Alexander Mackennal (14 January 183523 June 1904) was a British Nonconformist minister.

Life

He was born at Truro in Cornwall, the son of Patrick Mackennal, a Scot, who had settled there. In 1848 the family removed to London, and at sixteen he went to the University of Glasgow. In 1854 he entered Hackney College to prepare for the Congregational ministry, and in 1857 he graduated BA at the University of London. After holding pastorates at Burton upon Trent (1856–1861),

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it has ...

(1862–1870),

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

(1870–1876), he finally accepted the pastorate of the

Congregational Church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

at Bowdon,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, in 1877, in which he remained till his death. In 1886, he was chairman of the Congregational Union, which he represented in 1889 at the triannual national council of the American Congregational churches. The first international council of Congregationalists held in London in 1891 was partly cause, partly consequence, of his visit, and Mackennal acted as secretary. In 1892 he became definitely associated in the public mind with a movement for free church federation which grew out of a series of meetings held to discuss the question of home reunion. When the

Lambeth articles The Lambeth Articles of 1595 were a series of nine doctrinal statements intended to be an appendix to the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. In response to a controversy over the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, the Lambeth Articles ...

put forward as a basis of union were discussed, it was evident that all the free churches were agreed in accepting the three articles dealing with the Bible, the Creed and the Sacraments as a basis of discussion, and were also agreed in rejecting the fourth article, which put the historic episcopate on the same level as the other three. Omitting the Anglicans, the representatives of the remaining churches resolved to develop Christian fellowship by united action and worship wherever possible. Out of this grew the Free Church Federation, which secures a measure of co-operation between the Protestant Evangelical churches throughout England. Mackennal's public action brought him into association with many well-known political and religious leaders. He was a lifelong advocate of international peace, and made a remarkable declaration as to the Christian standard of national action when the Free Church Federation met at Leeds during the

South African War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

in 1900. Besides a volume of sermons under the title ''Christ's Healing Touch'', Mackennal published ''The Biblical Scheme of Nature and of Man'', ''The Christian Testimony'', the ''Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia'', ''The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus and The Eternal God and the Human Sonship''. These are contributions to exegetical study or to theological and progressive religious thought, and have elements of permanent value. He also made some useful contributions to religious history. In 1893 he published the Story of the ''English Separatists'', and later the ''Homes and Haunts of the Pilgrim Fathers''; he also wrote the life of Dr JA Macfadyen of Manchester. In 1901 he delivered a series of lectures at Hartford Theological Seminary, Connecticut, USA, published under the title ''The Evolution of Congregationalism''. He died at Highgate on 23 June 1904. See D. Macfadyen, Life and Letters of Alexander Mackennal (1905).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackennal, Alexander 1835 births 1904 deaths People from Truro Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of London British Congregationalists