Columbia Theological Seminary Bulletin, 8, number 2, January 1916

Vol. VIII JANUARY, 1916 No. 2

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, 1894)

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FACULTY

THORNTON WHALING, D. D., LL. 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.,

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH BIBLE AND HOMILETICS.

EDGAR D. KERR, A. M., B. D.,

INSTRUCTOR IN CHRISTIAN ETHICS AND APOLOGETICS.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTORS IN ELOCUTION AND SACRED MUSIC.

SMYTH LECTURERS.

J. Campbell White, LL. D., New York City, 1915-1916.

W. S. Plumer Bryan, D. D., Chicago, 111., 1916-1917.

Francis L. Patton, D. D., LL. D., Princeton, N. J., 1917-
1918.

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The Chief Financial Needs of
Columbia Theological Seminary

Every expanding educational institution will always
need money, and the recent unexampled increase in the
number of students at Columbia Theological Seminary
renders imperative the securing of increased income.
When the four Synods immediately concerned and the
Church at large learns that fifty promising and worthy
young men are in attendance today on this favored insti-
tution, they will understand that more money is required
to maintain it in the highest state of efficiency than was
required when twenty students only were in attendance.

The chief needs therefore are, first, Scholarship funds.
This institution for various reasons has no specific funds
donated and set apart for this use. One of our other
Theological Seminaries, for example, has $90,000 that
was given expressly and exclusively for use in supporting
young men who are preparing for the Gospel Ministry.
There must be found in our controlling Synods those who
will not only contribute immediately funds for current
use in this way, but who will also endow a scholarship by
gift while alive, or by bequest when they depart, the
interest on which shall be used forever to maintain some
young man. Scholarship funds, therefore, are the most
outstanding, conspicuous, and imperative need of the
Theological Seminary.

Second, the riches of the Library are becoming increas-
ingly known, as a result of their being catalogued on the
most scientific basis. The fact should be known from
one end of the Church and the country to the other, that
perhaps the finest theological saminary in America in the
field of Puritan Theology is to be found at this Seminary.
A fireproof building, which would house these invaluable
treasures, ought to be provided. It would be an unpar-
donable sin against scholarship and true learning if,
through neglect to do this, this great storehouse of vol-
umes, many of which cannot now be secured in any way

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for love or money, should be allowed to go up in smoke.
When the library is erected, arrangements should be made
in it also for a comfortable, commodious and attractive
Chapel for the public exercises of the institution.

Third, the Chair of English Bible, Pastoral Theology
and Homiletics, for the endowment of which $10,000 is
promised by the widow of the Rev. R. G. Pearson, former
incumbent of said Chair, should be completely endowed at
as early a date as possible. The hope and expectation is
entertained that Mrs. Pearson herself will enter upon the
prosecution at an early date of a plan of securing $20,000
for this purpose. Dr. Pearson was the instrument of
bringing into the Church 20,000 souls, scattered through
the sixteen Southern States, and of enriching the Spirit-
ual life of many thousands more.

It would seem that it would be a delight to those whom
he had thus served to perpetuate his memory and influ-
ence by contributing to the endowment of the R. G. Pear-
son Memorial Chair of the English Bible.

These are, at present, the chief needs of the institution
and pastors, Church officers, and wise stewards of "their
Lord's" money, are invited to study these needs from the
point of view of the progress of the Kingdom as repre-
sented by the Southern Presbyterian Church, especially
in the four States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
and Florida.

How to Use Money

There is no section of Biblical or Christian Ethics
which needs more authoritative exposition in order that
the average Christian may understand the divine teach-
ings on the subject than the teaching of the Scriptures on
the theme of the proper means of acquiring and especially
the proper modes of spending money. The parables of
the pounds and the talents show that every Christian
ought to regard his money, not as his own, but as "his
Lord's" money. These parables teach that the Lord will
review the Christian's use of this money, and will deter-

mine his rewards by the degree of faithfulness in its use ;
and that the most searching determinative test of the
Christian character is in its last analysis in the use to
which money is put. And, therefore, the reward and
judgment as just will be based upon the Lord's decision
in these respects.

