PAT′TON, (1843—). An
American clergyman and educator. He was born
at Warwick, Bermuda. He studied at Knox
College, of the University of Toronto, and at
Princeton Seminary, New Jersey. He was
ordained to the ministry in 1865, and after holding
several pastorates was, in 1871, appointed
professor of didactic and polemical theology in
the Theological Seminary of the Northwest (now
McCormick Seminary, Chicago), where he
remained ten years. During the period from 1873
to 1876 he edited the religious journal The
Interior (Chicago), in which connection he
brought charges of heresy against Prof. David
Swing, resulting in the latter's trial and subsequent
withdrawal from the Church. While in
Chicago, he also held the pastorate of the Jefferson
Park Presbyterian Church, and in 1878 was
elected moderator of the Presbyterian General
Assembly. In 1881 he assumed the professorship
endowed for him in Princeton Theological
Seminary, styled the chair of the relations of philosophy
and science to the Christian religion; in
1885 he became professor of ethics in the college, and in 1888 succeeded James McCosh in the presidency. In 1891 and 1892 he was again
prominent as an opponent of the so-called heretical
views of Dr. C. A. Briggs, of Union Theological
Seminary. In 1902 he resigned from the
presidency of Princeton University, but was soon
after elected to that of the seminary. His
administration of Princeton was marked by the assumption
of the title Princeton University in place of
the charter name, ‘The College of New Jersey,’ and
by large donations which enabled the university
to make extensive additions to its equipment and
buildings. The number of students nearly doubled
during this period from 1888 to 1902, and new
courses were added to both the scientific and
academic departments. Perhaps most important
in the future development of Princeton as a
university was the founding of a graduate school. President Patton became widely known as a forcible speaker and a keen, logical thinker on theological subjects. He contributed frequently to leading periodicals and wrote Inspiration of the Scriptures (1869), and Summary of Christian Doctrine (1874).