Andover Theological Seminary

“ He was an authority on the history of Congregationalism and was lecturer on that subject at the Andover Theological Seminary in 1877–1879; he left his fine library on the Puritans in America to Yale University. ”

“ In 1830 he was graduated from Amherst college, and from Andover theological seminary in 1835. In the latter year he became an instructor in the Phillips Andover academy, and in 1836 was installed pastor of the Medford (Mass.) ”

“ The son studied at Hobart College in 1835–1835, then at Amherst for a year, and in 1837 graduated at the university of Pennsylvania. He studied theology at Union Theological Seminary, at the Yale Divinity School, and at Andover, and was licensed to preach in 1840 by the Third Presbytery of Philadelphia. He was pastor of the Pine Street (Congregational) Church in Boston in 1842–1848, and in 1848–1879 was professor of sacred rhetoric and homiletics at Andover Theological Seminary, of which he was president from 1869 to 1879, when his failing health forced him to resign. ”

“ Professors of the theological seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, swear to defend certain dogmas and to attack others. They swear sacredly to keep and guard the ignorance they have. With them, philosophy leads to perjury, and reason is the road to crime. While theological professors are not likely to make an intellectual discovery, still it is unwise, by taking an oath, to render that certain which is only improbable. ”

“ When a man is rocking in the trough of the sea of indecision, it is very reassuring to have his interior conviction matched by an external Providence. His earliest missionary associate was Samuel Nott, Jr., who entered the Seminary early in the year 1810, and was even then weighing the question whether he should devote himself to the work of carrying the Gospel to the heathen. About the same time there came to Andover four young men from Williams College—Samuel J. Mills, Jr., James Richards, Luther Rice, and Gordon Hall. ”

“ The great theologians of Andover—the gentlemen who wear the brass collars furnished by the dead founder—have been disputing among themselves as to what is to become of the heathen who fortunately died before meeting any missionary from that institution. One can almost afford to be damned hereafter for the sake of avoiding the dogmas of Andover here. Nothing more absurd and childish has ever happened—not in the intellectual, but in the theological world. ”

“ It must make itself useful to the man who has practical need of its results and wishes to apply them—the missionary. He it is who, for the practical purposes of the work to which he is called, requires an applied science of religion; and Hartford {2} Theological Seminary may, I believe, justly claim to be the first institution in the world which has deliberately and consciously set to work to create by the courses of lectures, of which this series is the very humble beginning, an applied science of religion. ”

“ And, while the discipline of the authorities and the exhortations and example of professors may do something, the tone of the college is determined by the students themselves. The state of feeling in a theological seminary ought to be such, that any man living a life inconsistent with his future profession should feel thoroughly uncomfortable, and have the conviction driven in upon his conscience every day, that the ministry is no place for him. ”

“ In this most critical moment, when our Church, which is distinguished for the simplicity of its service, the purity of its doctrines, and the excellency of its church-discipline, was about to sink into oblivion, just at this important moment the General Synod was brought into existence, and through this body the Theological Seminary and College grew up which now are in efficient operation and in a flourishing condition. Now our children may be instructed in all the different branches of the sciences by pious and well-trained teachers of our faith. ”

“ This year the institution numbers two hundred young men, women and children, of whom eleven are in the theological, eleven in the preparatory college, forty-eight in the normal, fifty-nine in the intermediate, and seventy-two in the primary department. Rev. Henry S. De Forest is president, and Rev. George W. Andrews pastor and instructor in theology. Three men and six women teachers in addition make up the teaching force; and an abler, more devoted, and more attractive people we have never met in any seminary of learning in any part of the country. ”

“ Of the forty-five students in the five years from 1857 to 1861, for which the Seminary was fairly held responsible, seven were preachers at the opening of 1862, and thirteen were members of the theological class.
The expediency of continuing the Seminary at the metropolis, had been discussed in the mission for several years. The other missions preferred training their native ministry within their own bounds; and the interior stations of the Western mission had strong objections to sending their pupils to be educated where expensive habits were almost necessarily acquired. ”

“ Although this body shall have no incorporated theological seminary under their care, nor any particular treasury for its support, nevertheless they consider it highly beneficial to the Church for every minister to understand the original tongues of the Scriptures, and to be well skilled in theology. But such qualifications may be acquired without an incorporated theological seminary. There are already a goodly number of academies dispersed throughout our country which are not under the care of any particular denomination, in which the student may acquire a classical education. ”

“ What is the effect of this method upon our theological seminaries? It is to deprive the gospel message of all definiteness, and to make professors and students disseminators of doubts. Many a professor has found teaching preferable to preaching, because he lacked the initial Christian experience which gives to preaching its certainty and power. He chooses the line of least resistance, and becomes in the theological [190] seminary a blind leader of the blind. Having no system of truth to teach, he becomes a mere lecturer on the history of doctrine. ”

“ Hazelius wrote: "Our [Hartwick] Seminary has been established since the year 1815; during which time 11 young men have received their theological education here, 10 of whom are now actively engaged as laborers in the vineyard of our Lord; but one is prevented by disease from participating in the labors of his brethren." (20.) All told, 10 preachers produced by Lutheran seminaries in the United States till 1827! Besides, in reality these seminaries were not Lutheran, but unionistic and, in a degree, Reformed schools. ”

