Vol. X JANUARY, 1918 No. 3 BULLETIN COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY COLUMBIA, S. C. Published Quarterly by the Board of Directors of the Theological Seminary of the Synods of South Carolina. Georgia, Alabama and Florida of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (Entered as Second-Class Matter July 11, 1908, at the Postoffice at Columbia, South Carolina, Under the Act of July 16, 1891) FACULTY THORNTON WHALING, D. D., LL. D., LITT. D., PRESIDENT OF THE SEMINARY, PROFESSOR OF DIDACTIC AND POLEMIC THEOLOGY. WILLIAM M. McPHEETERS, D. D., LL. D., PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT LITERATURE AND EXEGESIS. HENRY ALEXANDER WHITE, Ph. D., D. D., LL. D., PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT LITERATURE AND EXEGESIS. RICHARD C. REED, D. D., LL. D., PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY AND CHURCH POLITY. JAMES 0. REAVIS, D. D., LL. D., PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH BIBLE AND HOMILETICS. EDGAR D. KERR, A. M., B. D., INSTRUCTOR IN HEBREW AND GREEK. GEORGE S. FULBRIGHT, A. B., INSTRUCTOR IN ELOCUTION. W. H. MILLS, M. A., D. D., INSTRUCTOR IN RURAL SOCIOLOGY AND WORK OF COUNTRY PASTOR. SMYTH LECTURERS. B. B. Warfield, D. D., LL. D., Princeton Theol. Sem., 1917-18. F. L. PATTON, D. D., LL. D., Bermuda Island, 1918-19. The Unparalleled Growth of the Colum- bia Theological Seminary. The whole history of the Church in the South has in it no parallel to the rapid growth of the Columbia Theological Seminary. The number of students has more than trebled within six years and its resources have been enlarged, although they have not kept pace with its increase in students. This increase has come despite the fact of the war, which has cost this Semi- nary as many .students in proportion as any of our Sem- inaries ; some students having left the Institution for service and others who would have enrolled, having offered themselves as volunteers or having been drafted. Though quite a number of students were lost to the Seminary in this way, it is the only Presbyterian Theological Institution, so far as the writer can dis- cover, in our country that has more students than last year; and, in fact, a larger number than ever before in its history. The reasons of this rapid growth are not far to seek : 1. The Institution is the kind of Seminary that attracts progressive and earnest-minded young men, who seek the best preparation for the ministry in the Twentieth Century. The curriculum, while embodying all the classical disciplines, has been modernized by the addition of practical courses in quite a number of fields. It is believed that no Seminary, in our section of the country, has a course more thoroughly adapted to the needs of students today. The professors are the kind of men under whom the students delight to study; each one is a specialist in his own field and while their gifts and graces vary, the combination is one which is certainly unexcelled in our branch of the Church. The library is increasingly used as a result of the scientific cataloguing, now nearing completion. The riches of this unequalled library are thus made avail- able for aspiring and scholarly students. Other advantages, which need not be specified, are fully recognized by the most thoughtful students in our schools and universities. The best possible adver- tisement for an institution is a select body of satisfied students of high-grade and scholarly ambitions and characteristics, who attract like students to the institu- tion which they attend. 2. The number of candidates in the Synods con- trolling Columbia Seminary has greatly increased, dur- ing the past few years as compared with a period seven to ten years ago. For example, the Synod of Georgia had forty-two candidates under its care the past year as compared with twenty-two, seven years ago, and the other Synods have had an increase, which, while not so great, is quite noteworthy. In addition, the attractive power of the Institution has so grown that students have come from a wider range than the four controlling Synods; Texas, North Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee are all represented by students at the Seminary this year. 3. The splendid history of the Institution is one of its advantages and assets. From the very foundation of the school in 1828, the ecclesiastical leaders of the Church have been found in its Faculty; Dr. Thornwell, Dr. Palmer, Dr. Girardeau, Dr. Plumer, and Dr. Wood- row make a list which it is no disparagement of any other institution to say cannot be paralleled. The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church of the United States was written within its walls. The Com- mittee which planned for the Convention meeting in Atlanta that brought the Assembly of 1861 into exist- ence, convened in its Chapel. Around no other spot in the South do there cluster so many traditions of great names and great men who gave their best gifts to the service of this School. These reasons, and others that might be given, will explain the fact why students, as they consider the problem of preparation for preaching the Gospel today, find the Columbia Seminary so worthy a candidate for their patronage, that a larger number of promising and worthy men are enrolled as students there today than at any time during the ninety years of its splendid history. The Present Needs of Columbia Seminary. A growing and prosperous institution, in the very nature of the case, must have growing needs. A moribund or retrograding institution may not have imperative needs of a larger kind, but a progressive school, increasing in the number of its students, cannot help but have larger demands for financial and mate- rial resources. If any Institution in the Church deserves such increase of resources, Columbia Seminary is that school. The history of its growth is its most emphatic and mag- netic appeal. Of course, it goes without saying, that it needs the prayers of ministers, officers, and the people of the Church; and such prayers would be the Golden Key which opened the way for the desired increase. Chris- tian people who pray for an institution will endorse their own prayers in the only way that proves their sincerity. 1. Of course, the President, Faculty, Board of Directors, and the controlling Synods need Divine direc- tion in the discharge of the great responsibilities which rest upon them. No more solemn duties could well be laid upon ministers, officers, and Church Courts than the trust of administering such an Institution. 2. There ought to be real intercessions for the stu- dents at this School, sixty-six in number, that they may prove "able ministers of the new Covenant;" and also that there may develop in the Presbyteries increasing numbers of worthy and promising young men who offer themselves to the Church for the work of the ministry. 3. The hearts and pockets of the Christian people in these four Synods ought to be opened to meet these needs. The greatest need is funds for the support of students. Union Seminary in Virginia has $150,000 for the Scholarship Funds, and Kentucky Seminary at Louisville, about $100,000, and Columbia Seminary ought to be equally well provided for, in this respect. There is no doubt that it will be when its needs are understood, as they are coming to be. Let everyone who reads these lines, advertise this need in the name of Him who called these young men into this service. The Smyth Lectures for 1917-18. The Smyth Lectures for 1917-18 were delivered by Dr. Benjamin B. Warfield, Professor of Theology in Princeton Theological Seminary. Their general topic was "The Pseudo-Miracles." The Princeton Professor was at his best. The range of scholarship and depth of penetration which marks all of his work character- ized these lectures. While there was a gleam of humor and a flash of wit, whicn charmed all hearers, there 8 was also a beauty and glow of literary style which will make the lectures, when published in book form, a classic. The lecturer for next year is the Rev. Dr. Francis L. Patton. It is not often that a series of lectures for two years in succession is delivered by men of equal rank in the Theological world and with anything like the gifts of scientific, and yet popular, exposition, which mark these two great leaders of thought in the realm of Theology.