LANE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. THE INAUGURATION OF THE Rev. David S. Schaff, D.D., AS PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY IN LANE CINCINNATI ELM STREET PRINTING WORKS. 420-422 ELM STREET 1898 The Services of Inauguration. The services of Inauguration were held in the First Presbyterian Church of Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, May 5, 1898, and followed the graduating exercises of the senior class. The Covenant of Office was administered by the Hon. Emerson E. White, LL.D., President of the Board of Trustees. The same form has been used on similar occasions since 1832. The charge was given by the Rev. Douglas P. Putnam, D.D., of Logansport, Indiana, a graduate of the Seminary, Class of 1870, and one of its Trustees. The inaugural address was then delivered, and was followed with prayer, led by the Rev. Charles L. Work, D.D., a graduate of the Seminary, Class of 1876, and pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati. After the singing of a hymn, the services were brought to a close with the benediction, by the Rev. John H. Walter, of Silverton, a graduate of the Seminary, Class of 1854. Covenant of Office. IN USE IN LANE SEMINARY. In the presence of God and of the Trustees of this Seminary, do you declare your belief in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice? Do you also receive and adopt the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures? Do you likewise approve and engage to support the Government and Discipline of the Presbyterian Church in these United States, and to be zealous and faithful in your endeavor to maintain the peace and purity of the Church and to qualify those young men who may be under your care to explain, defend and apply the truths of the Gospel? Do you thus covenant and promise? The Charge. BY THE REV. DOUGLAS P. PUTNAM, D.D. My Dear Brother:-You have done me the kindness to intimate that my acceptance of this appointment was pleasing to yourself, especially because, among other reasons, I represent the alumni of the institution as well as its Board of Trustees. It is a satisfaction also to me in many respects to be called upon to give you the charge upon your formal introduction to this chair of church history. I believe it is thirteen years ago that you and I first met, when we were both pastors in a synod which lies west of the Mississippi River. What I knew of your work then, and what I have since known of your scholarly attainments, gives me great confidence that you will have eminent success in this new relation. One thing I am confident of, and on this I congratulate myself and yourself, namely, that your success in this chair is not to be dependent upon the worth or appropriateness of what I may say to you in this charge to-day. You may be sure I would be helpful to you if I could, but I confess that I come to this duty with some degree of hesitation, for I must come with only such hurried special preparation as has been possible in the few hours which I have been compelled to steal, during the past week, from the midst of the ever busy activities of the pastorate. With the exception of the break which is necessarily made, even when passing immediately from one church to another, I have been in the pastorate continuously since leaving these grounds as an alumnus of this institution, twenty-eight years ago this month. I have never been "without charge" since the day I left the seminary. |