VIRGINIA LIBRARY 
 
Zihvaxy of Che theological ^eminarjo 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 The Estate of 
 Rev, Robert 0. Kirkwood 
 
 BV 4070 .M366 E8 1896 
 McCormick Theological 
 
 Seminary. 
 Exercises at the dedication 
 
 of the Virainia Lihrarv of 
 

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THE VIRGINIA LIBRARY OF THE 
 McCORMICK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
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 EXERCISES AT THE DEDICATION 
 
 THE VIRGINIA LIBRARY 
 
 McCORMICK THEOLOGICAL 
 SEMINARY 
 
 OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 I 
 
 MAY 6, MDCCCXCVI 
 
 L w>- 
 
^ T A MEETING of the Board of Direc- 
 /\ TORS OF McCoRMicK Theological Semi- 
 
 / \ NARY HELD ApRIL 6, I892, Mr. CyRUS 
 H. McCoRMICK ANNOUNCED THE PURPOSE 
 OF HIS MOTHER, MrS. NeTTIE FoWLER McCoR- 
 MICK, TO ERECT FOR THE SeMINARY A LIBRARY BUILD- 
 ing, two years were spent in studying and 
 completing plans under the supervision of 
 Messrs. Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, archi- 
 tects, AND THE erection OF THE BUILDING WAS 
 BEGUN IN THE SPRING OF 1 894. ThE WORK WAS 
 COMPLETED IN THE SUMMER OF 1895, ^^^ "^^^ 
 BUILDING OCCUPIED AT THE OPENING OF THE SEMI- 
 NARY TERM, THE FOLLOWING SEPTEMBER. 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 Program 
 
 THE dedicatory services were held in con- 
 nection with the commencement exercises 
 of the Seminary, on Wednesday evening, 
 May 6, 1896, under the following program: 
 
 Prayer, by Rev. Samuel J. Niccolls, D.D., of 
 St. Louis. 
 
 Address, by Rev. Willis G. Craig, D.D., LL.D., 
 Chairman of the Faculty. 
 
 Letter from Mrs. Nettie Fowler McCormick. 
 
 Presentation of the building, by Cyrus H. Mc- 
 Cormick. 
 
 Address of acceptance, by Mr. Thomas Dent, 
 President of the Board of Directors. 
 
 Dedication address, by Rev. Howard Duffield, 
 D.D., of New York. 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 ADDRESS BY 
 REV. WILLIS G. GRAIG, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Chairman of the Faculty 
 
 THIS occasion is of the profoundest interest, 
 not only to the brilHant company pres- 
 ent, but to the wide circle of Presbyterians 
 who look to this institution as a center of theological 
 education. 
 
 In planning the noble buildings that adorn this 
 campus, we constantly looked forward to the erec- 
 tion of a suitable home for our valuable books. 
 
 We have ever appreciated the importance of a 
 large and varied library as one of the chief means 
 of forwarding the interests of liberal and exact theo- 
 logical culture, and it has been our urgent desire to 
 provide here an edifice of sufficient capacity to receive 
 books, in ever- increasing numbers, suited to the 
 demands of the age, and fitted to keep our profes- 
 sors and students informed upon every healthful 
 advance in true learning. 
 
 As we stand within this beautiful building we 
 find that our ardent wishes have been more than 
 realized, for even the boldest, in the days gone by, 
 could not have hoped for a structure of such ele- 
 gance and purity of design, such completeness of 
 adaptation, and such perfection of finish as now 
 greets the eyes of this assembled company. 
 
 To the exquisite taste and open-handed liberality 
 of our beloved friend, Mrs. Nettie Fowler McCor- 
 mick, we owe this building, and it is a delight to 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 7 
 
 express our sense of obligation to the donor of the 
 beautiful library which has no rival among theolo- 
 gical schools. The admiration and affection of conse- 
 crated men who have been trained in this institution, 
 and who are preaching the imperishable Word in 
 every clime, will ever be freely accorded to Mrs. 
 McCormick and her family. 
 
 Allow me to introduce Mr. Cyrus H. McCormick, 
 who will represent his mother on this occasion. 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 LETTER FROM MRS. McCORMICK 
 
 Mr. McCormick read the following letter: 
 
 Florence, Italy, April 21, 1896. 
 
 THE Board of Directors of McCormick 
 Theological Seminary: Gentlemen^ — It 
 is a great disappointment that I am unable 
 to share personally in the opening of the Virginia 
 Library, which, by a coincidence, occurs on the birth- 
 day of my daughter, whose name the library bears ; 
 but I feel I am fitly represented by my son, who 
 will bring this greeting and deliver to you the keys. 
 
 The completion of this library marks a step in 
 the progress, dear to my heart, of the Seminary. 
 
 Progress is made, either by finding new channels 
 of effort, or by strengthening and systematizing 
 existing resources. This new building, intended as 
 a domicile for the best intellectual and spiritual life, 
 falls under the latter head. The Seminary has been 
 growing in wonderful measure. Its chairs of instruc- 
 tion have been doubled, its roll of students has mul- 
 tiplied, and its influence greatly widened. The 
 excellence and thoroughness of its instruction have 
 attracted hither large numbers of students who, in 
 their turn, have extended its fame and proved its 
 good training by their own efficient and faithful 
 ministry. 
 
 You have already reached great heights, but, just 
 as a traveler halts upon the crest of a summit gained, 
 to take fresh breath and gird himself anew, that he 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 may with greater power and to better advantage 
 attack the steeps which hold the road to higher 
 glories, so I trust this building may be such an 
 advance in equipment as will give renewed life and 
 greater vigor in your forward march. 
 
 May its free expanse and wide proportions be 
 symbolic of the great ideas its walls shall harbor; 
 of the largeness of view and freedom of thought 
 which has ever been the key of true progress ; and 
 of the lofty ideals and purposes to which this dedi- 
 cation consecrates it. And may the firmness of its 
 construction, the ever-enduring quality of its mar- 
 ble and stone and iron, be also symbolic of the kind 
 of support which Truth will ever find here, and of 
 the endurance of such enlightened and sound inter- 
 pretation of the Bible as our classes now receive 
 from our present professors! 
 
 How it would have rejoiced the hearts of many 
 of those who labored, while on earth, for the institu- 
 tion of their love, to see this finished house! By 
 faith they saw these walls arise which you now see 
 in substance, — many of the dear old professors, many 
 of the faithful directors and trustees, of the early 
 days, whose faces we shall see no more. 
 
 To no one of these would the library be a greater 
 joy than to my dear and honored husband, who, 
 with them, stood by the Seminary through storm 
 and cloud. The impulse to build this new home 
 for the books .came from a wish to carry forward 
 his work, and to strengthen the foundation which he 
 laid, and to his earnest purpose it is therefore a 
 
lo Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 monument. And this is given to you in sacred 
 trust for the institution under your care. 
 
 In storing up truth for future ages the Virginia 
 Library will be helping to make the Seminary an 
 ever-increasing center of light, whose rays shall 
 spread not only over the great Northwest, but to 
 every corner of the earth, until the shadows flee 
 away. Very sincerely yours, 
 
 Nettie Fowler McCormick. 
 
Dedicatory Exercises i i 
 
 ADDRESS OF PRESENTATION BY 
 CYRUS H. McCORMICK 
 
 MR. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen, — 
 In the world of nature we find that by 
 transplanting and engrafting, results are 
 secured which produce a hardier plant, a more pro- 
 ductive fruit, a flower of greater beauty. By this 
 principle the skillful botanist improves the vitality 
 of his trees and plants, and secures to the world 
 more perfect effects of fragrance, form, and color. 
 
 We are met together this evening to complete a 
 transplanting which has been in progress for two 
 years, where the fertile brain and skillful hand of 
 the architect have sought to graft upon the sturdy 
 stem of an American school of religious teaching one 
 of the flowers of classic architecture. Architect and 
 artisan have completed their work, and to-night we 
 see in this edifice the realization of many hopes and 
 prayers for the facilities of study and research here 
 afforded. It is a matter of the deepest regret that 
 the one who would have been the central figure is 
 far from this interesting scene. But she is with us 
 at this moment in spirit, and has sent, through me, a 
 message of cordial greeting to all the friends who 
 have gathered to celebrate the dedication of this 
 building. During its construction she made every 
 detail a personal interest, and her active mind passed 
 upon all the problems of architectural and decorative 
 work. To participate in this auspicious occasion is 
 denied her, but the knowledge of the important use 
 
12 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 of this building will be her grateful pleasure through 
 all time. 
 
 A beautiful library should be an inspiration to 
 every student. It represents the higher aspirations 
 of the heart to seek the true and the good. May 
 the spirit of her who planned and built it stimulate 
 the heart of every man who studies within its walls. 
 Will it not stir him to remember, as he goes forth 
 from this school, the many others who are to follow 
 him in these classes, 
 
 " And, departing, leave behind him 
 
 Footprints on the sands of time," — 
 
 footprints which will show the pathway hither to 
 some worthy successor? 
 
