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Deer Island. In 1863 he became pastor of the Cary Avenue Church in Chelsea. The state of his health obliging him to give up his ministerial work, he resigned his pastorate, and, early in 1865, left his home for an extended trip abroad, and was absent several months. Returning home, he accepted a call to become the pastor of the Free Street Church, Portland, Me., which position he held until the fall of 1867, when he removed to Providence, R. I., where he has lived to the present date (1894), engaged in ministerial, educational, and literary work.

Dr. Stockbridge received from Harvard College in 1859 the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1856 he was elected a trustee in the Corporation of Brown University, and, in 1887, a Fellow. In 1889 he resigned his office as a member of the Corporation, having been elected Registrar of the University, which position he held for two years (1889-91).

Dr. Stockbridge has written for the reviews and a large amount of matter for the periodical press; has published a few sermons, compiled the "Memoirs of Dr. Stow," of which this is a new and enlarged edition, "Memorials of the Mauran Family," and an "Annotated Catalogue of the Harris Collection of American Poetry."

V.

JOHN NELSON MURDOCK.

JOHN NELSON MURDOCK was born in Oswego, N. Y., Dec. 8, 1820. His mother, who was a devout member of the Methodist Church, named her son John Nelson, that being the name of an earnest co-laborer with John Wesley in his great evangelistic work. In her wishes as well as in her fervent prayers, he was set apart to the ministerial calling from his earliest days. It was planned that he should receive a college education at Union College, and his academic training was carried on and completed with this end in view. The death of his father, however, compelled him to abandon his purpose, and he decided to study law, and at the early age of twenty-one he was admitted to the bar. Hopefully converted at the age of seventeen, he became a member of the Methodist Church in his native city. He had not long been practicing his profession before a greatly quickened spiritual life led him to give up his chosen vocation, and he decided to enter the ministry in the denomination in which he had had his early training. A change of belief with regard to the mode and subjects of baptism led to his leaving the Methodist church, and he was baptized after the primitive mode, in the year 1843, and in

May of that year was ordained as pastor of the Baptist Church in Waterville, N. Y., being at the time a few months over his majority. While here he took advantage of the vicinity of Hamilton Theological Seminary to perfect his knowledge of Hebrew and New Testament Greck. He remained in this position until January, 1846, when he was installed as pastor of the church in Albion, N. Y. His pastorate here was a little more than two years, and was terminated by his acceptance of a call to become the pastor of the South Baptist Church in Hartford, Ct., upon the duties of which he entered in April, 1848. Here his labors were attended with remarkable success. A new house of worship was erected to meet the demands of the congregation, and in one year (1853) more than two hundred were added to the church. This position he held for nearly ten years, retiring from it to accept an invitation to become the pastor of the Bowdoin Square Church, Boston, where he commenced his labors Jan. 1, 1858, and held his office nearly six years (1858-63). A few months of interim followed, when he was elected Secretary of the Missionary Union, the choice being made in July, 1863. He continued to perform the duties of his office for the long period of twenty-nine years, and upon his retirement at the age of seventy years he was made Honorary Secretary.

It has justly been said: "Amid the many difficulties and perplexities incident to the carrying on of extensive enterprises in foreign missionary work, the brethren of Dr. Murdock have learned by experience to rely with great confidence on his clear, calm, dispassionate and matured convictions of the right course to pursue. It has been his lot to advocate measures which were unpopular, but in the end it has been found that they were right. His legal training has proved of great service, and many personal qualities have contributed to his eminent success in the great work of his life; but more than all else, his broad and correct judgment has gained and kept for Dr. Murdock the confidence and esteem of the denomination in the responsible position which he has so worthily filled."

Dr. Murdock received from Rochester University the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1854. The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on him in 1888 by Madison University.

The pen of Dr. Murdock has been a busy and prolific one. While pastor in Hartford he was joint editor with Rev. Dr. R. Turnbull for not far from three years (1853-56) of the Christian Review, to which he contributed several articles. His published

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sermons, preached on occasions of special interest, have been quite numerous. His reports as Secretary of the Missionary Union, and the vast amount of official correspondence which he has carried on during his long connection with the society, would, if collected, constitute the material for more than one bulky volume. He has made more than one visit to the Old World to participate in councils called to take into consideration the best methods for advancing the cause to which he has devoted the energies of the best years of his life.

Dr. Murdock deservedly holds a high place in the denomination he has so faithfully and so wisely served for more than half a century, and his name and his influence will long be kept in grateful remembrance by his brethren who have honored and loved him.

VI.

ADONIRAM JUDSON GORDON.

ADONIRAM JUDSON GORDON, son of Dea. John Gordon, a substantial farmer in New Hampton, N. H., was born in 1836. He pursued his studies preparatory to college in his native town and in New London, N. H., and graduated at Brown University in the class of 1860. Among his classmates were Rev. Drs. Granville Sharp Abbott, Samuel White Duncan and Wayland Hoyt, Hon. Henry Joshua Spooner, M. C., Hon. Thomas Williams Bicknell, LL. D., and Henry Kirke Porter, LL. D. Mr. Gordon took the full course of theological study at the Newton Institution, graduating in the class of 1863, and was ordained June 29, 1863, as pastor of Jamaica Plains Church, near Boston, where he remained six years (1863-69), when he was called to the Clarendon Street Church (formerly Rowe Street), being the immediate successor of Dr. Baron Stow, which position he continues to hold at this writing (1894).

Dr. Gordon received from Brown University the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1878. He was elected a Trustee of the Corporation of the University in 1874, and a Fellow in 1888.

As a pastor and preacher Dr. Gordon holds a high rank among the ministers of Boston. He edits the Watchword, a monthly religious periodical. The productions of his pen are numerous and popular. Among them are “In Christ,” “The Ministry of Healing," "The Two-Fold Life," and "Ecce Venit." With the Rev. Dr. S. L. Caldwell he compiled the "Service of Song," at one time in extensive use among the Baptist churches of this country.