1872-1897: twenty-fifth anniversary of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America

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San Francisco Theological

Seminary.
1872-1897: twenty-fifth

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187/ x: ?£ 1897
TWENTYxFIFTH ANNIVERSARY

7

SAN FRANCISCO :x :x :x :x :x
Theological Seminary

Of the Presbyterian Church
in the United States of
America.

APRIL 29, 1897 :x :x :x :^c :^c

San Anselmo, Cal,

^

SAN RAFAEI,, CAL,.

MARIN JOURNAL PRINT,
1897.

Iprooramme^

Cai,vary Church, San Francisco, April 29, 1S97,

By order of the Synod and the Directors of the San Francisco Theo-
logical Seminary, the Faculty arranged the following programme in
observance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Seminary :

Prof. Henry C. Minton, D. D., Chairman of the Faculty, Presiding

Hymn ..........

Reading of the Scriptures .......

Rev. George C. Giffen;
Moderator of the Svnod of California.

Prayer

Hvmn

Rev. Thomas Fraser, D. D.
Formerly Stuart Professor of Sj'stematic Theology

Address, " The Making of the Seminary "

Prof. William Alexander, D. D.,
California Professor of Church History.

Congratulatory Address .....

Prof. George Mooar, D. D.,
of the Pacific Theological vSeminary (Congregational)

Address, " A Forward Look," ....

Prof. Robert Mackenzie, D. D.,
Montgomery Professor of Apologetics and Missions.

Hymn

Benediction ....

^be JFacult^.

REV. WILLIAM ALEXANDER, D. D.
California Professor of Church History,

REV. ROBERT MACKENZIE, D. D.,
Montgomery Professor of Apologetics and Missions,

REV. THOS. FRANKLIN DAY, D, D.
Gray Professor of Hebrew Exegesis and Old Testament Literature.

REV. HENRY COLLIN MINTON, D. D.;
Stuart Professor of Systematic Theology,

REV. WARREN HALL LANDON, D. D.,
Ladd Professor of Practical Theology,

REV. JOHN HENRY KERR, D. D..
Professor of Greek Exegesis and New Testament Literature.

PROF. CHARLES GURDON BUCK,

Severin Instructor in Vocal Culture and Sacred Music,
2130 Post St., San Francisoo.

©fficers ot tbe Jfacult^ for 1896*97.

Rev. Henry C. Minton, D. D., Chairman,
Rev. Warren H. Landon, D. D., Clerk,
Rev. Thos. F. Day, D. D., Librarian,

Mr. Wm. ChaIvMERS Gunn, Assistant Librarian.

Dr. Ai^exandkr represented the founders of the Seminary, being
himself a member of the original Faculty.

Dr. Mackenzie represented those who have come later.

Dr. Mooar represented the Pacific Theological Seminary of the Con-
gregational Church.

^be fiS^al^inG of the Seminar^^*

Address of REV. WILLIAM ALEXANDER, D. D. California Professor
of Church History.

The part assigned to me in these exercises is
the makino- of the Seminary, and I wish it could have
been assigned to some one else, because, having been
apart of the Seminary from its first inception, I shall
be compelled to refer to myself much more frequently
than may be agreeable to 5'ou or to me. Hoping
therefore that you will excuse me in this, I proceed at
once to enter upon my subject.

The establishment of a Theological Seminary for
the Presbyterian Church had been in many minds, and
talked of more or less for a long time. The late Dr.
Scott told me on one occasion that when he first en-
tered the Golden Gate he had in his mind then a
college or colleges and a Theological Seminary for this
Coast. And he actually began the work by founding
the old City College, wliich. under Dr. Geo. Burrowes,
and some others, was for a time very prosperous. But
when the high school in the city began teaching the
higher branches, and the State University gave college
instruction free, the City College could not prosper
without endowment, which, unfortunately, was never
provided, and the college failed, as a matter of course,
for .no college in this age can exist without endow-
ment.

I came to this Coast in November, ISGO, on a call

to the First Presbyterian Church of San Jose. At a
special meeting of the Synod of the Pacific, as it then
was, called to meet by the Pte-union Assembly at
Pittsburg, in the month of December, to readjust the
Old and New School Presb3^teries, and to fix the
boundaries of each of them, the subject of a Theologi-
cal Seminary was discussed with much interest, and
Dr. Burrowes announced at that time his purpose to
donate his fine library to such an institution, whenever
it should be commenced. Still nothing definite was
proposed or attempted with reference to its practical
realization at that time.

About the first of June, 1871, I resigned my
charge of the first Presbyterian Church of San Jose, to
accept an invitation to take charge of the City College,
located at that time on the southeast corner of Geary
and Stockton streets, and entered on the duties of that
office on the 5th of July following. In one of the
classes were a number of young men preparing for the
gospel ministry. One evening, as I sat in my room,
it came into my mind like an inspiration, that now
was the time to start the Theological Seminary. Act-
ing upon the suggestion, I drew a chair up to the
table, and wrote out the Plan that night, and left it in
my dravv^er for a few days. I had the constitutions of
several of the Seminaries of our church before me,
but naturally was guided most by that of Princeton,
my own Alma Mater, making such changes in it as
seemed to be required by our peculiar circumstances.

I never was vain enough to imagine that I could
myself alone establish a Theological Seminary. After
thinking it over a little while longer I took the Plan I
had written to Rev. Dr. Scott. He read it carefully,
and then gave it his unqualified approval, and pledged
me all the assistance in his power. Nobody but our-
selves knew anything about it until near the time for

the meeting of the Synod in October, 1871. I then
prepared an overture to the Synod and procured the
signatures of a number of leading ministers and elders
on the subject of a Theological Seminary. Dr. Scott
drew up a similar overture, and had it adopted by the
Presbytery of San Francisco.

In due time the Synod of the Pacific met in the
First Presbyterian Church in Oakland, and the over-
tures came up in order. After a little hesitation the
Synod agreed to appoint a committee, as requested,
to report a Plan for the proposed Seminary. The
Moderator, Rev. W. W. Brier, of Centerville, appointed
a committee on the Plan, of which I was not a mem-
ber. As I had the Plan in my pocket, the committee
might have been embarrassed, had not some one
moved that I should be added to the committee, which
was done by a vote of the Synod. All was then plain
sailing ; the Plan was read to the committee, and by
it adopted unanimously, and reported back to the
Synod in less thnn half an hour.

There was some discussion on its adoption ; no
fault was found with the Plan, but some of the more
cautious and slow- moving brethren thought the whole
movement was premature ; that we had no adequate
means of preparing students, and no funds in sight for
buildings or endowments. It was answered that we
had two institutions of college grade, one in the city,
and the other near it ; and there were then three or
four acadeinies in the State under the control of minis-
ters or elders of our own church, and there were
already five or six young men in preparation for the
Seminary. As to the lack of funds, it was replied
that we probably never would have any until we made
a beginning, and that if we waited for twenty years
there would still be some to think it premature. The
sequel showed that the objectors came perillously near

being right. But the Synod adopted tiie Plan by a
unanimous vote, and proceeded to appoint the first
Board of Directors. The Board met in a room of the
old City College on the 7th day of November, and
organized by electing Dr. Scott president and R. J.
Trumbull secretary. As the new institution had not a
dollar of money, their first act was to take up a col-
lection to bu}^ a record book. My idea was not to
elect a Faculty at that time, but to appoint a fiscal
agent to raise money ; but others, especially the
elders on the Board, objected to that, and insisted that
the only way to do anything was to elect a Faculty,
and to start out in a way to show that we meant busi-
ness. They therefore proceeded to elect Professors.
Dr. Scott was elected to the Chair of Logic and Sys-
tematic Theology, Dr. D. W. Poor was elected to the
Chair of Church History and Church Government,
while the Chair of Hellenistic Greek and New Testa-
ment Exegesis was assigned to me, together with
Homiletics. At this point the members of the Board
from the east side of the Bay, began to look at their
watches, and said they would have to go in order to
" catch the boat," a very common phrase at that time,
when boats did not run as often as they do now. The
meeting, therefore adjourned, and left tlie Faculty
incomplete. The second meeting of the Board of
Directors was held in the same place, on the 4th day
of December, 1871, and the election of tlie Faculty
was completed by the appointu'ent of Rev. Geo.
Burrowes to the Chair of the Hebrew Language and
Exegesis. But as the young men were not yet ready
for that, Dr. Burrowes did not enter upon the duties
of his Chair until the next year. They continued their
studies in Latin and Greek and in Psycology and
Ethics under me in the City College, and they took
Logic with Dr. Scott.

