Alexander, Archibald

ALEXANDER, ARCHIBALD: Presbyterian clergyman, and first professor in the Princeton Theological Seminary; b. about 7 m. e. of Lexington, in Augusta (later Rockbridge) County, Virginia, Apr. 17, 1772; d. at Princeton Oct. 22, 1851. He received as good schooling as the place and time afforded, including attendance from the age of ten at the Liberty Hall Academy of the Rev. William Graham, near Lexington. He was converted in the great revival of 1789, studied theology with Mr. Graham, was licensed in 1791 and ordained in 1794, and became president of Hampden Sydney College 1796, and pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church (Pine Street), Philadelphia, 1806. In 1812 he was entrusted by the General Assembly with the organization of the Princeton Theological Seminary. For the first year he taught all departments, but as other professors were added he confined himself to pastoral and polemic theology. His chief books were: A Brief Outline of the 122 Evidences of the Christian Religion (Princeton, 1825); The Canon of the Old and New Testaments Ascertained (1826); A Pocket Dictionary of the Bible (Philadelphia, 1829); Biographical Sketches of the Founder and Principal Alumni of the Log College (Princeton, 1845); and Outlines of Moral Science (New York, 1852).

Bibliography: J. W. Alexander, Life of Archibald Alexander, New York, 1854.