John Dowling
John Dowling [1]
a Baptist minister, was born at Pevensey, England, May 12, 1807. When sixteen years of age he became a Christian, and joined the Eagle Street Church, London. For eight years (1825-32) he was engaged in teaching, and became the author of three school-books. At the end of this period he removed with his wife and children to the United States, and in 1832 was ordained in Catskill, N.Y.; but a short time afterwards was called to the pastorate of the Second Baptist Church in Newport, R.I., and subsequently to the Pine Street, now the Central Baptist Church, Providence. He next preached for a Church in New York, holding its meetings in Masonic Hall. In 1844, he became pastor of the Berean Church in the same city, where he continued for several years, and then preached to a Church meeting in Hope Chapel, on Broadway, which has since become the Calvary Baptist Church on Twenty-third Street. For about four years (1852-56) he was pastor of the Sansom Street Church in Philadelphia. In 1856 he returned to the Berean Church, New York. For a time he preached for the Second Baptist Church in Newark, N.J., and subsequently supplied the pulpit of the South Baptist Church in New York. He died July 4, 1878. Dr. Dowling's occasional published sermons and discourses were well received, and one of them, The Value of Illustration, had a wide circulation. His principal work was his History of Romanism (New York, 1845), which passed through many editions. Besides these works, Dr. Dowling wrote and compiled, A Vindication of the Baptists (8vo): — An Exposition of the Prophecies Supposed by William Miller to Predict the Second Coming of Christ (1840, 18mo): — A Defence of the Protestant Scriptures, etc. (1843): — Judson's Offering (18mo): — Conference hymn-book: — Baptist Noel's Work on Baptism: — Works of Lorenzo Dow: — Conyer's Middleton: — Memoir of Jacob Thomas: — Translation from the French Of Dr. Cotes. See Williams, Memorial Discourses; Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, 1:516, 517. (J.C.S.)