13

This is the true story of the origin of our Theo-
logical Seminary. We had a Board of Directors, a
Faculty and students, there was no lack of faith and
courage, and there was a good deal of very earnest
prayer. We had a name, but not a local habitation,
and we had no money. I gave up a couple of rooms
in the City College to the students, and Dr. Scott had
rooms fitted up in the old St. John's Church, then
located on Post street near Mason ; and thus we con-
tinued for the next three years.

The first Faculty remained unchanged for the next
five years. The question naturally arises : How were
these Professors supported without money ? The
answer is that they supported themselves, giving their
time and labor gratuitously. Dr. Scott was pastor of
St. John's, Dr. Poor was pastor for a part of the time,
of the First Church of Oakland, Dr. Burrowes was in
charge of University Mound College, and I retained
charge of the City College until my resignation
in 1875. After Dr. Poor resigned his charge of
the Oakland Church he had a pretty hard time until
he went to Philadelphia as Corresponding Secretary
of the Board of Education. As I had enlisted for the
war, I was not unwilling to endure hardness as a good
soldier, and I did endure much privation, hardship
and self-denial. But, as such experiences are common
to the founders of new institutions, I endured no more
than I anticipated, and will not detail my trials now.

It must not be understood that we ever expected to
establish the Seminary without money. In less than
a year, March 18th, 1872, Rev. W. W. Brier was ap-
pointed agent to raise funds. At first he reported
good success, but as a misunderstanding between him
and the Board soon emerged, he gave up his agency,
and very little was realized. On the 16tli of Septem-
ber, 1872, Rev. R. V. Dodge, then pastor of the First

14

Church in this city, was elected assistant in Church
History, the duties of which he performed acceptably
for some time.

On the 28th of October, 1872, Rev. Dr. T. M.
Cunningham was elected Financial Agent and went
East to raise money. After the most untiring efforts
he succeeded in getting subscriptions in Pittsburg,
Baltimore and Philadelphia, to the amount of fifty
thousand dollars on condition that New York would
give a like sum of fifty thousand dollars. He
then went on to New York, met the ministers
there, and it was agreed among them, that he
should have the required a.mount. Arrangements
were made for a public meeting, and he could, as
he afterward said, almost put his hand on the
money, when he received a telegram from San
Francisco, respecting his church, which alarmed him,
and he left everything and started for home at once.
Of course the whole thing proved a failure. He went
back the next year but could do nothing, and of all
those subscriptions nothing was ever paid, except that
of Mr. William Thaw, of Pittsburg, who paid his, not-
withstanding the condition of it had failed. We were
deeply disappointed at the outcome of this business,
and no man felt it more deeply than Dr. Cunningham
afterwards did himself.

We worked on in very much tlie same way until
August 14th, 1876, when Dr. Poor resigned in order to
accept the position of vSecretary of the Board of
Education in Philadelphia. The Doctor's connection
with the Seminary had become very unpleasant and
trying, but it is due to him to say here, that he was
a competent instructor, a good scholar, and a very in-
telligent man.

In looking about for a successor to Dr. Poor, all
eves were turned to Rev. Dr. Jas. Eells, then pastor

15

of the First Church of Oakland, and he was elected
on the 14th of Augast, 1876, at the same meetmg at
which Dr, Poor's resignation was accepted. But as
Dr. Eells had no taste for Church History, and desired
Apologetics, it became necessar}^, in order to accom-
modate him, to rearrange some of the Chairs. Ac-
cordingly Hellenistic Greek and New Testament
Exegesis was transferred to Dr. Burrowes, and Church
History with the General Introduction to the Scrip-
tures was assigned to me. During the holiday recess,
in the winter of 1876-7, Dr. Eells went East, and
secured ten thousand dollars, which, with some other
money the Board had received, was used to purchase
the lot at 121 Haight street, on the 16th of April,
1877. Plans for a building were approved on the 26th
of April, and the building completed and occupied on
the 6th of September, 1877. The Seminary then had
a local habitation as well as a name, albeit a very
humble one. This building, which we ahvays re-
garded as only the temporary home of the Seminary,
was occupied until the summer of 1892. It was after-
wards sold to the Board of Foreign Missions, and has
been ever since occupied by the Japanese Mission of
our Church.

Dr. Eells resigned his chair on the 28th of
August, to accept a similar one in Lane Seminary, and
on the same day Rev. John Hemphill, the popular
pastor of Calvary Church, was elected to the vacant
chair. Dr. Eells was a model professor of Sacred
Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology. His influence and
bearing on the students was very fine, and his charac-
ter and standing in the Church at large made him a
valuable accession to any Seminary. He never lost
interest in this Seminary. He spent a summer vaca-
tion on the Coast as Financial Agent, and had intended
to return to us very soon, when his phms were ar-

i6

rested by his sudden and lamented death. Rev. Mr.
Hemphill, now Dr. Hemphill, was a young gentleman
of high standing and brilliant pulpit talents. His
work in the Seminary was in a high degree satisfac-
tory, but was cut too short by his acceptance of a
call to the West Arch Street Church in Philadelphia.
The Doctor has returned to this city, and is again
leading Calvary Church into a larger success. Dr„
Hemphill resigned his chair on the 26th of April,
1883, when the duties of his chair devolved upon me,
until I was relieved by the election of Dr. A. L.
Lindsley, of Portland, on the 10th of August, 1886.

In this way the Seminary was carried on for more
than eleven years, without one cent of endow-
ment, all of us laboring without compensation. But
on the 16th day of December, 1880, fifty thousand
dollars were received from Mr. R. L. Stuart, of New
York, as a permanent endowment of the chair of Sys-
tematic Theology, and is now known as the Stuart
Professorship. That was the first step towards an en-
dowment. Dr. Scott, the incumbent of the Stuart
chair, was generous enough to take only half the inter-
est on the endowment, and leave the remainder to be
divided among the rest of us. But none of us received
the entire income from that endowment for a long
time. As there was no fund for defraying the contin-
gent expenses of the Seminary, Mr. Stephen Franklin,
then treasurer, and one of the kindest and best of men,
first paid all the incidental expenses, and then divided
the remainder as above stated. The share of each of
us did not amount to very much, but it was better
than nothing, and we were grateful to Dr. Scott, for
he might have taken it all, had he been so disposed.

