The Natural and the Spiritual Body | 1 Corinthians 15:44 | Robert Smith Candlish (1806 - 1873)

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Robert Smith Candlish (23 March 1806 – 19 October 1873) was a Scottish minister, preacher, and theologian who played a leading role in the Disruption of 1843 and the founding and development of the Free Church of Scotland.⁠Wikipedia

Early Life and Education
He was born in Edinburgh at 11 West Richmond Street, the son of James Candlish (originally McCandlish), a medical lecturer and friend of the poet Robert Burns. His father died when Robert was only about five weeks old. His mother, Jane Smith (one of the “Mauchline Belles” celebrated by Burns), raised the family in modest circumstances after moving to Glasgow, where she ran a boarding house. Candlish was educated largely at home and never attended formal school. He entered the University of Glasgow (graduating M.A. in 1823) and completed the divinity course there (1823–1826). Afterward he spent about two years as a private tutor at Eton College.⁠Wikipedia

Ministry and the Disruption of 1843
Licensed to preach in 1828, he served briefly as assistant at St Andrew’s, Glasgow, and at Bonhill in Dunbartonshire. In 1834 he became minister of St George’s Church, Edinburgh—one of the most prominent pulpits in Scotland—where his preaching quickly gained a large and influential congregation. He married Jessie Brock in 1835; they had ten children (several of whom died young).⁠Wikipedia

From the late 1830s he became a major figure in the Church of Scotland’s “non-intrusion” controversy. He defended the people’s right to choose (or veto) their ministers and the Church’s spiritual independence from state control. His influence in bringing about the Disruption of 1843—when roughly 450–470 ministers left the Established Church to form the Free Church of Scotland—was second only