conference on trial in 1829. and was graduated to deacon's and elder''s orders in 1831 and 1833. For twenty-eight years he labored in the itiner- ant ministry, and in 1857 took a supernumerary rela- tion. He died in 1866. See Minutes of Annual Con- ferences, 1866, p. 7.
Scott, Thomas, D.D., a clergyman of the Church of England, was a native of Lincolnshire. He was born Feb. 16, 1747, at Braytoft, a small farm-house five miles from Spilsby. He was educated at Bennington from his eighth to his tenth year, and the following live years he studied at Scorton. At the age of sixteen he was bound apprentice to a medical practitioner at Alford, but at the end of two months the master was dissatis- fied with his behavior, and sent him home. He was now employed about the farm for some time, and com- pelled to labor in tlie most servile occupations — some- times tending the sheep, and at others following the plough. In this menial situation he continued for more than nine years, yet continually cherishing the wish of becoming a clergyman. Thoughts of the university, of learning, and of study often presented themselves to his mind; and he at length consulted a clergyman at Boston, who encouraged his attem|)t at (lualifying him- self for the ministry; and having ac(piired a competent knowledge of Greek as well as Latin, he eventually ob- tained ordination from Dr. (Jreen, l)islioi) of Lincoln, Sept, 20, 1772. His first curacy was that of Stoke (iold- ington and Gayhurst, Buckinghamshire, from which he removed in 1775 to Kavensfone. In the sjiring of 1777 he settled in Weston Underwood, succeeding ]\Ir. John Newton to the curacy of Olney in 1781. In 1785 he was removed from Olney to the chaplainsliip of the Lock Hospital, near Hyde Park Corner, and held, be- sides, two lectureships in the city. In 1803 he obtained
the living of Aston-Sandford, in Buckinghamshire, which he held to the period of his death, April 16, 1821. It was an exceedingly small parish, but he could not be pre- vailed on to seek a larger, on account of the paucity of baptisms and burials which took place — a circumstance which, in some measure, relieved his scruples respect- ing the service as prescribed in the ritual. He first appeared as an author in a small volume entitled The Force of Truth (1779), in which he details the singular events which issued in his change of mind and charac- ter. This little piece has gone through not less than twenty editions. But his most important work, and that which has rendered him one of the most influential divines of the present day, is A Family Bible, vith Origi- nal Notes, Practical Observations, and Marrjinal Refer- ences (1796, 4 vols. 4to; 9th ed., with the author's last corrections and improvements, 1825, 6 vols. 4to). He was also the author of a great number of pieces, which have recently been collected and published unifnrmly ( 10 vols. 8vo ), including Remarks on the Bishop of Lincoln^ s Refutation of Calvinism : — Essai/s on Important Subjects: — Sei-mons, Tracts, etc. He left in MS., at the period of his decease, a copious account of his own life, replete with interest, which has been published by his son, and very extensively read. See Memoirs of Thomas Scott, liy his son ; Jones, Christian Biog. s. v.
Scott, William C, a Presbyterian minister, was born in IMartinsburg, Berkeley Co., Va., Jan. 13, 1817. He was conducted through his academical course prin- cipally by his father, the Kev. William N. Scott, who, to support his family and educate his own children, had opened a school, which he continued for twenty years. He was converted in October, 1831, in a revival com- menced in connection with the meeting of the Synod of Virginia, and united with his father's Church in the spring of 1832. It was about this time that he first felt his call to preach the (iospel. He graduated at South Hanover College, Ind., in 1837, and at the Union Theo- logical Seminary, Va., in 1840. Here the de|(th of his piety, the high literary merit of his performances, and the vigor and originality of his intellect marked him as a candidate for the ministry of no ordinary promise. In April, 1840, he was licensed by the presbytery of Winchester, and during the ensuing autumn became a stated supjily to three churches on Staunton River — namely. Providence, in Halifax Co., and C\ib Creek and Bethesda. in Charlotte Co. In 1842 he was ordained pastor of the churches of Providence and Bethesda, where he continued to labor till the spring of 1846, when he became pastor of the church in Farmville, Va. Before he had been three years in this charge, a bron- chial trouble had so far developed itself that he was compelled to resign his pastorate, and retired to a small farm which he owned among his first congregation. After two years' abstinence from all public service, he was able again to preach, and was called with perfect unanimity to become a second time the pastor of the Bethesda church. Here he labored until his death, which occurred Oct. 23, 1854. IMr. Scott was the au- thor of Genius and Faith, or Poetry and Riligion in their Mutual Relations (N. Y. 1853). This work is highly commended as "a treasury of invaluable thought, and in respect to which it is difficult to say whether the poetical, the philosophical, or the Christian element has the predominance." His intellect was of a high character, and his preaching always marked by careful preparation, by uncommon elegance of composition, and by clearness and accuracy of statement. See Sprague, A nnals of the A mer. Pulpit, iv, 802 ; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Anie?: A uthors, s. v. (J. L. S.)