In the meantime Dr. Scott's health began to be
seriously impaired. On two or three occasions I was
obliged to take his place at commencements on account

17

of his illness, and once, at least, had to examine his
classes for him at the close of the term. Then he
would get better, and still labored on without "bating
a jot of heart or hope," even when he should have
taken rest; but he would always work as long as he
could keep out of bed. I remember on one occasion,
when we were sitting by the fire in the study in the
old St. John's, as we often did, trying to devise ways
and means to keep the Seminary going, he said to me,
"I have never lost faith in the Seminary; it will suc-
ceed; I shall not live to see it; but you probably will."
Alas, what a true prophet he then was; and the fulfill-
ment came sooner, probably, than either of us expected.
In a very few years after that he was compelled to
go to bed, in what proved to be his last sickness. I
knew that he was ill, for I had been hearing his
classes for some time, but had no thought of any fatal
termination of his sickness, until one day I received
word from him that he wanted to see me about
something, and I called to see him the same after-
noon. He seemed very glad to see me, and I saw
then that the case was serious, and the end not far
off. He told me of some things about the students he
wished me to attend to. Even in his last sickness his
thought was about the students, whom he fondly
called "his boys." After a short conversation, and
not wishing to weary him, I arose to depart. As I
gave him my hand, he took it between both of his, and
with an expression of intense affection in his face, and
of deep pathos in his voice, he pronounced upon me
the benediction: "the Lord bless thee and keep thee;
the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be
gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace." And that proved to
'be his dying benediction. On the 14th of January,
1885, he breathed his last. On hearing of his death,
my first impulse was to utter the cry of Elisha, "My

i8

Father, my Father, the chariots of Israel and the
horsemen thereof."

When the Seminary was first organized I was still
a comparatively young man, under forty years of age,
and not very well known, on this coast at least. My
colleagues were older men, of much wider reputation;
and although I was the first to take any steps
towards the establishment of the Seminary, it was na-
tural and proper that the older men should have the
precedence in carrying on the work. Especially was
this true of Dr. Scott, who was widely known
throughout our church and in Europe. He was a
man of extensive attainments, knowing several lan-
guages, and speaking soine of them with ease and flu-
ency. He had been pastor of powerful and influential
churches; had been Moderator of the General Assem-
bly in 1858, and published a number of books. He
was a great-hearted, noble man, and had the quality
of attaching his friends to him "as with hooks of
steel." We all loved and venerated him. Naturalh%
and without self-assertion, he became our head and
leader, and was our most influential representative
before the church and the world. His heart was in
his work, and at his death few men ever left more
tangible results of their ministry That was the
darkest hour the Seminary ever knew. Only two
professors remained. Dr. Burro wes was an old and
infirm man, and yet he kept on bravely in the work
of his department, and all the rest fell upon me. For
a time I taught not only Church History and General
Introduction, but also Systematic Theology, Homiletics
and the Pastoral Care, and Church Government, and
preached regularly on Sundays. When I look back
upon those days I sometimes wonder that I am alive.

That was a very critical time in the history of tlio
Seminary, and there was even some talk of closing it;

19

bat knowing the difficulty of regaining confidence in
an institution that had once failed I refused to hear
of it, believing then, as I do now, that if it had once
been closed no man then living would have seen it
opened again. We went on in this way until December
1, 1886 when Rev. Dr. Thotnas Fraser was elected Stuart
Professor of Systematic Theology. Dr. Fraser entered
on his work with some reluctance, owing to advanced
age and the precarious state of his health. By way
of encouraging him I agreed to take part of his work,
temporarily, until he should be able to undertake the
whole of it. He labored diligently, even to the injury
of his already impaired health, and was taking up
more and more of the work of his chair, until the first
of February, 1892, when he resigned. Dr. Fraser is
endowed with intellectual powers of a very high order,
and had he devoted his life to study, instead of that of
a pioneer home missionary, he might have taken a high
rank among the scholars of the church. But who will
venture to say that he would have been any more
honored and useful than he has been. In his own
quiet way he has been of immense service to the
church.

On March 16, 1886,Mr. William S. Ladd of Portland,
Or., offered to endow a chair in the sum of fifty
thousand dollars, on condition that the Presbyterians
of California raise another fifty thousand dollars, thus
securing to the Seminary a round one hundred thousand
dollars. The Directors accepted the condition, and
succeeded in raising the fifty thousand dollars, and
secured Mr. Ladd's fifty thousand dollars on the first
day of January 1887. This feat was accomplished
mainly through the indomitable energy and ability of
Rev. Arthur Crosby, assisted by Elder R. J. Trumbull
of San Rafael. Mr. Trumbull was first sent out, and
devoted three months of his time to this object. Rev.

Mr. Crosby rendered very efficient service, traveling far
and working hard, so that before tlie first of January
1887 they were able to announce that California had
met the condition, and secured Mr. Ladd's donation.
The Seminary now had endowments to the amount of
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Ladd did
more than he promised; he paid one thousand dollars
annually, out of respect for Dr. Fraser, while he con-
tinued to be a professor. And the chair he endowed
is known as the Ladd Professorship of Practical The-
ology. To fill this chair Rev. Dr. A. L. Lindsley of Port-
land was nominated and elected on the 10th of August^
1886, and he continued to fill this chair until his life was
terminated by a fatal accident on the 9th of August,
1891. Dr. Lindsley was a man of great and command-
ing influence throughout the Northwest, extending-
even to Alaska, and his loss was deeply deplored.
His chair was filled for one year very acceptably by
Rev. J. W. Wheeler, D. D. ^

Mr. Nathaniel Gray, an elder in the First Presby-
terian church in San Francisco, on the 4th of Febru-
ary 1889 presented to the Seminary three fifty -vara lots,
one of them a corner, on the western extension of Cali-
fornia St., which, in the course of time, promise to be of
great value. This was not Mr. Gray's only benefaction ;
he had already given liberally toward the endowment
of the California chair. He was a benevolent man^
of sterling integrity and worth, beloved by all who
knew him. His death occurred on the 24th of April,
1889, and his memory is cherished as one of the
benefactors of the Seminary.

It was about this time that the Seminary was
seeking a new location, and as nothing was offered in
San Francisco, except at an extravagant price, Mr.
Arthur W. Foster agreed to donate the Seminary
Mound property, if the Seminar}^ wanted it, on con-

dition that improvements costing not less than twenty
thousand dollars should be erected thereon within
two years. The Seminary did want it, and the condi-
tions were accepted on the 24th of April, 1890. I had
been instructed to go East on the 5th of January,
1886, and after three months of the hardest kind of
work, succeeded in raising only ten thousand dollars.
The condition on which Mr. Foster's property was
accepted rendered it necessary to raise more money.
Nothing had yet been done, when Dr. Mackenzie met
Mr. Foster on the ferry boat one day, and had some
conversation with him in relation to the matter. The
same day he was sent for b}^ Mr. Montgomery, and
upon mentioning the matter to him, he said the
amount required was not enough, and that he would
give fifty thousand himself if the friends of the
Seminar}'- would raise fifty thousand more. Dr.
Mackenzie at once sent a telegram to Mr. Crosby of
the amount promised, and the condition on which it
could be obtained. The whole business was subse-
quently reported to the Board of Directors.

The offer was promptly accepted and a committee
appointed to secure the required fifty thousand dollars.
Mr. Crosby, the active member of the committee, was
sent East on the 14t]i day of April, 1889. He suc-
ceeded in raising in all about forty-four thousand
dollars. The remainder of the fifty thousand was
made up here. In this wa}^ the money to meet Mr.
Montgomery's condition was secured.

The sum of thirty thousand dollars was set apart
to endow an Instructorship of Sacred Music and Vocal
Culture, to which Mr. Charles G. Buck was elected,
and who is still doing that work in a very satisfactory
manner.

Rev. Thomas F. Day, now Rev. Dr. Day, our
excellent Hebrew Professor, was elected to a full

Professorship on the 15th day of October, 1891, after
he had served one year as instructor of the same, and
Dr. Burrowes was made Emeritus Professor on half
pay.

