LIBRARY OF PRINCETON "1 r JAN 2 7 2005 i THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PROCEEDINGS CONNECTED WITH THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION OF THE PROFESSORSHIP OF R EV. CHARLES 'HODGE, D.D., LL.D IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT PRINCETON, ^ N. J., APRIL 24, 1872. LIBRARY OF PRINCETON JAN 2 7 2005 f 1 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY NEW YORK: ANSON D. F. EANDOLPH & COMPANY, 770 BROADWAY, Cor. of 9th Stbeet. I. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT, THE SEMI-CENTEXXIAL CELEBRATION. In May, 1822, Rev. Charles Hodge, who had for two years been an assistant instructor in the Theologi- cal Seminary at Princeton, was by the General As- sembly elected a professor in that institution. He was formally inducted into office at the beginning of the next term. The fiftieth year of his professorship ac- cordingly terminated with the academic year ending April 23d, 1872. In anticipation of this event, the Board of Direct- ors of the Seminary at their annual meeting in 1871, invited the alumni and friends of the Seminary to assemble in Princeton on the day subsequent to the completion of this half century, with a view to its glad and grateful commemoration. They also sug- gested the creation at that time of " some memorial, of the long, faithful and useful professorial labours" of Dr. Hodge, and proposed further, that an alumni asso- ciation should then be formed ; and appointed a com- mittee of seven, to devise and carry into effect such measures as might be requisite for the end contem- plated. This committee of the Directors forthwith named (5) 6 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. a committee of seventy alumni residing in various parts of the country, whose counsel and co-operation were solicited and who were invited to meet in Prince- ton, June 28th, 1871, the day of the Commencement of the College of New Jersey, in order to deliberate upon the best method of accomplishing what had been proposed and adopting such measures as might seem advisable for the purpose. The response from every quarter was cordial in the extreme, as will appear from the following extracts selected from a multitude of letters of like character received at the time. Rev. William B. Spragtte, D. D., Flushing, N. V. " I can hardly believe that there is any one who feels a deeper interest in whatever pertains to the Princeton Seminary than I do, for I feel that I owe to it everything. In the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Hodge's professorship, I shall be* specially interested, for not only have I been the witness of his whole splendid career, but he was my classmate and is one of the very few of our number, who now survive." Rev. P. H. Fowler, D.D., Utica, N.Y. " Nothing of the kind could gratify me more than to take part in raising a memorial to one whom I so much admire and love, and to whom I am so much indebted, as Dr. Hodge." PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. 7 Rev. Randolph Campbell, NewbiLrypoi^t, Mass. " I heartily fall in with the idea of a semi-centenary in commemoration of Dr. Hodge's long years of ser- vice to the church, and fully concur in the considera- tions which call for it." Rev. Win. H. Hornblowcr, D.D., Professor in the Western Theological Seminary, at Allegheny, Pa. " My obligations to Dr. Hodge, and love and vene- ration for him, will not allow me to decline acting on any committee, that is appointed to honour him." Rev. Willis Lord, D.D., President of the University of Wooster, Ohio. "It will give me exceeding great pleasure to act with the committee so far as I can find it possible. My heart is warmly in the proposed movement to honour in some fitting way the great Theologian of the Church, who is beloved also as well as admired." Rev. R. S. Goodman, Grand Rapids, Michigan. " I rejoice to hear of the notice intended to be taken of the fiftieth anniversary of the Professorate of our venerated and dear Dr. Hodge. If there is a man on earth whom I would delight to honour, he is that one." Rev. F. T. Brow7i, D.D., St. Paid, Minnesota. " I feel complimented in being put on the commit- tee and shall gladly work with it in any way I can. I 8 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. honour and admire Dr. Hodge as I do not any other living man ; and co make proof of this you can com mand me in this thing in any humble service in which I can be of use." Rev. W. C. Matthews, D.D., Louisville, Ky. " I unite heartily in the object proposed in the reso- lutions of the Board of Directors of the Seminary. There is no living man in my knowledge, who de- serves more to be honoured by the Church and the country than Dr. Charles Hodge. It is highly proper for the alumni of the Seminary and the whole church to erect a monument worthy of the character and works of such a man. His name will be cherished in per- petual and grateful memories by all who love the truth as it is in Christ our Lord." Rev. W. C. Dana, D.D., Charleston, S. C. "It would give me a high pleasure to be present at: the semi-centenary of Dr. Hodge and to add my hum- ble tribute to one so highly honoured; but I can hardly cherish the hope of being present, my only va- cation being of necessity near the close of our long summer. I can only,, therefore, offer the warmest sym- pathy with the plan in view." Rev. Joseph D. Stratton, D.D., Natchez, Miss. " It will afford me a very sincere gratification to render any service which may lie within my power as PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. 9 a member of the committee of the alumni. With the leave of Providence I shall certainly be present on the occasion in April next, when it is proposed to com- memorate the semi-centenary of Dr. Hodge's profes- sorship. I am glad that our southern tribes have not been overlooked in this project for a gathering of our Presbyterian Israel." Rev. Charles Manly, of the Baptist Church, Tttska- loosa, Alabama. " I can hardly anticipate any occasion, which would afford me more true gratification than this, when I should not only have opportunity of mingling again with friends highly prized and fondly remembered, but also of testifying my sincere and profound regard for Dr. Hodge, whom I remember with a most affection- ate reverence. Rev. James Park, Knoxville, Tennessee. " I had noticed in the public prints the gratifying fact, that the Board of Directors of the Seminary had determined on appropriately commemorating the semi- centenary anniversary of Dr. Hodge's professorate. , The announcement will swell the heart of every living Princeton student with gratitude and gladness, and will awaken sincere desire in every one to be present on so interesting an occasion. We who enjoyed the privilege of sitting at his feet, the entire Presbyterian Church, all Protestant Christianity and the world owe lO SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. a mighty debt of gratitude to Dr. Hodge for his long and invaluable service." Rev. N. L. Rice, D.D., President of the Westminster College, Ftilton, Missouri. " I do not doubt that the alumni of Princeton will heartily approve the plan of the Board of Directors. I hope, if spared, to be able to be present on the in- teresting occasion and I shall be most happy to act as a member of the committee." Rev. James H. Brookes, D.D., St. Louis, Missouri. " It will give me very great pleasure to serve in any way the wishes of those who have so happily de- termined to recognize by a suitable memorial the long- continued and faithful labours of Dr. Hodge. The distinguished ability with which he has discharged his duties, added to his unspotted character as a meek and consistent follower of Jesus, renders the occasion contemplated peculiarly appropriate." Bishop Mcllvaine, Cincinnati^ Ohio. " I have seen with affectionate interest the project 'of showing respect to my dear friend and brother Dr. Hodge. I shall feel a deep interest in the whole mat- ter, and though I cannot promise, I shall hope and try to be with you in April next." PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. II Bishop Johns, Malvern, Virginia. " I need not assure you of my cordial concurrence in the proposed action in connection with the semi- centenary of the Rev. Dr. Hodge. My admiration and love for him will find great gratification in any suitable memorial of his professional services and personal worth. I fear it may not be in my power to join in the joyful celebration ; but, if my life is spared, no ordinary impediment shall deprive me of the pleasure." Encouraged by such responses and by the general interest manifested, the committee of seventy with such others of the alumni of the Seminary as were then gathered in Princeton, met in the chapel of the College on Commencement day, and with great unan- imity and cordiality endorsed the project in the follow- ing resolutions : " Resolved, i. That the proposed celebration of the semi-centennial of Dr. Hodge meets our hearty concur- rence, and we cordially unite with the Directors in inviting the friends and former students of the Semi- nary to meet for this purpose in Princeton, on Wed- nesday, April 24th, 1872 ; and that this invitation be very particularly extended to all our brethren in differ- ent Christian denominations, and in every section of our country, as well as in foreign lands, who have re- ceived their education here in whole or in part. And we express the earnest hope that the hallowed memo- 12 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. ries of the past, personal attachments, and local and literary associations with this cherished spot, may be permitted to overcome the long and wide separation of time and place, and ecclesiastical organization, so that we may all upon this glad occasion gather around the instructor whom we all love and revere, a band of brethren, cemented in Christian love, renewing and pledging a mutual confidence and affection which nothing in the past shall be suffered to dim or to ob- literate, and nothing in the future shall be permitted to disturb. '^ Resolved, 2. That an Alumni association be then formed, consisting of all who have been for any length of time connected with the Seminary as theological students. " Resolved, 3. That, in our judgment, the most fit- ting memorial of this half centuiy of faithful and distinguished service will be the permanent endow- ment of the chair which Dr. Hodge has filled with such pre-eminent ability. " Resolved, 4. That this endowment be immediately undertaken, and, if possible, completed by the 24th day of April next." The appointed day of the celebration brought to- gether a large concourse of the former students and friends of the Seminary. The first class upon its roll is now starred throughout ; the second shows but a single survivor and the third but two. From the next class, which entered in 181 5, the year preceding Dr. Hodge's PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. 1 3 own matriculation as a student, four of its five sur- viving members were present ; and every subsequent class was represented with possibly three or four ex- ceptions. They came from Texas and Colorado and California, as well as from places less remote. The leading theological and literary institutions of the country deputed one or more of their Professors to indicate their interest in the occasion. The church in which the exercises were held was densely thronged, and by an assemblage remarkable for the number of venerable heads and thoughtful faces. Every available standing place was occupied. The enthusiasm, which was great throughout, reached its climax at that point in the proceedings when Dr. Hodge himself, almost overcome by emotion, advanced to greet his gathered pupils and to respond to the address made to him Ijy Dr. Boardman. The exercises were admirably conducted throughout, and in harmony with the character of rhe day. And nothing occurred to mar the general grati- fication, which was heightened by the fact that not- withstanding the brevity of the time since the sugges- tion had first been made the projected endowment was brought to the verge of completion, $45,000 of the proposed $50,000 being already raised, and a purse of $15,350 having besides been made up as a present to Dr. Hodge. One gentleman has also given $50 towards a fund, whose income shall be expended in the purchase of copies of Dr. Hodge's Theology or of his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans to be given to needy students of the Seminary. 14 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. The amount thus far contributed to the endowment is from 575 separate donors, mostly former students of this Seminary, residing in twenty-five different States and Territories of this country, some of them mission- aries in China, India, Siam and South America, a few in the Dominion of Canada, and one who is now Profes- sor of Theology in the Assembly's College in Ireland, and who has embraced this opportunity to renew his old allegiance. It may safely be said that few funds of like amount represent an equal measure of self-denial and devotion on the part of those who have contribu- ted to them. Ministers, themselves receiving an in- adequate support, have aided in this endowment with a generous enthusiasm, sending sums that they could not well afford to spare, but forward to testify their indebtedness to their honoured teacher, and eager to have a share in erecting this monument to bear his name. A very few extracts from the numerous com- munications received will illustrate the spirit of the movement. A respected brother in Indiana who sent $50 in two successive instalments writes : " Nearly all of my ministerial life thus far has been spent among the poor and among small congregations. Consequently my salary has been very limited, seldom exceeding four or five hundred dollars and often not that. The present year it is not likely to exceed five hundred, if indeed it reaches that amount ; and as I have a wife and four children to provide for, we must live very plainly in order to live at all. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. 1 5 " Now I beg you not to think that I am going to contribute grudgingly. I shall esteem it a most pre- cious privilege, if God spares my life and health, to be permitted to contribute to this great and blessed work." Another, in Iowa, sending on his own subscription and that of his co-laborers in the same Synod : " We are for the most part rather a poor set when it comes to raising money out of our own shallow pock- ets or from our impecunious flocks. Many of our churches are missionaiy in the fullest sense, with hard work to sustain even with the help afforded the stated ^ means of grace. Others are in a somewhat better condition, but have just emerged from the wilderness of financial barrenness. The claims that press upon us and our churches are multitudinous, so that we hardly dare to. come before our people with even a modest proposal for assistance in honouring our be- loved and revered Dr. Hodge. And then in addition to ordinary obstacles the calamitous Chicago fire adds another of hopeless magnitude." Another, who enrolled his own name and that of his father, some years since deceased, on the list of sub- scribers : " It appears to me that this memorial affords a plea- sant opportunity of discharging a great debt which all the students owe to the Theological Seminary at Princeton." Another who sends his contribution from Allahabad : 1 6 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. " I fear you will have few subscriptions from our missionaries in India. This is not because we do not love and reverence our instructor, but because we find it very difficult to live here on our salaries, which are lower than those of any society in India with which I am acquainted, excepting the German. We carry with us our Princeton traditions and the bond of attach- ment is not weakened by the distance that separates us from you. Dr. Hodge may be pleased to know that the North India Tract Society has recently pub- lished a commentary on Romans in the Hindustani language, which is based on his, and the Madras Tract Society is asking for a translation of the same into Tamil." A member of the Arcot Mission of the Reformed Church in India, in fonvarding his contribution of $50 in gold, adds : " I wish I were in circumstances to send a much larger sum. It is, however, a missionary's contribution and must needs be small. Such as it is, I send it with great pleasure, feehng it an honour to participate even in an humble way in so noble an undertaking. " How much we all owe to Dr. Hodge ! His in- structions have given direction to my whole life and extend into all the efforts I have made for the spiritual good of others. The great doctrines of the cross, as he expounded them to us, have been my one theme among heathens and Christians, and have fortified my own soul against all the modern and subtle attacks of PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. I7 scepticism. I bless God that I was his pupil ; and that He now permits me to present my humble testi- mony to his eminent worth and to my grateful affection." The following programme exhibits the ORDER OF THE DAY. The Officers and Alumni of the Seminary, invited guests, and other friends assembled at the Seminary Chapel at 10.30 a. m., where a pro- cession was formed under the direction of Prof. H, C. Cameron, Marshal, and moved at 10.45 ^'^ ^^^ First Presbyterian Church. OEDEB OF PROCESSION. Undergraduates of the Seminary as Escort. Rev. Dr. Hodge and the Orator of the Day. Directors of the Seminary. Board of Trustees. Faculty. Officers of other Theological and Literary Institutions, and Invited Guests. Alumni of Princeton and other Theological Seminaries, in the order of Seniority. Citizens and Strangers. Students of the College of New Jersey. 11 A. M. EXERCISES IN THE CHURCH. Music. " Gloria in Excelsis," from Mozart's 1 2th Mass. Reading of the 92d Psalm, and Prayer by Rev. W. D. Snodgrass, D.D., President of the Board of Directors. 1 8 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. Singing hy the Congregation. 137th Psalm, 2d Part. Oration By Rev. Joseph T. Duryea, D.D. Congratulatory Address By Rev. Henry A. Boardman, D.D. Brief Besponse By Dr. Hodge. Benediction, pronounced by Rev. George W. Musgrave, D. D., LL. D. The Alumni of the Seminary remained to organize an Association, after which they proceeded at 1.30 p. m. to a bountiful collation pro- vided by three generous friends of the Seminary in the College Gym- nasium, which was kindly loaned for the purpose. 3.30 p. M. Under the auspices of the Alumni Association, a second meeting was held in the Church to receive communications from abroad, and to give opportunity for general congratulatory addresses from Alumni and others. Between the hours of 7 and 9 p. m., the residence of Dr, Hodge was crowded with his friends and former pupils, who flocked thither to grasp his hand and pay him their respects ; and the front of the old Seminary building was brilliantly illuminated. II. ADDRESSES. ADDRESS OF REV. DR. DURYEA. Fathers and Brethren : — Three events unite to give significance and dignity to this memorial gathering : the completion of fifty years of patient toil and faithful teach- ing in the sphere of divine science ; the presentation to the world of the results of study, experience and prayer in a work of Theology fv'hich gives expression to the profoundest religious thought, and stands as proof that our English tongue has not lost its purity, power or beauty ; the endowment of a chair in the theological school which shall preserve the memory of an honored and cherished name, and shall continue the usefulness of a prolonged and fruitful fife. These events direct our thoughts and our hearts toward a person. We cannot, however earnestly we should make the endeavor, divest this occasion of a peculiarly personal character. The person before us is a man, but a man of God, a revered father in Israel, a beloved teacher among his pupils. There is upon his heart, beside the weight of a too great joy, the burden still heavier to bear, that he must be so conspicuous here. To us there is the embarrassment that if we shall dare to say that which we think and feel, we may trangress those limits of propriety which are guard- ed by the instincts of gentlemanly culture and refinement, and have been fixed by that humility before God which (21) 2 2 ADDRESSES. is ever the work of divine grace. But for our relief we have need only this to remember, that all these years of contemplation and communion with God must have been of Httle worth, if they have not served to yield that child- like lowliness which is never more meek than when re- ceiving the award of justice, and is never more severely hurt than when subject to untruthful flattery. Our venerable father is too near the judgment of the great day to care much for human judgment, too near the golden crown set with many gems to care much for any wreath we can lay upon his temples. The events to which I have alluded might start reflec- tions of an entirely personal kind, and fix my mind and heart on him alone. And had I my unbiassed choice I would not be uttering these poor words to him and to you. I could crave no higher privilege than to stand in some obscure place in the outer circle of this brother- hood clustering about their teacher, and to fling above their heads the humble token of my loving gratitude. But since I am to speak, let me testify that he never will, he never can know here, if in the future life he ever shall, how much the master is immortal in his disciples. Enough be it for me to assure him that from day to day I can trace backward through the past to his presence, to his almost visible form, to the plaintive tones of his teaching and his prayers, the present benefit of intellec- tual quickening, the pulse of spiritual fervor, and the habit of moral principle. And often since I have been minister- ing among men have I felt myself to be not the immedi- ate channel of divine grace to them, but rather the vessel that bare the grace of my teacher. To others, however, have been assigned those addresses ADDRESS OF REV. DR. DURYEA. 23 which will be more personal, more familiar, and more free. The lofty forms, and stately movements of premeditated speech seem too nearly insincere, they are too surely cold, for the expression of what we think, especially of what we feel. I have thought wise to note these three events, and cast their significance along a single line of thought. You will bear with me, since the time afforded me and my circumstances have not suffered me to exercise that labor of the pen, the tool that squares and polishes rough-hewn thought, which might have commended me to your judgment and your taste. I cast myself upon your hearts, since I dare not present myself to the discrimination of your understanding. Had pride prevailed to make me mindful of your criticism I should readily have found refuge in silence. The subject to which I shall call your attention is this : The title of Theology to rank as a Science. We have met to celebrate the completion of fifty years of labor expended in teaching theology as a science. We welcome the gift of goodly volumes exhibiting theology in a system as a science. We are perpetuating a chair which shall continue to instruct and drill the mind of our rising ministry in theology as a science. These events are not so significant, this occasion is not so august, if we have placed high estimate upon that which is not worthy of such esteem. Theology has been in these days crowd- ed to the very verge of the circle of sciences. Among those who claim for themselves the true principles, the modes, and the style of scientific investigation some have erudeavored to expel theology entirely from the sis- terhood of sciences. We have the antithesis, Religion and Science. Science is knowledge, religion is faith ; or 24 ADDRESSES. rather that form of intellectual state germane to faith which is more correctly designated credulity. In nothing are we compelled so much to see evinced the power of evil upon the human understanding, as well as upon the human heart, as in the persistent, hateful antagonism of science to religion. Science continually complains that religion is uncharitable towards its investigators, and un- candid toward its investigations. If this indeed be true, it is because science has ever thrust religion on the de- fensive, and seems to have determined that if possible it shall have no sfround until it strikes the wall, that there it shall be pinned until it gives up the ghost.