Thoughts on Popery (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780692346099)

William Nevins was born in Norwich, Connecticut on October 13, 1797, the youngest of the twelve children of David and Mary (Hubbard) Nevins. Possessed of an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, young Nevins entered Yale University in 1812 and graduated four years later. He was well-known for his quickness of apprehension and his witty sense of humor, the latter quality being especially evident in his writings throughout his life. It was during his time at Yale that Nevins became deeply impressed with eternal realities and resolved to enter the ministry. Immediately upon his graduation from Yale, he enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary and completed his course of study in three years. He was licensed to preach by the New London Association and first entered the pulpit at Lisbon, Connecticut in September, 1819. He began preaching at the First Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland in August, 1820 and was installed as the minister the following October. He married Mary Lloyd of Georgetown in 1822 and the couple had five children, only three of which survived their parents. An outbreak of cholera in the city claimed the life of his wife on November 8, 1834 and his own life nearly a year later on September 14, 1835. The present volume, compiled from a series of articles which Nevins had written for the New York Observer, was published posthumously in 1836.