It has been noticed that when a man once enjoys
the luxury of doing good he is apt to continue in so
doing. Mr. Montgomery's condition of raising fifty
thousand dollars having been met, under the advice
and influence of Dr. Mackenzie, he sent in his check
for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on Decem-
ber 3d, 1889. As Dr. Mackenzie was nominated by
Mr. Montgomery to be the first incumbent of the
chair of Apologetics and Missions, which bears Mr.
Montgomery's own name, he was elected to that chair
on the same day in which the check was delivered,
and he is still the popular incumbent of that chair.
But Mr. Montgomery's benefactions did not stop here.
On the 12th of August, 1891, he gave ten thousand
dollars for the erection of Professors' houses on the
Seminary property ; and in his will he left fifty thou-
sand dollars for the erection and maintenance of the
Montgomery Memorial Chapel, and made the Semin-
ary his residuary legatee. The Chapel was finished
and dedicated to the service of Almighty God on the
28th of April, 1897. The remains of our largest
benefactor repose in the tower of the Chapel, there to
remain until the resurrection.

Before the Seminary had received Mr. Mont-
gomery's munificent donations, it had in its possession
money and property not much, if any, less in amount
than three hundred thousand dollars. And the credit
for securing a great proportion of this amount is due
largely to the zeal, energy and persistency of Rev.
Arthur Crosby, aided by such efiicient elders as Gray,
Ladd and Trumbull. Much of it came in a crisis of
our history ; required far more effbrt to raise it than

23

it has since, and was the essential condition of our
subsequent financial prosperity.

Rev. Dr. Henry Collin Minton, our popular and
efficient Professor of Systematic Theology, was elected
on December 2d, 1891, and entered on the duties of
his chair in the latter part of February, 1892.

In the month of August, 1892, Rev. "Warren H.
Land on, of Portland, was elected to the Chair of
Practical Theology, which he still fills to the satisfac-
tion of all concerned.

Plans for the buildings known as Montgomery
and Scott Halls were approved on the 24th of
April, and were completed and dedicated on the
21st of September, 1892. The money was given for
three Professors' houses on the 12th of August, 1891,
and they were ready for occupancy in May, 1892.

Money was appropriated to build another house
in 1895, and was occupied by Dr. Minton in November
of the same year.

In the fall of 1896, 'Rev. John H. Kerr, D. D., was
elected Professor of New Testament Literature and
Exegesis, and is proving the right man in the right
place.

Rev. Dr. Burrowes who had been Professor of
Hebrew since 1871, and of Old and New Testament
Exegesis since 1876, and had retired as Professor
Emeritus by reason of age and its infirmities since
1890, passed away on the 19th of April, 1894, in the
84th year of his age. Dr. Burrowes was an accurate
scholar, and a teacher of long experience and great
efficiency. He retained the love and veneration of
his students in a remarkable degree. Naturally, of a
sensitive and irritable temper, divine grace had so
completely triumphed that in his latest years he was
more and more completelj^ transformed into the

24

imao-e of his Master, whom he loved with a perfect
devotion.

And now after the lapse of a quarter of a century
the Seminar}^ has an ideal site, solid and substantial
buildings of stone, six professorships and one instruct-
orship endowed, seven scholarships for students en-
dowed, four comfortable houses for pr.ofessors; and we
still need two more houses tor professors, and a large
number of scholarships for students. In looking back
over the last twenty-five years, may we not exclaim,
"What hath God wrought?" Hard work, patient
waiting, and self denial were expected. But there
was another thing much harder to endure ; there was
a good deal of detraction, ridicule and, I fear, some
contempt which the first professors had to endure.
We bore it quietly and worked on, and now thank God,
we have got beyond all that. Our Directors have
generally been wise, kind and faithful to their trusts.
Our students have gone out, often into the hardest
fields, and nearly all have made full proof of their
ministry. They are enthusiastically devoted to their
Alma Mater, and are our best advertisement.

San Francisco Theological Seminary has always
stood for a whole, unmutilated, divinely inspired Bible,
and for a definite theology, as contained in the West-
minister standards, and must ever remain so, or lose
her propert}^ and with it the respect of mankind.

25

H JForwarb %oo\\.

Address by ROBERT MACKENZIE, D. D., Montgomery Professor of
Apologetics and Missions.

Our Seminary has an honored past, as we have
just heard. In hearing that past rehearsed, we could
wish it had been ours to have had a share in making
it. But the Seminary has a future, and what the
past denies to us who have come too Late, the future
opens to our energies and our ambitions. The possi-
bility is offered to each of us to do something, if not
in the foundations 3''et in the growing super-structure.
Bramante re-Laid the foundations of St. Peters, yet
Michael Angelo found opportunity to work out his
genius and to work in his fame in the great Cathedral.

The past of this Seminary is yet limited both in
time and influence ; its future is practically unlimited
in both. It is and will continue to be the central
light of our church on this Pacific Coast. One can by
no means outline its years or gauge its influence. It
must be apparent to the most casual observer that
there is here being laid the foundations of a new
Empire, and that in the midst of such natural circum-
stances as ensure both its greatness and its perma-
nence. The ocean on one side, the mountain range
on the other are not more vast and enduring than the
empire thus rising between them. Our Seminary is
an integral part of this growing community, growing
with it and sharing in all the expansion that is to be.
Cicero was asked what men would think to-morrow
of what he had written that day. He answered that
he cared but little what men would think on that
morrow, what he did care for was what men would
think about it six hundred years to come. We do not

26

look at this Seminary or similar institutions from the
right point of view until we look at it as seen at the
far end of that perspective of six hundred years to
come. We do not work for it or love it as we ought
until we catch some glimpse of what it and all the
institutions of this Coast are yet to be. We do well
to imitate the Hebrew prophet who by a clever use of
grammar imagined himself looking back upon events
yet far m the future. There is yet to be seen but the
seed, the seed, however, comes from a mature, a
healthy and long-lived plant. Here it is sown in
good ground, warmed and watered by the sunshine
and rain of exceeding great and precious promises and
will surely become partakers of its mother nature.

A wonderful thing is a seed;

The one thing deathless forever;
Forever old and forever new,

And fickle and faithless never.

That future of this Seminary is determined by
certain conditions.

First by the spirit of loyalty to this Coast as
such. It is true that this Coast is but a part of a
common Republic of States, losing itself from view for
a time in the one great sweep of land between sea and
sea. And that itself is but a part of a common
Christendom enveloping the globe. Yet this Coast
presents a sufficient number of such distinctive quali-
ties, and develops such distinctive opportunities and
needs as entitle it to a specific loyalty. By virtue of
location and surroundings it can become all that
nature has made possible for it in commerce, in poli-
tics, in art, in education and in religion, only as its
inhabitants shall love it with an intense affection and
serve it with a supreme loyalty. While men here
glorify Princeton, Chicago, Alleghany or Edinburgh
the growth of our San Francisco Seminary will be
slow. But when our alumni will fill our own pulpits

27

and direct the beneficence of our own sphere it will
be uplifted and glorified. The Seminary is what it is
to-day because some of the Fathers, having seen some
of the future things of this Coast afar off, were per-
suaded of them and embraced them, and gave
themselves whole-heartedly to realize them. And
truly if they had been mindful of that country whence
they came out they might have had opportunity to
have returned, but they desired a better country, and
so gave themselves to its welfare, as if they too had
been native sons. It is that faith in and affection for
this coast as such that have accentuated the streets
of our cities with palaces of commerce, that have
crowned our suburbs with Universities equipped to
rival their fellows hoary with years; that have
planted the stirring seeds of libraries, of galleries, of
philanthropic benefactions as large in intent as if here
the world was yet to find its throbbing center. Ob-
serving the evolution already manifest on these shores,
from that of material wealth to that of education, to
that of homes of beauty, to that of moral order, we
need not doubt that the development will continue
until it blossoms here as elsewhere in an increased
attention to religion and theology. An ivy on the
north side of a wall does not blossom until it reaches
the eaves and the sunlight, but the blossom is in the
heart of it throughout the years of upward climbing.
There are many indications that we are rising into
warmer air, the eaves and the sunlight may not be
far away.

