Life

He was the only son of John Dick or Dickson, a merchant in the Trongate

Trongate

Trongate is one of the oldest streets in the city of Glasgow, Scotland.Located in the area of the Merchant City commonly known as "Old Glasgow", it is the main route into the central area from the East End...

 of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, whose father was an old feuar of some lands called the Kirk of Muir, in the parish of St. Ninians, Stirlingshire

Stirlingshire

Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling is a registration county of Scotland, based around Stirling, the former county town. It borders Perthshire to the north, Clackmannanshire and West Lothian to the east, Lanarkshire to the south, and Dunbartonshire to the south-west.Until 1975 it was a county...

. He was born in Glasgow about 1583, and educated at the university, where he graduated M.A., and was appointed one of the regents or professors of philosophy, a position limited to eight years. On the conclusion of his term of office Dickson was in 1618 ordained minister of the parish of Irvine

Irvine, North Ayrshire

Irvine is a new town on the coast of the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland. According to 2007 population estimates, the town is home to 39,527 inhabitants, making it the biggest settlement in North Ayrshire....

. In 1620 he was named in a leet of seven to be a minister in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, but since he was suspected of nonconformity his nomination was not pressed

Having publicly testified against the five articles of Perth

Five Articles of Perth

The Five Articles of Perth was an attempt by King James VI of Scotland to impose practices on the Church of Scotland in an attempt to integrate it with the episcopalian Church of England...

, he was at the instance of James Law

James Law

James Law was Archbishop of Glasgow. Entering the church after graduation from university, he rose to the position of Bishop of Orkney, reorganising the diocese, before rising to hold the position of Archbishop of Glasgow....

, archbishop of Glasgow

Archbishop of Glasgow

The Bishop of Glasgow, from 1492 Archbishop of Glasgow, was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Glasgow and then, as Archbishop of Glasgow, the Archdiocese of Glasgow...

, summoned to appear before the high court of commission at Edinburgh, 9 January 1622; but having declined the jurisdiction of the court, he was subsequently deprived of his ministry in Irvine, and ordained to proceed to Turriff

Turriff

Turriff is a town and civil parish in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It is approximately above sea level, and has a population of 5,708.Turriff is known locally as Turra in the Doric dialect of Scots...

, Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

, within twenty days. When he was about to proceed on his journey northward, the Archbishop of Glasgow, at the request of the Earl of Eglinton, permitted him to remain in Ayrshire

Ayrshire

Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...

, at Eglinton

Eglinton Castle

Eglinton Castle was a large Gothic castellated mansion in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland.-The castle :The ancient seat of the Earls of Eglinton, it is located just south of the town of Kilwinning...

, where for about two months he preached in the hall and courtyard of the castle. As great crowds went from Irvine to hear him, he was then ordered to set out for Turriff, but about the end of July 1623 was permitted to return to his charge at Irvine, and remained there unmolested till 1637.

Along with Alexander Henderson

Alexander Henderson

Alexander Henderson may refer to:* Alexander Henderson , Scottish theologian* Alexander Henderson , Scots-Quebecer merchant and photographer...

 and Andrew Cant

Andrew Cant

Andrew Cant was a Presbyterian minister and leader of the Scottish Covenanters. About 1623 the people of Edinburgh called him to be their minister, but he was rejected by James I. Ten years later he was minister of Pitsligo in Aberdeenshire, a charge which he left in 1638 for that of Newbattle in...

, he attended the private meeting convened in 1637 by Lord Lorne

Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll

Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, 8th Earl of Argyll, chief of Clan Campbell, was the de facto head of government in Scotland during most of the conflict known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, also known as the British Civil War...

, against the bishops. The same year he prevailed on the presbytery of Irvine for the suspension of the service-book, and he formed one of the deputation of noblemen and influential ministers deputed by the Covenanters to visit Aberdeen to invite ministers and gentry into the covenant. The doctors and professors of Aberdeen were unconvinced, and after various encounters with the Covenanters published General Demandis concerning the lait Covenant, &c. 1638, reprinted 1662 to which Henderson and Dickson drew up a reply entitled Ansueris of sum Bretheren of the Ministrie to the Replyis of the Ministeris and Professoris of Divinity at Abirdein, 1638, reprinted 1663. This was answered by the Aberdeen professors in Duplyes of the Minsteris and Professoris of Abirdein, 1638.

At the assembly which met at Glasgow in 1638 Alexander Henderson was chosen in preference to Dickson to fill the chair, but Dickson delivered a tactful speech when the commissioner threatened to leave the assembly, and in the eleventh session gave a learned discourse on Arminianism

Arminianism

Arminianism is a school of soteriological thought within Protestant Christianity based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic followers, the Remonstrants...

. The assembly also named him one of the four inspectors to be set over the university cities, the city to which he was named being Glasgow; but in his case the resolution was not carried out till 1640, when he was appointed to the newly instituted professorship of divinity

Professor of Divinity, Glasgow

Professor of Divinity is an academic position at the University of Glasgow.Although divinity was taught from the foundations of the university in 1451, it was in 1577, as part of James VI's Nova Erectio, that a Chair was established, to be held by the Principal of the University of Glasgow...

