USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > History of Andover theological seminary, 1933 > Part 14
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Austin Phelps was a master in the department of homiletics, and his "Theory of Preaching" was a familiar handbook in the studies of the Congregational ministers. The structure and the rhetoric of pulpit discourses were moulded by his hand for a generation as effectively as if the preachers were under his instruction in the classroom. His "Still Hour" be- came a classic ; his hymn book, prepared in consultation with others and published in 1858, was adopted widely for church worship; one hundred and twenty thousand were sold in eight years. Edwards A. Park published less than one would suppose, considering the widespread acceptance of his theo- logical leadership. A memoir of Nathaniel Emmons came from his pen, and essays and translations. He wrote numer- ous articles for cyclopedias and reviews, but his chief con- tributions were to the Bibliotheca Sacra.
Professor Shedd's "History of Christian Doctrine" became a standard work in that field. Since theology played so large a part in the Seminary discipline and ministers continued to preach sermons on doctrine, the history of Christian opinion on the great articles of the Christian faith was in frequent use. No library in a seminary was complete without a set of Shedd's "History," and few ministers' libraries lacked it, if the parson was at all studious. Shedd was also the author of a three-volume work on dogmatic theology. The word "dog- matic" is symptomatic of the attitude towards doctrine. The professor was of course an exponent of Congregational or-
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thodoxy, but he ventured to edit Coleridge's Works, which reflected the German theological thinking of the day. Not content with these contributions he wrote a commentary on Romans, published a volume of sermons, and wrote a text- book on homiletics and pastoral theology, which was reissued in several editions.
Professor J. H. Thayer's scholarly works of reference in the biblical field gave him a far-reaching reputation. The later professors wrote fewer books, but they revealed their the- ology in the Andover Review and in the little volume entitled "Progressive Orthodoxy." William Jewett Tucker's Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale were among the specially acceptable discussions on that foundation, and his reminiscences of his generation brought back to his readers the Andover of his student and faculty days. George Harris described "A Cen- tury's Changes in Religion" after he had left Andover, but his book too was a reminder of the changes that he helped to make in the Seminary. George Foot Moore's widening circle of readers came after his transfer to Harvard, and his vol- umes on the history of religion gave him a reputation second to none in that field of investigation. Harris and Tucker fathered "Hymns of the Faith," published in 1887.
Three theological reviews are associated with the history of Andover. The earliest of them was the Biblical Repository, originated by Edward Robinson in 1831. The second, with which the first was merged after a separate career of twenty years, was the Bibliotheca Sacra. This better known period- ical was preceded by a volume of essays, edited by Robinson and written mostly by Stuart and himself, which was given the title of "Bibliotheca Sacra," and which bore the date of 1843. This was followed the next year by the first number of the magazine to which the same name was given. Its full title was the Bibliotheca Sacra and Theological Review. Pro- fessors B. B. Edwards and Park edited the journal, with Robinson and Stuart cooperating. Robinson by that time had gone to Union Seminary. The Review was published at An- dover for forty years, with Park taking the burden of edi- torial responsibility. With the prestige of his name Bibliotheca
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Sacra held a commanding position in the field of scholarly journalism. It stood for conservative thought, but it con- tained articles that kept it abreast of the times in which it was published. With the retirement of Park from the active duties of his chair of theology and the onset of the controversy over more liberal tenets, the magazine was carried to Oberlin, where, chiefly under the guidance of George Frederick Wright, it continued to defend the ancient landmarks.