“ Candidates of theology have to pass through a full and comprehensive course of theological science in a three years’ university curriculum, before they can be admitted into an episcopal seminary for practical training. In spite of the opposition of the superior clergy, the bill passed even in the House of Peers, and became law in 1873.―In Innsbrück, where according to ancient custom the rector was chosen from the four faculties in succession, the other faculties protested against the election when, in 1872, the turn came to the theological (Jesuit) faculty, and they carried their point. ”

“ They insist that the best man God ever made, deserved to be damned the moment he was finished. Andover puts its brand upon every minister it turns out, the same as Sheffield and Birmingham brand their wares, and all who see the brand know exactly what the minister believes, the books he has read, the arguments he relies on, and just what he intellectually is. They know just what he can be depended on to preach, and that he will continue to shrink and shrivel, and grow solemnly stupid day by day until he reaches the Andover of the grave and becomes truly orthodox forever. ”

“ The result of such teaching in our seminaries is that the student, unless he has had a Pauline experience before he came, has all his early conceptions of Scripture and of Christian doctrine weakened, has no longer any positive message to deliver, loses the ardor of his love for Christ, and at his graduation leaves the seminary, not to become preacher or pastor as he had once hoped, but to sow his doubts broadcast, as teacher in some college, as editor of some religious journal, as secretary of some Young Men's Christian Association, or as agent of some mutual life insurance company. ”

“ A few seminaries—notably the Hartford Theological Seminary and the Boston University Department of Religious Education—are doing pioneer work along this line, but they are the exception rather than the rule, and the thing must be done by all if the desired result is to obtain in the future. ”

“ I felt that I could go into the pulpit and preach on themes, which instead of arousing the hostility of men, as the doctrine of Evangelical University seemed destined to do, would by their breadth, optimism, and freedom from Phariseeism win the repentant consent of men. I had gone into the Seminary tutored by Evangelical University to be afraid to let the sun shine on religion’s chief doctrines, I had come from the Seminary believing that the flood of light intensified the beauty of religion. ”

“ The Grand Seminary is, strictly speaking, a college for instruction in theology, although it includes a year or two of that study of philosophy which is only introductory to the theological course. A thorough university course, in which all the instruction preparatory to theology should be finished, would give a more complete and thorough education to young ecclesiastics, fit them much better for their professional studies, and prepare them much more efficaciously for the high position which belongs, by all divine and human right, to the priesthood. ”

“ There were five churches without pastors. The eight churches had two hundred and forty-five members. The thirty-one common schools numbered a thousand male and one hundred and seventy female pupils. Eight of the teachers were church-members, and four of these were females. The demand for education was beyond the ability of the mission to supply.
At the recommendation of the Prudential Committee, a Theological Seminary was commenced at Abeih in May, 1869; and Dr. Jessup from Beirût, and Mr. Eddy from Sidon, were associated with Mr. Calhoun in its instruction. ”

“ The theological seminary lays the yoke of service upon the neck of prayer. This alone justifies its existence as a servant of the church in the community. However, the instruction in the seminary is rigidly grouped around courses in dead languages; which are jealous of instruction in a living tongue. The history of discarded doctrines and of discredited teachers is minutely taught through months, to the exclusion of courses upon modern, living people, whose religious experience [Pg 121] is rich and striking. The purpose of seminary instruction is personal culture instead of efficiency. ”

“ Strictly orthodox was the Rev. Samuel Phillips, as one may see from his sermons; and the religious tone that he gave to the village of Andover has lasted to this day. His many printed sermons are proof of the popularity of his public speech, and the election sermon, at least, shows that he was not afraid to deal with the living problems of the day. ”

“ At rare intervals nowadays a clergyman may be found to maintain that because a man has been to college and to the theological seminary, and has made the study of the Scriptures his life-work (moved to that decision after careful self-examination) that therefore he is better fitted to that ministry than Miss Susie Goldrick, who teaches a class in Sabbath-school very acceptably. ”

“ While we have not had the material of well educated young men out of which to form a theological seminary and to furnish a fully equipped native ministry, we have not used, to the extent to which we should have used it, the material which was available. For a mission as old as ours, we must confess that in this most important matter we are very backward. ”

“ Nothing that I may ever say or do can repay even a mite of the obligation that is upon me. As for you, and the other Catholics of this Diocese, you owe the Seminary for nine-tenths of the priests who have been successfully carrying on God's work in your midst. The collection to-day is for that Seminary. In other words, it is for the purpose of helping to train priests who shall take our places when we are gone. On the Seminary depends the future of the Church amongst you: therefore, the future of religion in your families. ”

“ In the spring of 1866, he was on his way to Phillips Academy, Andover, with the one hundred dollars in hand,—or rather with one hundred and one dollars; and, as he had been advised to start with one hundred, he gave the odd dollar to a poor man on the road. At Andover, while an earnest student, he was an untiring Christian worker. He taught in a mission-school, took part in prayer-meetings, and conversed on the subject of personal religion with many school-mates, winning thus friends to himself and souls to Jesus. ”

“ Many of those who have hitherto been in employ ment had few or no educational advantages in early youth ; for it is only of late years that our Training Seminary was established. They could read and write when they were first employed, but that was all ; but every Missionary devotes an entire day every week to the instruction and training of his Catechists in their vernacular tongue, and some of them have now made considerable progress in every department of theological knowledge ; so that if their piety, zeal, and energy were equal to their intelligence, they might be ordained at once. ”