Copyrig hted 1 887 PressJOH N WANAMA ! E R T IM E S PR INTIN ! HOU SE ,

Ph iladelphia . Philadelphia .

TH IS D ISCOUR SE WA S DEL IVER ED IN THE CHAM B ER S

PR ESB Y TER IAN CHU R CH,Z I ST DECEMB ER , 1886 ,

IN

COMPL IANCE WITH A N I N VITATION ! R OM THE PH I LA

D EL PHIA PR ESB Y TER IAN M INISTER IAL A SSOCIATION ,

A N D I S N OW PUB L ISHED AT THEIR R EQUEST .

MEMOR IA L DISCOURSE .

! E A R t hat I have l ittle fitness for the service

I have been so kindly invited to perform,b e

yond the fact that I had a Share in Dr . Hodge’s

confidence,that I loved him clearly

,and that dur

ing the Short period of my acqua intance with him

I had come to know him wel l . I t has occurred to

me more than once S ince the preparati on of this

Discourse was undertaken,that some one who had

known him longer and whose record of memories

reaches back to the years of a common boyhood

would have done ampler j u stice to th is occasion .

For,when a great man d ies

,there i s a natural

,

and su rely a pardonab le,curiosity on the part of

al l to know someth ing of h i s early l ife . We love

to study h is history in the l ight o f the facts

that made up the total ity of h is career,and to

read in stories of his ch i ldhood the promise of a

greatness attained in later years . In the case of

one l ike Dr . Hodge,whose personal ity was so

un ique,so manifold

,and so manifestly marked

by gen ius , we natu ral ly suppose that those who

have been h i s companions for a l ifetime are In

possess ion of rem in iscences that would abun

dan t ly gratify this very natu ral desi re . It may

yet fall to the lot of o n e Special ly qual ified,to

do what obviously I cannot do . I mu st content

myself with describ ing what I saw,and repre

senting Dr. Hodge to you as he appeared to me .

That we were engaged in kindred pursu i ts,that

we had both taught from the same text-book , and

had traversed in frequent conversations the lead

ing top ics embraced in Dr . Charles Hodge’s Sys

temat ic Theology,may qual ify me in a measure

for form ing a j ust estimate of his pos ition in the

theo logical world . This estimate I Shal l at least

try to make,n o t in the form of fu lsome eu logy

for a S imp l e statement of the truth wil l be eu logy

enough— bu t in tender regard for h i s prec i ous

memory and under the restrictions of sober fact .

The death of Dr . Hodge i s such a sore b e

reavemen t to ou r enti re Chu rch,that a memorial

service held in the midst of a larger commun ity

than that embraced in the Un ivers i ty-town where

6

the last years of h is l ife were Spent,seems em i

n en t ly proper ; and I know of no place where

that service could be more appropriately held

th an in this city of h is forefathers,the C ity that

he loved above al l others,and for wh ich h is last

and ripest work was done . On this day of the

week and at th is hou r of the day,many of you

had hoped to hear h is vo ice not many days hence

as you heard it last winter,when he exh ibi ted

so clearly,with such aptness of i l lustration and

characterist ic affluence of express ion,the great

doctrines ofour faith . How l ittle any one dreamed

that death wou ld give such S ign ificance to h is

c los ing words when for the last t ime he addressed

the large aud ience that had gathered week by

week to hear h im How little did any one suppose that these clos ing words were to be

treasu red afterwards as the swan-song of the

dying theologian ! We Shal l meet together

here no more . Let us pledge one another to

reassemb le in heaven . We part as p ilgrims

part upon the road . Let uS take ou r way

heavenward,for if we do we Shal l soon

,some of

us very soon,be at home with the Lord .

! H is

removal is God’s stran g e work . We can only

say : I was dumb,I opened not my mouth b e

cause thou didst it . We b ow subm iSSive lyA t o

ou r Father’s wi l l,and are here to-day to thank

God for the l ife of AR CH I B A LD AL E ! A N DE R

HOD ! E,to read afresh the record of that l ife

,and

in its lessons find new insp i ration .

Phi ladelphia,as I have said

,was the city

of Dr . Hodge’s ancestors . His great-grand

father,h is grandfather

,and h is eminent unc le

,

l ived and d ied here . His mother’s ancestry,in

several l ines of descent,i s sti l l numerously rep

resented here . His father was born here in

1797,and married here in 1 8 2 2 . Arch ibald

Alexander was born in Princeton on the 1 8th

day of Ju ly , 1 8 2 3 . An old frame-house on the

corner of Witherspoon Street is sti l l pointed

out as the p lace where he first saw the l ight .

He grew up i n an intel lectual atmosphere .

During his boyhood h is father’s study was the

meeting-place for al l the great l ights of Prince

ton . The O ld and New School controvers ies,

and the New Haven Divinity were discussed

in h i s hearing by men l ike Dod,the Alex

anders, John Maclean , and Charles Hodge . The

IDA/im am R eview began i ts career in his boy

8

hood,an d he was famil iar with al l the men

who were active in its organ ization . If there

I S any advantage in breathing “ the atmosphere

of float ing knowledge,

! wh i ch Dugald Stewart

says is “ around every sem in ary of learn ing,

!

Archibald Hodge must have enj oyed it to the

ful l . Y et he does not seem to have been a

very stud ious boy or over-fond of books . I

am inc l ined to th ink that boys,as a ru le

,

do not care much for intel lectual atmospheres,

and that they do not profit so much by the i r

environments as we might suppose . Books are

too numerous to be counted luxu ries by the

sons of l iterary men,and l i terary men them

selves come into too C lose contact with their

sons to be the ir h'eroes . I t is the boy who

gets knowledge under difficulties,who buys h is

Vi rgi l only by saving pennies,who has felt the

pangs of book-hunger w ithou t the means of

grat ifying h is appetite,that i s more l ikely to

develop a love of read ing and to devour l ibra

r ies . Thi rst for knowledge young Archibald’s

environment did not g ive him . But i t gave h im

the air of one who is to the manner born . It saved

h im from priggishn ess and conceit . I t kept h im

9

from displays of vanity and egotism that are

so apt to mar the greatness of men who have

transcended the intel lectual conditions of thei r

childhood . In Co l le g e he was one of Profes

sor Henry’s most distingu i shed pup i ls . It was

through the influence of th is eminent man that

he developed the taste fo r phys ical sc ren ce that

he retained through l ife ; and i t i s probab le , that,

next to his ow n father,Professor Henry exerted a

more fo rmative influence upon his mind than any

other teacher he ever had . He was graduated

in 1 84 1 he taught awhi le at the Lawrencevi l le

Schoo l,and was for a year or two after that a

tuto r in the Col lege . In the Seminary he was

one of a group of students,cons isting

,bes ides

himself,of Messrs . Lacy

,McPheeterS

,Phi l l ips

and Scott,who were special ly interested in the

study of Systemati c Theology . Dr. Charles

Hodge was then beginnin g to write h is lectu res .

