Spence, Robert W., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was born INIay 11, 1824, in South Carolina. He first joined the Presbyterian Church, but this being dissolved in his neighborhood, he then united with the JMethodist. He was licensed to preach, and joined the Alabama Conference in 1849. After a successful ministry of about six years, his health entirely failed, and he retired to his mother's home in Kemper County, Miss., where he died, Sept. 27, 1856. See Minutes of A nnual Conferences of the M. E. Church, South, 1856, p. 707.
Spencer, Elihu, D.D., a Presb^'terian divine, was born at East Haddam, Conn., Feb. 12, 1721. He com- menced a course of literarv study, with a view to the Gospel ministry, in March, 1740, and graduated at Yale College in September, 1746. After graduation he was urged to undertake a mission among the Indians of the Six Nations, and, under the sanction of the society in Great Britain which had fostered the other missions among the Indians, he entered upon the arduous task.
and in September, 1748, was solemnly ordained to the work of the ministry, with a special view to an Indian mission. The leadings of Providence, nowe ver, appear to have been such as to direct his labors into another and entirely different department of evangelical work, and Feb. 7, 1750, he was installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Elizabethtown, N. J., then vacant in conse- quence of the death of president Dickinson. It was during his pastorate in Elizabethtown that his charac- ter for piety and public spirit prompted the trustees of the College of New Jersey to elect him one of the cor- porate guardians of that institution, which office he held as long as he lived. In 1756 he became pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Jamaica, L. I. ; in 1758 he accepted the chaplaincy of the New York troops, then about to take their place in the French war still raging. When his services as chaplain were closed, he connected himself with New Brunswick Presbytery, and labored several years in the contiguous congrega- tions of Shrewsbury, INIiddletown Point, Shark River, and Amboy. It was about this time that he addressed a letter to the Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., which was pub- lished, and attracted no small share of public attention. The subject of it was "The State of the Dissenting In- terest in the Middle Colonies of America." It was originally dated at Jamaica, July 2, 1759, and there were some amendments and additions to it at Shrews- bury on Nov. 3. This was the only formal work he ever committed to the press. In 1764 the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, having reason to believe that a number of their congregations in the South were in an unformed and irregular state, sent the Rev. Elihu Spencer, and Alexander McWhorter of New- ark, N. J., to prepare thern for a more orderly ami edifying organization. Soon after returning from this important service, he became pastor of St. George's Church in Delaware, where he spent five years. In 1769 he accepted a call to the city of Trenton, N. J., where he remained nsefid and beloved until he was re- moved by death, Dec. 27, 1784. Dr. Spencer was pos- sessed of fine genius, great vivacity, ardent piety, and special merits as a preacher and a man. In 1782 the Universit\' of Pennsylvania conferred upon him the de- gree of D.D. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, iii, 165. (J. L. S.)
Spencer, Francis, a minister of the IMethodist Episcopal Church, was converted in his eighteenth year, at Springville, Pa., and joined the Presbyterian Church. He afterwards united with the Methodist Cliurch, and was licensed to preach June 10, 1848. He was received on trial in the Wyoming Conference in 1855, and con- tinued a member thereof until his death. Sept, 18, 1862. See Minutes of Annual Conferences, 1863, p. 77.
Spencer, Ichabod Smith, D.D., an eminent di- vine of the Presbyterian Church, was born in Rupert, Vt., Feb. 23, 1798. His early educational advantages were limited, consisting only of the training of a common school. The death of his father, in 1815, marked a de- cisive epoch in the history of his life, and the following year he left home, and settled in the town of Granville, Washington Co., N. Y., where he was converted and first felt strongly impressed to devote himself to the ministry. He graduated at Union College in 1822, with a high reputation for both talents and scholarship ; studied theology privately under the direction of An- drew Yates, D.D., professor of moral philosophy in Un- ion College; removed to Canandaigua, N. Y., in 1825, and became principal of the academy in that place, which he soon succeeded in raising to a commanding position among the primary educational institutions of the State ; was licensed by the presbytery of Geneva iu November, 1826 ; was ordained as colleague pastor with the Rev. Solomon Williams, of the Congregational Church in Northampton, Mass., Sept. 11, 1828, where he continued laboring with the most remarkable success until March 23, 1832, when he was installed pastor of
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ihc Socoml Troiiliyterian Cliiiroh. Brooklyn. L. I., which ! yt&» his la>t li<l<l of iniiiisurial hU>or. Ky liis irreat wis- dom aii<l iniTjiy. ami ahii>>st iiiR'Xam]>liil iiuliistry, he succeeik'tl ill raising; this church into one of the most pnwfXToiis and illicient churches in the Presbyterian deiioniiiiation. In INW he accepted the professorship exiraonliiiary of Uiblical history in the L'nion i'heolot;- ical Seminary in New York city, ami retained it for about four years. In If^U he receiveil Ilie degree of D.U. from ilainilton Collef,'e. lie died Nov. -23. 18.^4. The high estimate in which Dr. Sjiencer was held was surticieiitly evinced by the efTorts tliat were made to se- cure his services in various de])artnients of ministerial labor. Ill l«3tl he was called to the presidency of tlie University of Alabama: in \f<',V2. to tlie presidency of Hamili.iii Colle>;e. In l^.j;} he was elected to the pro- fessorship of pastoral tlieolo^jy in the East Windsor Theological .Seminary ; and many formal calls were put into liis haiuls from churches in various imptirtant cit- ies, but none of these tempted him from his chosen field. He published nine single sernuins, 1835-50, and the following well-known works : -1 Pas/or's Sketches, or CoitreiiKilioiiji tril/i A iijriniig Inquirers respecting the Way (»/■ .Sdlnilioit (N. Y. 1850; second series, 1853); theiie sketches have been republished in England, and also in French in France : — Seniioiis, with a Memoir of his Life by IJev. J. M. Sherwood (N. Y. 1855,2 vols.). Also since his death have been published : Discourses on Sacrumeiitfil Occas,(ms,\\\t\\ an Introduction by (iar- diner .Spring. D.U. (18t;i, 18i;-.'; Loml. m'A): — Eri- dnicts ofUiriue ReveUition ( IJostoii, 18(j5 ). See Spraguc, Amittls of the Aiiier. I'ulpit, iv, 710; Allibone. Did. of hrit. (ind A mer. A ulhors, s. v. ; JJibl. Repert. July, 18G1, p. 57-.>. (.I.L.S.)