SWING, David, clergyman, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, 23 August, 1830. His father died in 1832, and his boyhood was mostly spent upon a farm. He was graduated at Miami university, Oxford, Ohio, in 1852, and soon began the study of theology, but before a year elapsed he was made professor of languages at Miami, where he remained twelve years, preaching occasionally in addition to his regular duties. In 1866 he accepted a call to become pastor of the 4th Presbyterian church in Chicago. In the great fire of 1871 his church edifice and the homes of most of his parishioners were swept away, but arrangements were at once made for him to preach in Standard hall and McVicker's theatre till a new building could be erected for his congregation. This was done in 1874. His audiences were large and appreciative, and his sermons and essays appeared nearly every week in the public press; but his doctrines were regarded by many as heterodox, and Professor Francis L. Patton preferred the charge of heresy against Professor Swing in twenty-eight specifications before the Chicago presbytery, 15 April, 1874. A trial of several weeks' duration was held, and resulted in an acquittal, but Professor Swing withdrew from the Presbyterian church, and his congregation has since been independent. McVicker's theatre proving too small, Central music hall, the largest in the city, was built in 1878, where Professor Swing has since continued to preach to large audiences.