“ He became a member of the secret committee of correspondence in October 1776, of the Board of War in October 1777, and of the committee on finance in 1778. He opposed the issue of paper money, supported Robert Morris's plan for a national bank, and was prominently connected with all Congressional action in regard to the peace with Great Britain. He had lost the sight of one eye in 1784, and in 1791 became quite blind. He died on his farm, Tusculum, near Princeton, on the 15th of November 1794. ”

“ His Ecclesiastical Characteristics (1753) , Serious Apology (1764) , and History of a Corporation of Servants discovered a few years ago in the Interior Parts of South America (1765) , attacked various abuses in the church and satirized the “moderate” party. ”

“ He secured an excellent set of scientific apparatus and improved the instruction in the natural sciences; he introduced courses in Hebrew and French about 1772; and he did a large part of the actual teaching, having courses in languages, divinity, moral philosophy and eloquence. In the American Presbyterian church he was a prominent figure; he worked for union with the Congregationalists and with the Dutch Reformed body; and at the synod of 1786 he was one of the committee which reported in favour of the formation of a General Assembly and which drafted “a system of general rules for ... ”