Background

David Swing was born on August 23, 1830 to Alsatian immigrant parents in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the second of the two sons of David and Kerenda (Gazley) Swing. His father, who died of the cholera in 1832, was an Ohio River pilot, and David was born over a store kept by his uncle, on the Cincinnati riverfront.

He was a descendant of Samuel Schwing who emigrated to America in 1752, settling finally in New Jersey; and, on his mother's side, of John Gazley who emigrated from England in 1715 and established himself in Dutchess County, New York.

When the boy was about five years old his mother married James Hageman, a blacksmith of Reading, Ohio, who also had two children, and in 1840 the Hagemans and Swings made a home for themselves on a farm near Williamsburg, Clermont County, Ohio. Here, not unacquainted with hardships, a shy, homely, tender-hearted boy, quick of mind and sensitive to beauty, David grew up.

Education

David Swing graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1852, and after studying Old School theology, and being repelled by it, under Dr. Nathan L. Rice of Cincinnati, he became in 1853 professor of Latin and Greek and principal of the preparatory department at Miami.

Career

Swing finished his theological training under a local pastor, but during the twelve or more years he was in Oxford his chief intellectual interest was in literature and history. He also supplied neighboring churches.

In 1866 he was persuaded by a former pupil to accept a call to the Westminster Presbyterian Church, Chicago, which in 1868 united with the North Church under the name of the Fourth Church.

In the fire of 1871, its place of worship, Swing's dwelling, and all his books and papers were destroyed. He conducted services in a hall and later in McVicker's Theatre until a new edifice, for which he raised funds in the East, was completed.

The originality, liberal spirit, and practical helpfulness of his sermons were now attracting attention not only in Chicago but elsewhere; The Alliance (1873 - 82), of which Swing was an editor, printed one of his sermons each week, as did also the Inter-Ocean and the Chicago Tribune.

In 1874 he published Truths for Today, a volume containing fifteen sermons. He had already been attacked on the ground of heterodoxy by Francis L. Patton, professor in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest and editor of The Interior; his book involved him in a trial for heresy. In April 1874 charges against him were filed with the Chicago Presbytery. The trial, which aroused widespread interest, resulted in the verdict "not proved. " Patton asked for an appeal to the Synod of Illinois, North. Averse to controversy and extended litigation, Swing withdrew from the presbytery, although he did not resign his pulpit until October 1875.

Leading citizens of Chicago at once took measures to establish a new downtown church, and in December 1875 Central Church was organized with about 500 members. It first occupied McVicker's Theatre, but in 1880 Central Music Hall, built primarily to provide a platform for Swing, was dedicated. Here until his death he preached to two or three thousand each week and through his published sermons spoke to countless more.

After his death, which occurred in his sixty-fourth year, numerous selections from his sermons and addresses appeared.

Achievements

• David Swing has been listed as a noteworthy clergyman by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

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  • The Message of David Swing to His Generation

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  • David Swing's Sermons

    (Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating bac...)

  • Brilliants, selected from the writings of David Swing (1830-1894)

    (Leopold Classic Library is delighted to publish this clas...)

  • Address to the New Generation: Washington and Lincoln. February 12 and 22, 1888

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

  • The World's Edition of the Great Presbyterian Conflict: Patton vs. Swing. Both Sides of the Question

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

  • Echoes from Central Music Hall: selections from the recent sermons of Professor David Swing

    (This book was digitized and reprinted from the collection...)

  • Sermons microform

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • Truths for To-day

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

  • Brilliants: Selected from the Writings of Stopford a Brooke (Classic Reprint)

    (KkOM BISHOP POTTER. It is our talent in action, in circul...)

Religion

Converted at a Methodist revival when he was fifteen, Swing finally joined the Presbyterian church.

Views

Swing was a devotee of beauty and had the mind of a poet rather than that of a logician, yet he was strongly pragmatic in method.

Personality

Although Swing was homely and awkward, without oratorical gifts, an essayist rather than a preacher, his personal charm, his ethical enthusiasm, and his substitution of the truths revealed by human experience for the dogmas of speculative theology as a basis of faith and conduct had a great effect.

David Swing was a devotee of beauty and had the mind of a poet rather than that of a logician, yet he was strongly pragmatic in method.

Connections

David Swing married Elizabeth Porter, daughter of an Oxford physician, who bore him two daughters and died of tuberculosis on August 2, 1879.

Father:

David Swing

Mother:

Kerenda (Gazley) Swing

Wife:

Elizabeth Porter

References

• In Memoriam, David Swing: Born August 23, 1830, Died October 3, 1894 (Classic Reprint)
• The trial of the Rev. David Swing, before the Presbytery of Chicago
• David Swing: a memorial Volume : Ten Sermons, Selected and Prepared for Publication
• In memoriam, David Swing: born August 23, 1830, died October 3, 1894
• The Trial of the Rev. David Swing, Before the Presbytery of Chicago
• The soldier and scholar: an address delivered by Prof. David Swing to the cadets of the Michigan military academy, June 4th, 1891