Nevin, John Williams on

D.D. (Jefferson College, Canons burg, Penn., 1839), LL.D. (Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., 1873), Reformed (German); b. in Franklin County, Penn, Feb. 20, 1803; graduated at Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., in 1821, and at Princeton (N.J.) Theological Seminary in 1826, where from 1826 to 1828 he taught Hebrew as substitute for Dr. Charles Hodge, who had gone to Europe to study. During the following year he was stated supply at Big Spring, Penn. From 1829 to 1840 he was profe or at Allegheny in the Western Theological Seminary. He then followed a call to the theological seminary of the Reformed (German) Church at Mercers burg, in which he taught theology from that time (1840) until 1851. He was also president of Marshall College, Mercers burg, Penn., from 1841 to 1853, and of Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, 1866 to 1876, when he retired to Caernarvon Place, near Lancaster, Penn., 165 where he died June 7, 1886. He was one of the founders of the " Mercers burg theology," for which see the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia, ii., 1473 sqq. He edited The Mercers burg Review from 1849 to 1853, and wrote the largest part of its contents himself. Of the articles contributed by him to the Review then and subsequently, especially noteworthy are the following: Doctrine of the Reformed Church on the Lord's Supper, in Reply to Dr. Charles Hodge of Princeton, 1848; The Apostles' Creed Origin, Constitution, and Plan, 1849; Early Christianity, 1851; Cyprian, 1852; Dutch Crusade, 1854; Review of Dr. Hodge's Commentary on Ephesians, 1857 Introduction to the Tercentenary Edition of the Heidelberg Catechism, 1863; The Liturgical Question, 1863; Vindication of the Revised Liturgy, 18— Answer to Profe or Dorner, 1865; Revelation and Redemption, 18—. In book form have appeared from him, Biblical Antiquities, Philadelphia, 1828, 2 vols., revised ed. 1849, reprinted Edinburgh, 1853; The Anxious Bench, Chambers burg, Penn., 1842; Dr. Schaff's The Principle of Protestant ism, translated with introduction and appendage, 1845; The Mystical Presence, Philadelphia, 1846; History and Genius of the Heidelberg Catechism, Chambers burg, 1847; Antichrist, or the Spirit of Sect and Schism, New York, 1848.