 And let us not forget the days of small beginnings, 
 nor fail to do honor to the leaders of the early days. 
 It is not so long since this campus was but a rough 
 field of weeds, and the total enrollment of students 
 was less than a score. We are grateful that one 
 beloved professor. Dr. Halsey, is still with us, who 
 knew those early days, who bore so nobly the bur- 
 den of that early struggle, and who now can see the 
 abundant fruition of those seeds planted by toil and 
 nurtured by self-sacrifice and devotion to this great 
 cause. May his days among us be many, and his 
 strength be spared to give us the benefit of his 
 counsel and his sympathy as we go forward with the 
 work which is committed to our hands. 
 
 This occasion naturally suggests the deep interest 
 which my honored father took in every plan for the 
 benefit of this Seminary. He carried its interests 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 13 
 
 uppermost in his heart, and he had an abiding faith 
 that the time would soon come when the heart of 
 the Presbyterian Church would be awakened to its 
 vital interests, and adequate means would be pro- 
 vided with which to care for and teach all the worthy 
 men who come knocking at our doors for education 
 for the ministry. Would that he might have been 
 permitted to join with us to-night in this ceremony! 
 Mr. President of the Board of Directors, it only 
 remains for me, on behalf of and by the direction 
 of my mother, to hand you, as representing the gov- 
 erning body of this institution, the keys of this build- 
 ing. Jt is complete and ready for the reception and 
 study of the books of this Seminary, and is the gift 
 of my mother to the McCormick Theological Semi- 
 nary of the Presbyterian Church, to be held by this 
 Seminary, in trust, for the purpose of theological 
 training according to the standards of our Church. 
 
14 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 ADDRESS OF ACCEPTANCE BY 
 MR. THOMAS DENT 
 
 President of the Board of Directors 
 
 MR.McCormicKjLadies, AND Gentlemen — 
 In accepting from the hand of Mr. Mc- 
 Cormick this key, symbolizing the deUv- 
 ery of this building, something more than merely 
 formal thanks in behalf of the Board of Directors 
 of McCormick Theological Seminary should be 
 expressed. 
 
 This building is an eloquent memorial. Its pres- 
 entation to the Seminary is one of many acts of 
 kindness and generosity, showing the interest of the 
 family of the donor in the great object for which this 
 Seminary was founded, — the education and training 
 of young men for the gospel ministry. That high 
 and noble object actuated the late Cyrus Hall McCor- 
 mick in offering, in May, 1859, one hundred thousand 
 dollars for the endowment of four professorships in 
 a theological seminary to be located in or near Chi- 
 cago. He regarded the enterprise, to use his own 
 words, " as of the greatest importance not only to 
 the religious but also to the general interests of the 
 country." His offer was accepted by the General 
 Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at its meet- 
 ing in Indianapolis in that year, and was character- 
 ized, in one of the resolutions of the Assembly pre- 
 sented by Rev. Dr. Benjamin M. Palmer of New 
 Orleans, as a " munificent donation." Such it truly 
 was in that time of severe financial depression. It 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 15 
 
 was a controlling factor in causing the Seminary to 
 be located in this city, and in drawing to it the same 
 genial influences which had pervaded the work of 
 the Seminary when organized and conducted, first at 
 Hanover, Indiana, and afterwards, at New Albany, 
 in that state. Action was taken so that the Seminary, 
 whose work dated back to 1830, and in a measure 
 to about the ist of January, 1827, found its perma- 
 nent home in this city; and the present institution 
 became in 1859, under its then name, "The Pres- 
 byterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest," 
 the ecclesiastical and legal successor of the seminary 
 which had so long been under synodical control at 
 Hanover and New Albany. Geographical conside- 
 rations were important in determining the location, 
 but Mr. McCormick's contribution gave life and 
 spirit to the enterprise. 
 
 This consecrated ground was not occupied by the 
 Seminary buildings until the completion, early in 
 1864, of Ewing Hall, which then stood alone. 
 
 It would be impossible to adequately express to 
 donors, professors, and co-workers with them, our 
 gratitude for the work which has been done by the 
 Seminary for nearly threescore years and ten. 
 How great was its object: to promote the spread of 
 the gospel, and the evangelization of the world ; to 
 extend the influence of the Scriptures — the " sun of 
 the spiritual firmament"! Into this work many 
 have entered with loving zeal and enthusiasm, but 
 no support has been more faithful than that which 
 was given by Mr. McCormick. Without amplify- 
 
1 6 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 ing references to his generous treatment of the Semi- 
 nary, it is enough to say that an untiring interest 
 was manifested by Mr. McCormick during his Hfe- 
 time, and has been maintained by his family. 
 
 This library will bear well the name which has 
 been given to it. Virginia, the native state of Mr. 
 McCormick, the state which ceded to the United 
 States the territory of which our own state of Illinois 
 is a part, is worthy of this honor, which bespeaks 
 the tender affection of the donor for the memory of 
 the husband who was one of the real founders of the 
 Seminary in its present location. 
 
 We consider one a benefactor who organizes and 
 carries on industrial work giving useful employ- 
 ment to many persons. A great author is brother 
 to such a benefactor. Though his work may seem 
 small as it passes through the press, yet if it quick- 
 ens the imagination and stirs the mind and heart to 
 noble thought and effort, how great it may become! 
 Whether, in his actual greatness, Shakespeare put 
 forth his writings with dispatch, or whether he 
 brooded over and pruned them with mighty dili- 
 gence, we may not know. But countless is the 
 number of those who, since his time, have been 
 occupied in printing, binding, annotating, and dis- 
 tributing far and wide his writings, thus perpetuating 
 his memory, and giving him a mightier influence 
 than he could wield in his lifetime. All honor and 
 praise to those whose influence is thus undying. 
 
 When we look at the Bible, with its sixty-six 
 small books, bound together as if all the writers 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 17 
 
 had linked hands in producing from one mighty 
 organ strains of adoration and praise, we can give 
 honor to the writers, whether we know their names 
 or not. Those writers were various in their training, 
 their discipHne, their employments ; some were law- 
 givers, rulers, kings, prophets ; others were fisher- 
 men. They numbered about forty, writing in three 
 languages, and during a period of fifteen hundred 
 years. Can we fail to honor these men when we 
 consider how great has been the influence of their 
 writings ; into how many languages and tongues 
 they have been translated; to what a vast number of 
 people employment has been given in the copying, 
 printing, distributing, reading, and in the exposition 
 of the Scriptures ? 
 
 Good influences are symbolized and foreshadowed 
 by this structure. It is to enshrine, for preservation 
 and use, a great many useful books for the benefit 
 of students, professors, and ministers of the gospel. 
 It denotes a great advance, an uplifting, an enno- 
 bling influence in the work of the Seminary. It 
 tells this part of our great city, and those who study 
 under its roof, that spiritual influences are real ; that 
 they should be esteemed, and should turn the hearts 
 of parents and children with devotion to the Divine 
 Being who "openeth His hand and satisfieth the 
 desire of every living thing." 
 
 Counting the gift of this building as one of the 
 many acts of beneficence on the part of Mrs. Net- 
 tie Fowler McCormick, it is accepted by the Board 
 of Directors with gratitude, and with a deep sense 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 of their obligation to fulfill the sacred trust imposed 
 upon them by the giver, with the injunction to 
 "guard well the walls of Zion." 
 
 A word should be added. The good deeds to 
 which we have referred should be an encouragement 
 to others to do likewise. An institution such as 
 this Seminary has become always has needs. Its 
 growth increases them. Tuition is freely given, 
 but the endowments for a scholarship fund are very 
 deficient. This is one of the pressing needs, and it 
 is hoped that individuals and churches will recognize 
 a responsibility in the matter, and that new friends 
 will rise up to help those who have borne the heat 
 and burden of the day. 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 19 
 
 ADDRESS BY 
 REV. HOWARD DUFFIELD, D.D. 
 
 "LITERATURE AS A SOURCE OF PULPIT POWER " 
 
 MR. President and Friends of McCor- 
 MicK Seminary, — While journeying 
 hitherward in response to your cordial 
 invitation to participate in the congratulations and 
 share in the inspirations of this auspicious hour, the 
 thought thrust itself into my mind that this new 
 library was the terminus of many pathways, a center 
 around which a multitude of influences had clustered. 
 An illustrious school of the prophets has added to 
 its apparatus a superb intellectual enginery. Ancient 
 art has exercised its ministry of beauty, and clothed 
 the structure with classic grace. Tender affection 
 has left its sign-manual in the name which shines 
 above the portico. A hand practiced in liberality 
 has given a characteristic evidence of its beneficent 
 skill. Emerson says: "Every building was once 
 an idea beneath some one's hat," but this stately 
 edifice was once a throbbing emotion within a noble 
 heart. 
 