There are several principles which must be laid down ;
first, a Christian man has a right to expend upon himself
and his family all the money, and no more, that is neces-
sary to prepare and maintain them for their maximum
efficiency in the service of Christ and His Kingdom. This
principle may not always be easy to apply, as a rule, but
its meaning is certainly simple and of universal applica-
tion. Second, Livingstone was certainly expressing one
of the profoundest laws of the Kingdom when he said, in
substance, "I shall value no gift of mind, and no attain-
ment of reputation, and no money which may come to me,
except as I may use them for the one purpose of serving
the interest of God's Kingdom." The use of money in the
Kingdom and the marriage of money to God's grace is
fundamental in the Scriptural teachings. God's chariot
moves on wheels of gold and God's grace may halt because
money does not "prepare the way of the Lord." Third,
the investment of money in a young life which is to be
prepared by this money for the highest forms of service
which God's world and God's Kingdom admits of, is cer-
tainly a form of money investment which has no superior
in the present order or dispensation of God's Kingdom
and God's grace. Fourth, the most fundamental institu-
tion as developed in the Church and the Kingdom of God
today is the Theological Seminary, in which choice youth
of the Church are assembled for preparation for the work
of the Gospel Ministry.

The Presbyterians of the four States of South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama and Florida cannot possibly find any
higher use for their money, or one which will be more
pleasing to "their Lord," than to sustain the young men
who are in this institution. They are the gifts of the
King and the Head of the Church to His people and His

people cannot, without gross failure in duty, allow "their
Lord's" gift to languish or to fail of the highest use
because they do not come up to the "help of the Lord
against the mighty," by putting down the gold and silver
or the greenbacks, if necessary, which will enable the
Seminary and the young men to do their work.

The challenge is therefore boldly given to the preach-
ers, elders, deacons, the people of these Synods, to all of
our Church courts, from the Synods down to the Pres-
byteries and the Church Sessions to interrogate them-
selves as to the plans by which "their Lord's" money may
be thus spent in the most profitable way. First, particu-
lar individuals who have the means ought to contribute
directly to the Seminary in the support of some young
man. Second, individuals who have means might endow
at once a scholarship of one to two thousand dollars,
the interest of which should maintain some worthy
and deserving candidate for the ministry. Such a schol-
arship might be established as a memorial to some hon-
ored name or beloved relative. Third, individuals who
have still larger means might well consider the duty of
endowing a chair of, say, English Bible, or of Christian
Ethics, or of Systematic Theology, which would continue
to influence the Church and the Kingdom for all the
future.

Fourth, Christians who make their wills ought to ask
whether, instead of leaving everything to their children
or relatives, more or less remote, they ought not to leave
at least some share of their means to one who is more
closely related to them than wife or children can possibly
be, and whose Kingdom represents the chief concern of
every Christian heart. In some sections of our country,
it has come to be regarded as a disgrace if a man of any
means dies without leaving bequests to great causes of
beneficence. And the newspapers and others will remark
upon it as unusual that no bequests are made to benevo-
lence or the Church. It would be a good thing if this
view could be transferred to our Southern country.

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Fifth, the Church Session might well see that the
support of candidates at the Theological Seminary was
put down upon their Church budget and a certain amount
appropriated, which will be measured by the ability of the
people as well as their interest in this cause, and this can
be collected by an offering on the Sabbath or in such other
way as the elders and deacons may think best, and sent
on to the Treasurer of the Theological Seminary, Mr. T. S.
Bryan, Columbia, S. C, or, if desired, to the President,
Thornton Whaling, Columbia, S C.

Sixth, the Presbyteries in these four Synods may well
inquire whether they may not bring their legitimate
influence to bear upon their churches to secure this end,
namely, that their Theological Seminary is put on the
budget of their churches. Seventh, the Synods of South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida could not well
have a higher and more bounden duty than to consider
most earnestly and prayerfully the duty of bringing their
churches into hearty fellowship in this work of maintain-
ing candidates for the ministry in their own Theological
Seminary.

