Ian Maclaren was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 author and theologian.

He was the son of John Watson, a civil servant. He was born at Manningtree

Manningtree

Manningtree is a town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England, which lies on the River Stour. It adjoins built-up areas of Lawford to the west and Mistley to the east and the three parishes together are sometimes referred to as "Manningtree".Manningtree is a claimant for the...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, and educated at Stirling

Stirling

Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...

 and at Edinburgh University, later studying theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 at New College

New College, Edinburgh

New College was opened in 1846 as a college of the Free Church of Scotland, later of the United Free Church of Scotland, and from the 1930s has been the home of the School of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh...

, 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...

, and at Tübingen

Tübingen

Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...

.

During 1874 he became a minister of the Free Church of Scotland

Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)

The Free Church of Scotland is a Scottish denomination which was formed in 1843 by a large withdrawal from the established Church of Scotland in a schism known as the "Disruption of 1843"...

 and became assistant minister of Edinburgh Barclay Church. Subsequently he was minister at Logiealmond in Perthshire

Perthshire

Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...

 and at 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...

, and in 1880 he became minister of Sefton Park

Sefton Park

Sefton Park is a public park in south Liverpool, England. The park is in a district of the same name within the Liverpool City Council Ward of Mossley Hill, and roughly within the historic bounds of the large area of Toxteth Park...

 Presbyterian Church, Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, from which he retired during 1905.

In 1896 he was Lyman Beecher lecturer at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, and in 1900 he was moderator of the synod

Synod

A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...

 of the English Presbyterian Church. While travelling in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 he died from blood poisoning, following a bout with tonsilitis, at Mount Pleasant

Mount Pleasant, Iowa

Mount Pleasant is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Iowa, in the United States. The population was 8,668 in the 2010 census, a decline from 8,751 in the 2000 census. It was founded in 1835 by pioneer Presley Saunders.- History :...

, Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

.

Maclaren's first stories of rural Scottish life, Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush (1894

1894 in literature

The year 1894 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Robert Frost sells his first poem, "My Butterfly", to The New York Independent for fifteen dollars.*Hermann Hesse begins his apprenticeship at a factory in Calw....

), achieved extraordinary popularity, selling more than 3/4 of a million copies, and were succeeded by other successful books, The Days of Auld Lang Syne (1895

1895 in literature

The year 1895 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* Carlyle's House in Chelsea opens to the public.* Robert Frost marries Elinor Miriam White.* Ernest Thayer recites his poem, Casey at the Bat, at a Harvard class reunion....

), Kate Carnegie and those Ministers (1896

1896 in literature

The year 1896 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* Final volume of Theodore Roosevelt's The Winning of the West....

), and Afterwards and other Stories (1898

1898 in literature

The year 1898 in literature involved some significant new books.-New books:*Elizabeth von Arnim - Elizabeth and Her German Garden*F. W. Bain - A Digit of the Moon*L...

). By his own name Watson published several volumes of sermon

Sermon

A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...

s, among them being The Upper Room (1895), The Mind of the Master (1896) and The Potter's Wheel (1897).

It is thought that Maclaren was the original source of the quote “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle,” now widely misattributed to Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...

 or Philo of Alexandria. The oldest known reference to the quote may be found in the 1898 Christmas edition of The British Weekly in 1898 as “Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle.”

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