Thomas Halyburton

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Thomas Halyburton (December 25, 1674 -September 23, 1712), Scottish divine, was born at Dupplin, near Perth.

His father, one of the ejected ministers, having died in 1682, he was taken by his mother in 1685 to Rotterdam to escape persecution, where he for some time attended the school founded by Erasmus. On his return to his native country in 1687 he completed his elementary education at Perth and Edinburgh, and in 1696 graduated at the University of St Andrews.

In 1700 he was ordained minister of the parish of Ceres, and in 1710 he was recommended by the synod of Fife for the chair of theology in St Leonard's College, St Andrews, to which accordingly he was appointed by Queen Anne. After a brief term of active professorial life he died from the effects of overwork in 1712.

The works by which he continues to be known were all published after his death. Wesley and Whitefield were accustomed to commend them to their followers. They were published as follows:

Natural Religion Insufficient, and Revealed Religion Necessary, to Man's Happiness in his Present State (1714), an able statement of the orthodox Calvinistic criticism of the deism of Lord Herbert of Cherbury and Charles Blount
Memoirs of the Life of Mr Thomas Halyburton (1715), three parts by his own hand, the fourth from his diary by another hand
The Great Concern of Salvation (1721), with a word of commendation by Isaac Watts
Ten Sermons Preached Before and After the Lord's Supper (1722)
The Unpardonable Sin Against the Holy Ghost (1784)