Columbia Theological Seminary Bulletin, 12, number 9, March 1922

Vol. XII MARCH, 1922 No. IX.

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

FACULTY

JOHN M. WELLS, A.M., Ph.D., D.D.

PRESIDENT OF THE SEMINARY
PROFESSOR OF PASTORAL 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

MELTON CLARK, A.B., D.D.

PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE AND HOMILETICS

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

PROFESSOR IN THE HEBREW AND GREEK LANGUAGES

JAMES B. GREEN, B.D., D.D.

PROFESSOR OF DIDACTIC AND POLEMIC THEOLOGY

HUGH R. MURCHISON, A.B, B.D.

DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS WORK; INSTRUCTOR IN MISSIONS

WILLIAM H. MILLS, A.B, D.D.

INSTRUCTOR IN RURAL SOCIOLOGY
SMYTH LECTURER, 1921-1922

LOUIS MATTHEWS SWEET, S.T.D., Ph.D.

Subject: "The Origin and Destiny of Man in the Light of the
Bible and Modern Thought."

Columbia Theological Seminary
A Historical Sketch

By Rev. R. C. Reed, D.D.
* Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Polity,
The Hopewell Prebytery in Georgia is ascribed the honor
of being the first to suggest the founding of a Theological
Seminary. In 1817 it appointed a committee to draw up a
plan for such a school. This committee failed to make a
report, whereupon another committee was appointed which
reported in 1819. The Presbytery proceeded to the selection
of a location. This proved the rock on which the incipient
enterprise was wrecked. Two locations, Athens, Georgia,
and Winnsboro, South Carolina, were bidders. At Athens
was the State University, to the Presidency of which Moses
Waddell, a distinguished educator, the ''father of Classical
Education for all North Georgia and upper South Carolina,"
had just been called. At Winnsboro was Mount Zion Col-
lege, presided over by another eminent educator, Dr. T. H.
McCaule. Neither the University nor Mount Zion College
was distinctly a Presbyterian school, and it was believed
that a Theological Seminary would profit much by being
located where their influence would be felt, or where the
students could pass at once from their preparatory studies
to their professional training. As the Seminary could not
be located at both places, the rivalry killed the undertaking.
The next effort was put forth by the Presbytery of South
Carolina. It appointed a committee in 1824 to draft the
constitution of the school which should be calleld "The
Classical, Scientific and Theological Institution of the
South." This was an ambitious project, proposing to take
the callow youth from the log school house and turn him out
a scholarly preacher. It was decided to plant the institu-
tion on a site given for the purpose two and one-fourth miles
from the village of Pendleton. Before the plan matured it
was deemed best to give it over to the Synod of South Caro-

*Published at request of the Synod of Georgia.

lina and Georgia, but with the stipulation that the plant
should be built on the site near Pendleton. The Synod
wisely took time to give the matter thorough consideration
with the result that it pruned away the classical and scien-
tific part and selected Columbia as the permanent site for
the revised and abridged institution.

It was not till December 15, 1828, that the Synod resolved
to put the Seminary into immediate operation. To this end
it elected Rev. Thomas G-oulding Professor of Theology, with
the privilege of retaining his pastoral charge of the Church
of Lexington, Oglethorpe County, Georgia. During the fol-
lowing year there were five students under his care, pur-
suing merely preparatory studies. Early in January, 1830,
Dr. Goulding, with his few students, moved to Columbia
and was domiciled in the parsonage of the Presbyterian
Church procured for his use. The next year he moved into
the buildings occupying the present site of the Seminary.
They were not then what they are now. The center build-
ing is the same, but it was then flanked' by two small build-
ings, which have given way to the two commodious dormi-
tories, known as Simons and Law Halls.

That same year, 1831, Dr. George Howe was elected Pro-
fessor of Biblical Literature, and the first class began the
prescribed course of theological studies. The curriculum
was modeled after Andover and Princeton. Two years later
Rev. Aaron W. Leland was elected to the Chair of Christian
Theology, Dr. Goulding having been transplanted to that
of Ecclesiastical History and Polity.

