James Cooper

“ Dr. Robert Lee [q. v.] wrote from Edinburgh begging him to stand firm; but he feared obduracy might hurt the cause, and he cautiously obeyed the presbytery's direction to return to use and wont. If he could not be a protagonist in the movement, he proved again and again that he was a pioneer.
In 1858, owing to ill-health, Lang left Aberdeen for the country parish of Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, where he learned much of rural Scottish life and its needs. In Jan. 1865 he removed to Glasgow to a newly built church in the Anderston (or west end) district of the great parish of the Barony. ”

“ After early education in Edinburgh Anderson entered Glasgow University to study medicine. There in April 1858 he graduated M.D. with honours, and became a licentiate and fellow of the faculty of physicians and surgeons of Glasgow. Two years were spent as resident physician in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary; two more in travel and medical study at Paris, Wiirzburg, Berlin, Vienna, and Dublin. On returning home he was speedily appointed lecturer on practice of medicine in the Andersonian Institute and, not long after, physician to the royal infirmary. ”

“ George's church in the New Town of Edinburgh. There he held office till his death, working with exemplary fidelity and success.
Although no popular preacher, Scott exerted great influence in the church courts and especially in the general assembly. For a time convener of the assembly's committee on foreign missions, he was appointed in 1887 convener of the general assembly's joint committee and business committee, positions which carried with them the leadership of the general assembly. He remained leader for twenty-one years, to the end of his life. ”

“ His father, who had been born in the Church of Scotland, approved of his son's resolve to join that church. Ordained in 1852 by the presbytery of Dunoon, Sprott returned to his native colony to act as assistant at St. Matthew's, Halifax, Nova Scotia. There he served also as chaplain to the 72nd Highlanders, whom he was prevented from accompanying to the Crimea. After visits to Newfoundland and the United States, he returned to Scotland in 1856, and having served short periods as assistant minister at Greenock and Dumfries, he was gazetted to a chaplaincy to the Scottish troops at Kandy. ”

“ Through life an advocate of Church reunion, he cordially welcomed the efforts both of Bishop Charles Wordsworth [q. v.] and Bishop George Howard Wilkinson [q. v. Suppl. II] ; of the Scottish Christian Unity Association founded by the latter he became an active member. In 1902 he celebrated his ministerial jubilee, but owing to heart weakness he petitioned the presbytery next year for the appointment of an assistant and successor, and he retired to Edinburgh, where he was able to engage in literary and ecclesiastical work. ”

“ In 1861 a hospital and dispensary were founded at Glasgow for diseases of the skin. Anderson and Dr. Andrew Buchanan were appointed the first two physicians. Buchanan died prematurely in 1865. For forty-seven years Anderson bore the main share of the duty. In 1909 the institute was absorbed by the western infirmary, and the dermatological teaching was provided for by the foundation of a lectureship at the university on which Anderson's name was conferred in recognition of his services. Meanwhile in 1874 Anderson was appointed to a newly founded chair of clinical medicine in Glasgow University. ”

“ He took from the outset a full share in the public life of Glasgow; for nine years he served on the school board; for twenty-seven years he was chaplain to the 1st Lanark volunteers; he acted on the commission for the housing of the poor, and was for many years chairman of the Glasgow Home Mission Union, an effort to unite all the churches in charitable work. His ministerial labours were unceasing. He began, what was then rare in Glasgow, services on Sunday evenings, which were crowded. ”

“ A warm defender of the validity of presbyterian ordination he joined Sprott and others in a formal protest against the admission by the general assembly of 1882 of two congregational ministers to the status of ordained ministers. ”

“ In 1903 he was appointed university representative on the general medical council; he was knighted in 1905; in 1906 was entertained at a public dinner by representatives of the medical profession in the west of Scotland, including many former pupils and assistants; in 1908 he was made honorary physician to the king in Scotland. ”

“ His power was helped to some extent by his position on the Baird Trust, but it was mainly due to the vigour of his personality, his great capacity for business, his wide knowledge of the church, his magnanimity towards opponents, and good humour in debate. ”

“ In 1865 he left Ceylon and acted for a time as chaplain to the Scots troops at Portsmouth. Next year he was presented to the parish of Chapel of Garioch, Aberdeenshire. There he pursued his liturgical and historical studies, and soon became the most influential member of the editorial committee of the Church Service Society. ”

“ Lang married at Fyvie in 1859 Hannah Agnes, daughter of P. Hay Keith, D.D., minister of Hamilton. By her he had seven sons and a daughter. His third son, Cosmo Gordon Lang (b. 1864, and named after Lang's patron at Fyvie) became Archbishop of York in 1909.
Lang was author of several devotional volumes, including : 1. 'Heaven and Home, a Book for the Fireside,' 1880. 2. 'The Last Supper of Our Lord,' Edinburgh, 1881. 3. 'Ancient Religions of Central America,' Edinburgh, 1882. 4. 'Life: is it worth living ?' London, 1883. 5. 'The Anglican Church,' Edinburgh, 1884. 6. ”