The members of th is group di stributed among

themselves the work of taking a veréa z‘z'

m report

of these lectu res,which they were in the hab i t

of putting together in connected form after the

lecture was over. Besides thi s,they were re

qu i red to read Tu rrett in and present written

I O

answers to questions which Dr. Hodge h imself

prepared every week . In t hese days of a

crowded curricu lum,

i t could hardly be ex

pected that students shou ld devote so much

t ime to a department as important even as

Systematic Theology ; and now that they can

for the first part l isten indolently to lectu res w i th

a printed syl labus in the i r hands,the labor of

tak ing notes has been greatly reduced b u t there

can be no doubt that those who were w i l l ing to

work accord ing to the old method j ust described

became thorough theologians . It was through

this method o f study , taken in connect i on with

conversations w ith h is father on theolog ical sub

jects , that Arch ib ald Hodge laid the fo undation

for h is own em inent career,though no one

wou ld have prophes ied— and least of al l h is

father—that he would one day be a teacher of

theology himself. On one occasion,however

,

he won a compliment from h is father which he

must have val ued highly,for he has told me

the story more than once . It seems that he had

written an essay,and on reading it to Dr. Charles

Hodge,that distingu ished theologian looked up

with an expression o f pleased astonishment on

I I

his face,and sa id that A lexan der must read the

essay to the c lass . I wou ld give a great deal to

see that essay ; for I doubt not that i t wou l d

be another i l lustration of the wel l-known fact that

a man’s best and ripest th inking often consists

in the development of ideas that are germinal ly

man i fested in early l i fe . I am pret ty confident

that the subj ect of the essav was the R elation

of God to the World,

—a topic which was the

subj ect of Dr . Hodge’s latest thought,and which

he dealt with in a forth - coming artic le,the manu

script of which was placed i n my hands on ly a

few weeks before h is

Leaving the Seminary,Archibald Hodge

offered himself to the Board of Foreign Miss ions,

was accepted,married

,and sai led fo r India in

1 847. His stay in India was Short,owing to his

own i l lness and that of hi s wife . He rendered

important service,however

,to the M iss ion at

Allahabad,harmoniz ing discordant elements and

gaining personal influence and affection,which

rendered his retu rn a seriou s disappointment to

h i s col leagues . But what was far more import

ant,h is experience in the miss ion-fiel d enhanced

*Presb y terian R eview , Jan uary, 1 887.

1 2

h is zeal for the miss ion-cause,gave h im a grasp

of the m iss ionary prob lem ,and an interest in

miss ionaries that made him always the trusted

counsel lo r of al l those among h is pup i l s who

contempla ted a m iss ionary career . If the stu

dents wished advice, they went to h im : if the

Sunday evening m iss ionary meeting was to be

addressed,he was called upon if

,at the Monthly

Concert,the expected Speaker fa i led to arrive

,he

was called upon : i f the son of a converted Brah !

m in was sent here to be educated,he was h is

guardian : if a penniless Oriental,bent o n knowl

edge,and seek ing i t

,that he m ight carry the g os

pel back to h is countrymen,sought premature

admiss ion to the Sem inary,he found an eager

advocate in Dr . Hodge,i f anyth ing could be

said in h is behalf ; and if,as somet imes hap

pened,it was necessary to let h im know that h is

com ing had been a m istake,k ind words from

Dr . Hodge,and not in frequently a draft upon

h is exchequer,sent him away in peace : if the

Inter-Sem inary M iss ionary Conference held i ts

meetings at Hartford,Dr . Hodge must make an

address : i f it me t in Princeton,Dr . Hodge at

least must pray .

Dr . Hodge retu rned from ' India w ith his

wife and two chi ldren in 1 8 5 0 . In 1 8 5 1 , he

settled in Lower West Nottingham,Md . I t was

a rural charge,and the salary—a l ittle more than

S ix hundred dol lars a year—was very inadequate :

but i t was!

better than noth ing,and it afforded h im

an opportunity to preach the gospel . He Was

not indifferent to pecun iary compensation,nor

ignorant of the pu rchasing power of money . On

the contrary,his action in this instance i s adm ir

ably i l l ustrative o f the wise and caut ious fo re

thought in money-matters,which characterized

his whole l ife . He did not put the cal l i n h is

pocket and wa it for an opportunity to compare

i t with another ; nor did he act l ike an aucti oneer

u sing a b id from one chu rch to stimu late a h igher

b id from another ; nor d id he get h is friends to

correspond with such vacant chu rches as he

deemed worthy of bein g served by h is gifts nor,

go ing to West Nottingham,d id he plan for a

scale of expenditure exceeding h is income , with

the idea that When hi s necess it ies became known

friends wou ld ral ly to h is support . He went

there with a del iberate determ ination that,come

what may,he would l ive on h i s sa lary and keep

I 4

out o f debt . He even took a few dollars that he

had in h is possess ion , an d, prov iding against the

d irest cont ingency possible,secured a pol icy of

l ife- insu rance ; and actually l ived w ithout debt

and pa id h is premiums—an examp le,I th ink

,to

multitudes in the m in istry and out of i t,whose

lack of thrift and forethought has far more

to do with the d i stress of widows and orphans

than is commonly supposed . I mention this,

because there are men among us who remain

unemployed s imply because they Wi l l not take

the churches they can get,and who seem to

have the impress ion that if they bury themselves

in smal l places remote from Cities and away from

rai l roads,God w i l l not know how to find them

when the great work is ready which he has for

them to do . But He found Alexander Hodge

when the church in ! redericksb urg was vacant

in 1 8 5 5 ; He found h im when Wi lkes -Barre

wanted a pastor in 1 86 1 ; and He found h im

aga in when Allegheny Seminary stood in need

of a systemat ic theologian in 1 864— each step

proving in the end to be a preparat ion for the

work that Dr . Hodge was subsequently to do

in the Chair of Didact ic Theology in Princeton .

1 5

Few men have the cou rage to seek obscurity for

the sake of its advantages,but there can be no

doubt of the intel lectual advantages of a qu i et

country charge . When I hear men complain of

the lack of stimu lu s i n a ru ral parish,or find

them longing for opportunity to preach to audi

en ces more cu ltivated and worthy of thei r talents,

I feel d isposed to th ink that the poor qua l ity of

thei r intel lectual fabrics i s due not so much to

lack of proper app l iances,bu t rather to dearth of

the raw material . Many a man wi l l tel l you that

he owes all that he ever afterwards became,to

the c i rcumstance that,under God

,he enj oyed

the qu iet of ru ral sol itude,and had opportu

n ity of uninterrupted thought and readin g.

Though not a prol ific writer,Dr . Hodge was

always busy wi th h i s pen,and it i s worth whi le to

remember that the “ Outl ines of Theo logy was

not the fru it of a leisu rely professorsh ip . It went

ou t from the l ittle study in the parsonage at

Fredericksbu rg ; and what has s ince that day

become a text-book in theology in different

languages was first of al l preached to a congrega

tion of Presbyterians i n Vi rg in ia . It i s said,some

t imes,that we cannot preach theology . Here is

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problems,h i s power of minute analys i s

,an d his

determination to see every subj ect with which he

dealt i n its variou s relations,made preaching a

very S imple m atter,and he fed his congregation

with the finest of the wheat . On the other hand,

the necessity under which he rested of presenting

theological truth in forms su ited to the minds of

ordinary people,fostered in him his natu ral gift

for i llustration and saved h im from becoming a

mere dealer in the dry formu las of scholastic i sm .

Many a Spark struck ou t in the c lass-room was

fanned into a flame of glowing i l l ustration in the

pu lp it ; and many a popu lar sermon ,I ventu re to

say,served to l ight up and lend fervor to the

sc i entific discuss ions of the c lass- room . There

was an interchange of amenities,I doubt not

,b e

tween the pu lp i t and the professor’s-chai r,that

was of advantage to both ; and the doub le duty

he performed at Allegheny had much to do with:

the superlative eminence he afterwards achieved

in doing what many wi l l regard as,on the whole

,

the greatest work of h is l ife .

In 1 877, i t became apparent that some re l i ef

Shou ld be afforded Dr . Charles Hodge, who ,

though entering upon h i s e ightieth year, was st i l l

1 8

teach ing both Didact i c and Exeget ical Theology .