Second, by the loyalty to the standards of our
church, which is the Bible, and to the subordinate
standards, which is our confession of faith. There are
some things settled in this world. The thought of
man has not been empty of permanent results during
these centuries. There are ascertained principles and

28

truths which, however they may be further applied, can
never be further revised. The arch in architecture,
the octave in music, liberty in government, are incapa-
ble of revision among sane men. They are facts to be
applied but not to be revised. Progress is safe only
as it proceeds on these permanent quantities. Much
more is it the case that when God has spoken certainty
and permanence are reached. There is advance in the
application of these revealed truths, but not in their
essential content. It is a good thing to keep up with
the procession, but the real procession is not always
in the direction in which the most dust is flying; that
depends upon what popular wind is blowing. It may
be the head wind of reactionary rationalism; then the
cloud of dust moves backward while the real procession
is forward. It may be crosswise wind, and then the
dust flies to right and left while the procession is
moving straight ahead. Thus, there are those who
keep right on their ways, and those that, panting, chase
the flying dust and count its irritation a new degree
of inspiration, and wrapped in the Zeitgeist bewail the
stubborn conservatism of those who still are old
fashioned enough to walk in the sunlight.

This world, in the long run, appreciates and honors
loyalty to accepted standards. This world needs above
all other things that loyalty which stands steadily by
the standard of the revealed Word of God. In this
connection there are three classes to be considered-
first, the specialists — second, the teachers who weigh
and balance the findings of the specialists, who test
them by the analogy of the Faith, who bring to bear
the correlations of the truth, and so discover the over-
plus of imagination, the addendum of speculation; and
then the preacher whose aim and responsibility are to
impart that truth alone which has been tried in the
fire and refined as the refiner fines silver. The

29

Seminary occupies the position of the second. It
stands between the specialist and the preacher, with
the Word of God in its hand. And with the history
of the past, and the findings of the Masters in its
vision, and with the discoveries of the present in its
ken, it sifts them and tries them by that Word. Loy-
alty to that Word is the very motif of its existence. It
becomes an impertinence when it speaks from any
other Cathedra. It is dishonest in its use of the
benefactions of Christian donors when it ceases in its
loyalty. The permanent usefulness of the Seminary
to the church that has created it lies in its loyalty to
the Word of God, on which alone that church stands.
Again, the future of the Seminary depends upon
its supply of students. The source of supply to which
we first look is our native hom.es and our native schools.
It is encouraging to all of us that forty per cent of our
present students are from that native source. And if
the number is limited the limitation arises not from
the lack of desire on the part of our native sons to
work for God abundantly in the gospel ministry, but
from the conspicuous lack of institutions of higher
education on the Coast sufficiently equipped for'^the
degree of preparatory education we require for admis-
sion to the Seminary.

With grateful admiration we look upon the
intelligent army of young people, counted, not by the
hundred, but by the ten thousand, now earnest in
Christian Endeavor. No century ever closed with more
hope for its successor than this nineteenth century,
with these young spirits kneeling on its boundaries.'
The Fathers of the church never passed down the
torch to a rising generation more numerous, more
earnest and more intelligent in this faith and love for
the Lord Jesus Christ. It stands in the nature of
things that many of these young hearts will seek the

30

opportunities of service the ministry offers ; they will
also seek the preparation necessary to equip them for
their sacred task, and will find no college on this Coast
sufficiently equipped to prepare them, because the
benefience of our people has not yet risen high enough
to minister to the spiritual needs of their children's
souls. I am by no means indifferent to the founda-
tions already laid. I am keenly appreciative of the
students our schools have already sent to our halls,
and I am painfully aware of the self-denying efforts
they have made, against superhuman odds, to accom-
plish what they have; but I look with a great longing
to see them the recipients of that beneficence to which
they are pre-eminently entitled which would raise
them to the efficiency they desire, and which would
speedily enable them to fill our halls and your pulpits
with the best of our native sons.

It is vain for us to look to our State schools for this
supply. By an almost superhuman wisdom the Fathers
of this Republic refrained from ordaining any State
religion, not because they were indifferent to all reli-
gion; bat because they had due respect to the
sacredness of conscience, and to the individual's right
to worship God according to the dictates of his own
conscience. To interfere with that conscience was the
acme of treason ; and for a State institution to teach
theology or religion is both a work of gratuitous
supererogation, and a violation of a trust committed
as to honest men. And where a State University is
employed to teach a theology or a religion, it is by
those who prefer to sponge upon the common taxpayer,
rather than to pay for the propagation of their own
convictions. In no land has oar church been guilty of
this; we have ever had the courage of our convictions,
and the honesty to pay for their maintenance. We
do not expect our State institutions to do this for us

31

on the Pacific Coast, and with equal intensity we resent
their attempt to do it for others.

For the Cliristian community to transfer the re-
sponsibility of Christian education to State institutions,
is to put a premium on dishonesty; to tempt ambi-
tious men to dishonor, and to commit our Davids
"whom God has anointed," to the Philistines. There
is but one manly and honest way to train our children
in the faith of God, and our chosen sons for the minis-
try of Jesus Christ, and that is for those who have
faith in God and in Jesus Christ to endow the schools
we already have, and elevate them to the plane of
Princeton, of Yale, and a hundred other Christian col-
leges, Avhom the most learned of our countrymen are
proud to call their honored mothers.

Our Seminary, however, does now, and forever
will look to other sources for many of its students.
The prolonged and hard study required by our church
is always a strain upon physical health. We can all
recall the brilliant minds that often lead our classes,
but who went down under the strain of climatic con-
ditions. Our Seminary is so uniquely placed as to
climate that men who would succumb in more vigorous
weather can here pursue their studies with health
and cheer and look forward to prolonged usefulness in
this world. This has been repeatedly illustrated in
our history. Such men have come to our halls and
are among our more robust alumni to-day. Such men
will come in greater numbers as they learn what only
such experience makes credible. And in the crowded
East there are heroic spirits who seek to build on no
man's foundations but their own, who look to the far
west as the province of their labors. Many of these
will be wise enough to prepare themselves for the
ministry among the people to whom they expect to

32

minister. Such will find their way to ns and be pecu-
liarly welcome.

Once more, the future of our Seminary will
depend upon the financial support we can offer the
young men by way of scholarship. Our church
requires the four years college course or its equivalent,
and then the three years Seminary course. In the
Seminary we ask them to engage in preaching not at
all, or as little as possible. This is necessary to secure
to them the intellectual equipment demanded by the
intelligent congregations of our church, but it pre-
cludes the possibility of self-support. To keep to this
high standard our older Seminaries have been endowed
by thoughtful men and women with scholarships to
supplement what means the men may have and to
enable them to give themselves wholly to the studies
of the course. Already our Seminary has been thus
remembered in a limited measure. This, I take it, is
the one pressing need foremost in the front in this
twenty-fifth anniversary of our existence. The one
thing at the present moment which, if supplied, would
double the number of our students at the opening of
the next term. If this twenty-fifth anniversary could
be marked by the gift of twenty-five thousand dollars,
the interest of which could go in this direction, we
would meet the beckoning future with eager steps, and
perpetuate the influence of the donor for all time in
that highest of all spheres of influence, the salvation
of immortal souls through God's appointed way of
salvation, the foolishness of preaching.

