Prime, Samuel Irenaeus

D.D, (Hampden Sidney College, Va., 1854) Presbyterian; b. at Ballston, Saratoga County, N. Y., Nov. 4, 1812; d. while on a vacation trip, at Manchester, Vt., Saturday, July 18, 1885. He was educated in the academy at Cambridge, N.Y., and at Williams College, Williams town, Ma .; graduated from the latter, 1829; and studied theology at Princeton (N.J.) Theological Seminary, 1832-33. He ever afterwards remained a firm friend and active supporter of his literary and of his theological alma mater. He was pastor at Ballston Spa 1833-35, and at Matteawan, N.J., 1837-40. He became editor of The New- York Observer in 1840, and continued to occupy this position till his death, being at the same time the chief proprietor of this old and influential family paper, which is read in all parts of the United States, as well as in many reading-rooms of Europe. He was for some time corresponding secretary and one of the directors of the American Bible Society, corresponding secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, president of Wells College, and a trustee of Williams College. He took an active and leading part in all the affairs of the Presbyterian Church, and in the Christian and philanthropic enterprises of the age. He repeatedly visited Europe. He wrote a number of books which had an extraordinary circulation at home and abroad (see list below). Among these we mention Travels in Europe and the East; The Bible in the Levant; The Alhambra and the Kremlin; Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, the Irenceus Letters (from The New- York Observer); and especially the Power of Prayer (1859, enlarged 1873), and Prayer and its Answer (1882). The Irenceus Letters are unique, and show an extraordinary faculty of clothing every-day topics and experiences with a fresh interest, and extracting from them le ons of practical wisdom. He left a third series, of an autobiographical character, which were published after his death (in The New-York Observer, 1886). Dr. Prime was an indefatigable worker till within a few days of his death; and hardly a week pa ed without one of his Irenceus Letters, so highly prized by the readers of the Observer. His health, however, began to fail some years before his death. With the Evangelical Alliance of America, founded in 1866, he was closely identified almost from the beginning. He attended the fifth General Conference at Amsterdam in 1867, read there the report on Religion in America, prepared by the late Dr. Henry B. Smith, and extended an invitation to the European Alliances to hold the sixth General Conference in the city of New York. The invitation was cordially accepted. On his return from Europe, he was elected one of the corresponding secretaries of the American Alliance, and served it in that capacity without any compensation till Jan. 28, 1884. He took a very prominent Share in the preparations for the great New-York Conference, which, after two vexatious postponements, was held in the autumn of 1873. It is still well remembered as the first international and inter-continental religious meeting in America, and its influence for good reached every country on the globe. He advocated the cause of the Alliance,— which is the cause of Christian union and religious liberty, — in The Observer, and at many public meetings. He was very active in the anti-Romish controversy. Dr. Prime was a wise counsellor, a man of an uncommon amount of common-sense, executive ability, and sound judgment, of quick wit, rich humor, and a hopeful temperament. He was eloquent in speech, and had a fluent, easy, and racy pen. Po e ed of a generous heart, strong convictions, and large catholicity, he was one of the leaders of public opinion, and, altogether, one of the most untiring and useful writers and workers of his age and country. His genial humor, generous sympathy, and inexhaustible fund of illustrations and anecdotes, made him one of the most agreeable of friends and companions; and his company will long be mi ed in the social circles which he used to grace and delight with his presence. On account of growing infirmities, he resigned his active secretaryship of the Evangelical Alliance, Jan. 28, 1884; but continued to attend the meetings regularly, and accepted the appointment of honorary corresponding secretary, which was offered him unanimously at the seventeenth annual meeting, Jan. 26, 1885. After his death a special meeting was called on Monday, July 27, where a suitable paper, prepared by Dr. King, was presented, adopted, and entered on the minutes. And on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 1886, an interesting memorial service in his honor was held at A ociation Hall, New-York City, in which Rev. Drs. R. S. Storrs (Congregationalist), E. Bright (Baptist), and J. M. Buckley (Methodist) made appreciative addre es to a large representative audience. See report in The New-York Observer, Jan. 14, 1886. Many of his publications were anonymous; but he was the acknowledged author of the following volumes, most if not all of which have pa ed through several editions: The Old White Meetinghouse, or Reminiscences of a Country Congregation, New York, 1845; Life in New York, 1845; Annals of the English Bible, abridged from Anderson, and continued to the Present Time, 1849; Thoughts on the Death of Little Children, 1850; Travels in Europe and the East, 1885; Poiver of Prayer (history of the Fulton-street prayer-meeting, New-York City), 1859; The Bible in the Levant; or, the Life and Letters of the Rev. C. N. Righter, Agent of the American Bible Society in the Levant, 1859; Letters from Switzerland, 1860; Memoirs of the Rev. Nicholas Murray, D.D. (Kirwan), Boston, 1862; Five Years of Prayer [in the Fulton-street prayer meeting] with the Answers, New York, 1864; Walking with God, Life hid with Christ, 1872; Songs of the Soul, gathered out of many Lands and Ages, 1873; Alhambra and the Kremlin, Journey from Madrid to Moscow, 1873; Fifteen Ye 185 ars of Prayer in the Fulton-street Prayer-meeting, New York, 1873 Under the Trees, 1874; Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, 1875; Prayer and its A?iswer illustrated in the first Twenty-five Years of the Fulton-street Prayer-meetimg, 1882; Lrenaus Letters, 3 series 1882 (with portrait), 1885 (with sketch of Dr. Prime's life), 1886 (containing his autobiography in the form of letters). philip schaff.