Poet, Minister, and Grandfather of J.P. Morgan John Pierpont Writes About a Biblical Quotation

John Pierpont was a poet, lawyer, merchant and Unitarian minister. His poem The Airs of Palestine made him one of the best-known poets in the U.S. in his day. He was the grandfather of J. P. Morgan. Pierpont was pastor at the Hollis Street Church in Boston from 1819 to 1845 where his social activism for temperance and abolition angered some parishioners, and after a long public battle, he resigned in 1845. After his resignation, Pierpont served as pastor of a Unitarian church in Troy, New York from 1845 to 1849, and then led the First Parish Church (Unitarian), Medford, Massachusetts from 1849 to 1856. He is probably the anonymous “gentleman” who co-authored The Drunkard; or, The Fallen Saved. The Drunkard quickly became one of the most popular temperance plays in America. Many of his sermons were published.

Autograph Letter Signed, Troy, New York, March 2, 1849, to “An Inquirer.” “In compliance with your request it will give me great pleasure to make 1 John v.7. the subject of my discourse next Sunday evening. If, Sir, as you seem to suppose there are any others who would feel an interest in a discourse from that text, you are authorized to advise them of the above appointment.” Fine, with the original envelope addressed “To ‘An Inquirer’ Troy,” initialled as paid by Pierpont at the lower left. The text he mentions would be “but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”