HOPKINS 813 received the degree of D. D. from Dartmouth college in 1837, and of LL. D. from the uni- versity of New York in 1857. In the latter year he became president of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions. He has published "Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity " (8vo, Boston, 1846 ; new ed., 1864) ; " Miscellaneous Essays and Discourses " (1847) ; " Lectures on Moral Science " (1862) ; " Baccalaureate Sermons and Occasional Dis- courses" (1863); "Law of Love, Love as a Law " (1869) ; " An Outline Study of Man " (New York, 1873) ; and a number of occa- sional sermons and addresses. HOPKINS, Samuel, an American clergyman, born in Waterbury, Conn., Sept. 17, 1721, died in Newport, R. I., Dec. 20, 1803. Till about his 15th year he was occupied chiefly in agri- cultural labor, when he entered Yale college, where he graduated in 1741, after which he studied divinity with Jonathan Edwards. In 1743 he was ordained pastor of the church in Housatonnuc (now Great Barrington), Mass., where he remained till January, 1769, when he was dismissed, and began preaching in New- port, R. I. In April, 1770, it was voted not to invite him to settle there, as many were dis- satisfied with his theological sentiments. He preached a farewell discourse, which was so touching and impressive that the vote was im- mediately and almost unanimously reversed, and he was settled as pastor. When the Brit- ish took possession of Newport in 1776, he was obliged to leave the town, and preached in various places till 1780, when, Newport being evacuated, he returned to his parish, which was so much reduced and impoverished that for the remainder of his life he was dependent for his maintenance upon weekly contributions and the voluntary aid of a few friends. In 1799 he was attacked with paralysis, from which he never entirely recovered, though his mental powers were uninjured, and he was af- terward able to preach occasionally. By ser- mons and his famous " dialogues," by letters to public men, and newspaper essays, he stirred up an organized and political action against slavery, so that in 1774 a law was passed for- bidding the importation of negroes into the colony, and in 1784 it was declared by the le- gislature that all children of slaves born after the following March should be free. He also formed a plan for evangelizing Africa, and col- onizing it with free negroes from America, as early as 1773. Besides his numerous sermons, addresses, and pamphlets, he published a life of President Edwards, and lives of Susannah Anthony and Mrs. Osborn, and left behind him sketches of his own life. His " System of The- ology," however, is his great work, which, in connection with his other theological writings, must be fully understood by every one who would rightly appreciate New England either in its progress or its present condition. Of its author Dr. Channing writes that " he must always fill an important place in our ecclesias- tical history." The entire works of Dr. Hop- kins were published by Dr. West in 1805, and again, with a memoir of his life and charac- ter by E. A. Park, D. D., by the doctrinal tract and book society (3 vols., Boston, 1852). HOPKINS, Stephen, one of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence born in Scituate, R. L, March 7, 1707, died in Provi- dence, July 13, 1785. In early life he took up his residence in Providence, and in 1733 was elected a member of the general assembly, and in 1739 chief justice of the court of common pleas. In 1755 he was elected governor of the colony, and held the office, with the excep- tion of four years, till 1768. In 1754 he was appointed a member of the board of commis- sioners which assembled at Albany, N. Y., to concert and digest a plan of union for the col- onies. In 1765 he was elected chairman of a committee appointed at a special town meet- ing held in Providence to draft instructions to the general assembly on the stamp act. The resolutions reported were the same that Pat- rick Henry introduced into the house of bur- gesses of Virginia, with an additional one sta- ting that " we are not bound to yield obedience to any law or ordinance designed to impose any internal taxation whatever upon us, other than the laws and ordinances of Rhode Isl- and." These resolves passed in the assembly, including the above, which had been rejected in Virginia. In August, 1774, he was, with Samuel Ward, elected to represent the state in the general congress held at Philadelphia, and was also chosen in 1775 and 1776. His signa- ture to the Declaration of Independence trem- bles owing to a nervous affection. He was one of the committee that drafted the articles of confederation for the government of the states. John Adams says : " The pleasantest part of my labors for the four years I spent in con- gress, from 1774 to 1778, was in this naval committee. Mr. Lee and Mr. Gadsden were sensible men and very cheerful, but Gov. Hop- kins of Rhode Island, above 70 years of age, kept us all alive. Upon business his experi- ence and judgment were very useful. But when the business of the evening was over, he kept us in conversation till 11, and sometimes till 12 o'clock. His custom was to drink noth- ing all day, until 8 in the evening, and then his beverage was Jamaica spirits and water. It gave him wit, humor, anecdotes, science, and learning. He had read Greek, Roman, and British history, and was familiar with English poetry, particularly Pope, Thomson, and Mil- ton ; and the flow of his soul made all his read- ing our own, and seemed to bring in recollec- tion in all of us all we had ever read. I could neither eat nor drink in those days; the oth- er gentlemen were very temperate. Hopkins never drank to excess, but all he drank was immediately not only converted into wit, sense, knowledge, and good humor, but inspired us with similar qualities." In 1765 he commenc- ed a " History of the Planting and Growth of