There cou ld be no doubt respecting the man who

was most consp i cuously fit to be the assoc iate

and successor of Dr . Charles Hodge . It m ight

seem l ike an ungracious act to bring him from

Allegheny ; but when the interests of the Church

at large were taken into account,there cou ld be

no doubt that i t was of paramount importance that

the cha ir of Systematic Theology in Princeton

shou ld be fi l led by the best ava i lable man . Dr .

A . A . Hodge was one of Princeton’s noblest sons,

and h is a lum ma ter exerc i sed her n atu ral right to

summon him to her help in her hou r of need .

He was inaugu rated on the 8 th November,1 877.

R eferring to this occasion,a wr i ter in the Pr rséy

Zerum sa id : During al l the services,we noticed

that many eyes were tu rned to a corner of the

chu rch,in which a venerable man sat apart com

muning with himsel f,with hi s heart

,doubtless

,

fi l led with vary ing emot ions . ! The reference,of

course,i s to Dr. Charles Hodge

,of whom h is

b iographer says H i s mind mu st have gone

back to August 1 2,1 8 1 2

,when he

,a stripl ing

lying on the rai l of the gal lery of the same church,

looked down on the inaugu ration of Dr .’

A .

19

Alexander to the same office. For from Augu st

1 2,1 8 1 2

,to November 1 8

,1 877, for more than

s ixty-five years,there had been only two pro

fessorS of Systemat i c Theology in Pr inceton,and

Dr . Hodge received the office from a man he

del ighted to cal l father,and n ow transmitted it

to h is so n .

!

Th e career of Dr . Charles Hodge was won

derfu l and beautifu l beyond express ion . During

his long l ife of un interrupted l iterary activity he

had been brought into close relat i ons with every

act ive movement in what was a very active period

of the Chu rch’s l ife . He had achieved em inence

in every Sphere of ministerial renown :preacher,

debater,reviewer

,exegete

,ecc les iastic

,historian

,

and systemat i c theolog ian,

- h e was great - in each

of these dimensions of measu rement . His p lans

ripened,and hopes that others entertained in

h is behalf were fu l ly real ized . He garnered

the wisdom of h is l i fe and left his Theology

as a legacy to the world . When old ag e came

upon h im he stood between two strong sons who

lightened his labors and afterward divided b e

tween them the work,that he left beh ind . He

’

kept his facu ltie s to the last,and taught hi s c lasses

2 0

wi th in a few weeks of h is death . H is death was

as ideal as h is l ife had been and,therefore

,when

,

one beaut ifu l afternoon in June of 1 878 , h is own

sons took up the ir sad burden and carried him to

h is grave,we al l felt that everyth ing was exactly

as we cou ld have w ished .

We must look now,however

,upon a very

d ifferent picture . The coming of Dr . A . A .

Hodge brought new l ife to Princeton Sem inary ;

and when h is father d ied the work went on wi th

out abatement . He fil led h is father’s place . In

the pu lp it,at the Conference

,and in the class

room,he was a power

,and was recogn ized as

such by h is col leagues and h is pup i ls . We

l istened to h im w i th pr ide and adm i ration,and

derived from him intellectual refreshment and

Sp i ritual profit . We fondly hoped that many years

of labor were before h im,and that

,l ike h is father

,

by and by he would have a glorious sunset.

Alas for us ! h is sun has gone down at noon ; he

has been taken away in t h e prime of his man

hood,and when to al l ou tward seeming he was

phys i cal ly and intellectual ly at h is best . I t is

not strange that Princeton i s in mourn ing . She

has met as great a loss as She could poss ibly su s

2 I

tain . Dr . Hodge was emphatical ly a Princeton

man . He was born there . It was h is father’s

home,and he was bound to it by a net-work of

domestic relat ionships . He was l oyal beyond

measu re to the ideas with which Pri nceton is

identified,and loved to refer to her traditions .

H is large heart emb raced the world,but no one

could m istake the Special place that Princeton

had in hi s affections . In the distribu ti on of

hypothetical mi l l ions o f which,according to h l S

hab it of j ocose exaggeration,he was so fond

,

i t was Princeton Coll ege and Princeton Seminary

that he always thought of. Sometimes,when

my own heart yearns for the scenes of my

chi ldhood and the b lue waters of my is land

home,I can apprec iate h is affection fo r Prince

ton : it was home . I bel ieve that i t gratified h is

heart’s des i re when he wen t back there to l ive

and after that,to be h is father

’

s successor,to

Sit i n h is father’s study,to walk under the Shade

of the elms that his father had planted,and

,

i n the ways opened to h im by Providence,to do

the kind of work h i s father did,was his highest

amb ition . I do not know what hi s ep itaph wi l l

b e ; but I ventu re to say , that no words wi l l so

2 2

well convey the idea of what he would regard

as a rounded l ife of reali z ed des i re as those

which state the S imple fact that he was Third

Professor of Theology in Princeton Sem inary .

Of course,S ince Princeton was so dear to h im

,he

was correspondingly dear to Princeton . A shock

of personal bereavement was felt by every one

and by al l classes when word wen t out on the

morning of the 1 2 th November that Dr . A . A .

Hodge was dead . A man may do excellent work

in h is department and not be generally known

in a commun ity as smal l even as Princeton .

Were such a man to pass away,the publ ic m ight

acknowledge that a great l ight had gone ou t,bu t

he wou ld not be generally m issed . Dr . Hodge,

however,was a c i tizen and d id h is duty as such .

Everybody knew h im . He was publ ic- Spirited .

He helped every good cause . We met him in

social c ircles and at the house of mourn ing .

He was a lead ing man in his church and a

trustee of the Col lege . In the Faculty he man i

fested the excel lences w i thout the fau l ts or

defects which sometimes show themselves when

men are assoc iated together . He was n o t Op in

ion ated,nor arrogant

,nor ret icent , nor indifferent.

2 3

He pressed his views with manly confidence in

thei r correctness,but cou ld yield gracefu l ly to an

adverse decis ion . He was not S imply attached

to the Seminary . His l ife was grafted into its

corporate ex istence,and he was always planning

for i ts interests . He was frank , generous , fu l l of

good fel lowship,and we were exceedingly fi l led

with h i s company . His study-door,fac ing u S as

we went to and fro,was an invitat i on to tu rn in

for a friendly chat . Ah ! the echo of his fami l iar

greeting l ingers in my ear,and I seem to hear h im

tel l me to “ come again .

!

Men die,bu t in stitutions l ive . God

,no

doubt,wil l send a man worthy of the fou rth

place in this great success ion “i’: H e

. may be as

great and in some respects even greater than

h is predecessors , but no matter what h i s attain

ments may be,i t i s not l ikely that he can be to

us what Dr . Hodge has been . The glory has de

parted from Princeton Seminary and the Church

at large has lost a leader . I c laim for h im no

supremacy,of cou rse

,among contemporary theo

lo g ian s , but no one wi l l hes itate to make u n

grudging recogn ition of h is greatness . It wil l

*Dr . B . B . Warfi e ld,of th ewest ern Theolog ical Semin ary ,

Al leg heny ,

Pa . ,has since received and accep ted a ca ll to this position .