* As soon as facts have been discovered which seemed to have a pos- sible bearing against the truth of Scripture, there have ever been those who were eager and loud in proclaiming them. As soon as the facts have attained number suffi- cient to afford some warrant for inferences, theories have been thrust forth as doctrines and set against the dicta of revelation. The church has wisely felt, and faithfully re- sisted encroachment. She has not been the aggressor. She has only stood in line at the front to defend. At present, in many quarters, there seems to be the calm as- sumption that religion is to be left to women and to men * Upon reading the report of this address, which was spoken extempore and under necessity of rapid movement on account of the shortness of the time allotted to it, the speaker desires to guard himself against misapprehen- sion. He does not perceive any real antagonism between true science and true religion, between a true scientific spirit and a true religious faith. He would have better expressed his sentiments if he could have used where the word " science " occurs in the passage above, and similar passages, the awkward phrase "science falsely so-called." A sweeping charge of anta- gonism to religion on the part of the men of true science would need no refutation at Princeton, and would have awaited no severer rebuke than the presence of Alexander, Guyot and McCosh, who have in themselves and their works so completely blended the scientific and the religious spirit. ADDRESS OF REV. DR. DURYEA. 25 of pietistic temperament, and for the rest science is the food of intellect, the stimulus of heart, the end of life. Also within the church are those, writing in its periodi- cals, speaking from its pulpits, who decry theology as a means of culture and instruction for the ministry, as a source of material for the proclamation of the gospel. We will not forget our Lord has taught us charity, and yet we must in faithfulness affirm we cannot avoid conviction that some at least of these betray insincerity. They have fixed their views on certain aspects of the divine charac- ter, they do not wish to perceive others. They have at- tended to certain declarations of the divine mind, they do not wish to know others. They have accepted certain determinations of the divine will, they are resolved to ignore others. Systematic divinity compels them to state precisely to the human understanding that which they do conceive of God, to bring it out of the shadowiness of the notion into the definiteness of the idea, to exhibit in com- pleteness their views of the nature, character, will, pur- pose, plan, relations, and ultimate issues of the works of God. They are not willing to state definitely what they think ; they are not willing to admit what they fear they might be compelled to admit, should they consent to a complete exhibition of truth in the proportions of the faith. There are others in the church who pretend to a sort of mysticism. The meaning of the term as they use it, and the phase of experience as they describe it, are diffi- cult to comprehend. They place worship at the centre of the spiritual Hfe, and tell us that in order to worship there must be a certain vagueness about the objects of thought and affection. If the objects come too nigh, if 26 ADDRESSES. they stand forth too clearly and definitely embodied, reverence will cease. There must be the halo of mystery about the shrine of religion. There must be the blur of uncertain sight before the soul ere worship can be pro- found in the affections, intense in the expression. The in- cense of devotion must encloud the Shekinah before which it ascends. The altar must in some sense be true to the inscription — " To the unknown God." They who so teach are not mindful that, if by too close searching we may gaze profanely upon God, we may also by lack of clear vision deify myths and worship them. There is then outside the Church a tendency to deny that theology can claim the title of a science. There is within the Church a tendency to maintain that theology is not merely of little value, but of pernicious influence. They make bold to declare that the ministry are pre- vented from exercising the highest power in the pulpit by the predeterminations of theological opinion, and by the order and style of thought induced by theological culture in our seminaries ; that neither by the character of their discipline, nor the material of their store, are they prepared to become practical teachers of the Gospel to the people ; that the people, if trained after the methods of theological thought, will be rather determined to rationalism and in- differentism, than to faith and worship. It is my belief that the theological school is to begin at this time a new career, it must adapt itself to a new emer- gency ; that we shall need an enlarged course of theo- logical study, a more comprehensive and thorough theo- logical training than we have received in days that are past. We hail therefore with joy the honor done to a faithful teacher of theology, the favorable acceptance of ADDRESS OF REV. DR. DURYEA. 2 7 his works in this and other lands, and the endowment in this seminary, of a department which shall secure a sound theological culture in the age to come. We maintain that theology is a science, that it is an exact science, that it is a science essential not only to the furnishing of the ministry, but also to the highest life of the soul. What then do we understand by science ? It is not simply knowledge as consisting in the apprehension of isolated facts. It is rather the rational exhibition of facts. We have here a product of two factors, the reason and the facts. The facts are given, and the reason is to ela- borate. As the result there is not merely a development of phenomena. There is a genesis of that which is born through the conjunction of reason with fact. Reason, and by this I now mean the whole understanding, is con- ditioned by residence in the body its organ. The body comes in contact with phenomena by the special senses. The understanding directed by the will performs the office of attention. The passive reception of impressions upon the senses becomes observation. Observation under pressure of the will and the laws of the understanding becomes rational. We have the whole process before us. The mind by its native energy moves toward the universe. Between it and the universe are the senses, the inlets of knowledge. As many senses as there are, as many modi- fications of the several senses as there may be, so many phenomena are there fn the universe relatively for man. By observation through the natural force of the senses, man perceives phenomena, remembers them as facts. By artificial means he transcends the limits of his natural powers and again observes phenomena and records them as facts. The first process is observation of that which 28 ADDRESSES. impinges upon the organism, makes an impression on tli^ sensibility, and through it on the mind. Then the reason proper begins its work. It perceives more than is seen, and heard, touched and tasted. The mind itself is a power capable of suggesting truth. It is not a reflector which simply throws back light, it is a lamp which radiates light. The light of the mind meets the light of the universe in the focus of truth. Philosophers have studied the nature of the light which the mind casts into the universe. They have informed us concerning primitive cognitions which come into con- sciousness the moment we observe phenomena. They have stated for us primitive beliefs which are determined as soon as we consider phenomena and whatever is in- tuitively perceived within them. They have collated primitive judgments which are formed as soon as we per- ceive things to be related the one to the other. By this labor the philosophers have expounded the nature and methods of science. As the mind turns toward the uni- verse to observe, its primitive ideas furnish categories, and suggest inquiries. Every primitive belief suggests a category and a question. Every primitive judgment sug- gests a question or many questions. The categories stand open for the reception of facts, the inquiries elicit them. Science is complete when all possible effects have been wrought on the senses, and all the phenomena have been recorded ; when all the questions stimulated by the primi- tive ideas, beliefs, and judgments have been considered and answered. The limits of science for man then are determined by the power of the senses, and the categories of the understanding. When the senses have ceased to feel the universe, when the mind has found its questions ADDRESS OF REV. DR. DURYEA. 29 all answered, or has become assured that such as are un- answered are unanswerable, the sphere of science is bounded and is complete. Let it be observed that there is a principle at work throughout all the action of the understanding, not con- fined to those states or exercises which we are pleased to call primitive beliefs, viz. : Faith. The moment observa- tion begins faith is exercised, faith in the trustworthiness of "the senses so far as they may reach, and in so far as they operate. The moment primitive ideas and beliefs and judgments start in the mind faith asserts their truth. This faith is original to the individual mind. It cannot be derived by consulting and comparing consciousness in many minds. It has already arisen and maintained itself before it is known that there are other minds. The in- dividual thinks his primitive ideas not as demonstrable, as conditioned on testimony, but as self-evident. They are not merely true for him, he cannot conceive them to be untrue for others. He does not go forth from himself to question them, but to question from them. Faith is therefore native to the soul, pre-requisite to every move- ment of it. We need only to turn to the history of the ideal philosophy to learn that our only refuge from abso- lute ignorance, or at least from uncertainty, which is much the same, is in faith. Upon whatever grounds we place the verity of our remoter knowledge, we are ever remanded for the verity of truth to the reliability of the individual consciousness. What then shall substantiate the deliverances of consciousness. Is the logical consti- tution of the understanding the counterpart of the exter- nal frame of the universe ? Are they correlative ? The answer is not to be found in that theoretical system of cor- 30 ADDRESSES. respondences, in which phenomena are subjective, and the goings on of the external world are separate from the mind, and the ground of truth, the simultaneous coinci- dence of experience within, and effects without, the soul. It is given in that system which presents God as the author of the understanding, and the constructor of the universe, and informing the understanding with the very .principles of the universe in order to a certain knowledge of it. And to this system we are bound by the results' of all experiment. Our inferences from original suggestions prove on trial to be facts. Our guessings at truth by analogy when confirmed show that there is that which is analogical in the structure of the universe. Such then is the relation of faith to all knowledge. The scientific man must rest back as surely as we upon the principle of faith for the verity of his knowledge. He cannot discern without faith, he cannot think without faith. Nor is this the only office of faith in science. The faith of testimony is equally essential to it. The individual scientist has quietly made the assumption, and others have as calmly admitted it, that he is dealing with matters of immediate observation. It must be denied. It is not true that he himself, by his several senses, has observed all the phenomena that enter into the matter of his science. The geologist has not searched the secret of the entire earth. The astronomer has not scanned the contemporary heavens throughout all their spaces. He has not been as old as the ages to peer into the constellations from the beginning even of historic time. The physical geograph- er has not travelled, staff in hand, a pilgrim over all con- tinents. And yet each has made claim to peculiarly posi- ADDRESS OF REV. DR. DURYEA. 3 1 tive science on the ground that the senses have touched, measured, weighed everything. Has he forgotten that he sees through the eyes of others, that he hears with their ears, touches with their hands, tastes with their tongues, and smells with their nostrils ? Has he forgot- ten that before the results of their tactual observation can be his, he must have them by faith, and by faith in man natural, without a claim, much less a demonstration, of the supernatural either in the matter or the guaranty of his testimony ? Not only so, but the contemporaneous living observer does not alone testify to him. He too must gather up dusty and worm-eaten parchments and collect his data, before he can calculate the periods of the eclipses and the comets. He must have not only the vocal word vouched by the authority of the testifier, but he must have a document, actually in written language, which must have historical proof of authenticity and genuine- ness, which must be interpreted according to the laws of language, before he can get the terms of his problem, and work it out to its solution. He too must have faith in parchments, in scriptures which make no claim to the tracings of that celestial ink which has been tinctured by the Spirit of God. Again, it is not true that the man of science has more facts, relatively to his scheme, than the theologian. The universe is to be searched for scientific truth, the theolo- gian has the truth complete in record. To be sure some of it, by declaration of authority, is known to be in seed and germ to be developed. But he knows where the sum of truth is to be found. He is only to expand it by thought, experience, and life. Nor is it true that the man of science can go further to- 32 ADDRESSES. ward exhaustive knowledge than the theologian. Which- ever way he follows the thread of observation it will lead him to mystery, often to seeming contradictions. He can proceed so far as to experience the failure of his senses, to find the inquiries of the mind without response. He has touched all that is tangible, he has received an answer to all that will submit to interrogation, and yet there is mystery beyond. Let him select that which is nearest him, the body in which he dwells. Let him analyze the flesh until he reaches the insoluble matter which is the residuum of chemistry. What is it? He does not know. Let him search the living organism with the microscope. What is life ? He cannot tell. Mr. Darwin tells us he is going to know. Mr. Huxley confesses that the chemist has not produced a living cell, but tells us that he is just about to construct it. The physiologist cannot tell us the stimuli which cause the reaction of respiration, the sources and methods of the reproduction of vital heat. If you will take up the more candid exhibitions of the latest re- searches in physiology, you will find that they who have been studying the body with most skill, and care and patience have enlarged be3'ond your imagining the boundaries of their ignorance, and have furnished us with a most satisfactory solution of the problem given in the past uncertainties of medical treatment. Now let us turn to the consideration of our own science of theology. Here is the same human mind, with the same native energy tending to observation and interro- gation. Within the mind the same constitution govern- ing its action by the same laws, conditioning its knowl- edge, and verifying its results. Can the scientific man ADDRESS OF REV. DR. DURYEA. 33 deny to it a science in the sphere of the moral and spirit- ual ? He says science is the necessity of the mind, scien- tific thoiight is the normal intellectual action, scientific truth the pabulum on which the understanding flourishes. Can he deny us the same native tendencies, the same de- sire for intellectual action, the same hungering and thirst- ing after truth in scientific forms ? Surely the scientific man should not object on the score of the wholesome activity of the human mind to a science of divine things. But does he object on the other hand that in the sphere of theology the mind does not come in contact with phenomena? Does he affirm that nothing is unfolded to its observation which may start in the consciousness its ideas, beliefs, and judgments, and that these do not spon- taneously suggest questions that will vex and torment the soul until they are at least proximately answered, or with humble faith referred to God in patient expectation that what we know not now, we shall know hereafter? If so, then we maintain that the matters of theological science are properly phenomena, in contact with the human senses in the past or present, and directly open to human observation. Not only so, but all phenomena may be distributed in the categories of theology. We open the Bible and read, " In the beginning God created the hea- vens " — then Astronomy is ours ; — *' and the earth," — then Geology is ours. We learn that in succ^sive periods God prepared the surface of the earth for the residence of man — and Physical Geography is ours. We read again, " God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life " — and Physiol- ogy is ours : — " and man became a living soul " — and Psychology is ours. Theology appears at last the science 3 34 . ADDRESSES. of sciences. And again, " God made man in his own image." And now we have affirmed for us the verity of the human understanding, the identity of moral percep- tions, beliefs and judgments in the human and the divine. All that is human is related to the divine, all that is truly human is similar to the divine. The earth is become a thing of clay, and stars are floating dust before the God- like majesty of the human soul. And we stand in pre- sence of the grandest problem of the highest science, and strive to show how the universe is related to the soul, and how both are related to God. When we enter our proper sphere and attempt a science of truth as it is in God and man and the universe, and in all their relations to each other, we have no other instru- ments to seek, no other methods to employ than those of true science. We observe, we record, we arrange facts. God has shown himself to the senses. God has appeared, he has become a phenomenon. Men have seen him, touch- ed him, heard him. They were eye-witnesses. They were witnesses precisely as scientific observers are witnesses. They have preserved their testimony. The record is ours. It is subject to the same laws of criticism that determine the credibility of all documents, and to no others. God has shown himself not only by appearances, but also by sym- bols. In the body and soul of man he had so interfused the material aftid spiritual and blended them in conscious- ness that the material could suggest the spiritual in thought, and excite the spiritual in feeling. He therefore manifested himself in material forms suggestive of his spiritual nature and excellencies. The symbols of divine things were seen and handled for generations. They were most accurately described. The description is on record. ADDRESS OF REV. DR. DURYEA. 35 The record is in our hands. And finally God has spoken. He has uttered words in the ears of men. His language has been recorded. The scriptures are in our hands. We possess not merely the accounts of man's observation of God manifested before him, but God's own disclosure of himself In his own wxDrds he expresses his attributes ; in didactic terms he exhibits his thoughts, and purposes, and plans ; in categories he sets forth the declarations of his will ; in systematic presentations he makes known the economy of his relations to men, as their creator, ruler, redeemer, judge. These phenomena are to be treated as all phenomena ; these symbols as all symbols; this language as all lan- guage. If others were witnesses of them, their testimony is to be treated as all testimony. If the astronomer tells us what he has seen in the sky, Moses tells us what he saw in the bush. If the geologist tells us what he has seen deep down in the hidden strata of the earth, Moses tells us what he saw on Sinai. If the physical geographer tells us what he has seen on many continents, Peter, James, and John tell us what they saw on Tabor. The facts are phenomena. It is emphasized in the testimony that these things were seen, and touched, and handled. They were brought to the very body, before they were commended to the faith of the soul, of man. We are therefore on the same ground with science as to the use of human senses in the observation of facts, and of the human imagination in comprehending and conceiving facts preserved in the language* of testimony. Men have observed, observing they have testified, testifying they have recorded, record- ing they have used language according to its normal sense and forms; and employing imagination no more 36 ADDRESSES. largely than science even in its claim to positiveness of knowledge is compelled to employ it, we can revive phenomena, re-enact symbols, interpret words, and out of. all conceive and know the things that have been most clearly manifested to us of God. If the phenomena are ours by testimony on recTord, we admit it is our duty to examine the authenticity and authority of the record ; the abihty and trustworthiness of the witnesses. And we claim that w^e may trust the worthiness of the witnesses to the facts of our gospel, as the man of science may trust the competency and fidelity of the witnesses to such facts as he receives. We will make a higher claim. We will affirm that they could not have been what they were, they could not have wrought and suffered what they did and bore, they could not have lived immortal in the growing understanding and enlarg- ing heart of the race, but that there were the supernatural and the divine in their being, their observing, and their recording. We stand then upon the everlasting rock of a divine verity in the records of our Scriptures. Science may swing its pick here until it is worn to atoms. Science might be better busied in driving it still further into un- known rocks. But have we need to define the facts given in Scrip- ture. We bid adieu to the partisans of science fpr a mo- ment, and turn our attention to those in the Church who tell us to read the Scripture, to take facts as they appear on the page, to leave them concrete as they are exhibited, clothed in the language selected by the writers. And suffer us to remind them that the people have not the words of the Spirit, but are at least one remove from them ; ADDRESS OF REV. DR. DURYEA. 