of that day."
See Sprague, Annals of tin .1 vu ririni Pulpit, i. -Jli'i. -JOti ;
Bacon, Historical Discourses, p. 171 sip; id. Genesis of th, Ni w England I 'hurch .-: (.1. H. W. »
Pierpont, John, an eminent American Unitarian divine, noted especially for his part in temperance and antislavery movements, wa- bom in I7s."i at Litchfield, Conn., and graduated at Yale College in 1804. The years immediately after his leaving college were oc- cupied in teaching, a part of the time at the Smith and afterwards in New England, and lie then studied law •and settled at Ncwburyporl. The war of 1812 intir-
fered with his professional prospects, and he forsook the law for business, but met with indifferent success,
PIERQUIN
191
PIETISM
both at Boston and Baltimore, and in 1818 he entered the Cambridge Divinity School. Less than a year af- ter this time he was installed as pastor of the Hollis Street Unitarian Church at Boston, succeeding the Rev. Dr. Holley, and for twenty-five years he held the pas- torate of that church. At first he was successful, popular, and strongly beloved by his people, but the latter part of his ministry was clouded with troubles and dissen- sions between himself and prominent men of his society on the temperance question, which were never amicably adjusted. While settled at Boston he visited Europe and Palestine. In 1845 he became the first pastor of the Unitarian Church at Troy, N. Y. After a four years' pastorate there he received a call to Medford, where was his last ministerial experience. After this he iden- tified himself with the Spiritualists, having become an enthusiastic believer in animal magnetism. The breaking out of the rebellion found Mr. Pierpont at his home in Medford, but the wear and tear of over seventy- five years of life had not been sufficient to keep him quietly at his fireside while parishioners and friends were hastening to the front to uphold the government which he loved and honored. He sought a post of duty at once, and governor Andrew yielded to Ids request, and appointed him chaplain of the Twenty-second Regi- ment. The exposure of camp-life and duties on the field proved beyond his strength, and he was soon com- pelled to resign his place, much to his regret. Secre- tary Chase then appointed him to a clerkship in the treasury department, and his clerical duties were always faithfully performed, and he proved a valuable and effi- cient officer. He died in 1866, while yet in the employ of the government. Mr. Pierpont was a thorough schol- ar, a graceful and facile speaker, a poet of rare power and pathos, a most earnest advocate of the temperance and antislavery movements, and a man whose convic- tions, purposes, and impulses were always sincerely ex- pressed. His strong desire for securing advancement and reform may have led him sometimes into injudi- cious steps, and diminished his influence for the causes he sought to advance, but his heart was always right; and temperance, freedom, and Christianity had no firmer and more consistent friend or advocate. He leaves an enviable reputation as a poet, and his pathetic "Pass- ing Away" will live as long as our language is spoken or written. In addition to his poetical works, he pub- lished at Boston several popular school-readers, and some twenty occasional sermons and discourses. See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A nier. A uthors, s. v. ; Chris- tian Examiner, Nov. 1866, art. v ; Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 1866; Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia, 1866, p. 617. (J. II. W.)
Pierquin, Jean, a French ecclesiastic, noted espe- cially as a writer, was born Feb. 15, 1672, at Charle- ville. After taking holy orders, he was in 1699 ap- pointed curate of Chatel, in the Ardennes, where he spent his whole life, dividing his time between works of charity and literary pursuits. He died March 10, 1742. He published, Vie de, St. Turin, Hermite (Nancy, 1732, 8vo): — Dissertations physico-theologiQV.es sur la Conception de Jesus dans le Sein de la Vierge Marie, sa mere (Paris, 1742, 12mo), in which work he gives some physical, account of the manner in which the divine act of generation took place, etc. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Ge- nerate, xl, 128.
Pierre, St. See Peter.
Pierre, Jean Bapttste Maria, a French painter, was born at Paris in 1715. It is not known by whom he was instructed ; but he went, when quite young, to Borne, where he remained several years. On his re- turn to Paris he distinguished himself as a historical painter; and executed several works for the churches and public edifices, which gained him great reputation. He was appointed painter to the king, and elected mem- ber of the academy at Paris. One of his greatest works was the ceiling of the chapel of the Virgin, in the church
of St. Sulpice, which has been engraved by Nicholas Dupuis. He also etched a few plates from his own designs and those of others. He died in 1789. See Spooner, Biog. Hist, of the Fine A rts, ii, 694.
Pierson, Abraham, an American Congregational divine and educator, was born at Lynn, Mass., in 1641. Abraham, his father, first minister of Southampton, L. I. (born in Yorkshire, England, in 1608, died Aug. 9, 1678), was one of the first settlers of Newark in 1677, and was the first minister of that town. He preached to the In- dians of Long Island in their own language, and con- tributed Some Helps for the Indians in New Haven Col- ony to a further Account if the Progress of the Gospel in New England (1659). His son, Abraham, Jim., was educated at Harvard University, where he graduated in 1G68. After studying theology, he was ordained col- league with his father at Newark, N. J., March 4. 1672. and was minister at Killingworth, Conn., from 1694 until his death, March 5, 1707. Mr. Pierson was identified with the founding of Yale College, was anxiously de- sired for its first principal, and did instruct for a time at Killingworth, though he never moved to Saybrook, where the commencements of Y?Je were held in its ear- liest days, because his parishioners would not suffer him to leave them. He was taken ill in the midst of the agitation regarding his college duties, and died before he could settle the case. President Clapp, in his History of Yale College, says of rector Pierson that he was " a hard student, a good scholar, a great divine, and a wise, steady, and judicious gentleman in all his conduct." See Sprague, Annals of the A mcr. Pulpit, i, 116 sq. ; Bacon, Genesis of the New England Churches. (J. H.W.)