The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-10-18

i tllnk nave hIlUNH Vi rev III ID. -fi.
Smith. a learned, highly endowed, most
useful Professor in the Union Theological
Seminary in Prince Edward County, Viz
knew what his initials represent
ed. He was a native of Virginia,
a teacher of marked excellence and sue
cess. most popular, highly beloved, dhd
greatly esteemed The old Seminary has
been removed to Richmond, Va, and with
much more of pretention and imposing
e0ifices. At the old school there Were
some very uncommon men-profound
scholars, very able thinkers. most useful
and eminent ministers. 1 wonder If at
the new school and the new place there
are any really greater men and scholars
today than were Drs. Dabney, Smith, and
Peck? I believe that these three men
were hard to equal and but rarely
eclipsed, if ever, in any school OF the
prophets. 1 am reminded of DR.. Smith,
with whom / had no acquaintance, by u
very entertaining and long communica7
ton upon him that appeared lately IN
the Charlotte Presbyterian Standard, by
Rev. Parker P. Flournoy, D. D., an able
Virginia Presbyterian. 1t engaged my
interest much. / was taken back into the
epochal past when I read this:
In the hard times just after the war
when the resources of the Seminary were
destroyed or unproductive, and there was
little or no salary, especially during the
summer of 1866, DR.. Smith, like DR.. Dab
ney, could be seen daily going forth to,
or returning from, the fields in which,
with his own hands he titled the land to
secure food for his household
There is lesson for the New England
Yankees in that. What picture! What
an inspiration What a lesson for all,
and particularly for latter-day ministers!
Two really learned and great ecclesiastics
of very high intellectually digging the
earth for bread for themselves and their
wives and children. What a scene for
men and angels! What poverty, what
necessity! And the Vandals caused it all!
DR.. Smith was born in Powhatan county
30th June, 1911. He was graduated at
Hampden- Sidney College. Prince Edward,
in 1929. He was trained in the Seminary
in which he so long taught afterwards.
He also attended the Theological De-
partment in the University of Halle, Ger
many. He was elected a Professor in
Union Theological Seminary in 1854. At
Halle he was taught In part by the cele-
brated and most wonderful professor
Tholuck That fact explains the fact
that he came away from Germany un-
scathed, and unsullied by the prevailing
heterodox and dangerous doctrines that
ramified Germany and its literary and
theological institutions, and for thirty
or forty years later. DR.. Flournoy writes
Of DR.. Smiths experiences:
His sojourn in German had on him
an effect the very opposite of that which
it has had on many American students
Instead of being carried away with the
theological theories so prevalent there, he
seems only to have been impressed with
the extreme danger of rationahstic prln'
ciples. and thereby the better prepared
for warning others against them. His
robust understanding and firm faith
stood steadfast amid the currents OF ten
denotes that have swept so many feeblel
men from the mooring of faith INTO the
swirling CULTS of skepticism, while his
knowledge of them enabled him to station
warning signals for those who came un
der his instruction in later years.
Anv one informed of German conditions
then and its sad departures from the
doctrines of the Reformation under Mar
tin Luther. and the marvellous power and
influence of one man alone-and he not
most religious and consecrated and taltn-
iful to Christ and His teachings-the
eminent Aug Gotheau Friedr TholucK-
can understand why the young Southern
student escaped the destructive German
theological and infidel miasma. Tholuck
was able to lead many hundreds OF stu
dents, nay thousands, to Christ by ms
blessed example and holy teaching durlne
Lis long and most benignant career. he
was intensely Scrlptural and evangelical
and tireless worker among the young
men. He was indeed one OF the mcsi
remarkable men in Christian history, and
Quite the equal of Luther in the good le
did. can not follow DR.. Flournoy IN
his interesting sketch. l am particularly
entertained with what is said of the
bread-winning acts of the two very aaie
diyines. The biographer says, and very
entertaingly:
Some wonder how Dr. Smith and Dr.
Dabney. gentlemen and scholars as they
were. could bring themselves to the per-
formance of such arduous tasks as their