HODGE, CHARLES: American theologian; b.

at Philadelphia Dec. 18,1797; d. at Princeton, N. J.,

June 19, 1878. He matriculated at the

Life. College of New Jersey in 1812, and after graduation entered in 1816 the theological seminary in Princeton, having among his classmates his two lifelong friends, John Johns, afterward bishop of Virginia, and Charles P. Me

Evaine, afterward bishop of Ohio. In 1822 he was appointed by the General Assembly professor of

Biblical and Oriental literature. In 1822 he married

Sarah Bache, great-granddaughter of Benjamin

Franklin. Soon after he went abroad (1826-28) to prosecute special studies, and in Paris, Halle, and

Berlin attended the lectures of De Sacy, Tholuck,

Hengstenberg, and Neander. In 1825 he founded the Biblical Repository and Prineeton Review, and during forty years was its editor and the principal contributor to its pages. In 1840 he was transferred to the chair of didactic theology, retaining, however, the department of New Testament exegesis, the duties of which he continued to discharge until his death. He was moderator of the General Assembly in 1846. Fifty years of his professorate were com pleted in 1872, and the event was most impressively celebrated on Apr. 23. A large concourse, including 400 of his own pupils, assembled to do him honor. Representatives from various theological institutes, at home and abroad, mingled their con gratulations with those of his colleagues; and letters expressing deepest sympathy with the occasion came from distinguished men from all quarters of the land and from across the sea. Dr. Hodge en joyed what President Woolsey, at the jubilee just referred to, hoped he might enjoy, "a sweet old age." He lived in the midst of his children and grandchildren; and, when the last moment came,

they gathered round him. "Dearest," he said to a beloved daughter, " don't weep. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. To be with the Lord is to see him. To see the Lord is to be like him." Of the children who survived him,

three were ministers of the Gospel; and two of these succeeded him in the faculty of Princeton Theo-

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logical Seminary, Dr. C. W. Hodge, in the department of exegetical theology, and Dr. A. A. Hodge, in that of dogmatics.

Dr. Hodge was a voluminous writer, and from the beginning to the end of his theological career his pen was never idle. In 1835 he published

Literary his Commentary on the Epistle to the and Romans, his greatest exegetical work,

Teaching and one of the most masterly eommen- Activities. taries on this epistle that has ever been written. Other works followed at intervals of longer or shorter duration-Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1840); Way of Life (1841, republished in England, translated into other languages, and circulated to the extent of 35,000 copies in America); Commentary on Ephesians (1856 ); on First Corinthians (1857); on Second Corinthians (1859 ). His magnum opus is the Systematic Theology (1871-1873), of 3 vols. 8vo. and extending to 2,2&0 pages. His last book, What is Darwinism? appeared in 1874. In addition to all this it must be remembered that he contributed upward of 130 articles to the Princeton Review, many of which, besides exerting a powerful influence at the time of their publication, have since been gathered into volumes, and as Selection of Essays and Reviews from the Princeton Review (1857) and Discussions in Church Polity (ed. W. Durant, 1878) have taken a permanent place in theological literature. This record of Dr. Hodge's literary life is suggestive of the great influence that he exerted. But properly to estimate that influence, it must be remembered that 3,000 ministers of the Gospel passed under his instruction, and that to him was accorded the rare privilege, during the course of a long life, of achieving distinction as a teacher, exegete, preacher, controversialist, ecclesiastic, and systematic theologian. As a teacher he had few equals; and if he did not display popular gifts in the pulpit, he revealed homiletical powers of a high order in the "conferences" on Sabbath afternoons, where he spoke with his accustomed clearness and logical precision, but with great spontaneity and amazing tenderness and unction. Dr. Hodge's literary powers were seen at their best in his contributions to the Princeton Review, many of which are acknowledged masterpieces of controversial writing. They cover a wide range of topics, from apologetic questions that concern common Christianity to questions of ecclesiastical administration, in which only Presbyterians have been supposed to take interest. But the questions in debate among American theologians during the period covered by Dr. Hodge's life belonged, for the most part, to the departments of anthropology and soteriology; and it was upon these, accordingly, that his polemic powers were mainly applied.

Though always honorable in debate, one would not gain a correct idea of his character through judging him only by the polemic re-

Character lations in which his writings reveal him. and Controversy does not emphasize the Significance. amiable side of a man's nature. Dr.

Hodge was a man of warm affection, of generous impulses, and of John-like piety. Devotion to Christ was the salient characteristic of his

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experience, and it was the test by which he judged the experience of others. Hence, though a Presbyterian and a Calvinist, his sympathies went far beyond the boundaries of sect. He refused to entertain the narrow views of church polity which some of his brethren advocated. He repudiated the unhistorical position of those who denied the validity of Roman Catholic baptism. He gave his sympathy to all good agencies. He was conservative by nature, and his life was spent in defending the Reformed theology as set forth in the Westminster symbols. He was fond of saying that Princeton had never originated a new idea; but this meant no more than that Princeton was the advocate of historical Calvinism in opposition to the modified and provincial Calvinism of a later day. And it is true that Dr. Hodge must be classed among the great defenders of the faith, rather than among the great constructive minds of the Church. He had no ambition to be epoch-making by marking the era of a new departure. But he earned a higher title to fame in that he was the champion of his Church's faith during a long and active life, her trusted leader in time of trial, and for more than half a century the most conspicuous teacher of her ministry. The garnered wisdom of his life is given in his Systematic Theology, the greatest system of dogmatics in our language.

Francis L. Patton.

Bibliography: His life was written by his eon, A. A. Hodge, New York, 1880, and by F. L. Patton, Boston, 1888. Articles upon his life and work are by E. Bond, in Bib liotheca Sacra, xxx. 371 sqq.; T. Dwight, in New Englander, A. 222 ®qq.; J. W. Chadwick, in The Nation, xxxi. 381; cf. London Quarterly, ii. 56 sqq.