Pierson at­tend­ed Ham­il­ton Coll­ege and Un­ion The­o­log­ic­al Sem­in­ary. In 1860, he mar­ried Sar­ah Fran­ces Ben­e­dict; they had se­ven child­ren, all of whom were con­vert­ed be­fore age 15 and grew up to serve as mis­sion­ar­ies, pas­tors, or lay lead­ers. He pas­tored in Bing­ham­ton and Wa­ter­ford, New York; De­troit, Mi­chi­gan; In­di­an­a­po­lis, In­di­a­na; and Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia. Af­ter re­tir­ing, he con­tin­ued to preach at church­es and con­fer­enc­es at home and abroad. He was a con­temp­o­rary and friend of ma­ny Chris­tian lead­ers, in­clud­ing Dwight Moo­dy, Adon­i­ram Gor­don, George Muell­er (whose bi­o­graphy he wrote), and Charles Spur­geon. Dur­ing Spur­geon’s last ill­ness, Pier­son filled the pul­pit of Me­tro­pol­i­tan Tab­er­na­cle for sev­er­al months. His works in­clude:

• The Cor­o­na­tion Hym­nal, with Adon­i­ram Gor­don (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Amer­i­can Bap­tist Pub­li­c­a­tion So­ci­e­ty, 1894)
• George Muell­er of Bris­tol (Old Tap­pan, New Jer­sey: Flem­ing H. Re­vell Com­pa­ny, 1899)

• Julian, p. 895
• Pierson

1. Can It Be Right?
2. Forever with Je­sus There
3. Gospel of Thy Grace, The
4. New Song, The
5. Oh, I Am So Hap­py in Je­sus
6. Once I Was Dead in Sin
7. To Thee, O God, We Raise