Columbia Theological Seminary Bulletin, 18, number 2, October 1925

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Vol. XVIII OCTOBER, 1925 No. 2

BULLETIN
COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

COLUMBIA, S. C.

HISTORICAL SKETCH

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COLUMBIA
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

By
REV. RICHARD C. REED, D.D., LL.D.

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 Postofflce at
Columbia, South Carolina, Under the Act of July 16, 1894

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Columbia Theological Seminary

A HISTORICAL SKETCH*

By Rev. R. C. Reed, D.D.

Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Polity

1898-1925

FOUNDING THE SEMINARY
The Hopewell Presbytery 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 re-
port, whereupon another committee was appointed which re-
ported in 1819. The Presbytery proceeded to the selection of
a location. This proved the rock on which the incipient enter-
prise was wrecked. Two locations, Athens, Georgia, and
Winnsboro, South Carolina, were bidders. At Athens was
the State University, to the Presidency of which Moses Wad-
dell, a distinguished educator, the "father of Classical Educa-
tion for all North Georgia and Upper South Carolina," had
just been called. At Winnsboro was Mount Zion College,
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 in-
fluence 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

* This sketch was first published in the Seminary Bulletin March 1922, at the
request of the Synod of Georgia.

called "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 institution 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 Carolina 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 scientific 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 Goulding Professor of Theology, with the
privilege of retaining his pastoral charge of the Church of
Lexington, Oglethorpe County, Georgia. During the following
year there were five students under his care, pursuing merely
preparatory studies.

REMOVAL TO COLUMBIA

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 Semi-
nary. They were not then what they are now. The center
building is the same, but it was then flanked by two small
buildings, 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 Profes-
sor of Biblical Literature, and the first class began the pre-
scribed 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 Theol-
ogy, Dr. Goulding having been transplanted to that of Ecclesias-
tical History and Polity.

EARLY DAYS
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 or-
ganized, there shall be not less than three professors ; one of
Didactic and Polemic Theology ; one of Oriental and Biblical
Literature ; and one of Ecclesiastical History and Church Gov-
ernment." 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 fully equipped institution. As a matter of
fact, Princeton had only two professors for the first nine years
of its existence, 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.

A GOOD BEGINNING
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 Co-
lumbus, Georgia, June 21, 1848. It is recorded that at the time
of his death he was the oldest of fifteen Presbyterian 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 Semi-
nary 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 at-
tained distinction in more than one department of learning. He
began the study of law, but before entering into the practice
of his profession God graciously converted him. At once he
showed an active interest in religious work. A remarkable co-
incidence 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."

THOMAS GOULDING

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

After giving a few years of efficient service to the Seminary,
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 serv-
ant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

GEORGE HOWE
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, stopping
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

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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 Seminary 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 flattering
terms. His reason for declining should endear his memory
to us. He wrote: "WHEN I ACCEPTED THE PROFES-
SORSHIP WHICH I HOLD IT WAS WITH THE HOPE
THAT I MIGHT BE THE MEANS OF BUILDING UP
THE WASTES, AND EXTENDING THE BORDERS OF
OUR SOUTHERN ZION. THIS MOTIVE STILL
HOLDS ME HERE. THOUGH OUR INSTITUTION
MUST BE A SMALL ONE THROUGH THE PRESENT
GENERATION AND YOURS WILL BE LARGE, IT IS
IMPORTANT, 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 EX-
CEEDINGLY DOUBTFUL. IF I REMAIN, THOUGH
THE FIELD OF MY EFFORT MUST BE SMALL, AND
I MUST LIVE IN OBSCURITY, WE MAY YET TRANS-
MIT 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 North-
ern 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 Co-
lumbia 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.

9

AARON W. LELAND
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 Presby-
terian 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 Theol-
ogy 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 magnificently 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 rendered the Seminary in the class-room, he did
much to put it on a solid financial basis.

A NOBLE SUCCESSION
This illustrious trio was the beginning of a noble succession.
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 may well bow in
reverence as we pronounce names of Charles Colcock Jones,
Benjamin M. Palmer, James Woodrow, William S. Plumer,
Joseph R. Wilson, and John L. Girardeau.