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sary alarm,not al lowin g the c itadel to be sur

pri sed : faithfu l to the last degree,and when he

pu t the trumpet to h is l ips,giving no uncertain

sound . He was writing,preaching

,l ectu ring

,

making addresses,coming into contact with men

,

i nfl uencing them an d,by doin g so

,widening

the influence of truth . Men far and near corres

ponded with him and sought his counsel . He

had the confidence of the Chu rch as few men

have . The North loved him ; the South honored

h im . In Canada,in Great Britain

,and over the .

wide miss ionary area,his j udgments on theolog

ical matters were deferred to and quoted with

respect . If a theological question was u nder

debate,a few lines from his pen in a rel igiou s

paper went the rounds of the press . Think now

of the work that came to a stand-sti l l when

God’s finger was laid upon that throbb ing heart,

and estimate,i f yo u can

,the loss that Chri sten

dom has susta ined .

Dr. Hodge was in the zenith of h is power

when he died . Every element that entered into

h is eminent reputation put on i ts best express ion

in the closing years of h i s l ife . Let us seek to

form a j ust estimate of h im as a theologian and

2 6

a man . We Shal l understand h im better as a

theolog ian if we know him as a man,for the ele

ment s of manhood gave form to h is theolo g y

and we shal l not understand him as a man if we

do not know h im as a theolog ian,for theology

was a large part of h is manhood . H is theology

flashed into prismat ic colors on the d iamond

points of h is man ifold personal ity,and his man

hood was warmed by a rel ig ious fervor that ;streamed l ike the fires of the opal from the '

theological convictions imbedded in the core

of his be ing .

Systemat ic Theology is themost important,

the most comprehensive and the most difficu lt

of al l the theolog ical Discipl ines . I t i s,i n fact

,

the synthes is of them al l . The ideal dogmatic ian

Should be a good phi lologist,a good exegete

,

and a thorough student of B ibl ical critic ism . He

Should know the h istory of op inion and Should

understand the forces,eccles iastical and ph i lo

sophical,that in the success ive centuries have been

at work on doctrinal bel iefs . He shou ld be able to

prove the separate doctrines from Scripture,to

defend them against error,and then

,looking at

them w ith the eye of an arch itec t,b u ild them into

2 7

system . It is,therefore

,very seldom that we find

an i dea l systematic theo logian . I t i s seldom that

scholarship,erud ition and philosophica l acumen

meet in such proportions in any Individual as to

produce th i s resu lt . We must be contented,

therefore,to find men in whom the predominance

of any one of these qual ities imp l ies a relat ive

deficiency of the other two . We must bear th is

i n mind when we undertake to form an estimate

of Dr . A . A . Hodge . When he entered the

Theo logical Seminary he had the education

which the o rd inary American col lege offered

its students forty years ago . He was gener

al ly wel l- informed,fond of phys ical sc i ence

,

interested in metaphys ical prob lems,and pos

sessed of fai r class ical attainments . He was a

di l igen t studen t of Systematic Theology in the

Sem inary,as we have al ready seen

,and went out

well fu rn ished w ith a theology that he under

stood thoroughly,and cou ld use with faci l ity . In

after l i fe,and through a professo rial career of

over twenty years he devoted himself exc lu s ively

to this department . He made himself acquainted

with the creed-statements of the Chu rch,and

k n ew bo th the ir contents and the hi story of the i r

2 8

format ion . He was a d i l igent reader o f the books

that trace the development of doctrine, and that

d iscuss h istorically or polem ical ly the great sys

tems of theological op in ion . He was a student

of the Bible,and divin e test imony was his test

of every doctrinal statement . We can see in

h is Outl ines ! how constantly he appeals to the

Scriptures,and how much he refers to the great

R eformed theologians of the seventeenth century .

Y et he was not distingu ished e i ther for erudit ion

or scholarsh ip . H i s d istingu ish ing characteristi c

as a theologian— I mean,as compared w i th others

of the class to wh ich he belongs— was h is power

as a th inker. He had a mind of S ingular acute

ness,and though never a professed student of

metaphys ics,was essential ly and by nature a

metaphys i c ian . He had great reverence for God’s

word,and was j ealous of the intrus ion of ph i lo s

Ophy into theology :b u t he was,nevertheless

by temperament and by hab i t,a phi losophical

theolog ian . He loved the “ high priori road,

!

and m ight have been seen walk ing on it in many

an hour of qu iet contemplation . He loved some

t imes to take short cu ts to h is conclus ions,seeing

in advance of spec ial induction that,

S ince th is

29

and that are so,this and that are also so . He

wou ld not manipulate texts,however

,to serve

the pu rposes of foregone conc lus ions,nor bu i ld

towering structu res of dogma upon the aéu‘

er

diam of inspi red wri ters . He had b road and

sc ientific i deas of what a dogmatic induction

ought to be,though he did not have the patience

requ i s ite for minute exegetical investigation . H e

was always reasoning on the relations of doc

trines to each other,and to the great scheme of

grace . But he never ceased to affi rm ou r enti re

dependence upon the Bible fo r the authority

of doctrines ; and so distrustfu l was he of human

reason,so consc i ou s at the same time of the

inj u ry that has resu l ted from the al l iance of

theo logy with a fal se ph i l o sophy,that I be l ieve

he wou ld hardly have l iked i t i f I had cal led h im

a phi losophical theologian . Y et,that i s what

he was . Theo logy was to him a revealed worlda

view . He would have said with Henry B . Smith,

“ Incarnation i n order to R edemption,and

the reby have expressed his phi losophy of rel i

gion . He wou ld also have said,R edemption and

Incarnat ion for the greater glory o f God,and

thereby have expressed hi s phi losophy of history.

30‘

Think then of Dr . A . A . Hodge as havin g

an acute mind ; interested in theologi cal Specu la

t io n ; rethinking independently the old questions ;analytic in h is mental processes ; fu l l of scho

lastic subtleties ; bold , confident,intense in his

convictions ; fi l led with reverence for good trad i

tions ; holding the R eformed faith as a sacred

trust,and also as a personal possess ion ; pervaded

by this faith and l iving on terms of easy famil iarity

wi th i t ; able to d istingu ish between essence and

acc ident,and knowin g when harmless idiosyn

crasy runs into serious doctrinal divergence ;strong in h is convi ctions

,but not l itigious tena

cion s of principle,but never sticking in the

bark :a sturdy,robust thin ker

,always ready to

defend the faith : a bri l l iant thinker,so that

,as

ci rcumstances requ ired,he cou ld send truth out in

the Shining drapery of soft and beautifu l Speech

or Shoot i t forth l ike forked lightning,hot and

scathing,to leave on the face of error the scarred

record of it s presence— think of him,I say,

as

exhib iting this many - s ided mental express ion,

and you have my conceptio n of the type of theo

lo g ian s to which Dr . Hodge belonged . Beyond

al l question he takes his place among the great

3 1

men of America and the great theo logians of the

world .

As to the contents of Dr . Hodge’s theology

i t IS enough to say,that i t was the theology of

the R eformed Confess ions and 'the Shorter Cate

chism : it was the theology of Pau l and Augus

tine,o f Anselm and Calvin

,of Tu rre tt in and

A mesius,of Wil l iam Cunningham and Charles

Hodge . He had no pecul iar views,and no pecu

l iar method of organ iz ing theolo g ical dogmas .

He was interested in the methods of other men,

and probably took more trouble to compare them

with one another than h is father had ever done :

but after al l,he has no taste for theolog ical archi

tectu re ; and the o ld-fashioned fou r- square house,

cons ist ing of Theology,Anthropology

,So terio l

ogy,and Eschatology

,with all its obvious fau lts

of logic,pleased him by its roominess and sim

pl ic ity . He taught the same theology that his

father had taught before him ; but he was inde

pendent as wel l as reverent,and I prefer his state

ments sometimes to his father’s . He saw that his

father had occas ionally spoken on such topics as

Imputation and Original Sin , without fu l l knowl

edge of the history of op in ion ,“ and he was more

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that, theological ly speaking , the sun of analys is

had set,and the sun of synthesis had begun to

Shine . He saw,moreover

,that in the new issues

coming or already here,the old men on both

S ides wou ld now stand shou lder to Shou lder.

