Alexander Carson (born in Annahone, near

Stewartstown, County Tyrone Stewartstown is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, close to Lough Neagh and about from Cookstown, from Coalisland and from Dungannon. Established by Scottish Planters early in the 17th century, its population peaked before the ...

, Ireland in 1776 and died in Belfast, Ireland on 24 August 1844) was an Irish Baptist minister. He was known as an author,

pastor-teacher A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Or ...

and theologian.

Life

Carson studied in Glasgow and was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in

Tobermore Tobermore (, named after the townland of Tobermore) is a small village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies south-south-west of Maghera and north-west of Magherafelt. Tobermore lies within the civil parish of Kilcronaghan and is ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

in 1798. After several years he left the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and published ''Reasons for Separating from the General Synod of Ulster'' (Edinburgh, 1804) as justification of his action, where he stated:

Shall I then submit to be cooped up in a corner and restrained by human fetters from lending a hand to rescue my brethren from the pit of destruction?Carson, Alexander: ''Reasons for Separating from the General Synod of Ulster'', page 103, 1804

Members of his former church followed him and, for 10 years, he preached in barns or the open air until a stone church was built for him in 1814. In the early part of his independent career, while studying the New Testament in order to confute the

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

, he became a Baptist himself, and advocated their views with the exception of

close communion Closed communion is the practice of restricting the serving of the elements of Holy Communion (also called Eucharist, The Lord's Supper) to those who are members in good standing of a particular church, denomination, sect, or congregation. Though ...

Works

Carson's ''Baptism in Its Mode and Subjects Considered'' (Edinburgh, 1831; enlarged ed., 1844) is a Baptist classic. His other writings were numerous and treat topics of Bible interpretation, philosophy, and doctrinal and practical theology. His collected works were published in six volumes in Dublin between 1847 and 1864.

Life

Works

See also

References

Further reading