 The artistic instinct which sought a model for 
 this shrine of thought upon Mars Hill was an un- 
 erring one. "The Greeks seek after wisdom." 
 With what an Olympian endeavor they pushed 
 their search ! What unsleeping vigil they main- 
 tained amid the shadow of life's mystery ! Theirs 
 was the eagerness of those who watch for the morn- 
 
20 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 ing. Their hungering faces were ever toward the 
 east. When the herald star of the Master of men 
 shone in the firmament, when in the fullness of time 
 " God made himself an awful rose of dawn " upon 
 the summits of the Hebrew hills, their brows were 
 brightened with the radiance of the coming day. 
 Plato, like Moses, the Church Fathers used to say, 
 was a schoolmaster to lead men to Christ. Archi- 
 tecture is the crystallization of profound emotion. 
 The Greek enthusiasm for truth took form in mar- 
 bles of deathless splendor and temples of matchless 
 proportion. The beauty of this building, which we 
 have met to dedicate, is the embodiment of a pro- 
 found idea. This library, rising beside the Seminary, 
 is an eloquent proclamation of the fact that the 
 thirst for wisdom, which was so unsleeping in the 
 breast of the Greek, is elemental in the human 
 nature, and can be slaked alone from the fountains 
 of God. 
 
 Of all the shrines which crowned the Acropolis 
 there was none more ancient and none more vene- 
 rated than that which has its reproduction upon 
 your campus. The Erechtheum was the shrine of 
 Athene, the keeper of that city which was the brain 
 of the world, the metropolis of human culture. The 
 deity was figured as keeping watch over the tomb 
 of him who had founded the greatness of Attica, her 
 arm girt with a mighty shield, the token of safety; 
 her hand extending a branch of olive, the pledge of 
 peace. Hellenistic intuition had perceived what 
 modern statecraft has been slow in learning, that 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 21 
 
 Athene is a mightier defender of the commonwealth 
 than Ares; that Wisdom is better than War; that 
 invincible battlements for a city must be founded 
 upon a love of the truth; that great principles are 
 a more formidable artillery than leveled spears ; that 
 the schoolroom is the nation's arsenal; that an in- 
 tellectual discipline produces a more unconquerable 
 soldiery than martial drill; that an enlightened citi- 
 zenship furnishes the true chariot and horse power 
 for the maintenance of a nation's honor. 
 
 There is a singular identity between that Old- 
 World temple and this modern counterpart. Within 
 one wing of its hallowed inclosure welled forth the 
 crystal waters of a healing stream, unsealed by a 
 potent thrust from the trident of Neptune. At the 
 farther extension of the temple, a sacred olive tree, 
 tilled and cherished by the priestesses of Athene, 
 reared its graceful form and yielded its unstinted 
 fruitage. Wisdom brooded over sea and soil. All 
 the majesty of the ocean, all the fertility of the earth, 
 all the unfathomable and fascinating mystery of life, 
 lay beneath the shadow of her wings. Mark the 
 locality of this modern Erechtheum. It is planted be- 
 tween the lake and the prairie. Upon this side its base 
 is washed with the gleaming waters of one of those 
 Mediterraneans which nestle in the bosom of this 
 New World. On yonder side lie outspread imperial 
 tracts of teeming land, which, as one of your own 
 poets has said, " you need but to tickle with a hoe, 
 and it will laugh with a harvest." With a unique 
 precision the eloquent significance of the old Grecian 
 
22 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 shrine has been imported across the centuries, and 
 around the planet, and re-embodied in this memo- 
 rial pile; but this modern abiding-place of thought 
 is bathed with the light of a truth such as never 
 shone on ancient sea or land. 
 
 Into the templed glory of the hill of Mars there 
 came one day a Jewish wanderer. The print of his 
 sandals may have been left upon the pavement of 
 the very building from which this library has been 
 modeled. The literati of the city gathered to hear 
 his novel discourse concerning Jesus and the resur- 
 rection. To their critic gaze his appearance was 
 barbaric. Upon their cultured ear his utterance 
 grated like " babble." But Paul was master of a 
 secret unknown to Plato. Calvary proved more 
 exalted than the Acropolis. The light paled over 
 Athens. The glory brightened upon Golgotha. 
 Before the uplifting of the crossed timbers upon 
 which a Hebrew youth had met his death, this 
 splendid forest of temples was shattered into frag- 
 ments. Before the breath of the truth from the 
 lips of one whom a Nazarene girl had mothered, 
 the laureled diadem of great Pallas Athene with- 
 ered, and the haunts of her worship passed into the 
 realm of dreams. The words of the " babbler " 
 still reverberate. His accents re-echo throughout 
 the modern world. Thoughtful minds bend their 
 energy to master the principles which he preached. 
 Reverent hearts yield their homage at the altar- 
 place of the cross which he uplifted. Nor can one 
 altogether escape a thrill at the thought that the 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 23 
 
 ceremonial of this hour marks the dedication of this 
 reconstructed temple as an instrumentality for the 
 publication of the very truth which, when long ago 
 proclaimed beneath its walls, seemed the essence of 
 foolishness. This shrine of ancient wisdom emerges 
 resplendent from the shadows of the past, and 
 uplifts its pillared front to the light of this new day. 
 Again have its storied walls become a place where 
 the truth abides. Again the preacher stands with 
 stirring heart and kindling thought before its august 
 threshold. " But the old order changeth and giveth 
 place to new." What men deemed fable has been 
 found gospel. All the mystery and the energy of 
 thought is being gathered here, that it may aid in 
 equipping those who strive to swing the earth out 
 of the darkness and into the light, by flooding it 
 with the truth as it is in Jesus. 
 
 Such a combination of circumstances defines for 
 us this theme: Literature as a source of pulpit 
 power. 
 
 It is the glory of our faith that it can be preached. 
 Our religion is a message. Christianity is a voice, 
 the only voice that has sounded through the mys- 
 terious silence which enshrouds earthly existence 
 like a pall. It is a voice which wakens an echo 
 within every breast. It speaks in an accent alien to 
 no meridian. It conveys ideas that are exotic upon 
 no shore. Its rhythms are native to humanity. 
 When honesty bends its ear to listen, men discover 
 that its utterance is couched in the tongue in which 
 they were born. 
 
24 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 The Seminary is a school of heraldry, a training- 
 place for the couriers of the King. Its entire 
 machinery is centered upon the solitary result of 
 schooling manhood in the art of bringing the mes- 
 sage of God to bear upon the need of the world. 
 The value of a literary element in this discipline is 
 not unchallenged. An opinion is abroad that the 
 bookman is the unnecessary man ; that intellectual- 
 ity cuts the nerve of practicality ; that the scholar is 
 a recluse, irresolute and ineffective, unread in the 
 necessities of real life and unversed in the meanings 
 of every-day experience, his ideas "sicklied o'er with 
 the pale cast of thought," and his brawn too much 
 run to brain ; that he is Erasmus in the cloister, 
 when the call of the world is for Luther in the 
 arena. This is no new misconception of the scholar. 
 Socrates was easily leader of the Academy, but Xan- 
 thippe scouted his helplessness as a home-maker. In 
 an old play the pedant was pilloried as expert in 
 raveling a syllogism, but unapt in the logic of 
 knotting his sandal-strings. The prevalence of this 
 irony hints at a basis of truth. This persistent 
 undervaluation of scholarship is in reality a danger- 
 signal. It levels an index finger at a peril which 
 dogs every literary worker. The menace of the 
 scholar is mistaking bookishness for culture. On 
 this reef many a student has made wreck. A 
 book is an energy, a conductor of mental electricity. 
 Its mission is to increase the power of right living. 
 Its secret lies neither in the gleam of its words, nor 
 the ring of its sentences, but in the energy of its 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 25 
 
 ideas. Its true message lies between its lines and 
 behind its pages. It is not to be mastered by the 
 recitation of its sentences, but by the assimilation of 
 its thought. "A man, not a book, is the purpose of 
 the world," declared Phillips Brooks. So saying, 
 he echoed Humboldt's assertion, "Government, re- 
 ligion, property, books, are nothing but scaffolding 
 to build a man." True culture is the coronation of 
 character. The right handling of books is a mental 
 gymnastic for the developing of an athletic brain, 
 tireless in planning and masterful in achieving the 
 good of men. In the words of Bacon, " Our studies 
 are not a couch upon which we are to rest; they are 
 not a cloister in which we are to promenade alone ; 
 they are not a tower from which we are to look 
 down on others, nor a fortress from which we may 
 resist them, nor a workshop for gain and merchan- 
 dise ; but as a rich armory and treasure-house, for 
 the glory of the Creator and the ennoblement of 
 life." 
 
