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department; in 1851 he was at his own request transferred to the chair of Ecclesiastical History, and at the time of his death occupied that of "Hellenistic and New Testament Literature." We insert the following letter, although long, because it not only contains interesting revelations of his literary history, but especially his views as to the chair which he filled the last year of his life. The letter is addressed to his brother James :

May 6, 1859.

"DEAR BROTHER,-Although I never should have made the recent move without your strong concurrence and advice, and although I have consulted you at every step, I feel that I have not put you in complete possession of my views and feelings, and, more particularly, of my reasons for adhering to a form and title (viz., of his new professorship), not entirely in accordance with your better taste and judgment. This I cannot do without being a little autobiographical; to which I am the less averse, because this is a critical juncture in my history, not only on account of the proposed change in my position, but because I have just finished my half century. I need not remind you of my early and almost unnatural proclivity to oriental studies; but it may be news, even to you, that, under the potent spell of Scheherazade and Sir William Jones, it was my cherished wish for several years to settle in the East-not New England but

and so far from having any missionary zeal, that I was really afraid the Moslems would be Christianized before I could get at them. This boyish dream was early broken, and succeeded by a no less passionate desire to be a lawyer; but my oriental studies were continued after my college course, at which time I read the whole of the Koran in Arabic, and the Old Testament in Hebrew. It is nevertheless true that I had begun already to be weaned from Anatolic to Hellenic studies. The existing cause of this change was the influence of Patton-first as

* In 1835, the General Assembly elected Dr. John Breckenridge (son-in-law of Dr. Miller) Professor of Pastoral Theology, and Dr. Addison Alexander (son of Dr. Archibald Alexander) Professor of Oriental and Biblical Literature. It is due to the truth of history to state, that neither Dr. Miller nor any other of the faculty of the seminary was cognizant of this arrangement. The facts are these. As the endowment of the seminary was very inadequate, the directors found it necessary every year to appoint committees to solicit subscriptions to meet the current expenses of the Institution. This was very irksome. When the Board met that year, one of the directors proposed the appointment of a Standing Committee of Finance. Another director (Dr. Cyrus Mason, of New York) proposed that a financial agent, who should be also a professor in the seminary, should be appointed. Dr. Benjamin H. Rice, at once said, "That is the plan, and I have the man-Dr. John Breckenridge." To this the Board at once acceded, and agreed to submit the matter to the Assembly, by whom it was sanctioned. It took all the immediate friends of the seminary completely by surprise, Dr. Miller as much as anybody else. Mr. Alexander at first declined his appointment, but at the request of the Board agreed to defer his answer for a year. finally induced after two years to accept.

He was

a teacher, chiefly by his making me acquainted with the German form of classical philology; then by means of his Society [The Philological Society] and library; and lastly, association with him at Edgehill. This influence, however, would have had no permanent effect, if I had not been led to lay the foundation of my Greek more firmly than it had been laid by Salmon Strong, Horace Pratt, or Robert Baird. Whatever accurate Greek scholarship I have is three years subsequent in date to my graduation, and owes its origin to my having undertaken to teach the language in Brown's school, for which I endeavored to prepare myself by thoroughly mastering Moore's admira ble grammar, which contains the germ of all the late improvements. This I almost learned by heart in Latin, going over it a thousand times as I walked up and down in the old garden, where I am often now reminded of that toilsome but delightful process. Having got the grammar fairly in possession, I read every word of the Anabasis and Cyropædia for the purpose of grammatical analysis, and, having done this, for the first time felt that I was a Greek scholar, even of the humblest rank. All this labor seemed then to be thrown away; as I did not go to Brown's but to Patton's, and not as Greek but Latin teacher! This was more than made good, however, by my lexicographical labors, in translating parts of Passow, for the new edition of Donnegan; and although in this case, too, my hard work answered no immediate purpose, its value was inestimable to my own improvement, as I found when I began the next year to teach Greek at college. One effect of all this, never known to others, was, that when I was appointed tutor in the seminary, I had already left my first love for a second; so that when I heard of John Breckinridge's saying, in the Board, as an apology for moving me, that I was not a classical, but an oriental scholar, my conscience smote me as a literary hypocrite, for letting the mistake continue. Thus I began my course with a divided heart, and though I never disliked teaching Hebrew, but preferred it much to all my other seminary duties, I still spent much time upon Greek in private; not without a secret feeling of unfaithfulness to my official obligations. It was this, together with my strong distaste for prophetical studies, and the crushing load of authorship which Dr. Hodge had laid upon me from the first, that made me catch with a sort of eager desperation at the first suggestion of a change in my professorship (in 1845) as promising to free me from a very heavy burden, not so much of labor, as of responsibility, and to bring me somewhat nearer to the studies which I really preferred. A great stride was taken in the same direction when I was unexpectedly, and as I now see providentially, compelled to study and expound the historical books of the New Testament, the most delightful labor of my life, and the direct source of my latest and best publications. I still felt, however, that my studies were not classical; and cherished my old, childish prejudice against the Biblical Greek, as something illiterate and ungrammatical, a mere corruption and abuse of the first language in the world. My earliest glimpse of the modern German doctrine on this subject was afforded by Schaff's admirable chapter in his history, containing little of his own except the clear and captivating mode of presentation, but collecting the best thoughts of the best writers, in relation to the claims of the Hellenistic dialect, as a co-ordinate branch of the Hellenic tree, with a distinctive independent character, and no small merits of its own. From that time (about ten years since) these have been my favorite studies; none the less because connected