A LASTING IMPRESSION
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

10

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 4th of December, 1861. The
men of Columbia were there in positions of acknowledged
leadership. Benjamin M. Palmer was Moderator, 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 an earthly 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 exist-
ence as an independent body. The letter on the Religious In-
stitution 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 Mis-
sions, and to whom the conduct of this vital cause was en-
trusted, 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 dis-
tinctive in our Church was stamped upon it in the plastic
period of its infancy by the great lights of Columbia Seminary.

THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN
So far we have spoken of the intellectual force of those who
in the past guided the destinies of the Seminary. More im-
portant to the schools of the prophets than even intellectual
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 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 Mis-

11

sionary 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. Girardeau. Rich in all the gifts of intellect,
of heart, of imagination, that go to make up the consummate
orator, able to kindle the most cultured audiences into enthusias-
tic admiration, 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 Semi-
nary, built a monument in Stillman Institute that will witness
to coming generations to his devotion to the spiritual interests
of the colored people.

GO YE THEREFORE

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 furnished
three missionaries to heathen lands. One of these was John
Leighton Wilson, ranking among the great missionaries of
modern times. His was a massive, statesman-like mind, capa-
ble 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 Hampden C. DuBose, the
author of his biography. Perhaps the greatest and most bene-
ficent 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 con-
tinued for many years to guide and develop the work. In the
Home land the Mission work of our Church has been largely

12

under the guiding and nourishing hand of the alumni of Co-
lumbia Seminary. For more than twenty years Rey. 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 fulfillment.

A RICH HERITAGE NOT FORGOTTEN
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 con-
serve and nourish and bring into larger f ruitf ulness 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 looking 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. Looking both forward and back-
ward they see nothing to shake their belief in the essential
soundness of the distinctive principles 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

13

continued for some years. Its fortunes declined, and it seemed
for a while as if its days were numbered. But the storm has
passed, and the clouds have rolled away. The sun of prosper-
ity is again shining. The old alumni, once alienated, have re-
turned to their allegiance. New alumni in ever enlarging num-
bers already grown to a considerable army, are spreading
throughout the Church, and carrying with them a loyal and
enthusiastic attachment for their Alma Mater.

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 minis-
ters, eleven licentiates, one hundred and twenty-eight Churches,
and eight thousand five hundred and sixty communicants. It
contained five Presbyteries, 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 con-
stituency. 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.

PROPHESY COMING TRUE
Richard T. Gillespie, President

Plans are now in progress for the removal of Columbia
Seminary from Columbia, S. C, to Atlanta, Ga. In the fall
of 1924, the four controlling Synods, Alabama, Florida, Geor-
gia, South Carolina, voted for the removal, provided a suitable
site in, or near, Atlanta could be secured, and a fund of FIVE
HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, half for a building
fund and half for endowment, be raised in Georgia. The cam-
paign is nearing its close with every assurance of success.

Within a few weeks after the decision to remove Columbia
Seminary to Atlanta, it was announced that the Synod of Mis-
sissippi voted to join her sister Synods of the Gulf States in
developing here in the Southeast a seminary adequately equipped
and supported for the greater service which now is required of

14

the Seminary of this fruitful and growing section of the South.
The addition of Mississippi to Columbia's territory greatly in-
creases her sphere of influence and adds much strength to her
constituency.

When the completion of the Georgia campaign is announced,
a building program will begin, the first unit of which will be
completed by the fall of 1927, when the faculty and students
will assemble to begin class work in the new home of the Semi-
nary.

The celebration of the Centennial will take place in 1928, and
thus will begin, under most favorable circumstances, the second
century of an honorable and useful sorvice.

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A CHALLENGE!

COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IS THE
NATURAL AND OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED SEMI-
NARY OF FIVE SYNODS OF THE SOUTHERN
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

ALABAMA

FLORIDA

GEORGIA

MISSISSIPPI

SOUTH CAROLINA

COLUMBIA'S TERRITORY EMBRACES
207 CANDIDATES
613 MINISTERS
1,172 CHURCHES
133,015 CHURCH MEMBERS
247,785 SQUARE MILES
9,685,558 POPULATION (1920)

Make Columbia Strong.