Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, the clergyman whose striking sermons have made
him famous the world over, was born at Aurora, New York, January 10,
1822. He was educated at Manheim, New Jersey, and Princeton college,
from which he graduated in 1841. After spending a brief period in
traveling in Europe, he entered the theological seminary at Princeton,
from which he graduated in 1846, and was ordained by the presbytery
in 1848. His first charge was at a small church near Wilkesbarre,
Pennsylvania, where he remained for six months. He was then called to
the Presbyterian church of Burlington, New Jersey. In 1849 he became
pastor of the Third Presbyterian church of Trenton, New Jersey, and in
1853 he was invited to the Market Street Dutch Reformed Church, New
York city. He was one of the leaders in the great revival of 1858, and
in 1860 he was called to the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian church,
Brooklyn. This was a young church and was not in a very prosperous
condition, but the new pastor infused life into it from the first, and,
in 1861, his congregation commenced the building of a new church at the
corner of Lafayette avenue and South Oxford street. This building was
completed in March, 1862, and cost $60,000. In 1893 Dr. Cuyler withdrew
from active charge of the church and determined to devote the remainder
of his years to the ministry at large. Dr. Cuyler was married, in
1853, to Annie E. Mathist, of Newark, Ohio, and has two children. His
writings and printed sermons have been widely circulated. Among them
are: Thought Hives, Stray Arrows, The Empty Crib, The Cedar Christian.
One of his most famous tracts, Somebody’s Son, had a circulation of
over one hundred thousand copies. Many of his articles and tracts have
been translated into several languages, and his contributions to the
religious press have been more numerous than those of any living writer.