Thursday, April 24, 2014

24 Apr 1872 AD: Memorable Celebration for Mr. (Rev.Dr.Prof.) Charles Hodge of Princeton Theological Seminary



24 April 1872 A.D.  Unique and memorable celebration held for Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) Charles Hodge of Princeton Theological Seminary.
Dr. Rusten tells the story at p. 230.
Rusten, E. Michael and Rusten, Sharon. The One Year Christian History. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003. 
Backstory.


Charles Hodge was born 27 December 1797.  Although few notice this fact, he was reared and catechetized with the Westminster standards by his mother.  His father, an Army Surgeon, died when Charles was 6 months old. While at Princeton University, 1812, he confessed his faith.  He attended Princeton Seminary and graduated at age 22. A year later, he began to teach Biblical languages. 
On 24 April 1872, a celebration was held to remember his 50 years of teaching at Princeton.  The shops were closed.  People gathered from far and wide.  They gathered at First Presbyterian Church.  Charles, his wife, eight children and many grandchildren were on hand.  400 PTS graduates attended (15% of the alumni).  Presidents and faculty representatives from other colleges and seminaries of other denominations gathered.


The Rev. Dr. Henry Boardman, that old school Confessional Churchman, that great Pastor of Tenth Presbyterian, Philadelphia and that great friend of Dr. Hodge, spoke on behalf of the Seminary trustees:
“What honor, beloved Brother, has God put upon you!  For fifty years you have been training men to preach the glorious gospel of the grace of God to their fellow-sinners.  The teacher of teachers, your pupils have become professors in numerous Colleges and Seminaries at home and abroad.  Not to speak of one or two thousand pastors, who are exerting an ameliorating influence upon this nation more potent than that of an equal number of men belonging to any other calling, you are helping, through your students, to educate a great body of Christian ministers, not a few of whom are here to be employed in laying the foundations of Christianity on pagan lands.”
Hodge, by this date, had taught 2700 students.  No other seminary had even enrolled that many.
At the celebration-event, the 75-year old Dr. Hodge sat to the side on a sofa out of sight.


After 15 men had spoken, Dr. Hodge came to the lecturn, saying:
“When I say thank you for all your respect, confidence and love, I am nothing, I am powerless.  I can only bow down before you with tearful gratitude, and call on God to bless you, and to reward you a hundred-fold for all your goodness.”
That night, 24 April 1872, Dr. Hodge penned the following in his journal:
“April 24th.  The apex of my life…altogether affording an imposing and most affecting testimony of the unity of the faith, and of common love to the same gospel, and to our common God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

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