THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Trinity Church, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 18-13; and of the Ninth Church, Philadelphia, Penn., 1850. He was secretary to the Education Committee of the Irish Presbyterian Church, 1834-40; mathematical examiner of students under care of the Synod of Ulster, 1839-43; and was moderator of the Presbyterian Church in England, 1846. He published, with other works, essays on Missions to the Heathen (Belfast, 1830); Atonement, Faith, and Assurance (Philadelphia, 1856); Bellarmine's Xotes of the Church (1858); and edited the papers of the late Rev. Richard Webster, with introduction and indexes, and published them under the title Webster's History of the Presbyterian Church (Philadelphia, 1857); also the Biblical, Theological, Biographical, and Literary Encyclopedia (2 vols., 1873-76).
BLAIKIE, WILLIAM GARDEN: Free Church of Scotland; b. at Aberdeen Feb. 5, 1820; d. at Xorth Berwick June 11, 1899. He studied at Marischal College and at Edinburgh (M.A., Aberdeen, 1837); was ordained minister of the Established Church at Drumblade, Aberdeenshire, 1842; joined the Free Church of Scotland, 1843; was minister of Pilrig, Edinburgh, 1844—68; professor of apologetics and pastoral theology in New College, Edinburgh, 1868-97. With the Rev. William Arnot he was delegate from the Free Church of Scotland to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States at Philadelphia in 1870 to convey congratulations on union; he took a leading part in the Alliance of the Reformed Churches; was deeply interested in measures to improve the condition of the poor and the working classes; and active in behalf of home missions, temperance, church extension, and all the work of the Free Church. In 1892 he was moderator of the General Assembly. He edited The Free Church Magazine 1849-53, The North British Review 1860- 1863, The Sunday Magazine 1873-74, and The Catholic Presbyterian 1879-83.
Bibliography: The more important of his many booka were Bible History in Connection with the General History of the World, London, 1859; Better Days for the Working People, 1863 (originally published as Six Lectures Addressed to the Working Classes on the Improvement of their Temporal Condition, Edinburgh, 1849); Heads and Hands in the World of Labor, 1865; For the Work of the Ministry, a Manual of Homiletical and Pastoral Theology, 1873; Glimpses of the Inner Life of our Lord, 1876; The Personal Life of David Livingstone, 1880; The Public Ministry and Pastoral Methods of our Lord, 1883; Leaders in Modern Philanthropy, 18S4; Robert Rollock, first Principal of the University of Edinburgh, 1884; The Preachers of Scotland from the Sixth to the Nineteenth Century (Cunningham Lectures for 1888); Thomas Chalmers, Edinburgh, 1896; David Brown, a Memoir, London, 1898. He also edited Memorials of the Late Andrew Crichton, 1868, and James Walker's Theology and Theologians of Scotland, 1872; wrote five of the Present Day Tracts, 1883- 188.5; contributed the "Expositions and Homiletics" for the Epistle to the Ephesians in the Pulpit Commentary, and prepared the Books of Joshua and Samuel for the Expositor's Bible. For his life consult his Autobiography, edited with introduction by N. L. Walker, London, 1901, and DNB, supplement vol. i, 212-213.
BLAIR, HUGH: Church of Scotland; b. in Edinburgh Apr. 7, 1718; d. there Dec. 27, 1800. He studied in the local university; became minister of Colessie, Fifeshire, 1742; second minister of
the Canongate Church, Edinburgh, 1743; minister of Lady Yester's 1754; was transferred to the High Church 1758. From 1759 he lectured in the University so acceptably on rhetoric and belles-lettres, that in 1760 he was appointed the town council professor in that department, and from 1762 to 1783 was the royal professor; when on resigning he published his lectures (2 vols.) he became one of the most famous authors of works on rhetoric in the English language and retained the position for a century. In 1780 he received a pension of £200 a year. To his own generation he was a most acceptable preacher and his sermons continued to be read and to be translated far into the nineteenth century. Their simplicity, excellent style, and high morality account for their vogue, but their lack of depth in thought and spirituality have caused them to lose popularity.
Bibliography: Sketches of Blair's life were appended to vol. v of his sermons by J. Finlayson, London, 1801; consult also John Hill, An Account of the Life and Writings of H. Blair, Edinburgh, 1807; DNB, v, 160-161.
BLAIR, JAMES: Virginia colonial Episcopal clergyman; b. in Scotland in 1656; d. at Williamsburg, Va., Apr. 18, 1743. He was graduated M.A. at Edinburgh in 1673; became a clergyman of the Episcopal Church of Scotland and was rector of Cranston in the diocese of Edinburgh. In the latter part of the reign of Charles II he went to England and was persuaded by Dr. Compton, bishop of London, to emigrate to Virginia, where he arrived in 1685; he was minister of Henrico parish till 1694, at Jamestown till 1710, and at Williamsburg the rest of his life. In 1689 he was appointed by the bishop of London commissary for Virginia, the highest church office in the colony, the duties of which were practically those of a bishop exclusive of ordination. After 1793 he was member of the colonial Council and for many years its president. He was a man of sterling character and great ability, and worked with persistent zeal and energy to promote the religious and material welfare of Virginia. He did much to elevate the character of the colonial clergy. With several of the governors he had bitter disputes and was influential in securing their removal. He was founder and first president of William and Mary College, for which he procured a charter in England in 1693, and which he made a success in spite of great difficulties and discouragements. He published four volumes containing 117 sermons on Our Savior's Divine Sermon on the Mount (London, 1722) and with Henry Hartwell and Edward Chilton prepared The Present State of Virginia and the College (London, 1727).
Bibliography: D. E. Motley, The Life of Commissary James Blair, in Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, series xix, no. 10, Baltimore, 1901; DNB, v, 161-162.
BLAIR, SAMUEL: American Presbyterian; b. in Ireland June 14, 1712; d. at Londonderry, Perm., July 5, 1751. He came early to America; studied at Tennent's " Log College " at Neshaminy; was ordained pastor of Middletown and Shrewsbury, N. J., 1734; in 1739 removed to Londonderry or Fagg's Manor (40 m. w.s.w. of Philadelphia),