He was del ighted with Dr . Henry B . Smith ’s

Systematic Theology,and cordial ly commended

it to hi s c lasses . In a generou s artic le,begun but

never finished,i t i s pleasan t to see how fairly

and apprec iat ively he puts the two theo logies,

Dr . Sm ith ’s and Dr . Hodge’s,s ide by S ide

,and

,

overlooking minor points,treats them as the

two great ci s -Atlantic defences of the Calvin i sti c

system . There was a hot controversy in the old

days between Dr . Charles Hodge and Dr . Park,

but in h is late debate D r . Park has had no greater

admirer than he of whom we speak . Dr . Hodge

had an accu rate eye for theological perspective

and presented truth in proper proporti ons .

He he ld the church-doctrine regardin g eternal

pun i shment,and had he l ived would have pu t

on record a reasoned protest against the new

be l ief in a second probation . But he wou ld not

have given the doctri ne o f eternal punishment

a p lace co -ordinate with the divin ity of Christ ,

34

or the insp iration of the Scriptures . He was a

Champ ion of Calv in istic theology,but he rightly

thought that the most important matter now is

not the defence of Calvin ism,but the defence of

Christian ity . Accord ingly,in al l h is later wri t

in g s ,he affi rms wi th ever increas ing warmth th e

doctrine that the Scr iptures are the very word of

God,and the only infall ible rule of fa i th and

practice . He was impatient of any l i terary tam

per ing w ith the B ible that would weaken i ts

authori ty,or comprom ise i ts insp iration ; and he

saw in the appeal to Chr istian consc iousness,

an attempt to overthrow the supreme au thori ty

of the Scriptures,and set up a subjective ru le

of faith under the sanctions of a pious plaus i

b il ity . Dr . Charles Hodge took pride,I th ink

,

in say ing on the occas ion of h is sem i -cen ten

n ial celebration,that Princeton had never origi

n ated a S ingle new idea . We all understand

the sense in wh ich that remark is true : i t is in

that sense,therefore

,that I am to be understood

when I say that Dr . A . A . Hodge made no origi

nal contributions to the sc ience of theology . If

he d id,i t was in h is - very able article entitled

Ordo Su lu z‘

z

’

s,publ i shed in the Pr z

’

ueez‘

ou R eview,

3 5

wh ich I th in k he probably regarded as the best

piece of theo lo g ical work he ever d id .

I‘ have been t rvin g to Show what Dr .

Hodge was as a theologian . Perhaps I Shal l

succeed better if I remind you of what he d id .

There were three modes i n wh ich“

Dr. Hodge

declared himself as a theolog ian :by the Press,

the Pu lpit,and the Professor’s-Chair .

Great talkers seldom wri te much . Dr .Hodge

was a gen ius in oral express ion,in th i s respect

resembl ing Dr . Archibald Alexander . Bu t he

wrote eas i ly and with a runn ing pen . H is style

is very Spontaneous . His sentences artless,u n

studied,sometimes exqu is itely beautifu l

,some

times cumbrous and greatly need ing the services

of the fi le . He had,i n fact

,two styles . He was ,

on the one hand,a scholastic and ful l of scho

lasti c d istinctions,to which he attached great

importance . He was very analytical,and when

he w rote insisted 0 11 making these distinction s,

and on marking them with formal exactness as

he went along . So that i t is not always an easy

matter to thread ou r way through a th icket of

l ower-case letters,Arab ic figures

,and the same

repeated in brackets,each serving to mark the

36

heads and sub -heads of an analys is increas ing in

m inuteness at every step . Th is,h owever

,is the

style which we find inh is Outl ines ! and in the

Commentary on the Con fess ion of Fa i th .

! I t

i s the style in wh ich he l iked to do h i s serious

work,and the only one by wh ich

,unt i l recently ,

he had made h imself known . On the other hand ,

he had a poet’s eye for metaphor and a poet’s

ear for rhythm ; and , had he Chosen , could have

excel led as a writer of Engl ish prose . Some of

h is shorter articles reveal h is capac ity in th i s

respect . We all remember the characteristics

of h is style in these articles,

— especial ly the

long sentences,crowded wi th dependent C lauses

,

cumulative,now arrested in the i r flow for the

wri ter to make d istinct ions or guard against

being m isunderstood,now moving S lowly on

under a cumbrous we ight of words,now spark

l ing with S im i le,and then end ing in a torrent of

strong superlative ep i thets that were equal ly

express ive of his admiration or h is scorn . I

recal l h is article on Dean Stanley in the Ca thol ic

Presby z‘eriau

,and h is notice of Farrar’s Bampton

Lectures in the last Presby ter ia n R eview as i l l us

t fat in g what I mean ; though I th ink that for

37

effective writ ing and as i l lustrating a more chas

tened style,he has done nothin g that I S qu ite

equal to h is Biography of h i s father. His first

book and the one by which he i s best known was

his Outl ines of Theology, pub l ished

'

in 1 86 0,

and at different intervals s ince repub l i shed in

Great Brita in and translated into Wel sh,modern

Greek and Of cou rse th i s work owed

its first appearance to the relation of the author to

h is father ; but it i s an independent studv of the

top i c w ith which it deals,and

,particu larly in the

enlarged edition,i s valuab le for its conc ise and

comprehens ive defini tions . Dr . Hodge’s book

on the Atonement was wri tten during the agita

tion of the R eunion question,and is sti l l one of

the best treat i ses we have upon the subj ect . His“ Commentary on the Confess ion of Faith is a

very usefu l book,fu l l of clear th inking and com !

pact statement . Dr . Hodge contributed a lso

important artic les to Encyc lopedias—Johnson’s ,

McCl in tock and Strong’s,and also the Schaff

Herzog . He pub l i shed several theological tracts

and pamphlets,and was one of the founders

of the PreséJ/z‘

eriuu R eview,to the pages of

*A t ranslation into Malag asy is in p rog ress and one into I talian contemp lated .

38

wh ich he was a constant contributor . He wrote

the important article ent i tled Ora’e Saiu z‘

is to

which I have j ust referred he wrote a valuable

controvers ial article for the N er i‘

n A merica n ;

another on the reun ion of Christendom for T/z e

Cen z‘ur and an admirably written paper from

h is pen on the subj ect of R el igion in th e

Publ ic Schools ! has appeared S ince h is death in

the N ew Prin ceton R eview . But he was not d is

t in c t ively a wri ter o f R eview-articles as were

h is father and the late Dr . Atwater :h i s l iterary

activity seemed to flow more natu rally in other

c hannels .

