Austin Phelps (1820-1890) was a congregational minister, a professor of sacred rhetoric and homiletics, and later a president of Andover Theological Seminary. He wrote several books which were widely read, but none as much as "The Still Hour." Some of the subjects covered are quite unique, such as "Absence of God, in Prayer", "Unhallowed Prayer", "Distrust in Prayer", "Indolence in Prayer" and "Idolatry in Prayer." This is a book that will both convict and encourage. It is perfect alike for the new believer and the aged saint who has walked with Christ for decades. Don Whitney wrote: "Remember that the great purpose for engaging in these Disciplines is Godliness, that we may be like Jesus, that we may be more holy. In The Still Hour, Austin Phelps wrote, 'It has been said that no great work in literature or in science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often long alone with God.'"
Austin Phelps, American Congregational minister and educationalist, was born at West Brookfield, Massachusetts.
He studied theology at Union Theological Seminary, at the Yale Divinity School, and later at Andover. Circa 1840, he was licensed to preach by the Third Presbytery of Philadelphia. During the Autumn of 1842, he married Elizabeth Phelps (nee Stuart, August 13, 1815 - December, 1852). Around the time he got married, he was pastor of the Pine Street (Congregational) Church in Boston. In the Spring of 1848 his family moved to Andover and from then till 1879 was professor of sacred rhetoric and homiletics at Andover Theological Seminary. Later to become president from 1869 to 1879, when his failing health forced him to resign.
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