Dr. Lyman Abbott is an illustration of the fact that a young man
who is gifted with more than ordinary intellect and even genius
need not be discouraged, even if his first intentions regarding his
life work come to naught by force of circumstances or unlooked-for
developments within himself. He was born December 18, 1835, in Roxbury,
Massachusetts, being the son of Jacob and Harriet Abbott. Graduating
from the College of the City of New York in 1853, he took a course at
Harvard, after which, and in accordance with his prearranged plans,
he took a law course, was admitted to the bar and began to practice.
But his literary instincts and religious convictions resulted in his
finally abandoning the law. After a good deal of writing for a number
of publications and more theological studies, he was finally ordained
a Congregational minister in 1860, being made pastor of a church at
Terre Haute, Indiana, in the same year. Leaving Indiana, he came to
New York and took charge of the New England Congregational Church in
that city. In 1869 he resigned the pastorate in order to devote himself
to literature. He edited the Literary Record Department of Harper’s
Magazine and was associate editor with Henry Ward Beecher on the
Christian Union. He succeeded Mr. Beecher as pastor of Plymouth Church,
Brooklyn, in May, 1888, but resigned in 1898 and is once more prominent
in religious literary circles. On October 14, 1857, he married Abby F.
Hamlin, daughter of Hannibal Hamlin, of Boston. He is the author of a
great many works of a religious nature and of others which deal with
social problems. At present he is editor of The Outlook, of New York
city.