Speaking of Dr . Hodge the other day,some

one asked me if he was the pastor of a church or

j ust a professor . I regarded the question as a

naive express ion of the popular est imate of the

class to wh ich I belong : and it may be true that

we are not always interestin g preachers . Those

who reproach us for th i s sometimes do it k indly

and under the gu ise of compl imen t,say in g that

we are too learned and preach over the heads of

the people ; or they use great plainness of Speech ,

s ay ing that we r ide hobbies in the pulpit,

a n d preach old sermons ful l of the bones of

39

theology which,l ike those of E zekie l ’s val ley o f

VIS IOH, are very many and very dry . Dr . Hodge

’

s

preach ing was not of th i s so rt. He had been a

pastor during most of h is m inisterial l ife and had

been settl ed over four congregati ons . He there

fore knew the peop l e . He preached o ld sermons,

but,as he did not read them

,he went through the

process of thinking them over as often as he

preached them . It was the old metal,but it

went t o the melt in g-po t every time,and the red

wine of divine truth was pou red in to a shapely

cup of the br ightest S i lver . It was easy for h im

to preach,and he cou ld interest and instruct an

audience w ith very l ittle effort . His material s

were always within easy reach . Phi losophical

thought,theo logical dogma

,historical facts

,sc ien

t ific i l lustrat ions,poetic images

,personal expe

rien ces,lo cal al lus ions

,and suggestions springing

o u t o f recent conversations,were ever ready to do

his b idding . He had only to wi l l it,and they set

themselves in array and passed the portal of h is

l ips,a Shin ing company , march ing to the rhythm

of a solemn music i n the service of the Lord .

There weresome sermons that he preached habit

ual ly . They were never written,and

,I fear

,can

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thought,express ion an d del ivery

,each of these

great sermons was a wonderful comb i nat ion : i t

was a un ion of theology,phi losophy

,Christian

experience,knowled g e of human natu re , quaint

humor,elaborate description

,a metaphor dropped

as a diamond unob served might fal l out of a

casket,fac i le utterance

,a disdain of elocution

,

few gestures,the face l ighted up

,the eye opened

wide as though the speaker saw a vi s ion of glory,

the voice tremb l ing when the Savi ou r’s name is

men t i oned,the sensit ive frame responding to the

pressu re of emotion,and emotion finding vent at

last in involuntary tears .

Dr. Hodge was a man of wit and humor .

He had a keen sense of the l ud icrous . Had he

chosen to make preaching a matter of Sunday

entertainment,he cou ld have preached to packed

audiences in ou r great c ities . But with him

preach ing was a seriou s bus iness ; he thought

that the pulpit was no place for j oke or witticism,

and never preached without produc ing upon hi s

audience an impression of solemn ity . A S words

are commonly u sed among u s,I feel that I am

employing a tame express i on when I say that he

was a great preacher . I th ink he was one of the

42

greatest preachers in this land ; and in compari

son with some who,by the ir concess ions to a

popular demand for pulp i t l ev ity and m eret ri

c ious rhetoric are feed ing the multitudes who

l i sten to them with that wh ich is not bread,and

are called great by the world,he was— I am

tempted to u se h is own favori te extravagance of

speech,and say that he was infin itely ! great .

Y e t let me not exaggerate :Dr . Hodge cou ld

be d isappo inting at times . Though he never fail ed

to be instructive,the glow of enthus iasm was

sometimes lack ing ; and if anyth ing occurred to

interfere wi th h is spontane i ty,the weak vo ice and

labored utterance formed a un ion hosti le to o ra

t orica l effect . Nor do I doubt that he revealed

the h ighest qual i ti es of h is m ind most frequent ly

in the professor’s-cha ir . A S a former pup i l,now

a Free Church m inister in Glasgow,writes : “ I t

was in the class -room that he shone,or in a

company smal l enough or congen ial enough for

h im ‘ to commit himself unto them .

’

It is poss ible to enterta in several d ifferent

v iews of what a professor’s funct ion ought to be .

Much depends upon the department and not a

l i ttle upon the man . Accordin g to one view,a

43

professorship mean s an opportunity for spec ial

i nvestigation and leisu rely research,the resu lts of

which are communicated in the lectu re-room to

men who des i re knowledge . The desi re to know

being presupposed ,t he m atter and not the man

ner of presentation is the main thing . The sub

jec t i s s upposed to be treated complete ly . If the

student does not intend to prosecute it fu rther,i t

i s probab le that his best education i n i t i s secu red

by his plac i ng him self in contact with a l iving

master and then reproducm g i n written form

the s ubstance of what he hears . I f he intend to

prosecute the subj ect by independent research as

good a preparation for it as he can have is prob

ably of the k ind described . According to another

Vi ew , the academ ic lectu re i s intended to st imu

late interes t i n the department to which it

belongs . It may deal in outl ine with the whole

department,or be a discu ss ion of a s ingle phase

of it . I n ei ther case,i t i s the particu lar contri

b u t io n that the professor brings to the advance

ment of his sc ience . But i t i s not intended to be

a substitute fo r i ndependent reading,and that

mastery of the subj ect wh ich only independent

reading can give . W ith th is view of the pu rpose

44

wh ich i t serves,a great deal depends upon its

form :and,instead of b e ing a series of paragraphs

d i ctated to a class,or a compac t and sol id mass

of fact or argument to be read s lowly and trans

ferred to note-books,it is wr itten with some

regard to the requ i rements of l i terary art as

someth ing addressed to the ear and intended to

please as well as to inform . Accord ing to st i l l

another View,the professor’s bus iness is to see

that a certa in defin ite body of instruction is safely

and surely transferred from h is m ind to the minds

of those who hear h im . He is not only or even

ch iefly to present tru th that men may rece ive if

they choose :he i s to see that they receive i t .

Each type of professorial work,when it is of a

h igh order,wi l l secu re good results

,and i t is no t

well to insti tute comparisons between method s

that are so d ifferent . The tea cher of the first

c lass wi l l reach those who,e i ther by natural taste

,

or the pressure of sufficient motive,are w i l l ing to

undergo the labor of d i l igent note-tak ing. The

man of the second class wil l commun icate less

knowledge,but wi l l

,perhaps

,make up for th is by

the enthus iasm wh ich he awakens . Men will,at

least,l isten to him w i th interest

,wil l be enter

45

tain ed,w i l l absorb someth ing

,and a few wi ll be

put upon the road of special investigation and

independent inqu i ry . The man of the th i rd class,

being less intent on giving than on seeing that

the studen ts get what he gives,w i l l succeed in

fi l l ing the largest number of minds with hi s

teaching . He wil l,perhaps

,so emphasize his

duty as a teacher,that h is students wi l l mi ss the

Charm of feel ing that he i s a fel low-laborer with

them in fields which they are invited to enter,and

which to comers even as late as they st i l l hold

out the prom i se of reward ; b u t he wil l succeed

in incorporat in g the body of truth which he

expounds into thei r mental l ife . He wil l give

them what can never be forgotten :a xvii/1 a 5 g ol e!

something that i s thei r own,somethin g indeed

that is part of the i r very selfhood . Now it is

easy to see that S ince Systematic Theology con

st itu tes the matter that men are to preach,it i s

very important that the teaching of thi s depart

ment Should be of the kind last referred to and

I regard Dr . Hodge as the greatest teacher of

this type I ever knew . He was exacting and in

tolerant o f indo lence and i rregu l arity . He was

very far from being a s imple hearer of rec itati ons

46

but he insisted first of al l that students should

know the text-book,

—and they usual ly d id . He

made use of h is father’s Systemat ic Theology ; but

that book in h is hands was l ike an i l l uminated

med iaeval manuscript,and from t itle-page to colo

phon,i t was fi l led with the bright

,beau tifu l

,

quaint and sometimes grotesque creations of h is

fancy . The students saw every doctr ine as it

presented itself to h is v is ion . They benefited

by h is power of conc ise statement and C lear defi

n it ion . He held up the representative systems

of theology with such Sharpness of outl ine and

such accuracy of articulation,that they knew them

as one knows the face of a fam il iar friend . They

questioned h im,and he answered the i r questions .

They ra ised obj ections,and so woke in him the

hot fires of h is polemic . They fai led sometimes

to comprehend a dogma,and he Swept the uni

verse for i l lustrations,and poured them out so

Cop iously and w i th such manifest spontaneity,

that they overwhelmed h im with the i r applause .