In thus forecasting the future I would once more
remind you and myself of its past and those who made
it. When they erect one of the greater buildings
upon our streets, they leave the main stones of the
lower courses rough and unfinished; when the struc-
ture is outwardly complete, the scaffolding removed,

33

and there is no more danger of falling debris, they
return to these first stones and carve their strenirth
into forms of beauty. It will be the delight of future
generations to remove the debris and dust of the
foundation period of this Seminary, and carve in
forms of useful beauty the memory of the fathers
who are its corner stones.

35

Conoratulatov)? Hbbress.

By Rev. GEO. MOOAR, D. D., Professor of Apologetics, Pacific
Theological Seminary.

Nearly three years ago, on the occasion in our
Seminary's history corresponding so exactly with this,
we received through your appointed representative
generous congratulation. It is made my privilege to
reciprocate the fraternal words that were then spoken.
We were then reminded that our schools have the
same vocation, that is, in the midst of an intensely
secular civiJization, to maintain the high realities of
christian thought and life. Nor was it forgotten that
these schools stand for bodies of believers that have
had a unique historic and doctrinal connection.

It should seem that the last point might to-day be
brought to special recollection and prominence. For
it was on this very day of the month (29 Apr. 1647),
250 years ago that the assembly of divines, which had
been convened at Westminister, presented to the Long
Parliament the result of its labors in the justly cele-
brated confession of faith, which has ever since borne
to you the charmed name. In that assembly, side by
side with the majority of assessors and divines, who
were mostly Presbyterian, sat a very small company,
often spoken of as " the five dissenting brethren",
although there were at least as many more who might
have been included in the same expressive designation.
These brethren are characterized by Hetherington, an
historian whose sympathies were with the majority,
as " few in number but of considerable talent, of un-
doubted piety, of great pertinacity in adhering to their
own opinions, and, we are constrained to say, well

S6

skilled in the artifices of intriguing policy." The
seraphic Rutherford, too, calls them " mighty opposites
of Presbyterial government." But writing from Lon-
don which was alive w4th two-score or more sects, he
describes these independents " as those" who of all
that differ from us come nearest to walking with God.

This little knot of a dozen men while they, no
doubt, after the common fashion of small but pertina-
cious minorities, sometimes delayed the proceedings of
those who outnumbered them tenfold, nevertheless
were in strong accord with them in matters of Evan-
gelical faith. They joined in the confession. Scarcely
more than a year passed before the Cambridge Sj'^nod
in Massachusetts adopted it. The glorious decade of
the commonwealth flew fast when independency, in-
stead of being a minority, ruled England, but at Savoy
these dissenting brethren accepted Westminister
doctrine with marvellous despatch. At the end of a
half century later, it was made part of the Saybrook
platform in Connecticut. That platform reaffirmed,
too, the " Head of Agreement" which had been framed
as a basis for union in those years of persecution when
Independents and Presb3''terians alike suffered for non-
conformity under James II. This substantial unity of
doctrinal conviction was the motive too, for that plan
of union in our own country at the opening of this
19th century. There have been those in both camps
who have been tempted to call this a plan of discord.
But there was a noble side to it. Despite the friction
incident to the working of that scheme, it w^as the
occasion of intellectual, educational, reformatory and
missionary activit}^ unsurpassed. Life, certainlj^ theo-
logical life, in the two, or, perhaps I should say, three
bodies was not stagnant in that half century. Were
there not at Princeton, at New Haven, at Andover,
giants in those days ? Men and S3\stems came to be

37

sharply understood ; and a sharp understanding is
quite essential to a really good understanding. By
reason, then, of such memorable historic connections
we have come to know more exactly our mutual metes
and bounds; metes and bounds which show as well
what unites as what divides us.

In the early years of our California church history,
despite the fact that the plan of union was passing
away, that some local and personal irritants existed
here, there was, as there has continued to be, much
and delightful interchange between us. There were
years in which a Synod and an association chose to
meet at the same place. The number of brethren who
had exchanged a Congregational relation for a Presby-
terian, or a Presbyterian for a Congregational, was
noticeable; as, for example, both earlier and later.
Hunt, Willey, Lacy, Durant, Buel, Brayton, Seymour,
Frear, Mills, Brodt, Taylor, McDonald, Poor, McLean,
Horton, and the list might be extended.

But who could begin to name the laymen, elders,
deacons, noble women, who, without losing ancestral
sympathies, found themselves now in one fellowship,
and now in the other ; Billings, Gray, Goddard, Bige-
low. Palmer, Hawley, McKee, Cooper? Nor will those
of us, who like the Shunamite, have dwelt close
within our own people without changing our classifi-
cations, as Dr. Cojde calls them, be willing to concede
that the cords of this interdenominational brotherhood
draw us au}^ less strongly together. If we may not
plead for ourselves the distinction made, in passing
humor, the other evening by one of your own faculty,
that we were ordained to the one body and fore-
ordained to the other, we can acquiesce in that
milder form of the high doctrine that we have been
divinely permitted to be more individual than some
waves are and yet to be one as the sea.

38

When therefore our own chui-chcs were moved
some thirty years ago (1865) to devise some provision
for ministerial training, it was quite in the spirit of
the old amity that enquiry was made whether it were
feasible and desirable to try to secure co-operation in
this undertaking. Ministers supposed to be represent-
atives in the several principal denominations were
approached. The responses were kindly but not
encouraging. Later, in 1873, after your Seminary
organization was commenced, our Trustees appointed
a committee to confer with your Board as to whether
it might be possible to provide for common instruction
in some departments. This suggestion did not com-
mend itself, and each institution went its own way,
each to have a day of small things in hope of a larger
morrow.

Nor has that hope been disappointed. This
quarter century has brought to us both quite as much
enlargement as reasonable people had any reason to
expect. If there have been delays and struggles or
even crises, surprises have struck in also of human
bounty and Providential favor. We rejoice in all that
favor which has fallen to your lot. We carry pleasant
pictures of the goodly home you have acquired in your
quiet valley, in sight of the mountain and its wooded
foothills. We have learned to appreciate both the
scholarship and the society of those who have been
called to fill the chairs of instruction there. If so be
that your type of polity holds you with any stricter
tenacity to the formulas of the confession ; or if ours
facilitates those revisions which like some eastern
spring come more slowly up your way, yet we would
fain be reckoned as next of kin in our reverent and
loyal interpretation of the one divine word from
which the Assembly of Divines drew their distinctive
system. We may fitly then, and in exceptionally good

faith, use the quaint phrases of the pastor at Anworth
who sat in that assembly, when we express our prayer
that your Seminary may continue to be a " Lebanon
out of which may be taken many cedars for the build-
ing of the house of God throughout the land."

Xetters trom 3fnent)s
mnable to be iPresent
on tbe *S)ccasion

42

Theological Seminary

of the Presbyterian Church,

at Princeton. N. J.

To the Faculty of the San Francisco Theological Seininary:

Dear Brethren — The Faculty of Princeton Seminary have in-
structed me to thank you for the kind invitation extended to us to be
present at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of your institution.
Although the distance forbids our personal presence on that occasion,
we rejoice most cordially with you in the prosperity of your Seminary and
in the blessings which have been sent upon it in the past and through its
labors have come to the Church. To our congratulations we add the wish
that even greater success than this may attend your work in the future,
and that the Lord may make your Seminary in ever increasing degree a
center for the propagation of His truth and the upbuilding of His kingdom.
By order of the Faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary.

