Kirkpatrick, James

Kirkpatrick, James a noted minister of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, was the son of Hugh Kirkpatrick, a minister in Lurgan, Scotland, from about 1686 to the Revolution, when he retired to Dairy, Ireland, where he preached until 1691, then removed to Old Cumnock, and in 1695 again returned to Scotland, and died at Ballymoney in 1712. James was educated at Glasgow, entered the ministry, and became one of the most promising Irish Presbyterians in the pulpit. In 1706 he was the preacher of the Second Belfast congregation. During the opposition of the House of Parliament to the Presbyterians, James Kirkpatrick became one of the ablest champions of the Presbyterian cause. In 1713 he published An Historical Essay upon the Loyalty of Presbyterians in Great Britain and Ireland from the Reformation to the present Year (Belfast, 1713, 4to), to which neither he nor the printer dared to affix their names for fear of persecution. He died about 1725. Reid and Killen, Hist. Presb. Ch. in Ireland, 3:91 sq.