37 that all translation is a re-casting of originally expressed truth, that the original tongue itself needs to be con- tinually revived by a careful study of. antiquity and a deeper sympathy with its genius, and this makes impera- tive demand for fresh expression in other tongues. The sufficiency of statement is relative. Thought may take o© forms more suited to the mind of an individual, the common mind of an age, than those in which it was first expressed. Those forms which may make revealed fact more clear to apprehension are surely serviceable to the understanding and are therefore to be constructed. And they are needful to experience and life. If truth is to act upon the heart it must be before the understanding de- finitely, " concrete " indeed, but not in written or spoken forms, but in living ideas. Language at best is but a hint of that for which it stands. The Word of God which liveth and abideth forever, is begotten and lives within our souls. It is only by that labor of the mind which gives complete conception to crude notions that we shall ever fairly cognize the objects that are revealed. If these objects are to work on the affections in order to the response of worship, upon the motive powers of the soul in order to the response of obedience, and through worship and obedience to transform it into holiness of character, to develop it into pureness and fullness of life, then they must stand full-orbed, and clean disced before the understanding. It is only he who is averse to the ob- jects who shuns the hght of clearness, and blurs the out- line of definiteness. It is only he who is not worshipful but sentimental who covers with the clouds of his incense the object of his devotions. Take for example that last synthesis of theology, the ^ 38 ADDRESSES. Person of Christ — can it ever be too definite? Have we not in analogy a hint of our duty? Our Lord showed himself on the Mount of Transfiguration before Peter, James, and John, clothed in his most excellent glory. Moses and Elias for a season were talking with him. At length they disappeared. The voice from heaven came, saying, " This is my beloved son, hear him." So when we have worked our way through law and prophecy, gospel and epistle, and come at last to stand before the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of his person, and see him clearly, and see him entire, then will the overflowing fulness of knowledge be ours, and with it the fulness of faith, and the fulness of hope. But again, and finally, having defined the facts that are revealed to us in the Scriptures, may we collate them ? Are the processes of science germane to Christian theo- logy? May we begin under the categories furnished by our primitive ideas, beliefs, and judgments, to gather together things similar, to separate things dissimilar ; to work upward from the individual to the family, from the family to the species, from the species to the genus, from effects to causes, and downward from causes to effects ? Precisely as in science. So far as the facts are concerned in the processes they in no wise differ from the facts of science. They have substantial existence, and whatever exists may the subject of rational processes. Whatever exists in similarity is a subject of classification. What- ever exists in relations is a subject of classification. What- ever exists in the relation of effect to cause, or cause to effect, is a subject of classification. If we find any fact in whatever sphere having such character, existing in such ADDRESS OF REV. DR. DURYEA. 39 relations, it is of the very nature, and it becomes in con- sciousness the imperative demand, of our mind, that we shall classify. Not only is it the demand of the mind of the scholar but as well of the peasant. For mind will think, and this is thought. The merely passive recep- tion of promiscuous facts will not be sufficient for any un- derstanding quickened by the Spirit, and intent upon the truth. The very workman at the bench, while he reads his bible, or recalls its teachings, although he knows it not, is theologizing. He gathers together what he has receiv- ed here and there concerning God, and is working out his conception of a divine character. He searches into God's works and ways, and cannot cease from seeking the " how " and the " why." It is not mere curiousness but painful necessity that makes him agonize with the ques- tions. How can God be just and justify the ungodly? How can God be benevolent and permit evil ? We want no more proof that there is rational necessity for a science of divine things than the million tokens all about that men will have it imperfect at least if not complete, and will labor onward until the utmost is achieved toward completeness. But are the facts of sufficient number to fill our cate- gories and complete our classifications ? If not we will leave our categories unfilled, our classifications incom- plete. Are these facts sufficient only for approximate generalizations ? Then we will make our generalization approximate. Are inferences from such generalizations only probable ? Then we will be content to hold them as probable, except as we may find didactic confirmation for them in the Word of God. And if we shall maintain for opinions such inferences as seem to be warranted by the facts of revelation, Ave will not be so dogmatic concerning 40 ADDRESSES. them as to do violence to the sincerity, candor and liberty of thinking people. We will endeavor to keep our theo- logy where the scientific man ought to have kept his science, in the attitude of expectation toward facts. We will try not to proclaim as a dictum of our science any such crude generalization as this, " Nature abhors a vacuum." We will try not to name any faculty of the soul as the physiologist once named the courses of the blood, when calling them arteries ; through any such inapt con- ceit as his, when he supposed them pervaded by the atmosphere. Turning now to ourselves and our proper sphere, we maintain that we have a revelation, that its record is pre- sented in terms intelHgible, that it is sufficient at least for our present need. We are not willing to depart from the principles we have affirmed so far as confidently to pro- phesy, but we are warranted hopefully to hold as our opinion, that before the search into divine things shall be concluded, it will be found, that revelation stands in rela- tion to the human understanding and the spiritual life as complete, as the revelation of nature stands to the facul- ties and uses of man in the lower plane of the physical sciences and the animal life. The soul will have as large an expanse in the spiritual, as in the material universe. And now let us ask the practical questions, Are we to seek for more devotion to the prosecution of theological science ? Will it aid us in the work of instruction from the Christian pulpit? Will it help us in our advance to higher spirituality in the Christian life ? It is said that theology prevents a candid interpretation of the Scriptures. It cannot be true if we guard ourselves, ADDRESS OF REV. DR. DURYEA. 4I as I have tried to guard myself, by determining that we will ever go from the Scriptures up to our theology, and back from our theology to the Scriptures. We will still • leave our categories open and hold our generalizations subject to the modifying force of the facts of the word. Under the light of proximate science our observation will be so much better directed and our labor so much more fruitful, that we shall sooner gather the facts that will re- pair the meagreness of our categories and the insuffi- ciency of our generalizations. But will not the resulting forms of thought tend to the enfeeblement of emotion ? Will not theoretical knowl- edge make the mind unpractical in its dealing with truth ? Are not theologians heavy in the pulpit ? Is not theology dry food for the people ? We need only to reply, the best theologians have been the best preachers, and the best preachers have been the most practical of men. The man who can write a System of Theology can write the Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans ; and the man who can write the Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, can write " the Way of Life." If theology gives satisfaction to the questioning mind by full responses from the total of truth, then theology can- not unfit the mind for the office of teaching. If clear and full conceptions of objects are necessary to intensity of feeling, and feeling is necessary to motive, and motive is necessary to character, and motive and character are ne- cessary to action, and the sum of action is the sum of life, then let us have the science that gives definitiveness and completeness to divine things, that we may come to full- ness of spiritual experience, and intenseness of spiritual life. 42 ADDRESSES. Holding firmly these views I am deeply convinced, and returning to this place from the people, I desire solemnly to express the conviction, that the future of our country and the world will demand a new race of preachers. Often have I felt that I could cheerfully sit upon these benches again, call these men masters once more, and retrace my way to the pulpit. We must have better men, Fathers and Brethren, even if we have fewer. If the hundreds become' scores, and the scores become tens, out of the ten we will place on the walls of Zion the man, " One blast upon whose bugle horn Were worth ten thousand men !" The people can do all the poor preaching that needs to be done. The pulpit must aspire after and attain to the very best. We need men who shall understand the con- stitution of the human soul, who shall master the philoso- phy of the mind, who shall train symmetrically every power, and gain the harmonious management of all their faculties ; who shall know how to address themselves to the Word of God under the methods of a true theology, who shall understand language so as to read the mind of the Spirit in the forms of the Spirit, who shall read themselves into the divine language so as to think with the Spirit rather than interpret him ; who shall hold the constitution of man in such com- plete and lucid survey as to be able to present truth in methods germane to the understanding, in colors winning to the affections, to apply motives directly to the lever points in the soul to move and lift it. Men who then shall stand with truth complete in memory as it is revealed, ADDRESS OF REV. DR. H. A. BOARDMAN. 43 vivid in the imagination as it can be conceived, their faculties sharper than any two-edged sword, as promptl}^ obedient as the hghtning to God's behests, ready at any moment to leap from chair or couch, and stand before the people, and articulate a complete embodiment of divine things which shall shine radiant and burn fervently before the human understanding and upon the human heart, nerved with confidence that comes with close familiarity with God, and thrilled with power from the Spirit resi- dent within them. Then will the Lord add to the church daily, such as shall be saved. Dj. Snodgrass then introduced the Rev. Dr. Henry A. Boardman, of Philadelphia, who, in the name of the Directors and Trustees of the Seminary, and of the Alumni, addressed Dr. Hodge, and spoke sub- stantially as follov^s : My Honored Father, Brother, Friend : — I am com- missioned by the Directors of our Seminary to present to you their cordial congratulations, and to assure you of the profound sense they entertain of the invaluable ser- vices you have rendered to the cause and kingdom of Christ. We this day bear our public testimony to the eminent ability, the ample and various learning, the prac- tical wisdom, the thorough conscientiousness, the un- swerving fidelity, and the humble, devout, earnest spirit which you have brought to the discharge of your high trust. We offer our thanksgivings to the Author of all good, that you have been spared to us so long, and in reviewing this half century of your labors, we reverently glorify God in you. 44 ADDRESSES. The occasion takes our thoughts back irresistibly to the origin of this School of the Prophets. At this hour, hallowed by so many tender and sacred memories, there rise before us the venerable forms of those two patriar- chal men, Drs. Alexander and Miller, in whose arms the institution was cradled. We gratefully acknowledge the Divine goodness and mercy in sparing them for forty years to impress themselves upon its character, to define its theology, to determine its direction, and to infuse into it the animating tone and spirit by which it was to be con- trolled in after tirhes. It was the universal feeling of our Church, that a mercy so signal was too great to be re- peated. Yet what hath God wrought ! The mantle of our Elijahs has certainly fallen upon our Elisha. Their associate first, and then, in the true line of the apostolical succession, their successor, he has taken up and carried forward their work, and we to-day commemorate a minis- tration, not of fort}^, but of fifty years, marked with every attribute which can command our homage, or win our gratitude. But I forget my errand. Assigned to a ser- vice to which I feel myself most unequal, and from which I sought in vain to escape, I am instructed to speak to you on behalf, not only of the Directors of our Seminary, but of the Alumni also. I have no words for this. Here, in the scene before us, is the only adequate expression that can be given to the feelings of your former pupils. From far and near, the aged and the young, moved by a common impulse, have hastened to this festal service. Commingled with them are the learned Faculties of other seminaries and colleges, distinguished laymen, and honor- ed legates of European Churches. No eye can look upon this sea of upturned faces without being impressed with ADDRESS OF REV. DR. H. A. BOARDMAN. 45 the spectacle. As interpreted by its object, and by the free, generous inspiration which pervades the entire body, it bears an aspect of moral beauty — nay, of moral sub- limity — beyond almost any convocation our Church, or even our country has witnessed. Who has ever seen a gathering hke this? Ovations to heroes, and statesmen, and authors are no novelty, but here is the spontaneous Jiomage paid to a simple teacher of God's Word, and de- fender of his truth, by a vast assemblage, worthily repre- senting the highest culture, and the most exalted moral worth of our land. No man of our times has received a tribute comprising, in an equal degree, the choice ele- ments that are blended here. And, my beloved friend and brother, there is but one name among the living that could have drawn this concourse together. Nor is this all. What we see, imposing as it is, is as nothing to what we do- not see. Of the twenty-seven hundred men who have sat at your feet, there are few in the field who are not here in spirit to-day. The wires are up, and there is a sweet tide of thought and sympathy flowing to us at this hour from our toiling brethren in Europe, in Africa, in Eastern Asia, in South America, and in the Isles of the Sea. It is not less for them I speak than for the hundreds of your students who are present, when I say we rejoice with you in this Jubilee ; from our heart of hearts we thank you for the priceless benefits we have received at your hands ; and we praise God for all that affluence of bless- ings which he has bestowed upon you, and through you upon his Church. Do not imagine, however, that we have come together merely to recognize in you the great expositor and defender of the faith once dehvered to the 46 ADDRESSES. saints. I appeal to 3^011, Fathers and Brethren, that it is not this sentiment only, nor mainly, which throbs in our breasts to-day. Beheld from a distance, even friendly eyes see on this ancient hill simply a giant oak, with its grand old branches swaying to the winds of heaven. But to us, branches and trunk alike are so covered with vines, and flow^ers, and clustering fruits, that we scarcely U'ot of the massive props that are underneath. And so, whatever of honest admiration we may feel for our gifted master, it is not that which brings us here, but the affec- tion rather which we cherish for him as an unselfish and sympathizing friend. If the homely phrase may be al- lowed, while we honor him for the great head which God has given him, we love him for his still greater heart. Allusion has been made to the type of theology taught in this Seminary. It has two leading characteristics. In the first place, the principle upon which it rests, and which underlies every part and parcel of the lofty super- structure, is the absolute, universal, and exclusive supre- macy of the Word of God as the rule of faith and prac- tice. A censorious critic said the other day, derisively, in reviewing the volumes of Theology lately published : " It is enough for Dr. Hodge to believe a thing to be true that he finds it in the Bible ! " We accept the token. Dr. Hodge has never got beyond the Bible. It contains every jot and tittle of his theology. And woe be to this Seminary whenever any man shall be called to fill one of its chairs, who gets his theology from any other source. The second characteristic of this system is that it is a Christology. Christ is its central sun ; its pervading element ; the stem from which every thing in dogma, in precept, in religious experience, radiates, and towards ADDRESS OF REV. DR. H. A. BOARDMAN. 47- which every thing- returns. Not as a mere anatomy does Christ dwell here — the crown of a speculative organism, symmetrical and complete, but without flesh and blood and vitality. Rather is He the living soul that animates, and guides, and hallows the whole. If a theology must needs take somewhat of its essential tone from the temper of its expounder, who can marvel that the theology of this institution should be instinct with a gentle, loving, hum- ble, Christ-like spirit ? To be permitted to set forth and inculcate a system like this, even in the ordinary routine of personal labor, is no trivial privilege. But what honor, beloved Brother, has God put upon you ! For fifty years you have been training men to- preach the glorious gospel of the grace of God to their fellow-sinners. The teacher of teachers, your pupils have become Professors in numerous Colleges and Semi- naries at home and abroad. Not to speak of one or two thousand pastors, who are exerting an ameliorating in- fluence upon this nation more potent than that of an equal number of men belonging to any other calling, you are helping, through your students, to educate a great body of Christian ministers, not a few of whom are to be em- ployed in laying the foundations of Christianity in pagan lands. And now there is superadded that which all your friends regard as the crowning mercy of your life, viz. : that health and strength have been given you to complete and publish the only comprehensive work on Systematic Theology in our own or any other language, which com- prises the latest results of sound scriptural exegesis, dis- cusses the great themes of the Augustinian system from an evangehcal standpoint, and deals satisfactorily v^dth the sceptical speculations of modern philosophy' and 48 ADDRESSES. science. In thus supplying what was confessedly, in the way of authorship, the most urgent want of Protestant Christendom, you have extended indefinitely the range of your beneficent power. Your Theology must soon become the Hand-Book of all students of the Reformed faith who speak the English tongue. Where you have taught scores, you will now teach hundreds ; and where you have taught hundreds, you will teach thousands. Thus, through your pupils, dispersed over the four quarters of the globe, and through this great work, comprising your mature views in the noblest of all sciences, is your influence extending in ever- multiplying, ever-widening, concentric circles, until the mind is awed in attempting to conceive, not of its possi- ble, but of its certain results, as the ages come and go. That you should live to see this mighty mechanism in motion — to guide into so many of its countless channels this broad stream from the Fountain of. living waters, is a distinction so rare and so exalted that we cannot but look upon you as a man greatly beloved of God, and honored as He has honored scarcely any other individual of our age. When He has thus spoken, we have no right to be silent. We render the praise to Him whose provi- dence and grace have made you what you are, and given you to us and to His Church. Again do we offer our thanksgivings for all that He has done and is doing for our Seminary, for the Church, and for the world through your instrumentality. Again with one heart and voice do we, the Directors, Trustees, and Alumni of the Semi- nary, the Faculties and graduates of sister institutions, the representatives of the other Hberal professions, and your friends of every name and calling here assembled. ADDRESS OF REV. DR. HODGE. 49 congratulate you on this auspicious anniversary, and pay you the tribute of our grateful love. " The Lord bless you, and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto j'ou. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace ! " As Dr. Hodge rose to reply, the audience spon- taneously rose, and a large portion remained standing until he had finished his response, which was as fol- lows: Gentlemen of the Board of Directors and of the Board of Trustees, Friends from abroad who have honored this occasion by your presence, and dear Brethren of the Alumni, I greet you. A man is to be commiserated who is called upon to attempt the impossible. The certainty of failure does not free him from the necessity of the effort. It is impossible that I should make you understand the feelings which swell my heart almost to bursting. Language is an im- perfect vehicle of thought ; as an expression of emotion it is utterly inadequate. We say, " I thank you," to a ser- vant who hands us a glass of water ; and we thank God for our salvation. The same word must answer these widely different purposes ; yet there is no other. When I say I thank you for all your respect, confidence) and love, I say nothing, I am powerless, I can only bow down before you with tearful gratitude, and call on God to bless you, and to reward you a hundredfold for all your goodness. Allow me to say one word. I have been fifty years connected with this Seminary as professor. During all 4 50 ADDRESSES. 'I . those years no student has ever hurt my feehngs by any unkind word or act. You are disposed to cover — to overwhelm me with your commendations. It is you who should be commended and blessed. But I am not here to speak of myself. Let me speak of the Seminary. Brethren, I too am an Alumnus, I share your feelings. We love our Alma Mater, not because she is fairer, richer, or better than other mothers, but because she is our Mother. Dr. Board man has anticipated in part what I wished to say. Princeton Seminary is what it is, and what, I trust it will ever continue to be, because Archibald Alexander and Samuel Miller were what they were. The law of the fixedness and transmissibility of types pervades all the works of God. The wheat we now grow, grew on the banks of the Nile before the pyramids were built. Every nation of the earth is now what it is, because of the character of its ancestors. Every State of our Union owes its present character to that of its original settlers. This holds good even of counties. Before the middle of the last century a whole church with its pastor emigrated from Massachusetts to Liberty County, Geor- gia ; and that county is the Eden of Georgia to this day. It is a proverb that the child is father of the man. The same law controls the life of institutions. What they are during their forming period, they continue to be. This is the reason why this Institution owes its character to Dr. Alexander and Dr. Miller. Their controlling in- fluence is not to be referred so much to their learning, or to their superior abilities, as to their character and principles. It was of course not peculiar to them that they were ADDRESS OF REV. DR. HODGE. 