Leland, John (2), a Baptist minister, distantly related to Aaron Leland (see above), was born in Graf- ton, ]\Iassacluisetts, May 14, 1754. About the age of eighteen he had strong and painful religious impres- sions; he emerged into light and peace gradually, and, after the lapse of several months, was baptized in June, 1774, in BeUinghara, and was regularly licensed by the Church, lie removed in 177(3 to Virginia, where for above fourteen years he exercised an itin- erant ministry, preaching over all the eastern section of tlie state, sometimes extending his tours southward into North Carolina, and northward as far as Phila- delphia. He was ordained in Virginia, somewhat ir- regularly, in 1777, and again ten years later, with more regard to form and customary usage. His evangelical laliors were attended with large success. He baptized seven hundred persons, and gathered churches at Or- ange and Louisa, one of three hundred and the other of two hundred members. He made the acquaintance of 'Sir. jMadison, with whom he maintained a pleasant correspondence for many years, effectively co-operating with liim to secure the ratification by Virginia of the Constitution of the United States. In 1791 lie return- ed to New England, and the year following settled in Cheshire, Mass., where he resided till his death. Though acting for a limited period as pastor of the Church in Cheshire, he was always an itinerant, making extensive tours over ^vestern ISIassachusetts, often into the adja- cent parts of New York, and into more distant sections of New p]ngland ; twice visiting Virginia, and, wherever he went, preaching and baptizing — these two items of '•the great commis^inu" (Matt, xxviii, 19, 20) being all to which he felt himself called. His last record of bap- tism was Aug. 17, 1834, when he was over eighty years of age, which brought up the number of baptisms in his ministry to 1524. He stiU continued to preach, and died in the work at North Adams, Mass., Jan. 14, 1841. He recorded, when at the age of sixty-six, that he had then preached eight thousand sermons, and in order to do it had travelled distances wliicli would thrice girdle the globe. His LiJ'e and Remains, edited by his daugh- ter, including an autobiography, additional memoirs, and eighty pieces — sermons, tracts, public addresses, and es- says on religious, moral, and political topics — most of which had been ])rinted in pamphlet form during his life, were published not long after his decease, forming a volume of 700 pages 8vo. " Elder" Leland, as he was commonly styled, was in theology a Calvinist of the old school. He was always popular as a preacher and \\Tit- er, especially among the less-cultivated class. The ele- ments of his success were a strikingly- original, often eccentric cast of thought; a terse, telling expression, abomiding in compact, apothegmatic, easily-remember- ed sentences ; a vigorous Saxon-I'Jnglish diction ; slight- ly provincial (•' Yankee"), homely illustration, often a spice of humor, and his sermons were never wanting in earnest appeal. These qualities were aided by his tall ligure, the compass of his voice, and a peculiar but ef- fective action. His singular views as to the limit of his ministerial duty, leading liini to baptize converts with- out gathering tliem into churches, caused liis success as an evangelist to leave less durable traces than might otherwise have been looked for. The relations of Church and State in Virginia and in most of New England, dnring the earlier period of liis ministry, led him into a habit of jwlitical activity whic^h was sometimes censured by jiersons unable to appreciate a state of society which had passed away. Two hynnis, published anonymously in most hymn-books — one tlie pojiular evening hymn, "The day is past and gone;" the other beginning, ''Now the Saviour standeth pleading" — iire ascribed to liis pen, and not improliably tlie sini]jle melodies iti which they are oftenest sung. His productions, consisting of sev- eral sermons, essays, and addresses, were ]iublislied after Ms death, with a memoir of tlie author by Miss L. F.
Greene (1845, 8vo). See Sprague, Annals of the Amer- ican Pulpit, vi, 174. (L. E. S.)
Leland, Thomas, D.D., an English divine, was born at l)uhUii in 1722, and was educated at Trinity College in that city. He became senior fellow of the college, and Avas made a professor of poetry there la 1703 ; afterwards vicar of Bray, and later chaplain to the lord lieutenant of Ireland. He died in 1785. Le- land was a profound scholar and a most eloquent preach- er. He published the Orations oj' Demosthenes, Latin version and notes (London, 1754, 2 vols. r2mo),in con- jmiction with Dr. John Stokes: — the Orations [19] of Demosthenes, in English (1756-61-70,3 vols. 4to ; last ed. 1831, 12mo) : — Hist. of the Life ami Reign of Philip, King of Macedon (1758, 2 vols. 4to ; last ed. 1820, 2 vols. 8vo) : — Dissertation on the Principles of Human Elo- quence, etc. (1764, 4to), elicited by bishop Warburton's Discourse on the Doctrine of Grace : answered (anony- mously) by Hurd, on behalf of Warburton, in a very petulant letter. Answer to a letter to him, etc., 17G4, 4to. This is a reply to Hurd. Leland answered for himself, and. in the opinion of all tlie world, completely demolished his antagonist. See Allibone, Diet, of Brit. and A mer. A itihors, vol. ii, s. v.