THOMPSON, Joseph Parrish, scholar, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 7 August, 1819; died in Berlin, Germany, 20 September, 1879. He was graduated at Yale in 1838, studied theology for a few months in Andover seminary, and then at Yale from 1839 till 1840, when he was ordained as a Congregational minister. He was pastor of the Chapel street church in New Haven from that time till 1845, and during this period was one of the founders of the "New Englander." From 1845 till his resignation in 1871 he had charge of the Broadway tabernacle in New York city. Dr. Thompson devoted much time to the study of Egyptology, in which he attained high rank. In 1852-'3 he visited Palestine, Egypt, and other eastern countries, and from that time he published continual contributions to this branch of learning in periodicals, the transactions of societies, and cyclopaedias. He lectured on Egyptology in Andover seminary in 1871, and in 1872-'9 resided in Berlin, Germany, , occupied in oriental studies, took an active part in the social, political, and scientific discussions, and was a member of various foreign societies, before which he delivered addresses, and contributed essays to their publications. These have been issued under the title of "American Comments on European Questions" (New York, 1884). In 1875 Dr. Thompson went to England to explain at public meetings "the attitude of Germany in regard to Ultramontanism," for which service he was rewarded by the thanks of the German government, expressed in person by Prince Bismarck, and Dr. Thompson originated the plan of the Albany Congregationalist convention in 1852, and was a manager of the American Congregational union and the American home missionary society. He also aided in establishing the New York "Independent." Harvard gave him the degree of D. D. in 1856, and the University of New York that of LL.D. in 1868. He published "Memoir of Timothy Dwight" (New Haven, 1844) ; "Lectures to Young Men" (New York, 1846): " Hints to Employers" (1847) ; "Memoir of David Hale" (1850); "Foster on Missions, with a Preliminary Essay" (1850); " Stray Meditations" (1852; revised ed., entitled " The Believer's Refuge," 1857) ; " The Invaluable Possession" (1856) ; "Egypt, Past and Present" .(Boston, 1856): "The Early Witnesses" (1857); "Memoir of Reverend David T. Stoddard" (New York, 1858) ; " The Christian Graces" (1859) ; "The College as a Religious Institution" (1859); "Love and Penalty" (1860); "Bryant Gray" (1863); "Christianity and Emancipation" (1863) ; "The Holy Comforter" (1866); " Man in Genesis and .Geology" (1869);" Theology of Christ, from His Own Words" (1870) ; "Home Worship" (1871) ; "Church and State in the United States" (1874) ; "Jesus of Nazareth: His Life, for the Young" (1875) ; "The United States as a Nation," lectures (1877); and "The Workman: his False Friends and his True Friends" (1879).