progress under the patronage of high names, as Abernethy, the author of a very excellent work upon the Attributes, who gave it a great deal of eclat". In 1731 came the greatest controversy in which Abernethy was involved. It was nominally about the Test Act, but actually on the entire question of tests and disabilities. His stand was: He was nearly a century in advance of his age. He had to reason with those who denied that a Roman Catholic or Dissenter could be a "man of integrity and ability." References Attribution ; Endnotes: James Duchal's Life, prefixed to Sermons (1762); Diary in Ms., 6 vols.; Reid's Presbyterian Church in Ireland, iii. 234. External links 1680 births 1740 deaths Irish people of Scottish descent 18th-century Irish clergy Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People from Coleraine, County Londonderry Irish non-subscribing Presbyterian ministers