ABERNETHY, JOHN, an eminent dissenting cler gyman, was born at Coleraine on the 19th of October, 1680. In consequence of an insurrection in Ireland, his mother was obliged to retire with her family to Derry, in the siege of which she lost all her children except John, who was at that time living with a rela tion. As no opportunity could be obtained of convey ing him to his mother at Derry, he accompanied his friend to Scotland, in order to escape the fury of the Irish rebels.
At the age of thirteen he went to the university of Glasgow, where he took his degree of A.M.; and from this he removed to Edinburgh, to prosecute the study of divinity. lie was ordained minister of the dissent ing congregation at Antrim in 1708; but being one of those who opposed the subscription of the Westmin ster Confession, he and his friends were, in 1726, ex cluded by the synod, who revived the act of 1705, re quiring subscription from every candidate for the min istry. From the great influence of the synod, his con gregation began to desert him; in consequence of which he accepted of an invitation from the congrega tion of Wood-Street, Dublin, to which he removed in 1730. In this situation lie continued for ten years, and
enjoyed the respect and esteem of all who knew him ; but a sudden attack of the gout, with which he had been formerly seized, put an end to his life in pecem her 1740, in the sixtieth year of his age.
As a preacher Mr Abernethy was much admired ; and his talents for public speaking gave him great in fluence in the synod. In private life he was distin guished by vivacity of disposition, urbanity of manners, and by the whole train of domestic virtues.
The independence of his mind, and his attachment to civil and religious liberty, were conspicuous in the exertions which he made to emancipate the Irish dissenters from the operation of the test laws, those striking proofs of the bigotry and illiberal policy of our ancestors. The most celebrated of Mr Abernethy's works is his Discourses on the Divine -*tributes. Two of his Screens were published in 1748, and other two in 1757, to which is prefixed an account of his Ilk, supposed to be written by Dr Duchal. Ile also felt behind him a diary of his life in six volumes 4to. (•a)