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McClure, Alexander Wilson

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McClung, John Alexander, D.D.

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D.D., an American divine, was born in Boston, Mass., May 8, 1808: was educated at Yale and Amherst colleges and Andover Theological Seminary (class of 1830); was settled at Mialden, Mass., 1830-41; then at St. Augustine, Fla., 1841-44; editor of the Christian Observatory from 1844 to 1847; and pastor again at Malden from 1848 to 1852. Leaving the Congregational body, he accepted a call to the First Reformed Church, Jersey City, N. J., and remained there three years (1852-55), when he became corresponding secretary of the Amrerican and Foreign Christian Union, 1855. His health having been impaired, he was sent in 1856 as chaplain of the union at Rome, Italy. In 1858, broken down by bronchial disease, he retired from public service, and lingered a great sufferer until his death, Sept. 20, 1865. The American Chapel in Paris was erected largely by funds which Dr. McClure secured with great zeal and labor. Dr. McClure's contributions to the periodical press were numerous and popular, including valuable articles for the Observatory, the New Brunswick Review, and the Literary and Theological Review. He also published The Life-Boat, an Allegory: — Four Lectures on Ultra Uniresalsises, "a theological classic, unanswered and unanswerable": — A Series of Letters upon the Bible in the Public Schools,written in controversy with a Romish priest in Jersey City: — Lives of the Chief Fathers of New England (2vols.): — and The Traslators Revived, or Biographical Articles on the History of the Translators of the English Bible (New York, 1853, 12mo). The title is somewhat unfortunate, but the work is invaluable, the materials being drawn from the best sources in Great Britain and America, and with the utmost care for many years, to secure accuracy and fullness. Dr. McClure was a truly learned scholar, a,genuine wit, a keen dialectician, and a practical controversialist. Ardent and honest as the sunlight, abounding in good feeling, and simple in manners as a child, he was a man of positive convictions, fearless of consequences in the advocacy of truth and in assailing popular errors. Yet, with all his exuberant mirth and knowledge of the world, Dr. McClure was pre-eminently a devout and humble Christian minister. Chastened by many providential trials, his piety grew more serene, and beautiful, and deep with advancing infirmities and years. His prayers and preaching were solemn, tender, and scriptural. Eternal things were seen and felt by him as eternal realities, and his hearers often were hushed and melted under his reverential appeals. His death was triumphant. See Corwin, Manual; Recollections of Dr. N. Adams; Personal Memories. (W. J. R. T.)