Gillespie, GEORGE

Gillespie, GEORGE, a prominent figure among the Westminster Divines, was born at Kirkcaldy, where his father was parish minister, 21st January 1613. He pursued his studies at St Andrews, and early in 1638, after the power of the bishops had been pulled down, was ordained minister of Wemyss in Fife. He showed characteristic fearlessness at the Glasgow Assembly that same year, was translated to Edinburgh in 1642, and the year after was sent up, as one of Scotland's four representatives, to the Westminster Assembly, where his vigour, ability, and earnestness enabled him to take a great part in the protracted debates on church discipline and dogma. His Aaron's Rod Blossoming, or the Divine Ordinance of Church-government Vindicated (1646), is admittedly a masterly statement of the high Presbyterian claim for full spiritual independence. In 1648 Gillespie was appointed moderator of the General Assembly, but his already enfeebled frame soon sank under its labours. He died at Kirkcaldy, 17th December 1648.