5 1 sincere, spiritual, Christian men. This may be said of the founders of all our Theological Seminaries. But there are different types of religion even among true be- lievers. The religion of St. Bernard and of John Wesley ; of Jeremy Taylor and of Jonathan Edwards, although .essentially the same, had in each case its peculiar charac- ter. Every great historical Church has its own type of piety. As there are three persons in the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so there appear to be three general forms of religion among evangelical Christians. There are some whose religious experience is determined mainly by what is taught in the Scriptures concerning the Holy Spirit. They dwell upon his inward work on the heart, on his indwelling, his illumination, on his life-giving power; they yield themselves passively to His influence to exalt them into fellowship with God. Such men are disposed more or less to mysticism. There are others whose religious life is determined more by their relation to the Father, to God as God ; who look upon Him as a sovereign, or law-giver ; who dwell upon the grounds of obligation, upon responsibility and ability, and upon the subjective change by which the sinner passes from a state of rebellion to that of obe- dience. Then there are those in whom the form of religion, as Dr. Boardman has said, is distinctively Christological. I see around me Alumni whose heads are as grey as my own. They will unite with me in testifying that this is the form of religion in which we were trained. While our teachers did not dissuade us from looking within and searching for evidences of the Spirit's work in the heart, they con- stantly directed us to look only unto Jesus — Jehovah 52 ADDRESSES. Jesus — Him in whom are united all that is infinite and awful indicated by the name Jehovah; and all that is human, and tender, and sympathetic, forbearing and lov- ing, implied in the name Jesus. If any student went to Dr. Alexander, in a state of despondence, the venerable mao was sure to tell him, " Look not so much within.^ Look to Christ. Dwell on his person, on his work, on his promises, and devote yourself to his service, and you will soon find peace." When I was about leaving Berlin on my return to America, the friends whom God had given me in that city were kind enough to send me an Album, in which they had severally written their names, and a few lines as remarks. What Neander wrote was in Greek, and in- cluded these words : Ovdev hv tavru) notJiing in oiirself ev Kvpioi Ttdvra all things in the Lord ; (^ fiovG) dovXeveiv 66^a ml Kavxqua %vhom alo7ie to serve is a glory and a Joy. These words our old professors would have inscribed in letters of gold over the portals of this Seminary, there to re- main in undiminished brightness as long as the name of Princeton lingers in the memory of man. Again, Drs. Alexander and Miller were not speculative men. They were not given to new methods or new theories. They were content with the faith once delivered to the saints. I am not afraid to say that a new idea never originated in this Seminary. Their theological method was very simple. The Bible is the word of God. That is to be assumed or proved. If granted ; then it follows, that what the Bible says, God says. That ends the matter. There recently resided in this village a venerable lady, as distinguished for her strength of character as for her ADDRESS OF REV. DR. HODGE. 53 piety. A sceptical friend once said to her, " My dear madam, it is impossible that a woman of your sense can believe that story in the Bible, about the whale swallow- ing Jonah." She replied with emphasis, "Judge, if the Bible said that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would be- lieve it." That may have been said by others ; I know it was said by her. I am not authorized to affirm that Dr. Alexander would say the same thing. But he would come pretty near it. And he is no true Princetonian who will not come as near to it as he can. But admitting that the Bible is the word of God, there are different principles of interpretation which may be applied to it. Instead of understanding it in its plain historical sense, there are those who say that the letter killeth, the spirit maketh alive ; that the literal sense amounts to nothing ; that it is the hidden mystical sense which alone is of value. Others adopt what may be called the philosophical method. They admit that there are doctrines in the Bible, which are the objects of faith in the common people ; but these are only the forms under which lie abstract truths, which it is the business of the philosopher to elicit. He throws the doctrinal for- mulas of Christianity into his retort and transmutes them into gas; thus losing the substance with the form. Thus the doctrine of Providence, or the control of all events by an extramundane, personal God, who governs by his voluntary agency the operations of second causes, work- ing with them or without them, so that it rains at one time and not at another, according to his good pleasure ; all this is evaporated into cosmical arrangements, leaving us no other God to pray to than the forces of nature. The same principle is applied to the doctrines of redemp- 54 ADDRESSES. tion. We were taught by our venerable fathers to take the Bible in the sense in which it was plainly intended to be understood. The principles above stated are those on which those who founded this Institution acted. These are the prin- ciples which have determined its character, and give it its hold on the hearts of its Alumni. Brethren, I said I am an Alumnus. I know the feel- ings with which you revisit your Alma Mater. Those feelings are very complex, including those with which children return to the home of their childhood, and those with which a man, with uncovered head and unsandaled feet, enters the cemetery of his fathers. Here are the tombs of Dickinson and Burr, of Edwards, of Davies and of their illustrious successors in the presidency of our sister-institution. Here lie the ashes of Archibald Alex- ander and of Samuel Miller. The memory of these men constitutes the aureola which surrounds the brows of Princeton, a glory which excites no envy, and yet attracts all eyes. After the benediction had been pronounced by Rev. Dr. Musgrave, of Philadelphia, the meeting of the Alumni for which the original plan and invitation had made provision, was called to order. The following constitution based on that of an old organization of the Alumni was adopted : T. The name of this Association shall be The Alumni Association of Princeton Theological Seminary. n. All who have been Students in the Seminary shall CONSTITUTION. 55 be regarded, if they please, as members of this Associa- tion. III. The object of the Association shall be the pro- motion of brotherly love among its members, and the advancement of the interests of the Seminary. IV. The Professors, Directors, and Trustees of the Seminary shall be regarded as ex-officio members of this Association. V. The officers of the Association shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, who shall be elected annually, and continue in office until others are chosen to succeed them. VI. The officers, with three other members to be annually chosen, shall be an Executive Committee with power to attend to the business of the Association, in the intervals of its meetings. VII. The Stated Meetings of the Association shall be held annually in Princeton on the same day with the regular Annual Meeting of the Directors at the close of the Seminary year, at such hour as may be appointed from year to year. VIII. Special Meetings of the Association shall be called by the President on the written request of five members, notice thereof being given in two religious papers at least two weeks previous to its occurrence. 56 ADDRESSED The following officers were chosen for the ensuing year : • President — Rev. John C. Backus, D.D. Vice-President — Rev. Charles K. Imbrie, D.D. Secretary — Rev. Wm. E. Schenck, D.D. Treasurer — Rev. William Harris. Executive Committee — The President, Secretary and Treasurer, with Rev. W. Henr}'- Green, D.D., Rev. W. C. Cattell, D.D., and Rev. S. D. Alexander, D.D. Professor Green reported the result of the endeavor to secure an endowment for the " Charles Hodge Pro- fessorship." The afternoon meeting was conducted under the auspices of the newly organized Association, and at its close the Association adjourned to meet next year in connection with the Anniversary Exercises of 1873. At 3:30 p. M., the appointed hour, Rev. John C. Backus, D.D., of Baltimore, the President of the Alumni Association took the chair, and announced the object of the afternoon's gathering as follows : Alumni and Friends of Princeton Seminary, — We are met here after the interesting exercises of the morn- ing, and the hour spent around the festal board, to ex- press what is in our hearts with reference to this long and honorable service of our father, brother, teacher and friend. Let me then say to you that we have here representatives from various classes during the whole history of the Semi- nary, and also from other Institutions and denominations, and some from other lands, who have come here to sympa- ADDRESS OF REV. DR. JOHN C. BACKUS. 57 thize and unite with us in paying- this tribute. The time of service we have come to commemorate is indeed a long one, but the hours are very few and short. I am directed by the Committee who have had charge of the arrangements, to say to all, that the hearts of all are full and many lips will desire to express their congratulations ; and to ask our speakers to remember that after each one a number will come ; and though we do not limit their time, unless you choose to adopt the hour rule, [laughter,] we only remind you of this state of things. The Chairman of the Com- mittee will read the order under which we are to proceed. In accordance with the proposed plan the President first announced the presence of Rev. J. L. Porter, D.D., LL.D., of Belfast, Ireland, as a special represen- tative of the Assembly's College in that city. Dr. Porter, who received a very hearty greeting, spoke as follows, in fulfilment of his commission : Mr. Chairman and Christian Friends, — I have been commissioned by the Faculty of Assembly's College, Belfast, to read to you, and present to the Board of Mana- gers, this letter. [The letter was then read.*] Sir, I esteem it one of the very highest honors that could be conferred upon me to have an opportunity, in person, of presenting this letter to you, and to your dis- tinguished colleague, Dr. Hodge. It may, perhaps, tend to give some faint idea of the deep interest entertained upon this subject by my College, and, indeed, by the * For this and the other congratulatory addresses, and extracts from the correspondence which has accumulated in the hands of the Committee of Arrangements, see Part III, 58 ADDRESSES. whole Church to which I belong, when I state that the Faculty, with the concurrence of the Theological Com- mittee of the Assembly, requested me — I may even say, enjoined me — to leave Ireland before the close of the col- legiate session, in order that I might be present with you this day. [Applause.] I stand here, probably, the only representative from the old world. I know not whether I am or not, but I believe I am the only representative from the old world of the feeling entertained by theolo- gians on the other side of the Atlantic towards Dr. Hodge and the distinguished Faculty of Princeton. I believe, sir, that I shall not go beyond the boundaries of my commission ; I am sure, sir, that I shall not exceed what would be the desire of all those who live beyond the sea, if I here, at this time, venture to communicate to you and to Dr. Hodge the high feelings of regard, esteem, and honor entertained toward him by the whole body of evangelical Protestantism in Great Britain and in Europe. Sir, we are separated by the broad Atlantic ; but after the eloquent address which I heard this day, and after reading the works which Dr. Hodge has given to the world, I need not say that we are one. Truth knows no geo- graphical boundaries ; the unity of the faith can never be affected by the accidents of time, or space, or circumstan- ces. Luther, Calvin, Knox — and, I shall add, Jonathan Ed- wards — though separated by nationality — though the re- presentatives, perhaps, to some extent of different coun- tries, and though divided by time as well as by space, 5^et were one in the noblest and in the best sense. And now, sir, the countries of Luther, of Calvin, of Knox, this day desire to join with the intellect and learning of the great nation to which Edwards belonged in conveying to Dr. ADDRESS OF REV. DR. J. L. PORTER. 59 Hodge a tribute of their united esteem, and in recogniz- ing in him a true son of the great fathers of the Reforma- tion. Sir, the name of Dr. Hodge has been known in Great " Britain for more than a third of a century. I remember well, when a student in the University of Edinburgh, and when I had the honor of sitting at the feet of the illustri- ous Chalmers, even then, old story as it is, among those authors to whom Dr. Chalmers directed the special atten- tion of the students under his care, was that distinguished man whom I have had the pleasure of meeting for the first tirpe this day — Dr. Hodge. [Applause.] Sir, the founda- tions of his European fame were laid by his work upon the Epistle to the Romans. As year after year passed, polished stones, hewn by him from the rock of truth, were added to the structure; then the pillars, stately and stead- fast, were made of those noble Princeton Essays ; and now, at last, the hands of the venerable theologian are placing the top-stone of Systematic Divinity upon that structure, and thus consecrating the whole to the service of our common God. Perhaps, sir, if I am not trespassing too much upon your time, I may be permitted to say that there are special cir- cumstances connected with our condition on the east of the Atlantic which render the services of Dr. Hodge par- ticularly valuable at the present time. We, sir, in Britain, and indeed in Europe, have at the present moment two great, two gigantic systems of error to contend against. We have Popery on the one hand, we have Infidelity on the other ; and in the battle which we have to wage with each of those, Dr. Hodge has rendered to us, as he has rendered to you, the most signal service. Sir, we can look 6o ADDRESSES. back over the pages of history and we can see how Mar- tin Luther grasped the taUsman of Divine truth and smote that colossal fabric of error which had so long enslaved Europe ; and now we see after the lapse of centuries that same talisman taken up by the hand of a master among yourselves, who has not only wielded it for the defence of truth and the overthrow of error, but has fitted it for the hand of thousands throughout the world, and has, in his " Systematic Theology," put into our hands that same instrument by which, we trust, under the Divine guidance and by the Divine blessing, even yet to smite to the earth the colossal fabric of Popish tyranny in poor, oppressed Ireland ! And then we have to contend with infidelity — infidelity with its insidious teaching — infidelity with its false and fatal philosophy — infidelity that would strip the Bible of all that is noble and true — infidelity that would extract from it the Divine Hfe-principle and leave it a cold, dead, withered skeleton ; and Dr. Hodge has taught us, as no man taught us before, with clearness, with precision, with logical power, how we are to meet- this false system, and how we are to show to Darwin, and Colenso, and others of that school, that we have a philoso- phy better than theirs, that we have principles nobler than theirs, and that we are able to meet them on their own ground, and show that the truths of theology are in accordance with the very highest achievements of human genius and human learning. Need I say more in respect to services Dr. Hodge has rendered to us and to the world. Surel}'' we are justified, surely we are bound, surely we are constrained to convey to you from Britain, from Ire- land, from Europe, the tribute of our thanks to Dr. Hodge, and of our congratulation upon all the honor he ADDRESS OF REV. DR. JAMES M'^COSH. 6 1 has done to this College, upon all the services he has ren- dered to your noble country, and to the whole theologi- cal world. May I be permitted to say, in conclusion, 1 rejoice to see the old man still strong ; I was rejoiced to hear the old man still eloquent, and to feel . that those tones which have entered the hearts, as I know, of so many of his students, are plaintive and persuasive as they were of old. I trust that the influence he has exercised, and the services he has rendered, will be continued to a distant day, and that he may be long spared, an ornament of this Seminary, and honor to your country, and a bless- ing to the world. * Rev. James "McCosh, D.D., LL.D., President of the College of New Jersey, was next introduced, to pre- sent others of the congratulatory addresses which had been received from abroad. He spoke as follows : I appear for three sisters who regret very much that they cannot be here this day to speak for themselves. They are daughters of that old Church of Scotland who is the mother of us all. The oldest was born in stormy times, was baptized in the blood of martyrs and cradled in the rocks of her country, and she has ever since retained the impress she received in her younger days, and you may see it in her gravity, her high toned principle and spirit of self-sacri- * Dr. Porter had intended to include in his tribute the announcement that " Dr. Hodge's ' Systematic Theology,' has, with the full concurrence of the Faculty, been adopted as the text-book in the Assembly's College, Belfast, the best proof we can give of the high value we attach to that noble con- tribution to Theological literature." 62 ADDRESSES. fice. She is the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scot- land, and she is the descendant and the heir of the Cove- nanting Church whose sons were hunted Hke wild beasts on the mountains. She has set a noble example to her younger sisters. She has not only employed an Old Mortality, to renew the defaced tomb-stones of her mar- tyred heroes, but she has held forth to all lands and to succeeding generations the truths involved in her battle- cry, " Christ's Crown and Covenant." The literary men who write history have never known what Great Britain and America owe to that old Covenanting Church which for twenty-eight years, when the Puritans were contented with a passive resistance, bade open defiance to the tyran- ny of Charles II., and James II., and withstood the whole Cavaher strength of England, and with the blue flag wav- ing over them defended the ark of God in their moun- tain fastnesses till a better time came. Their blood dyed red the heather hills of their country, but they were never conquered and their principles yet live and permeate Scotland and have gone into other lands ; for to them and their movement we owe the Scotch and the Scotch-Irish population and the Presbyterian church in this land ; and these it might be shown have acted an important part in promoting a spirit of lofty independence and a love of libert}^ in America. Now the able theological professors of that Church declare that Dr. Hodge is the ablest liv- ing defender of those great Bible truths which have pro- duced and fostered what is greatest and noblest in Scot- land ; and they have instructed me, the unworthy descen- dant of men who fought at Drumclog and Bothwell Brig to say so to Dr. Hodge and the American people. The second daughter who bids me speak for her had ADDRESS OF REV. DR. JAMES McCOSH. 63 also to face tyranny civil and ecclesiastical in her young- er years. It is the United Presbyterian Church of Scot- land the church of the Erskines and of Gillespie, When the rights of the Christian people and the old faith of Scotland were being trampled on by a worldly government fostering a worldly set of ministers, she had the courage to secede from the church established by law, and to or- ganize a Christian community which kept the fire burn- ing on the altar in the coldest days and darkest nights of the Church of Scotland. Like the churches in this coun- try she has- long disentangled herself from all State con- nections, to give herself wholly to the work of propaga- ting the Gospel. At first poor and despised like her Mas- ter, she is now, having been blessed of God, strong and healthy, and numbers upwards of 600 congregations. But in the days of her prosperity she is resolved to ad- here to the faith that cheered and sustained her in the days of her trial. In her theological school, conducted by learned and excellent men, she uses as one of her text- books the " Outlines of Theology," by the worthy son of the worthy sire who has given the name to the Princeton Theology. And now through her metropoHtan Presbyte- ry, which on this point may be regarded as speaking the sentiments governing every other Presbytery, she joins this day in the congratulations to Dr. Hodge. I am especially drawn toward the third sister, who se- cured the attachment of my youth, and for whom I still bear a very tender regard, notwithstanding the connec- tions I have formed in this country. I refer now to the Free Church of Scotland of which I still reckon myself a min- ister. She too had to begin her life with a deed of self- sacrifice. Four hundred and fifty of us in one day relin- 64 ADDRESSES. quished all we had in this world, and this without know- ing how we were to be sustained. The people answered nobly to the appeal made to them, and catching the spirit of self-sacrifice, they have continued by means of a Gene- ral Sustentation Fund, to support their pastors in a way which no other unendowed church has succeeded in doing. While leaving the Established Church, the Free Church adheres to the doctrinal principles of the old Church of Scotland. She looks on Charles Hodge and her own William Cunningham, as the greatest theologi- ans of this age. Nor is it only among the theologians that the name of Dr. Hodge is known and appreciated ; it is esteemed by the thinking portion of the common people. I remember that when Hodge's " Way of Life " was add- ed to the library of the congregation with w^hich I was connected, there was a keen competition between a ser- vant girl and a hand-loom weaver as to which should get the first reading. The professors of the three theological colleges of the Free Church, at Edinburgh, at Glasgow and Aberdeen have honored me by making me the bearer of this address signed by very distinguished names. These three churches are not united in one, but they are negotiating for this purpose, and they are meanwhile joining in various evangelistic labors, and they all join this day in bearing this testimony in favor of Dr. Hodge and his theology. I think that in all this we have proof that the head and the heart of all Scotland are sound, and that notwithstanding the attempt made by some to make her ape the Broad Churchism of England, a process which would end in bringing back the wretched Moderat- ism which good men thought that they had buried out of sight. Some look on that old theology as the Jews ADDRESS OF REV. HUGH SMYTH. 