John Ebenezer Pressly, only son of John Pressly and the former Miss Martha Devlin, was born on November 3rd 1826 in the bounds of Cedar Springs A.R.P. church in Abbeville District of South Carolina. His birth was 39 days after his father, had died. His mother, later married a second time to Josiah McGaw in 1837 and moved to Mississippi. John Ebenezer was left then in care of his uncle, Dr. Ebenezer Erskine Pressly, President of Clark and Erskine Seminary with a high school in connection to the Divinity School; which had opened in Feb 1, 1836. The leading spirit and principal professor was John S. Pressly. Into this primary institution young John Ebenezer was placed and graduated in the third class 1844. After a full course in the Divinity Department there, the Second Presbytery granted him license September 18th 1847 - after some missionary work in the West; Rev. John E. Pressly spent four months in the winter '49 and '50 at Coddle Creek and New Perth A.R.P. churches in Iredell County, North Carolina and was ordained and installed pastor on Feb. 12, 1851. Then began a long and faithful pastorate over two congregations 18 miles apart, two sermons each Sabbath in summer, baptizing children, solemnizing marriages, catechizing, preaching in neighboring congregations over an area of some twenty-five by fifteen miles. Reverend J. E. Pressly was moderator of Synod in 1868, and Erskine College conferred the title of D. D. in 1878, and the responsibility of the clerkship of the First Presbytery was put upon him from April 7, 1873 to April 4th, 1883.
In 1869 the Synod appointed a committee to revise the Psalms. In this work as main factor he became intensely interested, wrote much and aroused the Church in getting the mind of the .Spirit in this Book of Praises.
About Nov. 10th, 1885, Dr. Pressly received a hurt which caused great suffering and lamed him for life. He demitted his charge April 13th, 1886. Though confined to his room his pen was busy and many messages went out from his sick chamber. Loving to preach as he did and regaining in a measure his strength, he was heard often when propped up in the pulpit. After lingering for ten years among a people he had served as pastor thirty-five years, he died May 16th, 1897.
Next to a man's conversion, that which shapes his life most is his marriage. April 4, 1849, a helpmeet indeed was given him in Miss Martha S. Sherard, daughter of William and Phoebe Sherard of Anderson Co., S. C. She was a woman of great prudence, good judgment and self-possession, "of unusual good common sense, of nerve and of gentleness," the stay, support and balance wheel of her distinguished husband with his nervous temperament and delicate constitution. She was a model, systematic housekeeper, but best of all devotedly pious.
As a preacher he made the most careful and painstaking preparation, his thoughts were systematically and logically arranged. Believing that the priest's lips should keep knowledge, he never went into the pulpit unprepared. When he arose to speak there was uniqueness, originality, striking and vivid utterance, sometimes a vein of humor, all consecrated, that commanded and held the attention of the most listless hearer. He preached Christ both to the head and heart. As a pulpit orator he ranked among the very best in the Synod.
Dr. Pressly was a singular genius. In the same sentence he would make you cry and cheer. When not depressed with disease, an entertaining, suggestive, and brilliant conversationalist. He wielded the pen of a ready writer.
Ever loyal to his denominational vows, an able defender of her distinctive principles, he was ever watchful of changes lest they be hurtful innovations. His last great speech was delivered before the First Presbytery at Central Steele Creek on Oct. 6th, 1891 against the introduction of the organ. His congregation has chiseled in tablet: "He was a man of wide influence and culture, a profound scholar, an eloquent preacher and a devoted soldier of the cross." But better than tables of stone he is indelibly engraved in the fleshly tables of the heart in the thousands of his spiritual children.
Rev. John Ebenezer Pressly, D.D. departed his earthly life near the church he had been pastor, Coddle Creek A.R.P. on the 16th day of May 1897. He was laid to rest near his mother, Martha Devlin Pressly McGaw.
In 1869 the Synod appointed a committee to revise the Psalms. In this work as main factor he became intensely interested, wrote much and aroused the Church in getting the mind of the .Spirit in this Book of Praises.
