424Pastor at Moorefield, Virginia and Shepherdstown.
He attended Liberty Hall/Washington and Lee University and graduated with a A.B. degree in 1785. In 1807, He later became the President of Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia


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/53/ 26. OF A LETTER, FROM THE REV. MOSES HOGE, OF SHEPHERD'S TOWN, TO THE REV. DR. ASHBEL GREEN, OF THIS CITY, DATED SEPT. 10, 1801.
Rev. and dear Sir,

"I lately received a letter from a worthy clergyman in Kentucky, giving a more circumstantial account of the revival which has lately taken place there than I had before seen. From the particular interest which you take in occurrences of this nature, I am induced to think that the following extract will not be unacceptable.

"The revivals of religion in this country are really novel in our church, and so violent and imposing in their nature and appearances that I know not what to say or think. -- In two neighboring congregations, good appearances were observed through the last spring. And now the Tennessee whirlwind has broke out among them, and seems to shake every thing before it. In the two last Lord's days there were sacraments in each place: at one I was present. -- In time of preaching, if care is taken, there is but little confusion: and when that is over, and the singing, and praying, and exhorting begins, the audience is thrown into what I call real disorder. The careless fall down, cry out, tremble, and not infrequently are affected with convulsive twitchings. Among these the pious are very busy, singing, praying, conversing, falling down in extacies, fainting with joy, exhorting sinners, combating opposers, &c. Those who fall, lie some a longer, some a shorter time. Some get comfort, some do not when first down, when one gets through (it is their own phrase,) that is, obtains relief, the shout is raised glory to God for a new born soul. And the holy embrace follows. Whole nights are spent in this way, and that part of the day which is not employed in divine service. For they stayed upon the ground in both places all the days of the solemnity. Nothing that imagination can paint, can make a stronger impression on the mind, than one of those scenes. Sinners dropping down on every hand, shrieking, groaning, crying for mercy, convulsed; professors praying, /54/ agonizing, falling down in distress, for sinners or in raptures of joy! Some singing, some shouting, clapping their hands, hugging and even kissing, laughing; others talking to the distressed, to one another, or to opposers of the work, and all this at once. -- No spectacle can excite a stronger sensation. And with what is doing, the darkness of the night, the solemnity of the place, and of the occasions, and conscious guilt, all conspire to make terror thrill through every power of the soul, and rouse it to awful attention. -- As to the work in general there can be no question but it is of God. The subjects of it, for the most part are deeply wounded for their sins, and can give a clear and rational account of their conversion. A number, too, are wrought upon in the usual way, and hopefully get religion without any of these extraordinary appearances. There is, however something curious in this falling down. I am told by the subjects of it that a tremulous benumbing sensation seizes the extremities, particularly the fingers, which rapidly spreads through the system, the knees become feeble, the heart violently compressed and the person drops to the ground."

I am yours,
M.H.

Notes from John Powers:
From Hoge, Nichols and Related Families (Nichols) pp. 54-55

Note: book lists Nancy Griffith as first wife and Agnes Crawford as second wife to James Hoge. According to notation: Rev. Moses was the son of James and Agnes Crawford. Copy of James Hoge's will probated 7/7/1795 refers to his "his beloved wife Agnes" In Agnes Hoge's will probated 10/1/1798 she refers to herself as widow of James and mother of Moses.

