Background
He was born on 10 October 1764 at Aberdeen, where his father was minister of the associate congregation of seceders. His mother was Helen Tolmie, daughter of Captain Tolmie of Aberdeen.
He was born on 10 October 1764 at Aberdeen, where his father was minister of the associate congregation of seceders. His mother was Helen Tolmie, daughter of Captain Tolmie of Aberdeen.
Educated at the grammar school and King"s College, Aberdeen, he studied for the ministry of the Secession church, under John Brown of Haddington.
In 1785, immediately after being licensed as a probationer, Dick was called by the congregation of Slateford, near Edinburgh, and ordained to the ministry there. At Slateford, Dick began to take an active share in the business of his church. He vindicated the use of confessions, but inculcated the duty of the church to be tolerant of minor disagreements.
In 1799 this controversy was ended by the synod enacting a preamble to the confession, declaring that the church required no assent to anything which favoured the principle of compulsory measures in religion.
In 1801 Dick became minister of a prominent congregation in Glasgow, now called Greyfriars, in which charge he continued up to the time of his death. In 1815 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Princeton College, New Jersey.
In 1819 the death of George Lawson left vacant the office of theological professor to the associate synod, and in 1820 Dick was chosen to succeed him. His distrust of reason as a guide in religion was deeply sincere, and never wavered.
And so was his confidence in revelation.
He combined the offices of professor of divinity and minister of Greyfriars Church up to the time of his death, which occurred suddenly on 25 January 1833. Their daughter Helen married Humphrey Crum.
In politics Dick sympathised with the reforming party, and he objected to church establishments.
