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

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Methodist paper in the world, Dr. James M. Buckley, of the New York Christian Advocate, happening to visit Richmond, heard Dr. Hoge one Sunday morning in his ordinary ministrations preach on Thou art a priest forever after the order of Nlelchizadeku and spent the afternoon writing back promptly to his paper the message, 'LI have to-day heard the greatest preacher in the world. It was not an unusual estimate for the at- tendants upon his ministry to form this opinion over and over again as they heard those sermons which for more than a half century he poured forth without any signs of exhaus- tion or symptoms of mental decay or spiritual decline. The volume of sermons entitled, The Perfection of Beauty, will explain this reputation to coming generations as they see illustrated in them the finished style, the perfect balance between form and matter, the symmetry and proportion of structure, the evangelical and scriptural flavor which made him the great preacher, but no printed page can reproduce the kindling eye, the face lit with a divine fire, the vibrant voice, the masterful gesture, the indescribable halo of genius which encircled him as beauty and power, poetry and truth, all marked in harmonious union, seemed to vie with each other in seeking to serve the purpose of this mighty master of assemblies. There ought to be gathered together from magazine and religious press and every available source other sermons to teach willing readers and to illustrate to succeeding preachers of later days this supreme art of preaching. It is a benediction that the skill and industry of his nephew, Dr. Peyton H. Hoge, has made his uncle's biography as he has written it a worthy embodiment of the noble preacher's life and genius. The limited literary product of the Richmond pastor, which all must lament, is considerably enlarged by the letters, speeches, and articles which find a place in this life, and yet the art of the biographer is amply shown in his own skilful presentation of the outward incidents and inner history of his great subject as well as in the admirable setting of the life in its complex relations to all the changing conditions of the eventful years from l8l9-l899. Wlention ought to be made of Dr. Daniel Baker, the flaming apostle and evangelist of the Southwest, the founder of Austin College, which is rendering so great a service to Church and State to-day, and the author of two volumes of sermons, which are too little known and which put him in the front rank of American preachers. Whole communities in the Southwest were revolutionized by his pentecostal preaching and some of the leading preachers and laymen in all the evangelical denominations in that vast region owe their religious life to his evangelistic labors. At least three great states-Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas--put Baker in the front in their estimate of the formative forces which saved these commonwealths for righteousness. The name of Dr. A. W. Pitzer must be chron- icled, for forty years pastor of the Central Church, Washington, D. C.: for many years Professor of Bible Study in Howard University, and author of Ecce Deus Homo, Christ, the Teacher of Men, and other valuable publications. The first of these is an incisive and suggestive book corrective of the fractional and naturalistic views of Prof. Seeley's famous work called Ecce Homo, and is in every way the equal of the Oxford professofs volume. 26

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whom he has taught and those whom he is to influence indirectly through them, but an in- creasing number of readers, will profit as they study these products of his mature and scholarly pen. In the department of Historical Theology, the name of Dr. T. C. johnson may well head our list. ln addition to his services as a master-teacher and author in the technical department of Church History, he has written two standard biographiesvthe Life of Dr. Dabney and the 'iLife of Dr. Palmer. ln addition to giving us a life-like picture of two noble men and showing us the development of their minds and characters, until at last each came to be a great master in his respective field: and presenting also the catalogue of services rendered by these signally usful men of herculean and adamantine industry and of splendid gifts splendidly disciplined. Dr. Johnson likewise most skilfully exhibits the history and inner character of this section of our country. The scene is laid in turn in Virginia, Texas, South Carolina, Louisiana, and no juster account of the culture. character, civilization, modes of life and thought, manners and customs of the South can be found than on these pages. Each of these biographies is a master-piece. And we are not left as a people without a witness so long as these books shall live. The reader will meet not only with a great man, but he will understand also the environment out of which the noble character sprang and by which it was influenced and upon which in turn it expended its influence. Dr. Johnson has already brought our country under obligation and encourages the hope that his studious and versatile pen has still further work to do by which we shall be further enriched. Another accomplished alumnus is Dr. Parke P. Flournoy, whose 'Search Light of St. Hippolytusu makes both interesting and profitable reading. It shows how modern discovery explodes the claims of the papacy and sheds much light on the New Testament. The discovery made about sixty years ago in the old monastery on Mount Athos of Hippolytus' uphilosophizing or Refutations of all Heresiesn restores to us one of the most valuable productions of this Ante-Nicene Father. Dr. Flournoy uses this book to show that the Bishops of Rome in Hippolytus' day were not yet recognized as popes, for this old father does not hesitate to apply to Zephyronus and Callistus, now canonized as popes, the illuminating epithets which exactly described them, but which do not comport with the papal claims. In several directions Dr. Flournoy turns the Search-Light and discredits the claim of the Tuburgen School that the Gospels had a late origin by showing by quotations from Hippolytus' heretics, from the new-found Diatesseron of Tatian, and the more recently discovered Synac Gospels, found by the two Cambridge sisters, Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson, that the New Testament canon was certainly in existence by the beginning of the Second Century. A later book, New Light on the New Testament, will add to Dr. Flournoy's justly-deserved reputation for scholar- ship and power of popular exposition. In the Section of Practical Theology there is one name which will never be forgotten as the name longest connected with Hampden-Sidney as student, tutor, alumnus, and trustee for sixty-two years, from IS37 to IS99, and as the most brilliant representative of the spirit and culture which have made the College famous all around the world-Moses Drury Hoge. A noted editor of the leading Z5

