FERGUSON, FERGUS: Evangelical Union of
Scotland; b. at Glasgow Sept. 6, 1824; d. there
Nov. 3, 1897. At the age of fourteen he entered
Glasgow University and was
graduated (B.A.) at
the end of six sessions (M.A., some years later).
He then studied at the (Congregational) Glasgow
Theological Academy under Ralph Wardlaw until
1844, when, with eight other students, he was
expelled for not believing in the doctrine of
unconditional election and the special and irresistible
influence of the Holy Spirit. His studies were
completed in the Theological Hall of the
Evangelical Union (q.v.) under
James Morison (q.v.),
and he was ordained pastor of a newly formed
church of the Evangelical Union in Glasgow in
Mar., 1845. The church grew under Ferguson's
ministration and a new building was twice found
necessary. He became a leader of his denomination
and was professor of New Testament exegesis and
literature in the Theological Hall. His preaching
was popular and he was honored as one of the most
useful citizens of Glasgow. For some years he
edited the
Evangelical Repository and he published
many popular volumes, including
Bible Election
(Glasgow, 1854);
Letters on the Principal Points
of a Calvinistic Controversy (1854);
A Treatise on
Peace with God (1856);
Holiness; or what we should
be and do (1862);
Sacred Scenes; Notes of Travel
in Egypt and the Holy Land (London, 1864);
The History of the Evangelical Union (1876;
A Popular Life of Christ (1878);
From. Glasgow to Missouri and Back (Glasgow, 1878);
The Character of God (London, 1881);
The Patriarchs (1882).
William Adamson.
Bibliography:
Life by William Adamson, London, 1900.
FERGUSON, SAMUEL DAVID: Protestant
Episcopal missionary bishop of Cape Palmas and parts
adjacent; b., of African descent, at Charlestown,
S. C., Jan. 1, 1842. At the age of six he was taken
by his parents to Liberia, where he was educated
in the church mission schools and received his
theological training from the mission clergy. He was
ordered deacon in 1865 and priested two years later,
afte! which he was rector of St. Mark's, Harper,
Liberia, until 1885, being also a teacher in the
boys' boarding-school at Cavalla 1862-63 and
master of Mount Vaughan high school 1863-73. In
1885 he was consecrated missionary bishop of Cape
Palmas and parts adjacent, and was the first negro
to be elevated to the Protestant Episcopal
episcopate.