About Nov. 10th, 1885, Dr. Pressly received a hurt which caused great suffering and lamed him for life. He demitted his charge April 13th, 1886. Though confined to his room his pen was busy and many messages went out from his sick chamber. Loving to preach as he did and regaining in a measure his strength, he was heard often when propped up in the pulpit. After lingering for ten years among a people he had served as pastor thirty-five years, he died May 16th, 1897.
Next to a man's conversion, that which shapes his life most is his marriage. April 4, 1849, a helpmeet indeed was given him in Miss Martha S. Sherard, daughter of William and Phoebe Sherard of Anderson Co., S. C. She was a woman of great prudence, good judgment and self-possession, "of unusual good common sense, of nerve and of gentleness," the stay, support and balance wheel of her distinguished husband with his nervous temperament and delicate constitution. She was a model, systematic housekeeper, but best of all devotedly pious.
As a preacher he made the most careful and painstaking preparation, his thoughts were systematically and logically arranged. Believing that the priest's lips should keep knowledge, he never went into the pulpit unprepared. When he arose to speak there was uniqueness, originality, striking and vivid utterance, sometimes a vein of humor, all consecrated, that commanded and held the attention of the most listless hearer. He preached Christ both to the head and heart. As a pulpit orator he ranked among the very best in the Synod.
Dr. Pressly was a singular genius. In the same sentence he would make you cry and cheer. When not depressed with disease, an entertaining, suggestive, and brilliant conversationalist. He wielded the pen of a ready writer.
Ever loyal to his denominational vows, an able defender of her distinctive principles, he was ever watchful of changes lest they be hurtful innovations. His last great speech was delivered before the First Presbytery at Central Steele Creek on Oct. 6th, 1891 against the introduction of the organ. His congregation has chiseled in tablet: "He was a man of wide influence and culture, a profound scholar, an eloquent preacher and a devoted soldier of the cross." But better than tables of stone he is indelibly engraved in the fleshly tables of the heart in the thousands of his spiritual children.
Rev. John Ebenezer Pressly, D.D. departed his earthly life near the church he had been pastor, Coddle Creek A.R.P. on the 16th day of May 1897. He was laid to rest near his mother, Martha Devlin Pressly McGaw.
John Ebenezer Pressly, only son of John Pressly and the former Miss Martha Devlin, was born on November 3rd 1826 in the bounds of Cedar Springs A.R.P. church in Abbeville District of South Carolina. His birth was 39 days after his father, had died. His mother, later married a second time to Josiah McGaw in 1837 and moved to Mississippi. John Ebenezer was left then in care of his uncle, Dr. Ebenezer Erskine Pressly, President of Clark and Erskine Seminary with a high school in connection to the Divinity School; which had opened in Feb 1, 1836. The leading spirit and principal professor was John S. Pressly. Into this primary institution young John Ebenezer was placed and graduated in the third class 1844. After a full course in the Divinity Department there, the Second Presbytery granted him license September 18th 1847 - after some missionary work in the West; Rev. John E. Pressly spent four months in the winter '49 and '50 at Coddle Creek and New Perth A.R.P. churches in Iredell County, North Carolina and was ordained and installed pastor on Feb. 12, 1851. Then began a long and faithful pastorate over two congregations 18 miles apart, two sermons each Sabbath in summer, baptizing children, solemnizing marriages, catechizing, preaching in neighboring congregations over an area of some twenty-five by fifteen miles. Reverend J. E. Pressly was moderator of Synod in 1868, and Erskine College conferred the title of D. D. in 1878, and the responsibility of the clerkship of the First Presbytery was put upon him from April 7, 1873 to April 4th, 1883.
In 1869 the Synod appointed a committee to revise the Psalms. In this work as main factor he became intensely interested, wrote much and aroused the Church in getting the mind of the .Spirit in this Book of Praises.
About Nov. 10th, 1885, Dr. Pressly received a hurt which caused great suffering and lamed him for life. He demitted his charge April 13th, 1886. Though confined to his room his pen was busy and many messages went out from his sick chamber. Loving to preach as he did and regaining in a measure his strength, he was heard often when propped up in the pulpit. After lingering for ten years among a people he had served as pastor thirty-five years, he died May 16th, 1897.