 There can be no misconception as to the purpose 
 of this superb structure whose formal opening we 
 have met to celebrate. It has not been reared 
 merely for purposes of architectural adornment. It 
 is more than a marble memorial of affection. It is 
 a seminary library, a center of seminal influence. 
 Etymologically speaking, every library is a seminary, 
 not so much a repository of books as a seedhouse. 
 There is no nest of power like a warehouse of seeds. 
 Its walls are not shaken with the pulse of giant 
 machinery. No spindles rattle. No shuttles flash. 
 
26 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 No looms swing. No bewildering network of bands 
 whirls amid a dizzy perplexity of wheels. Room 
 after room is stored with seed-force, with boxes of 
 kernels, packets of grain, bins of corn, each husk 
 the cradle of a living germ. Within these tiny cap- 
 sules of energy sleep potencies that shall transform 
 the world. They shall apparel the dull earth with 
 beauty. They shall enamel its pasture-lands with 
 emerald and gold and ivory. They shall mantle its 
 hillsides with royal robes, broidered with a wealth 
 and splendor unknown to mechanic skill. They 
 shall garland its forests with crowns more glorious 
 than a monarch's diadem. They shall spread a 
 veritable banquet-board of God, at which all the 
 nations may appease their hunger. They shall rival 
 the philosopher's stone and transmute the crude 
 elements of carbon and oxygen and nitrogen into a 
 life-force which shall make cunning the hand of the 
 worker, and skillful the brain of the thinker, and 
 fervent the heart of the friend. Such a mental 
 granary is this library. It is a storehouse of germ- 
 power. More than an ornament, more than a 
 monument, it is a living spring of vital energy. 
 
 I. Literature is a source of pulpit power because 
 it forges a weapon for the use of the Holy Ghost. 
 A literary habit places upon the altar a disciplined 
 brain by the side of a glowing heart. A mastery of 
 letters will gear the love of the ransomed soul with 
 the thought-force of a well-tutored intellect. The 
 tongue of the preacher must be trained by the Spirit 
 of God. His message was not born of earth, and 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 27 
 
 cannot be imparted without divine illumination. 
 The essential source of all pulpit power is Pente- 
 costal fire. This celestial agency is independent of 
 earthly appliances. Endued with its energy, fisher- 
 men became apostles, and rustics turned the world 
 upside down. It is written that " not many wise 
 men after the flesh are called." But the writer of 
 that sentence was himself a schoolman, and so in 
 love with books that when he sent for a cloak to 
 protect himself against dungeon-damp he sent for 
 his parchments as well, that his soul might be com- 
 panioned in its prison loneliness with the sovereign 
 spirits of the mighty dead. When the time came 
 for the church to advance to the conquest of the 
 world, the Holy Spirit enrolled a scholar among the 
 apostles, and commissioned as leader of the army of 
 invasion a man who had been nurtured in the 
 atmosphere of the library. The distinctive signifi- 
 cance of Paul's conversion resides in the fact that he 
 had sat at the feet of Gamaliel before he knelt at 
 the foot of the cross. When the hour came for 
 channeling the course through which theologic 
 thought should pour its Niagara torrent down the 
 centuries, the Spirit elected to inhabit the mind of 
 an Augustine, saturated with the subtleties of the 
 Platonic philosophy. When occasion demanded 
 the sounding of a clarion which, like the silvery 
 blast of the Levitical trumpets, should signal the 
 march of the militant church, the Spirit subsidized 
 the mentality of Calvin and the intellectuality of 
 Knox, sons of great mediaeval universities. Hodge 
 
28 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 was enabled to unite profundity of thought with 
 simplicity of statement because his great heart was 
 wedded to a strong brain. Shedd rendered the 
 most intricate theological problems translucent by 
 spreading them upon pages drenched with literary 
 allusions. Thomas Chalmers and our own William 
 M. Taylor possessed a leonine power for pulpit- 
 work because their capacious minds lay wide open 
 to the light and drank in the genial, fructifying in- 
 fluences which stream from logic and philosophy, 
 from song and from story, as the fallow earth drinks 
 in the sunbeam and the dew. 
 
 When Chatham stood at the head of the English 
 peerage, and his hand was resting upon the helm of 
 Britain's destinies, he brought to his task an acute 
 and furnished mind, a wide acquaintance with his 
 country's story, a thorough knowledge of economics, 
 a practical familiarity with diplomacy, a philosophic 
 insight into the reason of things, and a poetic tem- 
 perament sensitive to the highest ideals. When 
 that marvelous intellectual mechanism was set in 
 motion, it seemed, men said, as though the genius 
 of his native land descended upon him and dwelt 
 within him. His form dilated. His face shone. 
 His periods resounded with the victorious thunder 
 of Britain's cannon, and reverberated with the tri- 
 umphal tread of British progress. So let the am- 
 bassador of Christ equip himself with a broad literary 
 culture. Let him seek to become expert in all the 
 methods by which the mind of man has moved 
 toward the truth. Let him be indifferent to not 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 29 
 
 one of all the processes by which the reason has 
 aspired to unravel the mysteries of existence. Let 
 him bring his nature into touch with the melody of 
 poetry, the acuteness of philosophy, the breadth of 
 history, and the intrepidity of science. Let him 
 inscribe upon the tablets of his heart the splendid 
 chronicle of his church's past. Let him open wide 
 his soul to the sound of those sublime and mysteri- 
 ous voices which spake as the Spirit gave them 
 utterance. Then, when the Holy Ghost shall de- 
 scend upon him as he heralds the exalted and thrill- 
 ing mysteries of the earth's redemption, the glorious 
 principles of revelation shall gleam as with the flash 
 of jewels, and his speech shall tingle with apostolic 
 fervors and heroic energies, his utterance throb 
 with the sturdy strength which pulsed within the 
 breast of the champions of the faith, his sentences 
 become intense with the glow of the martyr-fires, 
 and the pulpit-place where he ministers be overhung 
 with the awe which brooded upon the garden of the 
 agony and the hill of the crucifixion, and become 
 atmosphered with the sublimity which pervaded the 
 garden of the conquered tomb and glorified the 
 mountain of the ascension. 
 
 2. Literature is a source of pulpit power because 
 it voices the need of the world. 
 
 The need of humanity is depicted with an unspar- 
 ing pencil upon many a page of Holy Scripture. 
 Literature yields the sad and pathetic echo to this 
 inspired diagnosis. There is an interesting legend 
 concerning the youth of Buddha. The attempt was 
 
JO Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 made to sequester him from all knowledge of the 
 world-woe. He was placed by his royal father in a 
 sumptuous palace. Every sort of earthly satisfac- 
 tion was accumulated. Every ministry of pleasure 
 was set in motion. Evil was exiled. Sorrow was 
 concealed. Pain was suppressed. Death was un- 
 mentioned. But in the weird hours of the wakeful 
 nightj spirit-whispers crept through the open case- 
 ment, and breathed upon the strings of his wind- 
 harp, telling of the sore burden of human life, and 
 of the pain-ridden world groaning for its redemp- 
 tion. From literature there comes just such a wail- 
 ing cry, a cry as wearied and unsleeping as the 
 moaning of the sea. For literature is simply a vain 
 attempt to interpret the mystery of life. In all 
 ages men have wistfully watched the stars in their 
 stately march across the sky. They have noted the 
 solemn pomp with which the procession of the sea- 
 sons treads the earth. With subdued heart they 
 have become conscious that they are themselves a 
 part of this vast mysterious movement, atoms in 
 this cosmic process. They have felt the majestic 
 and resistless swing of the stream of time, bearing 
 them onward, steadily, silently, swiftly. They have 
 beheld the generations appear and disappear, like 
 the clouds that float through the air. They have 
 beheld the countless individuals of the race vanish, 
 one by one, as the leaves of the forest wither and fall. 
 They have seen joy unfold its petals, exhale its 
 fragrance, and pass away as evanescent as a flower of 
 the spring. They have seen the earth furrowed 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 31 
 
 with the iron plowshare of cruelty, and crimsoned 
 with the blood-red dews of hate. They have shiv- 
 ered at the strange cry of pain with which the air 
 is ceaselessly quivering, and they have been chilled 
 by that rain of tears wherewith the earth is ever wet. 
 They have stood with anguished hearts before the 
 frowning gateways of the grave, and have challenged 
 its grim silence with despairing cries. Listen to 
 Carlyle : " So it has been from the beginning, so it 
 will be to the end. Generation after generation 
 takes to itself the form of a body, and forth issuing 
 from Cimmerian Night on heaven's mission appears. 
 The force and fire which is in each he expends ; one 
 grinding in the mill of industry ; one, hunter-like, 
 climbing the giddy Alpine heights of science ; one 
 madly dashed to pieces on the rocks of strife in 
 war with his fellow, — and the heaven-sent is recalled, 
 this earthly vesture falls away, and soon even to 
 sense he becomes a vanished shadow. Thus, like 
 some wild-flaming, wild-thundering train of heaven's 
 artillery, does this mysterious mankind thunder and 
 flame in long-drawn, quick-succeeding grandeur 
 through the unknown deep. Thus, like a God- 
 created, fire-breathing host, we emerge from the 
 inane, haste stormfully across the astonished earth, 
 then plunge again into the inane. But whence ? 
 O Heaven, whither ? " 
 
