Grange Press is pleased to announce A Pastor’s Memorial to His Former Flock by John Macdonald of Calcutta. This collection of sermons and addresses was compiled and edited by Macdonald himself while he was serving as a missionary for the Church of Scotland in Calcutta, India (with Dr. Alexander Duff). It was originally printed in 1842 as a memorial to his former congregation in London, and surprisingly has not been reprinted since.
Macdonald’s sermons are warm, pastoral, and full of zeal. He had a profound burden for lost souls, which comes through clearly in every address. The circumstances of his call to India also feature prominently in this collection. Macdonald was one of the more gifted young ministers in the Scottish church at that time, but he is much less well known than M’Cheyne, Grey, Smeaton, Moody Stuart, etc., in part because he ministered at a relatively tiny Scotch church in London. He regularly received calls back to Scotland, sometimes from very large, prominent congregations, and always refused. When the call came from Calcutta he was burdened to accept it, but his church and presbytery were largely against it. His “Reasons for Accepting”, the speech he gave on the floor of presbytery on the occasion of his acceptance of the call, was included in this publication. It is an incredible window into the deep soul-struggle he endured during that period of his ministry.
