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Bible Commentaries

Scott's Commentary on RevelationScott on Revelation

   

Old Testament

Walter Scott
Walter Scott

Walter Scott (1796 - April 23, 1861) was one of the four key early leaders in the Restoration Movement, along with Barton W. Stone, Thomas Campbell and Thomas' son Alexander Campbell. He was a successful evangelist and helped to stabilize the Campbell movement as it was separating from the Baptists.

Walter was born to John and Mary Innes Scott in 1796 in the town of Moffatt, Scotland. His parents, who were members of the Church of Scotland, hoped that he would become a Presbyterian minister. He spent six years at the University of Edinburgh, leaving in 1818. The same year he went to New York at the invitation of his maternal uncle, where he taught languages at a school on Long Island. He soon moved to Pittsburgh, where he was baptized by immersion and became an active member of a small congregation led by a fellow Scotsman named George Forrester. Forrester helped shape Walter's understanding of Christianity, and in particular his belief that immersion was the only appropriate form of baptism.

The congregation in Pittsburgh influenced by the movement led by James and Robert Haldane. The Haldanes, who hoped to restore New Testament Christianity, rejected the authority of creeds, observed the Lord's Supper weekly, practiced foot washing and by 1809 had substituted infant baptism. for believer's baptism by immersion. Forrester also introduced Scott to the writings of John Glas and Robert Sandeman. When Forrester died in 1820, Scott replaced him as minister and as director of a small school.

Scott married Sarah Whitsette in 1823, and the family moved to Ohio in 1826. He began working with the Campbells in August of that year. He was hired to work as an evangelist in 1827. Within three years he brought over 3,000 converts into the movement. At that time the Campbells were associated with the Mahoning Baptist Association; as the number of converts grew, conflicts with other Baptists also grew. In 1839 Scott and the Campbells disassociated themselves from the Baptists.

Scott continued to preach after 1829, but increasingly his focus shifted to writing. In 1852 the family moved to Covington, Kentucky where he established a school for women. He died on April 23, 1861.

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