Thus the young institution was fully and ably manned.
In that early day three professors constituted an elaborate
faculty. Those who drew the plan of Princeton Seminary
said in Article 3, Section 1, ' ' The number of Professors in the
Seminary shall be increased or diminished as the Assembly
may, from time to time, direct. But when the Seminary shall
be completely organized, there shall not be less than three
professors; one of Didactic and Polemic Theology; one of
Oriental and Biblical Literature ; and one of Ecclesiastical
History and Church Government." Evidently when our
first Seminary was founded, the one destined to furnish a
model for those that came after, it was thought that three
professors would be sufficient to meet the demands of a

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fully equipped institution. As a matter of fact, Princeton
had only two professors for the first nine years of its exis-
tence, Archibald Alexander and Samuel Miller. Then
Charles Hodge was added, and it was eleven years more
before the faculty was increased to four. When, therefore,
we note that Columbia had three professors when only three
years old, we are tempted to say that she sprang into life
full grown like Minerva from the head of Jupiter.

There is a saying that "a good beginning is half-done."
Columbia had a good beginning. Her first three professors
were men of no ordinary type. Thomas Goulding was born
in Liberty County, Georgia, March 14, 1786. He died in
Columbus, Georgia, June 21, 1848. It is recorded that at
the time of his death he was the oldest of fifteen Presby-
terian ministers from one Church, and that a congregational
Church. When about eighteen years of age he went to
New Haven to enter Yale College, but finding the " fugging
system" in vogue, a system introduced from Europe, he
turned away in disgust. And so it happened that the man
to whom the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia entrusted
the launching of their Seminary never had the benefit of
either a College or a Theological Seminary. He pursued his
studies in private and the success attending his efforts
showed the mettle of the man. He attained distinction in
more than one department of learning. He began the study
of law, but before entering into the practice of his profes-
sion God graciously converted him. At once he showed an
active interest in religious work. A remarkable coincidence
had much to do in determining his future course. Two
friends, without collusion, each living at a distance, visited
him the same day to call his attention to the Gospel Ministry.
He was ordained a preacher of the Gospel by the Presbytery
of Harmony at Augusta, Georgia, in 1813. He humorously
said of himself that he was the "first native of Georgia who
had become a Presbyterian preacher since the foundation
of the world."

Dr. Thomas Goulding is entitled to the gratitude of the
boys of all coming generations for being the father of
Francis Goulding, author of the "Young Marooners" a
book rivalling ' * Robinson Crusoe ' ' in its interest for boys.

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After giving a few years of efficient service to the Semi-
nary, Dr. Goulding resigned his professorship and took
charge of the Church of Columbus, Georgia. He labored
in his pastoral charge for thirteen years with great success.
Within one short hour after preaching his last sermon he was
summoned to hear the Master's benediction: "Well done.,
good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord."

Dr. George Howe was a native of Massachusetts. He was
educated at Middleburg College and Andover Seminary.
Shortly after graduating he came South for his health, stop-
ping at Charleston, South Carolina. This was in December,
1830. That same month the Synod of South Carolina and
Georgia met. Dr. Goulding wrote to the Synod asking for
a Professor of Greek and Hebrew. Two members of the
Synod, Rev. Joseph C. Styles and Rev. Aaron Foster, had
been class-mates of Dr. Howe in Andover. They brought
him to the attention of Synod and commended him so
warmly that Synod at once elected him to the Chair of
Biblical Literature. Accepting the call Dr. Howe entered on
a service for the Seminary that lasted fifty-two years and
three months. This long connection with Columbia Semi-
nary was not because he had no inducements to go elsewhere.
It is a matter of record that he had calls to important
Churches ; and in 1836, when he was but thirty-four years
old, he had a call from the Board of Directors of Union
Seminary, New York, to the Chair of Sacred Literature in
that institution. The call was urged on him in most flatter-
ing terms. His reason for declining should endear his mem-
ory to us. He wrote: "WHEN I ACCEPTED THE
PROFESSORSHIP WHICH I HOLD IT WAS WITH THE
HOPE THAT I MIGHT BE THE MEANS OF BUILD-
ING UP THE WASTES, AND EXTENDING THE BOR-
DERS OF OUR SOUTHERN ZION. THIS MOTIVE STILL
HOLDS ME HERE. THOUGH OUR INSTITUTION MUST
BE A SMALL ONE THROUGH THE PRESENT GENERA-
TION AND YOURS WILL BE LARGE, IT IS IMPOR-
TANT, IT IS NECESSARY, WHATEVER THE FATE OF
OUR BELOVED COUNTRY, THAT THIS SEMINARY
SHOULD LIVE. IF I LEAVE IT AT THE PRESENT