65 regarded the Saviour, as a root out of a dry ground. And it is indeed a root well planted and spreading out roots like Lebanon, and, because it is a root and not a mere cut flower which must soon wither, bearing new and fresh branches. " His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Leban- on." That good old theology seems to me very like the character of him whom we this day delight to honor, and in whom we have the clear intellect, the fervent faith, with a love like that of Jonathan, " passing the love of women." . Rev. Hugh Smyth, of Whitehouse, (near Belfast,) Ireland, presented an address from Magee College, Londonderry Ireland, portions of which he read, and added : Permit me. Sir, to add a very few words on my own behalf, and in explanation of the position which I have the honor to occupy before this assemblage. It was the intention of the authorities of Magee College to send one of their own professors to this- celebration in token of their high esteem for the distinguished divine, whose writings and whose name are as well-known in Ireland as they are in New Jersey. But the professor who would have received the commission was unable to leave Ireland sufficiently early to make his appearance here to-day. It so happened, that I am the first student whose theologi- cal education was completed at Magee College, and, in addition to this, it was my good fortune to have taken the whole of my undergraduate course at Nassau Hall, so that it was considered not inappropriate that I should be em- ployed in the pleasing embassy which has been commit- 5 66 ADDRESSES. ted to me. Sir, I hope that your kindness will be tolerant of these personal allusions. When referring to such a man as Dr. Charles Hodge, the language of panegyric is excusable only when it as- sumes the form of most profound gratitude. And any thing that I can say in regard to Dr. Hodge must be based upon a sense of personal obligation. And yet I do not regret that this is the case, for I have learned enough of Dr. Hodge to be convinced that he is far better pleased to knov/, that he has conferred benefits upon the rank and file of the Presbyterian ministry, than that he has elicited the encomiums of the captains of the host of the Presby- terian army. I came here to say that the rising genera- tion of Presbyterian ministers in Ireland are being train- ed in that old theology which has been referred to so fre- quently to-day, and which has been so long taught in the Seminary at Princeton. So far as I know the new-fangled theology of Germany and the latitudinarian school of Oxford, have found no footing whatever in the Presby- terian Church of Ireland. And I am sure that the writ- ings of Dr. Hodge will have a most salutary effect in fortifying the theological students in Great Britain and Ireland, as well as in America, against that spirit of rest- lessness which is satisfied to sacrifice orthodoxy for the sake of novelty. Sir, in Ireland we intend to go on in the old paths, and we rejoice to know that one of the hands that shall hold the lamp to our feet is that of the illustrious theologian whom we are met this day to honor. That I have been permitted to take a part, even so humble in this celebration, I consider an inestimable privilege, and I shall so look back upon it as long as I ADDRESS OF REV. DR. JOSEPH T. SMITH. 6/ live, and am spared to peruse the writings of our eminent and reverend father. , y Rev. Joseph T. Smith, D.D., of Baltimore, Md., of the Committee, said : I have a very large number of communications of the same complexion, which have been placed in the hands of the Committee, some of them from hterary and theologi- cal institutions in all sections of our own country, some from abroad. There is one from the University of Edin- burgh, and one from the Professors of Theology of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which are just the echo of those we have heard from other parts ot Great Britain. Some letters I should be glad to read. We have them from the Theological Seminaries at Bangor, Boston, New Haven, Auburn, the Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Philadelphia, the Lutheran Theolo- gical Seminary at Gettysburg, the United Presbyterian Seminary of the Northwest, the Union Theological Semi- nary of Virginia, from the Faculty and from a Committee of the Students of the Seminary at Columbia, S. C, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Greenville, S. C, the Theological Department of Cumberland Univer- sity at Lebanon, Tenn., Danville Theological Seminary, Ky., Lane Theological Seminary, Ohio, and the youngest born of all our Seminaries, the Presbyterian Seminary at San Francisco, Cal.* * Deputations were also present during the earlier part of the day from the Reformed Theological Seminary, at New Brunswick, the U. P. Semi- nary at Newburgh, N. Y., the Drew Theological Seminary at Madison, N. J., and the Crozer Theological Seminary at Upland, Pa. 68 ADDRESSES. Then of the Colleges we have communications from Williams, Amherst, Dartmouth, Brown, the University of Pennsylvania, Ursinus College, Pa., Columbian, Hampden Sidney, Miami University, the Universities of Wooster, O., of East Tennessee at Knoxville, and of Mississippi, from Hanover College, Ind., and Westminster College, Mo.* We have also letters from individual pupils and friends of Dr. Hodge, who regret their inability to be with us to- day. Prof. Henry B. Smith, D.D., LL.D., of New York, was announced as the representative of the Union Theological Seminary, and said in response to the Chairman's call : Mr. Chairman and Brethren : — It is only the acci- dent of my being born two or three years earlier that pre- vents you from hearing some more eloquent representa- ■tive of our institution ; for %ve are all here. [Applause.] I think that we are the banner institution in coming to celebrate this high festival. How rarely comes a golden wedding ! How much more rare is the semi-centennial of a professor even in a college ! There is one accomplished semi-centenarian of a College in New England whom I have seen here to-day — my former instructor.! And there is also present the revered and venerable recent President of Nas- sau Hall ; long may he still live to see the grow- *The University of the City of New York, Union College, Lafayette, Rutgers, Pennsylvania and Bowdoin were also represented by their Presi- dents, or other members of their Faculties. f Prof. A. S. Packard, D.D., of Bowdoin College, ADDRESS OF PROF. HENRY B. SMITH. 69 ing g-lory of the College he has nurtured and adorn- ed ! [Applause.] But for the first time in America we celebrate to-day the semi-centennial of a professor in a theological institution. It is a matter of sincere con- gratulation that the merit is as incontestible as are the years. To speak on such an occasion is embarrassing, because there is so rnuch that might be said, because there are so many to speak, because there is so much that has already been said, and also because we cannot speak of the living as we do in memory of the departed, nor can we speak before the present as we would about the absent. But after all, this assemblage itself, is the great speech of this occasion. [Applause.] All these ministers and men gathered from all parts of our land, from all parts of the world, are here to do honor to one most honorable name, to testify to the power and in- fluence of a long and noble Hfe, consecrated to the highest welfare of our country as well as to the service of the Church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We have not come together to-day merely to honor the man who is so worthy of our honor, but rather to i^ecog- nize the honor which has been laid upon him by the Great Head of the Church. It is an occasion for us, and for this Theological Seminary to celebrate that divine goodness, and that gracious Providence which has given us such a life and such a character, producing results so wide- spread and beneficent. It is the work of God's grace and favor to his Church which to-day we would chiefly celebrate, — in training a man under such circumstances, and giving him so great success in his labors, and ena- bling him after fifty years of work to look back upon it all, and tell with thankful heart what the Lord hath done for 70 ADDRESSES. him. In comparison with such a life I do not know what glory in peace or war can be called greater, or more worthy of the highest style of manliness or manhood. God chooses his instruments ; and we can now see for half a century what has been the method of his Pro- vidence in the nurture and shaping of a marked life. Born in the midst of Christian influences, nurtured in that Church which is the Christian mother of us all, trained in those grand and ever enduring doctrmesof our Reformed system which are to-day the strength of our country in all its parts, learned in the Scriptures, always teaching the same theological system of which he is a master, through all his career teaching in the same Seminary, and then fully trained, as is most fit and meet, for Seminary work, living to see gathered around him nearly three thousand students now gone abroad and preaching every- where, and having never heard, (as he himself told us) a word that wounded him from any one of them, — such a life is one which we may well contemplate with devout thankfulness to Him who is its giver and its guide. Here too we may find what is of common interest to the whole Church, to other institutions as well as this, — in some respects to our whole country. Although, of course, the Alumni have the chief part to-day, and we but come to ratify what they decree, yet the influence of such a life cannot be restricted ; its lines have gone out far and wide ; it has borne its fruits abroad as well as at home ; it is of signal importance to the social, moral, and even pohtical culture and elevation of our whole wide country. And there is another circumstance about this celebra- tion which we may well emphasize ; and that is, that here ADDRESS OF PROF. HENRY B. SMITH. 7 1 we meet, as we so seldom can, to pay due honor also to Theo- logy ; to see what Theology is, and means, and how it is needed for the highest welfare and true progress of the nation. Literature is spoken of every day, and appeals to all ; merely literary men live in a popular atmosphere. But Theology must be studied in comparative seclusion ; its fruits are fruits of mature years ; and they come to be known in their full value only after a long lapse of time. And now a-days when we have so much to oppose it both on the side of Romanism and on the side of Infidelity, it becomes us to honor theology all the more, and to seek fitting opportimities for expressing our sense of its vital necessit3\ Our theological institutions, too, must be built up firmly, and manned for their great work. Their foundations must be strengthened ; their course of in- struction made more scientific and more practical, that they may be well furnished for raising up a suitable ministry for the coming generation. For that ministry has an arduous and formidable work to accomplish in this land, in doing battle against the hosts that are assailing hot only the outposts but the very citadel of our Reform- ed faith, — that faith in which our land was planted, by which it has been blessed, and under which it is to grow until it may become the joy of the whole earth. [Ap- plause.] In behalf of our Seminary, then, I would congratulate him whose name is on all our hps to-day, for the high honor to which he has been called, and for the eminent success vouchsafed to him. We offer to him the expres- sion of our deep and unfeigned esteem and affection. May he yet live many years to receive the grateful tributes of the Church which he has always loved, and which loves 72 ADDRESSES. him so well. And above all, may he now and evermore be blessed with all spiritual blessings in Jesus Christ our Lord! Rev. M. W. Jacobus, D.D., LL.D., of the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny : Ten years ago we met, and it was the Jubilee of our Alma Mater. To-day it is the Jubilee of her birthright son, born in the house — priest of the household — with a double portion of the inheritance. Allegheny will not be slow to bear her congratulations on this occasion to the distinguished Professor, who is the father of us all, for in the faculty at Allegheny, if we except our venerable Emeritus Professor, who was be- fore the Seminaries, and our Junior Professor, who was reared among ourselves — we are all from Princeton ; and we are glad to acknowledge our maternity and our paternity to-day. What more could Dr. Hodge have done for Princeton or Allegheny than he has done ? He has set his living seal upon our Chair of Theology even as upon his own. He has given us a body of Divinity in the body* (laughter). He has given us systematic Theology in his own system in the flesh (laughter). And to-day we rejoice that we have an outline — an abstract shall I say — a second Edition of Dr. Hodge (laughter). But it is the only copy extant, and we here advertise that we do not loan it to our best friends (laughter). And I protest that it is not to be removed from our premises on any pretext whatever (great laughter). * Dr. A. A, Hodge. ADDRESS OF REV. DR. M. W. JACOBUS. 73 Andover ! Princeton! Allegheny! Andover, 1808 • Princeton, 1812 ; Allegheny, 1825. Andover Seminary errew out of an awakened zeal for the conversion of the heathen — when those young men in Williams College were praying and purposing for the evangehzation of the pagan world. Princeton grew out of a quickened interest in Home Missions — when, as the Pastoral Letter of the Assembly states, there were four hundred vacant churches crying for ministers — and they could not be supplied — besides the whole Western Reserve of that day, destitute of a gospel ministry that must needs be raised up. And Allegheny grew out of the clamoring wants of the great Valley of the Mississippi, loud in its outcry for men, and opening before the Church the immense field for mission- ary operations. So that we stand to-day — Princeton and Allegheny — shaking hands across the mountains, intent upon the great object of evangelizing our beloved country, and of send- ing missionaries also to the pagan world. It was only on Thursday of the last week that we had a Reunion of the Allegheny Alumni, on the occasion of laying the corner stone of a Fire-proof Library Building. Between two and three hundred of our graduates came up to our Jerusalem — some from China and from Japan, and from Puget Sound and from Colorado, and Nebraska and Kansas, and from all the broad West. And our Alphabetical Roll was called, and more than a thousand names were read. These are the grandchildren to be added to the twenty-seven hundred children mentioned here to-day. The children and grandchildren bear testimony toge- ther, to the distinguished services of him whose name u^ 74 ADDRESSES. has so often been spoken with high honor amongst us. When I was at the Seminary Drs. Alexander and Miller were in their prime. And as to Dr. Hodge, we literally sat at his feet (laughter), as he was stretched out upon his lounge in his temporary infirmity. And his own study was the class-room for a season. That study that we had regarded with a salutary awe, until we became familiar wnth it in our recitations. And there the department of Biblical criticism, manuscripts, versions, editions, citations — not commonly attractive — was spread out before us with a novelty and a freshness which made it interesting to us all. And it is worthy of remark that Dr. Hodge passed to the Chair of Theology by way of the Exegetical Chair, as first the expounder of the Old and New Testaments, having laid the foundations of his theology in this accurate and thorough exposition of the Word of God. It is by this means that his theology is so eminently Bibhcal, and is fortified so fully by passages of God's word. We note the fact as interesting and suggestive — that is the true theology which is the Biblical theology. As Luther has said — " What is theology but the grammar and dictionary applied to the very words of Scripture ?" This is the theology which we have learned, and in which we rejoice to-day. And then, when we think of a half century's work in this high department, dealing with the loftiest theories and solving the profoundest problems of truth, who can estimate the power that has gone forth from the lips and pen of this distinguished Professor. I think of the beginning — Dr. Alexander, in 1812, sitting solus, with three students— when Dr. Ashbel Green ADDRESS OF REV. DR. M. W. JACOBUS. 75 was President of the College, and when the troops were marching through the town for the war, Dr. Miller join- ing him the year after, and then Alexander and Miller, like Paul and Silas, finding a Timothy in Dr. Hodge. And so it was " Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus," of whom they could say, " Timothy our brother," and " Timothy my own son in the faith." And such a ^?-io, as we remember it, was the highest type of a most beautiful and blessed brotherhood of faith and faithfulness. I think of the volumes of the Princeton Review, as they were thrown out year by year, to tell now by the very count of them, almost exactly his continuance at this post, like the rings of some great California tree, deposited year by year, and marking thus the age. So you can count his professional life by these volumes, that have so rich a deposit of his busy industry and successful toil, and which mark his years by the leading articles on great themes of controversy and of research from his fertile pen. Who can estimate what the fifty years have aggregated of patient teaching and publishing from this living and affluent source? What wonder that such a throng of living witnesses comes up hither to-day to bear their impressive testimony and to convey their earnest con- gratulations from every quarter. Last week we remembered, at our Allegheny Reunion, that our first Professor, who entered in 1829 upon his charge of a class of fifteen students, came from the faculty of Princeton College, the venerable Luther Halsey, who now returns again to us to be Lecturer Extraordinary in the Institution, which he was sent forth from this place to found, under the direction of the General Assembly, 76 ADDRESSES. And so we are bound together — Princeton to Allegheny, and Allegheny to Princeton. We belong to you, and you belong to us. I have done. Turning to Dr. Hodge : " The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Leba- non. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. To show that the Lord is upright : He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him ! " The President announced and introduced Rev. Egbert C. Smyth, D.D., of the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass., who in response said: We had a very courteous invitation from the Faculty of this Seminary to be with you to-day. The letter in- viting our Seminary to be represented on this occasion came to the first meeting of our Faculty which I was able to attend after a long and somewhat serious illness. My colleagues appointed me their representative, T suppose, evidently for the reason that the best way to tone up an Andover Professor was to send him to Princeton [laugh- ter]. I am here, therefore, to unite with you in most sincere, courteous, and friendly salutations. We rejoice with this Seminary, with its Alumni and friends, in the great work which has been doing here for half a century. Just as I left home I took from the office a rehgious paper, printed in Berlin, and the first article to which my atten- tion was called was a notice of that great work in The- ology, the first volume of which had reached the editors of that journal. That paper had been given to the idea ADDRESS OF DR. EGBERT C. SMYTH. "J^ that all scientific theology arose in Germany [laughter]. And yet, after going on a little way, it evidently came to the conclusion, which they frankly confessed, that Theo- logy in America is building in a truly scientific spirit, on its own foundations, and the work there is received as an honor not onh' to Princeton, but to our country. When passing through Boston, I fell in with a Pastor, a man whom I have known for a number of years as a man of great usefulness, and until then had thought him wholly a product of our New England Institutions. I remarked that I was on my way to Princeton. " Give my love to Dr. Hodge," said he, "and tell him that I carry to-day his lectures on my heart." And how many there are within the bounds of Presbyterian circles and influence, in our own land and in other lands, who carry his lectures not only in their heads, but also in their hearts. The old artists loved to represent the Evangelists, each standing by his golden urn, pouring forth a stream of living water, which thence flowed out to the four quar- ters of the globe. I think I may to-day appropriate that symbol ; there has been a man of faith, of prayer, and of God, here standing by his urn ; and that urn to-da)^ is a fountain, and its waters are flowing over our land and the world. I came under a two-fold commission. One was to present most cordially these congratulations from my colleagues ; the other was from my physician, that on no account whatever should I be betrayed into a speech [great laughter]. 78 ADDRESSES. Rev. Theodore D. Woolsey, D.D., LL.D., late President of Yale College, was next introduced, and received a most hearty welcome. His address was as follows : I came not in a representative character, Mr. President, when I came on here, but as a personal matter ; that is, I certainly should not have been here if I had not felt a deep regard for my old instructor. For, little as I have had to do with theology, I must say what is not general- ly known, that I was in Princeton " a year and the long term," as it used to be called ; that I came as a student in 1821, soon after Dr. Hodge came as an in- structor, he receiving the appointment of Professor the next year. With Dr. Miller, who was an old friend of my family, I had httle to do in the way of teaching, be- cause after the " year and ^he long term" I was called to an academic situation. But I began with my venerated and beloved friend. Dr. Hodge, the study of the Scriptures, and it was under him that I imbibed that love particularly for the Greek Scriptures, which has been so great that I have sometimes wished that I might take my Greek Testament with me into heaven. For Dr. Archibald Alexander I have the most profound reverence and respect, and particularly for this thing which impressed me more than anything else, his won- derful knowledge of the human heart, and of the Christian heart, in all its morbid and its healthful exercises, so that you may call him the Shakspeare of the Christian heart. I have never seen a man, nor do I expect ever to see the man, who has impressed me more in this particular. And now, as my coming was a personal thing, I must ADDRESS OF REV. DR. R. G. VERMILYE. 