When the Bibliotheca Sacra went to Oberlin in 1884, the Andover Faculty decided to put another review in the field as the organ of the newer thought which was under discussion at Andover. The first number bore the legend : "The Andover Review: a religious and theological monthly." This was a recognition of a difference between religion and theology. Five members of the Faculty, Smyth, Tucker, Churchill, Harris, and Hincks, assumed the editorial responsibility, with the others assisting. While the Faculty members were not unanimous in their attitude towards the questions that were at issue, they were harmonious among themselves and were tolerant of minor differences. The reason given for issuing the new review was the disturbed state of theological opinion on certain vital questions. It stated frankly that it would "advocate the principles and represent the method and spirit of Progressive Orthodoxy." From the beginning it was able to attract to its columns some of the most prominent religious writers on both sides of the Atlantic. Principal Fairbairn, Lyman Abbott, George A. Gordon, George H. Palmer, William H. Ward, and G. Stanley Hall, were among them. Professor Egbert C. Smyth wrote the first article, and frankly declared that the Review aimed at theological development. The editors did not hesitate to accept the name "New The- ology" for the more liberal thought that was gaining ground in the Congregational churches in harmony with a freer and more scientific age. That the Review would stir up rather than alleviate controversial discussion did not disturb its sponsors. The Andover Review performed its function as the exponent of the liberal movement of the decade, and as soon as the stress of the conflict was over it was discontinued.
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The Andover Press was a decided asset to the Theological Seminary, though it had little organic connection with it. It was a small local enterprise which had been established in 1798, when Dr. Pearson enlarged it, and after Professor Stuart's press work in various languages began to issue from the Press it became the regular and well-known medium of publication for the writings of the Faculty. It was intended to be an educational and religious force as well as a legitimate line of business, and it served the needs of both Academy and Seminary and grew prosperous along with their growth. As a book shop it supplied the boys of the Academy with the books that they needed for their studies, and the men of the Semi- nary browsed among its shelves. Flagg and Gould, the proprietors, were members of the South Church, and were sympathetic with Christian education, and they felt that they were doing a Christian service in printing and circulating the books that flowed from the pens of the professors. One of the earliest publications was Professor Stuart's "Hebrew Grammar," for which the professor himself set some of the type. The facilities for printing in both Greek and Hebrew were greatest at Andover, and by the gifts of William Bartlet, Dr. John Codman of Dorchester, and others the Press was equipped by 1829 with fonts for twelve Oriental languages. This wealth of equipment gave the Andover Press a distinc- tion which it did not lose for many years. In those days country publishing houses were by no means so rare as now, and though Andover was near Boston it did not suffer from city competition in the publishing business.
It was especially convenient for the Andover professors to stroll downtown to the Old Hill Store where the printers worked on the second floor. It was an inspiration to see their thoughts put on the printed page when they had no type- writer to manipulate, and they were at hand to correct proof that reflected the uncertainties of poor handwriting. In the course of the years the Faculty of the Seminary wrote over one hundred volumes which, it is estimated, had a sale of four hundred thousand copies. There was a market for them wher- ever religious books were read, and the reputation of the
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school made them popular as textbooks. Such a book as Phelps' "Still Hour" was read very widely. Booksellers in all the cities furnished a medium for public distribution.
In 1832 the Press found new quarters in a two story and a half brick building on the Hill, where Warren F. Draper, the proprietor after 1854, put out his sign over the door reading "Warren F. Draper, Publisher and Bookseller," with a long signboard over the windows upstairs which read "Printing House." There the business remained for more than thirty years, when it was moved to the Draper Block on Main Street. The Seminary was fortunate to have such a man as Draper to carry on the business, for like Flagg and Gould he was in- terested in the business of publishing religious books, and he was generous with the money which the business brought him. There the American Tract Society issued its first tracts, and there was issued the Journal of Humanity, the first tem- perance newspaper in the United States. The Biblical Reposi- tory and the Bibliotheca Sacra were printed by the Press as long as they were edited by the professors of the Seminary. "Of the forces that made Andover in the last century a world- renowned center of religious and spiritual life," says Scott H. Paradise in his historical sketch of the publishing house, "the Andover Press was no small part. Working in close cooperation with the theological professors, whom they re- sembled in their religious enthusiasm, the Andover printers did their share to spread Christianity to the far corners of the earth, and to inspire those who were working at home and in the mission field with fresh vigor."
Among the most interesting and popular books on the cata- logue of the Press were the writings of several talented mem- bers of the families of the professors. Mrs. Stowe and the wife and the daughter of Professor Phelps, and three daughters of the Stuart and Woods families, found their publishers near at home. Hundreds of thousands of copies of their books circulated abroad as well as in America. The public knows of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, but it is not commonly known that Mrs. Phelps was the author of "Sunnyside," a juvenile book, which had a sale of one hun-
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dred thousand copies at home and was translated abroad. "Old Andover Days" by Elizabeth Stuart Robbins is unas- suming but charming in its descriptions and reminiscences.
