"Westermeier, Franz Bogislaus, a Protestant theologian of Germany, was born Aug. 22, 1773, at Flechtorf, near Brunswick. He studied at Helmstiidt, and in 1799 he was called as pastor to Magdeburg. In 1810 he was made superintendent, and in 1812 member of consistory. In 1817 the Halle University conferred on him the degree of doctor of divinity, and in 1825 the king of Prussia appointed him evangelical bishop. Three years later he was made general superintendent of the province of Saxony. He died JMarch 1, 1831. He was one of the most excellent pulpit orators of the evangelical Church, and his Oejjentliche Relv/ionsiior- trdfie (IMagdeburg. 1800) will always be regarded as fine specimens of pulpit eloquence. For his writings, see X.— P p p
Doring, Die gelehrten Theologen Deutschlands, iv, 703 sq.; Zuchold, Bibl. Theol. ii, 1439; Winer, Handbuch der theol. Lit. ii, 150, 172, 173, 174, 175, 338. (B. P.)
Western Church. See Roman Catholic Church.
Westervelt, Alfred L., a minister of the Meth- odist Episcopal Cluirch, was born about 1820, of pious parents. He received a careful religious training; ex- perienced conversion in his nineteenth year; began preaching soon after, and subsequently joined the Ohio Conference; served three years as junior preacher and three as senior; and died of cholera, July 31, 1849. Mr. Westervelt was a man of deep piety and respectable talents. See Minutes of Aniuuil Covfereiices, 1849, p. 388.
"Westervelt, John P., a Reformed (Dutch) schol- ar, was born at Paramus, N. J., Nov. 7, 181(j. He was a teacher in Lafayette Academy, Hackensack, in 1838, and afterwards in private seminaries in New York an(l vicinity until 1844. He then studied theology for one year under the Rev. Albert Amerman. After engaging in various pursuits, he joined the Presbytery of Albany in 1855, and removed to Princeton, N. J., where he gave much time to the study of languages and Biblical criti- cism. He was familiar with the ancient languages. Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and spoke fluently the Ger- i man, French, and Dutch. Esjjecially was he skilled ; in the last, and held familiar intercourse with the theo- j logians and poets of the Low Countries. He preached as fluently in. the Dutch language as in his own. Bilder- dyk, his favorite poet, he esteemed equal to any of our English poets. When Dr. Cohen Stuart came from Holland to attend the Evangelical Alliance, so great had the fame of Mr. Westervelt become as a Dutch scholar that Dr. Stuart visited Paterson, to which place Mr. Westervelt had moved in 1860, in order that he might see the renowned scholar. Dr. Stuart afterwards spoke of his "eminent attainments being equalled only by his modesty." By request of the doctor, Mr. Wes- tervelt was made a member of the Leyden Society of Netherlandish Literature, June 16, 1876. Although Mr. Westervelt was in doctrine a Calvinist, yet he was one of the most catliolic of men. Among his brethren his opinion of ditlicidt passages of Scripture was considered sufficient authority. His pietj- was fervent and deep, his character pure and spotless, his faith trustful and strong; and in his last hours, when utterance was diffi- cult, he declared Clirist to be his satisfaction. He died Jan. 15, 1879. He published a Translation from the Dutch of Van der Palm's Life and Sermons (1865). He contributed to the Princeton Review articles on Van der Palm (1861), Bilderdyk (1862), Strauss, and Schleier- macher (1806); also articles to this Cyclopaedia. See Corwin, Manual of the Ref. Church in America, p. 550.
Westervelt, Ralph, a (Dutch) Reformed minis- ter, studied under his (ather-in-law, the Rev. S. Froeligh. He was licensed by the Classis and served at Paramus in 1801, at Rochester and Wawarsing from 1802 to 1807, at Clove in 1808, at Bethlehem and Coeymans until 1816, and at Wynantskill from 1816 to 1822, in which latter year he died. See Corwin, Manual of the Ref. Church in A merica, s. v.
Westervelt, Samuel D., a Presbyterian minis- ter, was born in Schralenburg, N. J., April 21, 1813. He was converted in his eighteenth year; educated in the New York University; studied theology privately ; was licensed by the New York Classis; and ordained, Octo- ber, 1839, as pastor of a church in King Street, N. Y., known as the True Reformed Dutch Church. In 1852 he transferred his ecclesiastical relation to the Second Presbytery of New York, and in 1853 was installed pas- tor of the Presbyterian Church at Yorktown, where he continued to labor almost until the close of his life. He died Nov. 15, 1865. He was a good scholar, a clear and instructive preacher, and an acceptable writer. He
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published one of the best articles on dancing as a fash- ionable anuisement that have ever aiipearcd in print. It was iiiiotud in all the religious journals, republished in London, and highly spoken of by the London press. See Wilson, Presb. IH.tt. Almanac, 18G7, p. 215.
Westfall, Benjamin B., a minister of the Re- formed ( Dutch) Clninli, was horn at Claverack, Colum- bia Co., X. Y'., in 1798. His early life was spent on a farm. Keligious convictions seized his mind when (piite young. He graduated at Union College, N. Y., in 18-23, and at the New liriniswick (N. J.) Theological Seminary in 182G. He was licensed by the Classis of New Hriniswick in 1826. He was missionary at Sand IJeach, N. Y., in 1827-28. Then he was made pastor of IJochester, part of which time Clove was connected with it. In this Held he labored from 1828 until 1838, during wliicli time he saw, as tiie fruits of his labor, about three lunulred souls brought into the Church. His last charge was Stone Arabia and Ephratah, where he toiled from hSoS until his death, in 1844. He was a man of fervent piety and deep and strong convictions. His sermons, breathing his own high convictions of truth, were ad- dressed both to the consciences and understandings of his people. He lived only to save men. His death was caused by excessive labor in revival and other meetings for the benefit of the people. See Corwin, Manual of the Ref. Church in America, s. v.