 Men gaze. They listen. They ponder. They 
 make record; and that record is literature. Each 
 volume is another clew to the labyrinth of life, a 
 fresh answer to the enigma of the Sphinx, a reread- 
 
32 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 ing of the riddle of the painful earth. Every book 
 is the attempt to put into language what its writer 
 has detected of the meaning of life. This is what 
 Milton meant when he said : " Every good book 
 contains the life-blood of some master spirit." Its 
 sentences are the distilled essence of its author's 
 experience of existence. " The best of my poems," 
 writes Whittier, " have been crushed out of me by 
 the weight of the cross which I have carried." 
 Literature is the sum total of the thought which has 
 " been crushed out " of the human mind by the 
 burden of the solemn facts which condition its being. 
 He held a well-pointed pen who wrote, " The dome 
 which overarches every collection of great books is 
 nothing less than the infinite sky which stretches 
 over the life of man." Homer, who touched his 
 harp in the early morning hour of song, pictures not 
 merely a strife of princes beneath the walls of Troy, 
 but rehearsed the Iliad of humanity, that battle 
 royal waged by every soul of man ; he celebrated 
 not alone the experience of a homeless king strug- 
 gling over troubled waters and along danger-haunted 
 shores toward the far-off haven of his heart, but he 
 recited a spiritual Odyssey, the vicissitude of the 
 soul in quest of its native land. The verse of Vir- 
 gil did more than portray the fortunes of an exiled 
 prince who found a throne in a land beyond the 
 sea : it chronicles the ardent and triumphant pil- 
 grimage of the soul to the city of its true royalty. 
 The Divina Commedia of the poet-preacher of the 
 Middle Ages was not so much a panorama of the 
 
Dedicatory Exercises ^j 
 
 world to come, as a secret history of the human 
 soul, an unveiling of the processes and possibilities 
 of the life that now is, a tremendous projection into 
 visibility of those hidden forces which play through 
 mortality and dominate destiny, Shakespeare sits 
 like a master of the revels, watching the play which 
 humanity is enacting ; and to him this great drama 
 of the earth and man is but a Comedy of Errors, 
 a Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado about 
 Nothing, a Tempest, " full of sound and fury sig- 
 nifying nothing," a Winter's Tale ; its fools dressed 
 in wisdom and its sages in motley; purity and equity 
 ever at cross-purposes ; youth intoxicated with illu- 
 sion, and old age drunk with wormwood or shadowed 
 with the brain-clouds of insanity ; earthly existence, 
 a struggle without a purpose, a problem without a 
 solution, a midnight without a star. 
 
 Literature sounds a pathetic note of unsatisfied 
 longing, from the wistful yearnings of Plato to the 
 passionate and turbulent outcries of Byron and 
 Shelley. Goethe, hailed by many as prince of 
 modern letters, serene in temperament, symmetrical 
 in culture, deep-thoughted, far-sighted, garnering 
 whatever satisfactions could be produced in the 
 fields of intellectual delight, confesses, " I have ever 
 been esteemed a favorite of fortune, nor will I com- 
 plain of the course my life has taken. Yet, truly, there 
 has been nothing but toil and care, and in all my 
 seventy-five years I have never had a month of 
 genuine comfort." Literature is haunted with a sense 
 of thwarted destiny, from its exhibition of the tragic 
 
34 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 figure of Prometheus bound on the cliffs of Cauca- 
 sus, to Its presentation of Hamlet pacing the ghostly 
 battlements of Elsinore. Literature is saturated 
 with the corroding suspicion that life is not worth 
 the living, whether it be voiced in the pessimistic 
 philosophy of Schopenhauer, or embalmed in the 
 somber rhythms of the Rubaiyat, or chanted in such 
 poetry of despair as the " City of Dreadful Night." 
 Max Nordau would doubtless scoff at any affiliation 
 with the Genevan school of theology, but in his 
 work on " Degeneration," yet fresh from the printer, 
 he out-Calvins Calvin in descanting upon the ten- 
 dencies to evil inherent in humanity, and in attempt- 
 ing to demonstrate that all this latter-day splendor 
 of art and letters is but the fleeting sunset pomp 
 which ushers in a " dusk of the gods." Literature 
 is burdened with the confession of its impotence to 
 allay the cravings of the heart. 
 
 A lichen bafiles the laureate. The light of his 
 master mind sheds no ray upon the secret of a root- 
 let. Tennyson, with all his penetrating intuition, 
 confesses that he is no Solomon, and cannot strip of 
 its mystery " the hyssop which springeth out of the 
 wall." 
 
 " Flower in the crannied wall, 
 I pluck thee out of the crannies; 
 Hold you here, root and all, in my hand. 
 Little flower, — but if I could understand 
 What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
 I should know what God and man is." 
 
 The truth hidden from song is equally beyond 
 the reach of science. The laboratory cannot unveil 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 35 
 
 it. The scalpel cannot dissect it. The lens cannot 
 perceive it. Philosophy bows her head and is 
 dumb when she hears the heart crying out for 
 peace. 
 
 " Has science actually brought us one step nearer 
 the final mystery of things ? " asks he who wrote 
 the "Religion of a Literary Man." "It has cata- 
 logued the minutiae of phenomena. It has numbered 
 the stars and counted the grains of sand, but has it 
 told us a single truth about the essence of things ? 
 It has but quickened and deepened the sense of 
 mystery." 
 
 A climber in the Alps was found lifeless upon a 
 lofty summit. His icy hand clenched a scrap of 
 paper inscribed with the totality of his discovery : 
 " It is very cold, and the clouds shut out the view." 
 In that single sentence he condensed the witness of 
 letters to the helplessness of man. The climbers of 
 thought-summits fondly dream that, as from some 
 Pisgah, they shall regale their gaze with the exuberant 
 delights of a land of promise. They find it very 
 cold. The clouds shut out their view. Their dis- 
 appointment utters itself in some such dirge-like 
 song as this, which William Watson sung : 
 
 ** For still the ancient riddles mar 
 Our joy in man, in leaf, in star; 
 The Whence and Whither give no rest; 
 The Wherefore is a hopeless quest; 
 And the dull wight who never thinks. 
 Who, chancing on the sleeping Sphinx, 
 Passes unchallenged, fares the best." 
 
36 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 It would seem as though the murmur of such a 
 sorrow would put wings to the feet of the messen- 
 gers of God. It would seem as though it must spur 
 to the utmost the sanctified desire to herald the 
 unsearchable satisfactions of the divine grace to a 
 creation which has so eloquently and so appealingly 
 confessed itself to be travailing in pain, and to be 
 wistfully waiting for the glad coming of some sure 
 embassy of peace. 
 
 3. Literature is a source of pulpit power because 
 it feeds the source of intellectual courage. 
 
 The pulpit is sometimes called a throne. It might 
 more aptly be likened to an arena. Its fit occupancy 
 requires gladiatorial qualities. The call to preach 
 is a call for the exercise of mental intrepidity, a 
 demand for disciplined bravery. To seek to win 
 the allegiance of mankind to truths that sweep be- 
 yond the domain of the reason ; to seek to install as 
 the motive power of life, love for One into whose 
 face no man has ever looked, whose hand man can- 
 not clasp, the sound of whose voice has never 
 greeted his ear; to exalt future possibilities above 
 present actualities; to plead the claims of the super- 
 natural to minds enthralled by the principles of the 
 market-place; to invest with a sceptered authority 
 ideas against which the earth-born nature is set like 
 a flint; to attempt to win the way for truth that is 
 unpalatable, that runs across the grain, that hurls 
 pride from its pedestal, that brands self-complacency 
 as folly, that proclaims man to be a sinner, a sinner 
 lost and helpless, a sinner to be saved only by 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 37 
 
 mercy, and that mercy free and unmerited, — taxes 
 the resources of intellectual courage. He who rises 
 to the heights of such an enterprise, he who con- 
 ducts worthily such an adventure, may well close it 
 with the cry of the thinker who said: " Lay a sword 
 upon my coffin, for I have been a warrior in the 
 great fight for the emancipation of the earth." 
 
