Gladden, Washington (1836-), an American clergyman and author. He was born at Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania. He received his education at Williams College, and was ordained in the Congregational church. In 1882 he became pastor of the First Congregational church of Columbus, Ohio. He wrote many books on social reforms and other subjects. Among them may be mentioned, Who Wrote the Bible, Plain Thoughts on the Art of Living, Burning Questions, Art and Morality, The Christian Pastor, How Much is Left of the Old Doctrine, Workingmen and Their Employers. Mr. Gladden was a firm believer in the independence and influence of the American pulpit. He said: I do not believe that there is any place of influence in the world in which a man can be as free as in the Christian pulpit. . . . Unquestionably there is cowardice and subserviency in the pulpit, as everywhere else. But there need not be. . . . I have been saying things, with no sense of restraint, during the last fifty years, that I should not have been so likely to say if I had been a journalist or a college professor. . . . I doubt if any other kind of work would have given me so large an opportunity as my churches in North Adams and Springfield and Columbus have given me to speak my deepest thought.