Rev. Moses Hoge, D.D. son of James and Agnes (Crawford) Hoge was born at Ceder Grove, his father's home in Frederick County, Virginia, February 15, 1752. He was president of Hampden-Sidney College. His first wife was Elizabeth Poage of the family so well known in the Valley of Virginia; his second wife was Mrs. Susanna Hunt, the widow of William Pitt Hunt and daughter of Colonel James Watkins of Prince Edward County, VA. He died in Philadelphia July 5, 1820, aged sixty-eight years. In the Third Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, alongside of the pulpit, a large slab is erected to his memory with this inscription: "Near this monument erected by filial affection, reposes all that was mortal of the Rev. Moses Hoge, D.D., president of Hampden-Sidney College, and professor of Divinity in the Union Theological Seminary of the Synod of Virginia. A man of genius, profound erudition, and ardent piety, he lived, loved, and died lamented, aged sixty-eight. From the general assembly of the United States of America to the general assembly of the church in Heaven, his translation, afflictive to his friends, but joyous to himself, was accomplished July 5, 1820." The distinguished John Randolph of Roanoke, Va. in writing of him says: "Doctor Hoge was the most eloquent man I ever heard in the pulpit or out of it." The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography has the following to say: "Hoge, Moses, sixth president of Hampden-Sidney College (1807-1820) was born in Frederick County, Va. February 15, 1752. Like Archibald Alexander, he was one of Graham's pupils at Liberty Hall and was intimately affected by the latter's genius and personality. He studied theology also under James Waddel, Wirt's 'Blind Preacher'. In 1787 he was pastor in Shephardstown, gathering a large congregation and gaining much reputation. He made his first venture as an author in 1793 in a work called 'Strictures on a Phamphlet' by the Rev. Jeremiah Walker, entitled the 'Fourfold Foundation of Calvinism Examined and Shaken'. Another characteristic production was: 'Christian Panoply', an Answer to Paine's "Age of Reason" (1799). Dr. Hoge was a bold and able controvertist. In 1794 the Synod of Virginia met in Harrisonburg. The 'Whisky Insurrection' had just broken out in the bounds of some of the Presbyteries connected with the Synod. A most exerting debate on the questions involved ensued between Hoge and his former preceptor Graham, being ended only by the final occupation of the church by the military already in Shepherdstown. Dr. Hoge had been instructing young men in theology as occasion demanded. He was was all the more readily induced, therefore, to move to Hampden-Sidney College in 1807 as Alexander's successor. Here he resumed the theological teaching instituted formerly by John Blair Smith. In 1809 the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church had discussed the subject of ministerial education, the outcome of which was the founding of the Theological Seminary at Princeton. The Presbyteries of Virginia, however, were in favor of synodical seminaries, and in 1812, at the same time that Dr. Alexander was chosen head of the Princeton Seminary, the Virginia Synod resolved to have its own and elected Dr. Hoge as their professor. Dr. Hoge, therefore, filled both offices - president of the college and professor of theology until his death. Afterward the Theogolical Seminary was separated from the college and under Dr. John Holt Rice rendered independent. Since then (1824) the two institutions have flourished, growing and expanding together, on immediately adjoining tracts of land. Dr. Hoge was an active member of the American Bible Society. As a preacher he was singularly powerful and effective. John Randolph of Roanoke bore him the highest estimation, and came frequently from the adjoining county of Charlotte to hear him. A volume of "sermons" was published in 1820 after Dr. Hoges death. Two of his sons, graduates of the college under their father's administration, became distinguished as preachers - Samuel Davies Hoge, professor of mathematics and sciences at the state university in Athens, Ohio, and John Blair Hoge D.D. tutor in Hampden-Sidney College, and peculiarly gifted with literary talent. Dr. Moses Drury Hoge, of Richmond, a graduate of the college under President Maxwell is a son of Samuel Davies Hoge, who married a daughter of Drury Lacy. Dr. Moses Hoge died in Philadelphia July 5, 1820. Hampden-Sidney College was founded as Prince Edward Academy in 1775 and incorporated as a college in 1773. Among the incorporators were Patrick Henry and James Madison

Excerpt from Intellectual Life in Jefferson's Virginia 1790-1830 - Davis

In 1819 Rice (John Holt Rice mentioned above) purchased a printing press and announced a number of subscribers who would support his religious and literary publications. Sermons selected from the manuscripts of the late Moses Hoge and in edition of John Smith's True Travels and General Historic (1819) were the two most notable books brought forth by this "Franklin Press". The latter brought Rice to the verge of bankruptcy for despite the enthusiasm of Gilmer, Wirt, Dabney Carr and John Randolph, (See Tree of Liberty) not nearly enough copies were sold to pay for the (extremely elaborate) printing. The published sermons seemed to have greater appeal. They form one of the most imposing segments of American religious literature in the period.

