Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

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lniun Eljenlngiml gB11Ii1Il'l1'1I. HISTORICAL SKETCH. The Union Theological Seminary is in its origin a development from Hampden-Sidney College. During the administration 61779-17875 of the Rev. John Blair Smith, private instruction was given in Theology to such students as presented themselves, one of these being the eminent Drury Lacy. For a while, also, theological instruction for Presbyterians in Vir- ginia was provided by the Rev. William Graham, Rector of Liberty-Hall, in Rockbridge County. While Archibald Alexander was President of Hampden- Sidney College Q1797-18063, supported chiefly by his friend and whilom colleague, John Holt Rice, he induced the Hanover Presbytery to raise funds with a view to the sustenance of a Professor of Theology and a library. Archibald Alexander left Hampden-Sidney for Philadelphia and became the chief' instrument in founding the Theological Seminary at Princeton in 1810. It was left to john Holt Rice to insist on the necessity that Virginia and the south should have a Seminary of their own for the education and support of their ministers. Meanwhile in 181 2, Alexander's successor in the President's chair of the College, Dr. Moses Hoge, had, at the instigation of the Synod of Virginia, undertaken the regular instruction of a class of theological students. This circumstance Hxed definitely the location of the future Seminary in Prince Edward County. Upon Dr. Hoge's death in 1820, a layman and Episcopalian succeeding to the presidency. plans were now formed to enlarge the theological department into a separate a11d fully equipped institution. It was the master mind and indomitable energy of Dr. John Holt Rice that pushed the scheme forward to successful issue i11 the face not only of the greatest difficulties, but also of much open hos- tility, many misrepresentations and active jealousies. Declining the Presi- dency of Princeton College, which had bee11 tendered him, he was enabled after several years of travel and collecting, especially in the North and in New England, to erect buildings and to open the new institution in january, 1824. His pioneer literary undertaking, The Ei'llIItgVL'fI.t'lI! and l.I.lllll'lzf':l! Jllagazfnc, QRichmond, 1817-1828j was used to foster the sentiment, as it aided every enterprise looking to the welfare cf Virginia. In 1826 19

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the Seminary was taken under the joint control ofthe Synods of Virginia and North Carolina, and was henceforth called LYIIIAOIZ Theological Seminary. At Dr. Rice's death in lS3I the young ministerial school was already pro- vided with three professors, accommodating about fifty students, and was furnished with ample material equipment. A fourth professorship was added in 1354. At the close of the war in 1865 the funds were almost a total loss, and the rehabilitation of the institution, the building and storing of the library, and other general improvements, were chiefly due to Dr. Benjamin M. Smith, a graduate of the class of '29 of the college. Through his unflagging zeal and devotion, friends in New York, Baltimore and elsewhere came to the support of the Seminary and raised itto its present comparatively easy status. A charter was not secured from the legislature until 1867. The character, scholarship, devotion, and piety of its instructors have been unusually high, and have given it ajust Rune. Dr. Rice was succeeded in the chair of Systematic and Polemic Theology by Dr. George A. Baxter, former President of XVashington College: and other successors have been Drs. Samuel B. Vtlilson, Robert L. Dabney and Thomas E. Peck. The occupants of the chair of Ecclesiastical History and Polity have been Drs. Stephen Taylor, Samuel L. Graham, Robert L. Dabney, Thcnzas E. Peck, james F. Latimer and Thomas Cary johnson. The Professorship of Oriental Literature has been Hlled by Drs. Hiram P. Goodrich, Samuel L. Graham, Francis S. Sampson, Benjamin M. Smith, Hlltl Walter W. Moore. The chair of Biblical Introduction and New Testament Literature has been held by Drs. XVilliam J. Hoge, Henry C. Alexander, and Charles C. Hers- man. A fifth Professorship of English Bible and Pastoral Theology was created i11 ISQI and is to be filled for the coming session by the election of the Board. The wisdom of Dr. Rice's measures has been fully proved by the great work done in the past seventy years by this School of the Prophets in furnishing ministers to the Presbyterian Church in Virginia, in.tthe South, and throughout the world, in the devoted spirit of the men trained under these peculiar surroundings in the character of those who have gone forth to their labors: in the strength of the particular standards which the Southern Presbyterian Church sets : in the conservative and ennobling influences exerted upon the country everywhere. 20