 There come times when weariness broods heavily 
 over the heart of the fighter, and when the warrior 
 can scarce endure the stress of the battle. Ofttimes 
 the soul is heavy with the consciousness that the 
 Temple of the Truth cannot be builded like fabled 
 Thebes to the dulcet notes of flutes and the soft 
 tinkle of harp-strings, but arises amid the clamors 
 and the tumult of war. Ofttimes the heart grows 
 sick with the realization that the City of God can- 
 not be constructed in hallowed silence as the sanctu- 
 ary rose upon the hill of Zion, but must be reared 
 amid the clash of steel on steel, and the fierce col- 
 lisions of armed men. Ofttimes the strength is worn 
 and the spirit spent with the fierceness of the inev- 
 itable antagonisms, and the ear vexed with the crash 
 of the incessant battle-cry, and the defenders of the 
 faith feel like participants in that " dim, weird bat- 
 tle of the West," when — 
 
 "A deathwhite mist slept on sand and sea, 
 * * * and even on Arthur fell 
 Confusion, since he saw not whom he fought; 
 For friend and foe were shadows in the mist. 
 And friend slew friend, not knowing whom he slew." 
 
 In the old Homeric song it is recorded that when 
 
38 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 the heart of a great champion grew faint, he prayed 
 to Athene for help, " and the blue-eyed goddess 
 was glad that he prayed first to her, and strength- 
 ened him with strength in his shoulders and limbs, 
 and she gave him courage." So let the warrior of 
 the cross, in his hour of weakness, reread the story 
 of the progress of truth as it is imprinted in the 
 world's literature. Clouds will lift. The horizon 
 will clear. The pulse will move with stronger beat. 
 The loins will be belted with fresher strength. He 
 will relearn the fact, " we fall, to rise ; are baffled, to 
 fight better." He will be reminded that the Napo- 
 leonic leader of the early church announced from 
 the outset that the advance of the cross was to be 
 over a well-fought field and in the face of fierce 
 foemen; that the conditions of its truest success 
 should be not only an " open door " inviting en- 
 trance, but also " many adversaries " whose over- 
 throw should serve to demonstrate the resistlessness 
 of its power. He will realize that the church's seed 
 has been its martyr-blood; that the worth of its 
 trophies has been measured by the stress of its 
 struggles; that its hymns of triumph have floated 
 over battle-plains; that its psalms of victory have 
 been " songs of the sword "; that its crown jewels 
 have been formed under the chemic pressure of 
 strife. The Sabellian heresy cleared the mists from 
 the doctrine of the Trinity. The Pelagian debate 
 clarified conception with reference to the nature of 
 man. The choice fruit of the Arian controversy 
 was the Nicene Creed. From the political upheav- 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 39 
 
 als and the ecclesiastical catastrophes of the Middle 
 Ages emerged the doctrine of justification by faith. 
 The struggle of Puritan and Churchman concerning 
 the divine right of kings resulted in formulating 
 the truth concerning the supreme sovereignty of the 
 Deity. The Armenian reaction preserved sover- 
 eignty from passing into tyranny. A Roman spear- 
 thrust on Calvary demonstrated the truth of the 
 Redeemer's broken heart. In these later days the 
 spear-thrusts of Christ's enemies most conspicuously 
 attest the invincibility of His divinity. 
 
 Amid the excitement and turmoil that to-day 
 environ the Sacred Scriptures, let us lend an ear to 
 the voice of history. In this hour, when the Holy 
 Bible is a target for assault; when from without the 
 church an antagonism aiming to destroy it, and 
 from within the church a criticism claiming to de- 
 fend it, are seemingly achieving the common result 
 of impugning its veracity, impairing its integrity, 
 and undermining its authority, — faith may well be 
 fortified by the teaching of all the ages, that the 
 shining of the truth is the clearer for the storm. 
 Recall the striking sentences of Beaconsfield, who, 
 commenting upon a similar crisis, pointed out the 
 sure sequel to all such spiritual effervescence: 
 " When the turbulence was over, when the waters 
 had subsided, the sacred heights of Sinai and Cal- 
 vary were again revealed, and mankind, tried by so 
 many sorrows, purified by so much suffering, and 
 wise with such unprecedented experience, bowed 
 again before the divine truths that Omnipotence 
 
40 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 had intrusted to the custody and promulgation of a 
 Chosen People." 
 
 Well-read in the lessons of literature, armored 
 with a clear view of the earth's experience, a pupil 
 of the centuries, the preacher will keep his poise 
 amid the swing of passing influences; he will 
 address himself to his work with the mien of victory; 
 he will utter his word in tones that shall vibrate 
 after the manner of the player in the Niebelungen 
 Lied, whose crisp and silvery notes were cut from 
 his violin bv a bow backed with a sword-blade. 
 The confiisions of the field of strife will no longer 
 shake him with a single tremor as to ultimate issues. 
 He will share the unruffled confidence of Milton, and 
 sav : " Let truth and falsehood grapple. If all the 
 winds of doctrine were let loose upon the earth, we 
 do wrong to doubt the outcome, so truth be in the 
 field. Who ever heard of truth being worsted in a 
 fair battle? " 
 
 4. Literature is a source of pulpit power because it 
 emphasizes the excellence of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 A diamond will attract a child by its strange fire, 
 but onlv a lapidary can calculate the value of the 
 s;em. A star will arrest the gaze of a peasant, but 
 to an astronomer alone will it measure stellar spaces 
 and tell of the march of worlds. A flower, by its 
 fragrance, will charm every passer-by, but its mes- 
 sage is heard alone by the heart of the poet to 
 whom " the meanest flower that blows will waken 
 thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." The 
 Bible is a child's book, and he within whose soul 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 41 
 
 the light of thought is only glimmering can dis- 
 cover therein his Saviour; but the unique excellence 
 of the Scrij)ture stands out alone against a back- 
 ground of familiarity with the "other half" of the 
 world's literature. The Bible is the most thought- 
 packed book in existence. It has been fitly entitled 
 "A segment of the history of the universe." It is 
 a compendium of the principles of the divine gov- 
 ernment. It is a primer on the methods of Deity, 
 for use in this kindergarten of an earth. Whatever 
 is vital in history, and essential in philosophy, and 
 progressive in diplomacy, and ennobling in person- 
 ality, strikes root in its pages. Says Froude, who 
 speaks ex cathedra with reference to the teaching of 
 history: "All that we call modern civilization, in 
 any sense deserving of the name, is but the visible 
 expression of the transforming power of the Gospel." 
 The Scripture is atmosphered with a literary gran- 
 deur that only the lettered can fully appreciate. 
 When Walter Scott lay dying he requested that a 
 book might be read to him. " What book ? " was 
 asked. " What book? " responded he whose wizard 
 pen has enriched the world with its marvelous per- 
 formance — " What book ? There is but one." Old 
 Samuel Johnson was book-taster for England in his 
 day, and his epicurean literary palate recognized the 
 peculiar savor of the idyl of Ruth as an almost 
 perfect specimen of pastoral writing. George Wil- 
 liam Curtis sat for many years in the editor's chair 
 of the Harper's Magazine, and therefore gives an 
 expert opinion when he declares that, from a purely 
 
42 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 literary standpoint, the story of Joseph is the best 
 short story in existence. Alfred the Great vindi- 
 cated his kingly capacity, and laid broad and deep 
 the foundations of British stability, when he pref- 
 aced the Constitution of England with the Deca- 
 logue of Moses. The Book of Job casts its spell 
 over the casual reader, but its strange power is most 
 magically felt by a mind profoundly immersed in 
 human lore, like that of Carlyle, who irrepressibly 
 bursts forth: "Apart from all theories concerning 
 it, I call the Book of Job one of the grandest things 
 that ever came from the human pen." The mar- 
 velous poetry of the Hebrew Psalter makes all 
 hearts to sing, but he is touched with a fresh sense 
 of wonder at their rare quality, who can compare the 
 lyrics of David with the hymns of the Vedas and 
 the odes of Horace. The study of the Proverbs in 
 the common school puts pith and sap into the Scot- 
 tish character, but the closeness of their grain and 
 the fineness of their fiber becomes fully apparent 
 only when the sentences of Solomon are weighed in 
 the balances over against the aphorisms of Aurelius. 
 Ecclesiastes sounds the note of ennui, to which the 
 elaborate systems of present-day pessimism are only 
 the long-drawn echo, albeit the echo repeats only 
 the sighing, and altogether misses the solace. 
 Macaulay was keenly sensitive to the elements of a 
 lofty style, and Webster was quick to recognize the 
 roll of real eloquence. These giant linguists there- 
 fore became the pupils of Isaiah, that they might 
 catch something of his peerless gift of literary ex- 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 43 
 
 pression. The profundity of the Epistle to the 
 Romans is apparent on the surface, but its vast 
 depths can be adequately fathomed only by some 
 such philosophic spirit as that of Coleridge, who 
 rises from its study with the statement, " This let- 
 ter to the Romans is the most profound of all the 
 philosophies." 
 