GEF.RHARDUS VOS,
Corresponding Clerk.
April 26, 1897.

Princeton-, April 15, '97.
To the Faculty of the San Francisco Seminary :

I send my congratulations on the completion of twenty-five years of
usefulness of the Theological Seminary at San Francisco, and trust that
it will increase in prosperity and power as years go on. I regret that I
shall not be able to be present on the approaching anniversary.

Yours Very Truly,

WM. HENRY GREEN.

per E.

The Old Hodge House, Princeton. N. J., April 25, 1897
To the Faculty of the San Francisco Theological Seminary.

My Dear Sirs — I beg to acknowledge your kind invitation to be
present at the approaching celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary
of the foundation of the San Francisco Theological Seminary, and to ex-
press my deep interest in the occasion and my regret that the distance
precludes my expressing it in tlie natural way of being present at the cere-
mony. It was a brave and far seeing act of the little band of Presbyter-
ians on the Western coast, twenty-five years ago, to lay the foundations of a
o-reat school of theological learning: an act of faith which lam assured
God will not permit to fail of attaining its end with completeness. In
these days of your prosperity you look back twenty-five years to compara-
tively small beginnings: may you after another quarter of a century be

43

able to look back to your present prosperit}' as equally small^beginnings to
the attainment then registered. I congratulate the San Francisco Semi-
nary on the work it has done; on the position of influence it has achieved;
on the noble men who have served it during the past quarter of a century
of its existence; on the devoted and competent men wfho have filled its
chairs of instruction; on the good it is ever doing, and on the great and
rich prospects of increased usefulness which are opening out before it.
May the Lord whom you serve, bless you richly; give you ever a band of
consecrated and capable teachers; and make you a blessing not only
to your own coast, but to our whole church and land, and to the
wide world which encompasses us all and provides the only limits of the
field which the Master bids us occupy and cultivate.

I am, my dear sirs, in the bonds of a common work, and a common
hope,

Very Sincerely Yours,
B. B. WARFIELD.

Prof. Wm. Brenton Greene, Jr. D. D., regrets that he cannot accept
the courteous invitation of the Faculty of the San Francisco Theological
Seminary to be present at the exercises of the twenty-fifth Anniversary of
the foundation of their Seminary.

Princeton, April 15, 1897.

316 Ridge Ave, AlIvEGHany, Pa., April 20, 1897.
Rev. Henry C. Minton, I). D.:

My Dear Bro. — In behalf of the Faculty of Western Theological
Seminary I return thanks for the invitation to attend the quarter century
anniversary of your Seminary. We invoke upon your Institution the con-
tinued and enlarging favor of God, and the good will of men.

If you will postpone for a little time your celebration a representative
of our Seminary might be present, as Mrs. Robinson and I hope to be in
California by the fifteenth of May, for an outing of a few weeks.

Yours Sincerely,

T. H. ROBINSON.

Union Theological Seminary,

NO. 700 PARK AVENUE.

New York, April, 17, 1S97.
TJip Rev. Warren H. Landon, D. D., Secretary, San Rafael, California.

Dear Sir — On behalf of the Faculty of Union Theological Seminary
permit me to thank the Faculty of the San Francisco Theological Semi-

44

nary for the courteous invitation to be represented at their twenty-fifth An-
niversary on the 29th instant. We would gladly accept your invitation
were it possible for us to do so, but we can only send our fraternal con-
gratulations with the prayer that you may have a long history of continued
prosperity and usefulness.

Yours Truly,

THOS. S. HASTINGS,
President.

Lane Theological Seminary,

CINCINNATTI.

The Faculty of L,ane Theological Seminary, congratulates the Faculty
of the San Francisco Theological Seminary on the occasion of their twenty-
fifth Anniversary.

VVe regret that no one of our number is able to be present at the anni-
versary exercises in person. We pray that your Seminary may continue
to be a corner stone of the Western Church.

In behalf of the Faculty,

KEMPER FULLERTON,

Chairman.

Cincinnati, April 23, 1897.

Danville Theological Seminary.

Danville. Ky, April 23, 1897.

To the Faculty of San Francisco Theological Seminary:

Dear Brethren — The Faculty of the Danville Theological Seminary
acknowledge with gratification the reception of your invitation to attend
the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the founding of the Seminary at San
Francisco. Being just at and during the closing exercises of our Seminary
we regret we cannot send one of our numbers to convey in person our con-
gratulations and good wishes. But please accept the assurances of our
hearty good will and siiicerest wishes for your prosperity and usefulness.

On behalf of Faculty,

J. M. WORRALL,

President.

45
German Theological Seminary.

DUBUOUE, III., April 23, r897.

To the Faculty of the. San Francisco Theological Seminar >/ of the Presby-
terian church:

Dear Brethren — On behalf of our faculty and for myself personally
permit me to extend to you our most hearty congratulations and best
wishes in view of your celebration of your Twenty-Fifth Anniversary as
a Seminary; to be appropriately observed on the 29th of the present month.
Only distance prevents our presence with you on that happy occasion. We
shall however respond to your fraternal invitation by being present in
spirit. Truly God has placed His seal of approval on the judgment and
self-sacrificing labors which initiated the Presbyterian Theological Semin-
ary of San Francisco in 1872.

These have been creative years. This quarter of a century has been
marked by success, not only in the development of the idea, but also in find-
ing for it a becoming material expression in the great financial resources
at your command. Already your Seminary gives evidence that it shall be
the Princeton Seminary of the Pacific coast. Permit me to add that I have
a special interest in the success of your institution because of its close asso-
ciation with my dear old friend, Doctor William Scott, for whose memory
I entertain the profoundest respect. That all your Faculty may see ever
growing prosperity in your work is the earnest wish of

Yours Truly,

ADAM MCCLELLAND.

Park College,

PARKVILLE, MO.

19th April, 1897.

Dear Sir — Allow me to extend to the San Francisco Seminary my
hearty congratulations upon the 25th anniversary. The record of the years
has been an excellent one, and the church looks hopefully to the Seminary
for the future. For my part, I have no hope that you will turn out mere
scholars or men, who will forget that the winning and cure of souls is their
one business. There is room in the church for pastors who can preach to
hearts, and preachers who can shepherd. Much depends on the point of
view for study. Church history, from the pastoral side, is more helpful to
most pastors than from the critical side. So with Greek exegesis and
Hebrew. You will do a great work if the pastoral element is kept large and
prominent, and I shall be glad if the Lord leads the Seminary so to do.

Our men have been enthusiastic in their praise of the Seminary and
the wise men who are its faculty.

Very sincerely,

CLELAND B. McAFEE.

46

University of Wooster,

PRESIDENTS OTFICE.

Wooster, Ohio, April 19th, 1S97.
To the Faculty of the. San Francisco Presbyterian Theological Seminary, San
Francisco, Cal.

Dear Brethren — I acknowledge, with pleasure, the reception of your
courteous invitation to be present at the celebration of the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the founding of the Theological Seminar}'.

Without a section of Aladdin's carpet, my presence in the body will
be impossible. But that need not prevent my being present with you
"joying and beholding your order." How short the time seems since the
beginning, and how vividly I recall the stalwart figure of Dr. Scott. We
have all rejoiced in the work which the Seminary has been accomplishing,
and from the first it commanded my enthusiasm as an enterprise in the
line of the declaration of the mental independence of the middle and
greater West. Our education, whether academic or professional, must not
cling to the Eastern seaboard.

