Learned Scottish divine, the son of the minister of Irvine, in Ayrshire; born in that town in 1721. From the school of his native place he was removed about the age of fourteen to the university of Glasgow, and studied there with great success. At the completion of the ordinary curriculum he repaired to Leyden to study theology. On his return he was licensed as a preacher, and after officiating as an assistant, first at the Gorbals, in Glasgow, and afterwards at Kilwinning, he was ordained in 1753 minister of Maybole, in Ayrshire. His first work, The Harmony of the Gospels, appeared in 1756, and passed through a second edition in 1763. In this latter year was also published his Truth of the Gospel History. So well known had Macknight now become, that he received a diploma of D.D. from the university of Edinburgh, and in 1769 was elected moderator of the General Assembly. During this year he was translated to the parish of Jedburgh; but after the lapse of three years, was promoted to Lady Yester’s church, Edinburgh. In 1778 he was transferred to the Old Church in the same city, a charge which he held during the rest of his life. For a long time he had been composing, with persevering and elaborate care, his New Translation of the Apostolical Epistles, with a Commentary and Notes. It appeared in 1795, and was praised by the ablest divines of all denominations in Britain. After passing his latter years in a total cessation from literary labour, he died. The fifth edition of his Harmony was published, London, 1819, and his Translation, London, 1809. See also Literary Criticism.
