Joseph Mathias (1778-1851), the 19th subject in A Noble Company, volume 7

He could be called the American Spurgeon. He preached some 6,875 sermons in his lifetime and conducted some 700 funerals! Joseph Mathias was born to Welsh immigrants in Pennsylvania. As a young man, Joseph was converted during the Second Great Awakening and soon surrendered to God’s call to the gospel ministry. For 45 years he pastored in the same location, never leaving the place of his birth. He had no formal academic and theological training, yet had an untiring, fruitful ministry. His preaching was with power and always made much of the person of Jesus Christ. He was pastor, church planter, educator, author, and missionary. Mathias made a wise assessment of the errors underlying the anti-missionary movement so prevalent in his day.                ---Johnny Truelove