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Bible Encyclopedias
Green, Ashbel D.D.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or an eminent Presbyterian divine, was born at Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey, July 6, 1762. He taught school for a while, and in his leisure hours studied to prepare himself for college. When the Revolution broke out he enlisted, and was for a time carried away by the infidel notions which prevailed among his new associates. He soon resolved, however, to make the divinity of the Bible the subject of thorough investigation, and, while seeking for proofsin the Bible itself, he had not gone far before he was cured of his skepticism. He entered the College of New Jersey in the spring of 1782, and graduated with high honors in 1784. He was immediately appointed tutor in the college, and two years after professor of mathematics and natural philosophe. He was licensed to preach by the presbytery of New Brunswick in February 1786, and, after declining a call from the Independent congregation of Charleston, South Carolina, accepted one from the Second Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, where he was installed in May 1787, as colleague of the Reverend Dr. Sproat. In 1787 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society, and in 1790 of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, where he moved for a renewal of communications with the Congregational Church. He was made D.D. by the University of Pennsylvania in 1792, and in the same year was appointed chaplain to Congress, which office he held until 1800. In 1802 the College of New Jersey was destroyed by fire, and Dr. Gree who had been one of the trustees since 1790, was appointed to fill the place of the president, Dr. Smith, while the latter went on a collecting tour through the States. The establishment of a Presbyterian Theological Seminary was first proposed in the General Assembly of May 1809, and a board of directors having been appointed in May 1812, the latter chose Dr. Green for their president: he held this office until his death. Being elected president of the College of New Jersey in August 1812, he accepted the appointment, and resigned his pastoral charge. In the same year he was made LL.D. by the University of North Carolina. At the college he delivered a series of Lectures on the Assembly's Catechism, which were afterwardspublished by the General Assembly's Board of Publication (2 volumes, 12mo) and in the Christian Advocate. Resigning the presidency of the college in September 1822, he took up his residence at Philadelphia, where he published for twelve Years the Christian Advocate; a religious monthly, writing the greater part of it himself, besides preaching to an African congregation for two years and a half, and often supplying the pulpits of other ministers. He fled May 19,1848. He was a very abundant writer; his priincipal works, in addition to those already named, are, Ten occasional Sermons (1790-1836): — Six Addresses, Reports, etc. (1793- 1836): History of Presbyterian Missions (1 volume): — Discourses on the College of New Jersey, together with a History of the College (1822); etc. He also superintended an edition of Dr. Witherspoon's Works (1802), and left in MS. a biography of that great man. For several years, beginning with 1904. he was the responsible editor of the General Assembly's Magazine. See Life of Ashbell Green, V.D.M., prepared for the Press at the Author's request by J.H. Jones (N.Y. 1849, 8vo); Sprague, Annual, 3:479 sq.; Allibone, Dict. of Authors, 1:731 Princeton Review, 1849, page 563.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Green, Ashbel D.D.'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/g/green-ashbel-dd.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
