MacLaren's Commentary- Expositions of Holy Scripture

 MacLaren’s Expositions of Holy Scripture is considered one of the greatest expositor’s commentary of all time. This commentary has more than 1,500 sermons arranged in canonical order with more than 46,000 scriptural references, making this collection one of the fullest expositor’s commentary ever. 

For his work MacLaren drew praise from many. A. T. Robertson Said of MacLaren “His matchless discourses are the fruit of the most exact scholarship and spiritual enthusiasm.” F. B. Meyer said “As an expository preacher none of them equaled MacLaren of Manchester, and no other sermons were so widely read the world around.”

MacLaren was born in Glasgow on February 11, 1826, and died in Manchester on May 5, 1910. He had been for almost sixty-five years a minister, entirely devoted to his calling. He lived more than almost any of the great preachers of his time between his study, his pulpit, his pen. 

His ministry fell into a quiet routine for which he was always grateful: two sermons on Sunday, a Monday prayer meeting and a Thursday service and lecture. His parishioners thought his sermons to them were the best he ever preached. In April 1858 he was called to be minister at Union Chapel in Manchester. No ministry could have been happier. The church prospered and a new building had to be erected to seat 1,500; every sitting was taken. His renown as preacher spread throughout the English-speaking world. His pulpit became his throne. He was twice elected President of the Baptist Union. He resigned as pastor in 1905 after a ministry of forty-five years. 

MacLaren’s religious life was hid with Christ in God. He walked with God day by day. He loved Jesus Christ with a reverent, holy love and lived to make Him known. In his farewell sermon at Union he said: "To efface oneself is one of a preacher’s first duties."