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386 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Theological Seminaries Professor Hoenecke stands preeminent for far-reach ing influence as a dogmatician. In the year 1910 the faculty of the seminary consisted of Prof. J. Schaller (president, and professor of dogmatics, pas toral theology, and homiletics), Prof. J. P. Koehler (church history, and New-Testament exegesis), and Prof. Aug. Pieper (Old-Testament exegesis, sym bolics, and isagogics). The enrolment of students for 1910 was fifty-one, with fifteen graduates who entered the ministry, and most of the students are drawn from the territory covered by the Joint Synod above named. A board of managers is the connecting link between the institution and the synod, and the school is supported by voluntary contributions from the church-members of the en tire body embraced in the Joint Synod, excepting a small endowment, the proceeds of which are used to defray the expenses of indigent students in the way of board, etc. The library contains some 5,000 volumes. J. SCHALLER.
17. Western: The Western Theological Seminary, the first and only seminary of the General Synod west of the Mississippi, is located at Atchison, Atchison Co., Kan., where it was founded, in 1895, by the Board of Education of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America, by the authority of the General Synod held at Hagerstown, Md., in June, 1895; and it originated in the urgent demand to secure the full equipment of young men for the Gospel ministry in the territory where they expected to labor. Rev. Frank D. Altman, the first president, was installed in Nov., 1895, and other instructors have been Drs. Jacob A. Clutz, J. Howard Stough, J. L. Neve, Holmes Dysinger, and M. F. Troxell. The doctrinal basis of the seminary is " the Word of God, as contained in the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the only infallible rule of faith and practise, and the Augsburg Confession, a correct exhibition of the fundamental doctrines of the Divine Word, and of the faith of our Church founded upon that word "; and it is the purpose of the seminary to provide the churches with pastors in harmony with the above basis. The seminary has a productive endowment of about $21,000, and 3,500 volumes in its library. It has thus far been attended by 127 students, 72 of whom have satisfactorily completed the course of instruction and have received their graduation diploma. In June, 1910, the government was assumed by the trustees of Midland College, and Dr. M. F. Troxell is president of the combined institutions.
VIII. Methodist Episcopal.-1. Asbury: This college is situated at Wilinore, Jessamine Co., Ky., where it was founded in Sept., 1890, by Rev. J. W. Hughes for the promotion of true edLaation and, through it, of Christian holiness for all the .world. The institution is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal denomination, although its trustees, fifteen in number, are selected with regard to their moral, spiritual, and business fitness rather than with respect to their church relations. It began its work with two teachers and eleven pupils in a four-room cottage, but in 1903 it was deemed best for it to pass from personal control into the hands of a board
of trustees. The school emphasizes the Wesleyan type of experimental religion-conversion and en tire sanctification as conscious experiences of grace and holy living in all walks of life-and each year of its history has witnessed a revival of religion. Any use of liquor or tobacco is forbidden its pupils, as are card-playing and intercollegiate games. High er criticism is frowned upon. The institution be lieves in the inspiration and authenticity of the Scriptures and a full Gospel; it endeavors to build up clean manhood and womanhood; it strives to pro mote civic righteousness and the speedy evangeliza tion of the world; and it stands for prohibition. It has, accordingly, exercised an influence on many churches for a more definite Christian experience and life, and its alumni may already be found in Korea, Japan, Persia, India, the Philippines, Cuba, the West Indies, Africa, and other fields. In 1910, Asbury College had seventeen instructors (Rev. H. C. Morrison, president); and during recent years its student body, of both sexes, has averaged 250, about one-half of whom are from Kentucky, and the re mainder from some twenty or thirty states. The attendance was reduced by a disastrous fire in Mar., 1909, but new and better buildings have since been erected, and an effort is now being made to add an industrial plant. The library contains about 2,000 volumes, but the college is entirely without endow ment. L. L. PICKETT. BInLIOCIRAPHY: A. Johnson, A Glimpse of Twenty Years, in preparation.2. Boston: The school of theology attached to Boston University is the oldest theological seminary of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and dates from the action of a convention of New England friends of improved theological training, held in Boston, Apr. 24-25, 1839, the first centennial anniversary of universal Methodism. In the absence of endowments it was started by the small gifts of a large number of interested parties, and until 1866, the year of the first centennial of American Methodism, was wholly maintained by small donations and by collections in the churches of the adjacent annual conferences. Instruction was first provided in 1841, when it was offered as a distinct course in connection with an older Conference academy at Newbury, Vt., but six years later this theological department of the academy was transferred to Concord, N. H., and by charter was independently incorporated as " The Methodist General Biblical Institute." In 1867 the institute was removed to Boston, and was reorganized under a Massachusetts act of incorporation as the " Boston Theological Seminary," and four years later, by a new act of the Legislature, it became the earliest department of the then newly chartered Boston University. In Newbury, for lack of funds, the school had no independently organized faculty, but at Concord, under considerable personal sacrifice, instruction was given by John Dempster (1847-52), Charles Adams (1847-49), S. M. Vail (1849-67), David Patten (18537), Bishop O. C. Baker (1854-67), and J. W. Merrill (1854-67). At Boston, the seminary teachers have been David Patten (1867-80), W. F; Warren (q.v.; since 1867), L. T. Townsend (q.v.; 1867-93), J. W. Lindsay (1868-84), J. E. Latimer (1869,85), Ii. C:. Sheldon