 Charles Reade was such a master in the art of 
 character-painting that he was outspoken in his 
 amazement at the power with which the penman of 
 Scripture pictured personality. Canvass the litera- 
 ture of the world upon the subject of " Incarna- 
 tion." See how, in every land, gifted pens and 
 splendid minds have been taxed in the effort to 
 worthily express the conception of deity in human- 
 ity. The conspicuous and universal failure of the 
 masters of human thought measures the unparalleled 
 achievement which has been wrought by those un- 
 tutored Galileans, who, claiming that they had be- 
 held the glory of the " Word made flesh," set forth 
 His picture in their fourfold gospel. 
 
 It is one of the fads of skeptic thought to invest 
 with a fictitious value the religious writings of the 
 Oriental world. This logic is possible for those to 
 whom the alphabet of the Oriental languages is a 
 hopeless mystery; this argument is plausible to 
 those who have never looked between the covers of 
 these misnamed bibles. But Max Miiller, after 
 subjecting all the holy books of the Eastern nations 
 to a microscopic scrutiny, says: "Let us not shut 
 our eyes to what is excellent and true and of good 
 
44 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 report in those sacred books, but let us teach Hin- 
 doo, Buddhist, and Mohammedan that there is but 
 one sacred book of the East which can be their 
 mainstay in that awful hour when they shall pass 
 alone into the unseen world. It is the Book which 
 contains that faithful saying, worthy to be received 
 of all men and women and children, that Christ 
 Jesus came into the world to save sinners." The 
 Koran is an offshoot of Old Testament literature. 
 It reads like one of the Apocrypha, rather than the 
 text-book of another faith. All that is of worth in 
 the teachings of infidelity has been pilfered from the 
 Bible. Ehminate from the literature of unbelief all 
 for which it stands debtor to the Scriptures, and no 
 one cares what claim gods or men may lay to the 
 residuum. Encompassed about with such a cloud 
 of witnesses, what wonder that Gladstone, that man 
 of encyclopaedic culture, at home alike in the Cab- 
 inet chamber and Parliament-house, the literary den 
 and the social circle, a prince both in the realm of 
 thought and in the sphere of action, should be 
 moved to say: "We claim for Holy Scripture not 
 merely precedence, but supremacy." 
 
 The Bible rises above the thought of the race, 
 like the mighty mountain ranges that rib the earth 
 with adamantine strength. It sweeps along the 
 coast line of human opinion with the rush of its 
 sublime influences, like the ocean, which bathes the 
 sphere with its mysterious tides. The music of the 
 sea shall one day be still, and the voice of its mighty 
 waters be heard no more. The hour is hastening 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 45 
 
 on when the granite foundations of the age-worn 
 hills shall crumble, and not one stone be left upon 
 another. " But the word of our God shall stand 
 forever." 
 
 5. Literature is a source of pulpit power because 
 it emphasizes the unique supremacy of Christ. 
 
 Sidney Lanier, whose harp of song was all too 
 soon unstrung, composed a poem of rare power 
 which he named " The Crystal." He sees in 
 vision — 
 
 "Companies of Governor-spirits, grave bards. 
 And old-bringers down of flaming news 
 From steep-walled heavens, holy malcontents. 
 Sweet seers, and stellar visionaries, and 
 All that brood about the skies of poesy." 
 
 As the mystic procession moves before his eyes, 
 some fault appears in each. Homer nods. Plato 
 dreams. Buddha is fantastic. Aurelius is pedantic. 
 Dante limps. Shakespeare blots his page. Milton 
 sings false. Goethe is icy. Emerson is supercilious. 
 Whitman is lop-sided. 
 
 ♦'But Thee, but Thee, O Sovereign Seer of time. 
 But Thee, O poet. Wisdom's tongue. 
 But Thee, O man's best Man, O love's best Love, 
 O perfect life in perfect labor writ, 
 O all men's Comrade, Servant, King, or Priest, — 
 What 'if or *yet,' what mole, what flaw, what lapse. 
 What least defect, or shadow of defect. 
 What rumor, tattled by an enemy. 
 Of inference loose; what lack of grace. 
 Even in torture's grasp, or sleep's, or death's, — 
 O what amiss may I forgive in Thee, 
 Jesus, good Paragon, thou Crystal Christ?" 
 
46 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 This is not simply good poetry. It is the epitome 
 of the world's thought, the essence of human Htera- 
 ture, the goal to which the student of letters is rig- 
 orously driven. Of old, all roads led to Rome. 
 Now, every pathway leads to Calvary. Interrogate 
 the centuries. Cross-examine the thinkers of every 
 age and clime. The more extensive the search, the 
 more inquiring the scrutiny, the more lustrous the 
 pre-eminence of Christ. Jesus of Nazareth has met 
 the world-want as a trellis meets tendrils, as the 
 open door and the enfolding arms meet the home- 
 less wanderer. Christ alone has interpreted God 
 intelligibly. The sore necessities of humanity stirred 
 to its depths the sympathy of the Deity. From the 
 throne of being, Christ comes for the unveiling of 
 the glory of God and the giving of peace to men. 
 He mitigates the pang of evil by sharing with us 
 its malignity. As our comrade, he journeys along 
 our flinty way and passes through the shadowed 
 valley into which our path descends. As our cham- 
 pion he flings ofi^ the fetters of the grave and bursts 
 asunder the gates of death. Child of the first cen- 
 tury, he is the leader of all time. Cradled in a 
 remote corner of the earth, he seems native to every 
 meridian. Moses was distinctively Hebrew, and 
 Plato Hellenist; Cicero was palpably Roman, and 
 Goethe Teuton; Dante was a flower of the Italian 
 soil, and Shakespeare was an oflTshoot of English oak. 
 But Jesus is not Jewish. He is the Son of man. 
 The planet is his pedestal. History is his chronicle. 
 The arms of his cross span a wider empire than that 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 47 
 
 over which the eagles of Caesar flew. His homage 
 resounds from every compass-point. Lecky, the pro- 
 found and careful historian of European morals, has 
 asserted " that the record of the three short years 
 of Jesus' life has done more to preserve humanity 
 from entire corruption than all the disquisitions 
 of sages, philosophers, or preachers." Immanuel 
 Kant, the critic of the Pure Reason, reached 
 the climax of his logic in the conclusion that Jesus 
 Christ had embodied the highest ideal of humanity. 
 Stuart Mill, the philanthropist, pondering upon the 
 betterment of human nature, declared that religion 
 could have selected no loftier pattern of character 
 than Jesus, and that human life would rise most 
 surely to its highest point by treading in his foot- 
 steps. Robert Browning, the robust wrestler with 
 all the questionings of this doubt-haunted century, 
 boldly declares: 
 
 "I say * * * that God in Christ, accepted by thy reason. 
 Solves all things in the world and out of it." 
 
 Chunder Sen, the great popular leader of the 
 Orient, proclaims : " It was not the bayonets of 
 England, but the cross of Christ, that conquered 
 India." Mozoomdar, the scholarly pundit, insists 
 that no one can enter sympathetically into the secret 
 of Christ's nature, but one who, like him, has been 
 cradled beneath an Oriental sky. Beaconsfield 
 utters a glowing testimony as to the indebtedness of 
 the Jewish race to Him whom their fathers sent to 
 Golgotha : " Have all the princes of the house of 
 David done so much for the Jews as that Prince 
 
48 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 who was crucified on Calvary? He has made theirs 
 the most famous history in the world. He has 
 avenged the victory of Titus, and the conquests of 
 the Caesars. Has he not triumphed over Europe ? 
 Has he not changed its name into Christendom ? 
 All countries that refuse his cross wither. 7'he time 
 will surely come when vast myriads of America and 
 Australia, looking upon Europe as Europe now 
 looks upon Greece, wondering how so small a space 
 could have achieved such great deeds, will still find 
 music in the songs of Sion, and still seek solace in 
 the parables of Gahlee." Renan might be skeptic 
 as to most things. He had reached certitude upon 
 at least one point : " Whatever surprises the future 
 may hold in store, there can be nothing that will 
 overshadow Jesus." 
 