The Biggest Money Investment

There are usual opportunities open, especially in the
South, for the investment of money in a way that prom-
ises big returns. With the opening of the Panama Canal
and with the termination of the world war, this oppor-
tunity will be greatly increased. But the biggest possi-
ble investment is one that some wise investors may pos-
sibly overlook, and that is to put their money into young
men who will serve the highest causes for many years.

First, a young man is the most valuable asset that the
world or the Kingdom can possibly possess and the use
of means which liberate his powers for great efficienc}^
is the wisest use that gold and silver can find. There
was a famous man, fifty years ago or more, who lived
in the State of Georgia, and who was renowned for
many things. He was a brilliant public speaker ; he was

a finely equipped lawyer; he served with distinction in
the halls of Legislature; he was vice president of the
Southern Confederacy; he wrote a famous book which
doubtless will last forever; but in his last days he said
that the work that he had done which, in his opinion,
yielded him the biggest returns in the way of interest in
investment was the sixty young men whom he had helped
to equip themselves by education for services in many
different fields, some as lawyers, teachers, editors,
preachers, farmers, and others as public men in the
service of the country. Not one of these he said had
proven unworthy or had failed to make a success in life.
Doubtless Alexander H. Stephens thinks now that the
money he put into these young men was the best money
that he ever spent. And when the reader arrives where
Stephens now is, he doubtless would have the same
opinion if he were to put some of his money a generous
share into choice youth.

Secondly, such money is safely invested. It is hard
to lose it, because the boards of the institutions, especially
the Board of Directors of the Theological Seminary, guard
the investment with such care that the principal is almost
never lost and the interest quite rarely. For example,
the Columbia Seminary has not lost a single cent of its
endowment or scholarship funds or any other money
given to it for a long period, certainly not since the finan-
cial convulsions incident to the Civil War. Other bags
may have holes out of which money goes, but this bag
has a bottom that holds gold and silver that the wise
benefactor puts in it.

Third, the giver to this cause is guaranteed against
misinvestments or misplacement of his moneys. First,
the session in whose vicinage a young man lives and
where he holds his membership must endorse him. Sec-
ondly, Presbytery has to put his stamp on him as a trust-
worthy and genuine young man ; and thirdly, the faculty
of the Seminary must also express confidence in his
Christian character and possible usefulness by his reten-
tion in the Seminary. So that a moneyed man, with

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eyes in his head seeking to find worthy young men to aid
could scarcely go astray in aiding these guaranteed and
thoroughly trustworthy young men who have already
stood so many tests.

Fourth, the cause of the education of worthy and con-
secrated young men for the ministry is the most funda-
mental of all causes. Foreign Missions, Home Missions,
Evangelism, education in all of its forms, publication,
all of them hinge on securing and preparing a sufficient
number of well-equipped and able ministers. If, there-
fore, money hunts for an investment which will contrib-
ute to the most fundamental interest, upholding all other
good causes, money ought to enlist in the support of these
worthy candidates for the ministry.

The chief need of Columbia Seminary is money for
scholarships. The remarkable and unexampled increase
in the number of students has raised a question, whether
the stewards of their Lord's moneys are to be sufficiently
wise to invest His money for Him in the way which will
recognize the great blessing He has bestowed upon the
Seminary and the Church in the gift of these young men,
and which will at the same time enable their Lord's
money to render its highest form of service in the main-
tenance of these young men while in their course of
preparation for the Gospel Ministry. There ought to be
fifty scholarships of at least $1,000 each in Columbia
Seminary for this cause. No better memorial for some
deceased minister, or some beloved Church officer, or
some departed relative could be established than to endow
a scholarship in their name.

Some Activities of the Professors
at Columbia Seminary

In addition to the work done by the professors in con-
ducting classes at the Seminary, all of them respond to
calls of various kinds made by the Church at large.