May the coming quarter of a century be filled with evidences of Divine
benediction in the continuance of the staunch steadfastness of the past, in
growing spiritual power, in enlarged patronage, and increased facilities.
This is the greeting of an institution like your own, thoroughly attached
to the church and the faith of our fathers, and only two years older than
your own.

Yours sincerely,

SILVESTER F. SCOVEL.

PRESIDENT'S OFFICE,

Wabash College.

Crawpordsvillk, Tnd., April 21, 1897.

Tfie Faculty, Presbyterian San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Fran-
cisco, California :
Dear Brethren — Please accept the hearty congratulations of Wabash
College, on the completion of the first quarter century of work of your
admirable institution. May the next twenty-five years bring to you much
advance in usefulness and large accession of influence.

I wish that it might be possible for our institution to be represented
at your anniversary.

Believe me, with much respect,

Sincerely yours,

G. S. BURROUGHS, Pres.

47

EDITORIAL ROOMS

KOMILETIC REVIEW,

I. K. Funk, D. \)., I,. L. d.
D. S. Gre(;c)rv, D. I)., L. L. D.
Editors.

Nkw York, April 15, 1897.
To the Faculty of the San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, Cal. :
Dear Brethren— Allow me to acknowledge with gratefnl pleasure
your invitation to be present at the exercises of the twenty-fifth anniver-
sary of the foundation of the San Francisco Theological Seminary of the
Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., to be held in San Francisco, April
29th, 1897.

It would give me great pleasure to be present if it were p6ssible, and to
rejoice with you in your joy. Some of my life-long friends have been
connected with yonr institution. Dr. Burrowes, that royal Hebrew
scholar, I knew when he was in Lafayette College ; Dr. Lindsley, that
grand preacher and organizer, examined me when I was licensed to
preach the gospel ; Dr. William Alexander, who is still spared to carry on
his good work, was one of my Seminary mates and most intimate friends
in the old Princeton days. These are only a part of your faculty, past and
present, that I claim among my special friends. For the sake of those
who are gone, as well as for the -sake of those who are left, it would be
exceedingly pleasant to be with you, and to get a little inspiration for my
own work from your Pacific breezes.

Trusting that you will have a delightful occasion, and that some one
will come forward to add materially to your endowment, in order to make
the work of the next quarter century more eflfective, I remain.
Yours m the service of the Master,

DANIEL S. GREGORY.

Idaho Christian Endeavor Union,

REV. J. hT. BARTON, PRES

Cai^dwell, Idaho, Apr. 26, 1897.
Rev. H. C. Minton, D. ])., San Francisco, Cal.

Dear Bro. — Yours enclosing invitation to be present at the exercises
of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the San Francisco
Theological Seminary is at hand. Accept thanks for the same.

We are trying to build up a little college here which we hope may
become a feeder for the San Francisco Seminary.

Very sincerely and fraternally yours.

J. H. BARTON.

48

Philadelphia Pa., April 25, 1897.
My Duar Dr. Day — I have received tlie very courteous invitation to
be present at the coming celebration at the San Francisco Theological
Seminary. I send my heartiest greetings, and wish I could be present in
person to deliver them. We appreciate the work you are doing. We
rejoice in your prosperity. We pray for its increase. And you may be
sure that the Board of Education will always be glad to co-operate with
you in the noble work of training ministers to preach the glorious gospel
of the blessed God.

I am very cordially yours,

EDWARD B. HODGE,
Cor. Sec'v of Board of Education.

The Board of Home Missions of the Pres. Church

in theUuiteil States of Ameriea.

186 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK

April 23, 1S97.
San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Francisco, Cal.

Dear Brethren If it were not for the three thousand miles dis-
tance between New York and San Francisco, 1 should be glad to attend
the 25th anniversary of the foundation of your noble institution.

I knew intimately, its honored and distinguished founder, the Rev. Dr.
Scott, and I knew, as very fewmen knew him, Mr. Alexander Montgomery,
who endowed it so largely, and it affords me great pleasure to say that I
know slightly all the present Professors, and some of them very well. I
am satisfied that that Seminary is only beginning to exert its great in-
fluence ; it is destined to do a grand work for our church on the Pacific
Coast. May the Lord bless the exercises on the 29th of April.

Yovirs fraternally,

WM. C. ROBERTS.

First Presbyterian Church,

ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY.

The Faculty of the San Francisco Theoluyical Seminary.

My Dear Brethren — It is really a matter of regret that I cannot
come to the anniversary on the 29th. Your invitation lies on my table,
and up from its face rises the thought of my father's interest in the Semin-
ary's welfare and promise. Many sad memories come trooping, but with

49

tbem are the brighter children of the successes of these twenty-five years.
I can recall the evenings when father would return to our house in the
opposite foothills, weary and sober with his teaching the classes of the
Seminary ; I can recall, also, the light of modest, honest pleasure when he
could tell us of some new gift which he had been able to influence toward
its endowment.

He had small sympathy or liking for theological dialecticians, or wish
to increase their race ; but men, charged to the full with God, and God's
greatest truth ; men, sympathetic, cultured, helpful ; men, in manhood's
fine completeness, he sought to fit for their ministering. Because he be-
lieved the San Francisco Seminary could give such men to their much
needed service in California,, he spared no pains, no pra3'ers,no labor in its
behalf. How glad he would be to join in this anniversary. Knowing
.which, it is a pleasure to me to add his congratulations to my own, bidding
you God speed into an immeasureably larger and better future of usefulness
and power.

With respect, I am, always, very truly yours,

JAMES EEIvS.
April 22, 1S97.

PhiIvADELPHIa, Pa., April 20th, '97.

Mr. R. J. Trumbull.

My Dear Brother — Nothing could please me more than to be
present upon the occasion of the quarter centennial of the San Francisco
Theological Seminary. I hope and believe that the incoming twenty-five
years shall work an evolution in your affairs of great moment. They will
work a great evolution in the direction of truer Biblical sentiment, of a
more elevated and Evangelical type of thought upon religious matters,
upon your Coast. The progress in this particular, during the past twenty-
five years, is wonderful. The unfolding bud has not yet bloomed into full
beauty.

With your endowments and buildings, with your able and earnest
Faculty, you are fully equipped to take " opportunity by the forward top"
and do a grand work for the great empires of California and Oregon and
the far North.

I am, cordially yours,

FRANCIS A. HORTON.
Temple Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pa.

Pasadena, Cal., April 24, 1897.

Mr. R. J. Trumbull, ISan Francisco.

Dear Bro. — I am in receipt of a formal invitation from the Faculty
of the San Francisco Theological Seminary to tho 25th anniversary of the

founding of the same. I wish to express my sincere regrets at not beirp-
able to be present.

It really pains me that the great distance and the changes of 20 years
have at last accomplished the inevitable, made me feel as a stranger.
Most of those dear to me are now silent. I would that I could meet those
of you left.

Very sincerely your Bro.,

WILIvIELL THOMSON.

( Au early eraduate of the Seminary.)

Union Theological Seminary,

HAMPOEN-SIONCY, VA.

Hampden-Sidney, Va., April 27th, 1897.

To the Faculty of the San Francisco Theological Seminary, Saii Francisco,
California:

Dear Brethren — The Faculty of Union Theological Seminary in
Virginia beg to acknowledge with thanks your invitation to attend the
exercises of the tw^enty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of your Institu-
tion. While the privilege of a personal attendance is denied us, we desire
hereby to extend to you our most cordial congratulations, and to ex-
press our warm interest in the future of your institution.

Fraternally Yours,

T. R. ENGLISH,
Clerk of Faculty.

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