 The ninth symphony of Beethoven is a marvel- 
 ous effort to translate the meaning of existence into 
 melodic form. It is a Samsonian endeavor to 
 wrench the gates of life's mystery from off their 
 hinges, and to force a way into the heart of its cita- 
 del. The many-voiced clamor of that intense strife 
 which is ever raging between man and the limita- 
 tions of his nature ; the fitful gleaming of the light 
 through rifted gloom, the harbinger of ultimate 
 triumph ; the lowering, thickening, melancholy 
 shadows; the swelling yearnings, the bitter defeats, 
 the unconquerable aspirations ; pain with its pang ; 
 peace with its balm ; beauty with its delights ; war 
 with its enthusiasms ; duty with its heroisms ; re- 
 solve with its steel-strung determinations; faith with 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 49 
 
 its vision of the sun behind the clouds ; hope with 
 exultant pinion, breasting the storm, — all are uttered 
 with a Titanic mastery of musical expression. But 
 at last the potencies of utterance which sleep in 
 elemental nature reach their bound. The whisper 
 of the strings, the carol of the wood, the blare of the 
 metal, all are exhausted. Then the climax comes. 
 The thrill of a human voice is heard. Melody is 
 clothed upon with personality. Sound passes into 
 song. As with the voice of many waters, a mighty 
 chorus pours forth in triumphant measures a hymn 
 of joy. This wonderful music is a parable. Litera- 
 ture discloses humanity as tugging at its tether. 
 Philosophy wings her flight to the outposts of 
 thought. Poetry flashes her keen intuition into the 
 depths of experience. History unrolls her mystic 
 scroll. Prophecy sounds her expectant note. All 
 the resources of earthly energy are spent, but the 
 heart is unappeased, hungering for a vision of the 
 unveiled face of truth, and battling for a victory 
 which shall tread all evil into the dust; yearning 
 after the infinite with a never-sleeping and a never- 
 satisfied desire ; bending the ear to catch a whisper 
 from the eternal one ; straining the gaze to behold 
 a glimpse of him who is invisible. Then the Word 
 becomes flesh. The message becomes a man. 
 Eternal truth is written in the alphabet of earthly 
 life. Deity is expressed in terms of humanity. 
 The infinite enters the realm of the finite. The 
 enigmas of existence are lived into solution by 
 Christ. "The life is the light of men." In Him 
 
50 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 thought touches its goal. Sitting at His feet, the 
 soul enters into rest. Upon His bosom the heart 
 finds the pillow of peace. Under the spell of his 
 ever-widening influence, the song of the poet is 
 becoming the anthem of humanity. 
 
 "Our little systems have their day. 
 
 They have their day, and cease to be; 
 For they are broken lights of Thee, 
 And Thou, O Lord, art more than they." 
 
 The ceremonial of this hour is therefore no per- 
 functory and formal rite. We are here to kindle a 
 light that, by the grace of God, shall be a beacon of 
 blessing never to be put out. We are now to touch 
 a key liberating dynamic energies which shall lift 
 many a burden from the weary earth. We are 
 flinging wide the portals of splendid possibility. 
 We are privileged, with a glad and earnest expec- 
 tancy, to dignify this building as an abiding-place for 
 those " dead but sceptered sovereigns who rule 
 our spirits from their urns." Within these hallowed 
 precincts the reverent ear may catch the whisper of 
 just such unearthly voices as those which sum- 
 moned Joan of Arc from the quiet of a sheltered 
 life to the field of bitter battle, and to the glory of 
 a martyr's crown. Within these corridors the 
 purged and quickened vision may catch the gleam 
 of just such beckoning signals as those strange shore- 
 lights which flashed their invitations to the sea- 
 wearied Columbus from the frontier lands of another 
 world. These shelves are laden with the instru- 
 ments whereby the student of celestial forces may, 
 
Dedicatory Exercises 51 
 
 like Galileo, detect spheric movements beyond the 
 ken of the common eye. 
 
 It is no inauspicious omen that we celebrate this 
 festival in the month of May. This is the moment 
 of the year when the signature of promise is 
 stamped most plainly upon the earth, and the 
 prophecies of a golden future are whispered most 
 eloquently by every breeze. In this month, beyond 
 the Atlantic, in that land well christened by Haw- 
 thorne " Our Old Home," they will celebrate the 
 birthday of a queen ; and in the ancient capital of 
 earth's vastest empire monarchs shall gather to place 
 the diadem upon the brow of a Czar. But 
 
 "Kind hearts are more than coronets. 
 
 And simple faith than Norman blood." 
 
 And it may be that, were we keen-sighted enough 
 to pierce the husk of things, and to detect the rich- 
 ness of the hidden kernel, we should discover that 
 the ostentations of imperial parade were eclipsed by 
 the simple dignity of this gathering of friends, 
 assembled to recognize an act of regal generosity ; 
 to record their gratitude to the Source of all good, 
 who endowed His servant with the power and in- 
 spired her with the desire for its achievement ; and 
 with joyful solemnities to dedicate to its exalted 
 uses this monumental structure, whither many a 
 company of those who aspire to serve the Christ 
 shall resort, that they may become furnished for 
 their royal ministry, — a structure which, in Ruskin's 
 quaint and forceful phrase, we may aptly christen 
 "A king's treasure-house and a queen's garden." 
 
52 Description of the Library 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE LIBRARY 
 
 THE Virginia Library of the McCormick 
 Theological Seminary, designed by Shep- 
 ley, Rutan and Coclidge, is a building 146 
 feet long and 66 feet in depth, built of 
 blue Bedford stone, and is designed in what is some- 
 times called the " Hellenic Renaissance." 
 
 The Ionic order adopted, with its attendant 
 details, is from the celebrated temple known as the 
 Erectheum, on the Acropolis at Athens, and while 
 faithfully carried out in essentials, has been modified 
 only in such particulars as the requirements of the 
 local material necessitated, without the introduction 
 of motifs foreign to the style, and it may be con- 
 fidently stated that the building is an essay in the 
 purest Greek architecture, while not a reproduction 
 of any ancient building. 
 
 The main entrance, marked with its tetrastyle 
 portico, the columns of which are monoliths 27 
 feet high, leads through the vestibule directly into 
 the hall. 
 
 Opposite the entrance is the double staircase of 
 ornamental cast-metal and marble. On the left is 
 the stackroom, a space 49 feet by 47 feet, and 20 
 feet in height, and on the right the reading-room 
 of the same size. 
 
 About the hall are four convenient alcoves for 
 students, each with its separate window and book- 
 cases on the two side walls. 
 
 The stackroom is perfectly lighted, and has a 
 
CROUND PLAN 
 
 OF 
 
 IHK \I!<(;1MA 
 
 LIBRARY' 
 
 _-^/ 
 
Description of the Library ^2 
 
 capacity of 40,000 volumes, which can be raised to 
 70,000 by a second story of stacks. 
 
 The reading-room, like the stackroom, has win- 
 dows on the three sides, and contains table accom- 
 modation for about 100 readers. The scheme of 
 design in this room comprehends a base, formed by 
 the oak bookcases, as high as the window-stools, 
 which will contain reference books, the wall treated 
 with very flat pilasters, and an elaborately detailed 
 cornice and coffered ceilings. 
 
 In color the walls are treated in "old ivory," and 
 the capitals of the pilasters and the carved and molded 
 members of the cornice and coffers are decorated in 
 a brilliant and harmonious scheme of polychrome, 
 in which the effect of gradations of color, or tints, is 
 obtained by the juxtaposition of pure primary colors 
 rather than by mixing them in the paintpot. 
 
 The second floor, in the central part of the build- 
 ing, is occupied by a large room {36 x;^^) used by 
 the Directors of the Seminary for their meetings, 
 while in the basement are the necessary toilet-rooms, 
 storage and unpacking rooms, etc. 
 
 The best of materials and workmanship has been 
 used. Simplicity and convenience dictated the plan, 
 and the imperishable forms of ancient art give it its 
 architectural expression. 
 
Historical Notes ^^ 
 
 HISTORICAL NOTES 
 
 THE first gift to the library of the Presby- 
 terian Theological Seminary of the North- 
 west was made by Mr. Hanson K. Corning 
 of New York, who was a warm personal 
 friend of Dr. Willis Lord. He contributed ^1,500 
 for the purpose of beginning a theological library in 
 this Seminary. Two other gentlemen, living in New 
 York and Brooklyn, added ;^500, and Mr. Corning 
 subsequently contributed ^1,000 more, making a 
 total, at that time, of ^3,000. With this sum Dr. 
 Lord purchased about 2,000 volumes. The firm of 
 Robert Carter and Brother of New York contributed 
 150 volumes, and a full set of books of the Presby- 
 terian Board of Publication. For the timely assist- 
 ance of Mr. Corning the library then founded was 
 called "The Corning Library." It continued, with 
 moderate additions from time to time, until 1884, 
 when from the estate of Rev. William H. Van 
 Doren, D.D., who died in 1882, was received, by 
 the provisions of his will, his private library, con- 
 sisting principally of exegetical works, to the num- 
 ber of 1,300 volumes. 
 
 In 1892, upon the death of Rev. Thomas H. 
 Skinner, D.D., Professor of Theology in the Semi- 
 nary, his library of 3,000 volumes was bequeathed 
 to the Seminary. In 1894, the Rev. Edwin Cone 
 Bissell, D.D., Professor of Old Testament Litera- 
 ture and Exegesis in the Seminary, died, bequeath- 
 ing to the library a collection of exegetical works, 
 chiefly of the Old Testament. 
 
 The number of volumes now upon the shelves is 
 about 20,000. 
 
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 THE DIRECTION OF 
 
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