79 say that I feel not only great respect, but love towards that great and excellent man, honored by all the public in this land and throughout Europe ; that I feel a most sincere affection for him. Perhaps he may not remember a little incident that I may recall. Some years afterward I was in Bonn, and he was coming into Germany, I think in 1828, and stopped at Bonn. I saw him, and went up the river with him to enjoy his society. Then he spoke to me — (I may say, if permitted to speak of myself, that I was in darkness) — he spoke to me words of cheer, of comfort, and of strength. I do not remember the words, but I remember the impression, and that impression will go with me through life. And so it is, Mr. President ; the impression we make by the kindness and tenderness and gentle feeling with which we deal with those somewhat younger than our- selves, — this is a power that goes from the living man to the living man, and will be remembered, I could almost say, through eternity. There is nothing in my experience so vivid as these impressions that have been made by the kindness and love of those who have sought to do me good. I hope that my dear friend and instructor may have a sweet old age amid the joys of the family, and the respect of the public and of his old pupils, as great as he de- serves. Rev. Dr. R. G. Vermilye, of Hartford, Professor in the Theological Institute of Connecticut, answered to the next call, and said : I was directed to present the congratulations of our 8o ADDRESSES. Faculty to Dr. Hodge and Princeton Seminary ; and if I could find any words to express the love and esteem that have been uttered by my colleagues, I would use them for this occasion. We are all, sir, as a faculty, very great admirers of Dr. Hodge. We have for him a sincere and profound esteem and respect personally, and we have also for his work, I may say, a like respect and esteem. I recollect a remark which was made by a distinguished man in regard to another who reached the age of eighty, I think somewhat like this: that it was a great thing to go through a long life, to that period, honored and re- spected of men, without a word of reproach, and to die ■ in the faith and hope of the gospel. I believe I know who said that. Now, sir, I would take up something like that and say it here to-day. It is a great thing to have spent fifty years in the service of Christ's Church, in such a work as this ; and I feel disposed to lift up my heart in gratitude to God who has given to the Presbyterian Church, to our land, and to the world a man like Dr. Hodge, who has done the work Dr. Hodge has done. We have some particular reasons, perhaps, for being in- terested on this occasion. We have the same faith that you have, sir. We have the same Lord, the same Master. If you have here Jehovah-Jesus, why that is our God, that is our Saviour. We have no other trust than this same Jesus, and it is the honor and glory of this Christ, of this Master of ours, that we desire to see advanced by what- ever instrumentality, and wherever it may be. We can give you most heartily, Mr. Chairman, the right hand of fellowship there. We believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and we love to speak and to think of the Lord, our righteousness and our strength. Then we have ADDRESS OF REV. DR. R. G. VERMILYE. 8 1 some alliances with the Presbyterian Church ; I believe I was brought up in the Presbyterian Church. We have a professor who is also an alumnus of this institution ; we have a Dutchman in our Faculty, and we have in the other professors gentlemen who have learned a great deal from Dr. Hodge, though not from his lips here. We all unite in fervent, earnest congratulations and wishes for his continued life and usefulness. May I say a single word in regard to the theology ? You talk about Princeton Theology. Well, sir, Dr. Hodge was right to-day, when he witnessed a good confession, in saying you never originated a new idea here. We have all the theology, and had I suppose before Princeton was founded, in the archives of New England, — all the theology that you teach here. I have studied his books, and I find that of which we have been sure among our- selves. We accept it, sir, most cordially as our theology, and I doubt whether you have the right to put your im- primatur especially on it, as the " Princeton Theology." [Laughter.] It is the theology of the Reformation. It is the theology which the fathers of New England, — if I cannot say our fathers by nature, I will say out fathers by adoption, — it is the theology which they had, and which they taught, and which we can teach on the basis of their teaching also. And I rejoice to think of the great work, — it is a great work — some pages of that theology I have read with almost the same interest with which I should read a novel ; well, I will say with more than the interest that I should read a novel [laughter] ; with more interest even than a novel is read by persons who are novel-readers. I was fascinated and carried on, page by page, by the logic, the learning, the simpHcity, 6 82 ADDRESSES. the power, the spirituality. It is the truth as it is in Jesus, made alive for the edification of God's people. Let me repeat our congratulations to Princeton Semi- nary as well as to Dr. Hodge personally on this occa- sion. Rev. Joseph T. Cooper, D.D., was introduced as the representative of the United Presbyterian Seminary at Allegheny, and responded : I am sure you do not need any words from me as an en- dorsement of the theology. All that my brother has said meets my most hearty concurrence, and hence it is un- necessary for me to occupy your time with any remarks in relation to the sentiments that are set forth in that most remarkable and valuable work of which our vener- able father is the author. About six weeks have passed, Mr. Chairman, since my wife read to me in the papers the notice of this meeting, and I distinctly remember saying: "God willing, there I mean to be, if it is within the reach of possibility ;" and here I am to-day ; and I would just take occasion to say that I do not think there is any heart in this assembly that is more in sympathy with the spirit of this meeting than is my own heart. I have the Princeton Review from the beginning ; — the very first volume bears that venerated name as its editor, Charles Hodge. And if there be any man in this country to whom I feel more indebted than to any other person for light on the great questions that have agitated theologians, — any man to whom I feel more indebted for bringing comfort to my heart in seasons of spiritual ADDRESS OF REV. DR. C. P. KRAUTH. 83 darkness, — that man, let me say, is my venerable brother, Dr. Charles Hodge. It is, therefore, Mr. Chairman, a source of great gratification to me to be present on this occasion ; and my earnest prayer to God is, that the last days of our venerable father may be his best days ; that when his sun — the star of his life — sets, it may set as the morning-star that goes not down behind the darkened West and hides obscured among the tempests of the sky, but melts away into the light of heaven. God grant that it may be thus with him ! The President then called upon Rev. Dr. Hovey, President of the Baptist Theological Seminary at Newton, Mass., who had been in attendance through the day, but was temporarily absent from the church. / Rev. C. P. Krauth, D.D., of Philadelphia, was next introduced as a member of the Faculty of the Theolo- gical Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and said in response : Mr. Chairman, — I may say with the venerable Dr. Woolsey, that my mission to-day is one of personal love as well as an official one ; that I feel a happiness to which I can give no adequate expression, in view of the fact that I represent in part a great church in that homage which I feel that all that church would be inclined to bring to the feet of our distinguished father and brother. We, too, are not wilhng that you should in any exclusive sense speak of " Princeton Theology," or that you should have Dr. Hodge all to yourselves. We think him too great a 84 ADDRESSES. man to be the heritage even of so great a church as the Presbyterian Church. The name of Dr. Hodge is precious in the Lutheran Church on both sides of the Atlantic, a name precious to all our scholars ; precious first, in its associations with those doctrines which the Presbyterian and Lutheran Churches hold in common, those great doctrines in maintaining which Lutherans and Calvinists stood shoulder to shoulder in the great warfare of the Reformation. To Dr. Hodge we, as Lutherans, have looked as one of the ablest and most distinguished ex- pounders of the truths which we hold in common, those great truths which gave to us the Reformation ; and his name is as dear to us in those relations as it is to your- selves. The name of Dr. Hodge is very precious in other relations. The Lutheran and Calvinistic Churches have divided on certain points. The future union, I believe, turns upon our ability to harmonize on these points. That union for which the Church is sighing is not to be a union of vague sentimentality — not a union to be purchased at the sacrifice of truth, but a union to be brought about by, clearer apprehensions of the truth, by the ability of the divided churches to see eye to eye in regard to those very things on which we have had the great division within our Protestantism. When we see two great streams that roll widely apart into the ocean, and are told that the point of division was the water-shed from which they started, we feel that if ever they are to run in the same channel, that it must be not by widening the points at which they parted, not by attempting to ignore the fact of their division, but by going back to the point of sundering. When a great divine like Dr. Hodge in taking up the doctrines of a ADDRESS OF REV. DR. C. P. KRAUTH. 85 church differing from his own church, treats them with candor, love of truth, and the perfect fairness, which characterizes all his dealings with that which he is not able to maintain, we believe there is in this a bright presage for the future. And if the Church of Jesus Christ is ever to be brought together in a consolidated form, it will be by the work of such masterly hands, moved by such a saintly spirit. Therefore it is that we recognize in Dr. Hodge at once the exponent of a distinctive con- fessional theology, pure and uncompromising ; and at the same time the banner-bearer of the great hopes of the Church in the future, of the union of the Church of Jesus Christ. 1 have remarked to my own classes that it is sometimes said that there are no Calvinists now, no thorough-going Calvinists, of the old type, but for my own part I think I know two ; one is, old Dr. Hodge of Princeton, and the other is, young Dr. Hodge of Allegheny. It is first be- cause of the eminent consistency with his own position, and secondly because of the eminent fairness to others of our venerable friend, that while I regard him on the one hand as the ablest and most eminent living representative of dogmatic theology in the Presbyterian Church, I regard him on the other as a man working for that greater future for which we all long, when the divided flock of our Lord Jesus Christ will be one, when all the names of our divisions shall be things of the past, and we shall be knit together not in a confusing love that sacrifices faith, but when, recognizing what Luther said, that " love endureth all things but faith endureth nothing," we shall stand once again in the love which is brought forth in the Christian Church by fidelity to the one truth, pure as it came 86 ' ADDRESSES. from its living source. And in the great man for whom this day is hallowed we recognize one of the master spirits of the time, laboring for this gloiious consummation. Therefore it is that we feel happy in mingling our tributes with yours, and in attesting the convictions wrought in our hearts of the eminent services not only to the Christian Church, but to the Christian world, rendered by Dr. Charles Hodge of Princeton. The President next called upon and introduced, Rev. Francis L. Patton, Professor-elect in the Semi- nary of the Northwest, at Chicago, who said, I came here to-day to form a single syllable in what Dr. Smith has characterized as the great speech of the occa- sion, and it is to me, a matter of great surprise, that I am called upon to speak. Indeed I feel that it is a matter of singular incongruity that I should stand here in the pres- ence of learned men to address this audience ; and per- haps, if we were technical, an impropriety, inasmuch as the General Assembly may yet veto the action of the Board of Directors whereby I am entrusted with the Chair of Theology at Chicago, and it would be very em- barrassing to me to carry through life the remembrance of having occupied this position, if such an event should occur. At the same time we would not be behind the Seminary at Allegheny, in expressing our affection for Dr. Hodge, and in making a statement which I think I am correct in making, that all the Professors of that Insti- tution are graduates of Princeton Seminary and children of Dr. Hodge. I do not know that any one can be in a ADDRESS OF REV. DR. JOSEPH PACKARD. 8/ position to appreciate more fully the value of those volumes of Systematic Theology which are now being given to the world than one who, so imperfectly prepared is called upon to give instruction in that department. It will be so convenient. Perhaps I may say again as among the youngest graduates of this institution, that there is no man living to whom I owe so much as I do to Dr. Hodge ; and that therefore to have been with you to- day, to have heard once more his words, to have re- joiced with you, and to have wept with you, and with you to have shared his benediction, will be one of the most delightful memories of my life ; and in thus coming to celebrate the golden anniversary of our father's mar- riage with our Alma Mater, perhaps even the youngest of his dutiful children may be welcome. This, fathers, is my apology for standing in your presence to-day. Rev. Joseph Packard, D.D.,was called out as a Pro- fessor representing the Protestant Episcopal Theolo- gical Seminary of Virginia, and made the following response : Called upon so unexpectedly, I will not decline to say a few words on this occasion, lest I should be supposed not to appreciate the merits and value of Dr. Hodge as a commentator on the Scriptures and as a theologian. The institution with which I am connected has for one of its professors the class-mate, and room-mate for seven years, of Dr. Hodge, and I suppose he has not forgotten the name of John Johns. At least the Bishop said to me at parting from him that I must give his love to " Charlie " as he familiarly called him. There are not a few in the 88 ADDRESSES. church with which I am connected, who value most highly the merits of Dr. Hodge as an interpreter of the Scriptures. We think that there may be applied to him that line of the poet Cowper, that " There is sound judgment laboring in the Scripture mine." We regard him, too, as a defender of the faith in his work which he has recently published on Systematic Theology. He has gone forth in his old age clad in the panoply of God, with the sharp two-edged sword of the Spirit in his right hand, and the shield of faith in his left, and his thrusts at Materialism, and Darwinism and Huxleyism show that his natural strength is not abated, that his arm is not nerveless. We need not ask on this occasion, what shall be done to the man whom the church delights to honor. We see it before us in this testimonial, so striking, so appropriate, and so perennial, in the foundation and the endowment of a new professorship ; and I doubt not that when the history of Theology in America for the last fifty years shall be impartially written, the foremost name on the list of those who have deserved well of the church, — that name which will shine in letters of light as the first and foremost name on the list, — will, by the almost uni- versal consent of all the churches, be the name of Charles Hodge. Rev. Dr. Smith of Baltimore, read at this point let- ters from Bishops Johns and Mcllvaine, expressing their deepest sympathy with the occasion, and their regret at their compulsory absence. (See Part III.) The Professors of the Reformed Theoloo-ical Semi- nary at New Brunswick, having been obliged to leave ADDRESS OF REV. DR. E. P. ROGERSi^ 8q / the church at an earlier hour, Rev. E. P. Rogers, D.D., of New York, was called upon to represent that insti- tution and denomination. His response was: Brethren: — I can hardly believe that some one of the Professors of our Seminary is not here ; I saw three of them this morning, and I am surprised that no one is here to answer to this call ; the call upon me is entirely unex- pected and undeserved. As I sat here to-day surrounded by familiar faces, I quite forgot that I was a Dutchman, and really thought I was a Presbyterian, and this idea was certainly Qherished by the fact that there are upon this platform two men to whom I owe all the theology I ever had — two men to whom I am greatly indebted ; one is my former Pastor, Dr. Atwater, under whose ministry I sat for years, and whose theological opinions' I need not in his presence endorse, and who did me a very great service in directing me to Princeton, and in giving me letters of introduction to the distinguished professors who occupied these chairs, two of whom are not, but one of whom, clarum ct vcner- abile nomen, remains unto this day. I shall never forget my arrival in this town and my w^elcome by Dr. Miller, that model of a Christian gentleman. As I rang the bell at his house, he opened the door. " Dr. Miller," said I. " Miller, Sir, is my name. Please walk in." And in half an hour in his study I was at home with him. My resi- dence in Princeton was brief; there were circumstances of a physical character which interrupted my course of study, which I was afterwards permitted to continue under my respected pastor. But I will not be behind any man here to-day in giving utterance to what we all 90 ADDRESSES. feci, and what has been so eloquently expressed here, the veneration, respect and affection that I shall ever cherish for Dr. Hodge. And I will only add. Sir, that I have been reminded, as I thought of him, of the sentence in Mr. Everett's remark- able eulogy on the " Father of his Country," which I think will well apply to him, " When you look upon him," said he, '^3'^ou look upon a man in whom love would soar up into reverence and reverence would melt back into love." / Rev. S. H. Kellogg was next introduced as a Mis- sionary of the Presbyterian Church, and a Teacher in a Theological Training School in India. He said : Mr. President: — I suppose it will not be necessary for me to descend to that platform, as I occupy a lofty position here. (Among the ladies in the gallery.) I can only in a very few words express my sincere joy that I am permitted in God's Providence to be present to-day. I think that as long as I live I shall thank God that I was allowed to- join in these congratulations to our • honored and revered instructor. I take pleasure in say- ing, it is these truths which he here expounds and de- fends, that the brethren in India are endeavoring to deliver to th-e native teachers we are training up for the evangelization of the rnasses in that country ; and I am very happy to be able not only for myself, but for the body of missionary brethren whom our father has sent forth, to give him here our hearty congratulations and our heartfelt wishes for his prolonged life, that he may be a continued blessing to the Church of God in this country. I wish to refer to one single personal incident : ADDRESS OF REV. DR. R. K. RODGERS. Ql when I went to India there was one dear brother whom some of us have learned to love most tenderly, now with the Church glorified on high; that dear brother (the Rev. J, H. Myers) came to me in the Seminary and said to me, " I have been to talk with Dr. Hodge about going as a Missionary to India." '' What did he say?" " He told me to go and * the greatest blessing and honor that I could ask for one of my own sons is that he should go far hence to the Gentiles.' " We have taken those words as Dr. Hodge's benediction upon our mission. God bless him! Turnina: to the Alumni, the President called out Rev. Ravaud K. Rodgers, D.D., of the Class of 1818, '' one of the eldest of the Alumni present, and nearest in sight ;" who responded thus : I wish to say, Sir, with reference to this matter, that if all here had known Dr. Hodge as long as I have, they would all say with me, each man for himself, / love Dr. " Hodge. If there are any here present who have any reason for preventing that declaration from going forth in all its strength and power, let them rise and say so. I could not help thinking. Sir, when the brother from Virginia was speaking of John Johns (as I call him), that he and Dr. Hodge (we used to call him " Charhe" then) and myself, were class-mates in college ; we were boys together, and God has permitted us to grow up together. And though it was not my privilege to sit at my brother's feet and to have been taught by him, for the Master call- ed me to the work before he was called to this solemn undertaking, I have rejoiced in the success with which 92 ADDRESSES. God has crowned his labors in this institution. Since I went out, as long- ago as 1818, 1 have regarded it my high privilege to do all in my power for the Princeton Semi- nary ; I love it and I owe a great deal to it ; and there are very few who can say with stronger language and feehng than I can, " I love this institution." I love to come back to Princeton ; I love the College and the Seminary, I was two years at the former and three at the latter, — in all five years instruction in this place ; and I say " Princeton, with all thy faults I love thee still." The older I grow. Sir, the more I love these institutions, and love to come back here to the home of my two Alma Maters. It is not everybody who has two Alma Maters ; I am one of the notable few ; I can boast of two, that dear old College over there where God pleased to meet me, and where I trust I gave myself to Him, and that old Seminary where I was allowed to sit at the feet of Alex- ander and Miller of blessed memory. God grant that the rich influences of the Divine Spirit which rested on that college in time past may rest there again ; God grant that the Spirit of the Master may descend upon those who now have the charge of training up a ministry for the the Church ! When we who are older shall be called away, we hope to rejoice in those on whom we may leave the mantle of Elijah, with the assurance that Zion shall not want for friends to carry out the great purposes of God. Rev. Alfred Nevin, D.D., was announced as Chair- man of a Committee appointed at a recent meeting of the Alumni of the Allegheny Seminary, to represent them on this occasion and tendered in a brief address ADDRESS OF REV. DR. S. I. PRIME. 93 the salutations and congratulations of those for whom he had come. Rev. S. Irenseus Prime, D.D., of the New York Observer, being called, responded substantially as fol- lows: My Friends, — During all this day of congratulation and rejoicing I have been under a sense of deep solemnity. I have been thinking how many would have rejoiced to be with us to-day, who yet are doubtless rejoicing in a greater assemblage, and in the midst of pleasures which we now only anticipate. It was very natural to go back, as some who have already spoken have done, to their first entrance into Princeton. I very well remember that one of the earliest events of my sojourn here was the funeral of Dr. Miller's son, when Dr. Hodge preached the sermon. You, Sir, and Dr. Boardman were present, and can tell how many years ago it was. When I heard that sermon from the lips of one of the professors in the Seminary I was impressed as I never had been before, and as I have scarcely ever been since, with the power of human sympathy and love, combined with great learning and strength of intellect ; and I said to myself it is that com- bination that gives power to the preacher of the Gospel of Christ. And if there is anything in the Princeton Theology, which makes the system here taught worthy of the name (to which some one of the learned professors told us we had no rights, because it was the theology of the Bible only), — if there is any one characteristic that gives to Princeton Theology a distinction and a power, it is that, with these rigid iron bands of truth, it is infused 94 ADDRESSES. and energized with that love which carries it home to the hearts of those who hear it. As I heard that sermon b}^ Dr. Hodge, I saw that he had those attributes which are comprehended in this simple description, " that he has the heart of a woman and the head of a man." I have thought so ever since. I have not only revered him for the greatness of his intellect and the extent of his learning, but have also admired and loved him for those qualities which bring him near to the hearts of those who know him. During all the addresses to which we have listened to- day he has not been spoken of in one of the great depart- ments of his usefulness. The Princetojt Review has been repeatedly alluded to, but no specific reference has been made to Dr. Hodge's power as a reviewer. I think, and I have had connection with the press now for thirty years, — I think Dr. Hodge the ablest reviewer in the world. Any one who has carefully studied that Princeton Review for the last thirty years will bear me witness when I testify to the trenchant power with which he has defended the truth, and put forth the peculiar views which have made that review a power in the Church and in the world. How great then has been the usefulness of a man who has trained so many men to preach the Word ! Three years ago I was the guest of the President of the United States, who said to me, " The man who preaches the gospel and leads men to Christ holds the highest office on the face of the earth." No matter how humble the place which one occupies in the Church of Christ, if he has the grace and the ability to turn men to righteous- ness, he holds the highest office here, and by-and-by will ADDRESS OF REV. DR. S. I. PRIME. 