“ About the year 1796 he became acquainted with the celebrated evangelical divine, Charles Simeon of Cambridge, in whose society he made several tours through Scotland, endeavouring by tract-distribution and other means to awaken others to some of that interest in religious subjects which he himself so strongly felt. ”

“ Not originally disloyal to the Church of Scotland, he was gradually driven by the hostility of the Assembly and the exigencies of his position into separation. In 1799 he was ordained as pastor of a large Independent congregation in Edinburgh. This was the first congregational church known by that name in Scotland. ”

“ HALDANE, JAMES ALEXANDER (1768–1851) , Scottish divine, the younger son of Captain James Haldane of Airthrey House, Stirlingshire, was born at Dundee on the 14th of July 1768. Educated first at Dundee and afterwards at the high school and university of Edinburgh, at the age of seventeen he joined the “Duke of Montrose” East Indiaman as a midshipman. ”