the Presbyterian Church at Princeton. He was li- censed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick in 1821, and soon after became pastor of the same church in Charlotte Co., Va., in which his father had commenced his ministry. In 1828 he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian church in Trenton, N J. In 1832 he resigned his charge in Trenton, on account of impaired health, and became editor of the Presbyterian newspaper in Philadelphia. In the following year he was appointed Professor of Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres in the college at Princeton, which post he continued to occupy until, in 1844, he was called to the Duane Street church in New York. While fulfilling the pro- fessorship he preached regularly to a small congrega- tion of colored people at Princeton, without compensa- tion, for the space of seven years. In 1843 he was made D.D. by Lafayette College, Pa. In 1849 he was appointed by the General Assembly Professor of Ec- clesiastical History and Church Government in Prince- ton Theological Seminan% and in 1851 he was called to take charge of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian church, New York. Here his most important work in the Gos- pel ministry was performed. He gathered around him one of the largest and most influential congregations in the land, who were attracted, not by his popular talents, but by his personal worth, and weight, and piety, and by the fervid simplicity with which he preached Christ Jesus. Dr. Alexander was a man of eminent and varied learning, reaching into all the de- partments of science and literature, the stores of which, in many modern as well as ancient languages, were as familiar to him and as much at his command as those in his mother tongue. Yet his practical religious zeal was so great that the greater part of his writings con- sists of books for children, and writings to increase practical religion. His rare qualities as a writer and a preacher enabled him to say every thing in a style of originality and peculiar grace. He was equally distinguished for moral excellence, especially for child- like simplicity of character, unaffected humility, and simple but ever -glowing piety. In the spring of 1859 his health began to fail. With a view to its restoration, he went to Virginia in the early summer, and appeared to grow better. About a week before his death he was seized with dvsenterv, and died at the Red Sweet Springs, Alleghany Co., Ya., July 31, 1859.
Dr. Alexander's writings are chiefly practical, but all distinguished by breadth of thought and by admira- ble excellence of style. Among them are, A Gift to the Afflicted (12mo) : — Geography of the Bible (by J. W. and J. A. Alexander, 12mo) : — Consolation, or Discourses to the suffering Children of God (X. Y. 1853, 8vo):— American Mechanic (2 vols. 18mo) : — Thoughts on Fam- ily Worship (12mo) : — Life ofR/v. A. Alexander, D.D. (Svo): — Young Communicant (12mo) : — The American Sunday-school and its A djunc/s (PhiL 1856). He wrote more than thirty juvenile books for the American Sun- day-school Union, of which the best known are Infant Library, On'y Son, Scriptwe Guide, Frank Harper, Carl, the Young Emigrant. He also was a frequent contribu- tor to the Princeton Review. Since his death has ap- peared his Thoughts on Preaching (X. Y. 1861, 12mo) : — Discourses on Faith (X. Y. 1862, 12mo).— New York Ob- servi r; Forty Y< ars' < 'orrespondfnee of Dr. J. IF. . 1 lexan- der with a Friend (X. Y. 1860, 2 vols. 12mo) ; New F.ng. lander, Nov. 1860, art. v ; Mercersburg Rev. Oct. 1860.
Alexander, Joseph Addison, D.D., an emi- nent Presbyterian* minister and scholar, third son of Dr. Archibald Alexander (q. v.), was born April 24, 1809. He graduated at Princeton in 1826, receiving the first honor of his class. He was soon after ap- pointed tutor in that college, but declined the post, and united with Professor Robert B. Patton in the establishment of the Edgehill Seminary for boys at Princeton. In 1830 he was appointed Adjunct-profes- sor of Ancient Languages at Princeton, but resigned in 1833 to visit the German universities. He spent a
ALEXANDRA
149
ALEXANDRIA
season at Halle and Berlin, and returned to accept the professorship of Oriental Literature in the Theological Seminar}' at Princeton, to which he had been appoint- ed during his absence. In 1852 he was transferred to the chair of Ecclesiastical History. He died at Prince- ton, Jan. 28, 1860.
Dr. Alexander spoke almost all the modern languages of Europe, and as a scholar in Oriental literature had few, if any, superiors. His critical works are distin- guished by keen analysis and sound discrimination. As a preacher, he was distinguished and popular. Preaching mostly from written notes, he was seldom known to take his eyes from the paper, though he kept up the interest of his auditors by the great learning, the clear method, and, at times, the high flight of elo- quence he displayed. He had the rare capacity, both mental and physical, of almost incessant reading and intellectual labor, and he tasked his great energies to the utmost. The result is before us in a life of seldom paralleled intellectual achievement. He studied Ara- bic when a boy, and had read the whole Koran in that tongue when he was fourteen. Persic, Syriac, He- brew, Coptic were successively mastered. He did not study these languages for the sake of their grammar, but of their literature ; not for the purpose of knowing, but of using them. He studied, however, profoundly the philosophy of their structure and their analogies to each other, and learned the Sanscrit to possess the basis of comparative philology. Greek and Latin, and all the modern languages of Europe, were familiar to him. From this foundation of linguistic learning he proceeded to a wide and comprehensive system of his- torical, antiquarian, and philosophical studies. But all his other acquisitions were subordinated to the study and elucidation of the Word of God. His pro- fessional lectures and his commentaries were the fruit of his wide researches thus applied and consecrated. But his personal love for the Scriptures and delight in them were not less remarkable than his ability in il- lustrating them. He had learned whole books of them by heart, both in the original and in our English ver- sion. The exegetical works of Dr. Alexander have gained him a great reputation in Europe, as well as in America, and will doubtless remain a permanent part of Biblical literature. They include The earlier Proph- ecies of Isaiah (N. Y. 1846, 8vo) :— The. later Prophecies of Isaiah (N. Y. 18-17, 8vo) : — Isaiah illustrated and ex- plained (an abridgment of the critical commentary, N. Y. 1851, 2 vols. 12mo) :— The Psalms translated ami explained (N. Y. 1850, 3 vols. 8vo) : — Commentary on the Acts (N. Y. 1857, 2 vols. 12mo) : — Comm. on Mark (1858, 12mo). He also published (from the Princeton Revieic) Essays on the primitive Church Offices (N. Y. 1851). Since his death his Sermons have been pub- lished (2 vols. 8vo, N. Y. 1860) ; also a Commentary on Matthew (N. Y. 1860) ; and Notes on N. T. Literature (N. Y. 1861, 12mo).