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This article ought to mention the valuable work in Theology done by Hampden- Sidney men in foreign lands, as, for example, by Dr. Phillip Francis Price, of China, in his three volumes in Chinese, Short Steps to C-reat Truths, and in his Chinese Dictionary and other publications. Such men are laying not only the evangelistic, but the literary and theological foundations upon which future enlightened and successful labors are to be built. The labors of Dr. William D. Reynolds, of Korea, are of the same kind, notably in his efficient service as one of the most influential and scholarly translators of both the Old and New Testaments into modern Korean. These are but samples of the service which the College, through her sons, is rendering all around the world to the cause of education, literature and evangelism. Cognate with all this is the influential contribution to correct thinking and sound religion made by the editors who apply to current questions the eternal standards, riot of the passing day, but of the unchanging Kingdom. Amongst these are to be rated that rare preacher, teacher and editor, Dr. John L. Kirkpatrick, who made the Southern Presbyterian a power by his editorial writing, Dr. W. T. Richardson who discussed well- nigh every possible theme of religious or moral interest during his many years as editor of the Central Presbyterian, and that brilliant editor who retired all too soon from this most important field, Dr. A. lVlcKelway, who made The Presbyterian Standard the most eagerly read of journals during the period that his strong, if somewhat caustic, pen enlivened its columns. If he left some wounds that smart, he had no readers that slept, and no issue of his journal was ever dull or dead. This is but an imperfect and partial survey and many other names ought to be chronicled with a star, not as a sign that they are dead, but that they are still shining with a steady radiance through the influence of remembered teachings or published works. Such names belong here as those of Drs. james Blythe, William Hill, Moses Waddel, Benjamin Montgomery, William S. White, Drury Lacy, Ferdinand Jacobs, C. XV. Dame, W. V. Wilson, William Stoddert, Richard Nlcllwaine, T. W. Hooper, James W. Shearer, M. L. Lacy, W. F. Bishop, VV, W. Woods, A. Smith, A. T. Graham, R. A. Walton, G. W. Bull, M. G. Woodworth, and many others, who are exerting influence through books, pamphlets, printed sermons, tracts or articles of more than ephemeral interest. ln fact, if all the contributions which Hampden-Sidney's sons have made to all the departments of theological science could be gathered together it would make a goodly library, in -which the careful student might linger long and lovingly and much to his enrichment and profit. Nor has this influence been confined to any one denomina- tion-three bishops of the Episcopal Church were nursed in learning by her motherly tuition, Bishops Atkinson, Penick and Gibson, and ministers of many evangelical denom- inations-Methodist, Baptist, Christian, Episcopal and others, delight to own her as their Alma Mater. The conclusion is not a forced or an uncertain one, therefore, that Hampden- Sidney's contribution to Theological Science has been a large and liberal one. Both 27