After graduating from Yale University in 1797, he began to study law with Noah B. Benedict of Woodbury, Connecticut.
In December, 1799, he was admitted to the bar, and in the summer of 1800 he located himself at Wilksbarre, Pennsylvania, and there pursued the business of his profession for six years.
In the autumn of 1806 he removed to the city of New York, where he thenceforth resided, holding a high rank in the profession.
For ten years or more before his death he gradually withdrew from the practice of law, and devoted much time to theological studies and to general literature.
As the fruit of these studies he published two works entitled, severally, The Sufferings of our Saviour, and the Evidences of Christianity.