The President of the Seminary during his services at
the institution has averaged as many sermons and

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addresses as the Church pastor delivers, has published
numerous articles in church papers and magazines and
has issued from the press a book entitled "Jesus and
Christian Doctrine."

Dr. J. 0. Reavis is in constant demand for sermons,
addresses and evangelistic meetings, not only within the
bounds of the four Synods controlling the Seminary, but
in the Church at large.

Dr. R. C. Reed is one of the efficient editors of the
Presbyterian Standard, is the author of two or three
valuable books and is heard also in a large number of
pulpits adjacent to the institution.

Dr. W. M. McPheeters, while professor, was editor for
a term of years of the Bible Student. He delivered also
a series of Stone Lectures at Princeton Seminary, and
has contributed a large number of articles covering a
large variety of Biblical themes to the religious press
and magazines. In addition, he preaches at a large num-
ber of churches and on many different public occasions.

Dr. Henry A. White, in addition to his work as pro-
fessor, is perhaps the most voluminous author in the
Church, and has published quite a number of volumes
while serving the Seminary, in particular one of com-
parative recent date, called "Southern Presbyterian
Leaders."

Rev. E. D. Kerr serves the Church at Newberry both
as preacher and pastor for the present.

It will thus easily be seen that a professorship is no
sinecure, either in the amount of work demanded in the
institution itself in teaching and training students, or in
the meeting of calls that come in so generous measure
from the Church for preaching and other services of
many different kinds by the professors. In fact, if one
is in search of a beehive of busy activity on the part of
both the professor and the student, the Theological Sem-
inary is a good place at which to make the discovery.

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Some Student Activities at
the Columbia Seminary

In addition to the work required in the Seminary
classes every student at the Theological Seminary is
engaged in some kind of personal religious services. This
work is done under the general direction of the professor
of Pastoral Theology, Dr. J. 0. Reavis, who really fills
the position of director of religious work at the Theo-
logical Seminary in addition to his duties as professor of
English Bible, Pastoral Theology and Homiletics.

The situation of Columbia, from which there radiate
eleven lines of railroad, easily reaching every portion of
South Carolina and a large section of Georgia and a
large portion of the southern part of North Carolina,
makes accessible a very large number of churches, mis-
sion points and preaching places which can be easily sup-
plied from the Seminary. It is believed that no institu-
tion in the Church has a superior opportunity to provide
with helpful and remunerative work its students, and a
very important part of the training of the student is
derived from the immediate application of the truth that
he learns in classroom to some form of direct and per-
sonal religious services. The following will give some
idea of the work that the students are engaged in doing.
Students who for various reasons are doing no kind of
religious work are not mentioned:

Work of the Senior Class

A. R. Cates, supplying churches at Hamlet, N. C, and
Great Falls, S. C.

H. D. Corbett, supplying church at Mills River, N. C,
and has supplied Upper Long Cane, S. C.

J. S. Garner, Jr., occasional supply preaching at Alms-
house.

D. B. Green, supplying churches at Fishing Creek,
Oakland, Mullins, and Latta, S. C.

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Homer Head, supplying churches at Effingham and
Hoke Wells, S. C.

G. A. Nichels, supplying church at Pelzer, S. C.

H. L. Reaves, supplying churches at Inman, Bennetts-
ville, Campobello and Landrum, S. C.

J. N. Montgomery, supplying churches at Summerville
and Jedberg, S. C, and teaching Bible Class at University
of South Carolina.

Middle Class

P. W. DuBose, preaching at Santuc, Carlisle and
Sedalia, S. C.

F. M. Grissett, preaching at Clarkton, N. C, and Bible
Class at University of South Carolina (Y. M. C. A.).

J. S. Land, preaching, irregular.

W. S. Hutchinson, preaching, irregular.

Neill Mclnnis, preaching, Wedgewood

G. H. Rector, superintendent of Mission Sunday School
and other Sunday School work.

W. T. Riviere, preaching, irregular, and Bible Class at
University of South Carolina.

E. M. Shepard, teaching Sunday School, Negro Mis-
sion, and local work.

D. A. Swicord, chairman of jail committee and preach-
ing, irregular.

E. W. Watson, Sunday School and local preaching.
Among the churches supplied at odd times are Hamlet,

N. C, by D. A. Swicord ; Mills River and Oak Dale, N. C,
by W. T. Riviere; Ridgeway, by J. S. Land, and in and
about the city the A. R. P. Mission at Pinehurst, the
Brookland Methodist Church, the Wayne Street Mission
and the Arsenal Hill Church.

