James Inglis

Who was James Inglis?

James Inglis was an American preacher and editor who was one of the earliest advocates of what is called dispensationalist premillennialism in the United States.

Inglis was born in Scotland and immigrated to the United States in 1848, settling in Michigan. In Adrian, Michigan he was converted to the Baptist faith, and shortly after that became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. In 1854 he began to publish Waymarks in the Wilderness. In this publication he admitted to drawing on the teaching of John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren in advocating the secret coming of Jesus Christ and the rapture. This is called dispensationalism, but the name is misleading, because it is the secret coming and the removal for a time of the faithful, and not the view that there are different dispensations of the gospel, that distinguishes it from other forms of premillennialism.

Inglis would later move to Saint Louis, Missouri and eventually New York City and would continue to publish Waymarks in the Wilderness sporadically until his death.