Ebenezer Porter
Ebenezer Porter [1]
an eminent Congregational minister, was born Oct. 5, 1772, in Cornwall, Conn. After graduating at Dartmouth College in 1792, he taught school some months; then studied divinity, and entered the ministry in 1794, and was ordained pastor at Washington, Conn., Sept. 6, 1796, where he remained until April 1, 1812, when, his health becoming impaired, he removed to Andover to take the Bartlet professorship of pulpit eloquence in the theological seminary. In 1817 he was chosen professor of divinity in Yale College, but did not accept, and during the same year refused successively the presidency of Hamilton College, of Middlebury College, and of the University of Georgia. In 1827 he was made president of the seminary, and held that office until his death, April 8, 1834. As a theological instructor, Dr. Porter had few equals. He was remarkably well endowed for the training of young men intended for the holy ministry. Thus Dr. Dewey writes: "A friend of mine attended service in the (Andover) seminary one morning some years after I left it, and heard one of Dr. Porter's grand discourses; and, as the audience was leaving the chapel, professor Stuart in his deep tone said, ‘ This is the majesty of the Gospel.' It was indeed the majesty of the Gospel!" Dr. Porter published, The Young Preacher's Manual (1819; 2d ed. 1829): — A Lecture on the Analysis of Vocal Infections (1824): — An Analysis of the Principles of Rhetorical Delivery as applied in Reading and Speaking (1827): — The Rhetorical Reader (1831): — Lectures on Revivals of Religion (1832): — A Lecture on the Cultivation of Spiritual Habits and Progress in Study (1833): — Lectures on Homiletics, Preaching, and Public Prayer (1834): — and a large number of occasional Sermons. Since his death The Biblical Reader and Lectures on Eloquence and Style have also been published. Dr. Porter was a contributor to the Quarterly Register, and the translator of many sacred German poems. See notices of this excellent man and eloquent preacher in Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, 2, 351; Rev. Lyman Matthews, A Memoir of E. Porter, D.D. (Boston, 1837, 12mo); Amer. Quar. Reg. 9:1; Christ. Month. Spec. 1, 79; Lit. and Theolog. Rev. 5, 401 (by W. Lord); Meth. Rev. 53, 191; Ware, Biogr. of Unitarians, vol. 1. (J. H.W.)
