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

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Theological science of the church and the world. The accomplished Grecian who pro- duced The Irregular Verbs of Attic Prose and who caused a multitude of future theologians to know something of Greek by the patient and persistent and inflexible drill of a master in the classroom has done a large work for the science of theology, which will bear fruit for generations. To make men competent expositors of the New Testa- ment, while or by teaching them Greek, may not always pass for theological work, but it is really theological work of a high order, which will secure recognition as such in the day when the God of things as they are has his reckoning and metes out his rewards. All the theological institutions of our church and many of other churches are her debtors. At Union Seminary to-day Prof. T. C. Johnson fills the important Chair of Church History as a Hmaster-workman who needeth not to be ashamed, and Prof. A. D. P. Gilmour as associate in the Chair of Oriental Literature, particularly charged with the duty of showing the application of Christianity to modern social problems has an opportunity for conservative and constructive scholarship, by which he may enrich the whole church. At the Kentucky Theological Seminary Prof. Gray lVlcAllister is occupying the professorship of English Bible and Biblical Theology, and at South- western Divinity School Prof. C. W. Somerville is teaching the department of Old Testament Exegesis. In that youngest star in the hrmament of theological study, which is illuminating the strategic territory of the Southwest, three noble sons of the old Nlother are dong worthy service, and Austin rejoices in the work of Prof. Thornton R. Sampson in Church History, Prof. L. Bell in New Testament and Prof. E. C. Caldwell in Old Testament Exegesis. While far across the waters on the other side of the world Prof. L. Stuart, Jr., is teaching the interpretation of the New Testament in the Union Theological Seminary at Nanking, Chinag and these are the proof that the stream which still pours out of that classic spot in old Prince Edward is still able to make glad the City of our God. But the direct contributions to theological Science through authorship are chiefly in evidence. And first in the realm of theology proper stands the splendid name of Dr. Robert L. Dabney, who has brought the whole Kingdom of God into his debt by his books covering a vast range on this queen of all the sciences. The philosophy which underlies revelation, the system of truth which is contained in the inspired revelation, and the applications of that truth to many of the deepest problems of life, political, economic, social, all receive illuminating exposition from his master hand. In his upractical Phil- osophy and Sensualistic Philosophy there is presented a complete philosophy marked by that combined penetration and depth, that searching analysis and sane construction which he brought to the discussion of every theme. His lectures on Theology constitute a text-book for theological study which easily ranks among the very first in our language, and which is destined to put the name of its author in the list of the great theological system builders of the church of all the ages. l'-lis four volumes of Discussions contain a vast array of articles which, while not professing this as their end, yet practically accom- 23

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Hampden-Sidney's Contribution to Theological Science The supreme test of an institution of learning is the fruit it yields in capable and trained men fitted for the work of C,od's world and Cod's Kingdom. Splendid buildings and costly laboratories and encyclopedic libraries and scholarly teachers are all means to the end of producing efficient and worthy manhood. An educational plant costing millions of dollars might well be less effective in making men whose creation would be justified by the service they rendered, than some renowned College less rich in dollars but more rich in sons with the wisdom and character which are the marks of true culture. By their fruits ye shall know them. The splendid eminence of Hampden-Sidney is determined for her by the thousands upon thousands of young men who, during the century and a third of her existence, have imbibed the spirit of this venerable school and have wrought into the work of the world the contributions which their scholastic mother made through them. The historian of the College would find wide scope for the exercise of his art in tracing in every field of human activity the influence of the men trained here to carry into every walk of life the Hampden-Sidney spirit and culture. Especially in the inseparably allied fields of education and theology have her sons made marked contributions which shed lustre on the ancient seat of learning where they were prepared for this service. Theology is a science requiring trained capacity, and it is'impossible to separate the record of theological work from the schools, colleges, uni- versities and seminaries where theology has its native home and necessary haunts. A considerable section of the history of education in our country must be written if we would trace in completeness the service which Hampden-Sidney has rendered to this cause, and in no other way could we obtain a full view of the direct and indirect contribu- tions made by the College to the still higher cause of theological science. A partial list would show that her students or former professors have had large influence at Princeton. Davidson, Union, Westminster, Centre, Washington, Franklin, Richmond, Hanover, Randolph-Macon, Jefferson, Austin, King, South Carolina, Davis and Elkins Colleges, at Southwestern Presbyterian, Central, Transylvania, Washington and Lee, Syracuse, Western, Howard, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins Universities, at the Universities of City of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Vermont, Tennessee, Virginia, The South, Mississippi, Cincinnati, at the Virginia Military Institute, the Vir- ginia Polytechnic lnstitute, and to cut the catalogue short, at schools and seminaries both male and female, almost numberless. Her representatives who in these and other institu- tions were teaching. for example, philosophy, as Dr. Blanton at Central University, or Crreek, as Prof. Hogue at Washington and Lee, were making solid additions to the valid 22

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plish the purpose of showing how that combined philosophy and theology are to be utilized in meeting the old standing problems or the new issues which his day brought him. For practical wisdom, united to profound insight, they are unsurpassed and are equally worthy of study with his Philosophy and Theology. His Defence of Virginia and the South and his Life of Stonewall Jackson contain the one a reasoned and absolutely iznpregnable exposition and the other an equally convincing, practical and biographical vindication of the Southern position in '61 to '65, Taking all in all in consideration, the church in our day and country has no greater name to offer in the sphere of theological scienceg and of a piece with it were his services to Hampden-Sidney, Union Theological Seminary, the Austin Seminary and the University of Texas. Worthy to be associated with him was his life-long friend, another one of Hampden-Sidney's sons, Dr. C. R. Vaughan, who hlled for some years the same chair in the Union Seminary. His Gifts of the Holy Spirit deserves wide acknowledgment of its value in filling a place for which no substitute can be found, viz.: a solid theological discussion fitting into the Calvinistic system of the great subject which the title presents. His Sermons, Doctrinal, Apologetic and Practical are of a high order, richly suggestive as to the best mode of handling on the pulpit for practical edification the doctrines of the Woi'd. In the field of Exegetical Theology, the name of Dr. Benjamin M. Smith may well head the list-for thirty-nine years professor in the Union Seminary. and accounted by those who know its history as largely to be credited with its continued existence and large usefulness after the disastrous losses of the Civil War. It was his good fortune to train in Biblical interpretation a large number of the most useful and acceptable ministers in our Southland. His practical wisdom, united to competent scholarship, made him one of the most widely useful men of his clay. Too busy as a teacher and administrator to be prolific in the production of books, he still is the author of A Commentary on Psalms and Proverbs, an Introduction to the Poetical Books of Old Testament and Family Re- ligion. The name of Rev. Dr. B. Shearer can not be omitted from any summary, however meagre, of the names and contributions of Hampden-Sidney's alumni to Theolog- ical Science. The virtual founder of the Southwestern Presbyterian University and professor in its Divinity School, President of Davidson College, as a teacher for many years he has been engaged in solving the problem of introducing the Bible into the curriculum of study in the College and the University. He is a pioneer and discoverer in this region. His genius is shown in that he has solved the problem. As one who used as a professor in the University classroom, Dr. Shearer's Bible Course Syllabus in three volumes, the writer can testify to the scholarship and gifts which make these volumes so admirable a foundation upon which to build the structure of rational and satisfactory Bible Study, thorough without being sectarian, scholarly without being technical, biblical without being unduly philosophic or theological. His Studies in the Life of Christ, Sermon on the Mount and lVlodern Mysticism give the ripe results of a half century of study and instruction in the interpretation of the Scriptures, and not only the generations of students 24