A Pastor’s Memorial to His Former Flock

John Macdonald (1807-1847) grew up in the manse of his father, Rev. John Macdonald of Ferintosh, who was perhaps the most beloved and influential Highland minister of the 19th century—affectionately known as “the Apostle of the North.” God-consciousness suffused the whole atmosphere of Highland religion in that era of spiritual awakening, revival, and reformation; and John Macdonald, the son, would follow his father’s footsteps into the gospel ministry in 1830.

Macdonald served as minister for seven years in a small Scottish congregation in Islington, London, and his biography testifies of a deeply rooted affection and gospel burden for his flock and for that lost and dying metropolis. While in London, Macdonald received, and declined, numerous ministerial calls back to Scotland, insisting that he dare not “desert his post without a call clearly divine.”

In 1836, after a visit from Rev. Dr. Alexander Duff (missionary to India), such an irresistibly divine call would indeed come—a call that would finally remove Macdonald from his beloved congregation in London to the foreign mission field of India. It was during his ministry there, in Calcutta, that he compiled this collection of sermons and addresses as a memorial for his former flock.