95 shine among the stars with those whom God himself de- lights to honor. The exercises of the afternoon were now brought to a close, the benediction being pronounced by Rev. John Maclean, D.D., LL.D., late President of the College of New Jersey. III. CORRESPONDENCE CORRESPONDENCE. I. Assembly's College, Belfast, April A^th^ 1872. The Faculty of Belfast Presbyterian College have heard with the highest satisfaction that the Jubilee of the Rev. Professor Hodge of Princeton is to be celebrated on the 24th of April, 1872. They thankfully bear their united testimony to the very distinguished services which Dr. Hodge has rendered to the Church Catholic as an ex- pounder and advocate of the great doctrines of the Reformation ; and they hereby depute their Secretary, the Rev. J. L. Porter, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Sacred Literature, to represent them at the Princeton celebra- tion, and to tender to Dr. Hodge and his worthy col- leagues their most cordial congratulations on the interest- ing occasion. Signed by order of the Faculty, W. D. KiLLEN, D,D., President of Faculty. To the Board of Directors of the Theological Seminary^ Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America. II. Address from the Theological Professors, etc., of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Scotland. • To the Rev. Charles Hodge, D.D., Professor in the Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey. Honored Father in Christ, — Permit us, as representatives of a Church, Presbyterian in its constitution and adhering with tenacity to the doc- (99) lOO CORRESPONDENCE. trines of the Westminster Confession of Faith, to approach you on the occasion of your Jubilee as a Professor, with an address of warm and respectful congratulation. The Church to which we belong is small, but it claims to be the oldest of the Presbyterian Churches, embracing that Confession, and it yields to none in attachment to the whole Evangelical Doctrine, of which it is the S3aTibol. Regarding you as in many respects the ablest living ex- positor and champion of that doctrine, we cannot but feel the deepest interest in your welfare, and cherish the hope that you may long be spared as the venerated Nestor of Evangelical Presb3'terianism to expound the faith, to the defence and illustration of which your life has been con- secrated. We admire your great resources, )^our varied acquisitions, your singular skill in the lucid presentation of truth, the happy combination of candor and faithful- ness in your controversial discussions, and the glow of elevated feeling by which your writings are redeemed and sanctified to the noblest ends. Were we to specialize the chief literary services which in our humble judgment, you have rendered to the Chris- tian cause, we might dwell on your masterly exposition of the great Epistle to the Romans, — your defence of the doctrine of the Atonement, maintaining so firmly and so wisely its essential principle of a veritable substitution, and yet jealously securing the gracious amplitude and freedom of the Gospel offer, — your admirable essays on the nature of the Church, — and your comprehensive and enlightened views on the subject of natural religion. Nor can we overlook the genial and catholic spirit by which your writings are marked, affording an instance of the benefit accruing to tlie highest interests of religion when temper is subdued that truth may be all the more effect- ively commended ; — when self is crucified that Christ may be exalted. We have never seen, and never may see your face. It may cheer you accordingly to think that, far beyond the CORRESPONDENCE. lOI circle of your ordinary friendships, there are many who revere your name, and who bless God for a master in Israel so richly furnished with the gifts requisite for the vindication of the essential principles of the Christian faith. To us it tends to enrich the prospect of heaven, that we may there at length meet face to face with one who, in addition to all his attainments in the science of theology, and all his eminent services to the Christian cause, has by the shining and consistent piety of his life " adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." Any testimonial from us may be of small value. We trust, however, that it may not be without interest to your eyes, so far as it emanates from a Church still loyal to the real principles and laboring to fulfill the legitimate ends of the Covenants of Scotland, and of the martyrs who sealed them with their blood. May He who holds the stars in His right hand uphold you in the grace and comforts of the Holy Ghost to the close of life, till you enjoy, in reward for all you have done on earth to expound and vindicate the Word written and inspired, direct and everlasting converse with the Word Personal and Divine ! We subscribe ourselves, yours in the bond of the Gospel with profound esteem, Wm. H. Goold, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Church History to the Refornied Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Wm. Binnie, D.D., Professor of Systematic Theology to the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Wm. Symington, Convener of Hall Committee of Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Edinburgh, Scotland, April 2, 1872. I02 CORRESPONDENCE. III. To the Rev. Professor Hodge, D.D. Beloved and Honored Sir, — Havnng received information that you enter on the fiftieth year of your Professorate on the 24th day of the present month, and that this interesting event is to be suitably commemorated in America, and especially in the College of Princeton, which by your gifts and learning, your labors and character, you have done so much to adorn ; we, the members of the United Presbyterian Presbytery of Edinburgh, have resolved to join with other ecclesiastical bodies and churches in sending you the ex- pression of our highest respect and Christian congratula- tion. We represent as a Presbytery 59 congregations consisting of more than 26,000 members. But we are certain that all the Presbyteries of our Church with its 607 congi-egations, had they been aware of the time of this happy Jubilee, would have been equally prompt and unanimous with ourselves in seeking to mingle their con- gratulations with those of all the " Churches of the Saints." We feel ourselves all the more called upon to address you, because we own ourselves to be your debtors. By your admirable exegetical writings, by your Theological Essays doing successful battle with existing errors and evils, by your works on Systematic Theology which com- bine in them the best qualities of the writers of the Reformation and the Puritan period, and yet have all the life and freshness of our own times, you have helped mightily in the establishment and defence of Christian truth, and done much, both in your own and in other countries to teach those who are the teachers of others ; while in your personal character you have adorned the doctrine in whose vindication you have long done such noble service. We honor you as the instrument, and we glorify God in you. CORRESPONDENCE. IO3 We rejoice to know that at so advanced a period in your ministry and Professorate you retain all your mental vigor, exhibiting all the maturity of age but none of its decay, and our united prayer is, that your preeminent usefulness may yet be greatl}^ prolonged, and that at the end, having finished your course and kept the faith, you may " receive a full reward." In name of the Presbytery, William Reid, Moderator. William Bruce, Clerk. Edinburgh, ^th April, 1872. IV. To the Rev. Charles Hodge, D.D., Princeton, New Jersey. Reverend Sir, — We, the Principals and Professors of the Theological Faculties of the Free Church of Scotland at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, desire to offer our most cordial congratulations to you on your entrance on the fiftieth year of your Professorship in the Theological Seminary at Princeton. We only express to yourself what, on occasions without number, we have expressed to others, when we say that we regard your services in the cause of revealed truth, extending over half a century, as of inestimable value, and that we look on you as one of the chief instruments raised up by the head of the Church, in these times of doubt and contention^ for maintaining in its purity the faith once delivered to the saints. While the Princeton Reviezv, under your management, has continued from year to year to bear testimony fear- lessly, yet firmly, for the truths of God's Word, and to commend them alike to the understanding and the con- science, and while your Commentaries have placed these truths in a similar light before the mass of readers, your I04 CORRESPONDENCE. Systematic Theology, the crown of your labors, has brought together the invaluable information and reason- ings of your Articles and Lectures, and forms a Treasury of Evangelical truth expressed in a spirit eminently calm and Christian, which will extend still more widely the wholesome influence of your hfe and labors. We congratulate you further on the honorable and dis- tinguished place which you hold in the esteem of the whole Presbyterian Church, and of all churches that prize Evangelical truth, — on the affectionate regard so warmly cherished for you by your students both past and present, — and on the happy domestic influence which through God's blessing, has given to the Church sons likeminded with yourself, following in your footsteps, and aiding in your work. It is our earnest prayer, and that of the whole church with which we are connected, that you may yet long be spared to your family, to the Seminary, and to the Church universal, and eminently blessed in such further fabors as your strength may enable you to undertake, and that in God's good time an entrance may be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (Edinburgh.) ROBERT S. CANDLISH, D.D., (Princeton and Edinburgh,). Principal of the New College, Edinburgh. ALEXANDER DUFF, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Evar.gelistic Theology GEORGE SMEATON, D.D., Professor of Exegetical Theology. ROBERT RAINY, D.D., Professor of Church History. A. B. DAVIDSON, LL.D., D.D., Professor of Hebrew, etc. JAMES MacGREGOR, D.D., Professor of Systematic Theology. WILLIAM G. BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Apologetics and Pastoral Theology. JOHN DUNS, D.D., F.R.S.E., Professor of Natural Science. (Glasgow and Aberdeen.) PATRICK FAIREAIRN, D.D., Principal of Free Church College, Glas- gow. GEORGE C. M. DOUGLAS, D.D., Professor of Hebrew in the F. C. College, Glasgow. ISLAY BURNS, D.D., Professor of Divinity, F. C. College, Glas- gow. JAMES LUMSDEN, D.D., Principal and Senior Professor of Theo- logy, Free Church College, Aberdeen. DAVID BROWN, D.D., (Princeton and Aberdeen,) Professor of Theology and Church His- tory, Aberdeen. WM. ROBERTSON SMITH, Professor of Hebrew, etc.. Free Church College, Aberdeen. (This address was elegantly engrossed on vellum and forwarded in a purple morocco case.) CORRESPONDENCE. I05 To the Board of Directors of the Theological Seminary of Prince- ton^ New Jersey. Gentlemen, — Having learned that it is your intention to signalize the completion of the fiftieth year of Dr. Charles Hodge's official life as Professor of Systematic Theology, by a ceremonial befitting the occasion, we, the members of the Faculty of Magee Presbyterian College, London- derry, Ireland, beg to be permitted to take part with )^ou in this observance, so far as to send to you and to the illustrious Theologian, whose professional Jubilee is about to be celebrated, our most cordial salutations. We are sensible that to give flattering titles to man, even under that strong temptation which now besets us, would neither comport with the obligations of Christian fidelity and love, nor afford any real pleasure to one who has spent a long life jn illustrating and defending the doc- trines of grace. But whilst Dr. Hodge's disciples — and the actual roll of the students in the Seminary he has adorned furnishes no adequate representation of their number — would be the first to acknowledge that his truest witness is in heaven and his most enduring record on high, at the same time they may, in perfect harmony with this admission, give themselves the satisfaction of regis- tering, at such a time as the present, their sense of the eminent services he has been enabled to render to Theo- logical Science, and to the Universal Church. It is given to few men to survive with the eye undimmed and the natural force of mind unabated, the labors of half a century of pubhc life. When such a case does occur it is impossible to meet it as one of the ordinary incidents of human history. But when a career so prolonged has been marked by sustained and successful efforts in the elucida- tion of Divine truth, and in guiding the current "of human I06 CORRESPONDENCE. opinion upon those subjects which involve eternal issues, we cannot contemplate the retrospect without emotions of thankfulness and joy. That old Theology which rightly traces its descent from the Pauline Epistles, which found in Augustine a subtle interpreter, and in Calvin a defender both scientific and fearless, will hereafter be associated with the name of another expounder — that of Dr. Charles Hodge of Prince- ton. His great work on Systematic Theology, now pass- ing through the press in this country, will be an enduring monument of the author's industry, orthodoxy and genius ; it will doubtless see many jubilees in the progress of the ages yet to come ; for it will take rank beside the disserta- tions of Augustine and the demonstrations of Calvin, as among the most lucid expositions of truth which Christian erudition has produced. We are gratified to think that God has vouchsafed to the Presbyterian Church the honor of having raised up within her pale such a Theological Teacher as Dr. Hodge ; and we feel confident that the members of that Church will show themselves capable of appreciating their privi- leges, only so long as they remain true to the system of doctrine which he has expounded, and which is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. In proportion as our seminaries of learning are characterized by tenacity of these doctrines, so will they be influential in the con- flicts that have yet to be waged for the emancipation of the human mind, the vindication of the Gospel, and the evangelization of the world. If anything were needed to make firmer the ties which bind us to our kindred on the other side of the Atlantic, beyond the arguments of a common blood, a common liberty, a common hterature, and a common religion, such an additional incentive to unity would be found in our participation in the benefits which Dr. Hodge has con- ferredupon us, upon our Church and our country, by the CORRESPONDENCE. IO7 works which he has pubHshed. We congratulate the Seminary of Princeton and the Christian people of America, on their having among themselves a man who occupies the front rank among living theologians ; but we trust you will forgive us if we claim a share in this pos- session, and grudge to Princeton, or even to America, the exclusive ownership of one, who by the grace of God has made himself the common property of the Church of Christ. We cannot conclude without assuring you that it was our desire to appoint one of our number to carry our felicitations to you and to Dr. Hodge ; but circumstances have prevented the accomplishment of our wishes. We have however availed ourselves, at your approaching celebration, of the presence of the Rev. Hugh Smyth, a young and highly respected member of our Irish General Assembly, who is in some respects a connecting link be- tween you and us, as he is at once an Alumnus of the College of New Jersey, and a former student of Magee College. He will be the bearer on our behalf of this con- gratulatory message. We remain, gentlemen, yours very faithfully, Thomas Witherow, Professor of Church History. Richard Smyth, Professor of Theology. James G. Shaw, Professor of Metaphysics. John J. Given, Professor of Oriental Literature and Herrneneutics. J. T. McGaw, Professor of Logic and Rhetoric. Henry Sheil McKee, D.D., LL.D., Hon. M.R.S.L., Professor of Latin and Greek. J. R. Leebody, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. Londonderry, dth Aprils 1872. I08 CORRESPONDENCE. VI. University of Edinburgh, 2W1 March, 1872. The Theological Faculty met this day at the close of the Winter Session of the University ; Present, Thomas J. Crawford, D.D., Professor of Divinity and Dean of the Faculty of Theology ; William Stevenson, D.D., Professor of Ecclesiastic History ; Archibald II. Charteris, D.D., Professor of Biblical Criticism and Biblical Antiquities ; and David Liston, M.A., Professor of Hebrew. > Inter alia : There was laid before the Faculty a letter from the Rev. Professor Watts of Belfast, conveying the announce- ment, that on the 24th of April Dr. Charles Hodge, Senior Professor of Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey, will have completed the fiftieth year of his Professorate ; and that arrangements have been made for the celebration of this event in such a manner as may afford, not only to the Alumni of Princeton College, but to others who may be desirous of joining with them, an opportunity of ex- pressing to Dr. Hodge those sentiments of respect, esteem, and admiration with which he is regarded by them. The Faculty esteem it a high privilege to take part in celebrating the Jubilee of one whose praise may be truly said to be in all the churches. Though personally strangers to the venerable and distinguished man to whom this merited tribute is to be rendered, they have been long and intimately acquainted with his writings, and have thence been led to form the very highest esti- mate of him, whether as an able and learned expounder of Holy Scripture, as a singularly profound and accom- plished theologian, or as an earnest and masterly defender of the purity and authority of revealed truth against all -attempts to corrupt or controvert it. The Faculty desire to express their thanksgivings to CORRESPONDENCE. lOQ Almighty God for all the goodness of which His esteemed servant has hitherto been partaker throughout a long and honorable and useful life, — and for the inestimable services rendered by him, not only to those among whom he was specially called to labor, but to the whole Church of Christ throughout the world. They heartily join with their brethren at Princeton in tendering to Dr. Hodge their warm congratulations on having completed the fiftieth year of his professional labors in that Seminary which he has so greatly dignified and adorned. And they earnestly pray that the God of all grace who hath blessed him hitherto would bless him still, — granting to him yet a continuance for many years of undiminished usefulness and happiness, — and finally bestowing upon him the rich reward of those who have turned many to righteousness, and who shall shine as the stars forever and ever. The Faculty direct an extract of this Minute to be sent to the Rev. William Henry Green, D.D., Secretary to the Board of Directors of the Princeton Seminary, with the request that he would have the kindness to present it to Dr. Hodge on' the occasion of his Jubilee. Extracted from the Minutes of the Theological Faculty of the University of Edinburgh by Thos. J. Crawford, D.D., Dea7i of the Faculty of Theology. VII. Edinburgh, March 19, 1872. • We, the undersigned. Professors of Theology in the United Presbyterian Church, desire in connection with the approaching Jubilee of the Rev. Dr. Hodge of Prince- ton, to join our warm congratulations with those of our Christian brethren and teachers of sacred science through- out the world. We are deeply grateful to God for the no CORRESPONDENCE. preeminent services rendered by Dr, Hodge in so many departments of Christian Theology, and for his contribu- tions to its literature which have become the possession of the universal Church of Christ. We congratulate our American fellow-Christians on having still preserved to them one whose name and services shed so much lustre on the new world, while they reflect so much light upon the old ; and it is our fervent prayer, that not only the various sections of the Presbyterian Church, but all the branches of the true Church everywhere may yet for years to come rejoice in the continued labors and useful- ness of one who has been in a degree rarely equalled in any age or country the expositor and champion of our common Christianity. James Harper, D.D., S.T.P., United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. N. McMiCHAEL, D.D., S.T.P., United Presbyterian Church. John Eadie, D.D., LL.D., Professor United Presbyterian Church. John Cairns, D.D., S.T.P., United Presbyterian Church. VIII. (Extract from a letter from Bishop McIlvaine of Ohio.) Cincinnati, March 8, 1872. ... As one of the associates and friends of Dr. Hodge, than whom there can be but very few living whose loving association began so early, or under circumstances so calculated to make it abiding, I cannot withhold an ex- pression of lively interest in the contemplated celebration, as a rendering of honor to whom it is most justly due, and of praise and thanksgiving to the fountain of all wis- CORRESPONDENCE. I I I dom and grace for having given to His Church on earth for so many years a light so bright and shining. It is now some fifty-eight years since, while students together in the College of my native State, our friendship began ; and nearly as many years since, by the grace of God making us hew creatures in Christ Jesus, we became brethren one of another, in a very near and affectionate association. We were then, as now, of different churches in the one everliving Church of Christ; but I am thank- ful to be able to say, that no dividing hues have ever touched our oneness of heart, or hindered the conscious- ness and manifestation of that confiding Christian attach- ment with which our religious life began. It is under these circumstances that I regard with great pleasure the intended meeting and its object. It is very meet and right thus to acknowledge the goodness of God in having given and preserved to the work of His truth in the earth, during so many years of exacting study and labor, a teacher so efficient and beloved, and an author so enlightened and wise ; at whose hps so man}^ have learned how to make known and defend the doctrine of Christ, and for whose writings of eminent learning and power, the whole Church is deeply indebted to the grace which made him sufficient for such valuable service. Desiring my respectful and fraternal regards to those who shall meet together on the 24th of April, and hoping to meet them in that blessed Assembly and Communion of which it will be the universal joy to ascribe all honor and glory " to Him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever," I remain Your friend and brother, Chas. p. McIlvaine. 