De Witt John, Dd;

De Witt John, D.D.;

born at Kingston, N. Y., Dec. 15, 1788; the son of a worthy farmer; graduated at Nassau Hall, Princeton, N.J. 1809; began the study of the law, but, after his conversion, studied theology with Rev. Dr. Porter, of Catskill; was licensed in 1811 in the ministry of the Presbyterian Church; was first settled at Lanesboro, Mass., and in 1813 became a pastor in the Reformed Dutch Church, Albany, N. Y. After a very successful career as pastor, he was in 1823 elected professor of Biblical Criticism, Ecclesiastical History, and Pastoral Theology in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church at New Brunswick, N. J. This chair he filled with great acceptance until his death, which occurred Oct. 11, 1823, in the 42d year of his age. Dr. De Witt was a man of fine personal appearance, of a generous nature, of tender sympathy, of deep piety and religious earnestness. He was an eloquent and powerful preacher, a learned and successful professor. His manuscript sermons were of a high order. Of his productions in print we know only of a sermon in memory of the Rev. Dr. John H. Livingston, and one on Regeneration. His early death blighted many hopes which his genius and eminent abilities had inspired.