J. 0. VanMetre preaches at Brookland and Eau Claire
once each week.

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Junior Class

J. W. Brown, Sunday School at Rose Hill Mission.

J. D. Gillespie, Sunday School at Rose Hill Mission.

E. S. Brown, jail work, and preaching occasionally.

G. L. Davis, Bible Class at Fire Department, and
preaching at Greelyville and Herneman.

W. O. Stephens, jail work, Jaggers Mission, both Bible
Class and preaching.

W. G. Henry, Sunday School and Christian Endeavor
at New Brookland ; expects to begin work among boys.

R. B. Gardien, Sunday School at Arsenal Hill, Negro
Mission and Cottage prayer meeting.

W. H. Johnston, Sunday School at Shandon.

P. D. Patrick, Sunday School at Woodrow Memorial
and Cottage prayer meeting.

A. N. Littlejohn, Sunday School Class occasionally and
Rector, Jaggers Mission.

C. M. Gibbs, Sunday School at Woodrow Memorial and
Cottage prayer meeting.

Daniel Iverson, twice a month at St. Matthews and
Fort Motte.

J. W. Currie, occasional preaching at Reidville and
elsewhere.

W. A. Downing, twice a month at Hopkins and
Eastover.

Rev. Mr. Strickland, preaches regularly as Pastor of
Brookland Baptist Church.

Rev. A. Hartley, also regular preacher at Capital City
Baptist Church.

[The two last named brethren are regularly ordained
ministers of the Baptist Church.]

Hilarious Giving

The giver has not yet reached maturity in his exercise
unless it be accompanied with delight. Every activity
is abnormal which does not give satisfaction to the actor
and the giver who is represented by a patient yielding up
his teeth in the dentist's chair to the violence of instru-

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ments certainly is of low grade. As giving rises in
the scale the degree of pain lessens and the degree of
pleasure increases until the giver is found in that class
whom God declares that he loves, namely, the cheerful
and "hilarious giver." The writer knew one such, an
elder of large means, who would clap his hands with joy
and almost shout with satisfaction when an attractive
and eligible opportunity for the unselfish and generous
use of his money in the interest of another, and especially
of the cause of God, was presented to him. The writer
happened to be the pastor of this rare man for a term
of years and saw him give away thousands of dollars
with more delight than an epicure could possibly have in
his meals, or a musician in the harmony of sound, or an
artist in the culture of his esthetic taste.

That remarkable veteran in the Methodist Church, Dr.
John B. McFerrin, who perhaps raised more money under
discouraging circumstances than any minister in the
South in the last half a century, said "that the preacher
ought to train people to give until they love the exercise
and insist in indulging themselves in it." One of his
favorite illustrations was to say that the average giver
was much like a blooded Jersey cow, who at first dis-
liked and refused to be milked, would dodge and even
gore the milker, kick over the milk pail and remonstrate
in every way within her power against the process, until
after several weeks or months of training she would come
rolling up in the evening hour and insist on being milked
to the tune of three to five gallons." Injustice is done to
the Christian if he be allowed to ward off the wholesome
appeals for his beneficence because of his pain in this
exercise at the start, but he should be trained in this
grace until it reaches the climax of genuine joy and
hilarity. There ought to develop speedily in our new
South a royal band of these hilarious givers.

And our own Seminary offers as fine field for such
exercise as God's province could possibly present. Pas-
tors, elders, deacons and Church members are urged to
find here the chance of development into this noble class,
who are so divinely crowned, the "cheerful givers."

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