The literary atmosphere at Andover inspired even the stu- dents to cultivate the muses. It was in Bartlet Hall that Elijah Kellogg wrote his well-known "Spartacus to the Gladiators," and Samuel Francis Smith wrote "America" while an An- dover student. "Long after the name of Bartlet Hall," says a newspaper writer, "and even the more famous name of Andover Seminary are forgotten, these two masterpieces of oratorical writing will preserve in the Valhalla of literature a sacred place for the shades of Samuel F. Smith and Elijah Kellogg."
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CHAPTER VIII THE NEW THEOLOGY
1 F a student who graduated from Andover in 1850 had returned for a class reunion on the thirtieth anniversary, he would have found the same system of theology taught at Andover by Professor Park. Science and criticism were attacking the foundations of authority. Rapidly changing social conditions were demanding a translation of religion into social terms. Theology itself was being reinterpreted with a human rather than a divine emphasis. None of them mattered at Andover. The New England theology was constructed on the principle that there are certain truths which abide in the very nature of things and condition any system of doctrine. Since these truths do not change, an orthodox system of doc- trine must not change. The fathers of New England lived under the stern conviction that life is a battlefield between divine right and justice on the one hand and human weakness and sin on the other. The transcendent purity and dignity of God is offended daily by the sin of man. Benevolent though he is, he cannot overlook human fault. Powerful as he is he cannot forgive without satisfaction to his moral nature and his justice. The death of Christ was the most stupendous fact in history because it made possible the forgiveness of sin and the reconciliation of God to man. Original sin, atone- ment, reconciliation-this was the way from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to fellowship with God. Built thus on the twin facts of sin and salvation, the New England theology was the summation of the answer to the problem of human destiny, an answer which was in the making from Augustine to Calvin and from Calvin to Park.
The man who embodied this system of theology at Andover was Edwards A. Park. A graduate of Brown University and
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of Andover Theological Seminary, with experience as a teacher and as an associate pastor with Richard S. Storrs, Park came to Andover to teach sacred rhetoric in 1836. When Woods completed his long term at the Seminary as professor of theology, it was appropriate that his understudy should succeed him.
Park was the "last of the old guard" of the New England theology. He was essentially an apologist, an advocate for a great cause. Biblical criticism, German rational philosophy, and the hypotheses of science passed him by. He challenged them, but they were not his chief concern. He would main- tain undimmed the glory of the ancient faith, unbroken the solid wall of his well-wrought system. The halo that had gathered around the tenets of Hopkinsianism must not be dis- sipated. To bring truth into the white light of unrestrained reason and speculation was to tear away the veil of mystery that shrouded it. Or, to change the figure, he felt that the foundations of God stand sure, but it is not well to play with dynamite. Such figures of speech were not articulate with him, but they accord with his principles. While others were modifying their opinions Park held the fort at Andover, and taught his generation of students to wage war valiantly for the faith once delivered to the saints.
His classroom did not provide a genial atmosphere for the growth of revolutionary ideas. It was a place for the recep- tion of truth, not a laboratory for experimentation. As pa- tiently as a sculptor Park had perfected the system that he endorsed. His classroom method was to dictate the substance of his well-ordered lectures, and then to illustrate and expand extemporaneously. He was exact in definition, clear in analy- sis, logical in argument. He stressed the importance of coherence in a doctrinal system. "Beginning with strictly self-evident truths," says Joseph Cook, an appreciative and loyal pupil of Park, "the architecture of his system rises through anthropology, theism, soteriology and eschatology, along such a strenuous curve that it is not possible to appre- ciate it except from some point of view where the student sees it as a whole and endeavors to transmute it into life."
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It was not a system of philosophy, but it was philosophical. It was not a system of ethics, but it was ethical. It was the- ology, not religion, yet it was centered in the gospel of the Son of God. God Himself was revealed through Jesus Christ.
