author
Eleazar Lord
1788–1871
A 19th-century American writer, businessman, and religious thinker, he moved easily between publishing, finance, and public life. He is especially remembered for leading the early Erie Railroad and for books on missions, economics, and biblical interpretation.
1 Audiobook
The Messiah in Moses and the Prophets
by Eleazar Lord
About the author
Born in Franklin, Connecticut, in 1788, Eleazar Lord studied for the ministry at Andover and Princeton but turned to business and writing after eye trouble kept him from a preaching career. He settled in New York, helped found major religious and educational institutions, and became active in publishing, insurance, and banking.
Lord had an unusually wide public career. He founded the Manhattan Fire Insurance Company, served as the first president of the Erie Railroad, and remained closely involved in church life as a deacon of the First Protestant Dutch Church. Alongside his business work, he wrote on subjects ranging from Protestant missions and national currency to biblical prophecy and creation.
That mix of commerce, religion, and argument gives his work its distinctive character. He belonged to a generation that tried to connect faith, public morality, and the young American economy, and his books still offer a revealing window into the intellectual and religious debates of the 1800s.