James Grierson (1662–1732) was a Scottish minister of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

who served as

Moderator of the General Assembly The moderator of the General Assembly is the chairperson of a General Assembly, the highest court of a Presbyterian or Reformed church. Kirk sessions and presbyteries may also style the chairperson as moderator. The Oxford Dictionary states th ...

in 1719. He was the first "second charge" to become Moderator.

Life

He was ordained as a minister of the

in Wemyss in September 1698. In 1709 he was "called" by the Presbytery of Edinburgh to be "second charge" of the highly influential and prestigious

Trinity College Church Trinity College Kirk was a royal collegiate church in Edinburgh, Scotland. The kirk and its adjacent almshouse, Trinity Hospital, were founded in 1460 by Mary of Gueldres in memory of her husband, King James II who had been killed at th ...

. Although he is recorded as "second charge" it is unclear who (if any) was "first charge" when he arrived. In 1714

James Bannatine James Bannantine or Bannantyne (c.1675–1756) was a Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1739. Life He studied divinity at the University of Edinburgh. He worked as a private tutor ...

came as first charge, but in 1719 it was Grierson as second charge, not Bannatine as first charge, who was elected Moderator of the General Assembly. This peculiarity was partially redressed in 1739 when Bannatine in turn was elected Moderator. Grierson died of

palsy Palsy is a medical term which refers to various types of paralysisDan Agin, ''More Than Genes: What Science Can Tell Us About Toxic Chemicals, Development, and the Risk to Our Children;; (2009), p. 172. or paresis, often accompanied by weakness a ...

, following a long period of illness, on 5 July 1732.

Family

He married the daughter of Rev Matthew Selkrig (1643-1729), minister of

Crichton, Midlothian Crichton is a small village and civil parish in Midlothian, Scotland, around 2 miles (3 km) south of Pathhead and the same distance east of Gorebridge. The second element of the name is clearly from the Old English word ''tūn'' 'farm, set ...

References

;Citations ;Sources: * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grierson, James 1662 births 1732 deaths Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 17th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland 18th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland