Finney, Charles G

Finney, Charles G.

an eminent Congregational minister, was born at Warren, Connecticut, August 29, 1792. In early manhood he left his father's farm in western New York, and began the study of law in Adams, Jefferson County, but shortly abandoned it for the ministry, to which he was ordained in 1824, with comparatively little previous theological training. He soon became noted as an evangelist, and great revivals attended his preaching everywhere. In 1835 he became a professor in Oberlin College, Ohio, where he continued as teacher, pastor, and president (1852-66), with brief tours as a revivalist in England (1848, 1851), until his death, August 16, 1875. He was eminently successful in religious labors for the conversion of sinners, which were conducted with great fervor and earnestness, very much after the manner of Methodists. Mr. Finney wrote, Lectures on Revivals (Boston, 1835, and many editions since): — Lectures to Professing Christians (Oberlin, 1836): — Sermons on Important Subjects (N.Y. 1839): — Lectures on Systematic Theology (Oberlin, 1846, and later). See Autobiography (N.Y. 1876); OBERLIN THEOLOGY.