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Hugh Martin (1822-85) combined a brilliant analytical and mathematical mind with a child-like heart which rested in Christ and his atoning work, as revealed in the Scriptures. Born and brought up in Aberdeen, he gained the top prizes in mathematics at the University there, before going on to study for the ministry. He cast in his lot with those who left the Established Church at the Disruption and served at Panbride (Carnoustie) and Free Greyfriars, Edinburgh, until illness forced his retirement from the ministry at the age of 42.

Thereafter, he devoted himself, despite recurring ill health, to writing, preaching and continued involvement in church issues. In 1870 his The Atonement: in its Relations to the Covenant, the Priesthood, the Intercession of Our Lord was published (reprinted by Banner of Truth, 2013), in which he defended ‘the Catholic Doctrine of the Cross’, viewing the substitutionary nature of the atonement as being grounded in the covenant of grace. In recognition of his achievements, Edinburgh University conferred a Doctorate of Divinity on him in 1872.

Hugh Martin died in Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum in June 1885, the cause of death being given as ‘organic disease of brain for two years’, which seems to indicate that he had been in the asylum for the last two years of his life.

Sherman Isbell has described Martin’s ‘eloquent theological interpretations of Bible characters and of Christ’s Gethsemane experience’ (Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, Edinburgh, 1993), and he is remembered today for his commentary on Jonah, for his sermons, The Shadow of Calvary and Christ for Us, and for his study on Simon Peter, all published by the Trust.

Wikipedia Entry

Hugh Martin (minister, born 1822)

Hugh Martin (11 August 1822 – 14 June 1885) was a Scottish minister of the Free Church of Scotland and a theological author.

Born in Aberdeen on 11 August 1822, Hugh was the son of Alexander Martin, a clothier and haberdasher living at 79 Gallowgate. He studied at Aberdeen Grammar School then later took an arts degree at Marischal College, where he graduated with an MA in 1839. He then took a second degree in Theology at King's College, Aberdeen.

In 1842, Hugh was converted to the principles of the Free Church of Scotland by Rev Dr William Cunningham, who became his life-long mentor. In the Disruption of 1843, he joined the Free Church faction and was one of the first ministers ordained directly into that faction without transfer from the Church of Scotland. Licensed to preach by the Free Church in 1843, he was thereafter ordained as a minister of Panbride near Carnoustie.

In 1858, he left Panbride to take on the role as minister of Greyfriars Free Church in Edinburgh (on West Crosscauseway), one of the Free Church's newly built and more impressive city monuments. He lived in a villa on Findhorn Place.

He retired to Lasswade, south of Edinburgh in 1865 due to ill-health. He, however, continued to lecture at the University of Edinburgh and was later awarded an honorary doctorate DD by the University in 1872. In his retiral, he spent much effort in campaigning for free education for all children in Scotland, and was one of the non-political forces who brought about the 1872 Education Act in Scotland.

He died in Lasswade on 14 June 1885. He is buried with his family in Grange Cemetery in south Edinburgh. The grave lies in the north-west section.

Publications

Christ's Presence in the Gospel History (1860)

The Prophet Jonah (1866)

A Study of Trilinear Co-ordinates (1867) - mathematics

Simon Peter (1869)

The Atonement (1870)

National Education 8 volumes (1872)

Mutual Eligibility 8 volumes (1872)

Relationships Between Christ's Headship over Church and State (1875)

The Shadow of Calvary 8 volumes (1875)

The Westminster Doctrine of the Inspiration of Scripture 8 volumes (1877)

Family

He was married to Elizabeth Jane Robertson (1828-1895). Six daughters are recorded on his gravestone and his son Alexander was the Principal of New College, Edinburgh 1918-1935, as well as one of the architects of the union of the United Free Church of Scotland and Church of Scotland in 1929.