this Board of Directors, and of the students who have come under his teaching during these years of faithful and devoted service.

"From what I have said, you will anticipate that my wishes will be fully gratified in the appointment of the Rev. Charles A. Briggs, D.D., as eminently qualified to fill this Chair. In this expression of preference, it gives me the greatest pleasure to say that I do but voice the views and wishes of our late revered President of the Faculty, Roswell D. Hitchcock. Dr. Briggs was his choice for this Chair.

"I cannot doubt that the highest interests of this Seminary, and, what is more, those of the Redeemer's kingdom on earth, will be promoted by this realization of the plans of these two Christian scholars, both as regards the foundation of the Chair and the selection of the suggested incumbent."

THE APPOINTMENT OF THE INCUMBENT.

At the conclusion of President Butler's address, Henry Day, Esq., offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That Professor Charles A. Briggs, D.D., be transferred from the Davenport Professorship of Hebrew and the Cognate Languages to the Edward Robinson Chair of Biblical Theology.

Professor Briggs, having been duly advised of the action above recorded, addressed a communication to the Board, under date of January 7, 1891, accepting the new Chair to which he had been transferred.

120 WEST 93D ST., NEW YORK, January 7, 1891.

Gentlemen of the Board of Directors of the Union Theological Seminary, New York:

I thank you for the mark of confidence expressed in your choice of me to fill the Edward Robinson Professorship of Biblical Theology. There is no Chair that so well suits my tastes and my studies for the past twenty-five years. Under the advice of the Faculty, I have been building up the department of Biblical Theology for some years past. But I had reached the limit of new work. I could not advance further until relieved of the Hebrew work. In accepting the new Chair, I propose to push the work of the department rapidly forward, and to cover the whole ground of the Chair at as early a date as possible. I give over the work of the Hebrew Chair to my pupil, colleague, and friend, Dr. Brown, with confidence, that building on the foundations I have laid, he will make marked improvement upon my work.

Biblical Theology is, at the present time, the vantage ground for the solution of those important problems in religion, doctrine, and morals that are compelling the attention of the men of our times. The Bible is the Word of God, and its authority is divine authority that determines the faith and life of men. Biblical scholars have been long held in bondage to ecclesiasticism and dogmatism. But modern Biblical criticism has won the battle of freedom. The accumulations of long periods of traditional speculation and dogmatism have been in large measure removed, and the Bible itself stands before the men of our time in a commanding position, such as it never has enjoyed before. On all sides it is asked, not

what do the creeds teach, what do the theologians say, what is the authority of the Church, but what does the Bible itself teach us? It is the office of Biblical Theology to answer this question. It is the culmination of the work of Exegesis. It rises on a complete induction through all the departments of Biblical study to a comprehensive grasp of the Bible as a whole, in the unity and variety of the sum of its teaching. It draws the line with the teaching of the Bible. It fences off from the Scriptures all the speculations, all the dogmatic elaborations, all the doctrinal adaptations that have been made in the history of doctrine in the Church. It does not deny their propriety and importance, but it insists upon the three-fold distinction as necessary to truth and theological honesty, that the theology of the Bible is one thing, the only infallible authority; the theology of the creeds is another thing, having simply ecclesiastical authority; and the theology of the theologians, or Dogmatic Theology, is a third thing, which has no more authority than any other system of human construction. It is well known that until quite recent times, and even at present in some quarters, the creeds have lorded it over the Scriptures, and the dogmaticians have lorded it over the creeds, so that in its last analysis the authority in the Church has been, too often, the authority of certain theologians. Now, Biblical Theology aims to limit itself strictly to the theology of the Bible itself. Biblical theologians are fallible men, and doubtless it is true, that they err in their interpretation of the Scriptures, as have others; but it is the aim of the discipline to give the theology of the Bible pure and simple; and the inductive and historical methods that determine the working of the department are certainly favorable to an objective presentation of the

subject, and are unfavorable to the intrusion of subject. ive fancies and circumstantial considerations. It will be my aim, so long as I remain in the chair, to accomplish this ideal as far as possible. Without fear or favor I shall teach the truth of God's Word as I find it. The theology of the Bible is much simpler, richer, and grander than any of the creeds or dogmatic systems. These have been built upon select portions of the Bible, and there is a capriciousness of selection in them all. But Biblical Theology makes no selection of texts—it uses the entire Bible in all its passages, and in every single passage, giving each its place and importance in the unfolding of divine revelation. To Biblical Theology the Bible is a mine of untold wealth; treasures, new and old, are in its storehouses; all its avenues lead, in one way or another, to the presence of the living God and the divine Saviour.

The work of Biblical Theology is conducted on such a comprehensive study of the Bible, that while the Professor builds upon a thorough study of the original texts, his class must use their English Bibles. A thorough study of the English Bible is necessarily included in the course. If the plan of the work is carried out, the student will accompany his Professor through the entire English Bible during his Seminary course, and will be taught to expound a large number of the most important passages in the light of all the passages leading up to them.

In conclusion, allow me to express my gratitude to the venerable President of the Board of Directors for the interest he has ever taken in my work, for the honor he has shown me in nominating me for the Chair he so generously founded, and for attaching to the Chair, with such modesty and consideration, the name

of Edward Robinson, my honored teacher, the greatest name on the roll of Biblical scholars of America, and the most widely known and honored of her professors. I shall regard it as my high calling and privilege to build on his foundations, and to advance the work that he carried on as far as it can be advanced in the circumstances of our time. The names of Edward Robinson and Charles Butler will be entwined into a bond of double strength to sustain me in the delicate and difficult work that I now undertake to do.

Faithfully,

C. A. BRIGGS.

Arrangements were made for the inauguration of Dr. Briggs on Tuesday evening, the 20th of January. The Reverend David R. Frazer, D.D., was appointed to deliver the charge on behalf of the Board of Directors.