JUNCTURE, ITS CONTINUANCE IS EXCEEDINGLY
DOUBTFUL. IF I REMAIN, THOUGH THE FIELD OF
MY EFFORT MUST BE SMALL, AND I MUST LIVE IN
OBSCURITY, WE MAY YET TRANSMIT TO THE MEN
OF THIS NEXT GENERATION AN INSTITUTION
WHICH WILL BLESS THEM AND THE WORLD. " Bear
in mind that this was a man of Northern birth and rearing
who was willing to sacrifice most flattering prospects of
worldly advancement, to move in a small sphere and lead a
life of obscurity for the sake of a young and struggling
institution, rather than endanger its perpetuity. All who
love Columbia Seminary should hold in lasting reverence
the name of this noble servant of God. His modesty threw
a veil over his great gifts, his extensive learning and his
varied attainments, so that only his most intimate friends
prized him at his full value.

Dr. Aaron W. Leland was also a native of Massachusetts.
He graduated from Williams College in 1808 and shortly
after moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where he engaged
in teaching. He was ordained to the ministry in 1812, and
the succeeding year was called to the pastorate of the First
Presbyterian Church in Charleston. At the early age of
twenty-eight he was honored with the degree of Doctor of
Divinity by the South Carolina College. He was called to
the Chair of Theology in Columbia Seminary in 1833 and
served the Seminary with unflagging zeal and to the eminent
satisfaction of his friends for thirty years. He was magni-
ficently endowed with natural gifts, both of body and mind.
His vigorous powers of thought, his vivid imagination, his
fervid emotional nature, his splendid voice and majestic
form combined to place him in the front ranks of pulpit
orators. In addition to the service which Dr. Leland ren-
dered the Seminary in the class-room, he did much to put it
on a solid financial basis.

This illustrious trio was the beginning of a noble succes-
sion. We can do no more than call the roll. We need do
no more than call the roll; for the names of this brilliant
galaxy will bring before our minds all that signifies and
adorns human nature, and makes genius, enriched by divine
grace, worthy of our admiration and esteem. Our hearts

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may well bow in reverence as we pronounce names of Charles
Colcock Jones, Benjamin M. Palmer, James Woodrow, Wil-
liam S. Plumer, Joseph R. Wilson, and John L. Gerardeau.

It is not surprising that a Seminary, blessed with such an
army of consecrated talent, should have made a powerful and
permanent impression on the Church. Yet it may surprise
us to learn how deep and determining was its impress on our
own Southern Presbyterian Church. In the providence of
God, the men connected with this institution were so placed
as to make their influence count for most. Our first General
Assembly met in Augusta, Georgia, on the 7 4th of December,
1861. The men of Columbia were there in positions of
acknowledged leadership. Benjamin M. Palmer was Mod-
orator, and in his sermon on that occasion he lifted into
supreme prominence the sole Headship of Christ over His
Church, and branded as an insufferable offense against our
Divine King any attempt to pledge his loyalty to a nearthly
potentate, or to make His cause and Kingdom subsidiary to
any political party or purpose. James H. Thornwell, whose
name shines with a lustre all its own, gave to the Church its
Magna Charta in the notable state paper sent forth by that
Assembly to all the Churches of Jesus Christ throughout the
world, giving the reasons for our existence as an independent
body. The letter on the Religious Institution of the Colored
People issued by the Assembly was the masterly production
of Charles Colcock Jones. The man who shaped the policy
of the Church in relation to Foreign Missions, and to whom
the conduct of this vital cause was entrusted, was John
Leighton Wilson. The Book of Church Order was written
within the walls of Columbia Seminary by a committee of
which John B. Adger was the Chairman, and to which he
was the chief contributor. Thus all that is distinctive in our
Church was stamped upon it in the plastic period of its
infancy by the great lights of Columbia Seminary.

