WITHERSPOON, JOHN: ' Presbyterian divine and signer of the Declaration of Independence; b. in the parish of Yeater (11 m. e. of Edinburgh), Scotland, Feb. 5, 1722; d. near Princeton, N. J., Nov. 15, 1794. Through his mother he counted descent from John Knox. He was graduated from the University of Edinburgh (1742); licensed in the Church of Scotland (1743) and settled at Beith (1744) and at Paisley (1757). By this time his publications had shown that he possessed equal power as a theologian, guardian of morals, and satirist, displaying consecutive thinking, deep perception, ready wit, and earnestness of purpose. Hence he received calls to positions of prominence, and accepted the invitation to the presidency of the College of New Jersey, 1768. In his new position he was eminently useful. He introduced a number of improvements, particularly the lecture-system, previously unknown in American colleges (himself lecturing upon rhetoric, moral philosophy, and divinity), the study of French and Hebrew, the latter of which he taught, philosophical instruments, among them the. first orrery made by Rittenhouse, and additions to the library, to which he made noteworthy gifts. He attracted, by his reputation and ability as a teacher, a large number of students. He was pastor of the church at Princeton during his presidency, a New Jersey representative to the Continental Congress, 1776-1782 (with the exception of 1780, when he declined the election), in which body he wrote several important state papers, and exerted his influence in favor of independence. During the war the college was suspended. In 1790 he became totally blind. He was a versatile man and a voluminous writer. His Works were edited by Rev. Dr. Green (4 vols., Philadelphia, 1803; Edinburgh, 1804-05, in 9 vols., 1815). They include Ecclesiastical Characteristics, or the Areana of Church Policy, being an Attempt to open up

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the Mystery of Moderation (Edinburgh, 1753, 5th ed., 1763; a satire upon the moderate party in the Church of Scotland, published anonymously, but acknowledged by Witherspoon as his own in his Serious Apology, 1763); Essay on the Connection between the Doctrine of Justification by the Imputed Righteousness of Christ and Holiness of Life (Glasgow, 1756; one of the ablest Calvinistic expositions of that doctrine in any language); A Serious Enquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Stage (1757; new ed. by W. Moffat, Edinburgh, 1876; occasioned by the performance of the Rev. John Home's drama, Douglas); A Practical Treatise on Regeneration (1764); The History of a Corporation of Servants Discovered a Few Years Ago in the Interior Parts of South America (Glasgow, 1765; a clever satire upon abuses in the Church of Scotland). He was the author also of several volumes of sermons, besides works dealing with matters of civil government.

Bibliography: Besides the Life prefixed to the Works (ut sup.), consult: D. W. Woods, John Witherspoon, New York, 1906 (by his great grandson, who used rare public documents); E. H. Gillett, Hist. of the Presbyterian Church, 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1864; R. Chambers, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, new ed. by T. Thomson, Edinburgh, 1856; W. B. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, iii. 288-300, New York, 1858; J. Sanderson, Biography of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, pp. 296-314, Philadelphia, 1865; J. Maclean, H%st. of the College of New Jersey, 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1877; Princeton Book; Hist., Organization, and present Condition of the College of New Jersey, Boston, 1880; C. A. Briggs, American Presbyterianism, New York, 1885; M. C. Tyler, Literary Hist. of the American Revolution, ii. 319-330, New York, 1897; I. W. Riley, American Philosophy, the Early Schools, pp. 483-497, New York, 1907; C. Evens, American Bibliography, vol. v., nos. 15224, 16173, Chicago, 1909; DNB, laii. 271-274.