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  SHORT BIOGRAPHY
  by George Matheson
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Summary: George Matheson's life was marked by his academic gifts and his
ability to serve as a pastor despite his near-total blindness.

Topics: "Faith in Adversity", "Resilience"
Scripture References: Psalm 119:105, Isaiah 40:31, John 9:25, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Philippians 4:13

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DESCRIPTION
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George Matheson shares his life story, detailing his birth in Glasgow,
Scotland, and his struggle with deteriorating eyesight that led to near-
total blindness. Despite this challenge, he excelled academically with
the help of his sisters and graduated from the University of Edinburgh,
eventually becoming a minister in the Church of Scotland. He served in
Innealan for 18 years, where his remarkable memory allowed him to preach
without his congregation realizing he was blind. Later, he became the
pastor of St. Bernard's Church in Edinburgh, dedicating his final years
to literary pursuits, including the publication of 'Sacred Songs'.
Matheson's life exemplifies resilience and dedication to faith despite
personal challenges.

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CONTENT
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Born: March 27, 1842, Glasgow, Scotland.

Died: August 28, 1906, Avenell House, North Berwick, Edinburgh,
Scotland.

Buried: Family vault, Glasgow Necropolis.

Born with poor vi­sion, Ma­the­son's eye­sight grad­ual­ly wors­ened
un­til he was al­most to­tal­ly blind. How­ev­er, he was
aca­dem­ic­al­ly gift­ed, and his sis­ters learned La­tin, Greek, and
He­brew to help him stu­dy. He grad­u­at­ed from the Un­i­ver­si­ty of
Edin­burgh (MA 1862), then became a min­is­ter in the Church of
Scot­land. He pa­stored in the re­sort town of In­ne­lan for 18 years;
due to his abil­i­ty to mem­o­rize serm­ons and en­tire sec­tions of the
Bible, lis­ten­ers were of­ten un­a­ware he was blind. In 1886, Matheson
be­came pas­tor of St. Ber­nard's Church in Edin­burgh, where he served
13 years. He spent the re­main­ing years of his life in lit­er­ary
ef­forts. His works in­clude:

Sacred Songs (Edinburgh, Scotland: W. Blackwood, 1890)

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/george-matheson/short-biography/
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