So far we have spoken of the intellectual force of those
who in the past guided the destinies of the Seminary. More
important to the schools of the prophets than even intellec-
tual wealth is spiritual atmosphere. Perhaps there is no
better test of spiritual atmosphere than active interest in
Missions, Home and Foreign. Judged by this test Columbia

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Seminary had made a record for which we may well be
thankful. Dr. Charles Colcock Jones, than whom Georgia
has never given to the world a finer or more saintly man,
was twice professor in the Seminary, and twice gave up his
Chair to serve as a Missionary to the negroes. Having an
ample fortune he asked no pay but the privilege of pouring
out his consecrated life to bless and brighten the lives of
the humble slaves. Of the same spirit was John L. Girar-
deau. Rich in all the gifts of intellect, of heart, of imagina-
tion, that go to make up the consummate orator, able to
kindle the most cultured audiences into enthusiastic admira-
tion, he laid these rare and precious gifts on the altar of
service to the most ignorant and degraded class among us.
Charles A. Stillman, an honored alumnus of this Seminary,
built a monument in Stillman Institute that will witness to
coming generations to his devotion to the spiritual interests
of the colored people.

The Foreign field was not without a representative in the
faculty. Dr. John B. Adger was for many years a distin-
guished Missionary in Syria : and after becoming a professor
in the Seminary he did much to impart a Missionary spirit
to the student body. The first class of six to graduate fur-
nished three missionaries to heathen lands. One of these
was John Leighton Wilson, ranking among the great mission-
aries of modern times. His was a massive, statesman-like
mind, capable of dealing with great problems and of
influencing men of commanding influence. A pamphlet of
his falling into the hands of Lord Palmerston, England's
Prime Minister, decided England's policy touching the
suppression of the African slave trade. His mantle fell on
Hampton C. DuBose, the author of his biography. Perhaps
the greatest and most beneficent reform that has been
wrought in modern days was the suppression of the opium
traffic in China ; and the leader of that splendid reform was
our own Dr. DuBose.

In furnishing secretaries for the Committees of both
Home and Foreign Missions, Columbia Seminary has done a
notable part. As already indicated, John Leighton Wilson
not only outlined the policy of our Church in the beginning
but continued for many years to guide and develop the work

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In: the Home land the Mission work of our Church has been
largely under the guiding and nourishing hand of the alumni
of Columbia Seminary. For more than twenty years Rev.
John N. Craig, D.D., gave to this work faithful and efficient
service. At his death he was succeeded by Dr. S. L. Morris,
whose wise and energetic administration has marked a new
and striking era in this vastly important and ever expanding
department of the King's business. He has already gone
considerably beyond twenty years of service, and the prayer
of the Church is that the day may still be far distant when it
will be necessary to choose his successor.

We have touched on only one or two phases of the Semi-
nary 's history, but enough has been said to show that the
hope which led Dr. Howe to sacrifice personal interest for
the sake of the youthful institution has had ample fulfill-
ment.