It was this system that he set forth, now with cogent argu- ment, again with the glowing language of a conviction that gripped his own soul. With masterly logic he bore down hostile arguments, and there were not a few of these as the forces that were moulding modern thought began to affect the minds of the students. Park had insight into the student mind, and he was able to impress upon that mind the profound importance of the subject in hand and to arouse the deep interest of his pupils. He opened up the vast area to be ex- plored ; pointed out the places where the rich ore of truth was to be found and the more barren fields of thought ; and made the men feel that they could not be engaged in any enter- prise so vital to them as the search for truth and wisdom. He made them see that they must think hard, as his own mind unfolded before them. He brought both eloquence and wit to his assistance. At times his mind scintillated like a brilliant display of fireworks.
Impressed by his analysis, the clarity of his thought, and the wealth of proof and illustration, Andover students ac- cepted his teaching and made it the substance of their thought and preaching. Men came for the middle year in theology, convinced that there was no teacher of the subject greater than he was. It has been charged that, though he was a mas- terly teacher, he did not edify, and "no set of men need edify- ing more than theological students." But such a charge means merely that a logical presentation of a doctrinal system is not religion. It is the coat of armor that religion wears for defence but the heart that beats within is religion.
Professor Park had taught the art of preaching before Phelps came, and he was himself no less outstanding as a preacher than as a teacher of theology. He crowded the meet- inghouses where he went to preach, as Phillips Brooks com- manded great audiences in his day. The same personality that dominated his classroom was evident in the pulpit. He
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towered above his congregation like a prophet. He spoke as one who had authority, and men listened, "so still that the buzzing of a fly would have boomed like a cannon." "When it was all over, and that wonderful man sat down," said one who heard him, "the people stared at each other, and looked as wan and wild as if they had seen a spirit, and wondered they had not died."
Dr. George A. Gordon bore witness that he was a preacher unequaled in his order, one whose great sermons became tra- ditions of power in all the denominations, and among people of all types of belief. Gordon called his sermon, on the The- ology of Intellect and the Theology of Feeling, preached in 1850 at the Massachusetts Convention of Congregational ministers, which included the Unitarians, the greatest ser- mon ever preached in Boston. And he said that if Park "had allowed his thought in that great discourse to control and shape his entire teaching, instead of being the last of the old order of theologians, he would have become the first of the new." And it is Gordon again who said truly : "If he had utilized his insight that the content of genuine Christian feeling is an eternal content, while the theories of the intellect chase each other, in their discovered inadequacy as philosophy, like shadows over the summer grass; if he had turned the intellect upon the deposit of Christian faith laid up in the Christian heart, stored in the Christian consciousness, treas- ured in the soul of Christ; if he had allowed the enlightened conscience to cleanse the Augean stable of the mediæval un- derstanding, Edwards A. Park would have stood for the dawn of a new day in American theology."
It is difficult for a man to be at the same time a priest and a prophet. Park mediated the divine to his pupils as a priest mediates between God and man through his consecration of the sacraments. He was an interpreter of the past, not a prophet of the future. In the changing panorama of the years there were some who felt that it would be better if he faced the sunrise of a new day in Christian thought, a herald of a new theology, than that he should look regretfully to the fading colors of a day that was dying. He realized that the
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world of thought was moving away from him, but he could not accompany it. Whatever may have been his vision, he continued to represent the conservative position in theological thought, with the Hopkinsian Creed as its foundation and his particular system as the superstructure. There was danger that the New England theology might perish from too much scholasticism.
