John Mcclintock

John Mcclintock

one of the projectors and editors of this Cyclopaedia, was born in the city of Philadelphia, Oct. 27, 1814. His parents were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in that city. In the year 1832 he entered the freshman class of the University of Pennsylvania, and by strenuous exertions completed the whole collegiae course in the space of three years. Before his graduation, in the year 1835, he had commenced preaching, in the New Jersey Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the year 1836 he accepted a call to the chair of mathematics in Dickinson College, which had been reopened in 1834 under Methodist auspices. In this institution he spent twelve most fruitful years. In the year 1840 he exchanged the mathematical chair for that of the Latin and Greek languages, succeeding his friend, the Rev. Robert Emory. As a teacher Dr. McClintock was most successful. Rapid and brilliant, and at the same time thorough and accurate, he was the beau ideal of a college instructor. In 1846 he commenced, in connection with the writer of this article, a series of Latin and Greek text-books, designed to apply to these languages the method of "imitation and repetition" which had been successfully introduced into the teaching of modern tongues. The series was well received, and its method has since been extensively followed. In the year 1848 Dr. McClintock was elected by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church the editor of its Quarterly Review. In this office he spent eight years. His fine taste, his critical acumen, and his interest in all departments of human knowledge, were amply illustrated in his conduct of the Review. Under his care it rose rapidly to the highest rank among periodicals of its kind. In 1856 he was, in association with bishop Simpson, appointed a delegate from the Methodist Episcopal Church to the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of England. He was at various times elected president of several colleges, but he never assumed the active duties of such a position.

In 1857 he became pastor of St. Paul's Methodist Church, in the city of New York. He adapted himself readily to the duties of the pastoral office. and speedily became known as one of the most eloquent preachers of the metropolis. A fine presence, a rich voice, and a graceful delivery gave effect to the utterances of a well-stored mind. His charge of this Church expiring by limitation in 1860, he accepted the appointment of pastor of the American chapel in Paris, then and now under the care of the American and Foreign Christian Union. While holding this position the great American civil war broke out, and Dr. McClintock was not a man to be idle in the time of his country's peril. Appreciating the value to the national cause of the friendly opinion of Europe, he exerted himself to the utmost in diffusing a right knowledge of the merits of the controversy in which the American Union was involved. In these labors he availed himself of the aid of the count De Gasparin and the Rev. Mr. Austin of England. During the entire war his pen was never idle, and from the platform, whenever it was practicable, he made eloquent pleas for the national cause. During the period of his residence abroad, he was also corresponding editor of the Methodist, a paper established in 1860 in the city of New York. His letters kept the American public well advised of the fluctuations of European opinion in relation to the war. Upon his return home, in 1864, he was for a second time appointed to the pastorate of St. Paul's Church, but, finding his health unequal to the discharge of the duties of the office, he resigned it at the end of a year. In 1866 he was made chairman of the Central Centenary Committee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which was given the work of organizing the commemoration of the introduction, in 1766, of Methodism into the United States. Mr. Daniel Drew, of New York, having signified his intention of founding, in connection with this centenary commemoration, a Biblical and Theological School, Dr. McClintock was chosen its first president. The school was opened in the year 1867, at Madison, New Jersey, under the most flattering auspices, and has been from the beginning an entire success. Dr. McClintock's health had, prior to his election to the presidency of Drew, shown symptoms of decline. Since 1848 he had been frequently prostrated by attacks of illness. From 1867 to 1870 a great decay of vitality was perceptible, and on March 4 of the latter year the "wheels of life stood still at last."

To the preparation of this Cyclopaedia, Dr. McClintock had, in company with his co-editor, Dr. Strong, devoted many laborious years. To theology and its kindred studies his attention had through life been chiefly directed. He lived to see three volumes completed, and the fourth in a state of forwardness. In the year 1847 he translated, with Prof. C. E. Blumenthal, Neander's Life of Christ, published by Harper and Brothers. In 1851 he prepared an essay on the Temporal Power of the Pope, which was at that time a political question of some importance in the United States. The Theological Institutes, by Watson, Dr. McClintock supplied with an analysis, which is considered a model work of its kind. He was also a frequent contributor to the Methodlist Quarterly Review, and an occasional one to several other periodicals. Since his death a volume of his sermons has been collected and published under the title Livinq Words (N.Y. 1871,12mo). Dr. McClintock's versatility of talent is apparent even from this slight sketch. He was truly a many-sided man. Yet his attainments were solid; an imperfect understanding of any subject he could not tolerate. In facility of acquiring knowledge he was very remarkable. He could track a subject, never losing the clew, through a labyrinth of books, until he came into full possession of it, both as a whole and in its details. The critical faculty was dominant in him. To systematize knowledge, to reduce it to form and completeness, was instinctive with him; yet he had at the same time the fervor which makes the orator. His eloquence was of the highest order; in power to sway an audience he had few if any superiors. He was probably the most complete scholar that his Church has produced in the United States. His style as a writer was remarkable for clearness, precision, directness, and condensation. His personal qualities endeared him to hosts of friends; his death, in the midst of his years, has been deplored as a great loss to the cause of religion and learning in our country. (G. R. C.)