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

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1Robert TL. Etabneig. BY THOMAS C. JOHNSON, or UNION SEBIINARY, vmorum. QBERT LEXYIS D.-XBNEY was born in Louisa County, Virginia, on the fifth of March. 1820, of good old Hanover lineage. In june. 1836, he entered the Sophomore Class, half advanced, of Hampden-Sidney Col- lege. He completed the remaining part of the Sophomore, and tl1e junior course, and left the College in 1857. He then taught a country school for two years. In December, ISSQ, he entered the University of Yirginia, from which he retired in July of 1842 with the degree of master of arts. He again taught a select private school for more than two years. In October, 1844, he entered Union Seminary in Virginia, took the full three years' course in two years and was licensed to preach in May. 1846. He spent one year as a missionary in his native county, at the end of which time he was called to be the pastor of Tinkling Spring Church in Augusta County. Here he performed for a considerable time the functions of the pastorate to a large church and those of the head teacher of a classical school. After a pastorate of over six years he was elected to the chair of ecclesiastical history and polity in his alma mater, Union Theological Seminary, which he filled until 1870. Meanwhile, in 1869, he had been appointed adjunct professor of theology, and he was made full professor in this department in 1870. He con- tinued to dignify this important chair until 1883, when owing to bronchial troubles he was warned by his physicians to seek a milder climate. Accordingly he accepted an invitation to the chair of mental and moral philosophy in the Univer- sity of Texas, at Austin, the capital of that State. This position he continued to fill with unfiagging ability, notwithstanding the increasing infirmities of age and the total loss of his eyesight. till 1894. Since he retired from that position he has given special courses of lectures at different institutions and has been active with his pen. During his long term of service in Union Seminary he was for sixteen years co-pastor of the College church, with the Rev. Dr. B. M. Smith. During the 27

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and rendered it possible for us to live under the benign influences which we now enjoy. As Governor of the State, he proved himself equal to the exigencies of the times when difficult problems had to be solved, and how satisfactorily he settled the State debt and also how the oyster laws were made effective in adding revenue to the coffers of the treasury, and many other measures of benefit to the Common- wealth are well known and will go down in history reflecting luster upon the good management of him who sat at the helm of state. As a soldier, he entered the army early in the war. and fought gallantly at the head of the company of which he was captain. and when severely wounded he asked to be transferred to post duty at Danville, Virginia, where he performed valuable services till the end of the war. The great secret of ex-Governor McKinney's success in life depended upon a combination of natural endowments that were well balanced. Nature was pro- fuse in her gifts-she gave him a stately, commanding figure. a countenance beaming with intelligence and love, an eye sparkling and confiding, the index of his soul, a soft gentle voice, musical in its tones, and a memory stored with anec- dote. all of which made him a charming conversationalist. He was a natural orator and by practice in his early years of college and political life learned to modulate his voice so as to sway at will the multitudes that flocked to hear him speak. But the gift that crowned his life with imperishable luster was the gift of the Holy Ghost. W'hile Governor of Virginia. encumbered by the arduous duties of his office, he found time to render service to his God. He loved to sit at the feet of Dr. Hoge and regularly, while governor. attended his church. Private letters from Governor Mcliinney while in Richmond to the author of this sketch breathe the spirit of a true Christian. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Farmville. The late home of ex-Governor Mcliinney contains the forms of two, as its inmates, that were the idols of his heart-his desolate wife, lonely and sad, and his daughter, little Frankie, deprived so early of her father's love and guidance. May a merciful Providence send a ray of light to these sorrowing hearts. 26

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same period he served Hampden-Sidney College in a professorial capacity on occasions of need in that institution. In 1861, whenever his duties permitted his absence from the seminary. he was chaplain in the Confederate army with the Vir- ginia troops. In 186.2 he was chief of staff of tl1e Second Corps under General Thomas tl. Jackson. After the close of the war, during the period of utter poverty consequent on the great struggle, he rendered the people of his own section great services in taking effective measures for supplying bread. During his years at the L'niversity of Texas he taught with great ability a course on political economy every year. and practically founded and maintained for all those years the Austin Theological School. Throughout his whole ministerial life he gave valuable W service to the church in her courts and on important committees. The last piece of literary work he did was the preparation of a brief sketch of the life of his teacher, colleague and friend. Dr. Sampson. He did this work on Monday. January 3rd, 1898. In the evening of that day he was seized with an acute illness and died. after four hours, at II P. M. So far. a brief and most imperfect sketch of Dr. Dabney's life. To give an adequate account of his life it would be necessary to enter into a discussion of the general current of theological thought during the last forty years and portray him in relation to these currents. lt would also be necessary to give an exposition of many contemporary philo- sophical systems and show how he stood toward those systems. It would be no less needful to refer to many material, political and sociological changes which have occurred in our country during the ' last fifty years. for Dr. Dabney, while ROBERT L. DABNEY. a minister of the gospel, was also a citi- zen of his commonwealth. and a great Christian statesman. He took a burning interest in all that vitally concerned the welfare of his country. He held profound views on political economy and statecraft, and set them forth with tremendous vigor. The lives even of most gTeat preachers pass in such quiet that the historian Finds little to dwell upon. XYhat he says of one day's labor and achievements may 28