Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Peddie, James
PEDDIE, JAMES (1758–1845), presbyterian divine, son of James Peddie, a brewer, by his second wife, Ann Rattray, was born at Perth on 10 Feb. 1758. After attending several schools in his native town he entered the university of Edinburgh at the beginning of the winter session of 1775, and two years later became a member of the Secession Divinity Hall, then under the charge of Dr. John Brown of Haddington (1722–1787) [q. v.] After being licensed to preach in 1782, he travelled about the country for some time, supplying pulpits where there was no regular minister. In a notebook he wrote that during the first seven months of his ministry he rode as many hundred miles. Towards the end of 1782, after considerable opposition, he was appointed to the Bristo Street secession chapel in Edinburgh, and continued there until his death.
Peddie for over half a century played an important part in the affairs of the church to which he belonged. He was twice moderator of the synod, first in 1789, and again in 1825 after the two sections into which the secession church had been split were united. From 1791 he was treasurer to the fund for assisting poor outlying congregations for forty-five years, and the other church organisations with which he was associated include the clergymen's widows' fund, of which he was treasurer; the missionary and Scottish missionary societies; the Sunday school and Gaelic school movements. He was also interested in the philanthropic schemes of his day, and was one of the originators, and for years secretary, of the Edinburgh subscription library.
He took a leading, though generally quiet, part in the great theological controversy of his time—the ‘Old’ and ‘New Light’ dispute. When at the divinity hall he is said to have opposed the teaching of Dr. Brown, that civil magistrates ought to have power to interfere in religious matters, and to have upheld the doctrines taught in Locke's ‘Toleration,’ of which he was a disciple. In 1795 matters reached a crisis in the secession church. Peddie sided with the ‘new lights’ for toleration and liberty; and in the famous Perth congregation lawsuit, which continued from 1799 to 1815, and which decided the legal position of the party to which Peddie belonged, he was untiring in his zeal and energy. In the earlier days of the controversy attempts were made by opponents to associate the ‘new lights’ with the friends of the French revolution, and the government became suspicious. Peddie promptly communicated with Pitt through Pulteney with such success that shortly afterwards Lord-advocate Dundas referred to them as ‘loyal citizens, who had been calumniated.’ For his efforts Peddie received the thanks of the synod. But the most effective service which he rendered to his side of the dispute was his spirited reply to an attack by Dr. William Porteous [q. v.] entitled ‘The New Light Examined; or Observations on the Proceedings of the Associate Synod against their Own Standards.’ Peddie's reply—‘A Defence of the Associate Synod against the Charge of Sedition, addressed to William Porteous, D.D.’—‘was much admired at the time for its delicate yet keen satire, and the clearness, strength, and elegance of its reasoning. The late Dugald Stewart recommended it to his students as one of the most masterly pieces of classical sarcasm in our language’ (Kay, Portraits, ed. H. Paton, ii. 352). In 1818 Marischal College, Aberdeen, conferred upon him the degree of D.D. Peddie died in Edinburgh on 11 Oct. 1845.
Peddie was twice married: first, in 1787, to Margaret (d. 1792), eldest daughter of the Rev. George Coventry of Stitchell, Roxburghshire; and, secondly, in 1795, to Barbara, second daughter of Donald Smith, lord provost of Edinburgh, by whom he had nine children. He twice appears in Kay's ‘Portraits.’
Besides his pamphlet (supra) in reply to Dr. Porteous, Peddie's published works were chiefly sermons and lectures: 1. ‘The Revolution the Work of God and a Cause of Joy,’ Edinburgh, 1789. 2. ‘The Perpetuity, Advantages, and Universality of the Christian Religion,’ Edinburgh, 1796. 3. ‘Jehovah's Care to perpetuate the Redeemer's Name,’ London, 1809. 4. ‘A Practical Exposition of the Book of Jonah, in ten lectures,’ Edinburgh, 1842. After his death his son William published his ‘Discourses,’ Edinburgh, 1846, with a memoir.
From 1797 to 1802 Peddie was one of the editors of the ‘Christian Magazine,’ and to this and other theological publications he was a frequent contributor. He also edited the posthumous works of Dr. Meikle of Carnwath (Edinburgh, 1801, 1803, 1805, 1807, 1811).
William Peddie (1805–1893), minister, son of the above, was born on 15 Sept. 1805, and, after passing through the high school and university of Edinburgh, entered the Secession Divinity Hall at Glasgow, and was licensed to preach in May 1827. In October of the following year he was appointed colleague and successor to his father by the Bristo Street congregation. He edited the ‘United Presbyterian Magazine’ for several years, and was moderator of the synod in 1855. Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, conferred upon him the degree of D.D. in 1843. His chief interest in the church was in connection with missions in France. Beyond his contributions to periodical literature his only published work was the prefatory memoir to his father's discourses, Edinburgh, 1846. He celebrated his jubilee at Bristo Street in 1878, and died, the ‘father’ of the church, on 23 Feb. 1893.
[Memoir by Dr. William Peddie, prefixed to James Peddie's Discourses, 1846; Kay's Portraits. An obituary of Dr. William Peddie was published in the United Presbyterian Magazine, April 1893.]