Next to a man's conversion, that which shapes his life most is his marriage. April 4, 1849, a helpmeet indeed was given him in Miss Martha S. Sherard, daughter of William and Phoebe Sherard of Anderson Co., S. C. She was a woman of great prudence, good judgment and self-possession, "of unusual good common sense, of nerve and of gentleness," the stay, support and balance wheel of her distinguished husband with his nervous temperament and delicate constitution. She was a model, systematic housekeeper, but best of all devotedly pious.
As a preacher he made the most careful and painstaking preparation, his thoughts were systematically and logically arranged. Believing that the priest's lips should keep knowledge, he never went into the pulpit unprepared. When he arose to speak there was uniqueness, originality, striking and vivid utterance, sometimes a vein of humor, all consecrated, that commanded and held the attention of the most listless hearer. He preached Christ both to the head and heart. As a pulpit orator he ranked among the very best in the Synod.
Dr. Pressly was a singular genius. In the same sentence he would make you cry and cheer. When not depressed with disease, an entertaining, suggestive, and brilliant conversationalist. He wielded the pen of a ready writer.
Ever loyal to his denominational vows, an able defender of her distinctive principles, he was ever watchful of changes lest they be hurtful innovations. His last great speech was delivered before the First Presbytery at Central Steele Creek on Oct. 6th, 1891 against the introduction of the organ. His congregation has chiseled in tablet: "He was a man of wide influence and culture, a profound scholar, an eloquent preacher and a devoted soldier of the cross." But better than tables of stone he is indelibly engraved in the fleshly tables of the heart in the thousands of his spiritual children.
Rev. John Ebenezer Pressly, D.D. departed his earthly life near the church he had been pastor, Coddle Creek A.R.P. on the 16th day of May 1897. He was laid to rest near his mother, Martha Devlin Pressly McGaw.
In 1869 the Synod appointed a committee to revise the Psalms. In this work as main factor he became intensely interested, wrote much and aroused the Church in getting the mind of the .Spirit in this Book of Praises.
About Nov. 10th, 1885, Dr. Pressly received a hurt which caused great suffering and lamed him for life. He demitted his charge April 13th, 1886. Though confined to his room his pen was busy and many messages went out from his sick chamber. Loving to preach as he did and regaining in a measure his strength, he was heard often when propped up in the pulpit. After lingering for ten years among a people he had served as pastor thirty-five years, he died May 16th, 1897.
Next to a man's conversion, that which shapes his life most is his marriage. April 4, 1849, a helpmeet indeed was given him in Miss Martha S. Sherard, daughter of William and Phoebe Sherard of Anderson Co., S. C. She was a woman of great prudence, good judgment and self-possession, "of unusual good common sense, of nerve and of gentleness," the stay, support and balance wheel of her distinguished husband with his nervous temperament and delicate constitution. She was a model, systematic housekeeper, but best of all devotedly pious.
As a preacher he made the most careful and painstaking preparation, his thoughts were systematically and logically arranged. Believing that the priest's lips should keep knowledge, he never went into the pulpit unprepared. When he arose to speak there was uniqueness, originality, striking and vivid utterance, sometimes a vein of humor, all consecrated, that commanded and held the attention of the most listless hearer. He preached Christ both to the head and heart. As a pulpit orator he ranked among the very best in the Synod.
Dr. Pressly was a singular genius. In the same sentence he would make you cry and cheer. When not depressed with disease, an entertaining, suggestive, and brilliant conversationalist. He wielded the pen of a ready writer.
Ever loyal to his denominational vows, an able defender of her distinctive principles, he was ever watchful of changes lest they be hurtful innovations. His last great speech was delivered before the First Presbytery at Central Steele Creek on Oct. 6th, 1891 against the introduction of the organ. His congregation has chiseled in tablet: "He was a man of wide influence and culture, a profound scholar, an eloquent preacher and a devoted soldier of the cross." But better than tables of stone he is indelibly engraved in the fleshly tables of the heart in the thousands of his spiritual children.
Rev. John Ebenezer Pressly, D.D. departed his earthly life near the church he had been pastor, Coddle Creek A.R.P. on the 16th day of May 1897. He was laid to rest near his mother, Martha Devlin Pressly McGaw.
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