“ And yet,

! says one of h is admiring pupilsfi<

he never confused s imile and logic ; and

although h is wealth of happy imagery led h im

*R ev. Pau l van Dyk e .

47

to support many o f his arguments w ith an i l l ustra

t ion, he often warned h is students never to mis

take a metaphor for an argument . H is l ogic

was the logic of the Westminster divines,adm ir

ably su ited to its pu rpose,exact

,stra ightforward

,

and not lacking in the warmth of intellectual and

emotional enthusiasm . I cannot do better tha n

continue the quotation His patience and inte l

lectual charity were both large,and he al lowed

the greatest freedom of debate to his scholars .

In these con tests,he was always ch ival rous

,and

dismounted to meet hi s adversary on equal terms .

H is many pecu l iarities of speech

and manner never impai red his courtesy as a

gentleman or his d ignity as a professor . He had

a powerfu l brain,a large heart

,and the S imple

faith of a l itt l e ch i ld . He taught the knowledge

of God with the learning of a scholar,the Sym

pathy of a lovin g man,and the enthusiasm of a

loving Christ ian .

I was struck,says Dr . Shedd

,with hi s

great d irectness and s incer i ty,i ntel lectual ly as

Wel l as moral ly . H is mind,l ike his heart

,worked

wi thout amb iguity or drawback . Hence hi s e n

erg y i n the perception and Statement of truth

48

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but they were greeted,also

,by eager eyes when

they went o u t on the i r wide r m iss ion upon the

wings of the newspaper press : and they will soon

appear in a volume that w i l l find a welcome,I

hope,in many thousand hou seholds— and not

in Presbyter ian households only,for the truths

declared in these lectures are,for the most part

,

the common inher i tance of al l who love the

Lord ; and by h is defence of them Dr . Hodge has

made Christendom h is deb tor . He was bu i ld

ing better than he knew . I remember very wel l

how h is Characterist ic modesty showed itself in

connection w i th the printing of these lectures :

how it d istressed h im to have h is own qua int,

and sometimes queer col loqu ial i sms brought

under h i s eye through the fidel ity of a shorthand

report ; and how,i f he had acted upon hi s own

impulses,he would h ave stripped these b irds of

parad ise of half the i r plumage . Bu t I am glad

that we shal l have at l east one volume that can

be trusted as a fa ithful mirror of h is mental l ife .

These lectures are not s imply i l l ustrations of h is

a cademic power,though his pupi l s wil l recogn ize

in them the manner with wh ich they are fam i l iar .

Nor are they S imply sermons,though his ordi

50

nary pu lpit discourse possessed many of the

qual it ies that are present here . The preacher

and the professor are al ike Vis ible in these lec

tures,and both in the ir best estate . Dr . Hodge

was to have del ivered another course of lectures

in Philadelphia th is winter . He was lecturing

to large aud iences in Orange,New Jersey ,

when

taken i l l ; and inqu ir ies were already afoot

respecting the poss ib i l ity of having these lec

tures del ivered in other c ities . When I th ink

of what he was do ing,and of what

,had h is l ife

been spared,he m ight have done

,I am rem inded

of the day when A belard lectured to vast aud i

en ces in Paris,wak ing a centu ry from it s intel

lectual lethargy,and fi l l ing the popular m ind

with enthus iasm for ph i losoph ical theology.

And who can doubt that i t is some work l ike

that wh ich Dr . Hodge was so wel l qual ified to

do,that ou r age and country need ! I do not

take a discou raged view of things . A S I look

along the rugged coast- l ine of the cen turies,

my eye fall s upon no h igh-water mark above

my head , tell ing me where the tide of rel i

g ious l ife once reached . I bel ieve we watch to

day a ris ing tide ; though at th is momen t , it

SI

may be,we are stand ing on the sand left wet

by a recedi ng wave . But when I th ink that the

narrow strip exposed to View by th i s receding

wave extends so far adown the Shores of “l ife,and

that the interval between its crep itant retreat

and its tumu ltuou s rebound may invo lve the

fortunes of a generation,I have some sympathy

with those who face the rel igious outlook with

feel ings bordering on fear . We see men tu rn ing

away from God . They are drinking the wine o f

prosperity,and are intox icated with worldly suc

cess ; or they have come to fee l the ho l lowness

of the world’s promises,and have no refuge in

a better l ife . We witness excess of luxu ry, and

begin to apprehend the drying up of the chan

nels of benevo lence. We take the census of the

chu rch-going popu lat i on,and find that ou r houses

of worsh ip are poorly fil l ed in the morn ing and

almost deserted at night . Men who have never

investigated a s ingle doctrine pride themselves

on the i r Intellectual independence,and fal l easy

victims to the fal lac i es of a Shal low Skepticism .

M in isters of the gospel feel the bu rden that i s .

placed upon “ them and,i n order to escape the

imputation of deal ing in platitudes,or In thei r

5 2

endeavor to l ift the gospel chariot out of the m l:of

routine,somet imes secularize the i r holy cal l ing ,

deal in pulpit flippan eies, and ensnare thei r audi

en ces into the hearing o f the gospel by intro

duc in g i t as a S ide- i ssue , and by way of remote

al l us ions . We need a theological revival . We

need an era of conviction . We need— if this

appal l ing inertia and rel igious ind ifference is to

be overcome—the outbreak of an epidem ic of

faith . We need a revoluti on’

of thought that

shall reach the core of manhood and that shal l

make men see that they have forsaken God,the

founta in of l iving waters,and have hewn ou t unto

themselves c isterns,broken c isterns that can hold

no water. We heed a prophet who can speak

in words that sh ine and burn . Alas our El ij ah

has been taken away,and there is no one who

can wear h is mantle . We can only hope,that

,

by the bless ing of God,a portion of h is spirit

may come upon his surviving col leagues,upon

the min isters of th i s city who meet here to-day

to do honor to his memory,and upon the whole

Church that is bereft of h i s leadersh ip .

It may seem to some of you that my admi

ration of Dr . Hodge has made me extravagant

5 3

in h i s praise,and that stan ding in the shadow o f

a great sorrow I have supposed that th is theo

log ical ec l ipse is v is ible over a wider area than

it i s . It is easy to fal l into this mistake . But I

bel ieve that the j udgments I have expressed are

those of sober truth . From far and near,from

other lands,and from al l quarters of this land

,

the testimonies have come in that speak of the

l oss which Chri stendom has su stained i n Dr.

Hodge’s death . Dr . Cairns,of Edinbu rgh

,gives

expression to a sent iment shared by multitudes,

when in a letter to Mrs . Hodge,he says The

whole Evangel ical Chu rch has lost in him a

powerfu l and intrepid defender of its best and

dearest bel iefs ; and— strong as i s the array of

Presbyterians on you r continent— he was a leader

whom we cou ld il l afford to lose .

In presen t ing Dr . Hodge as a theo logian,I

have already in great measu re described the man

and yet I th ink we mu st come a l ittle c loser to

h is personal ity to get a fu l l impress ion of what he

was,and to understand the charm that invested

h is pub l ic l ife . The b lend ing of attributes in h i s

case,and the interpenetrati on of hi s publ ic and

his private l ife,are very wel l appreciated by h is

54

pup i l,Mr. Salmond

,from whose letter I quoted a

l ittl e wh i le ago,when he says : “

H is courageous

earnestness,w i th itsother S ide of p layfu l humor

and qua int hyperbole,h is burn ing sympathy w ith

al l that is good,and burn ing ind ignation at al l

that is false or mean ; h is [fi rso n al modesty,

amounting even to Shyness,w ith i ts counterpart

of fearless and cand id courage in defence of

tru th—qual ities l ike these made h im a model

professor and an invaluable friend .

