Hoge, Moses, Dd

Hoge, Moses, D.D.

a Presbyterian minister, was born Feb. 15,1752, in Frederick County, Va. For a time he attended a classical school in Culpepper County. In 1778 he went to Liberty Hall Academy, and there completed his studies in 1780. In November, 1781, he was licensed to preach, and was ordained pastor of a church at Hardy Dec. 13. 1782. In 1787, the Southern climate proving injurious to his health, he removed to Shepherdstown, where he gathered a large congregation and acquired great popularity. In 1805 he opened a classical school, mainly for the education of his own sons. He maintained this, however, only a short time, when he was called to the presidency of Hampden Sianey College, as successor of Dr. Alexander. Five years later, while at the head of the college, the degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Princeton College. In 1812 the Synod of Virginia established a theological seminary, and Dr. Hoge was called to it as a professor. He accepted this position, retaining, however, the presidency of Hampden Sidney College. He died July 5,1820. He enjoyed the reputation of being a superior preacher. "John Randolph pronounced him the most eloquent man he had ever heard…Yet Dr. Hoge had some great disadvantages. His voice had considerable unpleasantness, arising from a nasal twang; so that he must be regarded as a very remarkable man to win such commendation from his gifted countryman." He wrote, in 1793, in defense of the Calvinistic doctrine, a reply to the Rev. Jeremiah Walker, a Baptist minister who had suddenly passed from ultra Calvinism to the entire rejection of the Calvinistic doctrines. He also published The Christian Panoply (1799), designed as an antidote to Paine's Age of Reason. It consists of two parts, the first containing the substance of Watson's reply to Paine's first part, and the second Hoge's answer to the second part of Paine's work. It had a wide circulation, and exerted a very important influence. A volume of his sermons was published shortly after his death, but their circulation has been very limited, and they hardly do justice to his character as a preacher. A memoir of Dr. Hoge was partly prepared by his sons, but seems to have been lost, as it has never gone into print. — Amer. Presb. Rev. Jan. 1864, p. 93 sq.; Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 3, 426 sq. (J. H.W.)