The theology which Park hammered out on the anvil was prepared for homiletical use by Austin Phelps. Coming from a Boston pastorate to Andover in 1848 to succeed Park when he was transferred to the Abbot chair of theology, Phelps remained at Andover thirty-one years, instructing students how to preach, and through his publications indoctrinating a whole generation of preachers in their art. His "Theory of Preaching" became a classic in homiletics. His "English Style in Public Discourse" was an education in itself in the use of the mother tongue. Possessed of a purity of style and with a freshness of thought that intrigued the student mind, he was able by example as well as precept to show a man how to preach, and how to preach well enough so that his parishioners would not tire of him. He brought in the vogue of the carefully prepared written sermon, wrought out ac- cording to the rules of rhetoric and with an elegance of dic- tion that gave it distinction and bearing the marks of the minister's own experience. His own character was refined in the furnace of domestic affliction, and his preaching was mellowed by his experiences. His own physical infirmities of increasing age and threatening blindness saddened still more his later years, and he died at his summer home in Bar Harbor in 1890. Fortunate was it for his peace of mind that he retired from active service before the storm of theological controversy broke over the Seminary.
In 1879 when Phelps retired Park had been teaching forty- three years at Andover. He had reason to feel himself a bul- wark of the faith for which Andover had stood. A junior in the Seminary when he was thirty years old, a professor in the school in two departments for forty-five years, acquainted with a large majority of its Trustees and Visitors from the
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earliest years and all but two of its professors for the seventy years of Andover history, and related personally to fifty of its classes, he was entitled to be regarded as a spokesman for Andover. Recognizing his high position and his personal ability, the Trustees expressed a wish that he would publish his system of theology. They would relieve him of active teaching, give him twenty-five hundred dollars a year and his residence as long as he lived, if he felt that he could not teach and write, too. It was with this arrangement that he closed his long term of teaching in 1881.
The Trustees realized that it would be no easy task to fill his place. With the master gone differences of theological opinion would strive for the mastery, but the Trustees knew that recognition must be given to the modern trends. There was difference of opinion in Congregational circles as to the content of true orthodoxy. On the one side of the question was the ironclad Creed of the Seminary and the New Eng- land theology of Andover tradition, which had been absorbed by the students for seventy-five years. And the last of the old guard was vigorous, though in retirement, and he never surrendered. On the other hand it was becoming plain that the theological thought of the past was being affected by science and philosophy. Hostility to the Unitarian movement had delayed any other liberal trend inside orthodox circles, but Horace Bushnell's novel ideas on certain doctrines were fermenting in the body ecclesiastical. There were lively dis- cussions of Bushnell's thesis that a child is not an imp of Satan and his nature twisted by an imputation of Adam's sin, but that he should grow up to think of himself as a child of God. And Bushnell had a fresh interpretation of the atone- ment. Almost contemporary with Bushnell's modernism was Darwin's "Origin of Species." It had no such immediate effect as Bushnell's doctrinal discussions, but the tough sod of Calvinism already had been undermined by philosophical and critical scholars in Germany and by scientists in Great Britain, and seeds of revolutionary ideas planted in the dis- turbed soil could find lodgment and grow. By 1880 they were sprouting vigorously.
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Differences of opinion could easily develop into controversy over the choice of a new professor. It seemed as if Andover had been dogged by the spirit of controversy from the be- ginning. The circumstances of the founding of the Seminary stirred up controversy. It could hardly be expected that the Unitarians would be friendly, for it was well understood that the existence of Andover was due to the hostility of the or- thodox Congregationalists to the liberal movement. The An- thologist referred scornfully to the bigotry of the school, and after a few years Harvard and Andover professors began to pummel each other with wordy blows. Channing's Balti- more sermon of 1819 stirred the Seminary. Stuart contested forcefully the Unitarian denial of the Trinity and interpre- tation of the person of Christ, arguing for his deity on biblical grounds. He wrote in the form of "Letters," which were published at Andover in the year of the Baltimore dis- course. Unable to continue with a discussion of other doc- trines, Stuart urged Woods to dispute Channing's other positions. Woods had a more irenic disposition and was less inclined to engage in controversy, but he felt that the attack upon the orthodox position should be answered ; he therefore entered the lists with his own "Letters to Unitarians," treat- ing such subjects as the nature of man and the sovereignty of God. Professor Ware of Harvard replied promptly with "Letters to Trinitarians and Calvinists." Then came the "Answer," "Remarks," and "Postscript." It was a period of polemics and of minute differences of theological opinion vigorously debated. As professor of theology in a prominent seminary Woods could not escape contentions, however peace- fully inclined.
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