History of the Early American Presbyterian Church by Aprille Cooke McKaye:
He was born in Middletown in what is now Frederick co., Virginia, February 15th, 1752. He was the son of James Hoge and his wife Nancy Griffith, grand son of William Hoge and Barbara Hume, who came from Scotland about 1682 and finally settled on the Opequon. He was a student in Culpeper Co., under Rex Adam Goodlet, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. He served, for a short time, as a soldier in the Revolution, but under what circumstances cannot now be ascertained. He entered Liberty Hall Academy, at Timber Ridge, in 1778 under Rev. William Graham; completed his studies there in 1780; and on the 25th of October of that year was received as a candidate by the Hanover Presbytery. During the pendency of his trials for licensure, he prosecuted his theological studies still further, under the direction of the celebrated Dr. James Waddel, and was licensed to preach in November 1781. He was ordained Dec. 13, 1782 at Brown's Meeting House, Augusta Co., (now Hebron) Virginia. He became pastor of the congregation named Concrete, in Hardy county, December 13th, 1782, and during his pastorate taught a school which secured important advantages to the youth in the neighborhood. After spending about five years on the south branch of the Potomac, and finding the climate injurious to his health, notwithstanding the devoted attachment of his people, and their earnest wish to retain him, he removed, in the Autumn of 1787 to Shepherdstown, where he soon gathered a large congregation, and acquired great popularity throughout the whole region. He was a charter member of the Presbytery of Winchester and first moderator and stated clerk of the presbytery in 1794.
In 1807 Dr. Hoge, was invited to take charge of the academy in Charlestown, about ten miles from Shepherdstown, and to divide his ministerial labors between the two places, but he declined the offer. Shortly, after this he was appointed President of Hampden-Sydney College, in place of Dr. Alexander, who had removed to Philadelphia, and at the same time was invited to be assistant preacher in Cumberland and Briery congregations, each of them about then miles distant from the college. After considerable hesitation, he consented to remove. He was inaugurated as President of the College during the sessions of Synod in the month of October, and was welcomed to his new field of labor with every expression of good will and confidence.

The subject of education for the ministry having been discussed by the General Assembly in 1809, it was resolved to send down to the Presbyteries the inquiry whether there should be one or more Seminaries established. A divided answer was returned to the Assembly, but the Presbyteries of Virginia determined in favor of Synodical Seminaries, and the Assembly having consented to this, whenever it should be preferred, while yet they determined on establishing a central one, the Synod of Virginia, in 1812, resolved to establish a Seminary within their bounds and unanimously appointed Dr. Hoge their Professor..

From this time on until his death he held the two offices of President of the College and Professor of Divinity, under the appointment of the Synod.

In 1819, Dr. Hoge's constitution, under his multiplied and onerous labors, was found to be giving way. For several months he was confined to his chamber, and part of the time to his bed, but he still, even in his feeblest state, continued to hear the daily recitation of his class. In the course of the Summer his health was so far recruited that he paid a visit to friends in the Valley about Shepherdstown and Winchester, which proved to be his last. In the Spring of 1820 he attended the meeting of his presbytery, in Mecklenburg county, and was appointed a delegate to the General Assembly, to meet in Philadelphia. He extended his journey as far as New York, with a special view to attend the anniversary of the American Bible Society. This desire being gratified, he spent a little time at Princeton, and then proceeded to Philadelphia. Here, while attending the sessions of the General Assembly, he departed this life, July 5th, 1820. His remains repose in the burying ground of the Third Presbyterian Church in that city, by the side of those of his intimate friend, Dr. John Blair Smith, who had formerly been President of Hampden-Sydney College.

He married Elizabeth Poage, August 23, 1783, daughter of John Poage and granddaughter of one of my ancestors, Robert Poage, of Staunton, Virginia. She died Jun 18 1802. He married, second, October 25, 1803, Mrs. Willaim Pitt Hunt, born Susannah Watkins (about 1760-1840)) Four grown sons by Elizabeth became ministers, James, John Blair and Sam424