Leland, John (2)
Leland, John
(1), a celebrated English divine, was born at Wigan, Lancashire, Oct. 18 16, 91, and was educated at the University in Dublin. In 1716 he became pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Dublin. He afterwards distinguished himself in a series of works in which he defended with great eloquence the Christian religion against the attacks of Atheists and Deists. As an acknowledgment of his services, the University of Aberdeen gave him the title of D.D. He died Jan. 16, 1766. His important works are, Defence of Christianity (Dublin, 1733, 2 vols. 8vo, and often; intended as an answer to Tindal’s Christianity as old as the Creation, Dublin, 1773, 2 vols. 8vo): The divine Authority of the Old and New Testament asserted, wcith a particular Indication of the Characters of loses and the Prophets, and Jesus Christ and his Apostles, against the unjust Aspersions and false Reasoning of a Book entitled “The Moral Philosopher” (Lond. 1739, 8vo): View of the principal Deistical Writers in England in the last and present Century (ibid. 1754, 2 vols. 8vo), and two supplements. A new edition, with Appendix, by W. L. Brown, D.D., was published in 1798 (2 vols. 8vo). The best edition is the fifth, which has a valuable Introduction, comprising a succinct view of the subsequent history of the controversy, by Cyrus R. Edmonds (London, 1837, 8vo). He who can read this work and yet remain an unbeliever in Christianity must be hopelessly obtuse or perversely prejudiced: Advantage and Necessity of Christian Revelation (London, 1764, 2 vols. 4to). After his death, his Sermons were published in 4 volumes 8vo by Dr. Isaac Weld, with the Life of Dr. Leland. See the last work, and British Biog. vol. 10; Allibone, Dict. of British and American Authors, vol. 2, s.v.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Leland, John (2)
(2), a Baptist minister, distantly related to Aaron Leland (see above), was born in Grafton, Massachusetts, May 14, 1754. About the age of eighteen he had strong and painful religious impressions; he emerged into light and peace gradually, and, after the lapse of several months, was baptized in June, 1774, in Bellingham, and was regularly licensed by the Church. He removed in 1776 to Virginia, where for above fourteen years he exercised an itinerant ministry, preaching over all the eastern section of the state, sometimes extending his tours southward into North Carolina, and northward as far as Philadelphia. He was ordained in Virginia, somewhat irregularly, in 1777, and again ten years later, with more regard to form and customary usage. His evangelical labors were attended with large success. He baptized seven hundred persons, and gathered churches at Orange and Louisa, one of three hundred and the other of two hundred members. He made the acquaintance of Mr. Madison, with whom he maintained a pleasant correspondence for many years, effectively co- operating with him to secure the ratification by Virginia of the Constitution of the United States. In 1791 he returned to New England, and the year following settled in Cheshire, Mass., where he resided till his death. Though acting for a limited period as pastor of the Church in Cheshire, he was always an itinerant, making extensive tours over western Massachusetts, often into the adjacent parts of New York, and into more distant sections of New England; twice visiting Virginia, and, wherever he went, preaching and baptizing these two items of the great commission (Mat 28:19-20) being all to which he felt himself called. His last record of baptism was Aug. 17,1834, when he was over eighty years of age, which brought up the number of baptisms in his ministry to 1524.
He still continued to preach, and died in the work at North Adams, Mass., Jan. 14,1841. He recorded, when at the age of sixty- six, that he had then preached eight thousand sermons, and in order to do it had traveled distances which would thrice girdle the globe. His Life and Remains, edited by his daughter, including an autobiography, additional memoirs, and eighty pieces sermons, tracts, public addresses, and essays on religious, moral, and political topics most of which had been printed in pamphlet form during his life, were published not long after his decease, forming a volume of 700 pages 8vo. Elder Leland, as he was commonly styled, was in theology a Calvinist of the old school. He was always popular as a preacher and writer, especially among the less-cultivated class. The elements of his success were a strikingly-original, often eccentric cast of thought; a terse, telling expression, abounding in compact, apothegmatic, easily-remembered sentences; a vigorous Saxon-English diction; slightly provincial (Yankee), homely illustration, often a spice of humor, and his sermons were never wanting in earnest appeal. These qualities were aided by his tall figure, the compass of his voice, and a peculiar but effective action. His singular views as to the limit of his ministerial duty, leading him to baptize converts without gathering them into churches, caused his success as an evangelist to leave less durable traces than might otherwise have been looked for. The relations of Church and State in Virginia and in most of New England, during the earlier period of his ministry, led him into a habit of political activity which was sometimes censured by persons unable to appreciate a state of society which had passed away. Two hymns, published anonymously in most hymn-books one the popular evening hymn, The day is past and gone; the other beginning, Now the Savior standeth pleading are ascribed to his pen, and not improbably the simple melodies in which they are oftenest sung. His productions, consisting of several sermons, essays, and addresses, were published after his death, with a memoir of the author by Miss L. F. Greene (1845, 8vo). See Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, 6:174. (L. E. S.)