Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macward, Robert
MACWARD or MACUARD, ROBERT (1633?–1687), covenanting minister, appears to have studied at the university of St. Andrews, where he was for some time regent of humanity (Robert Baillie, Letters and Journals, iii. 240). In 1654 he was appointed one of the regents of Glasgow University without competition (ib. p. 314), but resigned the appointment from ill-health, and on 8 Sept. was ordained to the collegiate charge of the Outer High Church, Glasgow, the usual ordination trials being dispensed with (ib.) From 1656 to 1659 he had charge of the south district of the parish, in 1660 of the west, and in 1661 of the east. In 1659 he was named for the vice-chancellorship of the university, but the proposal, which was opposed by Robert Baillie, who seems always to have borne him a grudge, was unsuccessful (ib. p. 397).
After the Restoration Macward in February 1661 preached a sermon in which he was reported to have said: 'I humbly offer my dissent to all acts which are or shall be passed against the covenants and work of Reformation in Scotland; and secondly, protest that I am desirous to be free of the guilt thereof, and pray that God may put it upon record in heaven' (Wodbow, Sufferings of the Kirk of Scotland, i. 207). On this account he was brought under a guard to Edinburgh, and imprisoned in the Tolbooth; and having been indicted by the king's advocate for treasonable teaching, he was on 6 June called before the parliament, where he made a speech in his defence (ib. pp. 207–12). It was agreed to delay final disposal of his case; but ultimately sentence of banishment was passed against him, with permission to remain for six months in Scotland, but only one of these months in Glasgow, power also being granted to him to receive the following year's stipend on his departure (ib. p. 214). He went to Holland, where on 23 June 1676 he was admitted minister of the second charge of Rotterdam; but at the instance of Charles II he was removed by order of the States-General, 27 Feb. 1677. For a time he retired to Utrecht, but in 1678 he returned to Rotterdam, where he died in December 1687. He married the widow of John Graham, merchant in Holland, and formerly provost of Glasgow, but left no issue.
Macward was the author of:
- 'The True Nonconformity,' 1671.
- 'The English Ballance, weighing the Reasons of England's present Conjunction with France against the Dutch,' 1672.
- 'The Poor Man's Cup of Cold Water ministred to the Saints and Sufferers for Christ in Scotland, who are amid the Scorching Flames of the Fiery Tryal,' printed in 1678, and reprinted 1709.
- 'Έπαγωνισμοι: or Earnest Contendings for the Faith, being the Answers written to Mr. Robert Fleming's First and Second Papers of Proposals for Union with the Indulged; the First Paper written anno 1681; whereunto some of the Author's Letters relative to the Lives and Duties of the Day are annexed,' 1728.
- 'The Banders Disbanded,' 1681.
'A Collection of Tracts' by him appeared at Dairy in 1805. He added notes to Livingstone's 'Letters to his Parishioners at Ancrum,' 1671; and is the supposed author of 'A Large Preface and Postscript' to Samuel Rutherford's 'Joshua Redivivus.' He also wrote prefaces to the works of Brown of Wamphray, Binning of Govan, and Graham of Glasgow.
[Wodrow's Sufferings of the Kirk of Scotland (Wodrow Society); Robert Baillie's Letters and Journals (Bannatyne Club); Steven's Church in Rotterdam; Hew Scott's Fasti Eccles. Scot. ii. 22-3.]