Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/345

This page needs to be proofread.

DWIGHT 337 but heightening their enthusiasm by addresses and by patriotic songs, the principal of which was entitled " Columbia." By the death of his father in 1778 the support of his mother with 12 children devolving on him, the oldest of her sons, he resigned his chaplaincy and removed with his family to Northampton. Here he worked with his own hands on the farm, sup- plied some neighboring church on the Sabbath, established and sustained a school for both sexes, represented the town in 1781 and 1786 in the state legislature, and would have been chosen to the continental congress, but declined the intended honor in order to devote himself to the work of the ministry. In 1783 he was ordained pastor of the Congregational church at Greenfield Hill, Fail-field, Conn. ; but as his salary was insufficient for his support, he es- tablished an academy, to which he devoted six hours of each day. In 1787 he received the degree of D. D. from the college of New Jersey, and in 1810 that of LL. D. from Har- vard college. On the death of Dr. Stiles he was chosen his successor as president of Yale college, was inaugurated in September, 1795, and held the office until his death. In addi- tion to its appropriate duties he performed a vast amount of labor belonging to other depart- ments. He was in reality professor of belles- lettres, oratory, and theology, teaching a class preparing for the ministry, and preaching in the college chapel twice every Sunday ; in the discharge of which latter duty he prepared and delivered in a series of discourses his well known system of theology. During several years he spent his vacations in travelling through New England and New York, making extensive notes and critical observations on the manners of the time, which were afterward published and have a permanent value. Dr. Dwight was a man of commanding pres- ence, of dignified but affable manners, of stri- king conversational powers, of superior in- tellectual faculties, untiring in his industry and research, of great system and wonder- ful memory; as a teacher, remarkable for his skill and success ; as a writer, interesting and sensible ; and as a preacher, sound, strong, im- pressive, and at times highly eloquent. The literary labors of Dr. Dwight were very great, and his publications numerous, including dis- sertations, poems, and occasional sermons, is- sued during his life, and since his death ; " The- ology Explained and Defended," with a memoir (5 vols., 1818), often reprinted in this country and in England ; " Travels in New England and New York " (4 vols., 1822) ; " Sermons on Miscellaneous Subjects " (2 vols., 1828). Among his poetical works are " The Conquest of Ca- naan" (1785), an epic poem in 11 books, finish- ed in 1774, and " Greenfield Hill " (1794). II. Sereno Edwards, an American clergyman, son of the preceding, born at Greenfield Hill, Fairfield, Conn., May 18, 1786, died in Philadelphia, Nov. 30, 1850. He graduated at Yale college in 1803, and was tutor there from 1806 to 1810, during which time he studied law in New Haven, and was admitted to the bar in the lat- ter year. He practised till 1815, when he gave up law for theology, and in October of the year following was licensed as a preacher. He was chaplain of the United States senate for the session of 1816-'17, and in September of the latter year was ordained pastor of the Pask street church, Boston, where he remained for ten years. Ill health obliged him to resign his charge in 1826, when he returned to New Haven, and occupied himself in writing the life and editing the works of the elder Presi- dent Edwards, which were published in 1829. In 1828, in connection with his brother Henry, he opened in New Haven a school for boys, on the plan of the German gymnasiums, which was continued for three years. In March, 1833, he was chosen president of Hamilton college, N. Y., and the same year he received the degree of D. D. from Yale college. In 1835 he resigned his presidency, and in 1838 removed to New York, where sickness disabled him for active service. He died while on a visit to Philadelphia for medical advice. He published at various times several sermons and addresses, "The Life of Brainerd" (1822), a volume on the "Atonement" (1826), "Life of Edwards" (1830), and "The Hebrew Wife" (1836). A volume of his " Select Discourses" was published in 1851, together with a memoir by his brother, the Rev. Dr. W. T. Dwight. III. William Theodore, an American lawyer and clergyman, brother of the preceding, born at Greenfield Hill, Fail-field, Conn., June 16, 1795, died at Andover, Mass., Oct. 22, 1865. He graduated at Yale college in 1813, was a tutor there from 1817 to 1819, and was ad- mitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1821. After practising his profession for ten years he studied theology, and in 1832 became pastor of the third Congregational church in Portland, Maine, which position he held till May, 1864. He was one of the most prominent and influ- ential ministers in Maine, and a popular preach- er. He published in 1851 a memoir of the Rev. Sereno Edwards Dwight, and was the author of many addresses and reviews. IV. Theodore, an American lawyer, author, and jour- nalist, brother of Timothy Dwight, born in Northampton, Mass., Dec. 16, 1764, died in New York, June 11, 1846. He studied law with his uncle, Judge Pierpont Edwards of Hartford, Conn., became eminent in his pro- fession, and a leading speaker and writer of the federal party. He was for several years a senator in the Connecticut legislature, a rep- resentative in congress from that state in 1806 -'7, and editor during the war of 1812-'14 of the " Hartford Mirror," the leading organ of the federal party in the state. During the session of the Hartford convention in 1814 he acted as its secretary, and in 1833 published a "History of the Hartford Convention," writ- ten from a strong federal point of view. From 1815 to 1817 he edited the " Albany Daily Ad-