Dr . Hodge was a h igh -am in ded,warm -hearted

Christian gentleman . He was cast in a unique

mould and was su i g en er is . He could only have

fa i led to be a gentleman through an entire su s

pens ion o f the law of hered i ty ; for he was all ied

on both his father’s and h is mother’s s ide,and

for several generations,to some of the best and

most distingu ished fam i l ies in th is c ity and th is

land . Aristocratic sympath ies were very stron gin h im

,and they found express ion sometimes in

an extravagant avowal o f Tory ism that was partly

j est , and partly based upon a real conservat i sm

of sentiment respect ing the ph i losophy of social

l ife . Though not v iolat ing proprieties , he had n o

sedu lous regard for art ific ial and mean ingless

5 5

conventional ities,an d sometimes carried h i s in

difference to what other people say and do , a

l ittle fu rther than he need have done . L ike al l

men of gen ius,he was eccentric ; and l ike most

pos i t ive natures,he had vio lent l ikes and di s l ikes .

If he was in an g st rac ted mood,he might wear

an air of indifference , which was i n n o sense

intended for coldness . But he made no effort

at concealment if men were not congenial to

him,and he recogn ized his right to “ shut men

out of h is un iverse,

’ as he used to express i t,

without feel ing that he had abated any of thei r

c laims . He was not i nd ifferent to the luxu ries

that money wil l pu rchase nor to the avenues of

usefulness that it opens ; and when assoc1ated

with refinement,he had great respect both for

it and its possessor : b u t he hated the sord id

temper that money-making so often begets,and

he had an unmeasu red contempt for the “ gold

that gilds the straitened forehead of the fool .

I think,too

,that he sometimes underestimated

t he d imens ions of the rich man'

s forehead .

When his p rej ud ices were n o t involved he cou ld

separate the chaff from the wheat in h is estimates

o f men ; an d I have known h im to tolerate a

56

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them . Hence he was prompt,prudent and always

beforehand . Hence,t oo

,he suffered twice : suf

fered in the actual experience of pain,and suffered

in antic ipation of suffering . His imagination took

hold of the possib i l i ti es of experience in dying’

and he shrank from them . The subj ect was often

in h i s mind,and had been pondered

,I doubt not

,

profoundly,although i n his conversation on th i s

and kindred them es,he woul d commonly vei l the

maj estic depths of his nature by the ripples of

pleasantry . He loved the beautifu l,was fond of

su rroundin g himself with beauti fu l th ings,and

found no smal l Share of his enj oyment in see ing

how others enj oyed them . He was humbl e and

had the most deprec iative estimate of h imself.

He was capab le of admiration,and I never knew

a man who was so ready to give ungrudging praise .

He loved with a large heart and a generous and

most tender affection . Such a friend as he one

rarely finds in this selfish world . I am glad to

quote this test imony regarding h im from one

whom he greatly admi red . Says Profes sor Y oung

of Princeton I remember him as one of the

most amusing,humorous and witty men I ever

knew . He was one of themost affecti onate and

58

tender-hear ted,one of the most imag inat ive and

poet ic,and also

,as such m en sometimes are n o t ,

one of the most transparently and purely S incere

and truthfu l . I Shal l never forget

some of our walks and talks when questions were

ra ised and discussed relating to the incessant

activi ty of God as the foundation of phys i cal

enti ties and forces ; or to the correspondence

between revealed and humanly d iscovered truth,

and the right relat ions and mutual respect to be

observed between th e in terpreter of Scr iptu re and

the investigator of sc ience or our debates as to

the place and dut ies of earnest Christians in

pol itical society . I feel that I owe more to h im

intel lectual ly and moral ly,for perhaps half a

dozen hours of th is sort,than to any but a

very,very few of the instructors of my youth .

He was broad and tolerant,an utter desp iser of

Shams and conventional ities,and he went right

to the bottom of th ings,penetrating almost in

stan t ly to the rocks and vacuums wh ich equal ly

l im i t ou r human powers of thought .

!

Dr . Hodge was a timid ch i ld,and perhaps

wou ld have made a poor soldier. But he had

the courage of h is convictions . He was S incere

and scorned dupl ic i ty . He was honest and chiv

a l rous, and hated everyth ing that was S in ist er or

mean . He was devoted to h is work and Showed

no sign of self-seeking. Men sometimes serve

God through thei r ambitions,but h is amb it ion

was to serve God . Dr . Hodge had been rel igiou s

from chi ldhood . The type of piety which h e

saw in his father,a n d in D r. Archibald Alexander

whom he always reverenced as a saint and a sage,

gave tone,I doubt not

,to hi s re l igiou s experience .

He had been chastened by sorrow. Firs t hi s

mother died,then the mother of hi s chi ldren

passed away . He knew,therefore

,how to inter

p ret grief and to comfort others wi th the com

fort wherewith he himself had been comforted of

God . I shal l never forge t the prayer he made a t

the funeral of a Chri stian phyS IC ian :how,taking

the varied threads of human experience,he wove

them into a vei l of exqu is ite textu re,and la id

it across the face of death—how in the seeming

medley of earth’s mus ic,through chan g ing keys

and in spite of discord,he traced the love o f

Christ and found in it the motif that un ified

it al l—how he led us along the wind ing way of

l ife,from l ight to dark

,fromdark to l ight again

,

6 0

unti l we entered the celestial c i ty— and how he

left u s there alone with God .

Dr. Hodge was deeply interested in the

Sp i ritual welfare of both the Col l ege and the

Sem inary . He was n ot S imply a theolog ical

professor ; he was a great sp i ri tual force . In a

note received yesterday,Dr . M cCosh says : “ I

w i l l be glad if,in you r notice of ou r friend Dr .

A . A . Hodge,you mention that he is nearly as

much m issed in the Col lege as in the Seminary .

He took the deepest interest in us . He often

preached to us,and preached w ith great fel icity

of i l lustrat ion . From time to t ime he addressed

ou r students at the i r prayer-meet ings,and ever

brought the we ightiest truths to bear practical ly

on character and l ife . We all feel that we have

lost a friend : a loss to us,a ga in to heaven

above . A lo ss,indeed

,to us

,a gain to h im and

heaven . And so sweet thoughts are m ingled

wi th our sorrow . So are they comforted who

cal led him father and to whom he was so dear.

So finds She solace in her grief who wears to

day the drapery o f widowhood . So they whose

thought of him grows tender when memory

brings back the far-off years,find resting-place

6 1

for hope in the Father’s house of many mans ions .

He sa id that heaven was the “ consummate flower

of the universe !

: he knows its beauty and its fra

granee now . He l ikened i ts welcome to that

which a fond paren t gives a beaut iful daughter

whose school-days are over : he knows to -day

how far the real i ty transcends even h is most

tender though t . Those who loved him best wil l

grudge him least h is welcome home ; and the

pain of separat ion w i l l be lessened when they .

think that i t i s only a l i tt le wh i l e,an d then

God’

s love shal l set them at h is S ide aga in .

Dear friend,farewel l ! Thy go ing has made

Heaven near . Full many a vase of comely

phrase I keep among my treasu res as wi tness

to the cunn ing of thy hand . Thy loving words

shal l l ive in memory’s garden l ike sweet forget

me-nots :an d I wi l l hold the broken thread of

our h igh d iscourse unti l we meet again .