upon one side with the vast domain of classical philology, and, on the other, with the sacred field of Biblical learning. My interest in the language soon extended to the literature of the Hellenistic Jews, inspired and uninspired. as a distinct and well-defined department of ancient learning. It is this that I have always had before my mind, as my proposed field of study and instruction in my many schemes and efforts to attain my true position. It is not merely the New Testament literature, strictly so called, that I wish to cultivate-though that does lie at the foundation, and gives character to all the rest; but I covet the privilege of making excursions, without any violation of official duty, into the adjacent fields of Hellenistic learning, having still in view as my supreme end, the defence and illustration of the Bible, but at the same time opening a new field for literary culture in this country, and thus gaining for myself a more original position than that of simply sharing Green's professorship. I wish it to be fully understood, if the proposed change should be carried out, that while the New Testament department will have greater justice done it than was possible at any former period, it will have something new connected with it; which can only be suggested by a new name, the novelty of which is therefore an advantage, if it be not otherwise objectionable, which I cannot see to be the case. The more I reflect upon it, therefore, the more clearly I perceive that no description could more perfectly express what I have carved out for myself, than that of Hellenistic and New Testament Literature.'

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แ Affectionately yours,

"J. A. A."

It is a melancholy reflection that when he penned this letter, sketching out for himself a new and more congenial field of labor, the fatal disease which in a few months closed his earthly career, had, although unknown to himself or to his friends, almost completed its work.

As to Dr. Alexander's eminent success as a professor, there never was but one opinion among his colleagues, his pupils, or the public. He was from the first and universally regarded as unequalled as a teacher. His manner was clear, concise, rapid, and logical. He always had complete command of his subject, and had a rare talent for making it intelligible to others. He felt the importance of what he taught, and aroused the interest of his pupils. They felt their knowledge increased, their views enlarged, and zeal enkindled every time they entered his class-room. They all came to reverence and love him, and acknowledged themselves under a debt of gratitude to him which they never could repay. Of all this his biographer has collected abundant evidence in the cordial testimonials of his former scholars. Dr. John H. Rice, now of Mobile, says, "I have in the course of my life met with

three teachers of pre-eminent ability as teachers, and he was the foremost of them all, for pupils of intellect above the average. For dull boys he was not so good for reasons above stated. If a young man had any thing in him, and was disposed to use his advantage, Mr. Alexander could draw it out better than any teacher I ever saw. characterized by surpassing clearness. ing his meaning; and there was no confusion of thought."