. In the army of the covenanters, under Alexander Leslie, which encamped at Dunse Law in June 1639, he acted as chaplain of the Ayrshire regiment, commanded by the Earl of Loudoun

Earl of Loudoun

Earl of Loudoun , named after Loudoun in Ayrshire, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1633 for John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudoun, along with the subsidiary title Lord Tarrinzean and Mauchline....

, and at the general assembly which, after the pacification, met at Edinburgh in August of the same year, was chosen moderator.

In 1643 he was appointed, along with Alexander Henderson and David Calderwood

David Calderwood

David Calderwood was a Scottish divine and historian.-Early life:Calderwood was educated at Edinburgh, where he took the degree of MA in 1593. In about 1604, he became minister of Crailing, near Jedburgh in Roxburghshire, where he became conspicuous for his resolute opposition to the introduction...

, to draw up a 'Directory for Public Worship,' and he was also joint author with James Durham

James Durham

James Garfield Durham was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the Chicago White Sox in 1902.-External links:...

, who afterwards succeeded him in the professorship in Glasgow, of The Sum of Saving Knowledge, frequently printed along with the Westminster Confession of Faith

Westminster Confession of Faith

The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith, in the Calvinist theological tradition. Although drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly, largely of the Church of England, it became and remains the 'subordinate standard' of doctrine in the Church of Scotland, and has been...

and catechisms, although it never received the formal sanction of the church. In 1650 he was translated to the divinity chair of the university of Edinburgh, where he delivered an inaugural address in Latin, which was translated by George Sinclair

George Sinclair (professor)

George Sinclair was a Scottish mathematician, engineer and demonologist. The first Professor of Mathematics, Glasgow, he is known for Satan's Invisible Works Discovered, , a work on witchcraft. He wrote in all three areas of his interests, including an account of the “Glenluce Devil”, a...

 into English, and, under the name of 'Truth's Victory over Error,' was published as Sinclair's own in 1684. The piracy having been detected, it was republished with Dickson's name attached and a Life of Dickson by Robert Wodrow

Robert Wodrow

Robert Wodrow , Scottish historian, was born at Glasgow, being a son of James Wodrow, professor of divinity.-Biography:Ordered as in the text above:...

 in 1752.

In 1650 he was appointed by the committee of the kirk one of a deputation to congratulate Charles II on his arrival in Scotland. For declining to take the oath of supremacy at the Restoration

English Restoration

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

 he was ejected from his chair; he gradually failed in health and died in the beginning of 1663. His wife was Margaret Roberton, a daughter of Archibald Roberton of Stonehall (the youngest son of John Roberton, the 9th Laird of Earnock

Earnock

This article is about the history of the Earnock area. For information on the current housing estate built in the Earnock area see Earnock Estate.Earnock was an ancient estate in an area south of Hamilton in Lanarkshire, Scotland...

) and sister of James Roberton

James Roberton

James Roberton, Lord Bedlay was a Scottish advocate and judge. He was born to Archibald Roberton of Stainhall, youngest son of John Roberton 9th Laird of Earnock, and Elizabeth Baillie, daughter of Robert Baillie of Jerviston. He inherited Bedlay Castle from his father, who bought it from James,...

, Lord Bedlay. They had three sons, of whom John, the eldest, was clerk to the exchequer in Scotland, and Alexander, the second son, was professor of Hebrew in the university of Edinburgh.

Works

Besides the works already referred to, he was the author of:

• 'A Treatise on the Promises,' 1630.
• 'Explanation of the Epistle to the Hebrews,' 1685.
• 'Expositio analytica omnium Apostolicarum Epistolarum,' 1646.
• 'A Brief Exposition of the Gospel according to Matthew,' 1651.
• 'Explanation of the First Fifty Psalms,' 1653.
• 'Explication upon the Last Fifty Psalms,' 1655.
• 'A Brief Explication of the Psalms from L to C,' 1655.
• 'Therapeutica Sacra, seu de curandis Casibus Conscientiae circa Regenerationem per Foederum Divinorum applicationem,' 1656, of which an edition by his son, Alexander Dickson, entitled 'Therapeutica Sacra, or Cases of Conscience resolved,' was published in 1664; and an English translation, entitled 'Therapeutica Sacra, or the Method of healing the Diseases of the Conscience concerning Regeneration,' in 1695.

His various commentaries were published in conjunction with a number of other ministers, each of whom, in accordance with a project initiated by Dickson, had particular books of the 'hard parts of scripture' assigned them. He was also the author of a number of short poems on pious and serious subjects, to be sung with the common tunes of the Psalms. Among them were 'The Christian Sacrifice,' 'O Mother dear, Jerusalem,' 'True Christian Love,' and 'Honey Drops, or Crystal Streams.' Several of his manuscripts were printed among his Select Works, published with a life in 1838.