A brief word about the present status and future prospects
of the Seminary. Modesty forbids our paying a just tribute
to the men who compose the present Faculty. Fortunately
they can speak for themselves. It is enough that they enjoy
the full confidence of the Church. They can be trusted to
conserve and nourish and bring into larger fruitfulness the
precious interests entrusted to them. They are forward
looking men, anxious to see the leadings of God's providence
and willing to follow it. But they are also backward look-
ing men. Behind them are the authoritative voices to which
their ears are ever attentive ; behind them are the fathers
who wrought mightily for God, and who left a rich heritage
of faith and achievement that is not to be forgotten. Look-
ing both forward and backward they see nothing to shake
their belief in the essential soundness of the distinctive prin-
ciples which gave birth to our Church and for which it has
hitherto stood.

What about the future ? We are fully persuaded that the
Seminary's best days lie in that direction. In reviewing the
past certain episodes of a painful nature have been omitted.
There were disruptions in the faculty. These spread to the
constituency. The Seminary became a storm center, and so
continued for some years. Its fortunes declined, and it
seemed for a while as if its days were numbered. But the

12

storm has passed, and the clouds have rolled away. The sun
of prosperity is again shining. The old alumni, once alien-
ated, have returned to their allegiance. New alumni in ever
enlarging numbers already grown to a considerable army,
are spreading throughout the Church, and carrying with
them a loyal and enthusiastic attachment for their Alma
Mater. Each passing year witnesses a larger student body.
At present the number of students about equals the best
days of the past.

Our horizon is widening. When the Seminary was
founded it took South Carolina and Georgia both to form
one Synod, and that at its best was not a large Synod,
seventy-three ministers, eleven licentiates, one hundred
and twenty-eight Churches, and eight thousand five
hundred and sixty communicants. It contained five Pres-
byteries, two in Georgia and three in South Carolina.
Now there are four Synods owning and controlling the
Seminary, and these contain a communicant roll of more
than ninety thousand. Moreover, we are reaching out after
others, with well grounded hopes of a still further enlarged
constituency. A sober vision sees great things in the near
future. The golden age lies there. The dawn of that age
is already brightening into day.

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COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES

Columbia Theological Seminary, May 7-10, 1922.

The closing exercises of the Seminary this year are of
unusual interest to the Church and to the friends of the
Institution by reason of the fact that in addition to the
Graduation of the students, there will be the inauguration
of our new President and Professor of Pastoral Theology,
Rev. John M. "Wells, D.D., and the inauguration of Rev.
James B. Green, D.D., as Professor of Theology, and the Rev.
E. D. Kerr, D.D., as Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Lan-
guages.

The Baccalaureate sermon will be preached by the Rev.
Lindsay E. McNair, D.D., Pastor of the First Church, Jack-
sonville, Florida, on Sunday morning, May 7th, in the First
Presbyterian Church, and the Missionary sermon will be
preached the same evening in the Arsenal Hill Presbyterian
Church. (The speaker had not been secured up to this date.)

The Board of Directors will convene in the Seminary
Chapel Wednesday, May 10th, at eleven o 'clock in the morn-
ing. At this meeting there will be several new faces, taking
the places of some of the members of the Board who have
been connected with the activities of the Board and will be
sorely missed. Mr. T. S. Bryan, of Columbia, S. C, succeeds
the lamented, Rev. W. J. McKay, D.D. Dr. S. H. Edmunds,
of Sumter, S. C, succeeds Mr. John McSween, and Dr. D. M.
Douglas, of Clinton, S. C., ; succeeds Judge W. H. Townsend.
Rev. C. M. Boyd, D.D., of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, succeeds Mr.
Lloyd M. Hooper, of Selma. Under the auspices of the
Board, the graduating exercises will take place in the Semi-
nary Chapel at noon, after which the inauguration of Pro-
fessor Kerr will take place.

At the First Presbyterian Church, at eight-thirty in the
evening, the inauguration of President John M. Wells, D.D.,
and Professor James B. Green, D.D., will take place.

The Presidents of our sister Seminaries will be invited to
attend the Inaugural exercises, and the occasion promises
to be one of great interest and pleasure.

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