TOWNSEND, LUTHER TRACY: Methodist Episcopal; b. at Orono, Me., Sept. 27, 1838. He spent his early life in New Hampshire; studied at New Hampshire Conference Seminary; was graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H., 1859; from Andover Theological Seminary, Mass., 1862; served as private and adjutant of the Sixteenth New Hampshire regiment, 1862-63; entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry, 1864; was professor of Hebrew, Chaldee, and New-Testament at Boston University,1868-70; of historical theology there, 1872; of practical theology and sacred rhetoric, 1872-93; and since then emeritus professor. Of his works may be mentioned Credo (Boston, 1869); The Sword and Garment (1871); God-Man (1872); Lost Forever (1874); Arena and Throne (1874); The Supernatural Factor in Religious Revivals (1877); The Intermediate World (1878);Bible Theology and Modern Thought (1883); Evolution or Creation, (Chicago and New York, 1896) ;Story of Jonah in the Light of Higher Criticism (1897); Anastasis (1902); God's Goodness and Severity, or Endless Punishment (1903); Adam and Eve - History or Myth (1904); Collapse of Evolution (1905); God and the Nation (1905); The Deluge - History or Myth (1907); and Bible Inspiration (1909).

TOWNSEND, WILLIAM JOHN: English Methodist; b. at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Jan. 20, 1835. He was educated at Percy Street Academy in his native city, and was then engaged in business for several years, after which he studied for the ministry of the Methodist New Connection for a year (1859-60) under James Stacey, of Sheffield. He was minister of various churches of his denomination in Birmingham, Manchester, Leicester, Chester, Halifax, Stockport, and Newcastle until 1886,when he became president of the Methodist New Connection Conference, as well as general missionary secretary of the same body, a position which he held until 1891. In addition to the pastoral work which he then resumed in Birmingham and London, he was editor of the Methodist New Connexion in 1894-97 and was reappointed in 1902. In theology he "holds generally by Evangelical Christianity as expounded by leading modern Methodist theologians," and "has views on inspiration and the last things which differ from a hard and mechanical view of inspiration, or an arbitrary view of future retribution." He has written The Great Schoolmen of the Middle Ages (London, 1880); Robert Morrison, the Pioneer of Chinese Missions (1888); Alexander Kilham, the First Methodist Reformer (1890); Reminiscences and Memorials of Rev. James Stacey, D.D. (1891); Madagascar, its Missionaries and Martyrs (1892); Strength perfected in Weakness (1893); Handbook of Christian Doctrine (1897); Handbook to the Methodist New Connexion (1899); Life of Oliver Cromwell (1899); The Great Symbols(1901); History of Popular Education in England and Wales (1903); As a King ready to the Battle (1904); The Story of Methodist Union (1906); and A New History of Methodism (1909; in collaboration with others).