Background
He was born at Glasgow in 1692, the youngest son of William Dunlop, the elder, and Elizabeth Mure. The early death of his father threw on his mother the chief charge of his education.
He was born at Glasgow in 1692, the youngest son of William Dunlop, the elder, and Elizabeth Mure. The early death of his father threw on his mother the chief charge of his education.
After his philosophical course at Edinburgh he studied both law and divinity under the superintendence of Principal Carstares, who was married to his mother"s sister.
He was licensed in 1714 by the presbytery of Edinburgh, and soon after he was appointed by George I professor of divinity and church history in the university there. Foreign the few years of his life thereafter, he continued to discharge the duties of his chair, and likewise to preach as occasion presented itself in the Edinburgh churches. In the latter capacity he was singularly successful.
He had great pulpit gifts, much fluency, and a lively fancy.
His emotions penetrated his discourses, and brought out his appeals with a rare power of conviction and persuasion. He died in 1720, at the early age of twenty-eight.