His instructions were

There was no mistakmixing of subjects, no

Dr. Ramsey, of Lynchburg, Virginia, says :

"As an exegete, I hardly know how he could be excelled. His analyses, with which he introduced each exegetical lecture, so concise, so clear, so simple, were themselves far better than most commentaries." [To their class he lectured only on part of Isaiah and the Messianic Psalms.] "To his lectures on the first teu chapters of Isaiah I owe more than to all the other instructions received in the seminary, as to the method of analyzing and expounding the Scripture." [Speaking of the valuable labors of certain other expositors, the writer goes on to say that he profited comparatively little by them in this respect.] "I learned indeed the meaning of much I did not know before; I received a certain quantum of explanations; but I did not even begin to learn how to explain the Bible myself. But I had not got through with the first chapter of Isaiah with Dr. Alexander's lectures till I felt as if I had become conscious almost of a new power. Every passage he touched seemed to be suddenly lighted up with a new beauty and glory, and often a single remark would be so suggestive that it seemed at once to pour light all over the Bible, to bring up into new and striking association other truths and passages, and to stimulate the mind to the highest activity, and fill it with wonder at the amazing fulness of God's word.

"Another striking trait of his exegetical lectures was that his faith in the simple statements of the Bible was so childlike and so perfect. This reverence for the sacred text was one of his noblest qualifications for an instructor in these times. This was abundantly manifest in his works, but the impression made by his lectures as we heard them, was still stronger."

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"The class of '37," says his biographer, was pushed forward with the greatest vigor. The evidence of the professor's diligence was unimpeachable. He labored with a will and with quenchless enthusiasm. The poor fellows were almost exhausted, and some of them completely overwhelmed, in their effort to keep up with them. The class was divided into two sections; each section recited two lessons a day, and each lesson occupied an hour. Says the good. natured writer to whom I am indebted for these particulars: 'You may be sure that neither professor nor the students had much time to eat or sleep. For myself I was as busy as a nailer; and to keep up with the demands of the teacher, and attain enough Hebrew to pass the Presbytery, I had to rise up early and sit up late and eat the bread of sorrows. As one division of our class came out the other went into the class-room, and mingling thus we were admonished by those before us of the danger ahead, in some such words as these: "Oh, you'll

catch it to day!" "Oh, 'tis dreadful!” and similar encouraging expressions of what we might expect.'

"It is but proper to say, however, that we were greatly encouraged by our progress under the Professor's admirable training; and by the knowledge that it was all for our own good that our present condition was not joyous, but rather grievous. The enthusiasm of the teacher imparted itself to the students; and under every green tree in the well-beaten garden walks, in the adjacent woods as well as in the seminary, in the study, and in the class-room, young men were seen walking, or lying down, or sitting; with their limbs stretched out on the grass, or over the mantel-piece, or on the backs of chairs; all intent on the perusal of one book-'Bush's Hebrew Grammar.' Memory loves to linger round those days of youth, gone never to return; and upon the pleasant employments and associations with which they were connected. Of all the great names we there venerated, not one now remains, except as an object of memory to which each passing year adds new lustre; for the memory of the just is blessed."

Mr. J. Park, of Tennessee, gives an amusing account of his first experience in the seminary, which he entered in the fall of 1843.

"When the term opened," he says, "the students came in with remarkable punctuality, and the 'old ones' seemed very kind and attentive to the 'new ones,' and took special pains to put us on our guard as to 'Dr. Addy.'

"Our first contact with Dr. Addison was on Hebrew Grammar. He had a roll of the class alphabetically arranged, and called upon the students in that order always looking steadily at him who rose in reply to the name called; but that roll we never saw any more after the last name on it was called once. He knew every man and called him by his right name after he had once responded to it, and the roll was no longer used."

There were two of the name of Park in the same class, and they were distinguished by their first initials, as Mr. O., and Mr. J. It was only at the third recitation, that the professor reached their names on the roll.

"Every member of the class had manifested some trepidation when he was first called up. My first appearance on the floor is memorable. I had begun to get homesick, not a strange circumstance considering this was my first separation from my family and friends; and my youthfulness favored it too, for I was next to the youngest student in the seminary. I rose promptly, very, at the call of my name, with quickened breath and bounding pulse. Dr. A.'s spectacles were wonderfully bright, yet not so bright as the eyes looking through them. He asked a question; I answered; he smiled; several students tittered. A second question, followed by the answer; Dr. A. smiled more perceptibly; all the class snickered, and I broke out in a sweat. A third question was answered; several students guffawed. Rap, rap, rap, on the desk, and with an indignant voice Dr. A. called out, 'Order in the class! I see nothing to laugh at.' And then to me 'That will do, sir,' and called the next. I sat down in a state of terrible excitement, perplexed, confused, and ashamed, supposing I had exposed myself to the contempt and ridicule of the class, and resolved to start home the next day.

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