112 CORRESPONDENCE. IX. (Extract from a letter from Bishop Johns of Virginia.) Malvern, April 2, 1872. ... I find that I have miscalculated (in publishing my list of official appointments for this season, beginning April 22) and that my error will deprive me of the great gratification of uniting with you in the interesting celebra- tion. I need not assure you that the disappointment is griev- ous to me. Apart from the pleasant and profitable inter- course which I anticipated, I earnestly desired by my presence to recognize my relation to a Seminary which I can never cease to remember with gratitude and affection, and to join in thanksgiving to God for the prolonged life and eminent usefulness of my beloved brother — beloved by none as by Yours truly, J. Johns. (Letters similarly expressive of sympathy with the occasion, and regret at their inability to be present, were receive! from Bishops Clark of Rhode Island and Little- john of Long Island, former pupils of Dr. Hodge.) X. To the Rev. Charles Hodge, D.D., Professor of Theology in Princeton Theological Seminary. Rev. and dear Sir, — The Faculty of Lane Theological Seminary desire to assure you in the most emphatic terms of their cordial union with all your Presbyterian, all your Christian brethren, in affectionate and reverent congratulation on your completion of the half century of labor in theological CORRESPONDENCE. II3 instruction soon to be celebrated by great numbers of your pupils and friends gathered at your home. We thank God, Sir, on your behalf, for sparing your life so long, and for upholding you unto so able and faith- ful a work of instruction to fifty successive classes of can- didates for the ministry, and through them, and by your printed works, to untold numbers of ministers and Chris- tians besides. We sincerely pray that God's good Providence may make the coming celebration as joyous as those who love you best can desire ; that a prolonged arid serene evening of life may be vouchsafed to you ; and then that an en- trance may be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Most sincerely, your brethren and fellow- servants of Christ and His Church, L. J. Evans, E. D. Morris, H. A. Nelson, Thos. E. Thomas. Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, April 8, 1872. P. S. — Our colleague. Professor Smith, is at this time in England. XI. San Francisco, Cal., April 9, 1872. Dear Brother, — . . . We, on this far Pacific shore, hail this memorable day with a gladness and thankfulness no less than yours on the Atlantic coast. Separated by this great continent, — ourselves the youngest, as you are the oldest, of the Theological Seminaries of our Church, — we are with you in heart and soul, in thankfulness for a life thus prolonged, 8 114 CORRESPONDENCE. whose fruits of labor and blessing to the Church have been ripening and accumulating till the present hour, — in benedictions on him whose instructions, whose example and whose writings have done so much not only to fit us for usefulness, but to encourage and quicken us in the toils of the service of our precious Redeemer. Deprived as we are of the happiness of being with you, we yet enjoy a deep happiness in thus mingling our emotions and affections in the same pure current with your own. We have ever remembered with affection and pride that we sat as learners at the feet of this beloved disciple ; and under the power of this remembrance we send you these congratulations, less with the feeUng of theological in- structors than with the grateful emotions of those who feel that their obhgations to this beloved Professor have ever been too great to be repaid by anything but grati- tude and benedictions. In love to our common Redeemer, Very truly yours, George Burrowes, W. A. Scott, W. Alexander. Not as an Alumnus but as an adopted son of Princeton T cordially join in the sentiments expressed by my coadjutors in this infant institution. Glorious old Prince- ton honored in the long line of its Professors — never did it stand higher in the estimation of the Church it has faithfully supphed than at this day which forms the Jubilee of Dr. Hodge. D. W. Poor. XII. Auburn Theological Seminary, April 9, 1872. My dear Brother, — .... My colleagues have desired me to delay for a while sending an answer in the hope that some one of us at least might see his way clear to attend, but the occa- CORRESPONDENCE. II5 sion comes so near our own anniversary, that we are all of us obliged reluctantly to decline. My brethren join with me in the heartiest congratulations to Dr. Hodge and to the Theological Seminary which has had the rare felicity of enjoying his services during so truly patriarchal a period. .... My own Seminary life at Princeton was just at the period of stormy agitation which immediately pre- ceded the disruption of our Church. All newspapers and all ecclesiastical meetings resounded with the din of arms. But in the Seminary, apart from personal discussions among the students, all was peace. The Faculty, in com- mon with a large portion of the Church, had no doubt been misled by exaggerated representations into believing that the Synods of Western New York were given over to Pelagianism and wild disorder; and they were induced though slowly and reluctantly to join in the sharp surgery which was thought necessary for the salvation of the body. But so far as the Seminary was concerned, these wise and good men kept their sentiments to themselves. They never thought it necessary to lash the passions of the students, or raise up successive generations of minis- ters, full charged with the divisive and unlovely spirit of party; and it may be very much owing to this that so many of their pupils were found prompt and active in applying balm to the wounds of our Church, and nursing her into a sound and healthy cure. .... Dr. Hodge could not have occupied the impor- tant chairs he has for so many years filled — not by toler- ance but with the steadily growing confidence and affec- tion of the church, without a somewhat rare combination of good qualities. It is little that he is a good scholar. It is not everything that he is an acute and profound theologian. It is the union of learning with intellectual superiority commanding respect, with broad good sense, cheerfulness, kindliness, unaffected and unpretentious piety winning confidence, that has made him dear to so Il6 CORRESPONDENCE. many hundreds of pupils and to so large a circle of friends. I do not know that it would be any marked abuse of ■words to say that he is a man of genius, but I am very sure that his long and distinguished career of usefulness is due to his possessing qualities much better than genius. .... With affectionate personal regards and best wishes for the prosperity of the Seminary, I remain, my dear Sir, Very truly yours, etc., Sam. M. Hopkins. XIII. Theological Seminary, Columbia, S. C, April 8, 1872. Rev. and dear Brother, — I am instructed by the Faculty of this Seminary to ex- press toyou the interest which we feel in the celebration of April 24th. Three of our number sat in our earlier years under the instructions of Dr. Hodge, and we all thankfully acknowl- edge the profit we have received from the long-continued and useful labors of this Nestor of our American Presby- terian divines. , But the duties of our own Seminary will prevent us from being present at the festivities which are to be ap- propriately had in his honor. In behalf of the Faculty, Geo. Howe, Chairman. Theological Seminary, Columbia, S. C, April 20, 1872. Rev and dear Sir, — At a meeting of the students of this Seminary, held April 19th, 1872, the enclosed paper was unanimously ^ Committee. CORRESPONDENCE. 1 1 7 adopted ; and we, the undersigned, were appointed a Committee to forward a copy to you. Respectfully, W. S. Bean, Senior Class. W. T. Thompson, " W. J. McKay, Middle Class. T. L. Haman, " Chas. R. Hemphill, Junior Class. H. C. Ansley, " Rev. Charles Hodge, D.D. Rev. and dear Sir, — We, the students of the Theological Seminary at Columbia, extend to you our congratulations on this the fiftieth anniversary of your Professorship. With many others whom your labors have benefitted we acknowledge our obhgations to you as a Teacher of God's Word, and a defender of our common Presbyterian faith ; and while we thank the great Head of the Church that 5^our life has been so long spared, we pray that many peaceful years of labor may yet be granted you, and that you may continue to serve the Church of God, until the Master sees fit to call you hence to that abode where, when earthly knowledge shall have vanished away, we shall know even as also we are known. XIV. New Haven, Ct., April 2$^ 1872. My dear Sir,— Your friendly invitation to the Theological Faculty to attend the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of Dr. Hodge was laid before them, and we had hoped until the very last moment that some ol us would be able to participate in this tribute of respect to him. But Dr. Harris, who 1 1 8 CORRESPONDENCE. was hoping to be present, has just embarked for Europe, and the other gentlemen are especially engaged in ex- aminations and other matters connected with the close of the term. Under these circumstances may we request of you the favor to convey to Dr. Hodge our hearty congratulations, with our best wishes for his health and happiness ? With high regard I remain very truly yours, George E. Day, Sec. Theological Faculty. (Extract of a letter from President Porter.) Dear Sir, — . April 20, 1872. ... I had hoped to be able to be present myself, and did not relinquish this hope till very lately My excellent friend, Rev. President Woolsey, will present to Dr. Hodge, and the gentlemen present, the cordial salu- tations and congratulations which the friends of Christian learning and of evangelical faith cannot fail to extend towards so faithful a laborer in the service of our com- mon Master. The gathering of the representatives of so many Christian institutions on this occasion, and of so many Christian students, pastors and workers, who hold the common faith in oneness of spirit notwithstanding the diversities of its manifestation, cannot fail to be hailed as a cheering and hopeful sign of the times. We have gratefully recognized the courteous attentions and the cordial feelings of our brethren connected with the Col- lege of New Jersey, at our public celebrations in New Haven, and would express our acknowledgment of the invitation to be represented on this occasion, so interest- ing in the history of theological education in this coun- try. Very respectfully for myself, and In behalf of the Faculties, Noah Porter. CORRESPONDENCE. II9 XV. Boston (Methodist) Theo. School, y^/r// i, 1872. Dear Sir, — It would afford our Faculty unfeigned pleasure to be represented at the proposed celebration Should it be found practicable to delegate one of our number to bear our congratulations and tribute of Christian esteem, due notice will be given. Should it not, I beg that you will kindly act as our proxy, and express to your vener- able President our lively participation in the rejoicings of the day, and our sincerest good wishes for his future prosperity. Siciit patribiis sit Dens nobis. Yours fraternally, W. F. Warren. (A similar letter from Rev. R. S. Foster, D.D., Presi- dent of Drew Theological Seminary, was brought by Professor Henry A. Butts, who represented that Semin- ary.) XVI. Crozer Theological Seminary, Chester, Pa., April 18, 1872. Dear Brother, — .... It will give me very great pleasure to be a wit- ness of the honor conferred on one so worthy to receive a grateful tribute from all lovers of the truth of which he has been so able and eminent a defender. Among the multitudes who honor Dr. Hodge, there are none who hold him in higher esteem than the mem- bers of the Baptist Churches. For years he has had I20 CORRESPONDENCE. their sympathy, their prayers, and their admiration, and they rejoice in this recognition of his work. Yours very truly, Henry G. Weston, XVII. Southern Baptist Theo. Sem., Greenville, S. C, April 12, 1872, Dear Brother, — .... Our Faculty, in common with all friends of theo- logical education, have felt a deep interest in your pro- posed celebration, and, did circumstances permit, would rejoice to unite with you upon that occasion ; but as our term ends May 1st none of us can be present, which we greatly regret. James P. Boyce, Chairman of the Faculty. XVIII. Brooklyn, April 6, 1872. My dear Sir,— It will give me very great pleasure, should it be in my power, to be present at the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of Dr. Hodge's official connection with the Seminary of which he has so long been a distinguished ornament. I have not the advantage of a personal acquaintance with Dr. Hodge, but I have -long been familiar with his writ- ings, and their wide and salutary influence, and have been greatly indebted to them as auxiliaries to my own instruc- tions while occupying the chair of Exegesis. But much as I admire his learning, and what it has achieved for the cause of truth, I would exchange it all were it mine, and I think he will agree with me in the sentiment, for what his " Way of Life " has done, and will continue to do, in CORRESPONDENCE. 121 directing the inquirer to the true and living way, and in guiding the young disciple in it. In my own family, and among my youthful Christian friends, I have seen much of its influence in deepening the experiences of the divine life, and in checking the tendency to shallowness of Chris- tian experience through superficial doctrinal teaching. Happy is the man whom multitudes of humbler disciples will bless as their guide and helper in the path of life. If I should not have the satisfaction of being personally present, I desire through you the pleasure of congratulat- ing Dr. Hodge on his long and useful service in the church, and of joining with his friends in the hope that it may be long continued. Very respectfully, T. J. CONANT. XIX. Williams College, April 22, 1872. Dear Sir, — .... I regret to say that it will not be compatible with our duties here for any of us to attend. I can only say that it would be a great gratification to me personally to join with so many others in honoring one who has so long stood among the very foremost of the defenders and expounders of revealed truth, and who has done so much for the promotion and honor of American scholarship. In full sympathy with the occasion, I am cordially yours, Mark Hopkins. XX. Amherst College, April 20, 1872. Dear Sir, — .... It was hoped that some of our number would be able to attend. But it now seems probable, though not yet quite certain, that no one of us can enoy this pleasure. 122 CORRESPONDENCE. You will please accept the high appreciation with which we all regard the venerable and distinguished Professor. As an accomplished scholar in his line of study, as a champion in the defence of our common faith, as a zealous worker in preserving and enlarging the kingdom of heaven among men, he well deserves the commendation of all Christian hearts. A man like Dr. Hodge must be regarded as an honor to the whole church and to the human race. With shades of difference in opinion all true Christians are under one Head, and are impelled by one Spirit, and the large and powerful scholar of any denom- ination is the common property, and should be the com- mon joy of us all. May God spare the venerated life whose great services you commemorate, and crown this half century memorial with years of still greater usefulness than before ! Respectfully and truly, in the sympathies of our com- mon faith, Your friend and servant, W. A. Stearns. . XXI. Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H., April 2, 1872. My dear Brother, — .... This will be a rare semi-Centennial — grateful doubtless, honorable certainly, to the venerable Professor, but more to the praise of that grace divine which has made him and his record what they are. We glorify God in him. . . . We can only assure you of our hearty interest in the occasion, and our hope and expectation that the blessing of God will so rest upon it, that it will be not only for the edification of all concerned, but for the honor of the Master. With great regard. Yours truly, A. D. Smith. CORRESPONDENCE. 1 23 XXII. Ursinus College, Freeland, Pa., April g, 1872. My dear Sir, — .... jPermit me, however, to add that although com- pelled to yield to hindering circumstances, our warmest sympathies are with you and the richly merited token of regard to be presented to one whom the Lord has raised up to be one of the ablest expounders of evangehcal theology, and one of the most learned and faithful de- fenders of Gospel truth against the artful opposition of modern foes — a man whose name and Avorks will rank with those of the most honored worthies of past ages. Begging you "to convey to Dr. Hodge assurances of our profound esteem, Sincerely yours, J. H. A. Bomberger. XXIII. Hampden Sidney, Va., April 3, 1872. Rev. and dear Sir, — .... I should be glad to do anything in my power to show my cordial appreciation of the great services ren- dered by Dr. Hodge to the Presbyterian Church, and to the cause of our common Redeemer. Circumstances, however, put it out of my power, and out of the power of my colleagues, to be present on the occasion. Yours truly, , J. M. P. Atkinson. 124 CORRESPONDENCE. XXIV. Westminster College, Fulton, Mo., Ap7-il 15, 1872. Dear Sir, — .... The Faculty of Westminster College very much regret that imperative duties oblige them to deny them- selves the pleasure of being present on the very interest- ing occasion. They beg our venerable and beloved Pro- fessor to accept their warmest congratulations. May he long be spared to fill the important position he has so long and so ably occupied ! I beg leave to say on my own account that I do most deeply regret that circumstances beyond my control will render it impracticable for me to enjoy the pleasure I had anticipated of being present at the celebration of the fiftieth year of Dr. Hodge's Professorship. For no living man do I entertain so high regard. Very truly, N. L. Rice. XXV. The University of Mississippi, Oxford, April 3, 1872. My dear Brother, — Gladly would I unite with you in the proposed cele- bration, could I do so consistently with my duties in the chair of Metaphysics and Logic in this University. I should rejoice to meet old friends that were class-mates with me at the feet of those great lights in the church, Drs. Alexander, Miller, and J. A. Alexander. I should be delighted to extend the right hand of fellowship to brethren of the same name and faith, although separated (only temporarily I trust) by ecclesiastical lines. But of this pleasure I must be deprived b)' the force of circum- stances, which 1 cannot disregard consistently with pro- fessional duties. CORRESPONDENCE. 1 25 May the Spirit of our common Lord and Master ani- mate all your proceeding's, is the earnest desire of your fellow-servant in Christian bonds. Very sincerely, James A. Lyon. XXVI. New York, April 20, 1872. My dear Brother, — .... It would be very pleasant to me to be with you all once more, and more particularly on an occasion of such deep interest, but common prudence utterly forbids my making the attempt. T have strength neither of body nor mind for the service you propose.* The occasion will be one of very deep interest. I re- joice in the honor conferred upon that faithful and labori- ous servant of God, who has so successfully devoted fifty years to directing the minds and hearts of young men to the fields white to the harvest. What a flood of fight has he poured upon the path of the youthful ministry ! What an honor and privilege is it to be a minister of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God ! Oh, that the young who are called to this sacred service may deeply feel the responsibifity of their voca- tion ! My prayer for the'm is, that they may be more and yet more imbued with the thought that their mission is "to turn men from darkness to fight, and from the power of Satan unto God ; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Christ Jesus." This, after all, is the great work of the ministry of reconcifiation. Once more thanking you for your frater- nal greetings. Affectionately your brother, 1^^ Gardiner Spring. * Dr. Spring, as a Director of the Seminary in 1822 when Dr. Hodge entered on his professorship, had been invited to take part in the exercises. 126 CORRESPONDENCE. XXVII. (Letter from Alumni of Princeton, resident in Minnesota.) Dear Sir, — The undersigned, ministers of the Presbyterian Church, now living in Minnesota, who have attended the Theolog- ical Seminary at Princeton, N. J., and who cannot (as we wish we could) be present in the body at the Semi-Cen- tennial celebration in honor of our beloved old Professor, Charles Hodge, D.D., LL.D., April 24th, 1872, to com- memorate the completion of the fiftieth year of his connec- tion with this institution as a teacher, would, nevertheless, send our ministerial and friendly greeting. We thank God for ourselves, that we have had the rare honor and privilege to sit as pupils at the feet of this great teacher, the greatest in his department, as we truly believe, to be found to-day in this or any other land. And we thank God, for the church, that at the eventful period of her his- tory included in these fifty years, the chair of Theology in her oldest (and perhaps most influential) Theological Seminary, has been filled by a teacher so wise, so learned, so pure-minded, so catholic in his views, so bold in main- taining the truth, so conservative and yet so progressive withal, and above and through all so devoutly consecra- ted in all his great gifts to the service of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We almost hesitate to speak as we feel, our feelings are so strong and so warm. And when we think of the thou- sands of young men during these fifty years, on whom in the Seminary, Professor Charles Hodge laid his strong and skilful hand to mould them to work for the Master ; when we think of what they have done for Christ, the church and the world, because of what he did for them ; when we think of his general and diffused influence in the church at large through his commentaries and other writ- ings, shaping her opinions on many doctrines and subjects ; CORRESPONDENCE. I27 and when we think of the honor to have had for so many years such a man as the representative teacher of the faith of the church, in both her common and her peculiar doctrines, we can only from our deepest hearts say, Thank God, thank God for Charles Hodge ! To this venerable man on this auspicious day, we indi- vidually send our warmest love. And we pray our Father in heaven to spare him to us all so long as it shall be best for him and most for the glory of the common Master. Frederick T. Brown, St. Paul. Daniel B. Jackson, Litchfield. James L. Merritt, St. Charles. James A. McGowan, Taylors Falls. W. J. Hoar, Willmar. W. C. Harding, Geo. Ainslie, Rochester. Thomas Burnet, Oronoco. Hugh L. Craven, St. Charles. XXVIII. Chiengmai, North Laos, Farther India, February 29, 1872. Dear Sir, — Nothing would afford me greater pleasure than to be present on that deeply interesting occasion. It is our constant prayer that Dr. Hodge may long be spared to the Seminary Our thoughts will also turn on that day to one who was so long the associate of Dr. Hodge, and who would have rejoiced more than any other had his life been spared to meet with you on the day of the semi-Centennial. The name of Dr. Addison Alexander would itself have made a less noted Seminary than Princeton illustrious. No institution has been more signally favored in that galaxy of illustrious men who have left their impress upon it, and through it on the 128 CORRESPONDENCE. Church and the world. Please find enclosed my contn-; bution to the Hodge Professorship ; I would rejoice if it were as manv thousands as it is dollars. Daniel McGilvary. 1932X6 ,Jf| p,, -^a ?.c 0-.^=° "= 7a Princeton Theological Seminary Ubrari^^ 1 1012 01254 3874